Light Machine Gun Build (LMG) - Adam Smasher (Patch 1.63) - Cyberpunk 2077

By zanuffas
Last updated: 16 April 2023

This post is all about the best Light Machine Gun build for Cyberpunk 2077. The build concentrates on these cumbersome weapons that have a high fire rate and very large clips. They can release up to 100 bullets with a single reload.

Light Machine Gun Build - Adam Smasher
Conclusion

Light Machine Gun Build - Adam Smasher

The build is inspired by the legendary Adam Smasher persona that you encounter both in the game and the Edgerunners anime.

lmg build cyberpunk 2077

As you can see with a single clip I was able to take out most of the enemies in the area with LMG

Attributes

Starting the game

In the early game, I suggest allocating attributes like this. It will ensure that you have additional HP and some offensive improvements to unlock starting Cold Blood and Annihilation perks.

Body +3.
Cool +3.
Technical Ability +1.

Progression

Level	Reflex	Body	Tech	Cool	Int
10	3	11	6	8	3
30	3	18	13	14	3
50	3	20	18	20	3

This still leaves you with 7 attribute points. I would like to recommend a few approaches on how you can spend them:

Intelligence - putting all your points here will allow equipping cyberware that improves critical chance and critical damage - Limbic System Enhancement and Visual Cortex Support
Reflexes - this attribute provides some critical chance, but more importantly it allows equipping Heal-On-Kill. The cyberware will greatly improve light machine gun build survivability.
Technical Ability - you can allocate here 2 more points, which gives a new perk and 2% armor. This gives you a Cutting Edge perk. It increases damage-related stats of crafted weapons by 5%. The rest of the points can be dumped to intelligence to equip uncommon Visual Cortex Support

Perks

To be honest the build is very demanding on perks. This happens because we want to maximize both the offensive and defensive capabilities of the LMG build. I suggest prioritizing Athletics, Annihilation, and Cold Blood trees.

Once you have more perk points feel free to invest in other perk trees.

Athletics

This tree ensures that the LMG build can take on enemy bullets. Unfortunately, due to how Cyberpunk 2077 is balanced on Very Hard, you can still die from a few shots.

lmg build athletics tree cyberpunk 2077

Body Level	Skill	Description
1	Regeneration	Health slowly regenerates during combat.
7	Epimorphosis	Increases Health regen threshold from 60% to 65% in combat and to 100% out of combat.
7	Wolverine x3	Health regen activates 60% faster during combat.
11	Multitasker	Allows you to shoot while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
11	Divided Attention	Allows you to reload weapons while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
12	Invincible	Increases max health by 15%.
12	Tenacious V	Getting hit does not interrupt Health regeneration.
14	Marathoner	Sprinting does not drain Stamina.
16	Dog of War x2	Increases Health regen in combat by 60%
16	Cardio Cure (optional)	Health regenerates 25% faster as you move. Take this perk if you move a lot in combat instead of hiding behind a cover.
18	Steel Shell	Increases Armor by 10%.
20	The Rock	Enemies cannot knock you down.
20	Indestructible	Reduces all incoming damage by 10%.
20	Hard Motherfucker	When entering combat, Armor and Resistances increase by 10% for 10 sec. +1% per Perk level.

Annihilation

lmg build annihilation tree cyberpunk 2077

Body Level	Skill	Description
1	Hail of Bullets x3	LMGs deal 10% more damage. Mandatory perk for Light Machine Gun build
5	Pump It, Louder!	Reduces recoil of LMG by 20%.
5	In Your Face	Reduces the reload time of LMGs by 30%.
7	Dead Center x2	Increases damage to torsos from Shotguns by 20%
7	Bloodrush x2	Increases movement speed in combat by 10% while carrying a Shotgun
9	Bulldozer	Increases Crit Chance with Shotguns by 5%.
9	Mongoose	Increases Mitigation Chance by 25% while reloading Light Machine Guns
11	Momentum Shift x3	Defeating an enemy using a Shotgun or Light Machine Gun increases movement speed by 20% for 10 sec.
11	Massacre x3	Increases Crit Damage with Light Machine Guns by 30%.
12	Heavy Lead	LMGs and knockback enemies with more force.
12	Skeet Shooter	Deal 15% more damage to moving targets using Shotguns
14	Manic	When entering combat using a Shotgun or Light Machine Gun, your movement speed increases by 20% for 10 sec.
14	Unstoppable	Dismembering an enemy using a Shotgun or Light Machine Gun increases the fire rate by 10% for 8 sec. Stacks up to 3 times
16	Speed Demon (optional)	You deal more damage the faster you're moving. This sounds nice, but you may not be moving much with LMG. Try to see how you play and take this perk based on that.
18	Hit the Deck x2	Increases damage to staggered and knocked-down enemies from Shotguns by 20%.
20	Biathlete (optional)	The weapon spread for LMGs does not increase while moving. Another perk that I would evaluate based on your playstyle.
20	Bloodbath	Dismembering enemies with a Light Machine Gun reduces weapon recoil by 30% for 6 sec. +1% per Perk level.

Cool Blood

lmg build cold blood tree cyberpunk 2077

Cool Level	Skill	Description
1	Cold Blood x3	After defeating an enemy, gain Cold Blood for 7 sec. and increase movement speed by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times. The duration of each additional stack is 1 sec. shorter.
7	Easy Out x2	While Cold Blood is active, increases ranged weapon damage by 20% to enemies within an area of 5m.
9	Defensive Clotting x2	Increases Armor by 8% per stack of Cold Blood.
9	Rapid Bloodflow x2	Increases Health regen inside and outside combat by 10% per stack of Cold Blood.
11	Collagulant	Stack of Cool Blood are removed one by one instead of all at once
11	Frozen Precision	Each stack of Cold BLood now increases headshot damage by 5%. Perfect choice for Knife Throwing on this Ninja build
14	Cold and Calculating	Critical hits can now also add a stack of Cold Blood
16	Coldest Blood x2	Increases Cold Blood stack by 2
16	Critical Condition x2	Cold Blood will have its duration increased by 50%. Ensures that you can still maintain the buffs even after hiding from the enemy.
18	Immunity	Makes you immune to Bleeding, Poison, Burn, and Shock. Makes Will to Survive obsolete
20	Bloodswell	Rather than dying, all Cold Blood stacks will be removed and you will Damage Immunity for 5 seconds. This can happen only once per 15 seconds.
20	Merciless	While Cold Blood is active Crit Chance is increased by 5% and Crit Damage is increased by 25%

Crafting

throwing knives build crafting tree cyberpunk 2077

Level	Skill	Description
1	Mechanic	Get more components when disassembling. Useful for crafting good gear
5	True Craftsman	Allows to craft Rare items
5	Scrapper	Automatically disassembles junk items. Great quality of life perk
9	Sapper x2 (optional)	Grenades deal 20% more damage. I do not suggest prioritizing this perk. Only put points here later in the game
11	Field Technician	Increases damage of crafted weapons by 10%. This will make your knives or katanas much stronger
12	Grease Monkey	Allows to craft Epic items
16	Tune-up	You can now increase the quality of your components.
18	Edgerunner Artisan	Allows crafting legendary items. Have in mind that I also recommend having a Crafting level at 12. This way you unlock many legendary Crafting specs.

Ninjutsu

Although this tree is mainly needed for stealth builds, a few of the perks are very useful.

lmg build ninjutsu tree cyberpunk 2077

Cool Level	Skill	Description
7	Assassin	Deal 15% more damage to human enemies.
12	From the Shadows x2	Upon entering combat, Crit Chance increases by 20% for 7 sec.
16	Hasty Retreat (optional)	Temporarily boosts movement speed by 50% for 5 sec. when detected by an enemy.
18	Cheat Death	When your Health drops below 50%, reduce all incoming damage by 50% for 10 sec. Cannot occur more than once per minute. This is a great perk that is useful for this type of build.

Engineering

This tree is optional. These few perks will buff up your Power type weapon and grenades. So put points here only late into the game.

Tech Level	Skill	Description
5	Grenadier (optional)	The explosion radius of grenades is visible.
11	Bigger Booms x5	Grenades deal 25% more damage.
12	Play the Angles x3	Ricochets deal an additional 50% damage.
16	Can't Touch This	Grants immunity to all effects from your own grenades.

Build tactics

Here are some recommendations for this build

Have a shotgun on hand

Although this build is purely Light Machine Gun oriented, I also suggest carrying a shotgun. Here is my reasoning. Your perks improve their handling, LMGs go through bullets really fast, meaning you can be stranded without ammo mid-fight.

With this in mind, having a good shotgun will open new options for you in longer encounters. Moreover, LMGs can only be equipped when you have 10 Body, so using shotguns early on is a great choice. A list of shotguns that I recommend can be found in the Equipment section.

Grenades, Grenades, Grenades

I cannot stress enough how they are important on Very Hard, even without any related perks. You can use them at the start of the encounter before reloads or when you are overwhelmed. With crafting perks that you can get, it is easy to always have a few crafted of common rarity.

Some other general tips

Be careful on Very Hard difficulty, even though you can soak bullets, enemies can still take you out with a few shots due to balancing problems
Be mindful of when you need to reload. It will take a long time, meaning enemies can easily shoot you. Find cover as soon as you can

Equipment recommendations

This section will cover recommended gear for the Light Machine Gun build that was inspired by Adam Smasher

lmg build equipment cyberpunk 2077

Light Machine Guns

These will be the main weapons that you can use for the build. They are heavy hitters: high fire rate, large clips, and good damage. Have in mind that you should only equip them when you have attribute Body at 10.

Priority	Item	Description
1	Defender	It has 100 ammo clips and a very high fire rate. With all the perks this will tear through enemies instantly.
2	MA70 HB	This is a new LMG introduced in 1.6. I did not prefer it, but still, it is one of the options you can use.

Shotguns

Priority	Item	Description
1	Sovereign	Although this shotgun has only two rounds. It shoots both barrels using aim-down sights.
2	Ba Xing Chong	Available fairly late in the game, however, it is a very strong Smart Shotgun.
3	The Headsman	A very powerful shotgun that also deals chemical damage. It also doubles the projectiles shot as a special effect

Weapon Mods

Item	Description
Crunch	Increases damage
Neon Arrow	Reduces weapon reload time by 5%.
Penetrator	Increases Crit Chance
Pacifier	Increases Crit Damage

Armor mods

Mod name	Description
Bully	Gives +8% Crit Damage. Great for maximizing damage late in the game
Armadillo	I recommend this mod for maximum survivability It gives bonus armor. Try to get the Legendary or Epic variant
Fortuna	Gives a +4% Crit Chance.
Zero Drag	Increases movement speed. It can make the gameplay a bit more difficult as you may run through the enemies. But overall makes the experience even more enjoyable

Cyberware - Frontal Cortex

Slot	Item	Description
1	Mechatronic Core	Increases damage against drones, mechs, and robots
2	Limbic System Enhancement	Increases Crit Chance. This cyberware should be equipped for LMG build if you put points to the Intelligence attribute
2	Heal-On-Kill	Restores health on kill. Take this if you will invest points into Reflexes
3	Visual Cortex Support	Increases Crit Damage. Equip it if you have put points into intelligence

Cyberware - Ocular System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kiroshi Optics Mk.3	Enables to have additional upgrades for the ocular system. Try to get the highest rarity which is Epic. It provides 3 upgrade slots.

Mods

Mod name	Description
Trajectory Analysis	Increases headshot bonus damage by 25%. use this mod to increase damage with LMG
Weakspot Detection	Increases Crit Chance by 2%.

Cyberware - Circulatory System

The problem with this cyberware is that you have low Body attributes. Due to this, you can only equip common rarity items.

Slot	Item	Description
1	Biomonitor	Instantly restores a large portion of health when it drops below a certain threshold.
2	Second Heart	Instantly restores 100% of max Health when your Health falls to 0. Cooldown 2 min.
3	Microgenerator	Releases Electroshock when health drops below 15%.
3	Bioconductor	You can now activate Kerenzikov, Biomonitor, Berserk, and Second Heart more often

Cyberware - Immune System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Pain Editor	Reduces all incoming damage by 10%.
2	Shock-n-Awe	After taking damage, there is a 2% chance of releasing large electroshock that deals damage to nearby enemies. Unfortunately, you will be able to equip either common or uncommon variants.

Cyberware - Nervous System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kerenzikov	You can now slow time when dodging or sliding.
2	Synaptic Accelerator	Slows time by when you are detected by enemies. This is an alternative if you do not need bonus duration from Nanorelays

Cyberware - Integumentary System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Subdermal Armor	Provides flat armor increase. Try to obtain the highest rarity for the highest value.
2	Optical Camo	This is a bad boy. You will become invisible for a few seconds which you can use to take out enemies. Really neat cyberware for a stealth build
3	Heat Converter	Increases damage if you are burning

Cyberware - Operating System

Priority	Item	Description
1	BioDyne Berserk Mk.4	Provides 25% weapon handling improvement and 5% armor bonus. Unfortunately has 60 seconds cooldown. Also provides 20% more ranged damage.
2	BioDyne Berserk Mk.3	Improves weapon handling by 25% and gives 15% more damage bonus.
3	Zetatech Berserk Mk.5	This Berserker operating system improves weapon handling by 20% and armor by 10%. The good thing about it is that it only has a 30 seconds cooldown.
4	BioDyne Berserk Mk.2	Rare version, that improves weapon handling by 25% and gives a 10% damage boost. Comes with 60 seconds cooldown

Here are the berserk mods that I recommend for Shotgun build:

Mod name	Description
Devastating Berserk	While Berserk is active, increases Crit Chance
Chained Berserk	Reduces Berserk cooldown
Sharpened Berserk	While Berserk is active, it increases Crit Damage
Focused Berserk	While Berserk is active, reduces weapon sway

Cyberware - Skeleton

Slot	Item	Description
1	Bionic Joints	Reduces recoil with Light Machine Guns
2	Synaptic Signal Optimizer	This cyberware greatly boosts overall health. Try to get the highest rarity as you will have high Body attribute

Cyberware - Legs

Slot	Item	Description
1	Reinforced Tendons	My personal favorite makes traversing much easier.
1	Fortified Ankles	Alternative for this build. As you can soak up more bullets than other builds this will allow shooting enemies easily from the air. However, the aim becomes distorted, so have that in mind

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on the Best Light Machine Gun build in Cyberpunk 2077.

Feel free to leave a comment below!