So I've already created my character, Nomad, and I had planned to go for a Primary Melee (Katana) / Some LR (sniper) / and some kind of crafting build for my character. I'm new to the game though i've had it for awhile. But I read that there is a huge problem with Athletics? Should I altogether avoid a Melee build? Or What are some recommendations to either get around this dilemma? Do you really need Athletics to have a good Melee build?
I'd greatly appreciate and welcome any tips & suggestions! Thanks
-BattouZen
I don't know how much level scaling affects this at higher difficulty levels, but on normal difficulty leveling up Athletics somewhere around 8-9 shouldn't be that difficult. While punching air is mentioned as way to level it up and works technically, meaning that it doesn't really work that well practically. IIRC Leveling Athletics up from level 7 or so to level 20 would take ~7 hours of air punching. I think most players have better experience with the game if they spent their time to something else than punching air or whatever.
High Body / Athletics builds can be very fun, but were achieved by using glitch in game that allowed leveling Athletics skill faster than currently possible. Glitch has since been fixed and so that method (unfortunately) isn't available anymore.
For now, at least if you play on normal difficulty, you might try going for 12 Body and seeing how things work out from there. You can go higher Body then if you decide to sacrifice missing potentially 5 perk points from Athletics skill level rewards.
Something from earlier post I found:
"From Street Brawling Perks regarding boxing matches Crushing Blows, Opportunity Strike and Dazed has very good synergy and with low Body character I might also take Invincible, Like a Butterfly from Athletics and also perhaps Steel And Chrome. It's good to note that it's quite counter intuitive that many Perks related to Stamina cost are counter productive for leveling up Athletics.
Some Perk synergy with Cyberware can be gained by picking Pack Mule from Athletics and install both Dense Marrow and Microvibration Generator combination instead of Titanium Bones with just either."
Notes:
Dense Marrow cyberware can help leveling up Athletics a bit: Melee weapon damage +7% / 15% / 25%, but
stamina drain +10%
Microrotors cyberware can also help: Increase attack speed by 10% (faster punches to drain stamina) but even basic version requires Reflexes 8.
So like I wrote, see what works for you. Games are supposed to be good experiences and I like CP 2077 a lot, but you know, someone punching air for hours and that, maybe that works for someone but that doesn't need to be you. Find what works for you and is fun!