Is stealth viable?

[Blade]

From what I've been seeing it really isn't and the abilities and perks for it are just there so they can say there's stealth in the game. Is it even worth attempting a stealth build, or should I just play the way the developers want me to and go guns blazing everywhere?

[Mist of Majora]

You're sort of contradicting yourself, if they put abilities and perks for stealth in the game to give you that kind of build, then of COURSE the developers wanted that as an optional path for you.

Which brings us back to the question you actually wanted answered, which is... if you took all those abilities and perks for a stealth build, is it actually viable or is it not worth it? In which case, the answer is absolutely... but not without a bit of a combat build to fall back on.

Those same developers designed every main quest (and a lot of the side quests) with multiple ways to approach it, and even allowed for both stealth takedown builds or pure stealth builds that work. They're absolutely viable most of the time, but there are certain very specific scenarios where you'll be forced to do some kind of fighting. Also, you can get randomly attacked while driving or moving around, in which case your cover is already blown.

I could write a lot more, but since you don't seem to be that familiar with the game, here's some quick thoughts if you're looking into this. Most builds don't come into their own until mid game, which means you still need to keep yourself alive until then. Also, no matter what your build is, cyberware (and probably the double jump or lynx paws, depending on your playstyle) may end up playing a very significant role along with the abilities & perks. And finally, a max level character can max 3 trees worth of abilities and perks, and now has a free stat and unlimited perk respecs. Good luck!

[The Yeen Queen]

Stealth is absolutely viable. But it does take player skill as much as stats and perks. And it definitely takes a lot of patience.

[Senna]

Yes & it's pretty fun. But like Night Foxx said, you definitely need patience. Patroling takes awhile sometimes

[Tokenn]

Stealth is quite viable...but it takes a lot of time and patience, and doing it _exclusively_ is going to be impossible in some cases, esp. in the early game. Really, I'd say the same about any dedicated build. I had played through a dozen times or more before I discovered some jobs even could be completed by stealth at all.

[asarokk]

Stealth is useful. Quiet approach with emphasis on infiltration is very useful for Netrunners. Keep in mind though, it's not a specific skill you can upgrade like in Skyrim where crouching becomes practically the equivalent of invisibility and eliminates enemies' ability to detect a threat, even after being shot in the face or see a member of their group get killed - making them go like "oh must have been the wind".

In Cyberpunk enemies will detect a threat when wounded, sounds alerts anyone within earshot and they'll investigate if they discover a body. Sensors, security cameras and turrets will also alert them, if you trigger the alarm or traps.

Crouching doesn't make you invisible, so you'll have to rely on covers and tactical approach. It reduces the sound of your footsteps which will help you avoid detection when sneaking around or approaching enemies from behind, allowing you to grab them and kill them quietly. If too close to other enemies, you can even pull them back to a safer distance to avoid detection. That won't work though with enemies stronger than you. And the weapons used can't be noisy.

That's helpful for all builds. But stealth is especially useful for the Reflexes, Intelligence and Cool attributes.

Obviously reflexes enhance your reflexes and mobility. A boon for increasing sliding distance, parkour abilities and using momentum to take down enemies like leap attack and dashing towards an enemy for a quick takedown. Very useful if an enemy is about to alert everyone. Perfect for proficiency and efficiency with bladed weapons.

Intelligence is the most important attribute for Netrunners and it allows you to infiltrate more easily, scope out the territory, tag threats, manipulate the enemy security network. The emphasis is on covert operation, so stealth is key.
You can do a whole lot of damage as a netrunner and the quickhacks will be much more efficient. You can counter enemy netrunners quite easily as well and ward better against having your location traced.

The cool attributes enhance your stealth capabilities like further increasing movement speed while standing and crouching. If detected and within striking distance, an attack will delay the enemy from alerting nearby enemies. Proficiency with knives and precision rifles is also quite useful if you want to remain undetected.

There's also a lot of cyberware that can be useful for a stealth approach that rely on investing in the Reflexes, Intelligence and Cool attributes.

So I'd say yes. Stealth is viable, just not in the skyrim way.

[Pixeleyes]

Works just fine for me, but I'm patient and save scumming does not bother me.

[Xeondeth]

Stealth is totally doable, my favorite approach to most encounters is to be a ghost. Go in, using minimal take downs, none is preferable (If that's what the ideal outcome is). I've done it in plenty of missions. You need to scout the location, you'll usually find a way in that's not through the front door. Stay crouched, tag the enemies, cameras and turrets as you find them, watch for their pattern of movement and plan your route around it. Better yet find out where they are controlled from and switch them off. You can also hide in a corner to grab enemies from behind, drag them out of any line of sight and dispose of them any way you choose. Stealth requires planning, patience and skill but it really works in the game and fixers will reward you more for using it if that's how they wanted the Job/Gig approached.

[Blade]

Originally posted by Mist of Majora:

You're sort of contradicting yourself, if they put abilities and perks for stealth in the game to give you that kind of build, then of COURSE the developers wanted that as an optional path for you.

Which brings us back to the question you actually wanted answered, which is... if you took all those abilities and perks for a stealth build, is it actually viable or is it not worth it? In which case, the answer is absolutely... but not without a bit of a combat build to fall back on.

Those same developers designed every main quest (and a lot of the side quests) with multiple ways to approach it, and even allowed for both stealth takedown builds or pure stealth builds that work. They're absolutely viable most of the time, but there are certain very specific scenarios where you'll be forced to do some kind of fighting. Also, you can get randomly attacked while driving or moving around, in which case your cover is already blown.

I could write a lot more, but since you don't seem to be that familiar with the game, here's some quick thoughts if you're looking into this. Most builds don't come into their own until mid game, which means you still need to keep yourself alive until then. Also, no matter what your build is, cyberware (and probably the double jump or lynx paws, depending on your playstyle) may end up playing a very significant role along with the abilities & perks. And finally, a max level character can max 3 trees worth of abilities and perks, and now has a free stat and unlimited perk respecs. Good luck!

Yeah, I actually answered my own question while playing a few minutes ago, being detected by a single enemy alerts every single enemy within the area. Soley because of that Stealth isn't viable. Since one mistake ends up in a massive fire fight all the time, it's better to go with a combat build and not waste points in stealth. I did some reading and saw that stealth was a lot more viable before 2.0 when a different team practically re-did the game.

When you look at everything as a whole, the stealth is there, but it's clear the developers don't want players to be able to stealth through the game or it wouldn't require perfection to remain undetected. I'm very familiar with stealth games, I've played all the biggest ones and when a single mistake triggers full on combat with every enemy in the vicinity without a way to break combat and re-enter stealth, it wasn't intended to be played stealthily. So yeah, I'm just going with a full-on combat build now. lol I don't have Phantom Liberty, so I don't have unlimited perk respecs sadly meaning I'm committed now to the combat build.

[SpaceWombat]

stealth is viable but the vanilla game has some questionable design decisions for it without the right perks.

If you want stealth to feel good from the start I recommend a mod called "silent silencers". It makes it so that killing an enemy with a suppressed weapon or knife doesn't immediately trigger combat to start with your location being known and will instead force enemies to search for you first.

*edit:

Originally posted by Blade:

yeah, I actually answered my own question while playing a few minutes ago, being detected by a single enemy alerts every single enemy within the area.

There are a lot of perks in the cool tree for getting around the global detection.

[🚛 Akehiko ⬛️💀🟧]

*keeps throwing knives into peoples skulls*
*sandevistan grabs people to snap their necks*
*netrunner insta kill takedowns*
*pistol build that allows you to headshot crit from across a football field with no damage drop off*
*stealth skin wololo*

Dunno it seems pretty viable to me

[Millimidget]

Anyone telling you stealth is viable is probably referring to stealthy assassin. Personally, I don't think leaving a trail of bodies is stealthy. I prefer no kills or takedowns unless required, and without being seen let alone detected, ie true stealth.

True stealth used to be viable, until they gutted it with the quickhacks and perks overhauls in patch 2.0. The most likely case is that the pro-stealth devs who added this style of play weren't part of the patch 2.0 overhaul, if they were even still working for CDPR.

But it was there originally, which is why you still see elements of it and will receive comments such as, "if they put abilities and perks for stealth in the game to give you that kind of build, then of COURSE the developers wanted that as an optional path for you."

It's a shame, really. It's like they overhauled the gameplay for the Benjamin Winters crowd and said "screw everyone else." My advice as a true stealth enthusiast, with hours of recorded pre-2.0 true stealth gameplay footage, is to go all Doom Guy with it.

EDIT: If you have the game through GoG, you should be able to pick which version of the game you'd like to install and run. If you have the game through Steam, you can play version 1.63 by opting into the beta; go to your Library page and right-click on Cyberpunk 2077, then select properties. On the left-hand side of the properties window select the Betas tab, then select the 1.63 beta option from the Beta Participation dropdown menu on the Beta page.

[inmediasrays]

Stealth+thrown is OP.

If you're getting detected and it's alerting every enemy, try stealthing better. Ping is very helpful for identifying where enemies are, and there are multiple perks and items that increase the time it takes for enemies to detect you/slow time as they detect you.

[Pok]

hmm i playing a stealthy game right noe but it seems that i dont get many weapon drops if i kill them with takedowns or headshots...

sure, it has to doo with speed, because stealth will take longer. but it feels this way:

if the enemy is not alerted, then they dont have a weapn "out" and they dont drop this. if they are alerted then nearly every enemy has a weapn lay down near them and i can loot them. sure a few are broken, but i have seen many maaany takedowns and there was no weapon loot.

is this new? is this a bug? may i overlook soemthing or its just bad luck? :( i have the feeling im missing drops - aka money or weapondrops

[DonStaysOn]

I'm having so much fun as a stealthy knife throwing net runner assassin, not only viable but an absolutely incredible experience!

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Blade:

Yeah, I actually answered my own question while playing a few minutes ago, being detected by a single enemy alerts every single enemy within the area. Soley because of that Stealth isn't viable. Since one mistake ends up in a massive fire fight all the time, it's better to go with a combat build and not waste points in stealth. I did some reading and saw that stealth was a lot more viable before 2.0 when a different team practically re-did the game.

There are perks to give you a "grace period" after you're spotted in most situations. But it doesn't make sense that the guy who spots someone creeping around wouldn't alert his nearby buddies. But, as I said and many others have said, stealth is absolutely viable. It takes care and patience. Just like stealth in pretty much any other game. A 1 shot kill usually won't alert others to your location, sometimes even if it's right in front of their face. BUT, 1 shot kills are a lot harder to get early on. Also, enemies can be alerted that something's up without actually knowing your location, so stealthy play is still viable even when you're "in combat". They're alert and aggro, but they don't know where you are so you can still pick them off.