Need help building a cyborg.

[RedXCharlie]

Hi Folks

I just started playing Shadowrun Hong Kong and decidet
that i want to play a human cyborg with a handgun/revolver

Is it possible to build up a ranged cyborg?

Does it make sence to skill body+cyber affinity & ranged combat?
And is the handgun a good choice for a weapon?
I also wear a grenade launcer.

I spendet some Karma to get 2 etiquettes (sociality & shadowrunning)
and the first totem (i picked the one with bonus dmg guess it was cobra).

Should i also try to get some qi spells like counterattack?
Would it work with my handgun?
or are those skills all for close combat/unarmed/claw or blade
and i should rework my charakter?

Thanks all for your help! :-)

[RedXCharlie]

ahh ok thank you very much!

i guess best way for me is to start a new character
since i have spendet already a lot of Karma in Willpower and the abilitys.

ill try the ranged rifle street samurai

btw are there any special nodes i should have on any build?
like enemy hp visible from biotech?
or the first shaman totem wich also allows me to summon spirits?

or do i spend all my Karma on body + cyber affinity and ranged combat to max. them first.

if ill later try the meele street samurai do i go for strength and close combat instead of quickness? and can i mix it up with the qi spells and cybergear?

[Zadok]

Your main problem will be money - unless you pack very cheap chrome. Ranged Weapons aren't cheap but with a very economic attitude that may be fine.

You already invested in Charisma 4 & Summoning 3 and you want Body 6 & Cyber Affinity 6. That's 10+6+21+21 = 58 Karma.
The Ranged Combat Skillwires (+1 QU & RC) are a tricky build tha allows saving a lot of Karma. Auto Reloader Arm also adds +1 QU. Note you can count additional QU due to cyber for raising Ranged Combat IF you have Cyber Affinity 6. So you could go QU 4(+2) + RC 6(+1) + Rifles 3 for 37 Karma. 95 total Karma spent. 5000 Nuyen for the best Assault Rifle hurt a lot more :P

If you go for Counterstrike you can shoot three full autos in the enemies turn. That's with Rifles, which is ideal for Counterstrike. It costs 30 Karma for WI 5 + Qi 5. Well in reach. Also costs 1000 Nuyen. Since you put so much into WI you could as well add Spellcasting. If you go Spellcasting 6 you need WI 6 + SC 6, That's 6+21= 27 Karma for Aim III - very nice too compensate for minimal Ranged Combat. Also the Spell Focus: Strip Armor II and Heal II are nice. Mind you get +3 Spell Slots for SC 6 and -3 Spell Slots from Cyberware. Thus you'll have your usual three slots for four spells (unless you keep your essence above or equal 2). Counterstrike, Aim III and Heal II OR Strip Armor. You could invest more Karma into Ranged Combat to skip on Spellcasting and get some Qi defense spells instead (Mystic Armor & Martial Defense I). That offers better defense at lower Karma costs but leaves your offense weaker.
So yeah... you could afford the Karma for WI stuff easily but the spells also cost Nuyen (3500 Nuyen for all four spells or 2600 for three Qi spells). Not sure whether you can afford that. Also Counterstrike needs you to get shot at to return fire: You'll need to be tanky to make that work. Dodge would be an option as it costs no Nuyen :P

You'll need to use that stuff real well. Full Autos will probably rip through everything initially but in time enemy armor will render those attacks a lot less impactful. Mind those can't crit. Spells can help, or a Cyberweapon - specifically a Monofilament Whip. +AP drugs are a thing ofc. In any case your money will be the decisive factor as you can't usually pay for all that and a bunch of chrome. You can find Rifles later on but that's a long wait for a good sniper rifle and an even later AR. Those ARs cost a lot. Perhaps you can afford skipping on armor 8 with enough Dodge? Make do with a M79 Launcher until you find the Steyr Aug in the final chapter? No spells after all? You'll need to save more cash than is comfortable if you want a lot of good Cyberware.

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Originally posted by SpenReyn:

The melee samauri depends on whether you want to go with cyberweapons like spurs or razors instead of melee weapons like katana or axe. Or you can go Unarmed (technically you use brass knuckle equivalents for that skill). Quickness is very secondary for this build, Body and Strength will be your primary statistics

You can go with the whip instead, though. That one uses quickness + cyber, I think it was, and is quite nasty on its own merits. Letting you make a hybrid gunslinger slash melee fighter, of a sort.

And there's the often neglected shock hand as well. Been meaning to try a run with that one since I've heard it's the only cyber-weapon that stacks with the adapt skill 'killing hands,' but haven't gotten around to it quite yet.

[frdnwsm]

The whip is a Ranged weapon, not melee. It uses Quickness & Ranged skills for hit % and cyber affinity for determining crits. "Unarmed combat" is a bit of a misnomer, since you can use weapons such as a cestus or hand razors with that skill.

The most powerful weapons in the end game are ranged. The Steyr AR, the Ares HVAR etc. There are some nasty melee and unarmed weapons also, of course. Blood Calls, the Laser Axe and Distant Storms come to mind.

Handgun/pistols are decent short range weapons, but for all around usefulness I'd go with the whip and an assault rifle.

The shock hand is only available on one mission ... you have to look for it ... and yes, it is quite useful for stripping enemy AP. It's the "unarmed" equivalent of Distant Storms.

[RedXCharlie]

Thanks a lot for the help!
I will try a bit around with all your tips.

But as far im very happy with my ranged street samurai.
Ill need to play a bit further to see how it will go. :-)

[di eshor ribly]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

The shock hand is only available on one mission ... you have to look for it ... and yes, it is quite useful for stripping enemy AP. It's the "unarmed" equivalent of Distant Storms.

The shock *glove* is available on one mission, the Shock Hand can be installed after the second mission at Ten Arms Ambrose's clinic.

[frdnwsm]

Ah, OK ... glove, not hand.

[RedXCharlie]

I think i just passed the quest with the gloves but diddnt have any nuyen anyway.
got mi first cyber part Qi +RC +1 :)

[Zadok]

Get Cyber Affinity 6 asap, everything else messes with your RC investments. RC Skillwires need that to be efficient.

On a side note the heaviest weapon in the game (heaviest, not necessarily best!) has no Smartlink. So if that's your style and if you don't do Decking or Rigging you can consider skipping on the Datajack. That weapon is expensive of course.
If you stick to Pistols Counterstrike is less effective and you need a lot more Karma to use for Pistols. Although Pistols are cheaper than Rifles you want more of them at hand, so they end up being about as expensive as Rifles. A little cheaper if you go with two and a little more expensive if you take the three best Pistols. Multiple Pistols allow using special attacks more often since different Pistols have separate cooldowns for those.

[frdnwsm]

Heaviest weapon? You mean the Panther AC? I don't think it's for sale anywhere, you find it on a mission.

There's also the Ares HVAR. You can find on on a run, but there is also one for sale if you get access to the quartermaster's best stock.

[Zadok]

Oh well I thought along more conventional lines: the Vindicator.