Ultimate Act 2 Netrunner
NetrunnerAn Intelligence netrunner you can bring online the moment you reach Act 2. It abuses Overclock to spend health as RAM for an endless quickhack loop, opening with Sonic Shock into Synapse Burnout to delete enemies off the grid before a trace can start. It begins as a glass cannon and hardens into a near-unkillable hacker once the Body tree's Adrenaline Rush comes online around Level 31.
Damage
Melts enemies instantly; Contagion + Overheat explosions clear whole groups
Survivability
Fragile early (Overclock burns HP), near-invincible after Adrenaline Rush at Level 31
Boss
Trivializes most fights from cover, stacking high-damage hacks with Queue Mastery
Netrunner
Intelligence-based hacker that fights through walls and across networks instead of in the open. Overclock lets quickhacks spend health as RAM, so the hacking never stops once the health-refund loop is online. Queue Mastery stacks multiple quickhacks on one enemy, and the Tetratronic Rippler cyberdeck rewards alternating combat and non-combat hacks with bonus damage.
Smart shotgun that fires four cartridges of eight homing projectiles each. The smart targeting locks onto weak points for heavy headshot damage, making it the cleanup tool when a room survives the opening hack combo. Needs the Smart Link cyberware to use its tracking.
How to Obtain
The cyberdeck the whole build runs on. Its keystone effect adds bonus quickhack damage when you chain a combat quickhack immediately after a non-combat one. Pairing Sonic Shock (non-combat) into Synapse Burnout (combat) triggers that multiplier while keeping the kill silent.
How to Obtain
Lets your quickhacks land critical hits and raises quickhack crit chance by 15-35%. This is the single biggest quickhack damage multiplier in the early build and the reason Synapse Burnout hits so hard.
How to Obtain
Slows time the instant an enemy's detection of you reaches 50%. Buys a free window to reposition or land the opening hack before a fight even starts, which keeps stealth runs clean.
How to Obtain
Restores a chunk of health on every kill. This is the fuel pump for Overclock. Each neutralized enemy refills the health you then spend as RAM, turning a crowded room into a self-sustaining loop.
How to Obtain
Sharply increases RAM regen rate when your RAM drops below a low threshold. During an Overclock burn this keeps quickhacks flowing so you almost never stall out mid-chain.
How to Obtain
Enables smart-targeting for the L-69 Zhuo and other smart weapons, and adds a small max RAM and smart weapon crit damage bonus. Mandatory if you want the smart shotgun's homing projectiles to lock on.
How to Obtain
While aiming a Tech weapon, highlights enemies hiding behind cover and adds optical zoom for clean ranged picks. Combined with the Nekomata's wall penetration, you can tag and shoot targets you cannot even see.
How to Obtain
Unlocks a double jump for vertical mobility. A flex pick that helps you reach perches and reposition during fights, but it sits outside the core hacking loop.
How to Obtain
Bladed arm cyberware for close-range melee. Pure flex for fun and the occasional stealth kill. Not part of the hacking rotation, so equip it only if you enjoy the playstyle.
How to Obtain
Untraceable covert quickhack that deafens an enemy and cuts their ability to detect you. As the non-combat half of the opener, it triggers the Tetratronic bonus when you chain straight into Synapse Burnout, all while keeping the kill silent.
How to Obtain
Combat Strategy
- ▸Cast Ping to reveal every enemy and device on the local network through walls.
- ▸Position with the Nekomata and Kiroshi Stalker Optics so you can see and shoot targets behind cover.
- ▸Confirm Overclock is off cooldown before engaging so the burn window is ready.
- ▸Chain Sonic Shock into Synapse Burnout on the first target. The non-combat into combat order triggers the Tetratronic Rippler's bonus damage.
- ▸Sonic Shock deafens and scrambles the enemy so they cannot warn allies, keeping the kill silent and off the grid.
- ▸Use silent takedowns where possible so Shadowrunner wipes any trace progress completely.
- ▸On grouped enemies, cast Contagion then immediately Overheat to detonate an area explosion.
- ▸Queue up to four quickhacks on priority targets with Queue Mastery to delete them in one chain.
- ▸Use Short Circuit on drones, mechs, and turrets that resist the standard hacks.
- ▸Pop Overclock and spam Synapse Burnout, spending health as RAM to clear the whole room.
- ▸Spillover jumps each hack to extra enemies during the burn, turning single targets into AoE.
- ▸Power Surge and Blood Daemon refund the health you burn, so the longer the burn runs the more it fuels itself.
- ▸Heal-On-Kill and health regen refill the health you spend, so every kill funds the next hack.
- ▸If a trace starts, cast Memory Wipe to reset it to zero.
- ▸When health gets dangerous, Reflex Tuner auto-slows time below 25% HP so you can disengage; after Level 31 the Adrenaline Rush overshield absorbs the hits instead.
Sources
Verified: 2026-06-15 · All content is original with full credit to original creators.