The Technomancer

The difficulty in Technomancer seems daunting, but a majority of the fights can be overcome using the same tactic.

Dodge, Shoot, Dodge.

Difficulty achievements stack, beating the game on extreme will unlock the achievement for hard, normal, etc.
I got this achievement on my second run, ignoring literally every side quest and focusing solely on main missions. I didn’t even bother with companion quests. It took maybe 15-20 hours. This guide assumes you’re just going for the Extreme Survivor achievement, it is not a full walkthrough, and following this guide will void other achievements in that playthrough. It still contains useful tactics for character build and combat on extreme difficulty.

***THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS***

General

-When given the choice, kill someone. You’ll often get purple items out of it. Bulgakov’s gun and knife are great early on, the gun has +75% cooldown speed.
-Drain everyone and everything for serum so you can purchase health injections, crafting materials, and weapon creating schematics. I didn’t need to purchase anything except schematics until the point of no return, and you need a lot of serum (about 800) to complete a couple objectives in chapter 3, so try not to spend too much.
-Sell your focus injections, you won’t need them. Keep 10 for a quest in Noctis, chapter 2. -Sell excess crafting materials. You’ll end up with more Metal Debris, Poor-quality Leather, and Metal Components than you’ll ever need.
-Sell or recycle items you don’t need
-If there’s a charisma/science/etc check you want to pass in conversation, you can always save before talking to the character and reload if the check fails.
-If you can find a light disruptor gun, use that. Disruption is amazing, enemies running to melee you will be stopped in their tracks.
-Before going on the polar expedition (point of no return) upgrade all your equipment (if you’ve been looting everything you should have some nice ASC gear), all of your companions equipment, and buy or craft a ton of health injections and traps. The final boss deals heavy poison damage. It may be beneficial to upgrade your armor for poison resistance, or to make sure that you have the materials to upgrade it right before the fight.


Character Build

Skills
You’ll be putting everything into Rogue. You want upgraded gun damage and cooldown pretty early. Then, focus on getting Focus. It is a serious lifesaver for some of the tougher fights. I upgraded its duration, personal choice. For Upgraded Roll, choose “gun attacks are also critical.” For Upgraded Thrust, choose “-25% physical armor.” I never really bothered with explosive shot.

Talents
Fully upgrade traps/lockpicking first so you can loot everything. More health injections, more crafting materials, more armor and weapons.
Next, level up crafting so you can improve your stuff later on in the game.
Science 1 is nice for the regen outside of combat, but not really necessary.
Assuming you’re doing this run just for the extreme achievement, you don’t need to put points into anything else.

Attributes
Put points into Agility mostly. Once you find some decent armor, you can put points into Strength. You don’t need to put points into Constitution, because the idea is to not get hit in the first place! Don’t bother with Power, you’ll barely be using technomancy.

Companions
They’re primarily useful for distraction. You’re locked into using David and Jeffrey for the first chapter. Once you get the real team, it’s really a matter of choice. I picked Phobos because he has a ton of health and can survive more (and distract longer!) and Scott for his healing abilities. At one point Scott disappears so be sure to pick up someone else for that time period. Phobos will also leave the party after you kill Cain if you haven’t done his companion quest, even if you choose Scum.

Equipment
Upgrade to increase critical chance. Once you can, upgrade for armor penetration. It comes in handy against later enemies. For armor, I went with physical damage resistance.

Combat
-The general strategy for basically everything is shoot them from afar, running and dodging to put distance between you and them.
-Upgraded Roll makes it so after a critical dodge, your next dagger or gun attack is a crit. Use this to do extra damage.
-Incorporate your exploding traps for fights with lots of tough melee characters that chase you.
-Sometimes use your electric arc to do some damage while your gun is on cooldown, just be careful because it leaves you vulnerable. You may even stun them so you can get some knife hits in.
-Be aware of any enemies with guns, and keep your eye on them. Dodge when they fire. They’re probably your biggest threat. Shoot at them in between their shots, get them when they reload, too.
-Once you’re comfortable with dodging, feel free to attack with your knife in between gun cooldowns.
-A lot of fights can be avoided.
-Some fights you can run away, and the enemies will despawn and respond when you get closer. It makes some encounters easier.
-Enemy technomancers can one-shot you.

Bosses
Great Mantis
Didn’t have much success with my gun. My strategy is to hit its big weak point with your knife two times, then dodge back when it counterattacks, repeat. Watch out for its sweeping move. Use your health injections when you need to. Honestly, this boss is harder than most of the game.
Gorilla
Strategy 1: Dodge the poison gas stuff, dodge the charge, empty your gun at it, repeat. Shots don’t register most of the time so it’s super annoying. If you get hit by poison, heal immediately. One charge will likely kill you, so don’t mess up the dodge.
Strategy 2: Get up close and melee until it rears up. Back away and shoot it. Repeat. Hopefully your companions will surround it and draw its attention.
Buffalo Toad
You pretty much just have to make sure you either dodge the tongue attack, or dodge the subsequent melee. Otherwise just keep your distance and shoot.
Viktor
This can be a tough fight. As soon as it starts, use Focus. Lay down a trap or two. Try to eliminate one of the heavies before Focus runs out. Hopefully Viktor’s attention is on one of your companions. Lay down some more traps along the circle. Focus on the other heavy. If your teammates are alive, they can help take out Viktor and maybe draw some of his attention. Viktor will chase you relentlessly, DONT LET HIM GET CLOSE. If he manages to stun-lock you, he can kill you quickly. Dodge his bullets, let him chase you, and lay down some traps when you can. If he gets caught in an explosion, he’ll stagger. Use this as an opportunity to get some shots in. The important thing is to keep moving in a circle.
Leviathan
Before the fight, opposite the crafting table, there is a chest with a Soldier’s Helmet With Respirator in it. It give’s 10% poison resistance. Equip it.
This is not an easy fight, but I found a strategy to sort of cheese it. Get as close to the Leviathan as you can. About halfway through his roar, dodge. He should miss you. You may have to practice getting the timing right. Getting hit leaves you with a sliver of health. If you can’t heal in time for his next attack and he hits you, you’re dead. When he misses you, you have a window to do damage. Use your gun, it has a better damage output, especially if you crit.
Three times during the fight, the worm will retreat and try to smack you with its tail. The camera angle changes. I had trouble myself mastering the timing, but luckily it only does about a third of your health if it hits and you should be able to heal before the next attack. When it misses, hit it with your gun, and when you do enough damage, it will disappear and return to its original position.
The worm will spit acid puddles, avoid at all costs! If you accidentally get smacked into one, pop a health injection immediately!

The achievement will pop after the ending cutscene.