The world of professional fighting is always tough on the folks that step into the ring and that’s no different in the dystopian future of Cyberpunk 2077. While players of the base game are no doubt familiar with public brawls, Phantom Liberty adds one particular side job that’s dedicated to helping out a combatant rather than defeating him. “No Easy Way Out” sees V pulled into a hustle that has “DANGER” written all over it but since Coach Fred asked for a favor, it’s a no-brainer. Here’s how to complete “No Easy Way Out” in Cyberpunk 2077!
How to Start “No Easy Way Out” in Cyberpunk 2077
To kick off this particular Side Job, you’ll need to complete some of the opening missions of Phantom Liberty. Once you’ve got a couple under your belt, Coach Frank will give you a call and ask that you assist one of his fighters, Aaron, with a small problem. Make your way over to Pacifica, specifically Dogtown, and follow the quest marker to an outdoor fighting ring that’s currently in use. If you want to speak to your target, first chat with the bookie who’s taking bets. Doesn’t matter who you put money down, it doesn’t have an impact on the quest, but my advice would be to back Will; I tried betting on Aaron three different times on separate saves and he lost every time. Might be luck, but given his problems, it’s more likely a skill issue.
Once that match has concluded, chat with Aaron about the job he needs help with. The boxer informs V that he desperately needs to see a ripperdoc, Damir, in preparation for an upcoming fight that could be a big deal for his career. Aaron warns you upfront that the people involved, some scavs, are very dangerous and that V will need to effectively serve as hired muscle for his appointment. You can try to persuade him to go find a safer ripperdoc but he insists that Damir is the only person who can help him. Everything about this sounds sketchy so obviously the best thing to do is accept the mission and not worry too much about that.
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Aaron will tell you that he needs to attend to some business before kicking everything, confirming that he’ll meet V at a location known as Terra Cognita. This may sound like Cyberpunk 2077 telling you to kill some time before continuing the quest, but you can just head to the rendezvous point immediately. Follow the objective marker to a bench and take a seat while you wait for your client to show up. Once he makes his appearance, follow him through the rundown streets until you round a bend and happen upon a massive building. Before you go further, Aaron pulls V aside for a confession: He admits that the gang he used to work for, The Animals, fixed all his fights. With an inner ear disrupter installed in his dome, their leader, Angie, determines when exactly he goes down. This time though, he wants to prove himself in the ring and Damir’s the only ripperdoc he trusts to not scramble his brains in the process.
How to Break Into Damir’s Clinic
The problem with Damir is that the scavs have got his place on lockdown, meaning V and Aaron can’t just walk through the front door and take a seat in the good doctor’s waiting room. You can just shoot everyone standing on guard or you can find another route and ambush your foes. To do this, V will need to scale the building and open the entrance from the inside. Firstly, look for two slabs of concrete with red paint across the middle. Climb up them and hop onto the slanted pillar, jumping across various pieces of scaffolding and debris to find an opening on the right. Crouch through there and immediately turn right to find a grate that’s protected by two Militech mines. Hack them (or destroy them, your choice) and slide down the vent. You’ll land in a room that’s filled with guards and security cameras so if you want to be stealthy about this situation make sure you’re avoiding those sightlines. I didn’t bother using this approach, I landed and immediately started shooting.
After eliminating everyone, you need to make it past a laser door that’s protected by a key code. If you want to do this the proper way, hack the security camera on the other side of the door and use it to scope out the pin that’s been sloppily written on the wall. If you’d rather just get straight through, it’s 4300.
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Now you’re inside what looks like a huge atrium with an impressive, ceiling-high statue at its center. Once again, there are scavs patrolling every everywhere, so don’t just rush in. I tried sneaking through but I got bored and just lit the place up. What’s the point of having cool Iconic Weapons if you don’t get to show them off? Fortunately, if you do want to go in quietly, there are a few cameras you can hack into and abuse to shut down some of the deadly deterrents, like the huge turret mounted in the middle of the room. However you approach this particular puzzle, you want to start climbing to the upper floors. There’s a staircase at the back of the atrium on the bottom floor which will get you started and once you’ve made it to the catwalks the path is pretty clear.
Keep a look out for a poorly constructed make-shift bridge that consists of what appears to be two electrical panels lying over a gap in the catwalk; When you come across this, you know you’re going in the right direction. Once you clear the small jumps, more thugs will attack you so you’re obviously on the right track. Keep moving until all the scavs are dead and you get a new quest marker for “Rach Damir’s clinic with Aaron.” It’s on the top floor, which you should already be on since we went out of our way to murder everything in sight.
Should You Side With Angie or Aaron in “No Easy Way Out” in Cyberpunk 2077?
Damir will open the door and Aaron will lead the way into the surgery room. The two have a tense conversation and your client explains his situation to the ripperdoc who’s very nervous to take on the task of removing the chip in Aaron’s skull. Not because he’s worried about messing up, but because he’s terrified that Angie will off him or undo her whole operation. Eventually, he’ll concede and begin operating on Aaron. You’ll need to wait for Damir to finish his work so take a seat in a nearby wheelchair and wait a spell. Some time will pass and Damir will reassure that he was successful but his celebration is interrupted when Angie and some thugs burst into the room. I think you see where this is going…
Now we get to the big decision moment of “No Easy Way Out” as V is tasked with siding with Aaron or Angie. While we’ve previously heard the former explain his side of the story, the latter wants to convince you that he should be kept under her control. Aaron’s past with The Animals was seemingly rather violent, having done many operations for Angie and her crew including assault and arson. He was so violent that rather than kill him, the gang opted to install some implants in his head to keep him under control and “hone” his particular talents. With that in mind, Angie says Aaron owes her for everything they’ve done to improve him, insisting he just needs to throw one more fight and they’re even.
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If you turn down Angie’s offer to make a deal, you’ll need to kill her and her back up, netting a sweet Tier 5 Iconic Power Pistol known as the Cheetah in the process. Once she’s been taken down, chat with Aaron and explain what happened to wrap up the quest. Wait a few days and he’ll give you a call and thank you for all the hard work by buying you a beer at the local watering hole. Just know that in Night City, there’s rarely a happy ending so when you do show up at the bar, Aaron will be dead, assassinated by The Animals. On the flip side, if you think the idea of using Aaron to make some more cash on the side is a good idea, take her deal and simply leave the scav’s hideout. Angie will call you a few days later and hand over 22,000 eddies, which is certainly an impressive amount. Coach Fred will also hit you up and tell you that’s disappointed you couldn’t assist Aaron in his time of need. Makes that money feel pretty dirty now, right?
I have seen some players suggest that V can choose to “Threaten” Angie, but I didn’t get this option during my playthrough. Some have stated that to unlock this choice by first eliminating Sasquatch, the leader of The Animals, in the main Cyberpunk 2077 storyline. If you go this route, Angie will back off and you can advise Aaron on how to approach the situation by telling him to either throw the match or give it his all. Either way, he comes out a much happier man in the end and rewards you with 5,000 eddies. Not nearly as much, but it’s a sweet conclusion, which is exceedingly rare in Phantom Liberty.
If you’re looking for more on the game, check out how to use the powerful Chimera core in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
