This is the tankiest build I can theorycraft:
Attributes:
16 Body/16 Reflexes/3 Intelligence/16 Cool/20 Technical Ability
(In the video I have 3 Technical Ability so thats why I'm not using a tech weapon)
Perks:
Blade Tank build | Cyberpunk 2077 | Nukes & Dragons (nukesdragons.com)
Cyberware:
Frontal Cortex - Heal-on-kill (epic), Mechatronic Core (legendary)
Occular System - Kiroshi Optics MK3 (epic)
Circulatory System - Bioconductor (epic), Feedback Circuit (legendary), Second Heart (legendary)
Immune System - Cataresist (legendary), Pain Editor (legendary)
Nervous System - Kerensikov (epic), Maneuvering System (rare)
Integumentary System - Heat Converter (epic), Optical Camo (legendary), Subdermal Armour (legendary)
Operating System - QianT Sandevistan MK4
Skeleton - Microrotors (epic), Synaptic Signal Optimiser (epic)
Hands - Smart Link (legendary)
Arms - Gorilla Arms (legendary)
Legs - Reinforced Tendons (rare)
Rationale:
You can definitely be passively tankier by taking Body to 20 since this allows you to take Athletics -> Steel Shell (req 18) and Indestructible (req 20). You can also equip Synaptic Signal Optimiser (legendary) for +60% hp instead of +50% with the epic version, but then you need to find 4 attributes points from somewhere else and not lose any tankiness, which is difficult.
You can also take Cool to 18 to get Stealth -> Cheat Death and Cold Blood -> Pain is an Illusion (req 18) and Immunity (req 20) but again, you have to weigh the attribute cost.
It is possible to get all epic Armadillo mods at level 50 without any Technical Ability but the occurrence rate from vendors is very low as of patch 1.3 so it takes an obscene amount of save scumming. It is very important to stack armour with Armadillos. This build can get over 5k armour before buffs.
It can stand still with a 3 star NCPD bounty with cops wailing on you and you will never die but 4 star spawns a lot of Maxtac melee dudes that can two shot you (even with 861 hp).
Rather than a maximize passive tanking, I decided to keep active tanking options open and not give up damage output. You are passively very tanky but vs 4 star NCPD you will need to use cooldowns to stay alive - Kerensikov, Sandevistan and Optical Camo.
Blades and Tech Weapons are chosen for a reason. Blades for stamina recovery on dodge and +armour while moving, which synergises nicely with the athletics perks that increase health regen while moving. You have infinite stamina so you can dodge forever.
Heal-on-kill allows you to recover 6% hp on kill and there is no internal cooldown. Tech weapons have Feedback Circuit which is also 10% hp recovery on kill and this is useful because you can top up your health at range.
The basic premise of the build is to stack Cold Blood and keep your buffs up permanently by critting enemies. It stacks up to 5 times so you will have permanent 500% health regen, +25% all resistances, +50% armour, +50% melee damage and +150% attack speed.
With 5k+ armour, damage received is reduced to low double digits or single digits and passive health regen from Cold Blood and Athletics perks covers the health loss. Combat health regen activation is really sketchy and I don't know why it sometimes stops or just doesn't trigger, so having +hp on kill is important.
You have Second Heart so you can die once every 2 minutes. Maxtac don't give a damn and will one shot out of nowhere anyway so if your second heart is on cooldown, you need a panic button to de-aggro.
You can do this with Optical Camo. You have QianT Sandevistan MK4 which has a 12 second duration and 15 second cooldown. The cooldown begins after the duration expires. You can get the cooldown to about 1.5 seconds with 3x epic sandevistan heatsinks and Bioconductor, then plugging the gap with Kerensikov. So you will have close to perma time dilation.
Normal combos in time dilation are still broken which is unfortunately, so you need to use strong attacks. Offensive Defense is bugged and misapplies its x3 damage multiplier to strong attacks so you are strongly incentivized to only use strong attacks anyway. While in time dilation, enemies slow down and rate of incoming damage is greatly reduced.
I tested Zetatech Berzerk MK5 and the buffs aren't good enough to justify the trade over a Cyberdeck or Sandevistan. It also does a really annoying stomp animation when you are descending from a double jump and animation locking yourself is a hard NO in my humble opinion.
I would ordinarily use a cyberdeck with 16 Intelligence and 3 Technical Ability but if you want to go NCDP bounty hunting, bear in mind that Maxtac cannot be targeted by quickhacks. You will do much more damage with a cyberdeck equipped due to the shock proc from Legendary Short Circuit.
