Ive looked up all the rules I can and maybe I missed something and dont have a book but I am unable to find any method or combination of methods that allows one to gain 5 dice.

something that goes up to 4 dice. and then drugs.

Which drug?

Any of the initiative boosters (Cram, Jazz, etc). Also, the Increase Reflexes spell.

Aye, a quickened force 8 increase reflexes spell can get you there "permanently" without any other help.

Looks like I know what im getting for my adapt spell!

There is also the Blitz option when spending Edge.

May need to wait a little bit before getting max usage as Adept Spell has the maximum Force of the spell is your Magic Rating, but you can build to that.

Also, Drugs is the CHEAP AND EASY burn out way.
Because Drugs simply stack with everything else.
None of the other +d6 ini things stack i think.
That has been the case since basically forever in SR.
SR3 had, i think, only one exception of one cyber and one bio ini booster stacking.
And that was improved reflexes and synaptic accelerator.

Those are boosted reflex and synaptic accelerator. You could go up to 5 dice this way. And if memory serves, boosted 3 (+2d6 +2 Re) was 2.8 essence. Wired 2 (+2d6, +4 Re) was 3 essence. Why were people using wired actually?

I think there was an issue with boosted not being upgradable or removable at all, thus you were stuck with it even if you wanted something else. I seem to remember an NPC in Elven Fire module having that issue.

Yeah, that was the only way to get a permanent +5D6 ini. And THEN you could start with drugs!
Because you could upgrade them to wired 3, boosted were in and done.
And also incompatible with rigging. Wired worked with rigging.
The whole not enough essence thing aside at least.
And also, Reaction is good to have in SR3.

Yeah, but on average, wired 3 is still less than boosted 3 + synap 2, for less essence.

Ok, I guess there a few reasons… Yet, considering wired 3 is 5 essence, I'm dubious a lot of people used it…

Usualy not.
Technically, reaction is actually BETTER than Ini dice.
Or at least, it was in SR3. No idea about how 5 works.
6 Reaction is 6 Reaction. 1D6 Ini is 1-6 Reaction.

its nearly the same as in SR3 (IIRC)

but back to the Question:
even though there is a Cap at 5 Dice
your Base Initiative can raise to 40 +
( it just takes a determined mystical Adept and about 50 Karma)
So ImO the Cap of 5D is a moot point (is that the right expression ?)

Hough!
Medicineman

yeah, moot point.

In 4E a decker could get 5 IP pretty easily.

Which is one of the reasons Cyborgs were scary mofos. Hardened combat chassis run by a novahot decker at insane initiative speeds.

Or you could do what saw one guy in a Missions game do. Boost his static initiative numbers so high that he often just said "I take tye minimum roll" and still went first most of the time.


-k

The other thing is that Reaction (or Intuition) are actually used for way more than Initiative, too. So not only is a +4 Reaction more reliably going to boost your Initiative than an extra 1d6 of Init dice, but it's also...y'know...a +4 Reaction. Ambush tests, dodging tests, driving vehicles, you get to use it for more stuff.

same with INT +4
Percepton Rolls are so common and also so Important that its way more effective to raise INT than to gain another Die

with an intuitive Dance
Medicineman

What's a good way to raise Int, except for Adepts?

Bioware and Cyber both have a +2 for int i think.
Gen-Stuff and nanostuff probably as well. Not sure.
Otherwise, of course, raise attribute spell. Or Karma.
Oh, wait, this is SR5. No idea if this still applied here.

Data Trail has the deck mod to give deckers in hot sim +5 dice. And TMs can get the overclock echo in core.