Every Phantom Liberty Ending Explained: The Four Kings and The Tower

Phantom Liberty has four endings, King of Wands, King of Swords, King of Cups and King of Pentacles, decided by two choices: whether V sides with Songbird or Solomon Reed in the quest Firestarter, and then what V does with Songbird at the end of that path. The two endings where Songbird ends up alive in the hands of the New United States, Swords and Pentacles, also open The Tower, a new ending for the whole game in which the NUSA removes the Relic and V lives. This guide goes deeper than the expansion section of our Cyberpunk 2077 endings guide. Full spoilers. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Which choices lead to which ending#

Everything turns on two decisions. The first comes in Firestarter, at the stadium, once V has the neural matrix in hand. The second depends on which side V took. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Firestarter")

• Side with Songbird, put her on the shuttle, kill Reed: King of Wands. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")
• Side with Songbird, surrender her to Reed at the spaceport: King of Swords. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")
• Side with Reed, grant Songbird's request to die in Cynosure: King of Cups. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Somewhat Damaged")
• Side with Reed, refuse her request: King of Pentacles. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Somewhat Damaged")

Some things happen on every route. Kurt Hansen, the warlord who runs Dogtown, dies in Firestarter whichever way V goes. Alex Xenakis, Reed's sleeper agent, survives only on Songbird's side, because on Reed's side Hansen kills her when Songbird raises the alarm. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Firestarter")

Songbird's path: what she admits at the spaceport#

If V sides with Songbird, Alex kills Hansen and Songbird breaks V out of the stadium. A few days later she meets V in an alley and lays out her plan: board a shuttle from the NCX Spaceport to the lunar colony at Tycho, where contacts she has never met will treat her. All she knows about them, she says, is that they have blue eyes. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")

Then the NUSA's black ops hit the spaceport. On the monorail to the shuttle, weak and fading, Songbird finally tells V the truth. The neural matrix holds an AI from beyond the Blackwall and can be used only once. She betrayed Reed years ago, and she has done the same to V. Reed is waiting at the end of the line. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")

King of Wands: Songbird goes to the Moon#

How to get it. Side with Songbird in Firestarter, carry her to the shuttle in The Killing Moon, and fight Reed when he confronts you. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")

What happens. V kills Reed and puts Songbird on the shuttle. Afterwards Alex asks to meet at The Moth, and the two drink to the people they've lost; V can toast Reed, Jackie Welles, Johnny Silverhand and others. A postcard later turns up at V's door. About a day after the drink, a text from an unknown number tells V to return to the place that reminds her of home. At Tranquil Terrace, where Songbird once met V alone, a small container holds a Quantum Tuner and a metal pin. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Unfinished Sympathy"; "From Her to Eternity")

What it means. Songbird gets the freedom she lied and killed for, and V gets nothing that fixes the Relic. It is the only ending where the man who wanted to bring her home dies. The blue eyes she mentions point back to Mr. Blue Eyes, the figure who offers V the Crystal Palace job in the base game's Sun ending, though the game never spells out the link. That reading is interpretation. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty; Cyberpunk 2077)

King of Swords: Songbird goes home#

How to get it. Side with Songbird in Firestarter, then surrender her to Reed when he confronts you at the spaceport. Calling Reed during The Killing Moon also leads here. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon")

What happens. Reed takes Songbird alive and tells V she will be treated, not executed, though she will be held to account for betraying the NUSA. Afterwards Johnny notices that her presence in the Relic has gone quiet, as if she were very far away. Reed calls V to a meeting at a CHOOH2 station and keeps his side of the deal: the NUSA can try to cure V. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon"; "Through Pain to Heaven")

What it means. V trades Songbird's freedom for a chance at life. Nobody dies at the spaceport except the people caught in the crossfire, and Reed gets the agent he came for. If V later takes The Tower, Reed mentions two years on that Songbird is alive but that he has been cut off from news of her. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Things Done Changed")

Reed's path: what V finds in Cynosure#

If V sides with Reed, Songbird alerts Hansen, Hansen kills Alex, and V's ICE module stops Songbird's attack. V kills Hansen on the way out and watches MaxTac capture her. V and Reed ambush the MaxTac convoy, but Songbird escapes and crashes the truck into Cynosure, an abandoned Militech facility under Dogtown built to trap rogue AIs. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Firestarter"; "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos")

V follows her down alone. Through echoes of her memories and a Cerberus robot she controls, V reaches the core and finds her wired into it, her mind being eaten by what she pulled through the Blackwall. She says she can't go back to President Rosalind Myers and asks V to end her life. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Somewhat Damaged")

King of Cups: V kills Songbird#

How to get it. Side with Reed in Firestarter, finish the convoy job, and grant Songbird's request at the end of Somewhat Damaged. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Somewhat Damaged")

What happens. V kills her. Reed arrives soon after, blaming V and himself. At the Dogtown border, Myers comes to see V, offers no thanks and pays a token €$5,000. Later, at the basketball court where they first met, Reed bitterly admits V was right to do it. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Leave in Silence"; "Four Score and Seven")

What it means. King of Cups is the ending where V puts Songbird's wishes above V's own survival. Her death leaves the NUSA nothing to trade for, so there is no cure. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

King of Pentacles: Songbird is taken back#

How to get it. Side with Reed in Firestarter, finish the convoy job, and refuse Songbird's request in Somewhat Damaged. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Somewhat Damaged")

What happens. V brings her out alive and a medical team takes her at the border. Myers thanks V, offers a medal for distinguished service (which V can refuse) and pays €$30,000. At the basketball court, Reed tells V that Songbird survived, but only as Myers' netrunner, leashed to the Blackwall. Then he keeps his promise of a possible cure. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Leave in Silence"; "Four Score and Seven")

What it means. V gets paid, decorated and offered a future, and Songbird gets the one fate she begged to avoid. It is the most rewarding ending for V and the darkest for her. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

The Tower: the ending Phantom Liberty adds to the base game#

How to get it. Finish King of Swords or King of Pentacles. Reed then contacts V with the offer, which V can turn down or accept. Accepting sends V to the rooftop of Misty's Esoterica, where the option to call Reed appears. The same call is also on the rooftop in Nocturne Op55N1, alongside the base game's options. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Who Wants to Live Forever"; Cyberpunk 2077, "Nocturne Op55N1")

What happens. V sits with Johnny on the roof for a last conversation, can text friends, and waits for the FIA agents and their AV. Johnny knows the operation will erase him. V wakes from a medically induced coma in a NUSA military hospital in 2079 with Reed at the bedside. The Relic is out and V will live, but the surgery left V's brain unable to handle cyberware. Reed offers V a job with the NUSA and lets V call old friends. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Who Wants to Live Forever"; "Things Done Changed")

Back in Night City, Misty's shop has become a Zetatech clinic, and Viktor Vektor, working there, confirms the NUSA diagnosis. Street thugs beat V up, Misty helps V to their feet and says she is moving to Poland, and V walks off into the crowd. If V went down Songbird's path, the news two years on also talks of rising tension between Orbital Air and Night Corp. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Things Done Changed")

What it means. The Tower is the only ending in Cyberpunk 2077 where V lives for more than a few months, and it takes away everything that made V a merc. Partners and friends have moved on, which our romance guide covers person by person. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Why the endings are named after tarot Kings#

The four Kings are murals hidden around Dogtown, each painted near the spot where V first met one of the expansion's leads: the King of Cups near where V meets Songbird, Pentacles by Myers' hideout, Wands at Tranquil Terrace where V meets Reed, and Swords outside The Moth where V meets Alex. Misty will read them once V finds all four. The base game names its endings after Major Arcana cards in the same way. Our guide to the tarot in Cyberpunk 2077 covers what each card means. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, "Tomorrow Never Knows"; Cyberpunk 2077)

Which Phantom Liberty ending is best for V?#

If the question is V's survival, King of Swords or King of Pentacles, because only they lead to The Tower. Between the two, Swords keeps Alex alive and Pentacles pays better. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

If the question is Songbird, King of Wands is the only ending where she is free, and King of Cups is the only one where she gets what she asked for at the end. The expansion doesn't call any of these the right answer, and none of them is treated as canon here. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)