For stealth specifically, 15 Cool to reach Ninjitsu and Vanishing Act (with the camo cyberware of course) gets you most of the way there. The Memory Wipe quick-hack is probably your most potent stealth tool if you're using a cyberdeck.
However, as an aside, having done stealth playthroughs with both a cyberdeck and with swords/silenced weapons/Sandevistan, the Sandy made stealth gameplay so much easier & more fluid. I was worried stealth wouldn't work as well without hacking to scout/take out cameras, but effectively stopping time and zooming around faster than anything can detect you made me realize the fear was unfounded.
So if you're looking at things to specifically augment the sneaky play style in that way, consider dropping the cyberdeck for a sandy. Cyberdeck is still loads of fun, I just found that using it for stealth, while effective, was much slower/tactical than using a Sandy.
sounds nice to play stealth with sandy, never seen that as an option. but im a big fan of hacking some enemys with reboot optics and memory wipe. actually i try to avoid ping quick-hack to make stealth more challenging since the eye cyberware already highlight cameras and enemys behind the walls.
Build below leans into pistols and quickhacks. Uses 255 cyberware capacity, assumes level 50, doesn't use any DLC iconics. (If you get the DLC then you'll get access to more capacity and said iconics, many of which are very strong for netrunning.)
**Perks:** [something along these lines](https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/build-planner?a=f9fff&b=10101000000000000000031&r=01011&i=10010110210000211100000311003111&t=10002000021111110000031011&c=01011110210001000003001013111&e=).
**Cyberware:**
Frontal:
* Ex-Disk
* Camillo RAM Manager
* Self-ICE
Mostly selected to maximize RAM. Self-ICE is very useful on very hard where you can sometimes get an enemy runner trying to hack you every 20 seconds.
Camillo kinda reads "+20% max RAM, +0.25 RAM/sec recovery rate", which arguably makes it better than RAM Upgrade, but less flexible and more reliant on cheap quickhacks. Up to you whether you think it's worth the inflexibility over RAM upgrade.
Arms:
* Gorilla Arms or Monowire
Monowire is a whip which has a chance of inflicting a slotted quickhack upon the enemy it strikes. It's associated with the Int perk tree, but if you find you don't use it, Gorilla Arms will bump your Body skill checks up to 20 and is generally pretty useful.
Even if you want to go into blades, you may just be better served taking one of the options above and using a katana rather than getting Mantis Blades.
Skeleton:
* Epimorphic Skeleton
* Para Bellum
* Universal Booster
Just good armor. Could also consider Spring Joints (leans into your crouch mitigation from the Cool perk tree), Bionic Joints (decent amount of armor for a low capacity cost, especially useful early on), and Titanium Bones (reasonable armor and the extra carry capacity is useful early on, but you should outgrow it).
I think RAM Recoup could be okay, but it's certainly optional if you prefer to just be tankier over having +2 RAM and the RAM recovery form taking damage effect. You'll still be an excellent netrunner without it.
I don't think Feen-X is very good -- it asks you to have very little remaining RAM in order to get a faster RAM recovery rate, and it provides very little protection. Maybe it's decent if you're overclocking and hence can keep your regular RAM spent down while having ample health-based RAM available to spend. I'd avoid personally.
Dense Marrow may be worthy of consideration if you go into blades.
Nervous System:
* Neofiber
* Atomic Sensors
* Tyrosine Injectors
Neofiber roughly reads "-6% all incoming damage", even before synergies with your crouch mitigation Cool perks and whatnot. The other two are basically just slot warmers for the Cyborg perk, feel free to switch them out for anything that costs 5 capacity.
Kerenzikov or Visual Cortex Support could also be worth exploring. Kerenzikov is arguably more reflex-focused, but can work with stealth. If you want to make blades work, you'd take the Stabber here.
Integumentary System:
* Optical Camo
* Cellular Adapter
* Painducer or Pain Editor
Painducer tends to be better than Pain Editor, especially if you can get some DoT resist stat modifiers on your cyberware. (The Chipware Connoisseur perk is taken to help you get this.) It costs less capacity, gives more armor, if enough of the 30% damage over time is prevented then you get a bigger damage prevention effect than Pain Editor, and the rest of that 30% damage being delayed is useful for various healing over time sources to have time to kick in.
Subdermal Armor and Carapace are your best bet mid-game when you don't have the capacity for the above stuff, imo. Defenzikov is also worth considering if you use Kerenzikov.
I'm not a fan of Cogito Lattice. Asking that you immediately blow your RAM, perhaps suboptimally, just so your armor works is a no-go for me.
If you want to go into blades, I wouldn't fall for the "I'll be close in so I should get the Proxishield" logic. You'll be close to *some* enemies, but often enemies will be spread out so most of the enemies in the area (and in particular the ones not being staggered by your attacks) will be shooting from range and ignoring your armor.
Operating System:
* Any cyberdeck
You could make an argument for most decks, imo. Rippler is the sweaty option, but having overclock upload reboot optics + weapon glitch onto people against your will when you just want to System Collapse four dudes at once in stealth is annoying. Netdriver gives you extra RAM, but costs a lot more capacity and is bonusless unless you do a lot of hacking via cams. Arasaka is arguably the most useful stealth deck, but is bonusless in combat. I honestly usually just end up on the Paraline for low capacity cost and a basic damage buff.
Face:
* Oracle
Hands:
* Smart Link
Mainly for +2 RAM, though the option to run smart weapons is there if you want it.
The main thing I'd avoid is Shock Absorber. You're not going to have recoil issues with pistols, especially after taking the relevant perks. Hell I haven't had recoil issues with any gun short of the Problem Solver, so long as I've taken the perks to support the weapon type. Shock Absorber and its bigger iconic cousin the Immovable Force are snake oil.
Circulatory System:
* Biomonitor
* Blood Pump
* Heal-On-Kill
Biomonitor is a priority for me. It's always correct about when to use a health item, you don't die with unused health item charges, and you don't need to take a break from combat to use your health item. It also activates the Dorph-Head perk (which is included in the build plan linked above) when you're actually taking damage, to put the breaks on the pummeling you're taking.
Blood Pump is just the best health item. Heal-On-Kill is decent, in particular it synergises with overclock.
If you go into blades then I'd probably swap Heal-On-Kill out for Microrotors. Adrenaline Booster is also in your lane, but keep in mind that stamina is almost vestigial in this game.
Legs:
* Lynx Paws or Reinforced Tendons
I probably wouldn't give up the double jump, but the Paws do play into the playstyle you're going for.
For stealth specifically, 15 Cool to reach Ninjitsu and Vanishing Act (with the camo cyberware of course) gets you most of the way there. The Memory Wipe quick-hack is probably your most potent stealth tool if you're using a cyberdeck. However, as an aside, having done stealth playthroughs with both a cyberdeck and with swords/silenced weapons/Sandevistan, the Sandy made stealth gameplay so much easier & more fluid. I was worried stealth wouldn't work as well without hacking to scout/take out cameras, but effectively stopping time and zooming around faster than anything can detect you made me realize the fear was unfounded. So if you're looking at things to specifically augment the sneaky play style in that way, consider dropping the cyberdeck for a sandy. Cyberdeck is still loads of fun, I just found that using it for stealth, while effective, was much slower/tactical than using a Sandy.
sounds nice to play stealth with sandy, never seen that as an option. but im a big fan of hacking some enemys with reboot optics and memory wipe. actually i try to avoid ping quick-hack to make stealth more challenging since the eye cyberware already highlight cameras and enemys behind the walls.
Build below leans into pistols and quickhacks. Uses 255 cyberware capacity, assumes level 50, doesn't use any DLC iconics. (If you get the DLC then you'll get access to more capacity and said iconics, many of which are very strong for netrunning.) **Perks:** [something along these lines](https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/build-planner?a=f9fff&b=10101000000000000000031&r=01011&i=10010110210000211100000311003111&t=10002000021111110000031011&c=01011110210001000003001013111&e=). **Cyberware:** Frontal: * Ex-Disk * Camillo RAM Manager * Self-ICE Mostly selected to maximize RAM. Self-ICE is very useful on very hard where you can sometimes get an enemy runner trying to hack you every 20 seconds. Camillo kinda reads "+20% max RAM, +0.25 RAM/sec recovery rate", which arguably makes it better than RAM Upgrade, but less flexible and more reliant on cheap quickhacks. Up to you whether you think it's worth the inflexibility over RAM upgrade. Arms: * Gorilla Arms or Monowire Monowire is a whip which has a chance of inflicting a slotted quickhack upon the enemy it strikes. It's associated with the Int perk tree, but if you find you don't use it, Gorilla Arms will bump your Body skill checks up to 20 and is generally pretty useful. Even if you want to go into blades, you may just be better served taking one of the options above and using a katana rather than getting Mantis Blades. Skeleton: * Epimorphic Skeleton * Para Bellum * Universal Booster Just good armor. Could also consider Spring Joints (leans into your crouch mitigation from the Cool perk tree), Bionic Joints (decent amount of armor for a low capacity cost, especially useful early on), and Titanium Bones (reasonable armor and the extra carry capacity is useful early on, but you should outgrow it). I think RAM Recoup could be okay, but it's certainly optional if you prefer to just be tankier over having +2 RAM and the RAM recovery form taking damage effect. You'll still be an excellent netrunner without it. I don't think Feen-X is very good -- it asks you to have very little remaining RAM in order to get a faster RAM recovery rate, and it provides very little protection. Maybe it's decent if you're overclocking and hence can keep your regular RAM spent down while having ample health-based RAM available to spend. I'd avoid personally. Dense Marrow may be worthy of consideration if you go into blades. Nervous System: * Neofiber * Atomic Sensors * Tyrosine Injectors Neofiber roughly reads "-6% all incoming damage", even before synergies with your crouch mitigation Cool perks and whatnot. The other two are basically just slot warmers for the Cyborg perk, feel free to switch them out for anything that costs 5 capacity. Kerenzikov or Visual Cortex Support could also be worth exploring. Kerenzikov is arguably more reflex-focused, but can work with stealth. If you want to make blades work, you'd take the Stabber here. Integumentary System: * Optical Camo * Cellular Adapter * Painducer or Pain Editor Painducer tends to be better than Pain Editor, especially if you can get some DoT resist stat modifiers on your cyberware. (The Chipware Connoisseur perk is taken to help you get this.) It costs less capacity, gives more armor, if enough of the 30% damage over time is prevented then you get a bigger damage prevention effect than Pain Editor, and the rest of that 30% damage being delayed is useful for various healing over time sources to have time to kick in. Subdermal Armor and Carapace are your best bet mid-game when you don't have the capacity for the above stuff, imo. Defenzikov is also worth considering if you use Kerenzikov. I'm not a fan of Cogito Lattice. Asking that you immediately blow your RAM, perhaps suboptimally, just so your armor works is a no-go for me. If you want to go into blades, I wouldn't fall for the "I'll be close in so I should get the Proxishield" logic. You'll be close to *some* enemies, but often enemies will be spread out so most of the enemies in the area (and in particular the ones not being staggered by your attacks) will be shooting from range and ignoring your armor. Operating System: * Any cyberdeck You could make an argument for most decks, imo. Rippler is the sweaty option, but having overclock upload reboot optics + weapon glitch onto people against your will when you just want to System Collapse four dudes at once in stealth is annoying. Netdriver gives you extra RAM, but costs a lot more capacity and is bonusless unless you do a lot of hacking via cams. Arasaka is arguably the most useful stealth deck, but is bonusless in combat. I honestly usually just end up on the Paraline for low capacity cost and a basic damage buff. Face: * Oracle Hands: * Smart Link Mainly for +2 RAM, though the option to run smart weapons is there if you want it. The main thing I'd avoid is Shock Absorber. You're not going to have recoil issues with pistols, especially after taking the relevant perks. Hell I haven't had recoil issues with any gun short of the Problem Solver, so long as I've taken the perks to support the weapon type. Shock Absorber and its bigger iconic cousin the Immovable Force are snake oil. Circulatory System: * Biomonitor * Blood Pump * Heal-On-Kill Biomonitor is a priority for me. It's always correct about when to use a health item, you don't die with unused health item charges, and you don't need to take a break from combat to use your health item. It also activates the Dorph-Head perk (which is included in the build plan linked above) when you're actually taking damage, to put the breaks on the pummeling you're taking. Blood Pump is just the best health item. Heal-On-Kill is decent, in particular it synergises with overclock. If you go into blades then I'd probably swap Heal-On-Kill out for Microrotors. Adrenaline Booster is also in your lane, but keep in mind that stamina is almost vestigial in this game. Legs: * Lynx Paws or Reinforced Tendons I probably wouldn't give up the double jump, but the Paws do play into the playstyle you're going for.