If you're playing Cyberpunk 2077 right now, then you understand that nothing compares to a good pistol at your side. Whether it's silenced for stealth, modded for damage in a straight-up fight, or scoped up for ranged kills, you probably have one in your inventory that has got you out of plenty of trouble.

The development team knew the importance of the pistol and so when they were making iconic guns, they made sure there were more pistols to choose from than any other firearm. That being said, they are not all designed equally, so review these top-tier items before settling in and giving one a home in your holster for good.

Updated October 26, 2023, by Sean Murray: Phantom Liberty and Cyberpunk 2077's most recent updates have added a whole bunch of new and improved pistols to the game. We've updated this list to include those guns and where to find 'em.

25 Plan B

Please don't use this weapon, your wallet will thank you. Dexter DeShawn is an interesting character, but he's not feared because of the iron he's got at his side. You'll get this off of him, and hopefully, you don't use it too many times before you realize your mistake has landed you into bankruptcy.

The status effect is good on an assault rifle or submachine gun, but a pistol doesn't really have the fire rate to make bleed effects count. The bigger issue is that you lose eddies every time you squeeze the trigger.

Money is hard to come by in Night City. Using this means you'll have to stand on a street corner with your hands out just to earn enough ammo to use it... which, in turn, drains your wallet. See the problem?

Where To Find Plan B

As stated, this gun is looted from Dexter DeShawn. During the story, Dexter betrays the team, getting several important characters killed. Thankfully, V is able to exact some revenge. Loot his body in the junkyard for the Plan B.

24 Riskit

It's generally a bad idea to be at critically low health, and you certainly don't want to stay at critically low health just to get the power benefits of Riskit. The benefits are there, but they generally don't seem worth the risk when there are other weapons that provide equally tangible benefits without being near death.

Where To Find Riskit

Bree will leave Riskit on a table if you keep her alive during the gig "Shot By Both Sides" in Phantom Liberty. Alternatively, you can let the Militech agent kill her and take Riskit off her corpse.

23 Chaos

A game that touches on themes of anarchy and disorder should have done so much better with a weapon called "Chaos." In concept, it sounds fun, with every clip doing a different kind of damage and status effect. It is admittedly fun to be shooting fire in one second and poison in the next.

But the damage is (usually) awful. Whoever was crafting this gun must have thought the status effects were enough to carry the gun because the bullets in it do nearly nothing. It's a fun weapon to use, but the entertainment value isn't worth the tradeoff of being unable to kill enemies before they are all over you.

Where To Find Chaos

The Chaos can be missed, but it will always be a part of every player's walkthrough. Regardless of how hard you try the conversation with Royce ends in bloodshed. Royce drops the Chaos after his death (it's not on his body, he physically drops it on the ground).

22 Death and Taxes

Trading your health for your enemies' is typically a poor deal, but there are ways of making this trade more favorable. Stealth kills combined with Heal-on-Kill means you'll just recoup the health you lost plinking some poor gonk's head.

You have to get very low on health before the poison kicks in, which typically won't kill opponents before they kill you. Much like Maiko, her gun is a tricky character to work with, and maybe not your best option.

Where To Find Death and Taxes

You can grab Death and Taxes on Maiko Maeda's desk in her office during the "Ex-Factor" mission with Judy. For some reason, Maiko doesn't mind you stealing her gun.

21 Kappa X-MOD2

The X-MOD2 gimmick is that you get a top-tier version of the basic weapon with slightly improved stats and a guaranteed two open mod slots. For the Kappa, that means slightly faster lock-on time on two targets at once, slightly faster weapon swap speed, slightly faster aim-down-the-sights, and that’s about it.

The Kappa X-MOD2 is a fine candidate for the Hackatomy iconic smart gun mod, but otherwise, it’s just a slightly better Kappa. It’s outclassed by most other iconic smart guns.

Where To Find Kappa X-MOD2

The good news about the Kappa X-MOD2 is that it’s extremely easy to find. Just head to the point about halfway between the Terra Cognita and the Luxor High Wellness Spa fast travel points and look for the small building with a metal panel that has a big yellow splotch on it. You’ll need 10 Body to move the panel. Then just crouch walk through the small path that opens up and claim the Kappa X-MOD2 in the case.

20 Scorch

Scorch is really only better than a regular Ticon when paired with something that can cause burn, such as the Overheat quickhack or the CHAR Incendiary grenade. The benefit is never running out of ammo, which is nice, but perhaps not as beneficial when the target is already burning and likely to die, which will already provide an opportunity to reload.

Scorch really shines in boss fights, where the stacked damage over time of burn effects combine with the lack of need to reload for consistently high DPS.

Where To Find Scorch

You'll need to own GWENT: The Witcher Card Game on GOG (or linked your GOG account if owned on Steam) to get Scorch. Once the other game is detected, Scorch will automatically appear in V's stash.

19 Lexington x-MOD2

The old Dying Night is now known as the Lexington x-MOD2. It still has the same increased headshot damage, allowing you to single-shot heads when you want to be quiet but still go full-auto when it's time to be loud. It also has slightly improved stats compared to a regular Lexington.

Consider the Lexington X-MOD2 the slightly more stationary option to the new Dying Night, where careful aim is rewarded more than wild stunt shooting.

Where To Find Lexington x-MOD2

Robert Wilson hands this over as a reward for winning the shooting contest during the side job "Shoot to Thrill." Wilson will call you at some point near the start of Act 2 to take part in a shooting contest at his store. Win the contest, and he'll give you the Lexington x-MOD2.

18 La Chingona Dorada

Jackie's guns are great. Sadly, you can't use them both at the same time as Jackie did, but you do get two of them and a unique modifier that encourages you to use them both.

Every time you stow La Chingona Dorada, you'll grow its magazine by the number of headshots you had previously when you swap back. If you keep swapping between two of these guns, you'll constantly be growing your magazine so long as you consistently snag headshots.

And even if you don't, La Chingona Dorada still does more crit damage and has a chance to light targets on fire.

Where To Find La Cingona Dorada

La Cingona Dorada requires a bit of work to unlock, even though Jackie has it on him when he dies next to V. Send his body home, call his mother the next day, complete the side quest "Heroes," and then go to El Coyote Cojo. Two of these pistols will be on a vigil inside.

17 Rook

Unlike the Lexington X-MOD2, Rook can be more than a little hard to handle, making consistent headshots virtually impossible except at very close range. Instead, go for the body to maintain your crit-chance multiplier.

Don't be fooled by the Rook's silencer. This gun really isn't for stealth takedowns as its lack of initial stopping power makes it strictly worse than the X-MOD2 or Dying Night. Instead, go all-out with Rook to see what it can really do.

Where To Find Rook

You can get Rook during the Phantom Liberty job "I've Seen That Face Before." You'll have to keep eavesdropping on Aurore and Aymeric's conversation until Aurore starts talking about Slider and the "Blind_n_dead" file. After the twins are dead, grab the file from Aurore's memory. This will give you the Voodoo Treasure side job. Rook can be found in Slider's hidden stash.

16 Cheetah

If you want a close-quarters combat pistol, the Cheetah is probably your best option. As you get closer to enemies, you'll deal more crit damage and have a higher bleed chance. Combine this with items that increase your crit chance and watch those red numbers fly.

Cheetah is also a great weapon for those who have trouble aiming. Body shots deal more damage than most weapons, so missing headshots isn't as much of a setback.

Where To Find Cheetah

You can get Cheetah from Angie during the "No Easy Way Out" gig. Reject her deal to get her mad, then kill her to loot Cheetah off her twitching corpse.

15 Skippy

There are two big mistakes you can make with Skippy. The first is that, after 50 kills, it will reprogram to do the opposite of however you first programmed it. So you want to choose the body shot option first and, when it resets, answer Skippy by saying "I don't know." And then you'll have headshot damage forever.

And yes, as a smart weapon, that means every shot, even an inaccurate shot, is going straight for an enemy skull.

The second mistake is that you can turn it in as part of a quest for a couple of eddies. You do NOT need the eddies badly enough to get rid of what is widely considered to be one of the best guns in the game. Plus, it talks to you, so even if you don't need the maximum amount of damage, Skippy is perfect to have around for role-playing purposes.

Where To Find Skippy

Skippy is available during an untitled side job in Heywood. After battling against some thieves, find a dead body with Skippy next to it. Somehow, the mission does ask for the stolen property back right away and V is free to use it.

14 Genjiroh

The Genjiroh is a smart weapon which means you'll be getting a lot of hits even without too much accuracy. And it fires four bullets every time you pull the trigger, so with the electrical damage that it deals, you'll be shocking and killing an enemy with pretty much every clip.

Targeting six enemies sometimes works against you in groups because the damage will be spread out too evenly, keeping enemies alive. And you'll spend a lot of time reloading, but the DPS and magazine size should help mitigate these problems before the targets overwhelm your position.

Where To Find Genjiroh

Most of these iconic weapons can only be either found in a single place or crafted, but the Genjiroh is a notable exception as there are multiple copies in the game. One is in the basement of the Redwood Market (it requires 11 Technical points to unlock the door). The other is on a desk upstairs at the Arasaka Estate.

13 Ambition

Ambition is a heavily modified JKE-X2 Kenshin that has a unique ability to blind its targets. It can also deal extra headshot damage while your target is stumbling around with rebooted optics.

Apparition is very similar but has a more consistent damage multiplier when fully charged. It's up to you whether you prefer the blinding effect or not.

Where To Find Ambition

You'll receive Ambition from Hassan after performing the gig "Prototype in the Scraper," depending on whether you handed him over to Zetatech or not. If you helped Hassan escape the corp and get set up in a swanky new apartment in Dogtown, he'll call you up a day or two after the gig to give you his prototype weapon, Ambition.

12 Apparition

This gun has a really neat feature that syncs up with your vitals. If your vitals start getting low, this gun gets more damage, reload speed, and fire rate. It's a great feature if you ever get surrounded and things start looking pretty bleak, especially on higher-difficulty settings.

Now forget about all of that. Unless you are beyond incompetent, enemies will not be able to do enough damage to you to make this matter. Why? Because it's a tech weapon that does double damage. Throw in the right perks and some good aim, and you'll be one-shotting chooms through walls.

Where To Find Apparition

Unfortunately, the Apparition is only available to a V with the Corpo background. You'll get a chance to reunite with Frank in an alley in the mission "War Pigs." Kill him and take his gun.

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10 Crimestopper

You'll want to be switching to Crimestopper to get the most out of this gun, which means using this as part of a dedicated smart guns build. Be sure to have the Quick Draw perk for faster swaps.

Although it doesn't have the multiple-target capabilities of Genjiroh, Crimestopper can be just as deadly when given an already high crit chance.

Where To Find Crimestopper

You'll find Crimestopper inside a travel bag in VIP Room 06 of the Heavy Hearts club during the gig "Heaviest of Hearts." You'll need the Phantom Liberty DLC to get this pistol.

9 Kongou

The Kongou can potentially be the best power weapon in the game for your character. The iconic power of this weapon allows those without the usually required cybernetics to use this pistol.

The magazine size has been reduced, but you probably won't care when all it takes is a few well-placed shots to take down a group of three. The reduced recoil and increased fire rate basically turn this gun into an automatic weapon that controls beautifully. And the DPS numbers are eye-popping in side-to-side comparisons.

Where To Find Kongou

The gun can only be picked up during "The Heist," an early main story mission with Jackie to break into Yorinobu Arasaka's apartment. When in that apartment, check the nightstand before completing any other objectives.

8 Dying Night

The new and improved Dying Night is a serious upgrade over its predecessor. Now with added shock damage and increased power while you are running and gunning, Dying Night is the perfect option for an acrobatic pistol user.

Where To Find Dying Night

You still get Dying Night from Robert Wilson during the opening moments of Cyberpunk. The first time you walk by the Second Amendment gun store, walk inside and Wilson will say your gun is repaired and ready for you. Just talk to him, and you'll be able to buy it from his inventory for zero eddies.

7 Pride

Here's a great all-around iconic weapon that you can use in pretty much any situation. Free opening headshot? You get a bonus. Lots of enemies? Stun chance. Big tough boss? Crit chance boost. Add in a bleed effect and some bullet ricochet and this is a mean beast for any situation.

If you ever intended to go through the game using mostly one weapon, the Pride would be a great candidate, but it's only available pretty far into the main story. Still, if you have side tasks stacking up after that, you can make short work of them with this.

Where To Find Pride

Pride is Rogue's pistol, so there isn't a happy way of getting it from her. At the end of the game, choose to attack the towers with Johnny and Rogue. Rogue will be killed by Adam Smasher, dropping pride and allowing V to pick it up.

You'll also have Pride in your inventory upon returning to "The Point Of No Return" after beating the game, so you can use it to get all of Cyberpunk 2077's other endings.

6 Seraph

Let's be clear; V is not doing God's work by murdering people for money. But Seraph is still a great way to murder people despite the slightly religious overtones.

Seraph deals thermal damage and lots of it. Targets have a high chance of being set ablaze after even one hit, and once they're on fire, all subsequent shots will deal bonus damage on top of burn's damage over time.

Stacking damage is always a good idea in Cyberpunk 2077, and Seraph is a great option for pistol-focused builds.

Where To Find Seraph

Seraph is obtained from Padre Sebastian Ibarra after completing all of his gigs. It'll be automatically placed in your stash.