I've seen lots of posts complaining about netrunning since the 2.0 Patch (Only here though, sentiment is overwhelmingly positive on any other site). People say it's now impossible to be a stealth netrunner, and that the build is completely broken. They also complain about the trace mechanic. Personally, as someone who has been playing as a stealth netrunner since launch and is now on his 4th playthrough, I find that stealth netrunning not only still works in 2.0, but feels amazing and more complete than before.
First of all, of course you won't be able to be an OP netrunner when starting the game. At a low level, you shouldn't be able to be one of the best netrunners in Night City. It makes no sense. If you're playing on the harder difficulties, you won't be able to just waltz into an encounter with a Katana and cut up every enemy like it's nothing either. You need to actually invest in your build to be able to be an efficient netrunner, which makes sense and is how every RPG ever has worked. This was a clear flaw of the system at launch, that many people asked to be fix. It was simply too OP.
Then, there is the trace. It used to be limited to one netrunner, which made it really easy to avoid. Just find the netrunner through cameras and kill them first, and you're golden. It needed to be buffed as a mechanic. A trace is also a pretty simple thing, and anyone on the network should be able to do it. Enemy groups are all connected on the same network, this has been established many times in the game, since launch. It makes perfect sense that anyone on the network would be able to trace an intruder.
Now, if you play as a stealth netrunner, you will have to invest in your build. This goes beyond your perks, and extends to the cyberware you buy and the quickhacks you get. If you invest in the right perks, buy the right cyberdeck, and equip the right quickhacks, you will be able to deal with entire groups of enemies while either avoiding the trace or killing everyone before it finishes. I have done this myself many times, killing everyone during a gig without ever pulling out a weapon or going out of stealth.
If you really can't wait until you invest in your build, or you just can't deal with the mechanic, you should be aware that putting enough distance between you and the enemy will lead to an automatic fail for the trace. You don't even have to go that far TBH, you just move around until it fails and then get right back to it. There are also ways to start picking off enemies before you use a quickhack that leads to a trace. For example, you can lure enemies (Bait, distract enemies, etc.) in a secluded spots and use hackable objects to kill them, like overloading a fuel tank or dropping some boxes on them. If the spot is secluded enough, other enemies won't notice. Even if they do, you cannot get traced by hacking an object (Which again makes sense, since they aren't on the same network), so there will be no trace and they will simply start searching. If you're well hidden, it's not a problem. You can also complement the early build with takedowns by baiting enemies to easy takedown spots or by having a silenced sniper or pistol and picking off a couple of isolated enemies to reduce the time needed to kill the others by quickhacks.
Overclock also makes a lot of sense, lore-wise, as a mechanic. Pretty much every great netrunner we encounter in the game have a netrunning chair, and some even have an ice bath to cool down. This is because netrunning is EXTREMELY hard on the body. This has been highlighted many times in the game, and in other Cyberpunk media. In the game, we're doing netrunning on the fly, without any equipment. This would obviously cause you a lot of pain, and to use many pwerful quickhacks in a row, it makes sense that you would take damage. I actually think this is one the coolest mechanics of the game. If you invest in health regeneration perks on top of that, you become a netrunning god and it's almost limitless.
With the build fully realized, you can be just as powerful as in previous versions of the game. They just finally decided to include an actual sense of progression, instead of allowing netrunning to be OP right off the bat. You didn't even have to think before, it was way too easy to use quickhacks to kill enemies.
Another thing is that you don't necessarily have to kill everyone either. Stay in stealth, spot where you need to go for the mission, maybe by using cameras, and only take out specific, strategic targets. Then you get to your goal, do what you need to do and leave before they get the chance to trace you. For example, in the An Inconvenient Killer gig, you need to kill Jack Mausser in a packed club. Walking in and scoping the place, I quickly noticed that it would be very hard to isolate enemies, and thus almost impossible to kill everyone and gain easy access to the office without being traced. So what I did instead, was stand on the second level in the public area, straight across from Jack Mausser's office. He was standing in front of his window, looking down to the people dancing in his club. I activated Overclock, looked straight at him and used the suicide quickhack. He pulled out his gun, shot himself in the head, and died. I calmly walked out of there and nobody ever knew I was there.
Truly a badass netrunner moment.
First of all, of course you won't be able to be an OP netrunner when starting the game. At a low level, you shouldn't be able to be one of the best netrunners in Night City. It makes no sense. If you're playing on the harder difficulties, you won't be able to just waltz into an encounter with a Katana and cut up every enemy like it's nothing either. You need to actually invest in your build to be able to be an efficient netrunner, which makes sense and is how every RPG ever has worked. This was a clear flaw of the system at launch, that many people asked to be fix. It was simply too OP.
Then, there is the trace. It used to be limited to one netrunner, which made it really easy to avoid. Just find the netrunner through cameras and kill them first, and you're golden. It needed to be buffed as a mechanic. A trace is also a pretty simple thing, and anyone on the network should be able to do it. Enemy groups are all connected on the same network, this has been established many times in the game, since launch. It makes perfect sense that anyone on the network would be able to trace an intruder.
Now, if you play as a stealth netrunner, you will have to invest in your build. This goes beyond your perks, and extends to the cyberware you buy and the quickhacks you get. If you invest in the right perks, buy the right cyberdeck, and equip the right quickhacks, you will be able to deal with entire groups of enemies while either avoiding the trace or killing everyone before it finishes. I have done this myself many times, killing everyone during a gig without ever pulling out a weapon or going out of stealth.
If you really can't wait until you invest in your build, or you just can't deal with the mechanic, you should be aware that putting enough distance between you and the enemy will lead to an automatic fail for the trace. You don't even have to go that far TBH, you just move around until it fails and then get right back to it. There are also ways to start picking off enemies before you use a quickhack that leads to a trace. For example, you can lure enemies (Bait, distract enemies, etc.) in a secluded spots and use hackable objects to kill them, like overloading a fuel tank or dropping some boxes on them. If the spot is secluded enough, other enemies won't notice. Even if they do, you cannot get traced by hacking an object (Which again makes sense, since they aren't on the same network), so there will be no trace and they will simply start searching. If you're well hidden, it's not a problem. You can also complement the early build with takedowns by baiting enemies to easy takedown spots or by having a silenced sniper or pistol and picking off a couple of isolated enemies to reduce the time needed to kill the others by quickhacks.
Overclock also makes a lot of sense, lore-wise, as a mechanic. Pretty much every great netrunner we encounter in the game have a netrunning chair, and some even have an ice bath to cool down. This is because netrunning is EXTREMELY hard on the body. This has been highlighted many times in the game, and in other Cyberpunk media. In the game, we're doing netrunning on the fly, without any equipment. This would obviously cause you a lot of pain, and to use many pwerful quickhacks in a row, it makes sense that you would take damage. I actually think this is one the coolest mechanics of the game. If you invest in health regeneration perks on top of that, you become a netrunning god and it's almost limitless.
With the build fully realized, you can be just as powerful as in previous versions of the game. They just finally decided to include an actual sense of progression, instead of allowing netrunning to be OP right off the bat. You didn't even have to think before, it was way too easy to use quickhacks to kill enemies.
Another thing is that you don't necessarily have to kill everyone either. Stay in stealth, spot where you need to go for the mission, maybe by using cameras, and only take out specific, strategic targets. Then you get to your goal, do what you need to do and leave before they get the chance to trace you. For example, in the An Inconvenient Killer gig, you need to kill Jack Mausser in a packed club. Walking in and scoping the place, I quickly noticed that it would be very hard to isolate enemies, and thus almost impossible to kill everyone and gain easy access to the office without being traced. So what I did instead, was stand on the second level in the public area, straight across from Jack Mausser's office. He was standing in front of his window, looking down to the people dancing in his club. I activated Overclock, looked straight at him and used the suicide quickhack. He pulled out his gun, shot himself in the head, and died. I calmly walked out of there and nobody ever knew I was there.
Truly a badass netrunner moment.
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