Cyberpunk 2077 has a large selection of combat mechanics and tools, but one of the most important choices V will make is the flavor of the cyberdeck. One of Cyberpunk 2077The positive among all the controversies is the wide variety in approach to gameplay, and while some choices may have initially felt buggy or shallow, the game’s many extensive updates have helped the myriad builds and combat styles become more enjoyable and fleshed out. In most builds, there will often be room for quickhacks, hack attacks that the player could unleash on enemies in normal gameplay that primarily focused on either stealth or debuffing the enemy. Cyberdecks is the tool that allows the player to perform these quickhacks.
Quickhacks are a versatile game mechanic that can range from small distractions to explosive ultimates that can only be obtained by finding legendary items like Bartmoss’ cyber deck in Cyberpunk 2077. There are a few things that go into quickhacks. First, the player will need a cyber deck, which the game will give them a standard card early on, but they will quickly upgrade if they want to use better quickhacks. Second, they have to find quickhacks themselves. There are plenty of abilities with specific conditions and resource requirements that will take up space in an online deck, most of them in different rarities as well. Finally, investing in the quickhacking skill tree can give the player many benefits, not only for their own quickhacks, but to stop other netrunners trying to quickhack the player.
Cyberpunk 2077their cyberdecks, cyberwares, and vehicles are varied and diverse in both rarity and purpose, but the best cyberdecks are those that are usually focused on raising a specific playstyle or category of quickhacks. Cyberdecks start with three main stats, they are RAM, buffer size and quickhack slots. RAM is the resource you use for quickhacks, buffer size is used for breach protocol which among other things allows and buffs quickhacks, and quickhack slots are self-explanatory – slots to place a limited amount of quickhacks in. More expensive and rarer cyberdecks will naturally have these stats polished, but the strongest cyber decks will also have some strong special abilities that influence hacking abilities towards a certain way of playing.
Arasaka Mk.4 – The Stealth Runner
Cyberpunk 2077‘s Arasaka Corporation tends to create a lot of trouble for the player during the game, but ironically, they provide the player with some of the best technology and weapons to overcome these obstacles. The Arasaka Mk.4 cyberdeck specializes in maintaining and supporting stealth quickhacks with 10 RAM, eight buffers and six quickhack slots. Its special abilities reduce the RAM cost of all stealth quickhacks by two and refresh a ping quickhack (a hack that shows the active aura of all nearby enemies on a connected network) whenever a revealed enemy is quickhacked during the ping reveal. The stealth cost reduction is very useful when hacking multiple guards in quick succession, and the ping update on hack is handy and useful. Arasaka Mk.4 also increases combat quickhack duration by 40%, although this stat is fairly common across the higher cyber decks and doesn’t contribute much directly to Cyberpunk 2077its stealth builds.
Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 – The Combat Runner
Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 is an extremely versatile and strong cyber deck, and one that Netwatch probably regrets letting slip out of his hands. The Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 cyberdeck specializes in offensive quickhacks against groups of enemies. These abilities support both control quickhacks and the more direct combat hacks, making it great for controlling the pace of a fight while knocking enemies out of it, especially potent at disabling and wiping groups of goons with 11 RAM , eight buffers and six tracks. Its special abilities focus on spreading offensive hacks, enabling multi-loads of up to three targets simultaneously within a six meter radius and increasing the normal spread distance of quickhacks by 60%. It also increases RAM recovery at a rate of nine per minute and increases quickhack damage by 30%, so even if V isn’t focused on quickhacks, it can fit into most builds for Cyberpunk 2077, regardless of the desired experience. It’s a good generalist cyber deck to control fights and spread some debuffs and damage.
Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 – The Ultimate Runner
The Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 is an impressive piece of technology, perhaps the ultimate cyber deck on the market. The Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 is possibly the most special of all the (equipable) cyber decks, as it specializes in extremely powerful ultimate quickhacks while still massively boosting normal quickhacks, sharing the Arasaka Mk.4’s stats of 10 RAM, eight buffers and six tracks. Its special ability reduces the RAM cost of all ultimate quickhacks by three and allows all ultimate quickhacks to spread once, which is not affected by any of the netrunner perks in Cyberpunk 2077 or other cyber decks.
Its other abilities boost both normal and ultimate quickhacks with 75% reduced load time and 45% cooldown reduction. 75% reduced reload time across the board is almost as signature ability as the ultimate buffs, allowing most demons to immediately control and wreak havoc on the battlefield. However, it is important to remember that ultimate quickhacks are very RAM intensive, even after the three RAM reductions the Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 will need a solid build to run most of the ultimate quickhacks. This cyber deck uses quickhacks as a burst of massive control and damage, but will often run out of ram and let the player finish the job with their other abilities.
Cyberpunk 2077 has had quite a boom with its Edgerunners show and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.7 update, topped off with a farewell DLC called Phantom Liberty. Many players who have only driven through the game once come back eager to explore new buildings and new ways to experience the night city they may have missed during the game’s original buggy launch. Many of these returning players will fall to creating a dedicated web runner, either for stealth or combat.
Players can only guess what new cyberdecks and quickhacks will appear in these future updates and DLC, and what kind of impact they will have on quickhack builds and even normal gameplay. While these future updates may introduce new cyberdecks and new quickhacks to take advantage of them, it’s just as important to understand the basis of these abilities. If players want to build a memory of the Netflix show Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters, making a sneaky cyberpunk ninja, or just having a deck that can spread restart optics and overheat decently while taking aim, any build can use a good cyber deck alongside.
