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Quickhacking--or hacking, in general--is an incredibly strong method of attack within Cyberpunk 2077. Players can literally turn off their enemies, see them through walls, make them explode into flames, and so much more.
The right Quickhacks can utterly trivialize combat, turning deadly standoffs into a simple matter of point, click, and watch your enemy burst into flames from nothing but the power of your cyberdeck. So let’s talk about the best of the best that players should try out.
Ping
Ping is far and away the most useful quickhack, especially since it costs the least amount of RAM. Just by scanning any electronic object in an environment, V can Ping it and see all their enemies through walls for a period of time (at least all the enemies currently on the same network).
It's useful for any build, but it’s unequivocally overpowered in its Legendary form. When the Legendary variant of Ping is equipped, players can scan and hack enemies through walls, meaning they can take out everyone in a building without even walking inside.
Suicide
This next Quickhack is a bit on the nose in its name and usage, almost uncomfortably so. Basically, when an enemy is afflicted with the Suicide Quickhack, they shoot themselves, and that's it.
That said, it's not exactly easy to get, as players do have to unlock a specific perk in order to craft it called Hacker Overload found in the Quickhack perk tree.
It's not impossible to find Suicide as a random pickup from a hack or corpse, but it's incredibly rare.
Detonate Grenade
This is the next one in the line of "Ultimate Quickhacks" that players have to craft rather than find (usually), and it’s pretty similar to the Suicide Quickhack. Basically, it detonates a grenade that an enemy is currently carrying, killing them more often than not, and causing a lot of damage to anyone around them.
It should be said, the damage of this grenade seems exponentially higher than the grenade V uses. It's also dependent on what type of grenade the enemy is actually carrying, so it's a bit of a wild card
System Reset
Last up for the Ultimate Quickhacks, finally, there's one that isn’t quite so horrifyingly violent. It's called System Reset and since this is a Cyberpunk version of the future, Netrunners can literally shut down the people around them.
In simpler terms, it just knocks people out from afar. But, because of the way unconsciousness works in Cyberpunk, they’ll never wake up, and players can either kill them while they sleep or stroll on by without worries.
The only downside of this Quickhack is that it sort of connects back to the way the dollhouses work in-universe, and that whole industry is all kinds of messed up.
Friendly Mode/Take Control/Assist Mode
Yes, this counts as a Quickhack, since it’s accessed from the same menu and it costs RAM to execute. In any case, the ability to control cameras and especially turrets is incredibly helpful for both Netrunners and even Guns Blazing-type players.
Cameras let V mark all their targets from afar while taking over Turrets allows V to pretty much clear out a compound with no risk to themselves.
Weapon Glitch
Weapon Glitch basically just turns an enemy's weapon off for a couple of seconds, and gives V a perfect window of opportunity. Plus, the Legendary variant of this Quickhack gives the player access to the Weapon Jammer daemon usable during Breach Protocol, which jams every weapon of every enemy connected to the network.
This one is pretty crucially important in the early game, as bullets can take chunks out of V’s health bar rather easily. Once players build up both their defense and maneuverability, it becomes a bit less important.
Short Circuit
Short Circuit is the first one on here that got its spot almost exclusively because of its Legendary passive. By default, it's still pretty decent; it’s like the Overheat Quickhack, but with electrical damage instead of thermal, making it perfect for taking out Drones or other non-organic enemies.
But, that Legendary version is incredibly strong. Basically, when this version of Short Circuit is equipped, any Critical Hit also procs the uncommon effect of Short Circuit as well, meaning every headshot comes with a bit of an electric surprise.
Reboot Optics
Reboot Optics has the same use as Weapon Glitch does, but it also works against enemies who are using melee weapons, and it’s a bit better for stealth. This Quickhack causes the enemy to go blind for a couple of seconds, which means V can sneak up on them and grab/assassinate them from behind.
This matters because V can't sneak up on enemies affected by Weapon Glitch, whereas they can with Reboot Optics.
Funnily enough, its Legendary variant is also basically the same as Weapon Glitch's as well, in that it unlocks the Optics Jammer Daemon which renders everyone in the network blind for a few seconds.
Cyberpsychosis
Using this Quickhack forces Cyberpsychosis (a complex mental state found in Cyberpsychos) on the enemy so that they'll run around attacking people indiscriminately. It’s basically just a charm/confuse ability dressed up as something more complicated.
It’s a very good Quickhack, but is probably still outclassed by Suicide or Detonate Grenade.
Breach Protocol
And lastly, it felt unfair to talk about all these absurd Quickhacks and not talk about the one V has from the get-go and the one with the most growth potential. Breach Protocol is a free-to-use Quickhack, requiring no RAM, and offering a variety of upgrades.
For example, with the right perks, Breach Protocol can lower the cost of all other Quickhacks for a time, lower the physical resistance of all nearby enemies, shut down all cameras/turrets in the network for a time, or even jam the guns or blind enemies that are connected to the same network.
It’s the multi-tool of Quickhacks so long as you've got the right perks. Check out the Breach Protocol tree for more.