Sandayu Oda is an elite cyberninja in Cyberpunk 2077 whose most powerful asset is his incredible speed and maneuverability.
He is loyal to Arasaka and the apprentice of Goro Takemura who helps you out against Arasaka Corporation.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through all of Oda’s strengths and weaknesses to help you defeat him in Cyberpunk 2077.
Table of contents
Where to find Sandayu Oda in Cyberpunk 2077?
You will find Sandayu Oda during the questline “Play it Safe” when you are jacking out one of the Netrunners hidden in the building.
The encounter with Oda is unavoidable and you will need to take him down, after which you can decide whether to kill or spare him in Cyberpunk 2077.
Can you convince Oda out of the fight?
During the Down On The Street mission, you will meet up with Takemura to speak with Oda. As you share Yorinobu’s truth, Oda will silence you leaving Takemura to try to reason with him.
No matter what dialogue you choose, Oda will not be convinced and will leave the premises after discussion, making your future encounter inevitable.
Sandayu Oda’s weaknesses
Oda has several different weaknesses that you need to exploit to gain the upper hand on him.
Oni Mask
Sandayu Oda’s Oni Mask is both a strength and a weakness of his. While the Oni Mask is intact, he will be able to disrupt bullets from your Smart Weapons and since Oda is extremely agile, these Smart Weapons are needed to deal with him.
However, if you break the Oni Mask, it will render Oda completely vulnerable against Smart Weapons and it’ll stun him for a bit.
Electric Damage
Oda is weakest against electrical damage and has high resistance against thermal damage. Equip weapons like Malorian Arms Overture which deals high electrical damage or ones like Widow Maker which deals high precision DPS before fighting Oda.
Tech Weapons
Tech Weapons are highly penetrative, meaning you can shoot targets with them from behind the cover.
The area where you’ll fight Oda will have a lot of cover positions, so Tech Weapons can also work well in this situation.
Frag and EMP Grenades
Both Frag and EMP grenades will work very well against Oda. Not only will these grenades deal considerable damage to Oda, but they’ll also stun him, allowing you to deal even more damage.
EMP grenades are probably the best ones to use on Oda since they’ll disrupt Oda’s Smart projectile disruption ability and the homing ability of his bullets for a short time.
Some useful Quickhacks
There are a few quickhacks that you need to have before fighting Sandayu Oda in Cyberpunk 2077. These include the following.
Cyberware Malfunction: This quickhack is necessary to have as it’ll break Oda’s Oni Mask right off the bat, allowing you to use Smart Weapons from the very start of the fight.
Weapon Glitch: This quickhack will disrupt the homing ability of Oda’s bullets when he starts using his SMG. This will allow you to easily avoid his bullets and punish him when he reloads.
Detonate Grenade: Not only will this quickhack deal damage to Oda, but it’ll also knock him down temporarily, allowing you to get some easy damage on him. However, this will only work once in the fight so use it wisely.
Friendly Mode: This quickhack will give you access to all the security cameras in the area, which will allow you to easily track Oda even when he goes into his camouflage mode.
Strategy to defeat Oda in Cyberpunk 2077
Now that you know all of Oda’s strengths and weaknesses, let’s talk about how you should use this information to your favor in the battle.
Before anything else, you need to remember that you have to be constantly moving throughout this fight to counter Oda’s agility.
Oda won’t take much damage at the start of the fight, but you shouldn’t get intimidated. Once that mask comes off, the damage will start pouring in.
You must keep a certain distance from him at all times to dodge his Mantis Blades. When he pulls them out, keep moving backward and unload your bullets on him.
If you dodge all of his Mantis Blade attacks, he’ll get tired and will stand still to rest for a bit. This will allow you to deal some good damage to him.
Try to always aim for his face so you can break his mask and also hit headshots to deal the most damage.
If you don’t have the Weapon Glitch quickhack, then immediately jump behind cover when Oda pulls out his Smart SMG. Wait for him to run out of bullets and then charge him.
When you eventually get Oda’s health down to the point where he activates his Optical Camo, don’t lose sight of him. Run straight into his hiding spot and quickly unload some bullets onto him to spot his healing and deal some more damage.
If you’re not able to find him, then pull out your scanner and scan the area to reveal his footsteps and locate him.
Should you kill or spare Oda in Cyberpunk 2077?
Once you have taken down Oda in Cyberpunk 2077, you will receive a call from Takemura asking you to spare his life.
You can either put a bullet in his head to finish him off or not shoot and give Takemura your word, telling Oda it was his lucky day.
Killing Oda provides no additional rewards or future outcomes but sparing him has its benefits. You will be able to loot his body for all the rewards and it will affect your relationship with Hanako and The Devil Ending of Cyberpunk 2077.
We recommend sparing Oda because taking him out is not worth the benefits you gain from letting him live.
Sandayu Oda rewards and loot
When you finally defeat Oda, you’ll find the following loot on him:
- Jinchu-Maru Katana
- Kogane no Yume titanium BD wreath
- Arasaka Polycarbonate Laced Bulletproof Aramid Vest
Oda always dies bug
There is a bug that players have experienced during the Play It Safe mission while fighting Oda in Cyberpunk 2077 where he will die immediately even if you choose to spare him on Takemura’s request.
This bug is caused by either using the legendary version of Short Circuit Combat Quickhack or Epic Cyberware Malfunction Control Quickhack during your fight with Sandayu Oda. Both of these quickhacks can kill him rather than render him unconscious which takes away your freedom to choose his fate.
To avoid this issue from happening, downgrade the Short Circuit Combat Quickhack to Epic or choose alternative options to aid you in your fight with Oda in Cyberpunk 2077.
Oda one-shot glitch
There is a glitch where Oda will one-shot you with his Smart Gun after you reload a save file. Though the cause of the bug is unknown, you can avoid it by simply not saving right before the fight or by depending on auto-saved files.
We recommend saving before the elevator after which, you will have to replay 20 seconds before a rematch but that is still better than getting one shot every time.
