Though many of Night City’s criminals settle their business with swords and bullets, netrunners take another path in Cyberpunk 2077. These talented hackers use cyberware, skill, and code to bend the world around them to their well. A talented netrunner can blind their enemies by frying their optical cybernetics or even drive enemy vehicles off the road. The 2.0 update changes many things, and the Phantom Liberty DLC changes even more. Thanks to the reworked Intelligence tree, netrunner builds are in the best place they’ve ever been. Here are the best Intelligence Perks in Cyberpunk 2077, ranked from great to indispensable.
6. Hack Queue
Hack Queue appears relatively low on the Intelligence tree, but that shouldn’t fool you into thinking it’s bad. Far from it, Hack Queue helps form the foundation of most netrunner builds. Level 1 of this Perk grants you +1 Max RAM. Level 2 unlocks quickhack queues, which allow you to execute two quickhacks on a single enemy. They execute in the order you loaded them, and the second quickhack gets a +30% buff to its upload speed. Being able to execute rapid-fire quickhacks is a game-changer. No longer will you have to wait for one piece of malicious code to finish executing before piling on the second. Quickhacks already offer impressive flexibility, and Hack Queue just makes netrunners more adaptable.
5. Queue Mastery
Queue Mastery builds upon Hack Queue by adding +1 to quickhack queue size. This perk also decreases the RAM cost of the last quickhack in the queue by -50% and locks the queue. Enemies with a locked queue take +15% damage, not that you really needed more reasons to use this Perk. This Perk synergizes well with pretty much everything else you might want to take for a netrunner build. What makes it one of the best Intelligence Perks in Cyberpunk? In short, anything that lets you execute quickhacks faster is great, and this Perk does far more than that. A lower RAM cost means you can execute more quickhacks overall, letting the netrunner do what they do best.
4. Overclock
Overclock is a three-level Perk, and like most three-level Perks, Level 3 is the star of the show. Level one grants +10% RAM recovery rate, while Level 2 grants +10% quickhack damage. Level 3, however, unlocks Overclock mode. Activating this mode allows you to use quickhacks even if you lack the necessary RAM. What’s the catch? Each RAM unit over your max costs 10 Health instead. In short, this Perk allows you to damage yourself in exchange for pulling off a series of hacks. That’s useful for assassins and tanks alike. Overclock has a 14-second Duration, which is more than enough time to get value out of the Perk. Just be careful with its 30-second Cooldown, and don’t drain yourself of too much Health. It’s only one of Cyberpunk‘s best Intelligence Perks if you’re alive to use it.
3. Smart Synergy
Smart Synergy has a couple of requirements to work. First, you must be using a Smart weapon. Second, Overclock mode must be active. When both criteria are met, your Smart weapons gain instant target lock. They also deal +25% damage if your target is affected by a quickhack. In a game over-flowing with great weapons, Smart guns are already some of the most fun, and Smart Synergy makes them much better. Even if your target lock time is only a second or two, eliminating that means a significant increase in DPS. Though not as stylish as some other Perks in this Attribute tree, Smart Synergy is one of the best picks if you’re looking for raw efficiency. That alone makes it one of the best Intelligence perks in Cyberpunk.
2. Carhacker
Carhacker unlocks an entirely new category of quickhacks: vehicle quickhacks. With these, you can set off car alarms, control vehicles remotely, or even cause them to explode. Cyberpunk‘s 2.0 update brought a lot of positive changes to the game, including vehicle combat and a vastly improved police system. Vehicle hacks are a natural extension of both those systems, and testing the game’s new limits with these hacks is a blast. That would be enough to recommend Carhacker as one of the best Intelligence Perks in Cyberpunk, but this Perk is genuinely useful beyond its ability to help you show off.
1. Spillover
Spillover is another Perk that builds upon Overclock. When Overclock is active, Spillover grants you a +50% chance for quickhacks to spread to an additional target. Quickhacks like Short Circuit, Cyberware Malfunction, and Synapse Burnout already give netrunners a lethal advantage. Spillover allows you to spread these potent effects to additional enemies, essentially cutting their deployment time in half. Just like Hack Queue, Spillover is about maximizing the effects of your hacks while minimizing how long it takes to get them running. It might take a while to understand the full potential of this Perk, but once you do, no cyberware will be safe in your presence.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will be available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on September 26.
