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The best Cyberdecks in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 are all about your netrunning build

by Josh Tolentino on 30 October, 2023

The big version 2.0 update to Cyberpunk 2077 and its Phantom Liberty expansion changed much about the game, and Cyberpunk 2077's netrunners were no exception. Virtually every aspect of Netrunning and quickhack-focused combat was tweaked by CD Projekt RED, which can leave some hackers wondering what their old gear is good for in the brave new world of 2.0. To shed a little more light on that we've come up with a simple guide to picking the best cyberdeck in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0. Read on for a bit of advice on picking a 'deck to suit your needs, the better to make the most of the game's many tweaks to play.

For more general build advice, check out our general build guide to get a glimpse of the possibilities opened up by the 2.0 update and the release of Phantom Liberty.

What's the Best Cyberdeck in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0?

Here’s the quick answer: It depends!

No, really! CD Projekt RED has comprehensively changed the hacking play style in version 2.0, emphasizing the use of the new hacking queue feature and adding major incentives to use combinations of different quickhacks to maximize their effects. Even the cyberdecks themselves have changed, with each distinct model series rewarding and synergizing with different play styles. This is why I've tailored my recommendations below based on a general approach to play style, and quickhacking's place in a given player's combat loadout.

The Best Cyberdeck for General Use: The Tetratronic Rippler Mk.5

While I did just say that a cyberdeck choice is best tailored to your quickhacking approach, if all you want to do is upload the occasional quickhack in your fights or have better results when breaching access points, there is a cyberdeck for you. That's the Tetratronic Rippler series.

The Ripplers have a larger RAM pool than most of the other cyberdecks, making it easy to upload the quickhack of your choice. More RAM is good for any netrunning build, but it's especially important the lower your investment into the Intelligence attribute.

Tetratronic Rippler Stats

Here are the Rippler's stats when upgraded to Tier 5++:

  • Tetratronic Rippler Mk.5
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 16
    • RAM Modules: 20
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • +15% weapon damage against enemies affected by non-Combat Quickhacks.
    • +40% damage with Combat quickhacks when immediately followed by a non-Combat quickhack in the queue.
    • +12 Max RAM (to 20 total).
    • When activating Overclock, automatically upload Reboot Optics and Weapon Glitch to all enemies within 8m.

Where to get the Tetratronic Rippler:

The Tetratronic Rippler will start showing up in the inventories of Ripperdocs very early into the game, given its Tier 1 base rarity. You can save money if you commit upgrade parts to continually upgrade the deck rather than buying one of a higher rarity.

What's good about the Tetratronic Rippler?

The Rippler series is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to cyberdecking, and has a bonus tailored to every hacking-related branch of the Intelligence perk tree. It rewards you for using Control quickhacks to soften up foes, it juices your Combat quickhack damage if you queue up your hacks using the queue feature, and it disables enemies in close range if you activate your Overclock. It even gives you a bonus to weapon damage for using Control quickhacks to lock foes down before flatlining them.

But even without these extra bonuses, or even if you barely have a single hacking perk in your selection, the Rippler’s RAM pool will allow you to upload essential hacks as a supplement to your weapon-based fighting. This is especially useful if you don't have the Intelligence score or perk layout to use Overclock.

Any netrunner that likes to change up their approach a lot, can't commit to a specific style, or is in fact not really all that focused on netrunning per se should default to a Rippler for their cyberdeck.

The Best Cyberdeck for the Netrunning Ninja: The Arasaka Mk.5

Netrunning Ninjas focus on stealth and infiltration, able to walk through a crowd invisible and undetected. They're the netrunners no one can see coming (or see at all), ready with a throwing knife from the shadows or a silenced pistol from point-blank range.

For those netrunners, the Arasaka cyberdeck is a powerful weapon of choice.

Arasaka Mk.5 Stats (Tier 5++)

  • Arasaka Mk.5
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 14
    • RAM Modules: 9
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • Enemies take 100% longer to trace your location.
    • -2 RAM cost for Covert quickhacks.
    • +5 RAM after performing a Takedown.
    • When Overclock is active, quickhacks will not increase trace progress (but they will still intiate it).

Where to get the Arasaka Mk.5:

The Arasaka is part of the base inventory of Ripperdocs, and is available from most of them.

What's good about the Arasaka Mk.5?

Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 brought various changes to hacking that made staying completely undetected a little more difficult than before. Basically, any non-Covert quickhack (i.e. any quickhack not marked as "untraceable" in its description) can set off a "trace", wherein enemies slowly find out where you're hiding and become alerted when a bar fills up. Further uploads of quickhacks increase this meter. The Arasaka's unique benefits make using tons of Covert quickhacks like Sonic Shock and Bait easier, allowing you to spam it and make doubly sure no one sees or hears what's about to go down. This can be quite beneficial when playing through Phantom Liberty, which more readily emphasizes the need for stealth and infiltration and avoiding detection.

The Arasaka's bonuses awarded from performing Takedowns (the stealth-chokes that allow you instantly neutralize an enemy by approaching them from behind) also increase your safety even at the closest range. Add to that the additional effects from higher-tier Covert quickhacks, like Sonic Shock hiding enemies from each other, and you have the recipe for a style of netrunning that's basically ghostlike.

The Best Cyberdeck for the God In the Machine: The Netwatch Netdriver Mk.1

Once the king of cyberdecks in the pre-2.0 era, the Netwatch Netdriver has been dethroned by the changes made to hacking overall. For example, its then-unique ability to make quickhacks spread was removed and folded into the "Spillover" perk from the Intelligence tree. That said, the Netdriver's retuning does allow it to support a style of play that's a genuine artifact of the pre-2.0 days: Camera-based ghost-hacking. This was the preferred approach of many a "stealthy" netrunner back then, wherein V spends as much time as possible logged into a camera, hacking everything in view, rather than walking up to do the dirty business of combat in arm's reach. 

Netwatch Netdriver stats (Tier 5++):

  • Netwatch Netdriver Mk.1
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 25
    • RAM Modules: 13
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • -20% traceability for quickhacks uploaded through cameras.
    • -50%  RAM cost for Device and Vehicle quickhacks.
    • Combat quickhacks uploaded through devices gain:
      • +30% damage
      • +50% effect duration

Where to get the Netwatch Netrdriver Mk.1:

The Netwatch Netdriver's base rarity is Tier 5, meaning it will only start showing up in Ripperdoc inventories or loot piles around the time V reaches level 40. Note that since the Netdriver's base rarity is Tier 5 (Legendary), and there's no Tier 6, upgrading it won't increase its "Mk." number the way it does for other cyberdecks. Don't be confused by the naming when upgrading or looking for the deck.

What's good about the Netwatch Netdriver?

The Netdriver's benefits are extremely powerful as long as you're working through a device like a camera or a laptop. They're also well-suited to getting the most out of the new vehicle-based hacks, making Phantom Liberty's car combat sequences a breeze. Further more, its benefits aren't particularly dependent on having access to Overclock, Spillover, or high-end Intelligence perks, allowing a player with interest in other styles of play to reinvest their perks without feeling like they're compromising their core quickhack abilities much.

If anything, the Netdriver's main weakness is the fact that in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 there are many more exciting ways to play a netrunner than sitting behind a camera and staring at enemies from far away.

The Best Cyberdeck for the Netrunner That Hates Crowds: The Raven Microcyber Mk.3

There's no doubt that CD Projekt RED's tweaks to hacking in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 sapped the strength of some of the game's most "overpowered" combat styles. One of these was wide-area quickhacking. By removing the Netwatch Netdriver's unique ability and generally reining in the ability of quickhacks of all types to spread widely, players more or less lost the ability to eliminate entire crowds of enemies from complete safety. The Raven Microcyber series of 'decks attempts to bring a shade of that old spirit back into play, thanks to a set of benefits designed to spread quickhacks as wide and far as possible.

Raven Microcyber Stats (Tier 5++):

  • Raven Microcyber Mk.3
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 20
    • RAM Modules: 9
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • 100% spread distance with quickhacks.
    • Quickhacks spread to all valid enemies immediately instead of waiting for the initial upload to finish.
    • When Overclock is active, +15% chance for any quickhack to spread to 2 nearby enemies.

Where to get the Raven Microcyber:

The Raven Microcyber can be seen in Ripperdoc inventories once you unlock Tier 3 components (Blue/Rare rarity).

What's good about the Raven Microcyber?

The Raven Microcyber is a propagation-tuned cyberdeck that's all about getting your quickhacks out into the world. It doubles the effective distance a quickhack can spread between enemies, and starts spreading instantly. Plus, if you've got Overclock on, you can spread a quickhack to even more enemies.

That all sounds absolutely lovely. There's only one problem with all this: Until you unlock the Spillover perk at 20 Intelligence, the only quickhack that can spread at all is Contagion. The Raven's legendary perk that gives you a "light" version of Spillover can be useful, but a 15% chance to spread is too small to bank a playstyle on. As such, the Raven only really comes into on a Netrunner that's fully specced into Intelligence and mostly focused on hacking. At that point, the quickhack spread effect becomes a reliable friend and an excellent way to quickly and efficiently clear low-intensity combat encounters like NCPD Scanner Hustles.

The Best Cyberdeck for a Brain-Melting Netrunner: The Biotech Σ Mk.4 (Biotech Sigma Mk.4) or the Tetratronic Rippler

If quickhacking had a weakness in pre-2.0 Cyberpunk 2077, it's that it wasn't quite built for melting bosses. A hacking-focused V was basically impossible to threaten for anyone below Adam Smasher's level, but once the toughest enemies in the game got into the mix, many netrunners found themselves in a somewhat boring rotation of repeatedly uploading quickhacks on foes to whittle down their health. 2.0 changes that, however, and quickhacking a tough enemy is now a more involved and potentially more rewarding affair. Two cyberdecks lean into this dynamic: The Biotech Sigma and the Tetratronic Rippler.

When it comes to the Ripper, its potential as a boss-burning tool comes from its synergy with the Bioconductor cyberware - specifically the Iconic COX-2 Cybersomatic Optimizer. At the high end, using specific combinations of perks and cyberware and a particular quickhack rotation can allow V to very quickly shut down an enemy through sky-high critical damage hits from combat quickhacks.

I've detailed the Rippler's stats and more general usage pattern above, so let's focus on the Biotech Sigma below.

Biotech Σ Stats (Tier 5++):

  • Biotech Sigma Mk.4
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 16
    • RAM Modules: 9
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • +60% duration for Combat quickhacks.
    • +10% damage-over-time with quickhacks.
    • +25% Monowire damage against enemies affected by a damage-over-time effect..
    • Activating Overclock resets the duration of quickhack damage-over-time effects.

Where to get the Biotech Σ:

The Biotech Sigma cyberdeck shows up in Ripperdoc inventories from Tier 2 forward.

What's good about the Biotech Σ?

The Biotech Sigma focuses almost all of its benefits on making your Combat quickhacks last longer, and increasing the damage over time your quickhacks can dish out. This means that your Overheat and Contagion effects will last longer and melt harder, as will the electrical damage-over-time effect from higher tiers of Short Circuit. Furthermore, all of these timers reset when you activate Overclock, which essentially doubles their duration with the right timing.

Couple that with the increased damage you can dish out using the Monowire arm cyberware (which, incidentally, happens to have a ton of synergistic perks in the Intelligence tree related to hacking), and you've got a build that can bring a tough enemy to their knees in no time. The Sigma's only shortfall is that its perks don't help you deal with large groups of weaker enemies, and they don't increase the overall effectiveness of burst damage quickhacks like Synapse Burnout or the main hit from Short Circuit.

The Best Cyberdeck for a Trigger-Happy Net-Gunner: The Militech Paraline Mk.5

The vendor at Kabuki's netrunner store said that V's initially installed Militech Paraline cyberdeck is good "for beginners", but that just shows she's the kind of runner that's too cowardly to pull a trigger. If she knew what V can do with this cyberdeck at high levels, she'd eat her words. Rather than for a pure hacker, the Militech Paraline is ideally suited to a netrunner that's willing to engage in some gun violence. Specifically, the thinking solo's gun violence, using Smart weapons.

Militech Paraline Mk.5 Stats (Tier 5++):

  • Militech Paraline Mk.4
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 14
    • RAM Modules: 9
    • Quickhack Slots: 8
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • +10% quickhack damage.
    • +2% Monowire damage per used RAM unit (max. +30%).
    • When uploading a quickhack to an enemy, shooting them with a Smart weapon accelerates upload speed.
    • When Overclock is active: Smart weapons and Monowire deal bonus electrical damage equal to 60% of normal attack damage.

Where to get the Militech Paraline:

The Militech Paraline is V's starter cyberdeck, and can be upgraded all the way to Tier 5++ so long as you have enough item components of the appropriate tier and cash.

What's good about the Militech Paraline?

At first glance the Militech Paraline's specialty clashes with the "classic" image of a netrunner as the kind of character that doesn't have much to do with gunplay or melee combat. That's true: All of its bonuses reward players that combine their hacking with shooting and lashing away with Monowire. But that just means it has that much more synergy with a ton of perks across multiple Attribute trees. Its Intelligence synergies are obvious: Both Monowire and Smart weapons have dedicated perk lines under the attribute. But you can also spec a bit into Reflexes to improve your mobility, and importantly, to take advantage of the SMG and Assault Rifle-specific perks that also apply to the Smart versions of those guns. And if you prefer a sneakier approach to combat, then the Paraline works reasonably well syncing up with Cool-family perks like the pistol and sniper-specific Focus and Deadeye abilities.

The Paraline series augments the abilities of a netrunner that weaves in and out of combat with agility, softening enemy defenses with hacks and locking them in place while raining auto-aim hell with their Smart weapons.

The Best Cyberdeck for a 'Runner from Beyond the Blackwall: The Militech Canto Mk.6

I'll be perfectly honest: This one is more of a novelty choice. The Militech Canto Mk.6 is a new, iconic Cyberdeck that's exclusive to Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, but it's easily the most unique of all the available Cyberdecks. What the Canto lacks in "core" stats, it (sort of) makes up for with a unique, exclusive quickhack that can be very powerful under the right circumstances.

Militech Canto Mk.6 Stats (Tier 5++):

  • Militech Canto Mk.6
    • Cyberware Capacity Cost: 33
    • RAM Modules: 10
    • Quickhack Slots: 4
    • Buffer Size: 12
    • Can perform the Blackwall Gateway quickhack.

Where to get the Militech Canto Mk.6:

The Militech Canto Mk.6 is unique to one of the ending paths in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. The crafting spec for it can be found during the mission "Somewhat Damaged". Check out our guide to Iconic Weapons and look up the Erebus (a unique SMG you can craft instead of the Canto if you so choose) for instructions on where to get it.

What's good about the Militech Canto Mk.6?

Two words: Blackwall Gateway. It's an extremely powerful quickhack that behaves a little bit like an instant-kill version of pre-2.0 Contagion, and can spread to up to five enemies. The spread range increases as you upgrade the Canto beyond Tier 5. The quickhack is unique to the Canto, and can't be unequipped from the 'deck.

That's about it, honestly. The Canto is very costly to equip in terms of Cyberware Capacity, has half as many quickhack slots as any other Tier 5 cyberdeck, and has no particular properties that lend itself to a netrunning style. If you happen to have capacity to spare and don't need any other Operating System cyberware like a Berserk or Sandevistan, the Canto could be a good companion to a low-Intelligence build that still wants to do a tiny bit of hacking. Blackwall Gateway is a strong fire-and-forget type of quickhack, so you can set it loose and score a handful of free kills while you do something else with your life.

Check out some of our other Cyberpunk 2077 guides - we're got tips on how to earn lots of money fast, full builds for 2.0 and beyond, and a list of free vehicles you can earn. Plus, we've got a full Cyberpunk 2077 Romance guide with all romanceable characters listed.