One of the only things I love more than outlandishly powerful/sleek Iconic weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 is outlandishly powerful/sleek Iconic weapons that are totally free—and yes, it’s common enough that I’m justified in making a whole thing out of it. Death and Taxes is an Iconic Nue pistol that requires a grand total of no effort to acquire, and it’s one of the strongest possible weapons you can get for certain builds.
In this guide, I will walk you through finding the gun, break down its stats, and then explain just why I think it’s so overpowered.
Where to find Death and Taxes in Cyberpunk 2077
There are actually a few different places where you can find the Iconic pistol Death and Taxes, and just like Lizzie (another free Iconic pistol with a similar color scheme), the location will change depending on where you are in a side job storyline.
- If you haven’t yet completed Ex-Factor, you can find Death and Taxes in Maiko Maeda’s office when you first visit it during the Ex-Factor job
- If you have already completed Ex-Factor and didn’t pick up Death and Taxes, you can find the weapon in Judy’s apartment
Location one—Maiko’s office
The job Ex-Factor takes place after Automatic Love, and is triggered automatically after some time passes when Judy texts V asking for help. During Ex-Factor, Judy and V will visit the office of Maiko Maeda, who is an ex of Judy’s and the current manager of the nightclub Clouds.
When you’ve taken the elevator to the floor with Maiko’s office, you’ll see a little waiting area on the left just before you actually enter her office. This waiting area has a few benches around a circular coffee table.
Death and Taxes is sitting on one of the benches, just waiting for somebody to grab it.
Clouds, and by proxy Maiko’s office, is located in Japantown—it is on the twelfth floor of Megabuilding H8, which can be easily found with its own fast-travel point. However, you shouldn’t even need to know the location, because the Ex-Factor job marker should be leading you here.
If it isn’t, that means you’ve completed Ex-Factor already, and the spawn location for Death and Taxes has changed to Judy’s apartment.
Location two—Judy’s apartment
If you didn’t grab Death and Taxes during Ex-Factor, you didn’t miss your chance. The Iconic pistol can now be found in Judy’s apartment.
Judy’s apartment is located in the Kabuki District of Watson and is most easily reached by fast traveling to Charter Street. Judy’s apartment is just a few hundred meters west of the fast-travel point, and can easily be pinpointed with a mini-map icon. Look for the blue apartment complex—the entrance is on the third-floor walk-up.
Inside Judy’s apartment, Death and Taxes will be on the coffee table in the living room area just past the kitchen.
Cyberpunk 2077 Death and Taxes Iconic pistol stats
Death and Taxes has:
- Attack Speed: 3.33
- Damage: 74.42
- Reload Speed: 1.12
- Effective Range: 40.25
- Weapon Handling: 7.60
- +125 percent Headshot Damage Multiplier
- One Scope Slot
- One Muzzle Slot
Most importantly, this gun has a unique Iconic feature that justifies the fantastic stats:
- Every shot with Death and Taxes costs a small amount of Health. When your health is low, Death and Taxes begins poisoning your enemies on hit.
At first glance, this effect seems like a trade-off. However, using it cleverly to your advantage actually makes it another boon for the weapon.
Making the most of the health cost on Death and Taxes
My favorite build is full Netrunner with an emphasis on Overdrive. Because of this, I’ve taken several perks that cause my quick hacks to deal more damage when my health is low, and I even have a Cyberware Skeleton implant that recovers RAM each time I take damage.
Between these two features, having a pistol that causes me to take a little bit of damage every time I fire actually becomes something that makes my whole build much more powerful. Netrunner is far from the only build that can receive buffs from taking damage. In fact, they all can in some way or another.
There is no exact right or wrong way to use this gun, but look around within your favorite perk trees and at some Cyberware—chances are, you’ll be able to find a way to make the health cost on Death and Taxes work for you rather than against you.
