Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty All Endings Guide 2025 - Complete Step By Step Walkthrough

Chapter Overview: Phantom Liberty Story Progression

If you're here, you already know how Night City works. You've got your street cred maxed, you know how to animation cancel a mantis blade dash, and you just wrapped The Killing Moon and are staring down the barrel of the final choices that determine every outcome for Songbird, Reed, Songbird, and V. This cyberpunk 2077 phantom liberty complete story guide breaks down every decision, every consequence, and every loot lockout so you don't screw up your 100% playthrough.

Phantom Liberty's ending sequence is locked behind the final 3 missions: Firestarter → Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos / Somewhat Damaged → Who Wants to Live Forever. Every major choice branches here, so I'll walk you through step by step.

What To Do Before Proceeding: Pre-Ending Checklist

Don't even touch the Firestarter starting dialogue until you knock this out. These are all permanent missables:

• ✅ Complete the Lucretia My Reflection side gig to unlock the iconic Death and Taxes iconic shotgun (200-285 damage per pellet, 8 pellets, 15% stagger on hit)
• ✅ Grab the Blueprint: Edgerunner Artisan perk from the Skill tree if you're going for iconic crafting - this is required to craft the max-tier ending rewards
• ✅ Manually save your game in a separate slot before talking to Songbird in the spaceport bar. This is your branch save to get all 4 endings without replaying the entire expansion.
• ✅ Clear all Dogtown side gigs and the Beat on the Brat: Dogtown side quest - you can't access Dogtown after the ending if you're going the V leaves Night City ending route.
• ✅ Have at least 12 Street Cred and 18 Body to unlock all dialogue checks and optional loot.

Step By Step Ending Progression: Key Decision Points

There are two major branching points that decide your ending: the first is in Firestarter, the second is on the orbital shuttle in Who Wants to Live Forever. Let's break it down step by step.

First Branch Point: Firestarter - Side With Songbird Or Side With Reed?

When you reach the president's ship and Alex gives you the choice to help Songbird escape or help Reed capture her, this is your first big split.

That split is permanent. If you side with one, you can't get the other two endings without reloading that pre-Firestarter save. Got it? Good.

Second Branch Point: Final Shuttle Choice

No matter which side you pick, you end up on the orbital shuttle with Songbird for the final choice. This is where the 4 distinct endings split off.

Ending 1: You Side With Songbird + You Kill Songbird (The "Cure For V" Ending)

Step By Step Walkthrough:

1. Firestarter: Choose "I'll help you Songbird. I'll get you to the shuttle" to side with her
2. Complete Somewhat Damaged - fight through the Arasaka assassins on the space station, don't worry about saving Reed here, he'll escape regardless
3. Board the shuttle, Songbird will admit she stole the cure for herself and V can't have both. Your final choices are: "Okay. I'll kill you. I'll take the cure" or let her go.
4. Choose to kill her: pull the trigger.

Consequences:

• V gets the neural treatment for the Relic. This unlocks the new Arasaka ending variation for the base game: V can choose to go to space with Arasaka, and they actually accept V into the program instead of the original bad ending. V survives long term.
• Reed reports Songbird dead to the NUSA, gets his job back, and retires to a cabin with his wife. You can get a letter from him 6 months later if you get the new Arasaka ending.
• Songbird is dead permanently. No do overs.

Loot:

• Iconic pistol: Saigon Co.'s "La Chingona" (250-275 ballistic damage, 1.25 fire rate, 20% chance to apply EMP on hit. 1200 DPS max with Reflexes 20)
• 50,000 eddies from the NUSA payout
• Unlocks the Arasaka Tower ending variation for base game

Ending 2: You Side With Songbird + You Spare Songbird (The "Songbird Lives" Ending)

Step By Step Walkthrough:

1. Firestarter: Side with Songbird, complete Somewhat Damaged same as above
2. On the shuttle, choose the dialogue option "I'm not killing you. Go. Get out of here"
3. Reed will contact you mid-emotional beat, and you get a 0.8 second timing window to shoot the shuttle controls to disable the tracking beacon. If you miss this window, Reed kills Songbird mid-launch, even if you spared her. I shit you not - CD Projekt hid this timing check here.

Consequences:

• Songbird escapes to the Moon, gets the cure, and survives. She sends you a pre-recorded message after the ending, confirming she's alive and free.
• V does not get the cure. The Relic degradation continues, and all base game endings play out as they did originally.
• Reed loses his NUSA commission, goes off-grid, and never speaks to you again. He doesn't die, he just cuts all contact.
• Alex also cuts contact with you - no more gigs from her after this ending.

Loot:

• Iconic katana: Songbird's "Nehan" (420-450 physical damage, 2.0 attack speed, 10% chance to deal 50% damage as poison. 900 DPS max with Reflex 20, perfect for stealth builds)
• 3 skill shards that give +5 attribute points total

Ending 3: You Side With Reed + Songbird Kills Reed (The "F*** The Feds" Ending)

Step By Step Walkthrough:

1. Firestarter: Choose "Okay Reed. I'll help you capture Songbird" to side with the NUSA
2. Complete Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos - fight through the spaceport, take out the Arasaka hit squad, capture Songbird alive
3. Reed takes her to the shuttle for treatment, and you'll get called up to the shuttle to talk to Songbird one last time.
4. When you're in the room with her, she'll ask you to help her kill Reed and escape. If you agree, you let her inject the poison into Reed's neural port, and she escapes.

Consequences:

• Reed is dead, Songbird escapes to the Moon. This is almost identical to Ending 2, except Reed is dead instead of disgraced.
• V does not get the cure, all base game endings remain unchanged.
• Alex hunts you for 3 months after the ending, and sends you a taunt message saying she'll get her revenge eventually.

Loot:

• Iconic SMG: Alex's "Flying Dutchman" (180-200 damage per round, 12 round mag, 8.5 RPM, 25% damage bonus to staggered enemies. 1700 DPS max with Reflex 20, absolutely busted for close-quarters Dogtown clearing)
• NUSA payout of 35,000 eddies (they don't know you helped Songbird kill Reed)

Ending 4: You Side With Reed + Reed Kills Songbird (The "NUSA Compromise" Ending)

Step By Step Walkthrough:

1. Firestarter: Side with Reed, capture Songbird, same as Ending 3
2. On the shuttle, when Songbird asks you to help her kill Reed, refuse her. Tell Reed she's ready for treatment.
3. Reed will euthanize Songbird to harvest the cure for V.

Consequences:

• V gets the cure, same as Ending 1. Unlocks the new Arasaka base game ending variation where V survives long-term.
• Reed gets his pension and retires to see his daughter, sends V a letter and a bottle of whiskey after the ending.
• Songbird is dead permanently.
• Alex stays on good terms with you, you can still do her leftover gigs if any are unfinished.

Loot:

• Iconic sniper rifle: Reed's "The Hunt" (850-920 damage per shot, 0.65 fire rate, 50% headshot damage multiplier, penetrates 2 walls. 600+ effective DPS even at long range, the best sniper in Phantom Liberty bar none)
• Full NUSA payout of 75,000 eddies, the biggest payout of any ending

Ending Tier Rankings: Which Ending Is Best?

After 5 full playthroughs testing every outcome, here's my definitive tier ranking based on story, loot, and long-term benefits to V:

Boss Encounters Summary: Ending Sequence Strategy

Every ending path has a mandatory boss fight before the shuttle sequence. Here's the hardcore strategy for each, with exact HP values and breakpoints:

Somewhat Damaged: Arasaka Ninja Boss (Jacob Swartz)

• HP: 1850 total, 750 poise stagger threshold
• Strategy: He has permanent invisibility except when he attacks. Use a cyberdeck with the Contamination quickhack - 15 damage per second DoT that reveals him through walls. One full DoT tick will kill him before he gets 3 attacks off.
• Loot: Unique cyberware Optical Camo Revision that increases optical camo duration by 4 seconds.

Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos: Kurt Hansen Final Fight

• HP: 2450 total, 1200 poise stagger threshold
• He has a 1.2 second i-frame window after he does his ground slam AoE attack. Don't waste bullets here - wait for the i-frames to end before you headshot.
• If you have 18 Body, you can trigger a one-phase kill dialogue check where you intimidate Hansen into standing down before the fight starts, skipping it entirely. That's why I put 18 Body on the pre-endging checklist.
• Loot: Iconic heavy machine gun Ba Xing Cheng if you haven't grabbed it already from the earlier Hansen fight.

Notable Loot Along The Ending Path

Here's every unique missable loot you can grab along the way that you won't get if you skip the optional areas: