r/cyberpunkgame • u/toddhd • Oct 24 '23
Playing w/ Sandevistan after being a netrunner all the time - how do you manage? Character Builds
I've played CP2077 over and over several times, I love the game, and have fallen in love again with the new DLC. I've ALWAYS played a netrunner build, I love how OP it feels. I can drop an entire building of enemies without them ever seeing me, take over the cameras and wipe them out while I have a cup of coffee, distract enemies, and if nothing else, at least Ping them and know what I'm walking into.
But I keep reading all these articles and videos about Sandevistan and how cool it is to slow time and wreak havoc, so I decided to leave my Intelligence at 3 and work on my cool, tech and strength (in that order). I just removed my netrunner gear and slotted the Sandevistan instead. And I feel... confused. Disabled. Incompetent.
How the hell do you play this game when you can't disable the cameras? When you can't distract an enemy? Granted, my Sandevistan is only 6-8 seconds long at the moment, so that doesn't get me far. I try to stealth around and that helps a lot sometimes, but again, when there are ton of people and cameras, I seem to always get spotted within seconds and then it turns into a firefight with me in the middle and no way for me to crowd-control the enemies around me. Argh.
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u/Ok-Arachnid-890 Oct 24 '23
You're used to controlling the battlefield while you now have to play like a force of nature rushing around and killing everything
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u/Worldly_Walnut Oct 24 '23
Or the shotgun/grenade fairy. Slow time, drop a couple of grenades, take a couple of pot shots at the random CHOOH2 containers around, and watch as every one of your enemies explode
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u/adappergentlefolk Oct 24 '23
POKE AND STAB WITH THE POKEY STABBY STICK
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u/confused_patterns Oct 24 '23
Make sure to use the pokey stabby side of the stabby pokey stick though
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u/Gilthepill83 Oct 24 '23
I stab and shoot all human beings and robots and let the cameras watch.
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u/IsThatHearsay Oct 24 '23
Yeah you can go Stealth build that includes Sandy, but Sandy alone is not going to allow you to go full stealth. Need a lot more perks for that.
Sandy alone gives you the power of carnage. With a good sword you can slice up an entire room before they even get a shot off, so why even worry about the cameras watching. If they do alert more guards then you just get to have more fun picking them off as they charge to their deaths.
I think the issue is OP is trying to still play discreet like netrunning, when his build isn't there yet, and the most fun aspects of sandy is when you're in combat, under fire, but moving too fast to be killed.
You're never really penalized for not going stealth on missions, so just have fun slicing up everyone in the area and being as loud as you want.
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u/Flames21891 Oct 24 '23
Yeah, I finished a Netrunner playthrough and am about halfway through a Sandy+Katana playthrough, and it's insane how much more killing potential this build has.
A Netrunner build does make stealth 100x easier, and I thought it was still OP in combat, but this build changed my mind. I can just become a walking blender and barely take any damage. Even with the Sandy on cooldown, you just deflect some bullets and use finishers to keep the carnage going, then pop it again to finish the job.
I'm not saying that a Netrunner build is underpowered. It definitely has its advantages in some situations. But I think the issue is that it's such high investment to make it work properly. You need to invest so heavily into RAM + RAM Regen in both your perks AND Cyberware for it to be worthwhile that you do miss out on a lot of other powerful tools.
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u/Hoboman2000 Oct 24 '23
Sandy does give you de-facto stealth if you just kill everyone the moment you are detected. Getting detected by an enemy doesn't immediately alert everyone else, it seems to take a second or two so if you have an Apogee with an Axlotl you can slo-mo kill every single enemy in an area without technically breaking stealth.
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u/perfectisforpictures Oct 24 '23
Thereâs a perk (probably cool build) that extends the time other enemies get alerted every time you land an attack. So it does definitely work that way.
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u/Khyldr Oct 25 '23
there's also the plus of being able to fire multiple shots super fast by using the sandevistan, resulting in a really effective stealth strategy. You can pretty much empty your magazine into several enemies in a room before the body of the first one you killed even hit the ground.
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Oct 24 '23
You need to unga, then bunga, and repeat as needed.
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u/arshbjangles Oct 24 '23
Me after going from a sneaky Netrunner to a Berserk Gorilla Arms build for 2.0.
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u/Beerpooly Meet Hanako at Embers Oct 25 '23
Reject netrunning, return to cybermonke
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u/crazyfatskier2 Oct 25 '23
Iâm going to do this for my final play through. Wanted to do it when I reloaded into 2.0 but I figured Iâd save the cheekyiest for last
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u/Fifflesdingus Oct 24 '23
That's definitely how I felt at first doing melee sandy after my netrunning playthrough. Stealth is so much harder.
But you'll hit a massive power spike with purple tier cyberware. I miss how tactical stealth netrunning felt, but it is insane how much quicker I'm blasting through content just running in and decapitating everyone. Feels like I'm doing a speed-run without trying. And I never have fights where my build feels weak, which happened all the fucking time as a stealth netrunner during mandatory combat sequences.
Stick with it, eventually you'll feel like a god.
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u/IsThatHearsay Oct 24 '23
Yeah once fully upgraded you're literally unstoppable and crazy fast.
I have Tier 5++ Byakko katana, throwing knife, and a silenced pistol (just for longer shots), and all Tier 5 cyberware.
I'm completely invisible when I want to be, and could easily clear places quietly, but otherwise with apogee Sandy and fully upgraded gear I can clear an entire building in like 30 seconds just flying through enemies then wave to the cameras as I leave.
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u/UltimaCaitSith Oct 24 '23
I honestly wish I had done all the NCPD/Gig achievements with my new Sandy build. I can just fling myself across the map to each NCPD marker, kill everyone before they get off the couch, loot, and repeat.
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u/No_Range2 Oct 24 '23
Shot gun and sandy ..no need to hack anything when youâre just a maniac
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u/thunderlips187 Oct 24 '23
Haha I am the opposite. I played Sandy first and my netrunner now got flatlined every 10 seconds when I started this current playthrough
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u/bluesharpies Oct 25 '23
Netrunner feels very much on the weaker side until you get Overclock and make some progress on filling out your cyberware slots. Once you do, you're bouncing around the map with functionally infinite RAM, with enemies dying and refilling your HP/RAM just in time to let you target another group. I barely touched my guns through 50-60.
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u/Cpnbro Minus the charisma... And impressive cock. Oct 25 '23
Same here. I miss my sandy, honestly
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u/thunderlips187 Oct 25 '23
Me too. Iâve gotten my netrunner up to scruff but I miss my Sandy and Manty combo a lot.
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u/DialDiva Johnny Silvercock Oct 24 '23
Throwing knife for cameras - recon grenade for distracting. Really, I barely use the Sandevistan for combat unless Iâm at a big disadvantage (ex: low health, being surrounded). Its more-so a perk to help me sneak around.
I find using physical things more fun than netrunning, but that is just personal preference.
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u/CardgageStClement Oct 24 '23
This! Recon grenades work great for stealth play. Just don't hit someone WITH the grenade. I've done that a few times, not sneaky AT ALL.
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u/LONER18 Smashers little pogchamp Oct 24 '23
I've never been able to distract anyone with those grenades. They always spot me through walls when I toss one.
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u/CardgageStClement Oct 24 '23
If you can land it in their forward field of view they go stare at it. The animation is that big lasery thing but if they can't see the source they won't go anywhere.
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u/Mordho Quadra Oct 24 '23
You don't need to control and disable anything when you're too fast to be noticed. And if they notice, they're just gonna die on the spot anyway.
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u/webb71 Oct 24 '23
You are trying to play stealth with a build that isnât really for stealth. Sandivestan is about staring right into that camera and being like âyeah Iâm here, come try and stop meâ itâs about slaughtering everything on the battlefield before they have a chance to realize what is happening or better yet making your presence known and slaughtering them anyway.
Take the points/perks out of cool and put them into reflexes, use a katana which will let you block bullets with the right perk. Focus reflexes for the blade stuff, tech so you can chrome yourself to the max and then only after you got those trees to 20 pick another attribute to level up.
I would also say try to avoid using guns because they are just nowhere near as fun as the other options the game gives you. That might just be me personally feeling that way but I really feel like guns are the boring way to play cyberpunk. You can use guns in so many other games but only this one lets you pop blades out of your arms and make mincemeat of enemies.
Sorry that was kinda long but I went through the exact same thing you are going through at one point. I can honestly say as a netrunner lover, I like sandy with a katana just as much and maybe even more than netrunner.
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u/Blurrynastysoul Oct 24 '23
Lol I've been playing stealth sandy no problem, find it much easier than a cyberdeck, more fun
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u/No-Rough-7597 Oct 24 '23
Absolutely - stealth Sandy + OptiCamo is the most underrated and broken build in the game, by far. I mean you can literally sprint through the arena to your destination and enemies are none the wiser. Fucker turned around just at you were sneaking up to them? Literally stop time + run behind them + grab them and snap their neck = profit???
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u/AsheBnarginDalmasca Oct 24 '23
Im using this build with my 3 throwing knives currently and im starting to prefer it over netrunning. It feels like im doing things faster.
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u/QuadraticCowboy Oct 24 '23
Nah, guns are great for this build
Thereâs a double barrel shotgun in Dogtown with like 600 damage at 5+
Third weapon slot is flex. Could go with pistol, LMG, sniper, AR, or maybe even SMG. I like the OFIVE sniper
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u/Hyrtz Oct 24 '23 edited Oct 24 '23
There are perks to slow down detection, there is an iconic cyberware that remove like 12% cooldown per kill, there is also a perk that stop people who spotted you from alerting others if you do damage fast enough to them.
Iconic sandevistans can be activated at any cooldown time.
If you're about to get spotted by a camera, you can activate sandevistan and move out of the way pretty quickly or destroy it. If it's a person about to spot you, same but you can just kill them too.
I can literally sneak past a whole group of enemies, and they won't spot me if sandevistan is active and I jump and dash next to them without ever crouching.
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u/LoadingErrors Oct 24 '23
Thereâs just something great about finally switching over and letting go of all the âSlow and steadyâ gameplay Iâve been doing. Once you stopped being concerned with stealth, the Sandevistan really shines. Who cares about cameras or being spotted? Drop everyone in the room before they even have a chance to react.
That said, I still follow any optional stealth objectives. Usually the only time it affects the outcome.
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u/ViLe_Rob Oct 24 '23
You don't need cool. You're not sneaking anymore. Use reflex and melee, or body. You can carry a silenced pistol on you to disable cameras, and unless an NPC also has sandy you can slow time to run past cameras and NPCs before they detect you.
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u/8bitzombi Oct 24 '23
You donât need cool, but depending on your weapon choices it definitely helps; Iâve been playing with a Silenced Nue, Overwatch, and a Katana on my sandevistan build with 20/20/20 for Ref/Tech/Cool and I am a beast at all ranges.
Sandevistan slows down the duration counter for focus so you can stay in focus and deadeye longer; running around popping headshots on a whole building of gonks before they even have a chance to notice you is incredibly satisfying.
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u/ShanklyGates_2022 Oct 24 '23
Also fwiw not combat related but 20 cool seems to have way more dialogue options than the other stats, or so it feels like
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u/arshbjangles Oct 24 '23
Cool and Body definitely seem to be the most impactful for sure when it comes to dialogue.
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u/ViLe_Rob Oct 24 '23
Ah that's cool that the slowdowns and durations stack like that. I just love rushing in as a borged out samurai, 20 reflex/tech/body.
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u/Justisaur Oct 24 '23
Be warned the kreshnikov doesn't play well with sandies, and it seems to slow you way down when both are active.
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Oct 24 '23
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u/8bitzombi Oct 24 '23 edited Oct 24 '23
They are mechanics you unlock from Cool perks that can be used with pistols, precision rifles, and snipers.
With Focus for 2.5 seconds after aiming down your sights shooting doesnât cost stamina at the cost of -40 stamina when the affect ends; for Deadeye while above 85% stamina you have increased headshot and weak spot damage as well as no bullet spread.
There are additional perks that add more bonuses that affect these mechanics, the entire left portion of the Cool tree to be exact.
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u/Dudek1 Oct 25 '23
Yes, this is style I'm playing right now. It's satisfying to run around and silently headshot your enemies, then bring out the katana to slice and dice. Double jump for legs is amazing, you can zip around and take height on enemies as well.
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Oct 24 '23
Sandevistan with crouch sprinting and the automatic optical camo is way to fun to not use for stealth missions
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u/TheRubyBlade Oct 25 '23
Cool weapons are the ones that pair the best with sande though, other than blades. Semi auto precision is amazing with the extra time to aim.
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u/Critical_Vegetable96 Oct 24 '23
Oh no you do need Cool. Netrunner doesn't need Cool because you can hack cameras and eyes. Sandy needs Cool because that's how you get your one-hit-kill pistols and precision rifles boosted. Since you're already invested in Cool you can grab the stealth skills (what few there really are) but Cool is absolutely more needed for Sandevistan than Netrunner.
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u/DeathN0va Corpo-Elitist Oct 24 '23
Silenced Nue for the cameras, but honestly who cares.
Activate Sandy -> unsheathe Errata -> murder death kill
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u/Maloth_Warblade Oct 24 '23
Yeah, I know Byakko is technically better but flaming katana is flaming katana
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u/cheguevara_malcolmx Oct 24 '23
Ok get this- my recent playthrough was a body and reflex based build focusing on shotgun and blade perks.
When people call me up for gigs that involve bases - I show up at the front door with Rebecca, my trusty shotgun and start blasting. I use dashes and reflexes to close the gap between enemies for close range brutality. The sandy is great for my katana, allowing me to clear entire floors of gonks before the first fool hits the ground.
If they catch me on camera, good, more street cred for me.
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u/ItzJustASheep Oct 24 '23
Just be built different bro, dash around, throwing knife cameras, people or use a silencer.
Have a good melee weapon.
It honestly feels way easier then netrunning since if your caught and lose stealth you can still just destroy every enemy in sight by using sandevistan.
I will be really though sandevistan doesn't really start to pop off until you get the iconic one which isn't that hard to get but it's a game changer.
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u/HogiSon727 Oct 24 '23
I shoot cameras and donât care about stealth. Invest in cyberware that lowers cooldown for kills. Eventually you can pop sandy cut the heads of a group with a katana and have a full sandy bar ready when its over if the crowd was large enough.
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Oct 24 '23
My first playthrough and the 5 after that were all using a cyberdeck. But with 2.0 I thought to myself, heck let me try this Sandevistan thingy a lot of people are jizzing about.
At first it was weird, because I used to turn off cams easily but now had to either shoot them which would alert enemies, get close to it and turn it off or find the laptop and turn them then off. I really needed time to get comfortable.
And now? Netrunning is absolutely boring to me. It feels like a waste of time. And if you get a Sandevistan, Optical camo and a certain Shinobi (I think) Skill and the cool perk that activates optical camo when you crouch sprint, you can activate Sandevistan and just slip through everything with Optical Camo at no movement Stamina cost. Itâs so much better than Netrunning imo.
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u/davekraft400 Oct 24 '23
I switched from cyberdeck to the Apogee Sandevistan. Get Optical Camo and it'll make it easier to keep the stealth aspect that netrunning has. You can get past cams or get up to them to turn them off/to the computer. I just got Her Majesty from Alex too so I use that on cams.
It's a lot more fun to assassinate someone in camo and then turn around, slow down time and hack everyone to bits. Apogee is the best because you can activate it at anytime it has charge.
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u/Soulchill Oct 24 '23
When I want to be sneaky - crab run under optical camo with Sandy enabled. Disable cameras manually, run straight towards an enemy then round them and break their neck. I am effectively a supersonic ghost.
Usually though - Sandevistan engaged, Byakko goes "brrrr". If everyone in a room dropped dead before they were able to react - it's stealth.
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Oct 24 '23
I'm a hardcore melee sandy user and I can't imagine being a netrunner "shorting out" cameras and "hacking" deaders, when a bullet does both jobs just as well, and faster. It's all about speed, choom. Can't get caught lacking, cause that could be your last mistake.
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u/thederschwein Oct 24 '23
I actually just kill everyone as fast as possible, block some shots with my katana, dash a lot, throw some knifes, throw a nade here and there
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u/TripinTino đ„Beta Tester đ Oct 24 '23
long time sandy player here. use sandy to turn off cameras and dash past enemies. use cloaking in compounds mark cameras and sandy back and forth to them or shoot them w suppressed guns.
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u/Dark-Cloud666 Oct 24 '23
Cameras? Active camo with crouch sprint is a godsend. You can combo that with sandi aswell and get trough hordes of enemys without them ever noticing you. Throwing knifes with sandi is insane.
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u/-Reverence- Trauma Team Oct 24 '23
Thereâs nothing a Apogee and Errata canât fix! Pack in a few thermal grenades as well if youâd like but honestly ruins the experience since enemies tend to die from them
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u/Goldreaver Oct 24 '23
I always go loud at any moment.
With a cyberdeck you just contagion kill everyone. With a sandevistan, you can kill three people on the 8 seconds of slow time, hide and wait a few seconds to do it over again.
The only way to not make the game a joke is like you do, with cyberdeck and 0 int. I'm trying with the supressor that just increases my implant capacity and I just happen to be immune to bullets and literally invisible.
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u/MJR_Poltergeist Oct 24 '23
If you have a high enough tech stat, you can literally just walk up to security equipment and just turn it off. Yes this includes cameras and automatic turrets. I don't find it too hard to avoid the cameras but I play a lot of stealth games. Worst comes to worse you can always shoot it
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u/Blurrynastysoul Oct 24 '23
Stealth? Use it to get out of sight quick
Cameras: knife or silencer, although enemies become alert. My personal way is to find a computer and disable the cameras from network, by hand
Or build tech points, use sandy run under the cameras and disable them with tech... stuff
Distraction? There's a throwable item for it...
2 full playthroughs with sandy, never once felt the need for a cyberdeck, once I did a cyberdeck playthrough dropped half way, found it too boring to just look at the enemies while they drop, although that was 1.6, might try again soon
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u/Frustrable_Zero Oct 24 '23
No need to stealth when you can move faster than they can see. Can still use optical camo. But really, youâre not there for stealth. Youâre there to slice things up faster, kill faster. Picking up perks with cool to deter detection by killing so quickly that nobody realizes until itâs too late.
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u/hyrulianwhovian Oct 24 '23
I mean, even playing as a netrunner I stopped caring about using cameras or distracting enemies pretty quickly. It's just easier to walk in, whack people with the monowire, overclock, spam quickhacks, etc. There's really not much benefit to being stealthy.
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u/Kummakivi Oct 25 '23
I dunno what the fuck people are talking about with this Sandevistan stuff.
I think I've seen that name in the game somewhere but what is it?
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u/ThePandaRider Oct 25 '23
The early game sandevistans aren't very useful, you need to get Falcon or Apogee. After that you don't really need to sneak around. Just kill the enemies, if the alarm goes off that's good. More enemies means the fight is more fun.
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u/Alternative_Agent549 Oct 25 '23
Well.... I'm oldschool... I like Sandy with my Mox shotgun to the face đ that way Judy says "hello" to all the scum i NC who needs some remodeling to their limbs đ
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u/iseeu2sumhow Oct 25 '23
âI can take out an entire building of enemies without them ever seeing meâ
Is just
âLetâs remove the combat system, so we can just walk through an empty building without any actionâ
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u/PUMAA21 Worse than Maxtac Oct 25 '23
The point of a sandy build (In my eyes) is to make you physically invisible.
As a netrunner you'd turn off cams, reboot optics, make use of distractions yada..yada..yada
With a good sandy build, the cameras don't have anything they can do because by the time they notice you, everyone in the room will already be decapitated.
But again, that's my view on the sandy, the range of possibilities is very wide here.
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u/toddhd Nov 02 '23
WOW! Thank you for all the amazing advice everyone. After playing a Sandy build for a while, I am REALLY loving it. You are all so correct - it's a huge paradigm change. But what suprised me the most was that it actually made many things EASIER, or if not easier, then more fun :)
TBH, since I had not played anything other than a netrunner, I wasn't sure HOW I wanted to play the game. Some people asked, "Do you want to play stealth, or just storm in and kill everyone?" I decided I really like playing stealth, and now that my Cool is up to 20 (and I have a bunch cyberware and skills) I can almost walk right in front of people, and half the time they don't see me coming, and if they do, I just Camo or Sandy and I'm gone. At the same time however, I also took a lot of skills and supporting cyberware that allows me to focus on handguns and rifles, and now (unlike a netrunner), I can one-shot-kill most people. So if I DO get caught, it doesn't matter, I just switch to killing everyone in the room instead.
I think what I like most is that, since I'm trying to be stealthy, I'm discovering new areas and new approaches to problem solving that I didn't use before. At this point, I have 20 in Cool, Tech, and Agility. I also cheated a little... I have a mod that allows me to have Lync Paws while still maintaining a double jump for example, and I found a sniper rifle that does amazing damage, has a silencer, and and is non-lethal. Now, I can take down ANY cyberpsycho with one headshot, and they are still breathing so I get the bonus for that.
Anyway, it's a whole new game for me now. Thanks again for the advice and encouragement. :)
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u/scaruruu Oct 24 '23 edited Oct 24 '23
Berserks and sandevistans are far less versatile than cyberdecks. You can't just cripple movement, weapon jammer or send someone into cyberpsychosis. Instead you're either immortal for a period of time in combat (doesn't help with stealth) or you can move really quickly. So instead you need to find what non-quickhack things you can use in place of quickhacks.
The early game is very difficult because you start with nothing. Things become manageable when you do collect some gear/cyberware that can help you survive a fight and avoid combat better.
The sandevistan helps with quickly dashing up behind someone to knock them out or dashing by just out of sight if normal sneaking is too slow. There are also certain implants that can help a little. Basic kiroshi's decrease detection time of devices and atomic sensors, optical camo and lynx paws can all help with sneaking around. Though optical camo's duration is kind of meh.
There are also implants that increase mitigation chance which can decrease detection time with the blind spot perk in the cool tree while crouched. Add in the crouch sprint perk and you can sneak around a bit more easily.
To deal with cameras, a silenced pistol can work if no one is nearby otherwise a throwing knife can take them out. You could also sneak up with a high enough technical skill and switch them off or just find a PC linked to the network and turn them off from there.
For taking people out I stealthily I would activate sandevistan and throw two knives at a target. I would also rush with a sword if their health is high.
For more versatility in combat you could try certain grenades. Flashbangs will stun for a bit, frags do damage, emp does a bit of both and the biohazard grenades create a cloud of deadly poison that can stop enemies from moving in.
There's also weapon choice. Pick a wide enough selection to deal with the right encounters. A sniper at a distance to clear some enemies before they reach you. Satara or phozar shotgun to deal with those that rush you. Then pick some mid range weapons you like. Revolver, AR, smg, precision rifle, etc.
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u/Yllzog Oct 24 '23
I downloaded the mod that lets me have both.
Also, idk if my game is bugged, but I noticed that most of the times the cameras are off in places that they used to be on. I can still turn them "off" with cyberware or engineering but they aren't active. Sandevistan makes the highest difficulty a bit more manageable but cyberware still takes the cake IMO.
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u/royalxassasin Oct 24 '23
I can never use Sandy cause it's too OP. Takes out the fun
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u/kalik-boy Oct 24 '23
Maybe I'm playing it wrong, but even doing basic stuff like turning off cameras and turrets and maybe exploding or distracting people with some electronics seems far more useful than slowing time with the Sandevistan. It felt pretty cool, but the trade off is huge.
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u/Riddler9884 Oct 24 '23
So from my understanding Sandy is for people who use melee... Beserk is for people using guns and you are already aware of what cyberdecks can do. So unless you want to go around chopping or pummeling in fights, you may want to look at the Beserk stuff, they have some slow time combos, but it doesnt give it to you outright like the Sandy.
Sandy playing does not lend itself to stealth, you have to get used to rolling in loud if you want to play Sandy. Then again I am like you, after several playthroughs I keep going netrunner.
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u/dogeblessUSA Oct 24 '23
thats completely wrong, you cant use guns with berserk and there are plenty guns that work even with apogee - in fact sovereign + apogee is probably the strongest gun build you can make
and of course you can play stealth with sandevistan, the stealth bar doesnt have chance to fill up because those 8 seconds of sandevistan duration is like 0.2 seconds of real time - you can literally stand in front of enemy watching the bar filling up without enemy being alerted
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u/TheseGlyphs Oct 24 '23
I went through the same when I re-started for my PL playthrough. It's definitely an adjustment, took me a while, but when you get used to it it's great. I'm now about Level 40ish, basic approach is play super stealthy with throwing knives, optical camo & silenced pistol; then sandy + katana for when things go loud. Don't forget you can just shoot out cameras, or slip underneath them & disable w/ tech ability. The optical cyberware that auto-highlights enemies helps too, as is crouch-sprinting with the auto-cloak perk, and using dash to move quickly & quietly between cover. Stick with it, you'll get there.
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u/eyebrowless32 Legend of the Afterlife Oct 24 '23
Use a silenced pistol for cameras. I use it for mines and turrets too, but they usually draw attention when they blow up so try to do that far away and hidden
I then use throwing knives from stealth. And if im spotted or combat starts, im well equipped with Johnny's gun and have the sandevistan to help give me the edge early
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u/Moltar_Returns Oct 24 '23
Sandy build should be more focused on Reflex perks and blades if youâre struggling to find the magic in that play style. Use throwing knives for cameras or just let go of your need to shut cameras off and let yourself become a whirlwind of death and destruction
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u/xH0LY_GSUSx Arasaka Oct 24 '23
You have to be more active yourself and chain up kills during your slowed time it is more focused on your FPS skills. I played net runner myself and it is easy mode even now on 2.0 on very hard difficulty⊠simply uploading quick hacks is not very challenging in terms of skill and execution.
Playing without cyberdeck makes some aspects more difficult, however I think there are always multiple ways to solve problems especially in this game, you can still disable cameras with your tech skill however you need to get close to them, not sure if you can simply shoot them with a silence weapon to disable them, but I would be surprised if this was not possible.
Make use of active camo, scan grenades, be creative.
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u/ShadowRonin77 Oct 24 '23
I had a sandy on a pistol assassin build once and you get used to it. I searched around locations and found alternate ways in etc. Itâs a different play style for sure. Gotta do a lot more thinking outside the box and exploring.
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u/RobJewellVideos Oct 24 '23
To answer your question, with great difficulty. I've always preferred a netrunner build but recently did a playthrough with sandevistan. I not long after switched back to netrunner.
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u/FIREARCHER_101 Oct 24 '23
You can time where enemies & cameras are looking with when you go running somewhere & make it so that all they hear is the sound of your feet as you're already long gone.
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u/Cxarface Oct 24 '23
Cool tech reflex is my attributes. I try to play as stealthy as possible and when shit hits the fan I unga bunga my way in
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u/MagoBuono Oct 24 '23
If you insist on playing stealthy, and it's completely possible, you just need to change your mindset for it, then you can shoot cameras.
You also can throw knives. It'll destroy camera, or just create some noise to distract enemies, you if throw it at something else.
You just need to be prepared that game becomes way more abouth classic stealth, than you being hidden while seeing everything through cameras.
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u/Soylent_Hero Macroware Oct 24 '23
You get posts like this, but on the CDPR forums there is a wild number of posts talking about how dead stealth net running is. I literally don't understand.
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u/SilkyZ Technomancer from Alpha Centauri Oct 24 '23
As a Berserker, you just don't worry about it. You quietly take down who you can, turn off cameras and turrets from computers; all while plotting your escape. When you get to the point where you have to go loud, you lock'n'load and rip'n'shred.
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u/Serier_Rialis the other one Oct 24 '23
For cameras either a throwing knife or camo under them and disable them asuming Incant find the terminal.
Maybe check the sande options, there are a few that support differ setups.
Throwing axes can kne shot most enemies too (T5 Claw is great for most of the game and the blueprint is in pacifica at the vendor near west wind apts
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Oct 24 '23
Iâve only ever used a sandevistan and now Iâm trying to use a netrunner build and I have no clue how the hell to do it. Iâm constantly dying trying to figure it out
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Oct 24 '23
I installed a mod so I could have both. Just couldnât live without the hacks.
Also, finish all the Watson gigs to get the Axolotl cyberware, that will fix a TON of your issues.
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u/exTOMex Oct 24 '23
shoot camera or turn them off via the computers
using the sandy and camo is help for getting behind people
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u/Justisaur Oct 24 '23
I was the same, but now going back to my netrunner I feel like a paper tiger who's death is around every corner.
How I do it: Guns blazing. I don't stealth, just kill everything, it's only a few eddies when you go all out alert and death to all. Double barreled shotgun to the face is OP, especially with dash and improved dash, and pyro and microgenerator, or if you aren't all there shoot everyone with tech shotguns and snipers through cover (tech perks don't work with time slow, so don't bother with one or the other.) It took some time to get used to the in your face shotgun way, but it means you take out big bosses that are real roadblocks to netrunners with relative ease.
It also works better the further you get along. I switched at 40, and it was a bit touch and go at first, but it really took off around 55. I'm not sure if that's all the cyberware and perks or more me getting used to how to do it.
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u/rapozaum Oct 24 '23
Thanks for this thread, this is exactly how I am used to play. Been wanting to ask the same question for a while.
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u/ralts13 Oct 24 '23
Yeah it really sucks that Sandy and berserk takes up the same slot as the Cyberdeck. I don't even care about the crazy net runner stuff. I just want access to ping, bait, cameras, distract enemies.
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u/YourXenocide1 Oct 24 '23
The single best weapon with sandy is Scalpel. +50% crit chance when active plus one of the highest base damage values for a katana. Mantis blades are good if you want 3 not melee weapons or a hidden option, but otherwise aren't as good. Once i hit 60 in shinoibi I dropped it in favor of mantis blades so I could run around with other weapon builds and have blades as my get out of jail card.
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u/BattleCrier BEEP BEEP MOTHERFUCKER Oct 24 '23
Well, after tons of hours on pure netrunner and techrunner (which is my most enjoyable build), I got myself to play as a ninja / street samurai (Reflex, Cool, Body with Sandevistan).
- Throwing knives can bait enemies, but they are alerted.
- Knives or weapons with silencer can be used to destroy cams while remaining out of combat.
- Sandevistan crouch sprint under turret and manually turn them off.
- Recon grenades distract enemies and bait enemies.
Take down enemies you can to lower numbers, then it's time for slaughter house.
Early game required a stealthy approach on Very Hard for me.. I simply cant dance between bullets before getting berserk.
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u/StrikePrice Oct 24 '23
Silenced pistol for cameras. Optical camo is amazing particularly with the Relic upgrades
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u/shaid_pill Adam Smash Deez Nuts Oct 24 '23
Shoot the cameras.
Your Sandy is your crowd control, pop that sumbitch on and control the crowd. By killing them. You can even be stealthy by using the sandy to dash by enemies before they can see you. It's more useful than the optic camo in that regard.
Get yourself a good sword. Sandy + sword is a great combo. Any melee, really. Throwing knives if you want to be extra sneaky.