Lets just talk about runners.
Steelflight's stats:
Location: Jagged Nails
Body: 10
Attack Power: 9
Defense Rate: 4
Firing Rate: 1.73 shots / second
Price (Negotiation 0-2): 5000 Nuyen
Base Duration: 40 Battles
I think you should try to pick up Steelflight. He is simply the best runner both offensive and defensive wise and he stays with you for a very long time the only downside is how out of your path Jagged Nails is. It helps that you manipulate battles to not appear as you run through general areas. He could stay for a very long time.
Norbert's Stats:
Location: Wastelands Club
Body: 6
Attack Power: 6
Defense Rate: 1
Firing Rate: 1.77 shots / second
Price (Negotiation 0-2): 2000 Nuyen
Base Duration: 40 Battles
This would be my choice for a second runner. He has the second best offense in the game. His defense is 3rd.
Frogtounge's Stats:
Location: Wastelands Club
Body: 7
Attack Power: 6
Defense Rate: 3
Firing Rate: 0.93 shots/second
Price (Negotiation 0-2): 1500 Nuyen
Base Duration: 30 Battles
Frogtounge should be your third and final choice for a runner. His offense is third best. His defense is 2nd. He doesn't stick around as long. He may be a slightly better choice than Norbert because his body and defense is higher and he can soak up more damage.
Spatter's Stats:
Location: Jagged Nails
Body: 6
Magic: 8
Attack Power: 6
Defense Rate: 1
Firing Rate: 0.83 shots / second
Price (Negotiation 0-2): 2000 Nuyen
Base Duration: 40 Battles
I am only listing Spatter on the off chance that you would need a second runner and you were at Jagged Nails and could not get to the Wastelands. He soaks up the same amount of damage as Norbert for the same money. His offense isn't so good. Although, you should probably test his magic usefulness... He does have Powerball 5, Heal 3, and Armor 4. Armor may allow you to run through areas before you get invisibility.
Other than those, I do not think that any of the other runners are worth considering.
Lets talk about Rust Stilletos.
Perhaps you could cast Armor from Spatter and run through this area. Open the door with the iron key (you get that from the orcs at the station). In the next room you must kill the Ferocious Orc to get the crowbar. Then kill the Gang leader and get the password. You should be able to run through there and only have to kill 2 enemies.
EDIT: Apparently you cannot get magic or enter Jagged nails until you beat the Rust Stilletos, unless I am missing something. Argh!
Looks like you're gonna have to go Street Samurai on the Rust Stilletos... Bring Norbert and Frogtounge... Tear it up!
Lets look at Spatter's Armor 4:
o----------------------------------o
| Spell | MP | Time |
| Level | Usage | Duration |
|==================================|
| 1 | 5 | 5 seconds |
| 2 | 6 | 10 seconds |
| 3 | 7 | 15 seconds |
| 4 | 8 | 20 seconds |
| 5 | 9 | 25 seconds |
| 6 | 10 | 30 seconds |
|==================================|
|Time Duration = 5 * Spell Level |
|MP Usage = 4 + Spell Level |
o----------------------------------o
You'd have 20 seconds to run through there. Although you have to factor in the fact that you will still be "hit" by bullets - They won't hurt you but they will slow you down.
Also money flow related: 2000¥ can be gotten from a Matrix run at the docs. 2000¥ more can be gotten from the Octopus boss.
Also, I would like to point out that it may be preferable to skip on powerball and concentrate on Freeze. Freeze will make a lot of fights (including Drake) easier. You will be able to stop a target in their tracks and inflict damage without getting hit by their attacks (which slows down your rate of fire). Keep in mind Invisibility does not work on all enemies, either. Powerball can do a max of 36 damage, AND you have to go into a menu, AND it uses up your MP (10mp per cast at lv 6). You may be able to inflict 36 damage faster with freeze+your gun+a runner's gun. With boosted reflexes, your firing rate is 2.6/sec, with the shotgun you'd be able to inflict 8 damage. 36 damage would take 5 shots (from you alone), so you could dish that out in less than 2 seconds.
Lets look at Freeze:
o----------------------------------o
| Spell | MP | Time |
| Level | Usage | Duration |
|==================================|
| 1 | 5 | 5 seconds |
| 2 | 6 | 10 seconds |
| 3 | 7 | 15 seconds |
| 4 | 8 | 20 seconds |
| 5 | 9 | 25 seconds |
| 6 | 10 | 30 seconds |
|==================================|
|Time Duration = 5 * Spell Level |
|MP Usage = 4 + Spell Level |
o----------------------------------o
It may be a good idea to not level Freeze too high. You really do not need 30 seconds of Freeze time, just enough to either run by or kill the enemy. Also keeping the level low would reduce MP usage. The only time I could see 30 seconds being useful is to kill bosses, but I can see you using this spell on regular mobs to reduce the number of shooters or just to run through to the next area. Level 1 may be all you need, Although I think level 2 may be preferable.
I really hope you do not give up this run. I am willing to help with ideas/test out ideas to help you out. Just let me know what you're doing or what your plan is and I can help.
edit:
On the arena: I tested, non-TAS (only save states before each fight and slowed down to 85% speed). I was able to blast through the first 5 combatants (without resting) with just my Baretta and 40hp (I tried with 30hp but could only go 4 fights), with firearms skill of 6 (to emulate manipulating luck for accuracy) with no luck manipulation other than having to retry a few fights. You should be able to do this too and better with luck manipulation.
The 6th combatant is the Samurai Warrior and he's a bit tricky. After resting I easily beat him on my first try by running up to him (he uses melee-which sucks for him) and just shooting at him with my Baretta I sustained 33 damage total. I am guessing you can do better.
The 7th combatant is the Ferocious Orc. This is where I suggest you use your grenades. He has 50hp. Without grenade abuse he did 35-45 damage to me (no luck manipulation, I tried 5 different times).
If you need a substitute for resting you can buy slap patches from the young boy in the caryards for 100¥ each (ask about heal - which you can learn from the doc at the bar in the first area).
At this point you should have roughly 16000¥. This may be where you want to stop and fight the King (+3000¥ for a total of 19000¥).
The next fight with the Gang Leader (6k¥) is the 2nd hardest fight in the Arena - so you may not want to persue that. Although I think if you gear up you could easily go back with some slap patches and clean out the next 3 fights (6k+7k+8k=21k¥). If you can control the amount of damage the Troll decker dishes out.
With 19k you will be able to buy a T-250 shotgun (15k) and finish the cortex bomb storyline (2.5k).
Everything in the shaman shop costs 10500¥ - so you should plan to have that much when you return. The stake is necessary to completing the game and the bottles are for both freeze and invisibility (both of which I think are essential to this run).
Anyway, to sum up all this disjointed rambling, here is the routes I think are best:
- Buy slap patches as needed (if any) from the kid in the caryards before you enter the arena.
- Fight battles up until the Ferocious orc with your Baretta.
- Use grenades to kill Ferocious Orc.
- Use grenades to kill King.
- Now for your options:
Option1:
- Go to old town with 19k and but the shotgun, and all the items in the shaman shop. Maybe a grenade or two?
- Go kill at least the gang leader with your new gear.
- You can stop here, or defeat the Troll Decker (heavy luck manipulation) and Mage so you can get boosted reflexes.
- Now go to street doc for cortex bomb sequence.
- Buy boosted reflexes at Dr Maplethorpe.
- Sail smoothly through the rest of the game kicking ass (until maybe the Volcano).
Option 2:
- If you are convinced backtracking would be quicker for the shaman items: simply buy the shotgun and initiate cortex bomb sequence.
Option 3:
- This is highly speculative: If you somehow can figure out how to beat the Gang Leader before the King you can buy all the shaman items, the shotgun, and do the cortex bomb sequence with no snags and no backtracking at all.
I also seem to remember the freeze-at-the-edge bug during the arena but I cant for the life of me seem to initiate it.
Although it seems that the Troll Decker can be manipulated to walk instead of stand and fire... Its just difficult.
edit... part 3?:
OK... I've been playing the game all day messing around with stuff and remembering how everything is laid out. The main thing I want to comment on is freeze vs invisibility. Invisibility is better in nearly all situations except:
- Against Drake (which I am not sure if you can manipulate his damage to not have to need freeze or not)
- In the case of that you are facing a single enemy in a room (Volcano - Troll Deckers + Sentry Guns) and the Freeze spell is at a lower level than invis. Thus costing less to cast. It may not be worth it.
Also I don't know what I was spewing about Steelflight's offense up there (I don't know what the tech faq writer was smoking) In actual use he doesn't hold a candle to the mercs. Maybe he was thinking if you give him a better gun? Regardless he does have a large health pool (100). Although I think you would do better with Norbert+Frogtounge.
Invisibility will make the rest of the run go very quickly IMO. You don't get it until the oil tanker which is pretty late in the game. After you get that you do not need runners (they become a liability). The tower runs are best done solo: Cast invisibility, run to the computer that controls the elevator, do the matrix run (with luck manipulation these are no hassle), duck back into the elevator.
You really just need to focus on getting your MP sky high.
Keep in mind that Invisibility's effects wear off if you go to another screen or if you do a matrix run (even if you still should have time) So making sure you have enough magic to do all the floors in Drake's tower (casting Invis twice on each) and the Volcano (haven't totalled it up).
Since most of these casts for invisibility are short you may not need to level it very high for mp conservation reasons.
Boss Battles:
Rust Stilletos:
I think it is possible to solo this if you upgrade a little. Maybe hire 1 runner. I did it solo with shotgun/no reflexes. you do have to kill everything in the first room though. It would definitely be faster with a runner.
Rat Shaman: I do not think it would be too difficult to run through his lair without taking a scratch and if you still have a runner from the Rust Stilletos you probably can finish this without a problem.
Vampire: You can easily just run to avoid through the entire crypt and flash the strobes on the vampire and then its pretty much all over. You do not need a runner for this at all.. but if one is STILL hanging on you should take advantage of the karma the ghouls hand out. Also you can get a free mesh jacket here if you want to upgrade.
Jester Spirit: You probably definitely want 1 or maybe even 2 runners for the tanker as there is a LOT of fighting along the way and some of the enemies block your passage. Once you get to the Jester Spirit you can easily dodge his attacks. It does not take much damage for him to go down either.
After this you do not require runners as far as I know. You will have Invisibility and just the two tower runs and the Volcano. I haven't played around in the Volcano yet...
By this time you may want weigh the benefits of spending money on the Assault rifle (24k) and wired reflexes (15k - if you haven't gotten them) and Dermal Plates (6k - adds 2 armor).
Drake: I haven't gotten this far so I am not sure yet...