Is stealth viable?

[SplinteredSilhouette]

I am trying to be a stealthy character, but everything I do just seems to lead to me being traced or just immediately spotted. Feels like that game is forcing a guns blazing approach.

So is stealth actually viable?

[EricHVela]

Stealth evasion is viable. Stealth killing is much, much, much more difficult than it was prior to 2.x.

[Bogmore]

There are perks that lengthen the time of discovery.

Get a good pistol and silencer to stealth.

Perhaps you mean being a cyberunner.

[EJR]

Stealth is definitely viable, it is just not easy to do is an all out guns blazing build (Which also happens to be the most boring IMO). Even with the PL DLC (Which is more action oriented than base game) I was able to stealth through some gigs on my non-stealth build.

[EnaryFeniel]

I'm stealth from the start game, so hacking, sneaking, sniping, invisibility cyberware but missions are much longer, and many loading.. :D

[Black Hole]

Shame they killed the stealth runner builds, I stopped playing when they did that, was my favorite thing to do, likely wouldn't have finished the game multiple times if I couldn't do that sneaky cheeky bit.

I know it was ridiculously op but was fun.

[Ivar]

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

[Bjørn]

Yes, very possible, but of course easier the higher level and more perks you get. When upgrading cyberware, have the perk that gives you 3 different choices of stats for the cyberware, and go for the 'invisibilty to enemies' ones, at least for a few of the items.

You can switch this perk on only when visiting ripperdocs (I usually switch around this perk with the one that gives you 25% more upgrade parts when looting, since they're next to each other).

I think I was down to about 20% visible to enemies when crouched in my previous game.

Use thrown knives (or silenced guns), after first sneaking up to or using Bait on enemies, or take them out from behind, or jump on them from above.

And at tier 4, you can use Memory Whipe quickhack on enemies first, then any combat hacks you use after that will be untraceable, so you can take them out in silence.

[Sevati]

Its incredibly viable. My recent run was near entirely stealth & no kill.

You really don't have to fight and can talk your way through many situations.

If your not going to get personal and sneak up behind folks to do a takedown (which is a very viable approach) then you have other options like sniper rifles, pistols with silencers, smg's with silencers, quickhacks, etc.

Bodies can be discovered, so that usually initiates the process early on if you don't use quickhacks or sneak behind them and takedown.

Early, quickhacks are tricky to avoid detection with lots and lots of potential hostiles. Say 4 to 5 mobs are in the area on very hard mode. But 4 to 5 ish mobs is nice for a Contagion party. Cast multiple Contagions on different ones and they'll all bounce around the set and usually non lethally take everything down before detection happens. If the group is more than say 8 or so, then its hard to get them all down before detection, but.

The Quickhack route becomes god mode stealthy on its own.

Once you get some levels and get Overclock unlocked, System Collapse and self healing become god mode.

You activate Overclock, then start hitting everyone with System Collapse until you lack health to do it again. Then pop a heal, and keep on a activating it on different mobs. You can non violently takedown and eliminate pretty much all enemies everywhere with good self healing, overclock, and that one quickhack. Its also a lot of fun with optical cammo.

Zero detection generated that way. If you take things slower and don't get them all in the first round, just be aware of where the bodies are or hide them so a wandering mob doesn't see them. You should be able to use it well over a dozen times or more with 3 healing charges. If you use the deck that has a chance to spread, its even better.

Some key boss's and cyberpsycho's can't be System Collapsed (some can) but a sneaky takedown often works if you can avoid detection to get behind them to do it.

Some things you just gotta get your hands dirty face to face and do the combat dance. Those situations are actually very few.

[Rhynna]

I play nothing but stealth; quickhacking, takedowns from behind, crouching and sneaking around. It's way more fun than it was before. I don't like using guns, I'm more the blade/katana or crossbow type of player.

This game has no crossbow so I stick to hacks and my bare hands mostly. I'm mostly a headhunter/netrunner, with a bit of engineer and solo mixed in, intelligence and tech are maxed out, tier 3+ and tier 4 hardware right now, using short circuit, overheat and contagion as my primary hacks.

Works like a charm. I'm rarely ever spotted or caught by backtracing enemies. I enjoy hit and run attacks, spamming enemies with my hacks until I run out of ram, and then I sneak/run away until their trace fails. Rinse and repeat. Love it.

The only thing you really need is patience. Crouch often, never run around where enemies could be, learn their paths and wait behind cover for easy takedowns.

Invest in "reduced visibility" when upgrading your cyberware, take on NCPD jobs until they're all done in the area where you are. Sell only the most expensive loot, dismantle the rest and create tiered upgrades whenever possible.

I always wait until I have 150 - 200 of the currently needed tier upgrades in my backpack and only visit a ripperdock with 150k of cash and at least 150 - 200 upgrade kits.

Right now, I'm lvl 25, have just started Phantom Liberty with a new game, followed the main story until after taking care of the animals gang for the voodoo boys in the Imperial Mall. All Watson NCPD jobs and most possible fixer gigs there are done. Also a couple cyberpscycho quests are finished.

[tbloyzz]

The only real problem with stealth are the boss fights. If you do not have a plan B, a pure stealth build will have difficulities on the higher difficulties, because in quite a few of these fights, the "boss" will see you before you see him so that you can kiss all your stealth and visibility boosts goodbye.

[Lekker]

Was OP, is OP, will be OP.

Also, stealth is the only way for pacifist no-kill outplay.

Handgun/Sniper tree is so OP that you can even run-and-gun if you feel like it.

With Sandy and Optical Camo it's just pure cheating.

[Rhynna]

Originally posted by tbloyzz:

The only real problem with stealth are the boss fights. If you do not have a plan B, a pure stealth build will have difficulities on the higher difficulties, because in quite a few of these fights, the "boss" will see you before you see him so that you can kiss all your stealth and visibility boosts goodbye.

Good thing then that I never play higher difficulties. I prefer the easiest difficulty always. I'm 60yo and my hands are not as nimble as they once were.

[always superspecial]

yes, It s easy, you just need the bait, erase memory hack and the recon grenade. Beware of those enemies that have resistance to hacks, but they arent that much in the game.

[Graf Erik]

Yes, its absolutely viable. Almost OP I'd say.

I always end up charging the last few survivors just for fun (unless stealth is required for that mission of course).

-You'll probably want to have a deck. A couple of low level hacks like distract enemy, call backup, bait (it worth actually reading what these do on each level), deactivate camera, sonic shock...
-Silent takedown nowadays always work due to npc scaling
-Getting a good silent pistol is a bit of an issue early on, from mid game no issue
-Better and more reliable are throwing weapons. Dont know why anyone would chose a knife. Claw>Tomahawk>>knife
-There's whole lot of perks that help a lot. Perks that increase steahlth damage, perks that increase damage for pistols/throwing weapons. Perks that decrease detection, perks that delay detection after you kill someone...
-Once you get the one silenced sniper rifel in game it gets amost too easy

(tracing is only an issue if you use offensive quickhacks)

All this only reliably works up to 'hard'. At 'very hard' everyone is a bullet sponge, so stealth kill just dont work anymore.

[Nachtflügel]

For me, this means to relearn the game once again in my fourth run. I hate the backtracking but I accept the challenge.

And just in case I'm not the only one who had to look it up: OP means "overpowered".