Intelligence Perks

Intelligence perks are the ones bought in the Intelligence tree, and they cover the two things the attribute is for. Most of them are about netrunning, where quickhacks are paid for with RAM and stacked into queues. The rest are about smart weapons, whose rounds steer themselves towards a locked target. The tree ends with a perk that finally makes the two work together.

Best Intelligence Perks

The Intelligence Perks below are the ones almost every build of the tree ends up buying, either because a branch is bought through them or because what they unlock cannot be had any other way.

Name	Image	Attribute	Tier	Effect
Optimization		Intelligence	Rookie (4)	+35% RAM recovery rate.
Embedded Exploit		Intelligence	Pro (9)	+10% RAM recovery rate.
Overclock		Intelligence	Phenom (15)	+10% RAM recovery rate.
Queue Acceleration		Intelligence	Phenom (15)	+1 Max RAM.
Acquisition Specialist		Intelligence	-	+10% larger target reticle for Smart Weapons.

Gates

Rookie holds the RAM perks and the ones that turn the city's cameras and access points into V's network. Pro introduces quickhack queues and the damage that comes from layering effects. Phenom holds Overclock and the long queues. Legend holds the perks that take a netrunner past what the bar can pay for.

RAM and Damage

Optimization is the first pick and the perk most of the tree is bought through, because it raises the rate at which RAM returns and nothing else matters when the bar is empty. Encryption cuts traceability, Proximate Propagation makes hacks cheaper at close range and Subordination doubles a control hack used on an unhurt enemy.

Embedded Exploit is where the tree starts to kill. It raises quickhack damage heavily against anyone already under a control hack, a covert hack or a distraction, which teaches the build its own rhythm of softening a target first. Icepick discounts the follow up, System Overwhelm rewards variety, and Speculation and Data Recycler both return RAM when a target dies.

Queues

Hack Queue lets a second quickhack be lined up behind the first, and Queue Acceleration lengthens the queue again while discounting hacks aimed at devices and vehicles. Queue Prioritization speeds up the front of a filled queue and Queue Hack Root discounts a queue built out of different categories.

Queue Mastery closes the branch. It lengthens the queue once more, halves the cost of the hack that fills it, and locks the queue until everything has uploaded, with every attack on that enemy landing harder while the lock holds.

Overclock

Overclock is the branch's own mode. With a cyberdeck installed it allows hacking past an empty bar, with each unit over the maximum paid for in health. Power Surge heals V on activation, Sublimation makes every RAM recovery heal as well, Race Against Mind turns the low health into damage, and Spillover gives each hack a strong chance of spreading to another target.

Smart Weapons

Acquisition Specialist starts the smart weapon branch, widening the targeting reticle and keeping a lock through a reload. No Escape renews a lock while V is hitting the target and Precision Subroutines ties accuracy to the size of V's cyberdeck.

Target Lock Transfer carries the lock through stance changes and weapon swaps, Targeting Prism allows more than one at a time, and Terminal Velocity speeds the rounds up after a kill. Smart Synergy at the top of the tree gives smart weapons instant lock during Overclock and extra damage against anyone under a hack.

Notes

Eye In The Sky and the perks bought from it are worth more than they look. A control, covert or distraction hack sent through a camera is cheaper and lasts longer, access points take shorter sequences to crack, and the explosions from hacked devices do far more damage.

The Netrunner skill rises with this tree and counts device hacks and access point daemons as well as kills.

All Intelligence Perks