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Whether you’re a veteran coming back for another playthrough, or a newbie looking to make the game’s first few hours a little easier, plug-in chips are the fastest and most reliable way to get stronger in NieR: Automata.
But which ones should you chase? And where can you find them?
The game is designed to give players freedom when it comes to playstyle, and it can be hard to choose.
To help anyone struggling with their build, I’m ranking the best plug-in chips for NieR that’ll make your next session a lot easier.
15. Resilience
Type: Defense
If you’re playing through the game on Normal difficulty, the staggering effect of enemy hits can be more of a nuisance than the damage itself.
Resilience helps solve this problem by making the staggering threshold much higher.
It starts at 5%, but only hits that take over 80% of your total HP will throw you off balance once it’s fully upgraded.
Where to farm: In route C/D, you can get these plug-in chips from Goliath Bipeds in the Front area of the Forest Castle.
14. Ranged Attack Up
Type: Attack
Ranged attacks can’t compare with swinging a melee weapon when it comes to damage. But it’s a vital part of every YoRHa android’s arsenal.
If you want your ranged attacks to do more than just chip damage, Ranged Attack Up is what you need. You won’t notice the difference at first, but it adds up once you upgrade it.
Get it to max level and you’ll be dealing double the damage with your pod-based attacks.
Where to farm: You can always get these chips from Small Flyers in the City Ruins and the Flooded City. Purposefully failing and repeating the Parade Escort mission can help a lot.
13. Melee Defense
Type: Defense
The best way to make it in NieR: Automata is to become a dodging master. But it’s always nice to have some insurance – especially during your first few hours.
Melee Defense should help you out, especially on Hard difficulty where anything but the weakest enemies will most likely end you instantly.
It’s pretty mild at first. But keep fusing them and you’ll end up with a massive 80% decrease in damage received.
Who knows, you might even survive two hits on Hard now!
Where to farm: Hack as many Medium Bipeds to pieces in the Forest Kingdom as you can.
12. Auto-Collect Items
Type: Support
You may not notice this at first, but once you get some Drop Rate Up chips and start killing more enemies, picking up the items they drop starts to consume a lot of your game time.
Auto-Collect Items is an absolute must-have in any exploration-focused chip preset.
You can probably squeeze it into your combat preset as well.
Where to farm: You won’t need to farm this one. Just get it from Devola and Popola.
They can stagger enemies, deal lots of damage, and generally cover a pretty wide area.
This nifty plug-in chip will make them even more powerful.
At Rank 1, your charged attacks will only deal 140% of your regular damage. But upgrade it fully and you’ll be wiping the floor with your enemies thanks to a 400% increase in damage output.
Nice.
Where to farm: The best place to get many of these plug-in chips ASAP is Adam’s boss pit.
10. Anti-Chain Damage
Type: Defense
Unless you’re playing on Very Hard, there’s usually a small chance to survive being hit – unless it’s chain damage.
This defensive plug-in chip will give you a higher survival chance by making you invincible for a bit after every hit.
Even at Rank 1, you’ll have at least a second to get away – and it scales up to an absurd six seconds if you upgrade it.
You might as well be immortal by that point if you keep enough recovery items handy.
Where to farm: This will often drop from Small Bipeds with spears and Medium Quadrapeds in the Central part of the Forest Zone.
9. Deadly Heal
Type: Defense
Recovery items are precious. And running out can be a death sentence.
A great way to save up on these relatively scarce goodies is to equip Deadly Heal, which returns a bit of your HP for every enemy you kill.
At Rank 8 it’ll fully heal you, but even the lower levels provide massive gains if you keep that kill count rising.
Where to farm: The best place to farm these chips is the Forest Zone. You can get them from spear-wielding Small Bipeds and Medium Quadrapeds.
8. Overclock
Type: Support
If you’ve ever played Bayonetta, you’ll recognize the effects of Overclock as a technological version of Witch Time: a skill that slows down time whenever you successfully dodge a hit.
Sure, you can always dodge and counter.
But it’s hard to miss the appeal of leaving your enemies in slow-mo, which generally makes counter-attacking a safer endeavor. At Rank 8, you’ll be moving like Neo from The Matrix for a whopping 5.5 seconds after dodging.
Where to farm: I’d recommend focusing on Small Flyers in the Abandoned Factory Underground.
7. Counter
Type: Attack
While not active by default, 2B can parry enemy attacks and deal damage in return after you equip the Counter chip.
Just move directly toward an attack at the very last second, and 2B will parry.
Among the benefits of the Counter chip over dodging is that it’ll work even if you’ve just self-destructed or your evasive systems are inactive due to enemy interference.
Where to farm: You can reliably get this to drop from sword-wielding Medium Bipeds in the Desert Zone.
6. Drop Rate Up
Type: Support
If you’re planning to hunt down some of the other chips in this list (and upgrade them) then you better start by acquiring some Drop Rate Up chips.
In its basic version, this chip will make items 20% more likely to drop – and it only gets better from there.
It’ll gradually increase with every upgrade until it reaches 90% at Rank 8.
Where to farm: The best way to get plenty of these chips is to kill Small Flyers during the Amusement Park rollercoaster ride, which you can repeat without even leaving the area.
5. Critical Up
Type: Attack
You may be tempted to ignore the Critical Up plug-in chip when you first find it.
After all, what’s a 1% critical chance increase in the grand scheme of things?
But don’t be so quick to judge. Upgrade it enough and you’ll be landing Critical hits 30% more often – and the damage adds up.
Where to farm: You can get Critical Up plug-in chips quickly by hunting Small Bipeds in the City Ruins.
4. Shock Wave
Type: Attack
This fantastic chip will add an extra shock wave effect to your weapon swings, causing them to hit enemies much farther away and generally cover more ground.
It won’t help you too much during boss fights. But it’s an invaluable boon when fighting against weaker groups of enemies, which you’ll be doing a lot in NieR Automata.
Where to farm: The Small Bipeds in the Desert Housing Complex and specifically Adam’s boss pit will often drop this chip.
3. Auto-Heal
Type: Defense
I played a lot of Call of Duty during my formative years. And while I couldn’t care less about the franchise anymore, I grew used to my character magically healing from mortal wounds over time.
Auto-Heal will give your YoRHa android much the same ability.
Just avoid taking damage for six seconds and a healing aura will cover your character until their health is full once again.
This can be especially useful during the Trials of Sand where you can’t use any items.
Where to farm: This plug-in chip will drop reliably from Small and Linked Spheres in the City Ruins.
2. Offensive Heal
Type: Defense
If you’re not much for running from your enemies, then Offensive Heal might be better suited to your warrior’s heart.
This chip will simply return a percentage of all damage dealt to your own HP. It’s pretty good even at lower levels. But once it’s fully upgraded, you’ll be healing the equivalent to 100% of the damage you deal.
Where to farm: It’s easier to farm these plug-in chips from spear-wielding Small Bipeds and Medium Quadrapeds in the Forest Zone.
1. Weapon Attack Up
Type: Attack
This may seem like the obvious choice, but it’s obvious for a reason.
Weapon Attack Up is the most versatile plug-in chip around.
It’s useful in every situation, and it’ll do wonders when combined with any chip that depends on damage (such as Offensive Heal).
Moreover, it’ll make fights much shorter.
The faster you destroy your enemies, the less likely you’re to make a mistake. After all, the best defense is a good offense.
Where to farm: The most sure-fire way to get plenty of these chips is by killing Medium Bipeds in the Flooded City or the City Ruins. The 9S mission where you hack your way up Harvest Tower is also ideal.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
