Ghostrunner 2 best upgrade chips

The best upgrade chips in Ghostrunner 2 improve Jack’s fighting abilities and, hopefully, make surviving One More Level’s cyberpunk slasher a little easier. It’s challenging to say the least, so knowing which out of the 48 total upgrade chips are worthwhile can make all the difference.

Upgrade chips are bought using Data, Ghostrunner 2’s in-game currency, which is awarded for completing levels. With Data, you can buy upgrade chips at the GR Augmentation Unit in the Interface Council HQ, which you’ll visit after the majority of levels.

If you’re just starting out with Ghostrunner 2, check out our tips and tricks beginner’s guide and read our Ghostrunner 2 review for our take on One More Level’s return to Dharma.

Best upgrade chips to buy in Ghostrunner 2

Here are the best upgrade chips in Ghostrunner 2, broken down by category:

Sword

• Smart Deflect – deflected projectiles return to where they came from.
• Blade Coating – you can block Scorchman’s and Chook’s laser attacks.
• Short Circuit – performing a perfect-parry electrocutes enemies around you.
• Sharpened Blade – you can slash through a blocking enemy. It costs 40% of your stamina.

System

• Tactical Overlay – enemies are outlined in red.
• Smooth Moves – performing a perfect-parry and deflecting projectiles is way easier
• Ultimate Booster I – increases the level of your ultimate abilities.
• Ultimate Booster II – increases the level of your ultimate abilities.

Traversal

• Hydraulics Adjustment – dashing costs 15% less stamina.
• Ghost Thrusters – dashing during combat makes you invulnerable to all projectiles and melee attacks. Dashing uses 10% more stamina.
• Tactical Retreat – dashing back launches you in the air.

Flow

• Flow Stamina Regen – when your combo reaches x6, your stamina fully regenerates.
• Flow Surge – when your combo reaches x6, you can launch a Surge projectile with the primary attack.
• Flow Booster – each combo increase your movement speed by 5%.

Shuriken

• Oiled Machinery – shuriken skill costs 20% less energy
• Tracking System – you hit enemies more easily with the shuriken skill
• Gap-Blinker – you blink to a stunned enemy instead of gap-jamming.
• Shuriken Charger – shuriken skill electrifies nearby enemies in a small range. Shuriken skill uses 50% more energy.

Tempest

• Custom Pressure Chamber – tempest skill costs 20% less energy.
• Proximity Shield – enemies and projectiles around you are pushed away.
• Pressure Booster – tempest allows you to rocket-jump by pushing you off the environment.

Shadow

• Shadow Booster – increases your speed by 40% when the shadow skill is active during combat.
• Advanced Hologram Projector – shadow skill costs 20% less energy.
• Teleporter – once hit, teleports you back to the hologram position.

Rootkit

• Energy Absorption – during combat, when performing an action while you’re out of stamina, you will use the available energy. Stamina regeneration decreased by 10%.
• Tactical Switch – recently unused skills cost 40% less energy. The most recently used skill costs 100% more energy.

It’s worth keeping in mind that ‘best’ is subjective and ideally you’ll want to fine tune the shuriken, tempest, and shadow to whichever one you use most. For example, in our playthrough, we concentrated mainly on the shuriken so invested a lot of Data in unlocking the upgrade chips linked to the ability.

For more help navigating Ghostrunner 2, check out how to get more motherboard memory and how to solve orange and purple icon puzzle in the Mindgames level. We also have a complete Ghostrunner 2 level list if you want to know what’s ahead.