Hacking other players: a complete PvP strategy

How a PvP breach works

In the Network view, scan a district: below the relay and the servers you get the list of targets, up to twenty players who live in that district, online ones first. For each of them you see their level, arena tier, crew and, most importantly, your success chance.

That chance comes from your attack (cracker and CPU) against the target’s defense (firewall, CPU, home-turf bonus). With equal strength it is 50%; it never drops below 5% or rises above 95%. It is locked when you launch: if the target upgrades their firewall mid-operation, your odds stay the same.

How much can you steal?

A successful hack transfers part of the victim’s unprotected credits:

• the protected share depends on their vault (10% at level 1, up to 75%);
• of the rest you take between 8% and 25%, more when your attack dwarfs their defense;
• if you already succeeded against the same target in the last 24 hours, the loot is multiplied by 0.6 each time (0.6, then 0.36, then 0.22…).

Bottom line: rich targets with a small vault are the juiciest, and bullying the same person does not pay. Switch prey.

Reputation, experience and risk

A success earns reputation, the currency of the season leaderboard, and experience. Reputation gains climb steeply when the target out-levels you: hacking a player twice your level is worth more than twice the prestige. Experience is 25 points plus 6 per target level.

A failure costs 4 reputation, earns only 5 XP, hands 3 reputation to your victim, and they always learn who you are. Before launching, ask yourself whether the displayed odds are worth that risk.

Stay anonymous with stealth

When you succeed, the victim does not necessarily learn who hit them. The chance of being revealed starts at 85%, drops by 1.5 points per stealth level and rises slightly with the target’s firewall; it always stays between 10% and 90%. Without stealth, nearly everyone will know it was you.

An anonymous attacker grants no right of revenge and gives rivals no intel. For a dedicated player hunter, stealth is as important an investment as the cracker.

The rules that keep the game fair

Several safeguards stop the game from turning into a massacre:

• Newcomer shield: 24 hours of immunity for new accounts, lost as soon as they attack a player.
• Post-breach shield: 20 minutes of immunity for a victim after every successful hack against them.
• Per-target cooldown: 10 minutes before you can try the same player again.
• Level gap: you cannot target anyone more than 8 levels below you.
• Crew loyalty: you cannot hack a member of your own crew.

These rules push experienced players to fight each other instead of shaking down beginners.

Revenge

If someone hacks you and gets identified, or fails against you, you get 24 hours to hit them back even if they are far weaker than you: the level-gap rule no longer applies. In scan results those targets carry a “Revenge” tag.

Check your logs: they list every breach you suffered, its author when known and how much you lost. From the chat or a player card, one click launches the counter-attack.

Defend yourself properly

1. Raise your firewall: every level adds 10 defense, and every failed breach against you earns you reputation.
2. Move onto crew turf: a node sitting in a district your crew controls gets +15% defense.
3. Upgrade the vault to shield a bigger share of your credits.
4. Spend before you leave: credits turned into upgrades can no longer be stolen.

To pick targets, keep an eye on the leaderboard and read crews and territory as well: a well-connected player is a dangerous target.

Frequently asked questions