Combat

Combat quickhacks are the netrunner's weapons. They deal damage straight to an enemy's body and cyberware, often with a status effect on top. Once a fight is loud, they are the main way a netrunner kills. Their RAM cost sits in the middle of the quickhack classes. Combat quickhacks suit an Intelligence build that wants to fight from cover with a cyberdeck instead of a gun.

Effects

Each Combat quickhack has its own kind of damage and its own target. Most leave an effect that keeps hurting the enemy after the upload ends.

Short Circuit deals damage and hits mechs, robots, drones and turrets harder. It uploads quickly, and its upload time drops further at higher tiers. At Tier 2 it extends every Control quickhack already on the target. At Tier 3 it hits harder for each stack of Cyberware Malfunction and can make the enemy's weakspot explode. At Tier 4 it adds an EMP effect that deals damage over time.

Overheat sets the enemy on fire and deals damage over time. Uploading it again on a burning enemy extends the fire. From Tier 3, hits from V's weapons also extend it. At Tier 4 it melts enemy armor. At Tier 5, attacks on the burning enemy also deal some Thermal damage.

Contagion infects an enemy with a toxic leak that deals Poison damage over time. It then spreads to nearby enemies, so it is strong against tight groups. At Tier 4, a Burn or Overheat on an infected enemy makes the toxin explode. At Tier 5, each jump to a new enemy deals more damage.

Synapse Burnout deals heavy damage in a single hit. Its damage rises with the amount of RAM V has already spent, so it hits hardest at the end of a chain of hacks. It works as a finisher. At Tier 4, a kill with it makes the next casts cheaper for a while. At Tier 5, Overclock doubles its RAM bonus, and kills extend Overclock.

The quickhacks combo with each other. Overheat or a fire grenade sets off Contagion at Tier 4. Short Circuit grows stronger on targets with Cyberware Malfunction, a Control quickhack. Synapse Burnout closes a fight once the RAM pool is drained.

Pros

Combat quickhacks deal damage without aiming a gun.
Contagion spreads across a group from a single upload.
Short Circuit uploads fast and deals extra damage to machines.
Synapse Burnout turns spent RAM into a heavy finisher.

Cons

Combat quickhacks are traceable, so enemy netrunners can follow them back to V.
Several of them have long upload times, so the enemy can act first.
Contagion has little effect on mechs, robots, drones and turrets.

Quickhack Categories

Best Combat Quickhacks

Name	Image	Why
Synapse Burnout		Damage grows with spent RAM
Contagion		Poison that spreads across a group
Short Circuit		Fast upload, bonus damage to machines
Overheat		Fire that melts armor at Tier 4

Short Circuit and Overheat are available from Tier 1. Contagion starts at Tier 2 and Synapse Burnout at Tier 3. A copy of Synapse Burnout also comes from the Militech datashard in the main job The Pickup.

Character Builds

Combat quickhacks belong to an Intelligence build. The key perks raise damage and keep the RAM flowing.

Overclock lets V keep hacking with too little RAM by paying with Health. Its earlier levels add RAM recovery and quickhack damage.
Embedded Exploit raises quickhack damage against enemies affected by Control or Covert quickhacks.
Icepick lowers the RAM cost of Combat quickhacks on enemies affected by Control or Covert quickhacks.
Speculation recovers RAM when a Combat quickhack neutralizes an enemy.
System Overwhelm adds damage for each unique quickhack and damage over time effect on the target.
Race Against Mind raises quickhack damage as Health drops during Overclock.
Spillover gives quickhacks a chance to spread to another target during Overclock.
Hack Queue, Queue Acceleration and Queue Mastery let V stack several quickhacks on one enemy.

The cyberdeck shapes the style. The Biotech Σ makes Combat quickhacks last longer and their damage over time hit harder. The Raven Microcyber pushes spreading quickhacks such as Contagion much farther. The Militech Paraline mixes quickhacks with Smart weapons and the Monowire. In the Frontal Cortex, the COX-2 Cybersomatic Optimizer and the Bioconductor let quickhacks deal Crit Hits. The Ex-Disk adds RAM and speeds up uploads.

Notes

Combat quickhacks are traceable. Encryption lowers their traceability. A Tier 4 Memory Wipe at the front of a queue makes the quickhacks after it untraceable.
Breach Protocol on an Access Point can lower the RAM cost of quickhacks on everything connected to that network.
Iconic variants add a bonus to one tier effect, such as more stacks for Contagion or a higher damage cap for Synapse Burnout.

All Combat Quickhacks

Every combat quickhack is listed below.

Name	RAM	Upload	Perks	Location
Contagion	T2 5 / T3 6 / T4 9 / T5 12	T2 3 / T4 2	Icepick, Speculation, Queue Hack Root
Overheat	T1 3 / T2 4 / T3 6 / T4 7 / T5 9	2	Icepick, Speculation, Queue Hack Root
Short Circuit	T1 3 / T2 4 / T3 5 / T4 7 / T5 10	T1 1.5 / T3 1 / T5 0.5	Icepick, Speculation, Queue Hack Root	Dogtown
Synapse Burnout	T3 10 / T4 14 / T5 16	3	Icepick, Speculation, Queue Hack Root, Overclock	Kabuki