The Ultimate Guide to Hacking in ‘Cyberpunk 2077’

In the world of Night City, hacking is one of many ways to get by. It can score you some extra eurodollars, put your enemies at a disadvantage, and provide you with perks to help players survive their time in the Free State of Northern California.

Cyberpunk 2077 delivers a multifaceted hacking mechanic that can be enhanced through ability upgrades and attribute points. As V, players have access to two forms of hacking:

• Quickhacking
  • Manipulate enemies and tech using RAM
• Access Point Hacks
  • Crack into various points like laptops for various rewards

What is Quickhacking?

The most common and easiest form of hacking in Cyberpunk 2077 is Quickhacking. These are used to gain an advantage on the battlefield, whether it’s setting an enemy on fire or attracting a foe for a stealthy takedown. To perform a Quickhack, you just need three things:

• An Intended Target
  • Can be an enemy or a device
• Daemons
  • Determine the status effect or action your Quickhack will cause
• Cyberdeck RAM
  • A consumable, replenishing resource needed for each Quickhack.
  • Different Quickhacks require different amounts of RAM
  • RAM cost can be altered through Perks, higher Intelligence, and cyberware abilities
  • Recovers outside of combat

When you find a target you want to perform a Quickhack or Daemon on, use your scanner to bring up a HUD that displays the total RAM V has, the available Quickhacks, and a field that shows Data on your target (including their specialization and affiliation) as well as a Hacking tab that provides information on the chosen Quickhack. After scanning your intended target, select the desired Daemon and “Execute” it.

If you’re not pleased with your selection of available Daemons, you can obtain more by:

• Purchasing them from a Netrunner
• Unlocking them with Intelligence Perks
• Crafting

How Do I Earn More RAM?

Finding V to be painfully short on RAM? More can be purchased at a Ripperdoc using eurodollars by upgrading V’s Operating System. More advanced Operating Systems come with more RAM installed, which allows V to perform more advanced Quickhacks.

How to Hack Access Points

Whereas Quickhacks can be performed on the fly, hacking an Access Point takes a bit of time. It’s also the only form of hacking that requires V to have a certain level of Intelligence. When it comes to hacking Access Points, the first thing you’ll have to do is find one.

Using your scanner, scour the area looking for this symbol:

It will typically be found over laptops, antennas, and consoles, particularly in areas where enemies congregate. The indicator can be kind of small and easy to miss. To ensure you don’t miss any Access Points, we recommend using the Ping Quickhack (obtained from “The Gift” side job).

Ping highlights Access Points as well as a connected network of people and devices. Additionally, the Breach Protocol Perk “Extended Network Interface” will automatically highlight Access Points to save you a Quickhack slot.

Once an Access Point has been located (and V’s Intelligence attribute is high enough), you’ll be prompted with the following minigame:

The goal is to “datamine” rewards from the Access Point by entering at least one of the displayed sequences. With a bigger Buffer (increased through Operating System upgrades), you can input more and more codes for even more rewards. To complete the minigame, select a code from the first row, paying attention to the column below each code. When you make a selection, you’ll then be prompted to choose a code from that column. Again, as you’re making your choice in the column, pay attention to corresponding rows, as that is where the next code will need to come from.

In the above example, if you wanted to JUST unlock Datamine_V3, you’d select “1C” in the first row, then the  2^nd “1C” in that column, then “BD” directly to the right in the 4^th row. Want to be ambitious and go for all three? Well, sometimes, you simply can’t. Since these minigames are randomized, it’s possible to launch a Breach that is impossible to complete, especially with a smaller Buffer. However, you can back out of it and launch the Breach again on the same device to randomize the digits again.

When you complete a Datamine, you’ll receive eurodollars for your efforts. Using the Advanced Datamine Perk, you can increase the amount of eurodollars you receive.