Whether you’re new to Cyberpunk 2077 or a weathered veteran who’s looking for some fresh inspiration, we’ve got just the thing for you! We prepared three varied builds for you to experiment with, and broke them down into easy-to-follow categories so you know where to invest your perk points from the very beginning to the end game, as well as which weapons and cyberware best synergize with them (and where you can find them).
Last, but not least, we’re presenting Hack-&-Slash Netrunner — make sure to check it out in our Build Planner.
Netrunning might seem like a passive playstyle on the surface, but this build introduces some more up-close combat options and options to increase RAM recovery and play around with some of the deadly quickhack combos that arrived as part of Update 2.0.
Perks
Compared to other builds, netrunners have almost all the perks they might need in the Intelligence Tree. From the start of the game, we’ll allocate all of our points here until we reach the Phenom Intelligence level. Our points should be split between the left and middle Intelligence branches. We’ll start by purchasing the Optimization perk to greatly improve our RAM regeneration. Next, we’ll get access to Hack Queue and unlock it together with Data Recycler. After doing so, we should switch our focus back to the middle branch and try unlocking Overclock as soon as possible. While the tree offers a lot of powerful damage bonuses, we should first prioritize anything that gives more RAM regen or regenerates HP. Power Surge and Sublimation are both awesome choices in that regard.
After unlocking the Spillover master perk, we should switch our focus to the Body tree. We’ll be investing purely in the middle Body branch to unlock the Adrenaline Rush perk. This perk provides us with an Overshield and lets us be a bit more aggressive with our Monowire. Once we’re comfortable enough in close quarters, we should definitely put our perk points in both Finisher: Live Wire and Siphon. Finishers allow us to maintain high HP even during Overclock, while Siphon keeps our RAM topped up.
With the base of our build done, we can start investing into the right Intelligence branch, which grants multiple bonuses for smart guns. The Recirculation perk gives us yet another way to regenerate RAM in the middle of combat. Since most useful smart guns for our build just so happen to be SMGs, it might be good to drop some points into the Reflexes tree. Sharpshooter, Practice Makes Perfect, and the Shoot to Chill perks will significantly increase our SMG damage. Shoot to Chill also received an upgrade in Update 2.1 and now grants up to 28% armor penetration, which is a helpful buff for smart weapons that are lacking in that department.
Cyberware
There’s no netrunning without a cyberdeck! While there are a lot of interesting options, the Militech Paraline, aka our starting deck, is actually one of the best. It offers a lot of flexibility and supports both Monowire and smart weapons while taking little cyberware capacity compared to other decks. You can keep upgrading your base deck with crafting materials or keep checking your local ripperdoc’s inventory every few levels. Always try to keep your deck updated to the highest rarity!
To keep our RAM high we should buy Ex-Disk, Mechatronic Core, and RAM Upgrade. Memory Boost is also great but takes much more cyberware capacity. Mechatronic Core can be swapped with this piece at a higher level.
The Ultimate Edition introduced two new pieces of cyberware: Feen-X and Cogito Lattice. They were both designed with netrunners in mind, so we’ll definitely add them to our build.
Netrunners might struggle a bit with survivability, especially early on, so Scar Coalescer and Reflex Tuner can both help us when our HP gets dangerously low. Biomonitor and Second Heart, while more expensive, give even more protection and allow us to be more aggressive with Overclock and Monowire.
Quickhacks
The queue mechanic introduces a completely new layer of quickhack interactions. With that in mind, we’ll focus on two main quickhack combos. Cyberware Malfunction will greatly increase the damage of Short Circuit, allowing us to dispatch even the tankiest enemies. Contagion and Overheat, on the other hand, will explode enemies, giving us one of the strongest crowd control options in the game.
Weapon Glitch, Reboot Optics, and Ping can occupy the remaining slots in our deck to help in some sticky situations and provide much-needed quality of life
Weapons
While quickhack combos usually require us to upload two hacks from our deck, there are exceptions. One of these is Fenrir, an SMG that can be found in Northside Watson during one of the optional quests. This weapon has a chance to apply cyberware malfunction on every hit, improving the damage of our Short Circuit hack. Another weapon-hack combo is available a bit later in the story during the Arasaka Warehouse infiltration. Before you enter the warehouse, check the containers outside to find the Shingen Mark V — a smart SMG with a chance of applying burn. This smart gun will not only grant us RAM on kills but also explode enemies affected by Contagion.
That leaves us with one more weapon slot open. Here, we can either use the Ashura Sniper for an easy elite dispatch or Yinglong Iconic SMG for extra crowd control. With the Submachine Fun perk, running 3 SMGs might not be the worst idea since the perk will automatically refill our reserves on the weapon swap. Just make sure to switch to Monowire from time to time to not run out of ammo!
Late game
Being a netrunner provides endless possibilities! While the Militech Paraline is great for most combat encounters, other cyberdecks are a lot more specialized. Once you’ve built yourself up as a netrunner to be feared, feel free to play around with other options. With our endless RAM reserves, we can utilize ultimate hacks like Suicide or Cyberpsychosis, not to mention explore all of the various quickhack interactions.
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