Cyberpunk 2077 giving players many choices on how to build their character. In fact, the game is notorious for allowing many broken builds that can take out an NCPD raid or fix gig in seconds. However, one build in particular can get V through almost the entire game without having to draw a weapon.
This is what is called Quickhacks Build. Instead of using a weapon, V can take advantage of the fact that every enemy has cyberware and hack them into submission. This build can take a little time to set up, but once it’s up and running, it’s a blast Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to take down cyber psychos and even bosses without lifting a finger.
Attributes and benefits
The basis of this construction is intelligence. Players should max out V’s starting intelligence when creating their character and then add each attribute point they gain until it reaches 20. After that, players can spend their attribute points wherever they want.
There are two reasons why intelligence is so important. First, every point in Intelligence makes quickhacking more efficient. Damage increases, duration increases, and V gets more RAM for free. Second, a high Intelligence opens up the Quickhacking and Breach Protocol trees, both of which have the perks that make this build work.
- Biosynergy allows RAM to recover while in battle, and additional levels increase recovery speed.
- Bloody clothes increases the base damage of combat quickhacks.
- Subliminal message gives a huge boost to quickhack damage against unaware targets.
- Do not forget me returns free RAM units when a quickhacked enemy drops.
- Serial connection reduces quickhack cooldown when enemies fall.
- Optimization makes all quickhacks cheaper.
- Signal support increases the duration of quickhacks, including some combat quickhacks.
- Spread increases the quickhack spread distance, and Plague increases the number of targets.
- Anamnesis sets a minimum amount of RAM, which means quickhacks will always be available.
- The quickhacks tree also has several benefits that allow V to create better versions of quickhacks. There are other ways to get these programs, so these benefits are helpful but not necessary.
Violation protocol is also important for this construction. All enemies that are part of a job, gig, or hustle can be breached, and the Breach Protocol tree makes this minigame more versatile and effective.
- Mass vulnerability is the most important advantage. This adds a demon to the minigame that will make targets vulnerable to physical damage for up to 6 minutes. More importantly, Mass Vulnerability: Resist and Mass Vulnerability: Quickhacks will add all quickhack damage to the list.
- Total recall and Total recall makes the basic ICEpick daemon more efficient by increasing the RAM discount it provides.
- Buffer optimization doubles the duration of demons, allowing mass vulnerability to last up to 12 minutes.
- Head start and Compression both make breaking the minigame easier. With both perks active and a cyber deck with a good buffer, players can easily install every demon available.
Quickhacks
The best quickhacks for this build are combat quickhacks. These are the programs that deal damage to enemies, and there are four to choose from.
- Short circuit is the bread and butter of Quickhacks Build. It takes out almost all damage instantly, and once the build starts, this damage will be enough to take out any regular enemy.
- Overheating can do more damage than Short Circuit, but it deals that damage over several seconds. This is less useful against regular enemies as they may be able to counterhack and reveal V’s location before Overheat takes them down. However, this extra damage is more useful against powerful enemies like cyber psychos and bosses, and in general Overheat is the quick hack to use while Short Circuit cools down.
- Infect is very effective against mobs because it spreads automatically and benefits from diffusion and plague. However, it deals less damage than Overheating over a shorter period of time. Because of this, it’s best to avoid using Contagion until after V has 20 Intelligence. When that happens, one use of Contagion can remove an entire NCPD mob.
- Synapse burnout deals damage at once like Short Circuit, but it deals more damage to targets that are already damaged. This effect is less useful for a Quickhacks Build since battle hacks work quickly. On the other hand, it can be very effective against bosses that can take massive amounts of damage. The other downside is that Synapse Burnout is the only combat quickhack that deals lethal damage, making it a poor choice during jobs with pacifist demands.
Ultimate Quickhacks like Suicide and Cyberpsychosis may look tempting, but they use a lot of RAM, they have a long cooldown, and they don’t work against all enemy types. Combat quickhacks work on everything, and with this build they can defeat enemies even faster than suicide.
Cyberware
The right cyber deck is essential to a Quickhacks Build. Specifically, the preferred deck is the NetWatch Netdriver Mk. 5. Players can find this deck at ripperdoc in Wellsprings, Heywood and it is available for 35,000 Euro Dollars and 40 Street Cred. Aside from the other bonuses, this deck allows Short Circuit, Overheat, and Synapse Burnout to target two people instead of one (the game says three, but a glitch makes this unlikely). But until the Netdriver becomes available, any cyber deck with damage boost and large RAM capacity will work.
Other cyberware can also enhance Quickhacks Build:
- RAM upgrade increases RAM recovery speed.
- Memory Boost restores RAM after defeating an enemy.
- EX-Disc adds more RAM to the cyber deck.
- Camillo RAM Manager returns RAM when the amount remaining drops to 2, but Anamnesis will eventually make this obsolete.
There are a few enemies here and there that V can’t hack (mostly due to bugs or dialogue), so it’s still a good idea to have at least one gun around. But aside from those exceptions, Quickhacks Build is a fun way to beat the game with nothing but the power of V’s mind.
Cyberpunk 2077 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
