Why You're Overheating (Cyberpunk 2077)

Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes in combat in Cyberpunk 2077 has asked asked themselves at one point “Why am I on fire?” In this guide, we’ll explain why you’re overheating, and what you can do to combat it.

Why Am I on Fire?

You’re on fire because an enemy netrunner is hacking you, choom. It’s easy to tell when it starts happening — you’ve probably already noticed the big OVERHEAT warning that pops up in the middle of your screen when you’re being hacked. When you get that warning, go into analysis mode (your scanner) and look for the yellow dotted lines. Those lines point to the netrunner that’s hacking you.

Sometimes, you’ll see that the line bounces off of something (it tends to be a surveillance camera). You’ll have to follow the line through it’s bounces, of which there can be multiple, until you find where they end. You can see an example of this below.

Cyberpunk 2077 Netrunner Overheat 2 — *The netrunner is using the surveillance camera to get line of sight for their hack*

How to Stop Overheating

Kill the Enemy Netrunner

The easiest solution to an enemy netrunner hacking you is to simply kill the netrunner. By using your scanner to figure out where they are, you can usually take them out before they can overheat you.

Theoretically, breaking line of sight (or shutting off/destroying the camera if that’s the way the enemy netrunner is getting line of sight) should stop the quickhack. However, in our tests, the overheat hack would frequently still complete after breaking line of sight, so the only way to guarantee you don’t end up overheating is still to kill the enemy netrunner.

There is also a perk in the Quickhack tree, I Spy, that reveals any enemy netrunner that attempts to quickhack you. It only requires 5 technical ability, so if you’re struggling to locate enemy netrunners, it’s worth considering picking up the perk.

Cyberpunk 2077 Overheating I Spy Perk — *The I Spy perk is available in the Quickhacking tree under the Intelligence attribute*

Use Cyberware or Clothing

Another way to deal with enemy netrunner hacks is to invest in some Frontal Cortex cyberware:

Self-ICE [Frontal Cortex cyberware] (10 Intelligence required) prevents enemy netrunners from hacking your character altogether, and there are other options that can increase the time it takes for netrunners to overheat you.
Raven Microcyber Mk.3/Mk.4 Cyberdeck [Operating System cyberware] makes it so enemy netrunners need 50%/100% more time to hack you

For more detailed information on cyberware, and how it can help vs enemy hacking, check out our cyberware guide.

There is also clothing that can provide defense against Burn damage, so make sure you’re checking your inventory from time to time to see if you’ve picked up anything that might help. For other ways to defend against Burn and other damage types, you can take a look at our Combat Guide which covers the topic in more detail.

Invest in Attributes and Perks

Investing in the Cool attribute can help immensely against enemy netrunner’s overheat attacks. Adding points to the Cold Blood perk tree will grant you some resistances to Burn damage while Cold Blood is active, and there is a level 20 Cold Blood perk, Immunity, that makes you immune to Burn damage entirely while Cold Blood is active.

That’s about all you need to know about overheating in Cyberpunk 2077. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions, or if we missed anything!