Highlights
- Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 version and Phantom Liberty expansion completely overhauled the skill tree for everyone, including Netrunners.
- Players wanting to specialize in the Netrunning role now need to be strategic about which perks they unlock in the skill tree.
- One of the cornerstones of Netrunning is improving RAM recovery, but it's also key to have the right cyberdeck on hand for the correct Netrunning playstyle.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a role-playing game with no set classes, meaning players are free to mix and match both the attributes and skills as they explore Night City. This gives players the freedom to complete either the main story or the side jobs available to them in whatever fashion they see fit.
One of the most popular ways of playing is using the technology available to players and therefore taking on the role of a Netrunner. As seen in the series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the main characters Kiwi and Lucy take on the role of Netrunners something that many players have also attempted to try. By purchasing these skills in particular players will also be able to turn their V into a Netrunner too.
Updated September 29, 2023, by Megan Smith: With the recent 2.0 update to Cyberpunk 2077, the skill system for the game has had a complete overhaul. Therefore, players have all new skills to play with that have made creating a Cyberpunk Netrunner all the more engaging. This complete change up of the skills that will help players make the perfect Netrunner in Cyberpunk is just in time for the first and only DLC to be created for Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty. If a player has chosen to continue where they left off and switch up their skills or start the game again to progress naturally to the DLC. These are by far the best skills in Cyberpunk 2077 for Netrunners.
8 Carhacker
In the most recent update of Cyberpunk 2077, Netrunners now have more power when it comes to vehicle combat. Players are likely to find themselves getting into all sorts of car chases both in and out of the Phantom Liberty DLC. With a skill like Carhacker players will have even more ways to exploit the net with these abilities.
The skill only requires one perk point for the player to use it to its full potential. They are then allowed to take control of an opponent's car to move it in a certain direction, set off its alarms to create a distraction, or even cause the car to explode in the hope of killing nearby enemies.
7 Speculation
RAM is still needed by Netrunners if they hope to use their Quickhacks to defeat enemies and thankfully players can also still find skills that will quicken when this RAM will return to the player after it has been used.
Speculation makes it so that every time an enemy is neutralized by a combat quickhack, the player will receive RAM that equals 25% of all the Quickhacks that were used on that opponent. This should encourage players to use a variety of Quickhacks on an opponent as they are sure to receive a good fraction of the cost back once the opponent has been defeated by it.
6 Optimization
Alternatively, a point in Optimization will increase the recovery rate of RAM overall, both in and out of combat. As the skill only requires one point to be used, this will give the player's Netrunner a 35% recovery speed on their RAM.
While there are now cybernetic modifications for players to take instead that will further improve their RAM recovery speed, putting one point into this skill will also open the skill tree to other useful skills for the player. However, a player will need at least nine Intelligence to get to the next section of the Intelligence skill tree.
5 All Things Cyber
Another transformation that has occurred with the 2.0 update of Cyberpunk 2077, is the limit the player's body can take with cybernetics. In Cyberpunk 2077, every person has altered their body in some way through the power of chrome, but there is a limit, going over this can cause the player to fall into cyber psychosis.
While the capacity the body can hold increases as the player levels up skills like All Things Cyber can help with the cost. One level in this skill will increase the cyberware stat modifiers. These can include increasing the player's RAM recovery or the damage from Quickhacks.
4 Eye In The Sky
One of the best things about Cyberpunk 2077's Netrunner is how they don't even need to be in a room to cause mayhem. With the Eye in the Sky skill, a player can use cameras and access points to benefit themselves without being in the middle of the action.
Besides automatically highlighting these things for players when they approach them, so they are aware of their presence, using Control or Covert quickhacks through a camera will reduce its cost by one RAM and increase its duration by 50%. These may not defeat an enemy, but they allow the player to easily sneak past to find a vantage point.
3 License To Chrome
License to Chrome takes what players have already increased through All Things Cyber and makes it even better. Players can invest up to three skill points into this skill which is highly recommended.
At level one players get the usual 10% increase to their cyberware stat modifiers, level two increases the player's armor by 40, but level three opens another cyberware slot for the player's skeleton. These can greatly benefit the player's Netrunner build depending on what they invest in, though the armor is always needed as a player's clothes no longer give them defense. This is all done through cybernetics.
2 Data Recycler
Similar to Speculation, Data Recycler is an intelligence skill that will give players back some of their RAM from their Quickhacks. However, this skill gives players 80% of the cost of any quickhack that was in the queue before the opponent had died.
This means players no longer need to worry about wasting RAM on a foe that is about to be defeated. This doesn't even require the player to defeat the enemy with a Combat Quickhack and therefore a Netrunner could change to a pistol to finish off a foe quicker.
1 Overclock
Out of all the new available skills for a Cyberpunk Netrunner, the most crucial out of all of them must be Overclocked. Players will first be required to put a total of fifteen attribute points in Intelligence before they can gain access to this skill due to it being on the Phenom tier of the skill tree.
Besides the usual boosts these Netrunner skills do of increasing RAM recovery time to increasing the damage from Quickhacks slightly, the main important feature of this skill is it unlocking the Overclock mode. When Overclock is activated a player can use Quickhacks that they don't even have the RAM though it will cost them ten health for every RAM unit that is over the maximum they have.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.