Cyberpunk 2077's Adam Smasher Got A Major Nerf After Edgerunners

Updated Oct 16, 2026, 5:28 AM EDT Chris Shea has been a Game Features writer for Screen Rant since August of 2022 but has been talking about video games to anybody who would listen to him for far longer than that. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Philosophy in 2019. Based in Washington, Chris has been involved in the gaming community for most of his life and has experience with games ranging from Farming Simulator to DOOM and everything in between, though his first ever game was Pokemon Blue on the Gameboy Color. His favorites include RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, as well as most anything by Obsidian or From Software. When he isn't playing video games, he's writing, spending time with his girlfriend, or trying to keep their dog from destroying something. He has a novel that he swears he's working on, but we'll believe him when we see it. Adam Smasher, one of Night City's most infamous boogeymen, got a major nerf between Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk 2077. Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's most recent release, taking place in the Cyberpunk universe, and was received poorly at launch due to a significant number of bugs. Edgerunners is the hit anime released on Netflix taking place in the same universe, and the praise it has received has led players to flock back to Night City to give 2077 a second chance. Given the second series of Edgerunners is just around the corner, now is another great time for youto get into Cyberpunk 2077 with the major patches and updates CD Projekt Red has released, but Adam Smasher may be a disappointment. [Warning: This article contains spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.]Adam Smasher is a recurring villain in the universe, working for Arasaka as its most lethal enforcer. After having nearly his entire body replaced by cyberware augmentations he is by far more machine than man and is an incredibly deadly threat, having killed many of Night City's most legendary figures. At the end of Cyberpunk 2077 however, Smasher is finally brought down by V in Arasaka tower. It's hard to square the depiction of Smasher in Cyberpunk 2077 with his depiction in Edgerunners. In the game, Smasher is defeated by V and at most one or two other allies, depending on which of Cyberpunk 2077's multiple endings the player has achieved, whereas in the anime, Smasher easily takes down multiple edgerunners along with David, who had earlier destroyed a large Militech force, several MaxTac units, and no small number of Arasaka forces. This can only mean one of two things: either V is strong enough to scale to those kinds of enemies, or Smasher received a significant nerf between the anime and the video game. Theories For Smasher's Power Scaling In Cyberpunk One line of thinking posits that Smasher was nerfed in-universe after the events of Edgerunners. After all, the cyberskeleton was Arasaka's newest top-line test product in Edgerunners, and having Smasher destroy it with little effort certainly makes the company look bad. It's possible, and an Edgerunners Adam Smasher DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 could possibly confirm, that after this display Arasaka made changes to Smasher's hardware and programs to reduce his effectiveness, seeing him as a potential threat to the company and its products should he ever choose to defect. Another theory states that V actually is strong enough to defeat Smasher at full power. In Cyberpunk 2077, V can get access to all the same cyberware that David does (minus the cyberskeleton), and has the advantage of not having to deal with cyberpsychosis as Johnny Silverhand's engram helps bear the mental load of his cyberware, according to Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith under the Reddit username therealmaxmike. Additionally, V has possibly years of training and experience as an edgerunner depending on what Cyberpunk 2077 starting lifepath players choose even before the events of the game, whereas the whole of the Edgerunners anime takes place in 2076, giving David less than a year of experience at best. It's possible that with V's heightened capacity for cyberware, years of experience, help from Johnny, and the time they spent prepping knowing they would have to fight Smasher at Arasaka HQ, V was better equipped to take Smasher down. The Adam Smasher in Cyberpunk 2077, while still a serious threat, doesn't appear nearly as intimidating as the Smasher of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. As presented in Edgerunners, he tears David apart apparently only half-trying, while in 2077 V has plenty of tricks to defeat Adam Smasher. It's difficult to tell if Edgerunner's Smasher got a nerf for the game, or if Cyberpunk 2077's V is just that good. Systems Released December 10, 2020 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol Developer(s) CD Projekt Red Publisher(s) CD Projekt Red Engine REDengine 4