Cyberpunk 2077 gives players plenty of choices for how to build their character. In fact, the game is infamous for allowing plenty of broken builds that can clear out an NCPD assault or a fixer gig in a matter of seconds. However, one build in particular can get V through almost the entire game without having to draw a weapon.
This is what's called the 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 some time to set up, but once it gets going, players of Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to take down cyberpsychoes and even bosses without lifting a finger.
Attributes and Perks
The foundation of this build is Intelligence. Players should max out V's starting Intelligence when creating their character and then add every attribute point they get until it reaches 20. Afterward, players can spend their attribute points wherever they like.
There are two reasons why Intelligence is so important. First, each point in Intelligence makes quickhacking more effective. Damage goes up, duration goes up, and V gets more RAM for free. Second, a high Intelligence opens up the Quickhacking and Breach Protocol trees, both of which feature the perks that make this build work.
- Biosynergy allows RAM to recover while in combat, and extra levels boost the recovery speed.
- Bloodware boosts the base damage of combat quickhacks.
- Subliminal Message adds a huge boost to quickhack damage against unaware targets.
- Forget-Me-Not gives back free RAM units when a quickhacked enemy falls.
- Daisy Chain reduces quickhack cooldowns when enemies fall.
- Optimization makes all quickhacks cheaper.
- Signal Support increases the duration of quickhacks, including some combat quickhacks.
- Diffusion increases quickhack spread distance, and Plague increases the number of targets.
- Anamnesis sets a minimum RAM amount, which means quickhacks will always be available.
- The Quickhacks tree also features several perks that allow V to craft better versions of quickhacks. There are other ways to get these programs, so these perks are useful but not necessary.
Breach Protocol is also essential to this build. 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 more effective.
- Mass Vulnerability is the most important perk. This adds a daemon to the minigame that will make targets vulnerable to physical damage for up to 6 minutes. More importantly, Mass Vulnerability: Resistances and Mass Vulnerability: Quickhacks will add all quickhack damage to the list.
- Total Recall and Totaler Recall make the basic ICEpick daemon more effective by increasing the RAM discount it provides.
- Buffer Optimization doubles the duration of daemons, so Mass Vulnerability can last up to 12 minutes.
- Head Start and Compression both make the breaching minigame easier. With both perks active and a cyberdeck with a good buffer, players can easily install every daemon available.
Quickhacks
The best quickhacks for this build are the 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 the Quickhacks Build. It deals almost all of its damage immediately, and by the time the build gets going, this damage will be enough to take out any normal enemy.
- Overheat can do more damage than Short Circuit, but it deals that damage over several seconds. This is less useful against normal enemies since they may be able to counter-hack and reveal V's location before Overheat takes them down. However, this extra damage is more useful against powerful enemies like cyberpsychoes and bosses, and in general, Overheat is the quickhack to use while Short Circuit is cooling down.
- Contagion is very effective against crowds because it spreads automatically and benefits from Diffusion and Plague. However, it deals less damage than Overheat over a shorter amount of time. Because of this, it's best to avoid using Contagion until after V has 20 Intelligence. Once that happens, one use of Contagion can clear an entire NCPD hustle.
- Synapse Burnout deals damage all at once like Short Circuit, but it deals more damage to targets who are already injured. This effect is less useful to a Quickhacks Build since combat hacks work fast. On the other hand, it can be very effective against bosses who can take tremendous amounts of damage. The other downside is that Synapse Burnout is the only combat quickhack that deals lethal damage, which makes it a bad pick during jobs with a pacifist requirement.
Ultimate Quickhacks like Suicide and Cyberpsychosis may look tempting, but they use a lot of RAM, they have a long cooldown time, and they don't work against every enemy type. Combat quickhacks work on everything, and with this build, they can defeat enemies even faster than Suicide.
Cyberware
The right cyberdeck is essential to a Quickhacks Build. Specifically, the deck of choice is the NetWatch Netdriver Mk. 5. Players can find this deck at the ripperdoc in Wellsprings, Heywood, and it's available for 35,000 eurodollars and 40 Street Cred. Aside from its other bonuses, this deck lets Short Circuit, Overheat, and Synapse Burnout target two people instead of one (the game says three, but a bug makes this unlikely). But until the Netdriver becomes available, any cyberdeck with a damage boost and a large RAM capacity will work.
Other cyberware can also improve the Quickhacks Build:
- RAM Upgrade increases the RAM recovery rate.
- Memory Boost restores RAM after defeating an enemy.
- EX-Disk adds more RAM to the cyberdeck.
- Camillo RAM Manager gives RAM back 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 dialog), so it's still a good idea to keep at least one gun around. But aside from these exceptions, the Quickhacks Build is a fun way to beat the game with nothing but the power of V's mind.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.