Cyberpunk: How to complete the Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos quest in Phantom Liberty

Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos is another important mission in terms of the narrative of the Phantom Liberty DLC storyline for Cyberpunk 2077. It’s important to remember that this quest is only available if you choose to side with Reed and betray Songbird in the Firestarter mission.

This mission is all about strategizing, as V and Solomon Reed plan an attack on the MaxTac convoy transporting Songbird in an attempt to free her. With Songbird going full cyberpsycho after V’s betrayal and Alex’s death at the hands of Kurt Hansen, things are more than a little tense. Having to take on MaxTac is another giant obstacle in the way of your mission of helping Songbird, if she is willing to listen to you, that is. 

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos mission walkthrough

Find a capable netrunner or call Mr. Hands to hire his trusted netrunner

At the end of the Firestarter mission, Reed tasks you with finding a capable netrunner to get into the NCPD’s system and track the route of the MaxTac convoy. There are a few different options available here, some of which will depend on how much progress you have made in the base Cyberpunk 2077 game. 

The netrunners aren’t all available to help, but I’ll list them here so that you know what the result is of contacting each of them.

Nix

Nix can be found in the Afterlife club and can be hired if players helped him out whilst there. He is a friend of Rogue who will offer up some classic Cyberware to you should you pick him. There are no issues or consequences if you pick Nix. 

Carol Emeka

This Nomad netrunner is available to contact if you completed the side quest helping out the Aldecado’s Nomad group. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to help you with hacking MaxTac, but she will offer up an item for you that she will leave in a stash that will be marked on the minimap. 

Sandra Dorset

Sandra is only available if you saved her from scavs in a side mission in the game. You can call her to ask her to return the favor and whilst she will hack MaxTac with relative ease, she will want something in return. Sandra will ask you to quick-hack one of the MaxTac agents when you have downed them so that she can have access to their data. This isn’t too difficult a request to honor, so if you don’t mind doing a little bit of extra work, then opt for Sandra. 

Chang-Hoon Nam

Chang-Hoon is another character that V had the opportunity to save in one of the game’s side missions, so you have the chance to call in a favor from him. He won’t charge any eddies for this, but it is advised that you don’t pick him, as hacking into MaxTac will fry his brain and he will be forced to leave Night City. For Chang-Hoon’s sake, don’t pick him. 

Yoko (Mr. Hands’s netrunner)

Another option that you can go for when it comes to picking a netrunner is to contact Mr. Hands and ask to use his personal netrunner. Unfortunately, this option won’t come cheap as you will need to pay Mr. Hands 15,000 eddies for this service. This is the choice that I went with and whilst Yoko definitely knows her stuff and gets into the MaxTac systems with ease, the amount of money it costs to hire her is hard to get past. 

There is also another opportunity to be had with Yoko, as she will ask that you give her the coordinates of the location where you plan to ambush the convoy. She won’t say why, but it’s safe to assume that Mr. Hands has some kind of plan in mind. I gave Yoko the coordinates too, as I’m thinking that it might have something to do with Mr. Hands wanting to take control of Dogtown, and I want to be on his good side if it comes to that. 

Once you have chosen your netrunner, head to the marker on the map to go and meet them and prepare their part of the plan. 

Head to the abandoned motel

With the netrunner situation in hand, you will next have to go and meet Reed at an abandoned motel. The motel will be marked on the map and when you get there, you have a chance to speak to Johnny as an optional conversation to get his two cents on the situation. 

Follow the marker, and you will find Reed talking with a member of the 6th Street gang. Reed will then tell you that the gang is basically guns for hire for the government, who will do the dirty jobs that the NUSA government wants to keep under wraps in exchange for stacks of eddies and weapons. The 6th Street gang members are going to be helping you out with your ambush, so you’d better put any bad feelings to the back of your mind for now.

Plan the ambush or let the gang member do it for you

Go outside to speak to one of the gang members, who will offer to place the traps for the ambush for you. He will also ask if you want to do it yourself and if so, you’ll take control of his drone to get an aerial view of your strategy.  If you opt to plan the ambush yourself, you will have different options, so let’s take a closer look at them. 

Turrets or Mines

You will have the choice to place turrets up on the terrace of the motel, which will lay down suppressing fire when the MaxTac convoy rolls in. Alternatively, you can instead choose to put down mines to stop the vehicles in their tracks. You can put the mines on the road or on the stairs so that anyone trying to get upstairs to reach Reed (or you if you choose to be positioned upstairs) won’t get far. I went with the mine option, but I wish I had chosen turrets instead, as the convoy stops anyway even without the mines being used, and you need all the firepower you can get your hands on in the NCPD and MaxTac fight. 

Smoke Grenades

There is the option to use smoke grenades as you fight, which will help to confuse the MaxTac agents and NCPD officers. They will also cause Reed to have less visibility as he will be sniping from a distance, though. Again, I kind of regret the choice that I made here. I went with the smoke grenades to create maximum confusion, but Reed’s sniping is incredibly useful—more so than I thought it would be— and he can’t lay down as much covering fire with the smoke grenades active. 

Your Position

Lastly, you will pick what position you want to be in when the fight starts. You can perch up on the terrace to gain the high ground, head to the stairs for some long-range coverage, or go down to the sky bridge to for an up-close battle. I went with the terrace here, and it was the only decision I didn’t regret as if you have good weapons, you can make a major dent in the enemy’s defenses before they have even seen you. Being closer to the action is a good choice too, though, as it gives you more control over the battlefield and can be helpful if you favor weapons such as shotguns. 

Chat with Reed

With your plan in place, have a talk with Reed to wrap things up. You can either get straight down to business or push him to talk about how he is really feeling about it. If you get him to open up, he will begrudgingly admit that he is scared that the Songbird he used to know is trapped in her cyberpsycho state. 

Johnny will then appear and make his thoughts on Reed’s hopeful nature known, at which point Reed will notice your change in behavior and ask if you are communicating with Songbird. It’s the first time a character has properly acknowledged the change in V’s demeanor when they are talking to Johnny, which says a lot about Reed’s observation skills. I’m just glad someone finally noticed the awkward silence and staring into nothingness that I must be doing during the Johnny chats. 

Text Mr. Hands (optional)

If you chose Mr. Hands’s netrunner, you will have the chance to text him and give him the coordinates of the ambush location. Drop him a text if you want to do so. 

Get into position and begin the NCPD battle 

Choose your position and wait until the convoy arrives. Once the ambush gets started, pick off the NCPD officers defending the convoy. This isn’t too hard of a task, especially if you have some good weapons in your arsenal. Don’t forget to take advantage of your chosen set-up to wipe them out. Once they are dealt with, head to the main truck in the convoy and open up the back doors. 

Fight the MaxTac operators

When you try and get the door opened, you will be greeted by four rather imposing-looking MaxTac operators. This fight is a lot trickier than the one against the regular NCPD officers. The operators even have their own names and health bars, so you know it’s about to get too serious. 

Reed’s aid is invaluable in this fight, which is why I would suggest not using the smoke grenades, as they will hinder his vision. Each time Reed lands a shot on one of the MaxTac agents, it will render them briefly invulnerable. Keep an eye out for Reed’s red laser sight and when he strikes, hit the agent with everything you have. 

Another tip in this fight is to take out the agent called Jasper Collins first, as he will keep messing with your cybernetics and prevent you from using your hacking abilities to their full extent. Keep some distance between yourself and the agents and keep moving. They are fast, strong, and able to render your cyberware useless, so it won’t be easy but plan your hits alongside Reed’s shots, and you’ll be able to take them out. 

Check on Reed (optional)

Songbird will speed off in the convoy truck once all four of the MaxTac agents are dead, so you need to follow her trail. Before you do, though, go and check on Reed. He gets hit by some shrapnel in the aftermath of the battle and will be upstairs on the terrace. This is an optional objective, but if you have come this far supporting Reed, then it makes sense to make sure he is okay. I would never abandon you, Idris… I mean, Solomon. He is fine, but he needs some time to recover, so he tells you to go after Songbird and he will catch up. 

Chase Songbird

You can follow the map markers to chase down Songbird, but you can also scan the area to find the tire tracks from the truck she took. Follow the tracks through her path of destruction, and you eventually come to an area where you will need to investigate. This is where the Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos mission ends and the next mission in the Phantom Liberty narrative begins. 

Final verdict on the Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos mission in Phantom Liberty

There aren’t any major decisions to be made in this particular mission, but you will have the chance to get your strategic thinking cap on when it comes to the convoy ambush. One thing that is certain after playing this mission is that Songbird is still very much angry with you, and I don’t think she’s about to forgive you or Reed for your betrayal anytime soon.