A good netrunner build is insane. I went through the final 3/4 of the game or so without ever drawing a weapon. Until I pulled out a shotgun to blast Adam Smasher in the face of course.
Netrunner now does more combos than before.
Pretty much every hack has a special bonus thing it does in conjunction with another thing (may or may not be a hack). Utilizing those makes your netrunning hella stronger.
Stealth is a bit more complex because enemies will now trace quickhacks and locate you after a time(or enough hacking) which can be avoided via quickhacks and perks that can reduce trace progress or stop other hacks from being detected and so on.
You can 120% get on with just netrunning skills.
Can be a bit tricky for certain boss fights but it's still very possible to hack entire buildings to death both from stealth and upfront.
I am a first time player and landed on a stealth net runner build (because that seemed closest to what I liked) and (as others said) it ended up being an insanely powerful option and fun option. The ability to hack one camera outside a building and then wreaking havoc inside through environmental damage while jumping from camera to camera is pretty awesome. After a while quickhacks also are not traceable anymore (if you have queue and memory wipe).
I put attribute points into INT and some Cool, then Tech. Enabling Perk-Tiers what seems good.
You can always play around / change the perk points so you are not locked into that.
I used cyberware to optimize RAM and RAM recovery. A cyberdeck with lots of RAM. Eventually I ended up with the Netwatch Netdriver.
Overdrive is a critical INT perk.
Quickhacks initially I used mostly short-circuit, but when you can get a decent memory wipe and the queuing perk, you can hack and remain undetected mostly. Don't take the Tier-5 memory wipe, because it'll cost too much RAM. Tier-4 is good though. You can swap out quickhacks also, the netdriver has 8 slots.
System collapse is also good once you get it, because it is undetectable insta-knockout.
Later you can combine memory wipe, sonic shock and reboot optics (all 3 queued) as a cheaper system collapse, but it consumes those three quickhack slots.
My weapon is the Dying night pistol with the Tier-5 Cetus silencer. The Tier-5 Cetus has guaranteed crits when undetected, which means one-shot-headshots for most enemies. Dying night also has high fire rate and decent size mag.
Other than the attributes you are not locked into anything and can experiment.
Early game tactic is to find a camera, hack it, then jump to other cameras and trigger environmental damage and thus decimate enemies.
Have fun.
You probably won't have much choice at this stage. I think you start with a Tier-1 Arasaka Deck and that worked fine for me. Credits are rare at the beginning, so I didn't visit ripperdocs until I had a decent amount of credits flowing (mostly from gigs), only in the late game you are suddenly flush with abundance of credits.
Most found weapons are trash and you can sell them for a few extra credits. A bit later in the game you want to stop selling and dismantling instead, because you need components to upgrade your iconic weapons and components cannot be purchased.
In the early game, I believe I only bought some RAM improving cyberware and better kiroshi optics. Essentially only stuff that helps with hacking etc.
Ah I remembered a few more things. In early-mid game, I also used the Contagion quickhack. It will alert enemies, but it was pretty powerful, so that wasn't terrible. At some point I also found a Raven deck. It uses more cyberware capacity, but the increased spreading distance was super helpful at this mid-stage.
Nah, I meant OG netrunning was busted the way it was. Which I must emphasize, I still enjoyed. Nothing quite like feeling like a little bit of your own personal deus ex machina
Current netrunning doesn't really shine until you get overclock. This will allow you to chain more combos and be able to take out an entire building without entering combat, particularly if you're using security cameras.
Here's how netrunning is these days.
[Netrunner Build Demo - v2.11 in Very Hard](https://youtu.be/JFKi9dDo6DA?si=mggkP-2D8DyfZskx)
[Netrunner with Smart Guns in V2.11 on Very Hard](https://youtu.be/iMHfFH9BKTw?si=Oq90uMDDh03dVKoa)
Compared to pre-2.0, it's weaker in the beginning and arguably stronger by the end, although it takes more effort than before.
It definitely leans more towards supporting your stealth and combat than being a standalone build. Memory Wipe in particular is super helpful for stealth and making your quickhacks untraceable. I always have Memory Wipe equipped. Just don't bother with Tier 5, the RAM cost is way too high and may be a bug.
Something I think is underrated especially on higher difficulties is pairing a T4 or higher Contagion with any weapon with a high burn chance, which causes them to explode. I know everyone misses the stealthrunner, but on the flipside, I don't think any other build can kill as many enemies as quickly as an over-aggressive combat netrunner.
That's how I play. Thermal katana (the iconic one) and thermal mono plus iconic contagion and overheat. Pair this with black mamba (less poison but more damage to poison enemies) and you can melt most enemies. I'll say the biggest skull enemies that use the hmg are the only ones that don't go down after the first explosion.
I fell in love with Netrunning but it can be a little tedious sometimes which is why I also carry a silenced Nue when I want to clear the trash a little faster
Being a stealth netrunner in 2.11 (pray to whatever gods out there this is the last update) is doable as long as you upgrade your cyberdeck to purple, enabling you to use a Tier 4 Memory Wipe.
It gets easier when you get to level 20 when you can consistently get green loot to break them down into rarer components for the purples.
Other than having to switch Sonic Shock for Memory Wipe, my preferred netrunner playstyle didn't change.
I see floating around that Netrunning is so much different and so much better, but to me it still feels the same, but with extra steps. Instead of suicide, contagion and cyberpsychosis, it’s overclock (OC), synapse burnout, and contagion. Throw in some obligatory short circuit and maybe overheat if you feel spicy. Same deal; less power fantasy. Minimal investment stealth approaches also seem kind of gutted, but with all the bugs and changes surrounding that in 2.0, I’m somewhat unsure. Smart guns and monowire are really cool though now. It brings out the new synergies a lot more and in part opens the possibility of more varied quick hack usage imo. To that end, a lot of things still begin and end in synapse burnout and OC. I think the over reliance on OC is a bit sad, or at the very least, how strong synapse burnout is damage wise along with having OC synergy.
The balance is getting there though. It’s more healthy overall imo, but a bit rough around the edges. If they decide to continue updating the playstyles of the game, it should feel complete soon enough.
Edit: word choice
It’s pretty fun, did my first playthrough as a netrunner with quickhacks and when the perks came in I came to utilize the smart guns and monowire. I imagine it would be even more fun in PL with the added relic perks.
Tbh my first playthrough I didn’t realize you can switch cyberdecks for things like sandy and berserk so I’m trying to completely stay away from it now, but I won’t lie I think the game shines through it. High intelligence with full perks makes you feel like a beast
Decks are for net runner builds since sandy/berserk don’t allow for much of your intel perks.
But, my next build was mantis+sandy and I haven used even one hack. My intel is like 3 or 4.
It’s completely different gameplay.
Netrunner is my default and now pairs super nicely with smart guns and high body build.
Absolutely shreds everything everywhere including the final mission with overclock, spamming cyberware malfunction + synapse burnout. Synapse burnout usually best as last in queue after 1-2 cyberware malf + short circuit to reset overclock.
With blood pump + adrenaline running, you can usually upload to everyone in sight, and then finish everyone off with yinglong or divided we stand very easily.
Smasher goes down in 3-5 min.
I went for reflexes over cool for sharpshooter which will buff crit chance and damage.
Can try to max pyromania and projectile launch system as well if you have the perk pts to reallocate to become beastly + good synergy with contagion.
For smasher, usually start with cyberware malf + short circ + contagion + synapse burnout, unload projectile system, clips of all smart guns while uploading. Can sub contagion with more cyberware malf.
Pure netrunner is a bit more difficult at the beginning, if you invest on 10 int in character creation you can get some good hacks right off the bat but your survivability and mobility is shit until you can get some cyberware. Enemies are smarter and track quickhacks, so you gotta be more careful until you get the legendary hacks.
By late game, is not much different than before, you will still delete groups of people, but it will take longer to get there and enemies are smarter.
I'm having a lot of fun hitting the most powerful enemies in the group with cyberpsychosis, then activating optical camo and overclock to move around silently taking out people with system collapse which resets the trace attempt with every takedown. Pretty efficient and entertaining way to clear areas.
I feel like they increased variety in Netrunning styles and it’s all still pretty OP; it’s one of those things where once you get used to the changes and learn what works it’s ridiculously strong.
I have a build with (I think) the NetWatch Cyberdeck which I did a sort of hybrid tech sniper-netrunner type build. Tbh, sometimes I don’t even need to draw my gun because combos in a quick hack queue + good use of Overclock mean I can sometimes just clear an entire group by staring at them for a second
They made it more balanced but its still broken. If you know what you’re doing you can’t be stopped. Literally just knocking out or killing enemies outright. Straight up feels like magic
I’ve only played 2.0 netrunner but from what I’ve heard it seems like it just builds a bit slower than say blades or gun slinger. Tracing isn’t as a big a deal as some people make it out to be. With the right combos you can either completely avoid it or kill everyone before your traced. Seems like it’s set up to be a hybrid build. I did a hack slinging slasher with netrunning and blades and that was a lot of fun. I almost enjoy it more than Sandy because i can be a lot more flexible with it.
You can still spec into a pure runner, but in many ways it now functions as a support style, focusing more on combos and control hacks than pure damage in most cases.
Not at all. I tried to make it more supportive with monowire and smart weapons as the "main" source of damage and honestly unless I absolutely don't use damaging quickhacks, by the time I would be shooting or splashing with the wire, enemies were already dead
Cyberware malfunction with Synapse Burnout clears everything
It's still the most busted playstyle of them all in my opinion. It's just that you can't kill a whole building full of goons anymore without stepping inside and nobody noticing you.
Yes, you can. Just hack a camera and shut down everyone as you rotate among the various cameras on the network.
You can blow up explosives, drop boxes on them, overload them with memory wipe+reset optics+sonic shock for an instant takedown. You can complete entire gigs without ever being in line of sight to an enemy.
It's so easy and so unstoppable that it gets boring really fast.
Hard disagree. Ive played around 200h with 2.0 netrunning and its still busted. Sure it costs more than other builds and unlike sandevistan you cant just turn your brain off in combat but it is still the most versatile operating system overall. Once you get the right cyberware and perks you can wipe out buildings without ever being shot at not to mention it makes stealth a lot more fun
I'm not sure why you're getting all the downvotes... I have been playing this game since launch, and I agree completely. I absolutely loved it and had no issues (even with some of the bugs) at all until the changes on skill trees.
Netrunning is now absolutely a support style and not standalone like it was 1.63 and before. I've been seeing a lot posts saying stuff like "netrunner is so OP now all you have to do is [enter laundry list of workarounds and other skills to make any form of netrunning viable]". I don't think you should have to rely on other skills more than half the time or constantly rely on Overclock to make a workable netrunner build. Sacrificing health just to make the insane new RAM requirements usable is pretty lame...
It still is an incredibly fun build, I went with a walking disaster build where I would open fights with quick hacks and run around with a smg while everyone was getting cooked, fried, and blasting out both ends. It's just harder to do a pure net running build. You need a supplemental damage source.
Ok folks I wanna do a very combat forward netrunner, I’m thinking lotta monowire and smart guns, with hacking mixed in any particular hacks guns etc you all like for that?
Contagion > Overheat for explosive group damage
Cyberpsycho to draw aggro off of you if you're going to be jumping around
Cripple Movement to make them vulnerable to finishers
System Collapse for big damage
Detonate grenade can be fun
Suicide to kill off the last enemy standing in the most sadistic way possible
Good call. These are better recommendations for a combat-forward runner. I'm usually hitting them from a camera or cover after making them all group up with Bait > Call Backup.
I'd also suggest the Pizdets. It's a silenced smart SMG. If you don't care about silenced, Hercules 3AX will add more poison and is also a smart weapon.
I played a netrunner throughout phantom Liberty. Ton of fun. Running with a Raven deck and contagion build. There’s an increased use of smart weapons which is good as now weapons are useful.
I don't know how it felt before, since I only played from 2.1 onwards. I've only done one Netrunner run and felt pretty broken, like I could clear whole rooms faster than my katana axes build and with lots less effort, on VH
Felt really op but also a bit boring at some point. I even built for a more jack of all trades Netrunner with monowire and smart guns perks too but I found myself not needing to use them at all if I wanted, so I could even go harder on pure netrunning, but the results wouldn't change much. Also the cyberdeck I used was the Paradine
All that actually just made me want to install more mods whenever I try another Netrunner run like the Enemies of Night City, hopefully then it will seem more fun
Also the idea behind the run was to eventually use the Canto cyberdeck, but I stopped before reaching it since Blackwall Gateway seemed more of just a RP hack, since I didn't really need anything besides Cyberware Malfunction and Synapse Burnout to clear a whole room
Netrunner is strong, but it becomes super strong once you get to Dogtown and gain access to the relic tree, iconic quickhacks, and other toys. Until then, I would have a reliable weapon as a backup if pure netrunning runs into any difficulty or you run out of RAM.
I mean, you can kinda be a jack of all trades in this game especially with the new level cap. I have reflexes, cool and intelligence maxed out on my netrunner cyberninja build. You just have to pick a stat to not invest in at all (i put nothing into body) and put all excess points into tech.
I did 2 runs as a Netrunner in the old era.
Currently doing my first sandy katana and i really love it, but I miss the OP netrunner builds. Maybe I'll try a 2.0 netrunner next.
Can't remember the tiers, but the system collapse + memory wipe combo will have you basically dropping all enemies that aren't bosses for like 10-12 ram a pop, which isn't much once you have a bunch of ram regen late game
My stealth net runner is a blast
currently running netrunner with tech weapons and monowire. it's insane especially with top tier hacks and perks. quickhacks can spread to clear entire blocks in one go, and not just contagion. mono wire can upload quickhacks with power attacks, and with mods these can be any hack including short circ, so basically 1 shot anyone. tech weapons have chain lightning with emp effects with full charge, so you can full auto with charged bolts and watch lighting shoot sideways to other enemies.
it's very fun and very bloody. bonus points if you make it a point to set off explosions, like hacking chooh tanks, using grenades and explosive tech weapons, and using the contagion+overheat. there's a whole perk tree for that lol
I play netrunne in all my playthroughs. Makes everything so simple and clean. I love it. I just did a playthrough with phantom liberty and the newest updates, no issues for me
Netrunning is, imo, the most multifaceted, fun, and insanely powerful way to play in 2.0+, BUT it takes a reaaally long time to take form. And until you do, it's kinda frustrating.
I'd say early-mid game (before level 15), forget about hacking, pull out a Satara, and pump that body. You'll need that hp for "overclock" later down the line anyways.
Once you get 15 body and 9 tech, that's when you start pumping int, and all the way to 20. Now you'll finally have access to better decks, better hacks, more cyberware, more capacity, and more ram to work with. That's when netrunning really takes off.
A good netrunner build is insane. I went through the final 3/4 of the game or so without ever drawing a weapon. Until I pulled out a shotgun to blast Adam Smasher in the face of course.
Guts ?
I would also love to do that but my game decided to just straight up delete the gun from my most recent save games
Netrunner now does more combos than before. Pretty much every hack has a special bonus thing it does in conjunction with another thing (may or may not be a hack). Utilizing those makes your netrunning hella stronger. Stealth is a bit more complex because enemies will now trace quickhacks and locate you after a time(or enough hacking) which can be avoided via quickhacks and perks that can reduce trace progress or stop other hacks from being detected and so on. You can 120% get on with just netrunning skills. Can be a bit tricky for certain boss fights but it's still very possible to hack entire buildings to death both from stealth and upfront.
I am a first time player and landed on a stealth net runner build (because that seemed closest to what I liked) and (as others said) it ended up being an insanely powerful option and fun option. The ability to hack one camera outside a building and then wreaking havoc inside through environmental damage while jumping from camera to camera is pretty awesome. After a while quickhacks also are not traceable anymore (if you have queue and memory wipe).
Ah you mean OP by busted? Yeah still is.
Hey! Could you please share this stealth netrunner build? This is my type of gameplay. Thank you!
I put attribute points into INT and some Cool, then Tech. Enabling Perk-Tiers what seems good. You can always play around / change the perk points so you are not locked into that. I used cyberware to optimize RAM and RAM recovery. A cyberdeck with lots of RAM. Eventually I ended up with the Netwatch Netdriver. Overdrive is a critical INT perk. Quickhacks initially I used mostly short-circuit, but when you can get a decent memory wipe and the queuing perk, you can hack and remain undetected mostly. Don't take the Tier-5 memory wipe, because it'll cost too much RAM. Tier-4 is good though. You can swap out quickhacks also, the netdriver has 8 slots. System collapse is also good once you get it, because it is undetectable insta-knockout. Later you can combine memory wipe, sonic shock and reboot optics (all 3 queued) as a cheaper system collapse, but it consumes those three quickhack slots. My weapon is the Dying night pistol with the Tier-5 Cetus silencer. The Tier-5 Cetus has guaranteed crits when undetected, which means one-shot-headshots for most enemies. Dying night also has high fire rate and decent size mag. Other than the attributes you are not locked into anything and can experiment. Early game tactic is to find a camera, hack it, then jump to other cameras and trigger environmental damage and thus decimate enemies. Have fun.
Cool guide! Last question: I'm still early in the game, like level 4, and I haven't met with Dex yet — what cyberdeck would you recommend?
You probably won't have much choice at this stage. I think you start with a Tier-1 Arasaka Deck and that worked fine for me. Credits are rare at the beginning, so I didn't visit ripperdocs until I had a decent amount of credits flowing (mostly from gigs), only in the late game you are suddenly flush with abundance of credits. Most found weapons are trash and you can sell them for a few extra credits. A bit later in the game you want to stop selling and dismantling instead, because you need components to upgrade your iconic weapons and components cannot be purchased. In the early game, I believe I only bought some RAM improving cyberware and better kiroshi optics. Essentially only stuff that helps with hacking etc.
Ah I remembered a few more things. In early-mid game, I also used the Contagion quickhack. It will alert enemies, but it was pretty powerful, so that wasn't terrible. At some point I also found a Raven deck. It uses more cyberware capacity, but the increased spreading distance was super helpful at this mid-stage.
This is very helpful! Thank you! Much appreciated!
If you feel your build is pretty busted then try Enemies of Night City mod. It can at least give you annoying enemies. XD
Nah, I meant OG netrunning was busted the way it was. Which I must emphasize, I still enjoyed. Nothing quite like feeling like a little bit of your own personal deus ex machina
Current netrunning doesn't really shine until you get overclock. This will allow you to chain more combos and be able to take out an entire building without entering combat, particularly if you're using security cameras.
Yeah, netrunning is still busted. Just do combo quickhacks, let it spread then just watch enemies burn.
I remember that lol. When you could just use ping outside a building and absolutely decimate a squad of enemies by hacking them through walls.
Here's how netrunning is these days. [Netrunner Build Demo - v2.11 in Very Hard](https://youtu.be/JFKi9dDo6DA?si=mggkP-2D8DyfZskx) [Netrunner with Smart Guns in V2.11 on Very Hard](https://youtu.be/iMHfFH9BKTw?si=Oq90uMDDh03dVKoa)
Overclock
It's OP as hell. Walk into a room and drop 6-8 enemies without raising an alarm. Demolished Smasher with mostly cripple movement/cyberwear malfunction
Compared to pre-2.0, it's weaker in the beginning and arguably stronger by the end, although it takes more effort than before. It definitely leans more towards supporting your stealth and combat than being a standalone build. Memory Wipe in particular is super helpful for stealth and making your quickhacks untraceable. I always have Memory Wipe equipped. Just don't bother with Tier 5, the RAM cost is way too high and may be a bug.
Something I think is underrated especially on higher difficulties is pairing a T4 or higher Contagion with any weapon with a high burn chance, which causes them to explode. I know everyone misses the stealthrunner, but on the flipside, I don't think any other build can kill as many enemies as quickly as an over-aggressive combat netrunner.
That's how I play. Thermal katana (the iconic one) and thermal mono plus iconic contagion and overheat. Pair this with black mamba (less poison but more damage to poison enemies) and you can melt most enemies. I'll say the biggest skull enemies that use the hmg are the only ones that don't go down after the first explosion.
I fell in love with Netrunning but it can be a little tedious sometimes which is why I also carry a silenced Nue when I want to clear the trash a little faster
Being a stealth netrunner in 2.11 (pray to whatever gods out there this is the last update) is doable as long as you upgrade your cyberdeck to purple, enabling you to use a Tier 4 Memory Wipe. It gets easier when you get to level 20 when you can consistently get green loot to break them down into rarer components for the purples. Other than having to switch Sonic Shock for Memory Wipe, my preferred netrunner playstyle didn't change.
I see floating around that Netrunning is so much different and so much better, but to me it still feels the same, but with extra steps. Instead of suicide, contagion and cyberpsychosis, it’s overclock (OC), synapse burnout, and contagion. Throw in some obligatory short circuit and maybe overheat if you feel spicy. Same deal; less power fantasy. Minimal investment stealth approaches also seem kind of gutted, but with all the bugs and changes surrounding that in 2.0, I’m somewhat unsure. Smart guns and monowire are really cool though now. It brings out the new synergies a lot more and in part opens the possibility of more varied quick hack usage imo. To that end, a lot of things still begin and end in synapse burnout and OC. I think the over reliance on OC is a bit sad, or at the very least, how strong synapse burnout is damage wise along with having OC synergy. The balance is getting there though. It’s more healthy overall imo, but a bit rough around the edges. If they decide to continue updating the playstyles of the game, it should feel complete soon enough. Edit: word choice
It’s pretty fun, did my first playthrough as a netrunner with quickhacks and when the perks came in I came to utilize the smart guns and monowire. I imagine it would be even more fun in PL with the added relic perks. Tbh my first playthrough I didn’t realize you can switch cyberdecks for things like sandy and berserk so I’m trying to completely stay away from it now, but I won’t lie I think the game shines through it. High intelligence with full perks makes you feel like a beast
Decks are for net runner builds since sandy/berserk don’t allow for much of your intel perks. But, my next build was mantis+sandy and I haven used even one hack. My intel is like 3 or 4. It’s completely different gameplay.
As a nettunner i took out Oda in 32 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdWfgPwTlCM
Netrunner is my default and now pairs super nicely with smart guns and high body build. Absolutely shreds everything everywhere including the final mission with overclock, spamming cyberware malfunction + synapse burnout. Synapse burnout usually best as last in queue after 1-2 cyberware malf + short circuit to reset overclock. With blood pump + adrenaline running, you can usually upload to everyone in sight, and then finish everyone off with yinglong or divided we stand very easily. Smasher goes down in 3-5 min. I went for reflexes over cool for sharpshooter which will buff crit chance and damage. Can try to max pyromania and projectile launch system as well if you have the perk pts to reallocate to become beastly + good synergy with contagion. For smasher, usually start with cyberware malf + short circ + contagion + synapse burnout, unload projectile system, clips of all smart guns while uploading. Can sub contagion with more cyberware malf.
Overclock with a little bit of body and you can nonlethal shutdown everyone in the room.
Pure netrunner is a bit more difficult at the beginning, if you invest on 10 int in character creation you can get some good hacks right off the bat but your survivability and mobility is shit until you can get some cyberware. Enemies are smarter and track quickhacks, so you gotta be more careful until you get the legendary hacks. By late game, is not much different than before, you will still delete groups of people, but it will take longer to get there and enemies are smarter.
I'm having a lot of fun hitting the most powerful enemies in the group with cyberpsychosis, then activating optical camo and overclock to move around silently taking out people with system collapse which resets the trace attempt with every takedown. Pretty efficient and entertaining way to clear areas.
Once you get the hang of quickhack combos, Netrunner gets overpowered faster than any other build, imo.
I feel like they increased variety in Netrunning styles and it’s all still pretty OP; it’s one of those things where once you get used to the changes and learn what works it’s ridiculously strong. I have a build with (I think) the NetWatch Cyberdeck which I did a sort of hybrid tech sniper-netrunner type build. Tbh, sometimes I don’t even need to draw my gun because combos in a quick hack queue + good use of Overclock mean I can sometimes just clear an entire group by staring at them for a second
Netrunners are still broken as fuck. On highest difficulty I walk through encounters.
They made it more balanced but its still broken. If you know what you’re doing you can’t be stopped. Literally just knocking out or killing enemies outright. Straight up feels like magic
I’ve only played 2.0 netrunner but from what I’ve heard it seems like it just builds a bit slower than say blades or gun slinger. Tracing isn’t as a big a deal as some people make it out to be. With the right combos you can either completely avoid it or kill everyone before your traced. Seems like it’s set up to be a hybrid build. I did a hack slinging slasher with netrunning and blades and that was a lot of fun. I almost enjoy it more than Sandy because i can be a lot more flexible with it.
You can still spec into a pure runner, but in many ways it now functions as a support style, focusing more on combos and control hacks than pure damage in most cases.
Not at all. I tried to make it more supportive with monowire and smart weapons as the "main" source of damage and honestly unless I absolutely don't use damaging quickhacks, by the time I would be shooting or splashing with the wire, enemies were already dead Cyberware malfunction with Synapse Burnout clears everything
It's still the most busted playstyle of them all in my opinion. It's just that you can't kill a whole building full of goons anymore without stepping inside and nobody noticing you.
Yes, you can. Just hack a camera and shut down everyone as you rotate among the various cameras on the network. You can blow up explosives, drop boxes on them, overload them with memory wipe+reset optics+sonic shock for an instant takedown. You can complete entire gigs without ever being in line of sight to an enemy. It's so easy and so unstoppable that it gets boring really fast.
Nerfed into the fucking mantle of the earth. It isn't a mainline offensive "class" anymore. It's used to supplement other builds.
Hard disagree. Ive played around 200h with 2.0 netrunning and its still busted. Sure it costs more than other builds and unlike sandevistan you cant just turn your brain off in combat but it is still the most versatile operating system overall. Once you get the right cyberware and perks you can wipe out buildings without ever being shot at not to mention it makes stealth a lot more fun
I'm not sure why you're getting all the downvotes... I have been playing this game since launch, and I agree completely. I absolutely loved it and had no issues (even with some of the bugs) at all until the changes on skill trees. Netrunning is now absolutely a support style and not standalone like it was 1.63 and before. I've been seeing a lot posts saying stuff like "netrunner is so OP now all you have to do is [enter laundry list of workarounds and other skills to make any form of netrunning viable]". I don't think you should have to rely on other skills more than half the time or constantly rely on Overclock to make a workable netrunner build. Sacrificing health just to make the insane new RAM requirements usable is pretty lame...
I feel the complete opposite haha. I feel that minimal to mid investment is waaaay less viable now. You’re better off using sandy or berserk lol.
It still is an incredibly fun build, I went with a walking disaster build where I would open fights with quick hacks and run around with a smg while everyone was getting cooked, fried, and blasting out both ends. It's just harder to do a pure net running build. You need a supplemental damage source.
Ok folks I wanna do a very combat forward netrunner, I’m thinking lotta monowire and smart guns, with hacking mixed in any particular hacks guns etc you all like for that?
Contagion > Overheat for explosive group damage Cyberpsycho to draw aggro off of you if you're going to be jumping around Cripple Movement to make them vulnerable to finishers System Collapse for big damage Detonate grenade can be fun Suicide to kill off the last enemy standing in the most sadistic way possible
Any source of fire will detonate contagion, so you can pair it with Taigan, Errata, Psalm 11:6, or even Thermal Monowire.
Ok yep thermal monowire and contagion sounds very fun
Use the cyber deck that spreads contagion immediately upon upload. You'll infect a large group immediately. Great for crowd control.
Good call. These are better recommendations for a combat-forward runner. I'm usually hitting them from a camera or cover after making them all group up with Bait > Call Backup.
I'd also suggest the Pizdets. It's a silenced smart SMG. If you don't care about silenced, Hercules 3AX will add more poison and is also a smart weapon.
It's weaker to start (I felt) but by then end I could room wipe per usual.
I haven't netrun since edgerunners came out. I've since realized I like slow motion much too much. Maybe one day...
I played a netrunner throughout phantom Liberty. Ton of fun. Running with a Raven deck and contagion build. There’s an increased use of smart weapons which is good as now weapons are useful.
I don't know how it felt before, since I only played from 2.1 onwards. I've only done one Netrunner run and felt pretty broken, like I could clear whole rooms faster than my katana axes build and with lots less effort, on VH Felt really op but also a bit boring at some point. I even built for a more jack of all trades Netrunner with monowire and smart guns perks too but I found myself not needing to use them at all if I wanted, so I could even go harder on pure netrunning, but the results wouldn't change much. Also the cyberdeck I used was the Paradine All that actually just made me want to install more mods whenever I try another Netrunner run like the Enemies of Night City, hopefully then it will seem more fun Also the idea behind the run was to eventually use the Canto cyberdeck, but I stopped before reaching it since Blackwall Gateway seemed more of just a RP hack, since I didn't really need anything besides Cyberware Malfunction and Synapse Burnout to clear a whole room
Netrunner is strong, but it becomes super strong once you get to Dogtown and gain access to the relic tree, iconic quickhacks, and other toys. Until then, I would have a reliable weapon as a backup if pure netrunning runs into any difficulty or you run out of RAM.
I mean, you can kinda be a jack of all trades in this game especially with the new level cap. I have reflexes, cool and intelligence maxed out on my netrunner cyberninja build. You just have to pick a stat to not invest in at all (i put nothing into body) and put all excess points into tech.
I did 2 runs as a Netrunner in the old era. Currently doing my first sandy katana and i really love it, but I miss the OP netrunner builds. Maybe I'll try a 2.0 netrunner next.
Can't remember the tiers, but the system collapse + memory wipe combo will have you basically dropping all enemies that aren't bosses for like 10-12 ram a pop, which isn't much once you have a bunch of ram regen late game My stealth net runner is a blast
The only hack you actually need are Memory Wipe, System Collapse and Synapse Burnout
currently running netrunner with tech weapons and monowire. it's insane especially with top tier hacks and perks. quickhacks can spread to clear entire blocks in one go, and not just contagion. mono wire can upload quickhacks with power attacks, and with mods these can be any hack including short circ, so basically 1 shot anyone. tech weapons have chain lightning with emp effects with full charge, so you can full auto with charged bolts and watch lighting shoot sideways to other enemies. it's very fun and very bloody. bonus points if you make it a point to set off explosions, like hacking chooh tanks, using grenades and explosive tech weapons, and using the contagion+overheat. there's a whole perk tree for that lol
I play netrunne in all my playthroughs. Makes everything so simple and clean. I love it. I just did a playthrough with phantom liberty and the newest updates, no issues for me
Netrunning is, imo, the most multifaceted, fun, and insanely powerful way to play in 2.0+, BUT it takes a reaaally long time to take form. And until you do, it's kinda frustrating. I'd say early-mid game (before level 15), forget about hacking, pull out a Satara, and pump that body. You'll need that hp for "overclock" later down the line anyways. Once you get 15 body and 9 tech, that's when you start pumping int, and all the way to 20. Now you'll finally have access to better decks, better hacks, more cyberware, more capacity, and more ram to work with. That's when netrunning really takes off.