Adam Smasher Fight (Reaper) is Garbage

[Midnight]

WTF? I spend the whole game earning all this ♥♥♥♥ and now I have rapidly dropping 80 health and nothing does ♥♥♥♥ to this guy, odds are even if I'll get a takedown prompt, and I get one shotted out of nowhere. The fight is supposed to be difficult, not a dev snickering to himself like an a hole. I can't even takedown the guy without stealth engaged so that I can use stealth to get away from the dickwipe.

[yahboi1988]

Originally posted by ImHelping:

People who find smasher overtuned on VH now: List details of the fight and mechanics of said fight even when they win (Overheat sustained longer with gunfire unsung hero of ram economy). Maybe throw in the latest prank bug like the white uniform ninja corpse glitching out to not let you collect the elevator keycard.

People who brag smasher is 'totally an immersive challenge now'': Zero relevant details
"But real gamers like me find him too ez still on VH, trust me bro"

"You guys are wrong I am right! LoLz can't explain why in a coherent sentence so here's some jibber jabber" - You in every post.

I'm trying to understand how being able to defeat the boss on VH with multiple builds means people are being elitist. They made VH actually hard. Turn down the difficulty, that's why it's there. Or are you upsetty spaghetti that the game doesn't coddle you anymore? People were complaining that he was too easy on VH so they buffed him. VH is meant to be a challenge to high skilled players who understand the games mechanics, not a power fantasy for people to think they are good at the game. Once again, this is why the game has a difficulty slider, if you can't handle him on VH turn it down, no one is gonna know or judge you for doing it. Let people who want a challenge get their fun out of the game and you get yours on a lower difficulty.

[valium]

I dont quite understand why someone would complain about very hard being very hard, it is called very hard. If your build is not up to the task, make it no longer be very hard, it is a very simple solution. People are pretending Smasher is nearly impossible and will one-shot everything, which is just not true.

If you want to know the builds I beat 2.1 Smasher on very hard with:

Shotgun + Gorilla arms. Which was by far the easiest, Satara is ridiculously overpowered with the Wallpuncher mod.

Sneak gunslinger. The relic upgrade to camo lets you hide from Smasher and do takedowns on him. It just took a lot longer than the shotgunner because it seems to me the takedown is on a cooldown, or maybe he is only susceptible in certain phases of the fight.

Monowire + debuff quickhacks. Monowire not really suited for bosses, so it took a while. Still fun.

All 3 were fairly defensive on cyberware and perk choices. Adrenaline Rush + Bloodpump + Biomonitor puts in a ton of work. Chitin, Painducer, Epimorphic Skeleton, Neofiber.

Do NOT go glass cannon on very hard, DO build to kill efficiently. Dead enemies do no damage. Keep moving, dash constantly.

I am currently going through the game as a smartgunner, and it might honestly give Satara shotgunner a run for it's money. Overclock + Submachine Fun + Yinglong/Pizdets is honestly stupidly overpowered. Especially after they increased the ammo you can carry.

[WXM47QV]

Look this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op07Uavh8io

[valium]

This makes me wonder, how many of those people when 2.0 launched who told those of us suggesting at least 15 body for Adrenaline Rush for all builds are just scrubs and they can handle very hard with no body and just dash with a katana, are the ones weeks later making threads complaining about how impossible Smasher is on very hard.

[Graf Erik]

Adam Smasher is the strongest enemy in game, and the Dont Fear The Reaper variant is the hardest. Its the bonus variant for those who thought the normal one was to easy.

So if noone complained that this one is to hard, it would have been a major design error.

As for the fight, which I did a week ago with a post 2.0 char:
(I reloaded a few times and did it on different difficulties)

-I did it on normal, and that was no issue. Win on first attemt without trying to hard
-Hard, which is the difficulty I normal play: Thats was a nice fight. Challenging and entertaining. Took me 5-6 tries. Essentially I worked with try and error through my arsenal of 15 iconic/tier5++ weapons to find out what works and what not.
I ended up with a combination of
a) Kerenzikov, Assault Rifle (I used Psalm, but he is immune to fire, so it doesnt matter). dash and double-jumb. Trigger kere, empty half a mag, jump-dash to safety, rinse and repeat
b) Charged shots (Bolts). I tried Breakthrough but found it too slow, so I ended up using a stock Ticon. So whenever I was far enough and in cover so that I could aim for 1-2 second, I got him a bolt to the head.

I tried close combat variants, Katana or Shotgun, but found it none-sustainable. It deals massive damage really fast, but you have to come close, and the risk is just too high that he grabs you and then its game over, literally.
With a SMGs again I had to come too close, cant recommend.
Sniper/precission rifles: Too slow. You wont get the opportunity to properly aim, and when you get you'll eat a missile salvo a second later

I tried some light hacking (was my worst stat, but I had a deck and used it with high success against various cyber psychos) and stopped very soon. The first time I tried some cripple movement I just got some message about 'Samasher Ice, track and counterhack' and then I simply died. Not good to do unless you are a real netrunner.

-I tried it on very hard once... yeah, that not for me. I mean, I guess it would work with the same tactic as on hard, but it takes far longer, and you have no tolerance for mistakes.

[WXM47QV]

The game punishes for a bad attitude towards building builds and ignoring abilities in different branches, just as before it would no longer be possible to defeat Smesher with Vstanislov Shishkin by throwing your leg on the table and smoking a cigar with your left hand!

[Micas]

I just managed to kill Smasher on very hard, using SDO scissors difficulty options, with the final boss setting on, and without using a second heart. It was very, very difficult.