Thermal Monowire

Thermal Monowire

Class	Arms
Tier	Tier 2
Attribute	Cool
Capacity	8

The Thermal Monowire is a burning whip that lashes out from V's arm. It can hit several enemies at once from a distance, and every hit can set them on fire. It has the longest reach of any melee weapon in the game. That makes it a strong pick for crowds that would swarm a fighter with a short blade. Unlike the standard Monowire, this variant draws extra damage from Cool. The Thermal Monowire is an early game implant that every ripperdoc in Night City and Dogtown sells from level 10.

Effect

The Thermal Monowire works as a melee weapon with long reach. Each swing can strike several enemies at once. Every hit deals Thermal damage. Each hit also has a chance to apply Burn. The chance is 10% at Tier 2 and rises to 20% at Tier 5.

Burn is a status effect that deals Thermal damage over a short time. Because the wire hits several enemies at once, one swing can set a whole group alight. The burning keeps hurting them while V lines up the next swing.

The wire's long reach lets V attack from a safer distance than a sword or a pair of fists. Enemies that rush in take hits before they reach V.

The Monowire also has a quickhack slot. With the Jailbreak Relic perk from Phantom Liberty, it can hold a Control quickhack. A fully charged attack then uploads that quickhack with no RAM cost.

The Thermal Monowire is attuned to Cool. Each point of Cool adds 0.5% damage with the wire. At 20 Cool, that is 10% more damage on every lash. Its stat bonuses add Melee Damage and, from Tier 2, RAM regeneration whenever V neutralizes an enemy.

The Arms slot holds only one implant. The Thermal Monowire takes the place of Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms or the Projectile Launch System.

How to Get Thermal Monowire Guide

Reach level 10.
Visit any ripperdoc clinic in Night City or Dogtown and open the Arms slot.
Buy and install the Thermal Monowire.

Thermal Monowire Map Location

The map shows Viktor Vektor's clinic in Little China, one of the ripperdocs that sell it.

Thermal Monowire map location:

Map credit by Map Genie.

Upgrades

Ripperdocs sell the Thermal Monowire 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. Each tier raises the damage and the Burn chance. The Driver Update perk adds one more stat bonus. The Chipware Connoisseur perk offers a choice of bonuses when V upgrades the implant. V gains Cyberware Capacity with each level and from Cyberware Capacity Shards. The Edgerunner perk lets V go over the limit at the cost of some max Health.

The table shows what each tier step of Thermal Monowire costs at a ripperdoc.

Upgrade	Components	Requirement
Tier 2 to Tier 2+	75 Tier 2 components	-
Tier 2+ to Tier 3	37 Tier 3 components	-
Tier 3 to Tier 3+	75 Tier 3 components	-
Tier 3+ to Tier 4	37 Tier 4 components	-
Tier 4 to Tier 4+	75 Tier 4 components	-
Tier 4+ to Tier 5	37 Tier 5 components	-
Tier 5 to Tier 5+	75 Tier 5 components	-
Tier 5+ to Tier 5++	200 Tier 5 components	Phantom Liberty

Character Builds

The Thermal Monowire suits a Cool character who also invests in Intelligence. Several Intelligence perks work only with the Monowire. Siphon makes Monowire attacks restore RAM, and more if the enemy is affected by a quickhack. Finisher: Live Wire unlocks a Monowire Finisher that restores Health and RAM. It works better the more quickhacks are queued on the target.

With Phantom Liberty, Data Tunneling spreads a quickhack further. When an enemy carries a quickhack uploaded through the Monowire, normal Monowire attacks that hit that enemy and others spread it to them. Together with Jailbreak, V can hack a whole group with a few swings of a burning wire.

The RAM regeneration bonus from Tier 2 helps keep quickhacks flowing. In Reflexes, Flash Of Steel adds movement speed and attack speed after any Finisher, Live Wire included.

Select a Build

Monowire Smart SMG Netrunner Build

Quickhacks such as Contagion and Cyberpsychosis spend the RAM first. The Thermal Monowire then finishes enemies up close, with Cripple Movement slotted into it. The Prototype: Shingen Mark V smart SMG covers longer range.

Attributes: Body 20, Reflexes 20, Technical Ability 20, Intelligence 16, Cool 5.

The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.

Cyberware

Name	Slot	Effect
Biomonitor	Circulatory System	Uses a Health item when Health runs low
Axolotl	Frontal Cortex	Kills cut all cyberware cooldowns
Tattoo: Tyger Claws Dermal Imprint	Hands	A Hands tattoo
Reinforced Tendons	Legs	Double jump
Adreno-Trigger	Nervous System	Faster movement when combat starts
Militech Paraline	Operating System	Cyberdeck for quickhacks

Lore

The in-game line describes a whip-like monofilament wire with a cutting edge only a molecule wide. The Thermal variant is the fire variant of the same wire. The other variants are the standard Monowire, the Electrifying Monowire and the Toxic Monowire.

Notes

Installing the Thermal Monowire replaces any other Arms implant, such as Mantis Blades or Gorilla Arms.

Cyberware Categories

All Arms Cyberware

Every Arms implant is listed below. The Iconic ones come first, then the standard ones.

Iconic Arms Cyberware

Name	Image	Attribute	Capacity	Location
MaxTac Mantis Blades

Standard Arms Cyberware

Name	Attribute	Capacity	Location
Electrifying Gorilla Arms	Technical Ability	8
Electrifying Mantis Blades	Intelligence	8	Northside
Electrifying Monowire	Reflexes	8
Electrifying Projectile Launch System	Cool	8
Gorilla Arms	Body	8
Mantis Blades	Reflexes	8
Monowire	Intelligence	8
Projectile Launch System	Technical Ability	8
Thermal Gorilla Arms	Reflexes	8
Thermal Mantis Blades	Body	8
Thermal Monowire	Cool	8
Thermal Projectile Launch System	Intelligence	8
Toxic Gorilla Arms	Cool	8
Toxic Mantis Blades	Cool	8
Toxic Monowire	Technical Ability	8
Toxic Projectile Launch System	Body	8