Cyberpunk 2077 features a large variety of combat mechanics and tools, but one of the most important choices V will make is their flavor of cyberdeck. One of Cyberpunk 2077's positives among all the controversy is its broad selection in approach to gameplay, and although at first some choices might've 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 would 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 are the tool that allow the player to preform these quickhacks.
Quickhacks are a versatile gameplay mechanic that can range from small distractions to explosive ultimates that can only be obtained by finding legendary items such as Bartmoss's cyberdeck in Cyberpunk 2077. There are a couple of things that go into quickhacks. First, the player will need a cyberdeck, which the game will give a default one to them early on, but they'll want to quickly upgrade if they want to use better quickhacks. Second, they'll need to find the quickhacks themselves. There are plenty of abilities with specific conditions and resources required that will take up space on a cyberdeck, most in different rarities as well. Lastly, investing in the quickhacking skill tree can give the player many benefits not only to their own quickhacks but to stopping other netrunners attempting to quickhack the player.
Cyberpunk 2077's cyberdecks, cyberwares, and vehicles are varied and diverse in both rarity and purpose, but the best cyberdecks are ones usually focused on elevating a specific playstyle or category of quickhacks. Cyberdecks start with three main stats, those being RAM, buffer size, and quickhack slots. RAM is the resource you use for quickhacks, buffer size is used for breach protocol which allows and buffs quickhacks among other things, 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 buffed, but the strongest cyberdecks will also have some potent 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 make a lot of trouble for the player over the course of the game, but ironically they also give the player some of the best tech and weapons to overcome these obstacles. The Arasaka Mk.4 cyberdeck specializes in maintaining and ing stealth quickhacks with 10 RAM, eight buffer, 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) every time a revealed enemy is quickhacked during the ping reveal. The stealth cost reduction is very helpful when hacking multiple guards in quick succession, and the ping refresh on hack is convenient and helpful. The Arasaka Mk.4 also increases combat quickhack duration by 40%, although this stat is fairly common across the higher tier cyberdecks and doesn't contribute much directly to Cyberpunk 2077's stealth builds.
Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 - The Combat Runner
The Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 is an extremely versatile and strong cyberdeck, and one that Netwatch likely regrets letting slip out of its hands. The Netwatch Netdriver Mk.5 cyberdeck specializes in offensive quickhacks against groups of enemies. These abilities both control quickhacks and the more direct combat hacks, making it good at controlling the pace of a fight while also knocking enemies out of it, specifically potent at disabling and wiping groups of goons with 11 RAM, eight buffer, and six slots. Its special abilities focus on spreading offensive hacks, facilitating multi-s on up to three targets at once 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 desired experience. It's a good generalist cyberdeck for controlling fights and spreading some debuffs and damage.
Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 - The Ultimate Runner
The Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 is an impressive piece of tech, perhaps the ultimate cyberdeck on the market. The Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 is possibly the most special of all the (equippable) cyberdecks as it specializes in the extremely powerful ultimate quickhacks while still bolstering normal quickhacks immensely, and sharing the Arasaka Mk.4's stats of 10 RAM, eight buffer, and six slots. Its special abilities reduce the RAM cost of all ultimate quickhacks by three and allows any ultimate quickhack to spread once, which isn't affected by any of the netrunner perks in Cyberpunk 2077 or any other cyberdeck.
Its other abilities strengthen both normal and ultimate quickhacks with 75% reduced time and 45% cooldown reduction. 75% reduced time across the board is almost as signature an ability as the ultimate buffs, making most daemons instantly control and wreak havoc on the battlefield. However, it's important to ultimate quickhacks are very RAM intensive, even after the three RAM reduction the Tetratronic Rippler Mk.4 will need a solid build to run most of the ultimate quickhacks. This cyberdeck uses quickhacks as a burst of immense control and damage, but will run out of ram often and leave the player to finish the job with their other abilities.
Cyberpunk 2077 has enjoyed quite the resurgence with its Edgerunners show and the impending Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.7 update, topped with a farewell DLC named Phantom Liberty. Many players that only ran through the game once are coming back eager to explore new builds and new ways to experience the Night City they might have glossed over during the game's original buggy launch. Many of these returning players will fall on making a dedicated netrunner, either for stealth or combat.
Players can only venture a guess as to what new cyberdecks and quickhacks will appear in these future updates and DLC, and what kind of impact they'll 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 vital to understand the foundation of these abilities. Whether players wish to make a build in memoriam of the Netflix show Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters, make a sneaky cyberpunk ninja, or just have a deck that can spread reboot optics and overheat decent enough while they're taking aim, any build could use a good cyberdeck at its side.
