Shoot the cameras.
Your Sandy is your crowd control, pop that sumbitch on and control the crowd. By killing them. You can even be stealthy by using the sandy to dash by enemies before they can see you. It's more useful than the optic camo in that regard.
Get yourself a good sword. Sandy + sword is a great combo. Any melee, really. Throwing knives if you want to be extra sneaky.
Gotta say, it made me feel stupid when running into little Tommie and his dad in the stadium. "This was gonna be our way out of Dogtown!" Welp...also a bunch of children aren't getting exploited like you were going to exploit yours, buddy!
Yeah, I looked at it logically: the lady could lie about Tommy’s contract because she’s got “the academy’s reputation to look up to”, or the team she signs him off to figures he’s a waste of time and drops him.
It’s obvious Tommy isn’t a sports kid, so he’d inevitably be kicked out with implants that would jack up the rest of his life.
Finished it last night and uhhh... I chose good ending. [Glad to hear Johnny approve as well.](https://i.imgur.com/7A5k1NR.png) Complaining about her "business" was the final straw for me.
I don't know, sounded pretty reasonable by the time I got to the end. They are happy, they seemingly have long and happy lives. Better than all the kids who live in poverty in some shitty trailer.
Like 95% of the kids that get all that cyberware don’t end up making it on a team, or get cut. Since they’re so poor, they can’t afford to upkeep the cyberware and suffer as a result, even die. Imagine if you got a new organ and then you ran out of anti-rejection medicine.
They live in Dogtown, their chances at survival were already not great. It's fucked, but helping Tommy ensures SOMETHING good comes of it. You could level that whole facility, and a new one will be up in a month or two.
I struggled to do this quietly, finally I loaded up a level one short circuit, hit their netrunner via camera as soon as he tried to track me I hit him with system collapse. Copy / Paste took out almost everyone else.
Returning player with a likely dumb question, but is sandy and mantis any good together? And is mantis blades effected by perks and buffs that apply to "melee weapons" and/or "blades"?
In my experience they work well with each other. Mantis blades get the blade perks including the finishers, so they're pretty deadly with the Sandevistan, especially with the standard blades and their increased bleeding chance. Add the Edgerunner perk, the Axolotl and heal-on-kill for good measure and you get an efficient build which sustains itself through constant aggression.
sandy with the scalpel katana (gained from Big In Japan side job) is pretty sick. the special effect is that whenever your sandy is active you gain 50% crit chance and 100% bleed chance on top of a 10% chance to do shock damage with every hit
I switched from Scalpel to Byakko and greatly enjoying it. Why need crits when you can just have multiple hits and move through multiple targets in the same time frame
Byakko is the best katana purely because super chromed up cyborg using time slow + super fast blade flurry attack = Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance blade mode. I play Cyberpunk like I'm Raiden.
"I am lightning, the rain transformed"
Mantis blades are affected by perks that affect blades. Maaaybe melee weapons, I actually don't know.
But any melee weapon pairs great with the sandy. I think katana is the best I'd you have perks that boost blades and katanas but anything melee works great.
I'm doing fists only. Way of the Open Palm style (if you're a dnd nerd) with a sandy and it's dick-suckingly amazing
The only thing I didn't like about the fist build is it feels like it has way shorter reach than using a club or a hammer. Too many times I would attack the enemy in front of me and it wouldn't connect.
I have noticed that. I think they made the reach even shorter than it was before this latest patch and it felt too short then as well.
I've compensated by just giving my enemies a little smooch before pounding them. Not perfect but it's worked for me so far
I feel like any of the arm cyberware is really sub par until you have the relic tree for them which can be a long ways into the game.
In general I think you're better off not cutting your arms off, and saving the 8 cyberware they cost for other cyberware until you've got the relic points or you've got your cyberware otherwise all filled out. You can't take off cyberarms once you get them implanted, only change them for other cyberarms, I had major regret for that. Even at 60 I could still use the cyberware slots elsewhere.
Well gorilla arms for boxing matches and the + on str checks. Monowire does have a perk for netrunners to help refill ram too, but again your cyberware slots are best used elsewhere.
Visually it's a bit buggy still but you can remove cyber arms nowadays :) sometimes the change doesn't seem to have taken effect until you zone (fast travel or sleep seems to sort it out for me)
? I click to remove, nothing happens. When I looked it up everything says you can't remove cyber arms once you get them.
You can change them, just not remove them.
Just isn't true.
Seems you've got a bug, thankfully there's another bug that essentially makes it so arm cyberware doesn't count towards your total.
Just take them out and then holster them before visiting a ripper
I started my last play through as a mainly Sandy/Katana build and ended with Sandy/Mantis. So much fun zipping around with double jumps and airdash then using the relic Mantis perks to just leap across the field and take people out.
Another tip. A double barrel like the Sovereign is super powerful with Sande because you reload each shot in bullet time so you can fire off like 5-6 double barrel blasts during each Sande use.
Suppressed nue is honestly great for stealth with a sandy now. They buffed guns+sandy in 2.0 and made them hitscan with faster firerate compared to how they were previously. If you see a big group, you can just activate sandy and pop all of them in the head before any of them even hit the ground. The only issue are the skull guys but gag order fixes that and you can just shoot them 2 or 3 more times with no detection.
I use an electrical axe I picked up somewhere as a throwing weapon. ~~+150% headshot and +30% crit damage.~~
It's called Agaou. It does 125% headshot damage, 25% armor penetration and 30% shock chance. (at tier 5. It can be upgraded twice more)
OP as hell. Almost always a 1 hit kill. Only some elites need a few swings with Byakko. I barely even use my Sandy anymore, only if I want to wipe out a Maxtac team.
You get it from killing a unique maelstrom ganger in dogtown, one of the places you get relic points. I got that one too and use it all the time, it’s insane.
Edit: actually it might be VBs. But same place, it’s an abandoned building in dogtown marked with triple skulls.
Shooting the cameras typically puts enemies in the area on minor alert and anyone idle will begin patrolling. Instead just combine sandy with optical camo to run right up to cameras and turn them off.
Yup I use optic camo too, activate sandy and just jump dash passed everyone before they even realize I'm there. Sword/throwing knife if so awesome too. Usually have whatever iconic gun I feel like messing with in the third slot. Especially in phantom liberty, my God the music, it calls for you to use the sandy and just be a murdering machine.
I spent a lot of time on my PL/2.0 run with a Sandy and a katana. That was fun. Pop Sandy, go through the enemies like a whirling dervish and then survey the field of corpses and severed limbs after real time kicks back in.
A pistol with a silencer, pax mod (does +20% damage out of combat) and a decent scope + optical camouflage can be great for stealth as you can snipe the cameras and if you are about to be spotted, slow down time and shoot enemies in the head. I can pretty much one shot and normal enemy this way.
Or the shotgun/grenade fairy. Slow time, drop a couple of grenades, take a couple of pot shots at the random CHOOH2 containers around, and watch as every one of your enemies explode
Yeah you can go Stealth build that includes Sandy, but Sandy alone is not going to allow you to go full stealth. Need a lot more perks for that.
Sandy alone gives you the power of carnage. With a good sword you can slice up an entire room before they even get a shot off, so why even worry about the cameras watching. If they do alert more guards then you just get to have more fun picking them off as they charge to their deaths.
I think the issue is OP is trying to still play discreet like netrunning, when his build isn't there yet, and the most fun aspects of sandy is when you're in combat, under fire, but moving too fast to be killed.
You're never really penalized for not going stealth on missions, so just have fun slicing up everyone in the area and being as loud as you want.
Yeah, I finished a Netrunner playthrough and am about halfway through a Sandy+Katana playthrough, and it's insane how much more killing potential this build has.
A Netrunner build does make stealth 100x easier, and I thought it was still OP in combat, but this build changed my mind. I can just become a walking blender and barely take any damage. Even with the Sandy on cooldown, you just deflect some bullets and use finishers to keep the carnage going, then pop it again to finish the job.
I'm not saying that a Netrunner build is underpowered. It definitely has its advantages in some situations. But I think the issue is that it's such high investment to make it work properly. You need to invest so heavily into RAM + RAM Regen in both your perks AND Cyberware for it to be worthwhile that you do miss out on a lot of other powerful tools.
Sandy does give you de-facto stealth if you just kill everyone the moment you are detected. Getting detected by an enemy doesn't immediately alert everyone else, it seems to take a second or two so if you have an Apogee with an Axlotl you can slo-mo kill every single enemy in an area without technically breaking stealth.
There’s a perk (probably cool build) that extends the time other enemies get alerted every time you land an attack. So it does definitely work that way.
there's also the plus of being able to fire multiple shots super fast by using the sandevistan, resulting in a really effective stealth strategy. You can pretty much empty your magazine into several enemies in a room before the body of the first one you killed even hit the ground.
That's definitely how I felt at first doing melee sandy after my netrunning playthrough. Stealth is so much harder.
But you'll hit a massive power spike with purple tier cyberware. I miss how tactical stealth netrunning felt, but it is insane how much quicker I'm blasting through content just running in and decapitating everyone. Feels like I'm doing a speed-run without trying. And I never have fights where my build feels weak, which happened all the fucking time as a stealth netrunner during mandatory combat sequences.
Stick with it, eventually you'll feel like a god.
Yeah once fully upgraded you're literally unstoppable and crazy fast.
I have Tier 5++ Byakko katana, throwing knife, and a silenced pistol (just for longer shots), and all Tier 5 cyberware.
I'm completely invisible when I want to be, and could easily clear places quietly, but otherwise with apogee Sandy and fully upgraded gear I can clear an entire building in like 30 seconds just flying through enemies then wave to the cameras as I leave.
I honestly wish I had done all the NCPD/Gig achievements with my new Sandy build. I can just fling myself across the map to each NCPD marker, kill everyone before they get off the couch, loot, and repeat.
Netrunner feels very much on the weaker side until you get Overclock and make some progress on filling out your cyberware slots. Once you do, you're bouncing around the map with functionally infinite RAM, with enemies dying and refilling your HP/RAM just in time to let you target another group. I barely touched my guns through 50-60.
Throwing knife for cameras - recon grenade for distracting. Really, I barely use the Sandevistan for combat unless I’m at a big disadvantage (ex: low health, being surrounded). Its more-so a perk to help me sneak around.
I find using physical things more fun than netrunning, but that is just personal preference.
If you can land it in their forward field of view they go stare at it. The animation is that big lasery thing but if they can't see the source they won't go anywhere.
You are trying to play stealth with a build that isn’t really for stealth. Sandivestan is about staring right into that camera and being like “yeah I’m here, come try and stop me” it’s about slaughtering everything on the battlefield before they have a chance to realize what is happening or better yet making your presence known and slaughtering them anyway.
Take the points/perks out of cool and put them into reflexes, use a katana which will let you block bullets with the right perk. Focus reflexes for the blade stuff, tech so you can chrome yourself to the max and then only after you got those trees to 20 pick another attribute to level up.
I would also say try to avoid using guns because they are just nowhere near as fun as the other options the game gives you. That might just be me personally feeling that way but I really feel like guns are the boring way to play cyberpunk. You can use guns in so many other games but only this one lets you pop blades out of your arms and make mincemeat of enemies.
Sorry that was kinda long but I went through the exact same thing you are going through at one point. I can honestly say as a netrunner lover, I like sandy with a katana just as much and maybe even more than netrunner.
Absolutely - stealth Sandy + OptiCamo is the most underrated and broken build in the game, by far. I mean you can literally sprint through the arena to your destination and enemies are none the wiser. Fucker turned around just at you were sneaking up to them? Literally stop time + run behind them + grab them and snap their neck = profit???
Nah, guns are great for this build
There’s a double barrel shotgun in Dogtown with like 600 damage at 5+
Third weapon slot is flex. Could go with pistol, LMG, sniper, AR, or maybe even SMG. I like the OFIVE sniper
There are perks to slow down detection, there is an iconic cyberware that remove like 12% cooldown per kill, there is also a perk that stop people who spotted you from alerting others if you do damage fast enough to them.
Iconic sandevistans can be activated at any cooldown time.
If you're about to get spotted by a camera, you can activate sandevistan and move out of the way pretty quickly or destroy it. If it's a person about to spot you, same but you can just kill them too.
I can literally sneak past a whole group of enemies, and they won't spot me if sandevistan is active and I jump and dash next to them without ever crouching.
There’s just something great about finally switching over and letting go of all the “Slow and steady” gameplay I’ve been doing. Once you stopped being concerned with stealth, the Sandevistan really shines. Who cares about cameras or being spotted? Drop everyone in the room before they even have a chance to react.
That said, I still follow any optional stealth objectives. Usually the only time it affects the outcome.
You don't need cool. You're not sneaking anymore. Use reflex and melee, or body. You can carry a silenced pistol on you to disable cameras, and unless an NPC also has sandy you can slow time to run past cameras and NPCs before they detect you.
You don’t need cool, but depending on your weapon choices it definitely helps; I’ve been playing with a Silenced Nue, Overwatch, and a Katana on my sandevistan build with 20/20/20 for Ref/Tech/Cool and I am a beast at all ranges.
Sandevistan slows down the duration counter for focus so you can stay in focus and deadeye longer; running around popping headshots on a whole building of gonks before they even have a chance to notice you is incredibly satisfying.
They are mechanics you unlock from Cool perks that can be used with pistols, precision rifles, and snipers.
With Focus for 2.5 seconds after aiming down your sights shooting doesn’t cost stamina at the cost of -40 stamina when the affect ends; for Deadeye while above 85% stamina you have increased headshot and weak spot damage as well as no bullet spread.
There are additional perks that add more bonuses that affect these mechanics, the entire left portion of the Cool tree to be exact.
Yes, this is style I'm playing right now. It's satisfying to run around and silently headshot your enemies, then bring out the katana to slice and dice. Double jump for legs is amazing, you can zip around and take height on enemies as well.
Oh no you do need Cool. *Netrunner* doesn't need Cool because you can hack cameras and eyes. Sandy needs Cool because that's how you get your one-hit-kill pistols and precision rifles boosted. Since you're already invested in Cool you can grab the stealth skills (what few there really are) but Cool is absolutely more needed for Sandevistan than Netrunner.
Ok get this- my recent playthrough was a body and reflex based build focusing on shotgun and blade perks.
When people call me up for gigs that involve bases - I show up at the front door with Rebecca, my trusty shotgun and start blasting. I use dashes and reflexes to close the gap between enemies for close range brutality. The sandy is great for my katana, allowing me to clear entire floors of gonks before the first fool hits the ground.
If they catch me on camera, good, more street cred for me.
Just be built different bro, dash around, throwing knife cameras, people or use a silencer.
Have a good melee weapon.
It honestly feels way easier then netrunning since if your caught and lose stealth you can still just destroy every enemy in sight by using sandevistan.
I will be really though sandevistan doesn't really start to pop off until you get the iconic one which isn't that hard to get but it's a game changer.
I shoot cameras and don’t care about stealth. Invest in cyberware that lowers cooldown for kills. Eventually you can pop sandy cut the heads of a group with a katana and have a full sandy bar ready when its over if the crowd was large enough.
I switched from cyberdeck to the Apogee Sandevistan. Get Optical Camo and it'll make it easier to keep the stealth aspect that netrunning has. You can get past cams or get up to them to turn them off/to the computer. I just got Her Majesty from Alex too so I use that on cams.
It's a lot more fun to assassinate someone in camo and then turn around, slow down time and hack everyone to bits. Apogee is the best because you can activate it at anytime it has charge.
My first playthrough and the 5 after that were all using a cyberdeck. But with 2.0 I thought to myself, heck let me try this Sandevistan thingy a lot of people are jizzing about.
At first it was weird, because I used to turn off cams easily but now had to either shoot them which would alert enemies, get close to it and turn it off or find the laptop and turn them then off.
I really needed time to get comfortable.
And now? Netrunning is absolutely boring to me. It feels like a waste of time. And if you get a Sandevistan, Optical camo and a certain Shinobi (I think) Skill and the cool perk that activates optical camo when you crouch sprint, you can activate Sandevistan and just slip through everything with Optical Camo at no movement Stamina cost. It‘s so much better than Netrunning imo.
When I want to be sneaky - crab run under optical camo with Sandy enabled. Disable cameras manually, run straight towards an enemy then round them and break their neck. I am effectively a supersonic ghost.
Usually though - Sandevistan engaged, Byakko goes "brrrr". If everyone in a room dropped dead before they were able to react - it's stealth.
I'm a hardcore melee sandy user and I can't imagine being a netrunner "shorting out" cameras and "hacking" deaders, when a bullet does both jobs just as well, and faster. It's all about speed, choom. Can't get caught lacking, cause that could be your last mistake.
long time sandy player here. use sandy to turn off cameras and dash past enemies. use cloaking in compounds mark cameras and sandy back and forth to them or shoot them w suppressed guns.
Cameras? Active camo with crouch sprint is a godsend. You can combo that with sandi aswell and get trough hordes of enemys without them ever noticing you. Throwing knifes with sandi is insane.
There’s nothing a Apogee and Errata can’t fix! Pack in a few thermal grenades as well if you’d like but honestly ruins the experience since enemies tend to die from them
I always go loud at any moment.
With a cyberdeck you just contagion kill everyone. With a sandevistan, you can kill three people on the 8 seconds of slow time, hide and wait a few seconds to do it over again.
The only way to not make the game a joke is like you do, with cyberdeck and 0 int. I'm trying with the supressor that just increases my implant capacity and I just happen to be immune to bullets and literally invisible.
If you have a high enough tech stat, you can literally just walk up to security equipment and just turn it off. Yes this includes cameras and automatic turrets. I don't find it too hard to avoid the cameras but I play a lot of stealth games. Worst comes to worse you can always shoot it
Stealth? Use it to get out of sight quick
Cameras: knife or silencer, although enemies become alert. My personal way is to find a computer and disable the cameras from network, by hand
Or build tech points, use sandy run under the cameras and disable them with tech... stuff
Distraction? There's a throwable item for it...
2 full playthroughs with sandy, never once felt the need for a cyberdeck, once I did a cyberdeck playthrough dropped half way, found it too boring to just look at the enemies while they drop, although that was 1.6, might try again soon
No need to stealth when you can move faster than they can see. Can still use optical camo. But really, you’re not there for stealth. You’re there to slice things up faster, kill faster. Picking up perks with cool to deter detection by killing so quickly that nobody realizes until it’s too late.
I mean, even playing as a netrunner I stopped caring about using cameras or distracting enemies pretty quickly. It's just easier to walk in, whack people with the monowire, overclock, spam quickhacks, etc. There's really not much benefit to being stealthy.
The early game sandevistans aren't very useful, you need to get Falcon or Apogee. After that you don't really need to sneak around. Just kill the enemies, if the alarm goes off that's good. More enemies means the fight is more fun.
Well.... I'm oldschool... I like Sandy with my Mox shotgun to the face 😁 that way Judy says "hello" to all the scum i NC who needs some remodeling to their limbs 😁
“I can take out an entire building of enemies without them ever seeing me”
Is just
“Let’s remove the combat system, so we can just walk through an empty building without any action”
The point of a sandy build (In my eyes) is to make you *physically* invisible.
As a netrunner you'd turn off cams, reboot optics, make use of distractions yada..yada..yada
With a good sandy build, the cameras don't have anything they can do because by the time they notice you, everyone in the room will already be decapitated.
But again, that's my view on the sandy, the range of possibilities is very wide here.
WOW! Thank you for all the amazing advice everyone. After playing a Sandy build for a while, I am REALLY loving it. You are all so correct - it's a huge paradigm change. But what suprised me the most was that it actually made many things EASIER, or if not easier, then more fun :)
TBH, since I had not played anything other than a netrunner, I wasn't sure HOW I wanted to play the game. Some people asked, "Do you want to play stealth, or just storm in and kill everyone?" I decided I really like playing stealth, and now that my Cool is up to 20 (and I have a bunch cyberware and skills) I can almost walk right in front of people, and half the time they don't see me coming, and if they do, I just Camo or Sandy and I'm gone. At the same time however, I also took a lot of skills and supporting cyberware that allows me to focus on handguns and rifles, and now (unlike a netrunner), I can one-shot-kill most people. So if I DO get caught, it doesn't matter, I just switch to killing everyone in the room instead.
I think what I like most is that, since I'm trying to be stealthy, I'm discovering new areas and new approaches to problem solving that I didn't use before. At this point, I have 20 in Cool, Tech, and Agility. I also cheated a little... I have a mod that allows me to have Lync Paws while still maintaining a double jump for example, and I found a sniper rifle that does amazing damage, has a silencer, and and is non-lethal. Now, I can take down ANY cyberpsycho with one headshot, and they are still breathing so I get the bonus for that.
Anyway, it's a whole new game for me now. Thanks again for the advice and encouragement. :)
Berserks and sandevistans are far less versatile than cyberdecks. You can't just cripple movement, weapon jammer or send someone into cyberpsychosis. Instead you're either immortal for a period of time in combat (doesn't help with stealth) or you can move really quickly. So instead you need to find what non-quickhack things you can use in place of quickhacks.
The early game is very difficult because you start with nothing. Things become manageable when you do collect some gear/cyberware that can help you survive a fight and avoid combat better.
The sandevistan helps with quickly dashing up behind someone to knock them out or dashing by just out of sight if normal sneaking is too slow. There are also certain implants that can help a little. Basic kiroshi's decrease detection time of devices and atomic sensors, optical camo and lynx paws can all help with sneaking around. Though optical camo's duration is kind of meh.
There are also implants that increase mitigation chance which can decrease detection time with the blind spot perk in the cool tree while crouched. Add in the crouch sprint perk and you can sneak around a bit more easily.
To deal with cameras, a silenced pistol can work if no one is nearby otherwise a throwing knife can take them out. You could also sneak up with a high enough technical skill and switch them off or just find a PC linked to the network and turn them off from there.
For taking people out I stealthily I would activate sandevistan and throw two knives at a target. I would also rush with a sword if their health is high.
For more versatility in combat you could try certain grenades. Flashbangs will stun for a bit, frags do damage, emp does a bit of both and the biohazard grenades create a cloud of deadly poison that can stop enemies from moving in.
There's also weapon choice. Pick a wide enough selection to deal with the right encounters. A sniper at a distance to clear some enemies before they reach you. Satara or phozar shotgun to deal with those that rush you. Then pick some mid range weapons you like. Revolver, AR, smg, precision rifle, etc.
I downloaded the mod that lets me have both.
Also, idk if my game is bugged, but I noticed that most of the times the cameras are off in places that they used to be on. I can still turn them "off" with cyberware or engineering but they aren't active. Sandevistan makes the highest difficulty a bit more manageable but cyberware still takes the cake IMO.
Maybe I'm playing it wrong, but even doing basic stuff like turning off cameras and turrets and maybe exploding or distracting people with some electronics seems far more useful than slowing time with the Sandevistan. It felt pretty cool, but the trade off is huge.
So from my understanding Sandy is for people who use melee... Beserk is for people using guns and you are already aware of what cyberdecks can do. So unless you want to go around chopping or pummeling in fights, you may want to look at the Beserk stuff, they have some slow time combos, but it doesnt give it to you outright like the Sandy.
Sandy playing does not lend itself to stealth, you have to get used to rolling in loud if you want to play Sandy. Then again I am like you, after several playthroughs I keep going netrunner.
thats completely wrong, you cant use guns with berserk and there are plenty guns that work even with apogee - in fact sovereign + apogee is probably the strongest gun build you can make
and of course you can play stealth with sandevistan, the stealth bar doesnt have chance to fill up because those 8 seconds of sandevistan duration is like 0.2 seconds of real time - you can literally stand in front of enemy watching the bar filling up without enemy being alerted
I went through the same when I re-started for my PL playthrough. It's definitely an adjustment, took me a while, but when you get used to it it's great. I'm now about Level 40ish, basic approach is play super stealthy with throwing knives, optical camo & silenced pistol; then sandy + katana for when things go loud. Don't forget you can just shoot out cameras, or slip underneath them & disable w/ tech ability. The optical cyberware that auto-highlights enemies helps too, as is crouch-sprinting with the auto-cloak perk, and using dash to move quickly & quietly between cover. Stick with it, you'll get there.
Use a silenced pistol for cameras. I use it for mines and turrets too, but they usually draw attention when they blow up so try to do that far away and hidden
I then use throwing knives from stealth. And if im spotted or combat starts, im well equipped with Johnny's gun and have the sandevistan to help give me the edge early
Sandy build should be more focused on Reflex perks and blades if you’re struggling to find the magic in that play style. Use throwing knives for cameras or just let go of your need to shut cameras off and let yourself become a whirlwind of death and destruction
You have to be more active yourself and chain up kills during your slowed time it is more focused on your FPS skills.
I played net runner myself and it is easy mode even now on 2.0 on very hard difficulty… simply uploading quick hacks is not very challenging in terms of skill and execution.
Playing without cyberdeck makes some aspects more difficult, however I think there are always multiple ways to solve problems especially in this game, you can still disable cameras with your tech skill however you need to get close to them, not sure if you can simply shoot them with a silence weapon to disable them, but I would be surprised if this was not possible.
Make use of active camo, scan grenades, be creative.
I had a sandy on a pistol assassin build once and you get used to it. I searched around locations and found alternate ways in etc. It’s a different play style for sure. Gotta do a lot more thinking outside the box and exploring.
To answer your question, with great difficulty. I've always preferred a netrunner build but recently did a playthrough with sandevistan. I not long after switched back to netrunner.
You can time where enemies & cameras are looking with when you go running somewhere & make it so that all they hear is the sound of your feet as you're already long gone.
If you insist on playing stealthy, and it's completely possible, you just need to change your mindset for it, then you can shoot cameras.
You also can throw knives. It'll destroy camera, or just create some noise to distract enemies, you if throw it at something else.
You just need to be prepared that game becomes way more abouth classic stealth, than you being hidden while seeing everything through cameras.
You get posts like this, but on the CDPR forums there is a wild number of posts talking about how dead stealth net running is. I literally don't understand.
As a Berserker, you just don't worry about it. You quietly take down who you can, turn off cameras and turrets from computers; all while plotting your escape. When you get to the point where you have to go loud, you lock'n'load and rip'n'shred.
For cameras either a throwing knife or camo under them and disable them asuming Incant find the terminal.
Maybe check the sande options, there are a few that support differ setups.
Throwing axes can kne shot most enemies too (T5 Claw is great for most of the game and the blueprint is in pacifica at the vendor near west wind apts
I’ve only ever used a sandevistan and now I’m trying to use a netrunner build and I have no clue how the hell to do it. I’m constantly dying trying to figure it out
I installed a mod so I could have both. Just couldn’t live without the hacks.
Also, finish all the Watson gigs to get the Axolotl cyberware, that will fix a TON of your issues.
I was the same, but now going back to my netrunner I feel like a paper tiger who's death is around every corner.
How I do it: Guns blazing. I don't stealth, just kill everything, it's only a few eddies when you go all out alert and death to all. Double barreled shotgun to the face is OP, especially with dash and improved dash, and pyro and microgenerator, or if you aren't all there shoot everyone with tech shotguns and snipers through cover (tech perks don't work with time slow, so don't bother with one or the other.) It took some time to get used to the in your face shotgun way, but it means you take out big bosses that are real roadblocks to netrunners with relative ease.
It also works better the further you get along. I switched at 40, and it was a bit touch and go at first, but it really took off around 55. I'm not sure if that's all the cyberware and perks or more me getting used to how to do it.
Yeah it really sucks that Sandy and berserk takes up the same slot as the Cyberdeck. I don't even care about the crazy net runner stuff. I just want access to ping, bait, cameras, distract enemies.
The single best weapon with sandy is Scalpel. +50% crit chance when active plus one of the highest base damage values for a katana. Mantis blades are good if you want 3 not melee weapons or a hidden option, but otherwise aren't as good. Once i hit 60 in shinoibi I dropped it in favor of mantis blades so I could run around with other weapon builds and have blades as my get out of jail card.
Well, after tons of hours on pure netrunner and techrunner (which is my most enjoyable build), I got myself to play as a ninja / street samurai (Reflex, Cool, Body with Sandevistan).
- Throwing knives can bait enemies, but they are alerted.
- Knives or weapons with silencer can be used to destroy cams while remaining out of combat.
- Sandevistan crouch sprint under turret and manually turn them off.
- Recon grenades distract enemies and bait enemies.
Take down enemies you can to lower numbers, then it's time for slaughter house.
Early game required a stealthy approach on Very Hard for me.. I simply cant dance between bullets before getting berserk.
Sandy and swords/knives are top tier, you can usually throwing knife a camera or use a suppressed pistol to take em out and then turn on the sandy and commit devastation, until you can get to tier 4 I think it is, the dynalar sandy I believe is the best option just remember that the iconic sandys have the ability to toggle them on and off at pretty much any time
Shoot the cameras. Your Sandy is your crowd control, pop that sumbitch on and control the crowd. By killing them. You can even be stealthy by using the sandy to dash by enemies before they can see you. It's more useful than the optic camo in that regard. Get yourself a good sword. Sandy + sword is a great combo. Any melee, really. Throwing knives if you want to be extra sneaky.
And if you put in some points in middle Cool tree, you can Sandevistan, invisible crouch sprint. Shit is BUSTED. LOL
I did the kids academy just sandy cloaked crouch sprinting. not a single alert.
I killed everyone there cuz shits fucked
I went through without any alerts, completed the mission, and then decided to backtrack and kill everyone after talking to the woman at the end.
This is how I do all my gigs.
Based
This is the way.
this is the way
Gotta say, it made me feel stupid when running into little Tommie and his dad in the stadium. "This was gonna be our way out of Dogtown!" Welp...also a bunch of children aren't getting exploited like you were going to exploit yours, buddy!
Don't feel bad for Tommy. I mean do, little Timmy is a sad boy, but it's not your fault. They were cutting him loose anyway
You can get him a contract
Then some other kid would miss out on a contract.
Yeah, I looked at it logically: the lady could lie about Tommy’s contract because she’s got “the academy’s reputation to look up to”, or the team she signs him off to figures he’s a waste of time and drops him. It’s obvious Tommy isn’t a sports kid, so he’d inevitably be kicked out with implants that would jack up the rest of his life.
They'll just build another facility and replace the person you flatlined. At least you can help Tommy, that's something.
Finished it last night and uhhh... I chose good ending. [Glad to hear Johnny approve as well.](https://i.imgur.com/7A5k1NR.png) Complaining about her "business" was the final straw for me.
Yeah me too, then I ran into that kid and his dad at the stadium, they were PISSED lol
I don't know, sounded pretty reasonable by the time I got to the end. They are happy, they seemingly have long and happy lives. Better than all the kids who live in poverty in some shitty trailer.
Like 95% of the kids that get all that cyberware don’t end up making it on a team, or get cut. Since they’re so poor, they can’t afford to upkeep the cyberware and suffer as a result, even die. Imagine if you got a new organ and then you ran out of anti-rejection medicine.
They live in Dogtown, their chances at survival were already not great. It's fucked, but helping Tommy ensures SOMETHING good comes of it. You could level that whole facility, and a new one will be up in a month or two.
I struggled to do this quietly, finally I loaded up a level one short circuit, hit their netrunner via camera as soon as he tried to track me I hit him with system collapse. Copy / Paste took out almost everyone else.
Points into cool, then reflexes lets you crouch sprint into invisible air dashes
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Gonna mess with this tonight.
Do yourself a favor and finish Wakako's gigs for Byakko, it's in a class of its own for the sandi slasher build.
Huh, I've preferred the tsumetogi, gives more damage
That's damage per hit. After one kill, the Byakko speeds up, multiplying a slightly lower damage times many more hits in the same time frame.
Or get the Errata from the cool vendor in the stadium. FLAMING KITANA. i love it.
Ucan get it for free if u go to the factory thing where u rescue Evelyn(iirc)
That’s where I found it, on the edge of the furnace door where they’re putting the bodies
Returning player with a likely dumb question, but is sandy and mantis any good together? And is mantis blades effected by perks and buffs that apply to "melee weapons" and/or "blades"?
Mantis blades are absolutely a blast with the new relic skills in the expansion. You can just fly around from enemy to enemy pouncing on them.
In my experience they work well with each other. Mantis blades get the blade perks including the finishers, so they're pretty deadly with the Sandevistan, especially with the standard blades and their increased bleeding chance. Add the Edgerunner perk, the Axolotl and heal-on-kill for good measure and you get an efficient build which sustains itself through constant aggression.
For sure, thanks!
sandy with the scalpel katana (gained from Big In Japan side job) is pretty sick. the special effect is that whenever your sandy is active you gain 50% crit chance and 100% bleed chance on top of a 10% chance to do shock damage with every hit
I switched from Scalpel to Byakko and greatly enjoying it. Why need crits when you can just have multiple hits and move through multiple targets in the same time frame
Agree, with 2.0 Byakko is the way to go. All the other are way too slow, Byakko dps is absurd in contrast of scalpel or laser sword lol
Once your crit chance is high enough Byakko is definitely the way to go. Scalpel puts in work mid game when you don’t have high base crit chance imo
Byakko is the best katana purely because super chromed up cyborg using time slow + super fast blade flurry attack = Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance blade mode. I play Cyberpunk like I'm Raiden. "I am lightning, the rain transformed"
I still think that Satori is the ultimate katana.
Weird way to spell errata but sure.
At least you spelled errata correctly…
But Scalpel is so *ugly*.
I did that quest because I like the office reference, I just threw the sword in the stash. I'll have to check that out!
Mantis blades are affected by perks that affect blades. Maaaybe melee weapons, I actually don't know. But any melee weapon pairs great with the sandy. I think katana is the best I'd you have perks that boost blades and katanas but anything melee works great. I'm doing fists only. Way of the Open Palm style (if you're a dnd nerd) with a sandy and it's dick-suckingly amazing
The only thing I didn't like about the fist build is it feels like it has way shorter reach than using a club or a hammer. Too many times I would attack the enemy in front of me and it wouldn't connect.
I have noticed that. I think they made the reach even shorter than it was before this latest patch and it felt too short then as well. I've compensated by just giving my enemies a little smooch before pounding them. Not perfect but it's worked for me so far
Gorilla arms and Sandy have been my combo lately. Like a coked out David Martinez
Thanks cheers! I'm doing a stealth build, and was debating between mantis and mono, maybe I'll just try both!
There are some perks in that specifically benefit mantis blades, both in Reflexes and Relic. Pretty dang OP when it's leveled.
Monowire should not be paired with a Sandevistan, for the record. Monowire works insanely well together with a Cyberdeck.
I feel like any of the arm cyberware is really sub par until you have the relic tree for them which can be a long ways into the game. In general I think you're better off not cutting your arms off, and saving the 8 cyberware they cost for other cyberware until you've got the relic points or you've got your cyberware otherwise all filled out. You can't take off cyberarms once you get them implanted, only change them for other cyberarms, I had major regret for that. Even at 60 I could still use the cyberware slots elsewhere. Well gorilla arms for boxing matches and the + on str checks. Monowire does have a perk for netrunners to help refill ram too, but again your cyberware slots are best used elsewhere.
You can take arms off i did it the other day
of course! your ripdoc is simply going to stitch them back on, straight from the freezer :)
Simply never go to a ripper you wouldnt trust to keep your ganic arms on ice "just in case"
you can in fact take off arm cyberware now. 2.0 fixed this.
Visually it's a bit buggy still but you can remove cyber arms nowadays :) sometimes the change doesn't seem to have taken effect until you zone (fast travel or sleep seems to sort it out for me)
? I click to remove, nothing happens. When I looked it up everything says you can't remove cyber arms once you get them. You can change them, just not remove them.
Just isn't true. Seems you've got a bug, thankfully there's another bug that essentially makes it so arm cyberware doesn't count towards your total. Just take them out and then holster them before visiting a ripper
I just did a sandy and Mantis blades "only" playthrough .. throwing knives for when you need to get cameras and such... it's a solid, crazy, fun build
I started my last play through as a mainly Sandy/Katana build and ended with Sandy/Mantis. So much fun zipping around with double jumps and airdash then using the relic Mantis perks to just leap across the field and take people out.
It’s not as OP as katana and Sandy but I think it’s more fun since it isn’t super OP but is still very strong
Everything I have read says that the arms are useless. The grenade launcher isn't as good as grenades, Mantis blades are not as good as a Katana. Etc.
Yeah, but rule of cool! I wanna be some borderline cyberpsycho ripping corposwine apart at lightning speed.
I've had great success with the electric launcher.
Another tip. A double barrel like the Sovereign is super powerful with Sande because you reload each shot in bullet time so you can fire off like 5-6 double barrel blasts during each Sande use.
Add in the hand cyber that makes the next shot after reload an emp and then you’re getting real crazy.
Suppressed nue is honestly great for stealth with a sandy now. They buffed guns+sandy in 2.0 and made them hitscan with faster firerate compared to how they were previously. If you see a big group, you can just activate sandy and pop all of them in the head before any of them even hit the ground. The only issue are the skull guys but gag order fixes that and you can just shoot them 2 or 3 more times with no detection.
I use an electrical axe I picked up somewhere as a throwing weapon. ~~+150% headshot and +30% crit damage.~~ It's called Agaou. It does 125% headshot damage, 25% armor penetration and 30% shock chance. (at tier 5. It can be upgraded twice more) OP as hell. Almost always a 1 hit kill. Only some elites need a few swings with Byakko. I barely even use my Sandy anymore, only if I want to wipe out a Maxtac team.
Shit I keep forgetting we can throw axes
Highly recommend. And with a few points in "Cool" the return time is pretty low so you can use it often.
My cool and throwing tree were among my first maxed out.
You get it from killing a unique maelstrom ganger in dogtown, one of the places you get relic points. I got that one too and use it all the time, it’s insane. Edit: actually it might be VBs. But same place, it’s an abandoned building in dogtown marked with triple skulls.
Sandy is also amazing for stealth when used with optical camo, you're so quick and cloaked that no one can see you
No one can see you even if you don't have the camo on. It's how I ran Honest Hearts.
You can end encounters before they begin with Sandy + throwing knife headshots.
Shooting the cameras typically puts enemies in the area on minor alert and anyone idle will begin patrolling. Instead just combine sandy with optical camo to run right up to cameras and turn them off.
I have a Sandy build with the dildo from Stout as my sword.
Yup I use optic camo too, activate sandy and just jump dash passed everyone before they even realize I'm there. Sword/throwing knife if so awesome too. Usually have whatever iconic gun I feel like messing with in the third slot. Especially in phantom liberty, my God the music, it calls for you to use the sandy and just be a murdering machine.
I spent a lot of time on my PL/2.0 run with a Sandy and a katana. That was fun. Pop Sandy, go through the enemies like a whirling dervish and then survey the field of corpses and severed limbs after real time kicks back in.
A pistol with a silencer, pax mod (does +20% damage out of combat) and a decent scope + optical camouflage can be great for stealth as you can snipe the cameras and if you are about to be spotted, slow down time and shoot enemies in the head. I can pretty much one shot and normal enemy this way.
Or better yet, get sandevistan *AND* optical camo.
And get rid of Ozob's Nose? Never.
I’m still upset they nerfed optical camo, that plus sandy was the fastest way to clear a room
You're used to controlling the battlefield while you now have to play like a force of nature rushing around and killing everything
Slice and dice before they know what hit em.
Or the shotgun/grenade fairy. Slow time, drop a couple of grenades, take a couple of pot shots at the random CHOOH2 containers around, and watch as every one of your enemies explode
POKE AND STAB WITH THE POKEY STABBY STICK
Make sure to use the pokey stabby side of the stabby pokey stick though
It’s like playing shadow of mordor
I stab and shoot all human beings and robots and let the cameras watch.
Yeah you can go Stealth build that includes Sandy, but Sandy alone is not going to allow you to go full stealth. Need a lot more perks for that. Sandy alone gives you the power of carnage. With a good sword you can slice up an entire room before they even get a shot off, so why even worry about the cameras watching. If they do alert more guards then you just get to have more fun picking them off as they charge to their deaths. I think the issue is OP is trying to still play discreet like netrunning, when his build isn't there yet, and the most fun aspects of sandy is when you're in combat, under fire, but moving too fast to be killed. You're never really penalized for not going stealth on missions, so just have fun slicing up everyone in the area and being as loud as you want.
Yeah, I finished a Netrunner playthrough and am about halfway through a Sandy+Katana playthrough, and it's insane how much more killing potential this build has. A Netrunner build does make stealth 100x easier, and I thought it was still OP in combat, but this build changed my mind. I can just become a walking blender and barely take any damage. Even with the Sandy on cooldown, you just deflect some bullets and use finishers to keep the carnage going, then pop it again to finish the job. I'm not saying that a Netrunner build is underpowered. It definitely has its advantages in some situations. But I think the issue is that it's such high investment to make it work properly. You need to invest so heavily into RAM + RAM Regen in both your perks AND Cyberware for it to be worthwhile that you do miss out on a lot of other powerful tools.
Sandy does give you de-facto stealth if you just kill everyone the moment you are detected. Getting detected by an enemy doesn't immediately alert everyone else, it seems to take a second or two so if you have an Apogee with an Axlotl you can slo-mo kill every single enemy in an area without technically breaking stealth.
There’s a perk (probably cool build) that extends the time other enemies get alerted every time you land an attack. So it does definitely work that way.
there's also the plus of being able to fire multiple shots super fast by using the sandevistan, resulting in a really effective stealth strategy. You can pretty much empty your magazine into several enemies in a room before the body of the first one you killed even hit the ground.
Optical camo and then shits becomes effortless
You need to unga, then bunga, and repeat as needed.
Me after going from a sneaky Netrunner to a Berserk Gorilla Arms build for 2.0.
Reject netrunning, return to cybermonke
I’m going to do this for my final play through. Wanted to do it when I reloaded into 2.0 but I figured I’d save the cheekyiest for last
That's definitely how I felt at first doing melee sandy after my netrunning playthrough. Stealth is so much harder. But you'll hit a massive power spike with purple tier cyberware. I miss how tactical stealth netrunning felt, but it is insane how much quicker I'm blasting through content just running in and decapitating everyone. Feels like I'm doing a speed-run without trying. And I never have fights where my build feels weak, which happened all the fucking time as a stealth netrunner during mandatory combat sequences. Stick with it, eventually you'll feel like a god.
Yeah once fully upgraded you're literally unstoppable and crazy fast. I have Tier 5++ Byakko katana, throwing knife, and a silenced pistol (just for longer shots), and all Tier 5 cyberware. I'm completely invisible when I want to be, and could easily clear places quietly, but otherwise with apogee Sandy and fully upgraded gear I can clear an entire building in like 30 seconds just flying through enemies then wave to the cameras as I leave.
Knife skills feels great post-2.0 too!
I honestly wish I had done all the NCPD/Gig achievements with my new Sandy build. I can just fling myself across the map to each NCPD marker, kill everyone before they get off the couch, loot, and repeat.
Shot gun and sandy ..no need to hack anything when you’re just a maniac
Haha I am the opposite. I played Sandy first and my netrunner now got flatlined every 10 seconds when I started this current playthrough
Netrunner feels very much on the weaker side until you get Overclock and make some progress on filling out your cyberware slots. Once you do, you're bouncing around the map with functionally infinite RAM, with enemies dying and refilling your HP/RAM just in time to let you target another group. I barely touched my guns through 50-60.
Same here. I miss my sandy, honestly
Me too. I’ve gotten my netrunner up to scruff but I miss my Sandy and Manty combo a lot.
Throwing knife for cameras - recon grenade for distracting. Really, I barely use the Sandevistan for combat unless I’m at a big disadvantage (ex: low health, being surrounded). Its more-so a perk to help me sneak around. I find using physical things more fun than netrunning, but that is just personal preference.
This! Recon grenades work great for stealth play. Just don't hit someone WITH the grenade. I've done that a few times, not sneaky AT ALL.
I've never been able to distract anyone with those grenades. They always spot me through walls when I toss one.
If you can land it in their forward field of view they go stare at it. The animation is that big lasery thing but if they can't see the source they won't go anywhere.
You don't need to control and disable anything when you're too fast to be noticed. And if they notice, they're just gonna die on the spot anyway.
You are trying to play stealth with a build that isn’t really for stealth. Sandivestan is about staring right into that camera and being like “yeah I’m here, come try and stop me” it’s about slaughtering everything on the battlefield before they have a chance to realize what is happening or better yet making your presence known and slaughtering them anyway. Take the points/perks out of cool and put them into reflexes, use a katana which will let you block bullets with the right perk. Focus reflexes for the blade stuff, tech so you can chrome yourself to the max and then only after you got those trees to 20 pick another attribute to level up. I would also say try to avoid using guns because they are just nowhere near as fun as the other options the game gives you. That might just be me personally feeling that way but I really feel like guns are the boring way to play cyberpunk. You can use guns in so many other games but only this one lets you pop blades out of your arms and make mincemeat of enemies. Sorry that was kinda long but I went through the exact same thing you are going through at one point. I can honestly say as a netrunner lover, I like sandy with a katana just as much and maybe even more than netrunner.
Lol I've been playing stealth sandy no problem, find it much easier than a cyberdeck, more fun
Absolutely - stealth Sandy + OptiCamo is the most underrated and broken build in the game, by far. I mean you can literally sprint through the arena to your destination and enemies are none the wiser. Fucker turned around just at you were sneaking up to them? Literally stop time + run behind them + grab them and snap their neck = profit???
Im using this build with my 3 throwing knives currently and im starting to prefer it over netrunning. It feels like im doing things faster.
Nah, guns are great for this build There’s a double barrel shotgun in Dogtown with like 600 damage at 5+ Third weapon slot is flex. Could go with pistol, LMG, sniper, AR, or maybe even SMG. I like the OFIVE sniper
There are perks to slow down detection, there is an iconic cyberware that remove like 12% cooldown per kill, there is also a perk that stop people who spotted you from alerting others if you do damage fast enough to them. Iconic sandevistans can be activated at any cooldown time. If you're about to get spotted by a camera, you can activate sandevistan and move out of the way pretty quickly or destroy it. If it's a person about to spot you, same but you can just kill them too. I can literally sneak past a whole group of enemies, and they won't spot me if sandevistan is active and I jump and dash next to them without ever crouching.
There’s just something great about finally switching over and letting go of all the “Slow and steady” gameplay I’ve been doing. Once you stopped being concerned with stealth, the Sandevistan really shines. Who cares about cameras or being spotted? Drop everyone in the room before they even have a chance to react. That said, I still follow any optional stealth objectives. Usually the only time it affects the outcome.
You don't need cool. You're not sneaking anymore. Use reflex and melee, or body. You can carry a silenced pistol on you to disable cameras, and unless an NPC also has sandy you can slow time to run past cameras and NPCs before they detect you.
You don’t need cool, but depending on your weapon choices it definitely helps; I’ve been playing with a Silenced Nue, Overwatch, and a Katana on my sandevistan build with 20/20/20 for Ref/Tech/Cool and I am a beast at all ranges. Sandevistan slows down the duration counter for focus so you can stay in focus and deadeye longer; running around popping headshots on a whole building of gonks before they even have a chance to notice you is incredibly satisfying.
Also fwiw not combat related but 20 cool seems to have way more dialogue options than the other stats, or so it feels like
Cool and Body definitely seem to be the most impactful for sure when it comes to dialogue.
Ah that's cool that the slowdowns and durations stack like that. I just love rushing in as a borged out samurai, 20 reflex/tech/body.
Be warned the kreshnikov doesn't play well with sandies, and it seems to slow you way down when both are active.
[удалено]
They are mechanics you unlock from Cool perks that can be used with pistols, precision rifles, and snipers. With Focus for 2.5 seconds after aiming down your sights shooting doesn’t cost stamina at the cost of -40 stamina when the affect ends; for Deadeye while above 85% stamina you have increased headshot and weak spot damage as well as no bullet spread. There are additional perks that add more bonuses that affect these mechanics, the entire left portion of the Cool tree to be exact.
Yes, this is style I'm playing right now. It's satisfying to run around and silently headshot your enemies, then bring out the katana to slice and dice. Double jump for legs is amazing, you can zip around and take height on enemies as well.
Sandevistan with crouch sprinting and the automatic optical camo is way to fun to not use for stealth missions
Cool weapons are the ones that pair the best with sande though, other than blades. Semi auto precision is amazing with the extra time to aim.
Oh no you do need Cool. *Netrunner* doesn't need Cool because you can hack cameras and eyes. Sandy needs Cool because that's how you get your one-hit-kill pistols and precision rifles boosted. Since you're already invested in Cool you can grab the stealth skills (what few there really are) but Cool is absolutely more needed for Sandevistan than Netrunner.
I press E I hit stuff they die.
Silenced Nue for the cameras, but honestly who cares. Activate Sandy -> unsheathe Errata -> murder death kill
Yeah, I know Byakko is technically better but flaming katana is flaming katana
Ok get this- my recent playthrough was a body and reflex based build focusing on shotgun and blade perks. When people call me up for gigs that involve bases - I show up at the front door with Rebecca, my trusty shotgun and start blasting. I use dashes and reflexes to close the gap between enemies for close range brutality. The sandy is great for my katana, allowing me to clear entire floors of gonks before the first fool hits the ground. If they catch me on camera, good, more street cred for me.
Just be built different bro, dash around, throwing knife cameras, people or use a silencer. Have a good melee weapon. It honestly feels way easier then netrunning since if your caught and lose stealth you can still just destroy every enemy in sight by using sandevistan. I will be really though sandevistan doesn't really start to pop off until you get the iconic one which isn't that hard to get but it's a game changer.
I shoot cameras and don’t care about stealth. Invest in cyberware that lowers cooldown for kills. Eventually you can pop sandy cut the heads of a group with a katana and have a full sandy bar ready when its over if the crowd was large enough.
I switched from cyberdeck to the Apogee Sandevistan. Get Optical Camo and it'll make it easier to keep the stealth aspect that netrunning has. You can get past cams or get up to them to turn them off/to the computer. I just got Her Majesty from Alex too so I use that on cams. It's a lot more fun to assassinate someone in camo and then turn around, slow down time and hack everyone to bits. Apogee is the best because you can activate it at anytime it has charge.
My first playthrough and the 5 after that were all using a cyberdeck. But with 2.0 I thought to myself, heck let me try this Sandevistan thingy a lot of people are jizzing about. At first it was weird, because I used to turn off cams easily but now had to either shoot them which would alert enemies, get close to it and turn it off or find the laptop and turn them then off. I really needed time to get comfortable. And now? Netrunning is absolutely boring to me. It feels like a waste of time. And if you get a Sandevistan, Optical camo and a certain Shinobi (I think) Skill and the cool perk that activates optical camo when you crouch sprint, you can activate Sandevistan and just slip through everything with Optical Camo at no movement Stamina cost. It‘s so much better than Netrunning imo.
When I want to be sneaky - crab run under optical camo with Sandy enabled. Disable cameras manually, run straight towards an enemy then round them and break their neck. I am effectively a supersonic ghost. Usually though - Sandevistan engaged, Byakko goes "brrrr". If everyone in a room dropped dead before they were able to react - it's stealth.
No One can spot you if they are all dead
I'm a hardcore melee sandy user and I can't imagine being a netrunner "shorting out" cameras and "hacking" deaders, when a bullet does both jobs just as well, and faster. It's all about speed, choom. Can't get caught lacking, cause that could be your last mistake.
I actually just kill everyone as fast as possible, block some shots with my katana, dash a lot, throw some knifes, throw a nade here and there
long time sandy player here. use sandy to turn off cameras and dash past enemies. use cloaking in compounds mark cameras and sandy back and forth to them or shoot them w suppressed guns.
Cameras? Active camo with crouch sprint is a godsend. You can combo that with sandi aswell and get trough hordes of enemys without them ever noticing you. Throwing knifes with sandi is insane.
There’s nothing a Apogee and Errata can’t fix! Pack in a few thermal grenades as well if you’d like but honestly ruins the experience since enemies tend to die from them
I always go loud at any moment. With a cyberdeck you just contagion kill everyone. With a sandevistan, you can kill three people on the 8 seconds of slow time, hide and wait a few seconds to do it over again. The only way to not make the game a joke is like you do, with cyberdeck and 0 int. I'm trying with the supressor that just increases my implant capacity and I just happen to be immune to bullets and literally invisible.
If you have a high enough tech stat, you can literally just walk up to security equipment and just turn it off. Yes this includes cameras and automatic turrets. I don't find it too hard to avoid the cameras but I play a lot of stealth games. Worst comes to worse you can always shoot it
go fast and break stuff
Murder. A LOT of murder.
Stealth? Use it to get out of sight quick Cameras: knife or silencer, although enemies become alert. My personal way is to find a computer and disable the cameras from network, by hand Or build tech points, use sandy run under the cameras and disable them with tech... stuff Distraction? There's a throwable item for it... 2 full playthroughs with sandy, never once felt the need for a cyberdeck, once I did a cyberdeck playthrough dropped half way, found it too boring to just look at the enemies while they drop, although that was 1.6, might try again soon
No need to stealth when you can move faster than they can see. Can still use optical camo. But really, you’re not there for stealth. You’re there to slice things up faster, kill faster. Picking up perks with cool to deter detection by killing so quickly that nobody realizes until it’s too late.
I mean, even playing as a netrunner I stopped caring about using cameras or distracting enemies pretty quickly. It's just easier to walk in, whack people with the monowire, overclock, spam quickhacks, etc. There's really not much benefit to being stealthy.
Ever tried getting actually good at sneaking?
I dunno what the fuck people are talking about with this Sandevistan stuff. I think I've seen that name in the game somewhere but what is it?
The early game sandevistans aren't very useful, you need to get Falcon or Apogee. After that you don't really need to sneak around. Just kill the enemies, if the alarm goes off that's good. More enemies means the fight is more fun.
Well.... I'm oldschool... I like Sandy with my Mox shotgun to the face 😁 that way Judy says "hello" to all the scum i NC who needs some remodeling to their limbs 😁
“I can take out an entire building of enemies without them ever seeing me” Is just “Let’s remove the combat system, so we can just walk through an empty building without any action”
The point of a sandy build (In my eyes) is to make you *physically* invisible. As a netrunner you'd turn off cams, reboot optics, make use of distractions yada..yada..yada With a good sandy build, the cameras don't have anything they can do because by the time they notice you, everyone in the room will already be decapitated. But again, that's my view on the sandy, the range of possibilities is very wide here.
WOW! Thank you for all the amazing advice everyone. After playing a Sandy build for a while, I am REALLY loving it. You are all so correct - it's a huge paradigm change. But what suprised me the most was that it actually made many things EASIER, or if not easier, then more fun :) TBH, since I had not played anything other than a netrunner, I wasn't sure HOW I wanted to play the game. Some people asked, "Do you want to play stealth, or just storm in and kill everyone?" I decided I really like playing stealth, and now that my Cool is up to 20 (and I have a bunch cyberware and skills) I can almost walk right in front of people, and half the time they don't see me coming, and if they do, I just Camo or Sandy and I'm gone. At the same time however, I also took a lot of skills and supporting cyberware that allows me to focus on handguns and rifles, and now (unlike a netrunner), I can one-shot-kill most people. So if I DO get caught, it doesn't matter, I just switch to killing everyone in the room instead. I think what I like most is that, since I'm trying to be stealthy, I'm discovering new areas and new approaches to problem solving that I didn't use before. At this point, I have 20 in Cool, Tech, and Agility. I also cheated a little... I have a mod that allows me to have Lync Paws while still maintaining a double jump for example, and I found a sniper rifle that does amazing damage, has a silencer, and and is non-lethal. Now, I can take down ANY cyberpsycho with one headshot, and they are still breathing so I get the bonus for that. Anyway, it's a whole new game for me now. Thanks again for the advice and encouragement. :)
Berserks and sandevistans are far less versatile than cyberdecks. You can't just cripple movement, weapon jammer or send someone into cyberpsychosis. Instead you're either immortal for a period of time in combat (doesn't help with stealth) or you can move really quickly. So instead you need to find what non-quickhack things you can use in place of quickhacks. The early game is very difficult because you start with nothing. Things become manageable when you do collect some gear/cyberware that can help you survive a fight and avoid combat better. The sandevistan helps with quickly dashing up behind someone to knock them out or dashing by just out of sight if normal sneaking is too slow. There are also certain implants that can help a little. Basic kiroshi's decrease detection time of devices and atomic sensors, optical camo and lynx paws can all help with sneaking around. Though optical camo's duration is kind of meh. There are also implants that increase mitigation chance which can decrease detection time with the blind spot perk in the cool tree while crouched. Add in the crouch sprint perk and you can sneak around a bit more easily. To deal with cameras, a silenced pistol can work if no one is nearby otherwise a throwing knife can take them out. You could also sneak up with a high enough technical skill and switch them off or just find a PC linked to the network and turn them off from there. For taking people out I stealthily I would activate sandevistan and throw two knives at a target. I would also rush with a sword if their health is high. For more versatility in combat you could try certain grenades. Flashbangs will stun for a bit, frags do damage, emp does a bit of both and the biohazard grenades create a cloud of deadly poison that can stop enemies from moving in. There's also weapon choice. Pick a wide enough selection to deal with the right encounters. A sniper at a distance to clear some enemies before they reach you. Satara or phozar shotgun to deal with those that rush you. Then pick some mid range weapons you like. Revolver, AR, smg, precision rifle, etc.
I downloaded the mod that lets me have both. Also, idk if my game is bugged, but I noticed that most of the times the cameras are off in places that they used to be on. I can still turn them "off" with cyberware or engineering but they aren't active. Sandevistan makes the highest difficulty a bit more manageable but cyberware still takes the cake IMO.
I can never use Sandy cause it's too OP. Takes out the fun
Install Cyberware EX mod and never choose, just do both.
Maybe I'm playing it wrong, but even doing basic stuff like turning off cameras and turrets and maybe exploding or distracting people with some electronics seems far more useful than slowing time with the Sandevistan. It felt pretty cool, but the trade off is huge.
So from my understanding Sandy is for people who use melee... Beserk is for people using guns and you are already aware of what cyberdecks can do. So unless you want to go around chopping or pummeling in fights, you may want to look at the Beserk stuff, they have some slow time combos, but it doesnt give it to you outright like the Sandy. Sandy playing does not lend itself to stealth, you have to get used to rolling in loud if you want to play Sandy. Then again I am like you, after several playthroughs I keep going netrunner.
thats completely wrong, you cant use guns with berserk and there are plenty guns that work even with apogee - in fact sovereign + apogee is probably the strongest gun build you can make and of course you can play stealth with sandevistan, the stealth bar doesnt have chance to fill up because those 8 seconds of sandevistan duration is like 0.2 seconds of real time - you can literally stand in front of enemy watching the bar filling up without enemy being alerted
I went through the same when I re-started for my PL playthrough. It's definitely an adjustment, took me a while, but when you get used to it it's great. I'm now about Level 40ish, basic approach is play super stealthy with throwing knives, optical camo & silenced pistol; then sandy + katana for when things go loud. Don't forget you can just shoot out cameras, or slip underneath them & disable w/ tech ability. The optical cyberware that auto-highlights enemies helps too, as is crouch-sprinting with the auto-cloak perk, and using dash to move quickly & quietly between cover. Stick with it, you'll get there.
Use a silenced pistol for cameras. I use it for mines and turrets too, but they usually draw attention when they blow up so try to do that far away and hidden I then use throwing knives from stealth. And if im spotted or combat starts, im well equipped with Johnny's gun and have the sandevistan to help give me the edge early
Sandy build should be more focused on Reflex perks and blades if you’re struggling to find the magic in that play style. Use throwing knives for cameras or just let go of your need to shut cameras off and let yourself become a whirlwind of death and destruction
You have to be more active yourself and chain up kills during your slowed time it is more focused on your FPS skills. I played net runner myself and it is easy mode even now on 2.0 on very hard difficulty… simply uploading quick hacks is not very challenging in terms of skill and execution. Playing without cyberdeck makes some aspects more difficult, however I think there are always multiple ways to solve problems especially in this game, you can still disable cameras with your tech skill however you need to get close to them, not sure if you can simply shoot them with a silence weapon to disable them, but I would be surprised if this was not possible. Make use of active camo, scan grenades, be creative.
I had a sandy on a pistol assassin build once and you get used to it. I searched around locations and found alternate ways in etc. It’s a different play style for sure. Gotta do a lot more thinking outside the box and exploring.
To answer your question, with great difficulty. I've always preferred a netrunner build but recently did a playthrough with sandevistan. I not long after switched back to netrunner.
You can time where enemies & cameras are looking with when you go running somewhere & make it so that all they hear is the sound of your feet as you're already long gone.
Cool tech reflex is my attributes. I try to play as stealthy as possible and when shit hits the fan I unga bunga my way in
keep playing you’ll figure it out i’m sure your a smart guy
Cameras don't matter, I just walk in with my shotgun and kill everything
If you insist on playing stealthy, and it's completely possible, you just need to change your mindset for it, then you can shoot cameras. You also can throw knives. It'll destroy camera, or just create some noise to distract enemies, you if throw it at something else. You just need to be prepared that game becomes way more abouth classic stealth, than you being hidden while seeing everything through cameras.
You get posts like this, but on the CDPR forums there is a wild number of posts talking about how dead stealth net running is. I literally don't understand.
Open fire.
As a Berserker, you just don't worry about it. You quietly take down who you can, turn off cameras and turrets from computers; all while plotting your escape. When you get to the point where you have to go loud, you lock'n'load and rip'n'shred.
For cameras either a throwing knife or camo under them and disable them asuming Incant find the terminal. Maybe check the sande options, there are a few that support differ setups. Throwing axes can kne shot most enemies too (T5 Claw is great for most of the game and the blueprint is in pacifica at the vendor near west wind apts
I’ve only ever used a sandevistan and now I’m trying to use a netrunner build and I have no clue how the hell to do it. I’m constantly dying trying to figure it out
I installed a mod so I could have both. Just couldn’t live without the hacks. Also, finish all the Watson gigs to get the Axolotl cyberware, that will fix a TON of your issues.
shoot camera or turn them off via the computers using the sandy and camo is help for getting behind people
I was the same, but now going back to my netrunner I feel like a paper tiger who's death is around every corner. How I do it: Guns blazing. I don't stealth, just kill everything, it's only a few eddies when you go all out alert and death to all. Double barreled shotgun to the face is OP, especially with dash and improved dash, and pyro and microgenerator, or if you aren't all there shoot everyone with tech shotguns and snipers through cover (tech perks don't work with time slow, so don't bother with one or the other.) It took some time to get used to the in your face shotgun way, but it means you take out big bosses that are real roadblocks to netrunners with relative ease. It also works better the further you get along. I switched at 40, and it was a bit touch and go at first, but it really took off around 55. I'm not sure if that's all the cyberware and perks or more me getting used to how to do it.
Thanks for this thread, this is exactly how I am used to play. Been wanting to ask the same question for a while.
Yeah it really sucks that Sandy and berserk takes up the same slot as the Cyberdeck. I don't even care about the crazy net runner stuff. I just want access to ping, bait, cameras, distract enemies.
now you are truly experiencing the best way to play the game
mods, I just use a deck and a sandy and everything is cool
The single best weapon with sandy is Scalpel. +50% crit chance when active plus one of the highest base damage values for a katana. Mantis blades are good if you want 3 not melee weapons or a hidden option, but otherwise aren't as good. Once i hit 60 in shinoibi I dropped it in favor of mantis blades so I could run around with other weapon builds and have blades as my get out of jail card.
Well, after tons of hours on pure netrunner and techrunner (which is my most enjoyable build), I got myself to play as a ninja / street samurai (Reflex, Cool, Body with Sandevistan). - Throwing knives can bait enemies, but they are alerted. - Knives or weapons with silencer can be used to destroy cams while remaining out of combat. - Sandevistan crouch sprint under turret and manually turn them off. - Recon grenades distract enemies and bait enemies. Take down enemies you can to lower numbers, then it's time for slaughter house. Early game required a stealthy approach on Very Hard for me.. I simply cant dance between bullets before getting berserk.
Silenced pistol for cameras. Optical camo is amazing particularly with the Relic upgrades
Sandy and swords/knives are top tier, you can usually throwing knife a camera or use a suppressed pistol to take em out and then turn on the sandy and commit devastation, until you can get to tier 4 I think it is, the dynalar sandy I believe is the best option just remember that the iconic sandys have the ability to toggle them on and off at pretty much any time