Skill's, Tool's & Builds for Very Hard mode

This guide will be about basic gameplay and the use of the different weapon's and spells available to you in the game Shadowrunner Dragonfall DC.

Mostly complete but WIP.

Table of Contents

1. Guns & Skills
2. Throwing weapons and Melee Weapons
3. Spell cast & Conjuring spells
4. Chicasting Spells
5. Cover Mechanic's and uses
6. Very Hard Difficulty Builds
7. Very Hard Difficulty Builds part 2
8. Tools That make things easier

Abreviations
AR - Assault Rifle
SR - Sniper rifle
AP - Action Points
ArmP - Armor penetration
C/D - Cool down

Guns & Gun Skills

() Numbers are the quickness/ranged combat/gun skill required to unlock and use said skills.

Tazerguns - a gun in a weapon class all of its own that allows you to stun opponents. No weapon specialty for it.

Pistols in this game are VERY versatile, they have low ArmP and some interesting skills to compensate. Critical hits go through armor, however only weapon skills increase critical hit chance and investing into it will be expensive. Pistols also have the most gun skills available in the game. Another downside is that it takes alot of karma to master.

Aimed Shot (1) / Upgraded = Dead Eye shot (4)
15% more accuracy and 20% more accuracy with 3 turn c/d upgraded

Auto Reload (5)
Takes 0 AP to reload your gun if it's a pistol c/d 0

Double Tap (6)
Can shoot an opponent twice for 1 AP c/d 0

Chain Shot (7)
Attacks 3 different targets for 1 AP c/d 0

Disarm (9)
If successful removes weapon from AI's inventory for duration of the battle. c/d ?

SMG's are the most well-rounded weapon but lack the gun skills most weapons have. They shoot twice in 1 action and have an option to AoE crowds close together.

Spray-n-pray (1)
Hits groups that are close together up to 4 targets

Aimed Shot (3)
10% more accuracy with 3 turn c/d

Shotguns have good ArmP, good close-mid ranged accuracy and decent AoE damage when your opponents are bunched up together.

Knee cap Shot (1)
+1 AP damage, 6 less overall damage c/d 3
With any AP damaging skills if you crit you have a chance to knock your opponent out. This can cause an opponent to lose 1-3 turns.

Aimed Shot (3)
15% more accuracy on your next shot c/d 3

Wide Load (5)
Allows you to shoot a wider cone-like area hitting 4-5 guys depending on your distance and how bunched up the guys you are shooting are. - % Crit chance as a downside.

Assault rifles are the best single target weapons in the game second to none. This weapon has decent ArmP, versatile range of gun skills and great accuracy. If you use full auto with the Aim buff from dietrich you can take down anything non-boss in the game in 1 turn or a boss in 3 turns.

Sniper rifles have a high crit chance amazing range but very VERY poor chance to hit close range. Shooting at a very long distance this weapon is king with the high ArmP and crit chance this weapon is a sight to behold.

Aimed Shot / Dead Eye AR + SR (1)
15% and 20% increased chance to hit c/d 3 AP 1

Burst Fire AR only (2)
Higher crit chance and shoots twice at once AP 2

Full Auto AR only (3)
Shoots 5 times in one turn with -15% to -20% accuracy on all shots.
(not sure exact % gotta investigate this)

Head Shot AR + SR (5)
Increased Chance to crit but -20% accuracy

IMHO all the weapons are fairly balanced/good but the one that stands on top of em all are Assault rifles as they can down any nonboss with the fullauto mode in one turn solo. Fullauto can be used 3 times in one turn with haste + jazz + cram or flash.
(cram is better flash is overpriced that bastard).

Throwing weapons and Melee weapons

() Numbers are the strength/throwing skill level required to use.

Throwing knives
The damage of throwing knives is based on your strength and weapon tier. You can unlock some really cool skills by investing into the throwing knives skill itself. Increasing throwing knives like other weapon skills increase hit %.

Aimed Throw ()
Increases accuracy of your next hit by 15% c/d 3 rounds.

Bladed Distraction ()
Deals -AP damage at cost of 3 less overral damage. c/d 2

Pinning Hit ()
pins targets in place leaving them unable to move around. c/d2

Grenade Throwing Mastery () [Passive skill]
Grenades only take 1 AP to use now. c/d 0

Spread Throw ()
Deals AoE damage like a shotgun spread and has a high chance to deal -AP damage. c/d 1

Consumable Thrown Weapons

Grenades
Flash bang grenades (found and bought)
Used To unbalance and daze opponents making them easier to hit and deal with.

Plasma Grenade (Eiger only)
Pretty much lightning ball 2 spell in a grenade, Deals 15+ damage and -2 AP damage.

Explosive Grenades (Found and bought)
Deals damage and has a chance to break armor, very useful against heavily armored opponents such as Audran or the armored drones.

Melee Weapon Skills

Thrust (1)
Hits a target with +2 ArmP, +4 damage and -10% accuracy.

Pommel Strike (3)
Deals -AP damage at cost of less overall damage dealt.

Cleave (5)
Hits a 180 degree angle infront of character, You can literally hit five guys at once if they are infront of you. Good skill overral has its uses in tough missions where you get overrun.

Disarm (8)
Has a chance to make your opponent lose their weapon(s) for the rest of the combat.

Unarmed Skills

Roundhouse kick ()
180 degree arc attack infront of character.

Rip armor ()
rips 2 armor does -1 AP damage and -5% chance to hit. c/d 2

Disarm ()
Makes your opponent drop their weapon for duration of the entire combat left. This means you can make audran drop his minigun and force him into claw/unarmed combat.

Chicasting skills that can be used for buffing melee weapons and unarmed
Killing hands
Mana Fist
Stride
Counter
Chi Onslaught
Quick Strike

Spell Cast & Conjuring Spells

Spells don't have to reload like guns but instead they have cooldowns and if you want to use it during cooldown you have to pay some health in order to do so. (Damage yourself based on how many rounds left on c/d)

Spellcasting spells (Mostly Offensive)
Powerbolt
Used in weapon slot has no c/d deals 6 damage at level 1 and +4 damage per level.

Weaken Armor
Decreases the target's Armor by 1. Lasts 2 rounds. +1 armor and +1 duration per level.
(Decreases 3 armor for 4 rounds at max level 3)

Manabolt
A powerful magical bolt that ignores normal armor and targets Willpower. +? base damage per level and DoT +10 1 turn level 2. Dot +10 2 turns level 3.

Ignore Armor
Decreases the target's Armor by 10. Lasts your turn.

Flamethrower
A line of fire controlled by the caster and directed at one target Dealing 12 base damage.
Level 2=20 damage Level 3=25 damage.

Lightning Bolt
A bolt of lightning that targets a single enemy and also does - 1 AP.
Deals +? base damage and +? damage/ -AP per level

Distraction
Decreases the target's to hit chance by 12%. Lasts for 1 round.
(15% for 2 rounds at max level 2)

Armor
Target gains +1 Armor. Lasts 2 rounds. +1 armor and duration per level.
(3 armor 4 rounds level 3)

Acid Stream
A stream of acid that deals 9 base damage and also does ongoing -6 HP for 1 round.
Damage increases by +3 and 1 round per level at max level 2.

Stunbolt
A stun spell which does -1 AP to the target.

Mind Wipe
Target ignores all enemies. Lasts 2 rounds.

Manaball
A magical explosion that ignores normal armor and targets Willpower deals 10 damage.
at level 2 adds 10 dot. At level 3 it deals 15 base and 10 DoT

Heal Wound 1 + 2
Heals the last damage sustained in a scene. c/d 2

Dispel Magic
Dispels any target's on-going magical effect..

Aim
Increases the target's to hit chance by 12%. Lasts 2 rounds.
+3% hit chance and +2 duration per level to max of level 3.

Manabolt 2
A powerful magical bolt that ignores normal armor and targets Willpower.

Manabolt 3
A powerful magical bolt that ignores normal armor and targets Willpower.

Fireball
A fiery explosion that deals 15 damage and also does ongoing -10 HP for 1 round.
+5 damage and +1 duration per level to max of level 2.

Blindness
Target is blinded and cannot see or attack targets. Lasts 2 rounds.

Stunball
Magical explosion that does -1 AP and ongoing -1 AP for 2 rounds.

Ball Lightning
Lightning explosion that deals 15 base damage and does -1 AP. Ongoing -5 HP and -1 AP for 1 round.

Glue
The target cannot move but can still use AP to attack. Lasts 2 rounds.

Petrify
Target loses all AP for 2 rounds and cannot attack or move. Lasts 2 rounds.

Confusion
Target switches to your team and attacks your enemies. Lasts 2 rounds.


Conjuring spells (Mostly Defensive)

Acid bolt max level reqs conjuring 7
Base attack that knocks guys out of cover and deals magic damage and DoT

Slow
Decreases the target's movement by 1 for 3 rounds. 0 c/d
movement debuff = level and +1 c/d per level to max of level 3.
At level 3 + 1 duration.

Haste 1
Increases the friendly target's AP by 1 for 2 rounds.
+1 duration per level up to level 3.
At level 4 it Increases the friendly target's AP by +2 and has +3 duration.

Silence
The target of the Silence spell makes no noise for 4 rounds.

Air Barrier
Set 5 Light Cover air barriers that last 3 rounds. -1 AP to anyone that moves into it.

Quiet Bomb
An area effect spell that reduces any sound made in it to 0. Lasts for 4 rounds.

Fog
An area effect spell that reduces the chance to target someone by 15%. Lasts for 3 rounds.

Lightning Barrier
Set 5 Medium Cover barriers that last 3 rounds. Anyone who enters takes -6 HP and -1 AP.

Shadow
An area effect spell in which characters cannot be targeted. Lasts for 3 rounds.

Fire Barrier
Set 5 Medium Cover fire barriers. Anyone that enters take -10 HP. Lasts 3 rounds.

Slow-mo
Increases the target's AP cost for all actions by 2. Lasts for 2 rounds.

Mana Static
An area effect spell that increases the cost of magic by 1 AP. Lasts for 3 rounds.

Hellstorm Barrier
Set 5 Heavy Cover barriers that last 3 rounds. Anyone that enters takes -10 HP and -1 AP.

Spirit Summoning (WIP)
*Keep note that these spirits gain more spells and are stronger the higher level your summoning is. The level of summoning fetish also determines spirit strength. The higher level spirit summoning and the spirit fetish are the more damage they do. Base damage and spell damage doesn't always stay around 10+ it goes up to 30+".

Air spirit - Sniper-like spirit, has long range, decent accuracy/dodge and an amazing +3 quickness buff. Decent spirit.

Base attack - Air projectile 10+ Damage
Jetstream - +3 quickness for 4 rounds
Electrocurrent - Deals 10+ damage and 10 DoT
Lightning Bolt 3 - Deals -1 AP(can crit for more) and 10+ damage
Slow - Reduces opponents movespeed by -2 for 4 rounds
Lightning Ball 1 - Deals -1AP and 15+ AoE damage and DoT -1AP -5HP

Water Spirit - Similar to air spirit but weaker overall. Has a +2 Dodge buff which is really good added with characters under cover. weak spirit overrall.

Base attack - Water projectile 10+ damage
Water buff - +2 dodge
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Nature Spirit - ?

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Fire Spirit - DPS ranged spirit with a single target and aoe spell with CC. Overall great spirit for any situation.

Base attack - fire projectile 10+ damage
Fire stream - 24+ damage
Fire ball - 15+ damage and 10 DoT
Heat Wave - Reduces accuracy by -15% everything within 3 tiles of spirit
Blind - Disables opponent from attacking for 2 rounds
Strip armor - Reduces overrall armor rating

Earth Spirit - Tank melee support spirit. Has magic cover that shields all allies within range with with cover (level/skill dependant on low/medium/heavy cover) for 4 rounds. Seems to attract aggro really easily, and has a +3 body buff to improve survivability. This is the best spirit in the game with fire/apocolypse being second best.

Base attack - earth slam 10-20+ damage and -1 AP (can hit for -2 AP)
Guard - Gives all non-drone allies within 3 tiles range low-medium-heavy cover no matter where they go after cast. Cover strength is based on summoning level and spirit fetish level used. This skill greatly reduces flank and critical hits from happening and stacks with other cover. It gives you 360 degree cover pretty much.
Petrify - Removes all action points for 2 rounds, opponent cannot move or attack for 2 rounds.
Stone Body - +3 body for 4 rounds
Mana Bolt 3 - deals 14+ damage has high chance to crit and penetrates 3 armor

Apocolypse Spirit - DPS support, very similar to fire spirit but uses acid/poison and is specialized for close/mid ranged combat. Great spirit for any situation.

Base Attack - Bites opponent and deals 10+ damage -1 AP.
Acid stream - Deals 12+ damage with 6 DoT and strips armor lasts 2 rounds
Acid Burst - Deals 10+ damage with 5 DoT and strips armor lasts 2 rounds
Disease - Hits everything within 3 tiles around you for 5+ damage and 5 DoT

Will update with correct information later as i was going off of memory so i'll clarify and correct this as soon as i can.

Chi Casting Spells

Worth noting in Dragonfall DC unarmed skill now has weapons for unarmed such as brass knuckles which makes this skill alot more viable now.

no numbers besides spell = only 1 level
non () numbers = spell level
() numbers = Chicasting skill required to use

Killing Hands (1)
Passive: Unarmed DMG increased by 3.
Active: Unarmed DMG increased by a further 4 for 3 rounds.
Total of +7 damage when skill is active.

Magic Resistance 1, 2, 3 (2, 6, 10)
Passive: The adept gains a Light/Medium/Heavy Cover bonus to magic spells.

Mana Fist (3)
A powerful magical 'punch' that ignores armor. Deals 10+ damage based on skill and weapon etc.

Chi Focus (3)
2 melee attacks on a single target with a melee weapon. Increases chance for a critical damage.
Note: You do not have to buy this as a spell. It's a weapon ability and not a spell.

Stride (4)
Passive: The adept's movement is increased by 2.
Active: Increased by a further 2 for 3 rounds.
Total of +4 movement when active skill is used. You won't be needing cybertech for extra movement thanks to this.

Counterstrike (5)
When the adept ends their turn. They will counter attack with any weapon whenever attacked.
Note: the selected weapon can be of any kind, even firearms. You can even pick any weapon ability but if it has any cooldown, the adept can only counterattack once. It was rare during tests that the adept will be attacked more than once when counterattack is activated.
No extra damage just base damage based on gear and skill etc.

Chi Onslaught (6)
3 attacks on a single target with a melee weapon with a -15% to hit. Increases chances for critical damage.
Note: You do not have to buy this as a spell. It's a weapon ability and not a spell.

Quick Strike (7)
The adept gains a 0 AP cost attack, that does 6 HP damage to the target.
Note: the description says "+6 DMG" the damage doesn't add to Strength.
Good skill for finishing off weak targets and making the most use out of your turns. Worth getting.

Mystic Armor (8)
Passive: The adept has +2 Armor.
Active: The adept gains a further +2 Armor for 3 rounds.
This replaces the need to have spellcasting for +armor buffs, a very good skill. Optional based on how you're gearing your character and which allies you bring along with you.

Pain Resistance (9)
Passive: Decreases any DMG the adept takes by 2.
Active: Decreases damage by a further 3 for 3 rounds.

You won't need to use debilating drugs for the -dmg taken with this skill. If you are planning on sending your guy in solo you could probably use both this spell and drugs to take literally 2 damage per attack or none. This is optional really and i haven't even used this skill. If you have a healer and you know what to kill first and where to place your team, you won't need a tank.

Cover Mechanics

What is Cover for?
It is a spot where your characters have increased dodge and damage mitigation based on random rolls that determine wether you take or don't take damage. If they don't flank you, you cannot be crit against under cover.

What is the difference between light, medium and heavy cover?

Light cover you only have a small buff to block/dodge damage
medium you have a slightly higher block/dodge buff
heavy you got a large buff to your block/dodge damage.
Heavy cover usually blocks your vision depending on what it is (cars/walls/pillars). Keep that in mind before you try moving and attacking in your turn. Rule of thumb if it's 2x bigger and wider than your character you won't be able to shoot past it.

How should i use cover to my advantage?
Always keep your characters inside cover that is facing your opponent infront of you. From the sides your cover won't protect you as much. From behind it will work against you by increasing their crit chance (Flank) and hit chance. Keeping this in mind before you set up your squad for an attack is key because you will almost always have 1 or 2 guys vunerable to attack. Taking out the guys that make your team vunerable first will increase your survival greatly.

I'm having trouble hurting my opponent behind cover what do i do?
Make use of the flashbang grenades your team carries, use Blitz SMG skill to knock them out of cover, Glory's Melee Skill to slash + kick her opponent causing them to daze or the tazer pistols you can buy that daze your opponents if it hits. If you have the conjuring skill "Shadow" you can move your team behind your opponents, avoid damage and start ambushing them the next turn. Or if you have a character that is in a good position to do so, attack your opponents from behind. AoE spells have a seperate hit chance that is not guarded by cover so make use of it.

Very Hard Difficulty Builds

The basic Rule of thumb when making a character is to always invest at least 3-5 levels into Body. Specialize in at least two different skills to round out your character.

For example if your planning on making a street samurai you want to be efficient in both close combat and ranged. An example would be to invest into Rifles and use assault rifles close/mid range power and sniper to shoot the guys that are way out of reach.

Mage

Mage class specialize in AoE dps and support. They are very flexible when it comes to utility uses inside or outside of combat. If they choose to use guns they can only really specialize in one tree of magic before they spread themselves too thin.

Sorceror (Pure Magic support and dps)
Body: 3-5
Willpower: 5 (level this up to 6-8 for mid-lategame)
--Spellcasting 5 (level this to 6-8 for mid-lategame)
Charisma: 4 (level this to 6)
--Conjuring 4 (level this to 6)

You can choose to focus spellcasting more or conjuring more depending on what your looking for in combat. If you want more DPS and offensive utility go spellcasting, if you want more support and defensive utility go conjuring. IMHO charisma 6/conjuring 6 is all you need.

Warlock (Magic/Summoner DPS)
Body: 3-5
Willpower: 5 (level this to 6)
--spellcasting 5 (level this to 6 for endgame spells)
Charisma: 4 (Level up to 6 for better summons/control over summons)
--Spirit summoning 3 (minimum of 5 needed for strong summons)
---Spirit Control 3 (minimum of 5 needed for control)
Or use the totem that gives you spirit control

The two above builds will allow you to make the most out of your magic by getting access to conjuration or summons. Conjuration has alot of utility spells and buffs to make your mage or team really powerful. Summons have access to the most powerful buffs/curses and spells in the game. Summons also make a great distraction to get some of the pressure off your team.

Spell gunslinger
Body: 3-5
Quickness: 4
--Ranged combat 4
--- AR or SR or SMG or pistol or shotguns 3
Willpower: 5
--spellcasting 5

Gun of choice i reccomend is assault rifles. This build is a fun cross between modern weapon's and magic. You get the most out of guns unrivaled single target damage and magic's unrivaled AoE damage. You can even buy and use tazer's that completely knock out your opponents and make them sleep for 2-3 turns. You won't need as heavy armor and you will have access to all of the best debuffs and CC available.

Universal Utility Mage
Body: 3-6
Willpower: 5 (level to 8)
--Spellcasting 5 (levl to 8)
Intelligence: 4
--Decking 4 or --Biotech 4 or --Drone control 4
--Hybrid of 2 out of 3 above
Charisma: 2 (level this up to 4-6 for mid-lategame)
or buy the armored suit from black lodge test run for the last 2 levels. Suit gives +2 charisma and 6 armor. (With MIB look to boot!)

If you want to make your character into a diplomat that passes all the skill checks i reccommend this build. Intelligence, charisma, willpower are used throughout the game to move forward peacefully, or to resist/control magic (willpower) and proceed. Investing into the 3 said stats will also give you an opportunity to get some of your points back through conversations and side quests.
ie helping silke recover items and kick her drug habbit, resisting the elf's gaze in talismonger. etc.

I reccomend that you leave conjuring up to dietrich, so you can invest into decking. Which allows for complete access to all loot and "some" extra information you can find ingame. (you will need to get high biotech and alot of other skills to get all of the information out of the game or many playthroughs). Blitz is great for hacking into the cybernet but when it comes to "asking your crew to hack this terminal" 8 times out of 10 you won't have the option to ask blitz to do it. (Blitz will only hack terminals if his skills allows him to do so which half the time don't do to poor skill level etc).

Making yourself a decker has alot of bonuses
1. Intelligence is used in conversation checks (you need intelligence to level decking).
2. Decking is used on all computers and some conversation checks
3. Easy access to biotech which increase health gained when using a medkit and is used to gather information on dead bodies etc/ conersation checks/opponent hp bars visibility.
4. Access to Drone control that allows you to hack into the drones and turn them to your side or deactivate drones. Allows you to use the drones you buy up to 3 drones at higher levels. Drones can go through vents and other small spots (only drone req not skill).

Adept

Adepts are tank classes. They aren't very flexible with their builds because they are heavily reliant on Body, willpower and strength or quickness. Which means they have little to spare for the other skills, if you want to be a diplomat or jack of all trades adept isn't for you. Gun adept builds will use quickness and melee/throwing adept builds will use strength. A very useful utility skill to invest in as a skill dump would be intelligence/biotech for enemy hp visibility and extra health on medkits (useful for this class as you got loads of health).

Gun Adept (QU DPS tank)
Body: 5 (level up to 8 if you want to be unkillable or leave at 5)
Quickness: 5 (if you decide to leave body at 5 get 4 levels into dodge for endgame)
--Ranged combat 3
--- Pistols or Smg or Shotgun or Assault Rifles 3
Strength: 1 (if you plan on using grenades Str: level 3 and throwing wep level 1 should do it)
Willpower: 5
--chicasting 3 (level up to 5 no further, beyond level 5 is useless for ranged chars)
Reccomend you get a datajack for the smartlink weapons -0.3 essence in hand slot is hardly crippling your magic. Get biotech at least 2.

The above build will allow you to recieve just as much damage as you bring out. If you make use of jazz and cram/flash combined with chicasting spells; You can disintegrate anything you come across with ease. Only downside is it will take 2 AP to throw grenades and you will have little to no AoE unless your using pistols special skill or shotguns or SMG.

Melee Adept (Str DPS tank)
Body: 5 (level up to 8 minimum endgame)
Qucikness:1 (only invest into if you have spare points after you max the other stats)
Strength: 8 (level this up later for stronger weapons lategame forgot req)
--closecombat 3 (level to 8)
Willpower: 5 (level this to 8)
--Chicasting 3 (level this up to 8)

The trick is to get pain resistance, mystic armor and martial defense. Once you got all those unlocked you should get 9 str 9 close combat if you can so you can raise your hit %. Willpower 9 chi casting 9 would help with your chi skills and chi onslaughts.

Street Samurai

Street samurai's are the more flexible version of adepts that rely on modern technology instead of magic. They can enhance their abilities with drugs, heavy armor, Cybertech and smartlink weapons. Personally i would call these guy's tanks as their base but really you can build them however you want. If you use wired reflexes you can dodge the the heavy attacks quite often (1 every 3 turns) and if you have heavy armor on you won't get hurt much when you do get hit. Personally i would avoid melee weapon's as a street samurai because they don't shine very well with out chicasting.

Soldier
Body: 5
Quickness: 5 (level to 6)
--ranged combat 3 (level to 6)
---Pistols or SMG or shotgun or Assault rifles 3 (level to 6)
--Dodge 1 (level to 4)
Strength: 5 (level to 6 or use body/throwing/melee instead of guns).
Intelligence: 2
--biotech 2
charisma: 1

This build will allow you to make use of grenades, medkits and guns with top efficiency. Endgame you need 7 strength to use the minigun (AR). With this build it won't be very hard meeting the requirements. IMHO this is one of the best builds to make because Eiger sucks.

Very Hard Difficulty Builds Pt2

Paladin (Magic Buffs/CC + Guns)
Body: 5 (level to 6)
Quickness: 5 (level to 7)
--rangedcombat 3 (level to 7)
--- Shotgun or SMG or AR 3 (Level one to 7)
--Dodge 3 (level to 4 or more if karma allows)
Willpower: 3 (level to 6) [Or 5 if you use occult robes/sorceror robes]
--Spellcasting 3 (level to 6) [Or 5 if you use occult robes/sorceror robes]
(Your choice)
You might have just enough karma to spare to invest in another tree.

The goal of this build is to only get enough spellcasting to be able to cast all of the useful mage CC spells (level 6). This build makes you a leader type character that supports his party with a variety of buffs and CC's as well as kickass himself using guns. You can use cyberware with this build but i don't reccomend losing anymore than a total of 2 essence because your buff's/CC's will have a insanely long C/D which would cripple the point of this build being support/dps.

Don't bother with offensive spells, use CC and buff spells. Armor(R), Aim(R), Blind(HR) or petrify(HR), Confusion(R), Ball of lightning 1(R), Heal(R), Glue(O) (If you have dietrich you can loan this spell to him every run).
Of course you can only use 5 spells i marked the most useful ones with (HR) highlyreccomend, (R) reccommended and (O) optional.

[Keep note that dietrich has lightningball 1, heal 1, haste 2 and aim 2 endgame so he can be used to fill in those 4 spells if you run with him. With this build you could decide not to use dietrich and add more dps into your party as well. Such as glory, eiger and one of the mercenaries or blitz.]

Adept Decker Or Rigger
Body: 5 ( i reccomend getting this up to 6-8 as spare karma allows)
Quickness:1 (reccomend 3 quickness and 3 dodge as spare karma allows)
Strength: 4 (get this to at least level 6)
--Close combat 2 (level to 6)
--- melee weapons or unarmed 2 (level to 6)
--decking 3 (level to 6) [Use decking/rigging suit for +1]
---Esp control 2 (level to 4)
Willpower: 4
--Chicasting 3

For Rigging Replace Decking with below
Intelligence 4
--Drone control 3 (level to 7) [Use decking/rigging suit for +1]
---Drone combat 2 (level to 7)

The point of this build is to take only as much decking/rigging as needed to fully utilize the skill. For the last mission you need 7 decking to hack into computers. Since your already spreading yourself out pretty far i don't reccommend using throwing and melee weapons together. Focus on one, although i think throwing weapons has far more uses/utility than melee weapons. Throwing also allows you to throw grenades for 1 AP and make use of cover which is way better than melee options provide. Use of jazz/haste/chicasting spells makes this guy a beast outside the cyberweb just as well as in the cyberweb. If you still have karma to spare you could get some points in melee/guns if you wish.

On a side note with guns or throwing weapons chicasting Counterstrike when c/d is off at the end of every turn. Your garenteed to get 2-3 hits with your main character along with controlling drones.

Samurai Rigger
Body: 5 (level it 6-8 if karma allows)
Quickness: 5 (Level up to 8)
--Ranged combat 5 (level up to 8)
--Pistols (level as far as karma allows)
Intelligence: 3 (level to 7)
--Drone Control 3 (level to 7)
---Drone Combat (level to 7)

This build makes use of the flexibility and decent damage capabilities of pistols. You can disarm, fire multiple times and reload for 0 ap. You will be heavily reliant on spell haste/combat stim jazz and flash/cram drug for +AP to be able to use your main character and drones simultaneously for maxium carnage. Also worth noting is the Adrenal contractor cyberware that gives you +1 AP for 4 rounds. You will want dietrich with you every mission. Heal, haste and his spirits are a great addition to your team. His base attack nerve strike essentially allows you to "unbalance" foes and increase your accuracy greatly. (Get the earth fetish upgrade for Dietrich and use that spirit every time you get the chance you won't regret it!).

Mage Decker
Body: 5 ( 6 body seems to work well add more if you need to).
Quickness: 3 (4 quickness/4 dodge is ideal)
--2 dodge
Intelligence: 3 (level to 6 when karma allows)
--decking 3 (at least 6 when karma allows)
---esp control 0 (you will want this at least level 4 when karma allows)
Willpower: 5 (level this to 7 and use Occult robes/Sorceror Robes for +1)
--spellcasting 5 (level this to 7 and use Occult robes/Sorceror Robes for +1)
---[Extra Possible choice]
You will probably have enough karma left over to invest into another tree such as Shaman or melee/guns.

This build is very similar to the universal utility mage but this one is more focused on combat prowess in/out of the cybernet.
Your spells will only need 8 spellcasting/willpower so using armor for the last level and saving 16 karma is great. This character is your standard mage good for CC and AoE dps single target isn't as good as guns but the versatility makes this build just as deadly if not more. Also worth noting the decking skill that marks targets is particularly useful on a mage. This build throws away drones for magic and cybernet decking.

Tools's That Make things easier

Support magic & Skills
Glue, Aim, blind, Armor, ball of lightning and Heal if you don't have these spells on your mage get them! They are the most useful spells in the game.

Glue locks troublesome opponents in place, Aim increases hitrate, blind cripples an opponent from hurting your team,Armor adds armor to yourself/team to a max of 10, ball of lightning is like a free flash grenade, heal is situational but essentially ends up as a free medkit.

Other worth mentioning support spells
Shadow, Haste, Slow, Air/lightning/fire/hellfire barriers, fog, concentration.

Shadow spell allows you to rearrange your party with out taking damage for 1 turn, haste makes your characters attack more, slow cripples melee and close-mid combat gunners, barriers lock people away or defends your party or a specific point of interest from assault (defend apex's terminal for example). Fog reduces hit rate by -15% for those standing inside the fog and those trying to shoot people in the fog. Useful vs grenadiers and mage AoE, concentration is essentially a player made leyline of medium strength.

Slow is especially useful vs those flying drones that seem to focus only on the terminal in apex's mission.

Charisma, Intelligence & Ettiquete.
Having 6 Charisma/Intelligence and corporate/security/gang/socialite ettiquete will pretty much garentee you an easy playthrough passing most of the conversation skill checks in the game.
Corporate/security/gang will allow you to avoid unneccesary combat in tough missions too.

Decking/Drone control has many uses during and before combat
Decking can save your life by hacking security camera's and gun turrets. Giving you conversation options you wouldn't otherwise have because you couldn't deck into the computer to find certain pieces of information. It also allows you to find more loot and open doors you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. Blitz storyline is a good example of how useful decking and drone control can be.

Drone control allows you to send a drone through the vents to unlock doors from the inside. If there is a vent going to the next room you can send a drone to scout it out before you open it to prevent unwanted battles. You can also use drone control to take control of the gun turrets laying around in most of the highly secure missions you run.

Drugs & Stims
Jazz, Flash/Cram adds quickness, movement and +AP. Those drugs are amazing and if combined with haste you can shoot full auto 3 times in one turn. That essentially means which ever target your clicking is pretty much overkilled.

Cyberware
I'm only going to list endgame cyberware because cyberware is expensive and it's not worth constant implants to your character. Cyberware is used for a huge boost in mid-end game with a laid out plan for future stats/upgrades and the role it will play in your builds.

Enhanced Reflexes With Trigger
Always Dodges the next incoming attack after you end your turn.
If you know your main character is under heavy fire from a boss or high damaging opponents this will greatly increase your survivability and tankiness.
Examples Dragon spawns, Audran (orc with minigun), Mages, Spirits, Chimera's and Scorpians

Lazer Eyes
Can be used to greatly improve accuracy and blind people in conversation checks such as
Aztechnology bloodmages conversation
As for the % accuracy increase i'm not sure i will need to investigate.

Vision Magnification eyes (Alpha) [Eye's]
6% Overall increase to accuracy
Like a permanent hyper drug without the debuffs, not too shabby but i would perfer the lazer eyes since it has a higher % increase on the guys you really need to hit.

Hand Inducer [Arm]
Data jack that is placed inside your hands -0.3 essence instead of -0.5 from head/eye's. Worth saving the karma on intelligence/decking investment until after you roll your character. So you start out with no implants. Then invest points into intelligence and decking once you start out with monika. This is a good strategy to save as much essence as possible if you plan on being an adept gunner or gunmage. (IMHO spellcasters don't need guns and points better spent in body/quickness and dodge)

Encephalon NEXT [Head]
+2 Intelligence
This can be used to pass conversation options with intelligence so instead of needing 21 karma for intelligence +6 you can invest 11 karma instead.

Enhanced Articulation [Legs]
+1 quickness and +1 dodge
With this you can spend karma points else where making your character even more powerful.

Muscle Augmentation [Arms]
+1 strength and +1 Quickness
With this you can spend karma points else where making your character even more powerful.

Auto Injector "Bliss" (complete doctors biosample mission) [Arms]
Same effect as bliss drug, Reduces incoming damage by 3 str by -1 for 4 turns.

Auto Injector "Hyper"
Same effect as hyper drug, adds 6% accuracy for the cost of +3 more incoming damage for 4 turns
Combined with drug/injector bliss you can negate most of the debuff's (reccommend muscle augmentation + bliss or hyper).

Toxin Exhaler
10 damage and 4 DoT
This is interesting, i can see it being very useful early game for some extra damage and DoT stacking with other skills that DoT.

Adrenal Contractor Cost $0 (complete the 3 phonebooth's missions) [Body] -0 essence
Adds +1 AP, takes 2 more damage from attacks lasts 3 turns.
The fact this cyberware does not take any essence away makes it the best implant for any character you roll, i highly suggest you complete the 3 booth missions to get it.

Smartlink Weapons
smartlink weapons have greater accuracy then the non-smartlink options. Having high accuracy is key to dealing sustained dps and decreasing combat time. This means you are likely to take less damage and deal more damage.

[Sir_Strazzen]

I know it's been a few years , but Thanks for the Guide. I'm not a good layer, but having Guides like this definitely help . Tyvm once again,

[TheDeadDude]

I never did a min/maxed throwing only build and i haven't played this game in along time. With opponents with high armor and considering cover and dodge % throwing weapons looked weak on their own. I guess you could use the mono whip implant so you can use the whip skill to strip armor and deal damage to anything that gets close.

[Свет во Тьме]

Woah, where's the min/max throwing build? Word's on the street it can solo through the game. Why so many hybrid builds? The most efficient ones are min/maxed. I recommend dropping standart class templates for even more min/maxing via a custom template. You'll have to boost Charisma if you want some fun on your missions. That's what I thought until recently - turns out you can get a +2 Cha outfit early in the game!
Only redeemable hybrid classes are Decker-Rigger, for obvious reasons, and Adept, since Chi is designed to boost melee combat.
P.S. Most frustrating part is Biotech karma wasting. You have Glory for that kind of stuff.
P.S.S. Decent amount of info you've got here. It'll be even better if you add some on bugs and exploits

[TheDeadDude]

i use C/D as cool down, I forgot that i didn't completely fill the ? mark parts of information yet. I've already beaten the game several times but finding all the necessary information is pretty time consuming lol.

[Icedfate]

what does "c/d" mean? i noticed you used that alot in your descriptions like "attacks 3 targets c/d"
"removes enemy weapon c/d"
""can shoot an opponent twice c/d?"
"takes 0 ap to reload c/d"

[TheDeadDude]

There are quite a few merchants around especially on your shadow runs. Quite often i find drug dealers and in the mission you take a test for that black corp? forget the name, they have a armor vendor before you bust into the basement past the guards at the electrical panel. My memory isn't that great but there may be a few more too.

[HarleeKnight]

Is there more merchants than those around your safehouse? There is surprisingly very little information on this game.

[Ghosts_Abyss, The Forgotten]

Oh, I definitely intend to buy that game. I still run Shadowrun Tabletop games to this day.. in fact, starting a new campaign on Sunday with some friends.. I'll be getting every Shadowrun game that HBS produces.. so, when I get HK.. I'll definitely be snagging your guide. :D

[TheDeadDude]

Thanks! i made a very similar guide to this for shadowrun hongkong. Should you ever buy that game feel free to look it up!

[Ghosts_Abyss, The Forgotten]

This is actually a really useful guide. I mostly play Deckers, as I just really enjoy decking, and find Blitz to be annoying.. but, this guide made me test out one of the Mage Builds.. and I really enjoyed it. Awesome guide, man. :D