The second step on your path to fist-fighting greatness in Night City, Buck Arnold is a big step up in difficulty from the Twins, despite there only being one of him. For this reason, we suggest you don’t bother heading to Arroyo until you’re at least around level 20.

A good way to tell whether or not it’s too soon to fight Buck is to open up your journal and check the danger level of the quest: if it reads “VERY HIGH”, you aren’t ready for him yet. Even on “HIGH” danger, it can be a tough match.

How to Get the Gorilla Arms

Before you try to take on Buck, you’ll want to make sure you can actually do meaningful damage to him during the fight. Especially if you aren’t speccing into Body in your build, you’re going to need the Gorilla Arms in order to put Buck in his place. If you don’t have any yet, read on, otherwise you can skip ahead to the strategy section of the guide.

While there are some fancy, hard to acquire Gorilla Arms out there, we’re going to get some arms that only require 20 street cred and 15,250 Eddies. Head to the Pershing Street fast travel point in Watson, and then head to the ripperdoc just to the North-East of the fast travel point. Note this is the same ripperdoc that you get the free Smartlink from after completing “The Gig”, Cassius Ryder.

If you don’t have the Street Cred or the Eddies for the Gorilla Arms, you can still use the following strategy, but note that it will take you a very long time to finish off Buck, which can become a problem considering that this fight is much more unforgiving than the previous one.

How to Find the Beat on the Brat Arroyo Fight

Once again, the waypoint system might steer you wrong, depending on which direction you approach the quest marker from. This is because Buck is hanging out underneath the block he is on, in an over-pass type area. The simplest way to find him is to head to the Megabuilding H4 fast travel point in Santa Domingo, and then head straight to the quest marker from there. Don’t follow the dotted yellow line! It will lead you to a section of the city directly above where Buck, rather than to Buck himself.

If you don’t have the Megabuilding H4 fast travel point, it’s OK to follow the quest directions to the marker. If you’re coming from the north, the quest directions will lead you into a market. Ignore them and head in the direction of Megabuilding H4. At the next intersection, turn right and then head through the concrete wall towards the quest marker.

How to Beat Buck Arnold

The most important thing to know about the fight with Buck is that you’re going to have to try your absolute hardest to not get hit. Some of Buck’s combos can delete your health bar completely, even if you’re rocking 250+ hp. That being said, it can be hard to complete the whole fight without making any mistakes; for that reason, we recommend taking the Regeneration perk from the Athletics tree, so that you can regen your health if you do mess up (and survive your mistake).

This strategy boils down to baiting Buck into attacking, and then hitting him while he recovers, to ensure that you don’t take any damage in the fight. You can do this by following three simple steps:

1. Back up so that Buck charges at you.
2. When Buck gets close, sprint past him until you see the blue indicator that shows he’s trying (and failing) to hit you. If you turn around fast enough, you’ll be able to see him finishing his combo.
3. Turn around and punch him a couple times while he is recovering from his attack. You can try charging up a strong attack as you turn, or just run in and light attack him a couple times instead.

As with the previous fight, not being greedy is key: throw a couple of light attacks or one strong attack, then back off. If you find yourself low on stamina, simply do steps 1 and 2, but don’t try to punch Buck. Just back away while he recovers, and sprint past him again if you still aren’t full stamina.

If this gets strategy gets boring or feels like it’s taking too long, you can always try hitting Buck with a Strong Attack when he charges in. This can work, but sometimes instead of being staggered Buck will still attack you, which can quickly lead to you losing the fight. If you are confident in your counter-punching, using Block instead of running past Buck will work — just don’t mess up. You’ll still have to run past him a few times to regain your stamina regardless of how you approach the fight.

You should now be ready to take on Buck Arnold and beat the Beat on the Brat: Arroyo quest! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions, or to share your strategy for taking on Buck.