In Cyberpunk 2077, most encounters eventually devolve into a hailstorm of deep-tissue lead poisoning. However, they don't always have to. You can choose to let most situations devolve into a skewer fest where you can rack up the limbs of your fallen enemies and turn them into cyborg shish kebabs. Such a colorful way to paint Night City red is made possible with melee weapons.

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Of course, being the protagonist you are in Night City, you want to be as unique as possible. In that case, arming yourself with the most unique weapons available in the form of the "iconic" melee weapon class is always a great idea. So far, here's how the 11 iconic weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 fare if you want to kill in style, samurai.

11 Satori

Whether you're a wannabe Medieval Japanese warrior or not, a shiny and serious katana is a beauty to behold. For that matter, the Satori is a valuable weapon early in the game that players can use to slice their way to the top of the corpo ladder.

The damage is actually high enough to not have the worst DPS among iconic melee weapons but the stats leave much to be desired. The Satori doesn't exactly have any gimmicks in its sleeve and is pretty straightforward. Other killing sticks tend to outshine it.

10 Cocktail Stick

The Cocktail Stick is one fancy weapon that was probably used by some armed prostitutes or pimps in Night City as it sports a purple shade of paint. The weapon flavor text itself is self-aware and it no doubt looks like some kind of kinky toy.

Only, your opponents will be surprised that this funny weapon they underestimated can cut them like butter. The Cocktail Stick is one of the earliest katanas you can find in-game and its DPS is respectable enough for the early game at 191 damage per second but has a significant bonus to critical chance and can cause bleeding.

9 Cottonmouth

The Cottonmouth is a cane but don't let that put you off. This sophisticated gentleman's weapon has its place in Night City, particularly for when you want to beat your enemies to an inch of their death without killing them because of black and white morals.

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In any case, the Cottonmouth is a fantastic weapon that comes in either electric or chemical flavors. That makes it great for either heavily armored organic enemies or machines. Moreover, the Cottonmouth has bonus stats that reduce Stamina consumption for attacks and can either shock or poison enemies.

8 Sir John Phallustiff

Sir John Phallustiff surely looks like it drifted out from Saints Row and got lost in Night City. This one's a deadly blunt weapon that will traumatize your enemies in more ways than just physical.

It's actually a viable weapon as the attack speed is fast enough for some sensual clobbering. The damage is also higher than that of Cottonmouth so if you're looking to drop your sophistication for something more boastful or vigorous, then this is a better "tool."

7 Tinker Bell

Yet another re-skinned baton with a ridiculous makeover, the Tinker Bell is one w(h)acky weapon (pun intended). It's not as vulgar as Sir John Phallustiff, but it will surely send your enemies to Neverland, at least according to the weapon description.

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Like most weapons with the Electric Baton Gamma as their base, the Tinker Bell can squeeze in two attacks per second. The damage is also limited to electrical and it can shock or stun your targets, especially those that don't believe in fairies.

6 Jinchu-maru

Now, if you're a fan of fighting anyone or anything tougher than you are, then the Jinchu-maru is a perfect weapon. It's a katana that means business and lets you deal double damage to enemies with twice your health.

On top of that, the Jinchu-maru gives a monstrous 100 percent critical chance whenever the Kerenzikov implant is active. Since that implant's effect has a five-second cooldown, then you can spam one-hit kills against enemies often.

5 Scalpel

It might not have the most menacing name among all the katanas in Cyberpunk 2077, but the Scalpel is more than meets the eye. It has one of the fastest attack speeds when compared to other melee weapons.

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Pair that with the unique perk of the weapon that gives a 50 percent flat critical chance increase when the Sandevistan cyberware is active, and you get a devastating katana with elemental damage and bleeding.

4 Tsumetogi

The Scalpel might be humorously deadly and all, but for those who prefer weapons that don't rely on cyberware gimmicks, the Tsumetogi can be more accommodating. It's a katana that matches the Scalpel in terms of speed but has slightly higher damage.

The Tsumetogi shits its focus toward electrical damage, making it an ideal weapon for duels and even machine enemies. Its crowning stat is that it can stun enemies with its 20 percent chance to shock.

3 Gold-Plated Baseball Bat

Of course, why settle for just stunning your enemies before dicing them to death when you can also stun them while draining them of their blood? The Gold-Plated Baseball Bat is just that and while it might not have the elegance of a katana, three strikes to an enemy and they're out... of existence.

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Despite all that buzz about damage, the Gold-Plated Baseball Bat is actually a non-lethal weapon. The 50 percent chance to apply Bleeding and immense physical damage as well as the low chance to stun is apparently merciful enough to let the enemies live.

2 Stinger

A stealthy player can't just prowl around Night City without the best dagger in the game. That weapon would be the Stinger. True to its name, it applies chemical damage to its physical attacks and has a chance to poison the target.

That is on top of the insanely high base damage of the weapon. Since it's also a dagger, the attack speed is the highest among the melee weapons though the short range limits its capacity for frontal combat.

1 Caretaker's Spade

Turns out the most powerful iconic melee weapon in Night City isn't even a native in its game world. The Caretaker's Spade is an Easter Egg weapon plucked straight out from The Witcher 3. It belonged to a scary horror house boss in that game.

As you can imagine, that kind of reputation carried over to Cyberpunk 2077. The Caretaker's Spade grants a big bonus to critical damage. Moreover, it also applies Bleeding. For some reason, it's non-lethal despite being a monster of a weapon.

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