Dense Marrow
| Dense Marrow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Skeleton |
| Tier | Tier 2 |
| Attribute | Reflexes |
Dense Marrow makes every melee hit land harder. The trade is Stamina, because each swing also costs more. A melee fighter who manages Stamina well gets a straight damage increase on blades, blunt weapons and arm cyberware alike. It sits in the Skeleton, so it also adds armor. It suits close-combat builds from the early game onward. Dense Marrow is an early to mid game implant that ripperdocs sell from level 10, and a Phantom Liberty gig holds one as loot.
Effect
Dense Marrow raises all melee damage by a fixed percentage. It also raises the Stamina cost of melee attacks. Every swing and every Strong Attack drains more of the bar. Melee attack speed drops sharply when Stamina reaches zero, so the extra cost matters in long fights.
The damage bonus applies to any melee attack. Katanas, knives, hammers, Gorilla Arms and Mantis Blades all hit harder with it.
Dense Marrow is attuned to Reflexes. Each point of Reflexes adds 0.1% Crit Chance through the implant. Like other Skeleton cyberware, it also adds armor.
How to Get Dense Marrow Guide
- Reach level 10.
- Visit any ripperdoc clinic and open a Skeleton slot.
- Buy and install Dense Marrow.
- With Phantom Liberty, take the gig Waiting for Dodger and open the gig's airdrop case.
Dense Marrow Map Location
The map shows Viktor Vektor's clinic in Little China, one of the ripperdocs that sell it.
Dense Marrow map location:
Map credit by Map Genie.
Upgrades
Ripperdocs sell Dense Marrow at Tier 2 from level 10, Tier 3 from level 20, Tier 4 from level 30 and Tier 5 from level 40. An installed copy can be raised a tier at a ripperdoc with the matching item components. Higher tiers raise the melee damage bonus. V gains Cyberware Capacity with each level and from Cyberware Capacity Shards. The Edgerunner perk lets V go over the limit by up to 50 points, at the cost of some max Health.
The table shows what each tier step of Dense Marrow costs at a ripperdoc.
| Upgrade | Components | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 2 to Tier 2+ | 30 Tier 2 components | - |
| Tier 2+ to Tier 3 | 22 Tier 3 components | - |
| Tier 3 to Tier 3+ | 30 Tier 3 components | - |
| Tier 3+ to Tier 4 | 22 Tier 4 components | - |
| Tier 4 to Tier 4+ | 30 Tier 4 components | - |
| Tier 4+ to Tier 5 | 22 Tier 5 components | - |
| Tier 5 to Tier 5+ | 30 Tier 5 components | - |
| Tier 5+ to Tier 5++ | 75 Tier 5 components | Phantom Liberty |
Character Builds
Dense Marrow works best when something else cuts melee Stamina costs. In the Body tree, Wrecking Ball and Quake each lower the Stamina cost of Blunt Weapon attacks by 15%. Kinetic Absorption gives back Stamina when V blocks with a blunt weapon. In the Reflexes tree, Lead And Steel and Finisher: Bladerunner each lower the Stamina cost of Blade attacks by 15%. Mean Streak restores Stamina after V neutralizes an enemy while Dashing.
Gorilla Arms count as Blunt Weapons for perks. Mantis Blades count as Blades. Both arm implants gain from Dense Marrow and from the matching perk line. Microrotors in the Circulatory System raises melee attack speed, which pairs well with the extra damage per hit.
License To Chrome unlocks another Skeleton slot and boosts all Skeleton cyberware. All Things Cyber lowers the Cyberware Capacity cost of Skeleton implants by 20%.
Select a Build
The Sandevistan goes on at the start of every fight to slow time. Blades close the gap on groups, and a revolver lands easy headshots while time is slowed. Kills extend the Sandevistan, so the character moves from one target to the next without stopping.
Attributes: Body 18, Reflexes 20, Technical Ability 20, Intelligence 3, Cool 20.
The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.
| Name | Image | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrenaline Rush | 
|
Body 15 | More Health and the Adrenaline Rush mode |
| Calm Mind | 
|
Body 15 | Adrenaline lasts longer before it decays |
| Juggernaut | 
|
Body 15 | More speed and damage during Adrenaline Rush |
| Deadeye | Cool 15 | More headshot and weak spot damage | |
| Dash | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Dash replaces the dodge |
| Flash And Thunderclap | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Strong attacks leap to enemies in range |
| Aerial Acrobat | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Better control in midair |
| Air Dash | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Dash in midair |
| Slaughterhouse | Reflexes 20 | Every attack causes Bleeding | |
| Tailwind | 
|
Reflexes 20 | Stamina from air dashes and double jumps |
| Chrome Constitution | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | Less damage taken with full Skeleton and Integumentary slots |
| Renaissance Punk | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | More cyberware capacity for each attribute at 9 or higher |
| Extended Warranty | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | Cyberware effects last longer |
| License To Chrome | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | Stronger cyberware, more armor and a Skeleton slot |
| Edgerunner | Technical Ability 20 | Cyberware past the capacity limit for a small Health cost |
| Name | Image | Slot | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heal-On-Kill | 
|
Circulatory System | Health on each kill |
| Microrotors | 
|
Circulatory System | Faster melee attacks |
| Newton Module | 
|
Frontal Cortex | Kills cut cyberware cooldowns |
| Optical Camo | 
|
Integumentary System | Near invisibility for a few seconds |
| Kerenzikov | 
|
Nervous System | Slows time when aiming during a slide or dodge |
| Stabber | 
|
Nervous System | Crit chance with blades and throwables |
| Militech Apogee Sandevistan | Operating System | Slows time by 85% with crit bonuses | |
| Militech Falcon Sandevistan | Operating System | Slows time by 70% with damage and crit bonuses |
The Monowire whips several enemies at once from a short distance, and quickhacks are uploaded between attacks. Intelligence perks give the Monowire more damage and return RAM on hits. Overclock spends Health in place of RAM when a fight drags on.
Attributes: Body 15, Reflexes 20, Technical Ability 11, Intelligence 20, Cool 15.
The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.
| Name | Image | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comeback Kid | 
|
Body 4 | Faster Health regeneration at low Health |
| Painkiller | 
|
Body 4 | Slow Health regeneration in combat |
| Adrenaline Rush |
|
Body 15 | More Health and the Adrenaline Rush mode |
| Calm Mind |
|
Body 15 | Adrenaline lasts longer before it decays |
| Juggernaut |
|
Body 15 | More speed and damage during Adrenaline Rush |
| Eye In The Sky | 
|
Intelligence 4 | Highlights cameras and makes camera quickhacks cheaper |
| Optimization | 
|
Intelligence 4 | Faster RAM recovery |
| Copy-Paste | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Quickhacks on an enemy netrunner spread to their allies |
| Counter-A-Hack | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Counter quickhacks on enemy netrunners through walls |
| Embedded Exploit | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Quickhacks hit harder on controlled enemies |
| Feedback Loop | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Faster RAM recovery for each queued quickhack |
| Hack Queue | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Queue two quickhacks on one enemy |
| Icepick | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Cheaper Combat quickhacks on distracted or controlled enemies |
| Siphon | 
|
Intelligence 9 | Monowire hits recover RAM |
| Finisher: Live Wire | 
|
Intelligence 15 | A Monowire Finisher that restores Health and RAM |
| Overclock | 
|
Intelligence 15 | More quickhack damage and the Overclock mode |
| Queue Acceleration | 
|
Intelligence 15 | More RAM and cheaper device quickhacks |
| Queue Prioritization | 
|
Intelligence 15 | Faster upload for the first quickhack in a queue |
| Sublimation | 
|
Intelligence 15 | RAM recovery heals during Overclock |
| Queue Mastery | 
|
Intelligence 20 | A longer quickhack queue that can be locked |
| Spillover | 
|
Intelligence 20 | Quickhacks spread during Overclock |
| Parkour! | 
|
Reflexes 4 | Faster climbing and vaulting |
| Slippery | 
|
Reflexes 4 | Harder to hit while moving fast |
| Can't Touch This | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Full Mitigation Chance while Dashing |
| Dash |
|
Reflexes 9 | Dash replaces the dodge |
| Data Tunneling | 
|
Relic | Monowire hits spread an uploaded quickhack to other enemies |
| Emergency Cloaking | 
|
Relic | Optical Camo can break enemy tracking in combat |
| Jailbreak | 
|
Relic | New abilities for every Arms cyberware |
| Vulnerability Analytics | 
|
Relic | Hits on enemy Vulnerabilities always crit |
| First Aid | Technical Ability 4 | Faster Health item recharge after one use | |
| Glutton For War | 
|
Technical Ability 4 | Kills recharge Health items and grenades |
| Transfusion | 
|
Technical Ability 4 | More Health from the last Health item charge |
| All Things Cyber | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | Stronger cyberware stats |
| Health Freak | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | One more Health item charge and faster recharge |
| Renaissance Punk |
|
Technical Ability 9 | More cyberware capacity for each attribute at 9 or higher |
| Name | Image | Slot | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monowire | 
|
Arms | Arm whip that hits several enemies from a distance |
| Thermal Monowire | 
|
Arms | Monowire that deals Thermal damage and can burn |
| Heal-On-Kill |
|
Circulatory System | Health on each kill |
| Kiroshi Cockatrice Optics | 
|
Face | More crit chance |
| Kiroshi Sentry Optics | 
|
Face | Scanning highlights cameras and turrets |
| Bioconductor | 
|
Frontal Cortex | Quickhacks can deal critical hits |
| Optical Camo |
|
Integumentary System | Near invisibility for a few seconds |
| Pain Editor | 
|
Integumentary System | Less damage taken |
| Subdermal Armor | 
|
Integumentary System | More armor |
| Reinforced Tendons | 
|
Legs | Double jump |
| Adrenaline Converter | 
|
Nervous System | Faster movement when combat starts |
| Militech Paraline | 
|
Operating System | Cyberdeck with Smart weapon bonuses |
A heavy melee build that fights with clubs and hammers. Berserk goes on when Health runs low and keeps the character alive while every melee hit lands harder. Quake slams the ground and staggers every enemy close by.
Attributes: Body 20, Reflexes 20, Technical Ability 20, Intelligence 3, Cool 18.
The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.
| Name | Image | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorph-Head | 
|
Body 4 | Brief full Mitigation after using a Health item |
| Adrenaline Rush |
|
Body 15 | More Health and the Adrenaline Rush mode |
| Bloodlust | 
|
Body 15 | Dismemberments refill Adrenaline |
| Epicenter | 
|
Body 15 | Midair Quake hits harder from higher falls |
| Juggernaut |
|
Body 15 | More speed and damage during Adrenaline Rush |
| Quake | 
|
Body 15 | Faster blunt attacks and a ground slam |
| Ripple Effect | 
|
Body 15 | Health for each enemy hit by Quake |
| Finisher: Savage Sling | 
|
Body 20 | Blunt weapon finisher that can throw the enemy |
| Pain To Gain | 
|
Body 20 | Kills recharge Health items during Adrenaline Rush |
| Dash |
|
Reflexes 9 | Dash replaces the dodge |
| Mad Dash | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Double Dash range toward enemies |
| Mean Streak | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Stamina back after a kill while Dashing |
| Aerodynamic | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Stronger Mitigation in midair |
| Air Dash |
|
Reflexes 15 | Dash in midair |
| Tailwind |
|
Reflexes 20 | Stamina from air dashes and double jumps |
| Chrome Constitution |
|
Technical Ability 9 | Less damage taken with full Skeleton and Integumentary slots |
| Health Freak |
|
Technical Ability 9 | One more Health item charge and faster recharge |
| Renaissance Punk |
|
Technical Ability 9 | More cyberware capacity for each attribute at 9 or higher |
| Ambidextrous | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | A second Hands cyberware slot |
| Extended Warranty |
|
Technical Ability 15 | Cyberware effects last longer |
| License To Chrome |
|
Technical Ability 15 | Stronger cyberware, more armor and a Skeleton slot |
| Edgerunner | Technical Ability 20 | Cyberware past the capacity limit for a small Health cost | |
| Ticking Time Bomb | 
|
Technical Ability 20 | An EMP blast after the Operating System turns on |
| Name | Image | Slot | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile Launch System | 
|
Arms | Arm launcher that fires explosive shots |
| Heal-On-Kill |
|
Circulatory System | Health on each kill |
| Newton Module |
|
Frontal Cortex | Kills cut cyberware cooldowns |
| Militech Berserk | 
|
Operating System | Invulnerable melee mode with faster attacks |
| Scar Coalescer | 
|
Skeleton | More armor below half Health |
Lore
The in-game description says the implant increases body weight and the power behind melee attacks.
Cyberware Categories
All Skeleton Cyberware
Every Skeleton implant is listed below. The Iconic ones come first, then the standard ones.
Iconic Skeleton Cyberware
| Name | Image | Attribute | Capacity | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rara Avis | 
|
Body | Dogtown |
Standard Skeleton Cyberware
| Name | Image | Attribute | Capacity | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bionic Joints | 
|
Technical Ability | ||
| Dense Marrow | 
|
Reflexes | ||
| Epimorphic Skeleton | 
|
Body | 40 | |
| Feen-X | 
|
|||
| Kinetic Frame | 
|
Reflexes | ||
| Para Bellum | 
|
Technical Ability | Dogtown | |
| RAM Recoup | 
|
Intelligence | ||
| Scar Coalescer | 
|
Body | ||
| Scarab | 
|
Technical Ability | ||
| Spring Joints | 
|
Body | 16 | |
| Titanium Bones | 
|
6 | ||
| Universal Booster | 
|
Technical Ability | 25 |