Beginner Tips And Tricks For Armored Core 6

Jul 13, 2023

Armored Core 6 can be a cold, unforgiving game. This guide will help you get your treads underneath you.

At long last, Armored Core 6 has arrived. It has been ten long years since the last mainline entry in the series was released. In that decade, FromSoftware has changed in some pretty surprising ways. Long gone are the days when they were a niche studio focused on churning out cult hits. But what does that mean for Armored Core 6? And since the mass majority of their modern fans have come on board in that intervening decade, what can they expect from this series that is so new to them?

Related: Best Mech Games, RankedHow much will that time they spent grinding out souls and blood echoes help them transition into being a badass AC pilot? Well, we’ll cover all of that and more here. This is your one-stop-shop for starting your Armored Core adventure on the right foot—or tread depending on how you choose to kit out your mech.

During your time as a mercenary, you are going to be taking on a wide variety of different mission types. Some of these missions will quite simply be better tackled by different types of ACs. A mission where you are destroying giant laser turrets will likely be best handled by a highly mobile mech equipped with a powerful long-range weapon, but if you are clearing out squads of weaker MTs, you will likely want to fight them using automatic weapons and missiles capable of locking onto multiple targets.

This becomes even more accentuated once you take bosses into consideration. There are individual bosses that are a nightmare on the ground, but completely ineffective when you are in the air. Thankfully, bosses always have checkpoints before them, which will allow you to swap out your loadout. The important thing to keep in mind is that you can swap parts at these checkpoints, but you can’t buy new items. So, having a supply of different AC parts is a very good idea.

Checkpoints will allow you to swap out parts, but they won’t allow you to purchase new ones.

A healthy supply of leg types, with different batteries, FCSes, and boosters are good to have on hand, as they will allow you to experiment with different loadouts. On top of that, you will want a wide variety of weapon types as well, of course. You are going to be swapping out your loadout when you are fighting bosses, so, you are probably going to want to have a variety of heavier-hitting weapons. Try to have a balance of weapons that focus on impact (explosive-type weapons tend to be great for this), as well as weapons that are better for dealing raw damage (energy-type weapons shine here).

While Armored Core 6 feels very much like a classic Armored Core title, you don’t take a ten-year break while making other games without taking some influence from them. One of the most notable mechanical elements is very clearly the stagger bar. Much like in Sekiro, if you build this bar, you can stagger the bosses and deal hefty, hefty damage. This will be a large focus of your game plan. The stagger bar works on the ‘if you don’t use it you lose it’ philosophical foundation. So, maintaining a steady amount of pressure will be important.

If you are struggling to maintain stagger damage, take a look at the Attitude Strain Stat of your current weapons, this will determine how quickly your opponent will recover.

Certain weapons are better for staggering, so, look for weapons with a high level of Impact for that. On that note, while you will be spending a lot of time looking to deal stagger damage, there are weapons that can still deal solid damage even if the boss is unstaggered. One of the best features of Energy-type weapons is that they deal solid damage without having to stagger first. So, while the stagger bar is something you need to pay close attention to, it isn't the end-all-be-all, sometimes it is better to just punch through it.

As you play through the first chapter of Armored Core 6, Tutorial Missions will unlock. These are all pretty basic, but they will give you a nice introduction to the different AC abilities. More importantly, each Tutorial Mission you complete will unlock a weapon to purchase in the parts shop! We have included everything you unlock this way down below.

Mission

Reward

Training Mission 1

MG-014 LUDLOW

Training Mission 2

LR-036 CURTIS

Training Mission 3

Booster - Alula/21E

FCS - FC-006 ABBOT

Generator - VP-20S

Training Mission 4

Laser Handgun - VP-66LH

Training Mission 5

Grenade Launcher - DF-GR-07 GOU-CHEN

Training Mission 6

Vertical Missile Launcher - BML-G1/P01VTC-04

Training Mission 7

Acquire Advanced Mercenary Emblem

While it may appear as if each stage is actually a giant arena filled with enemy mechs to pummel and destroy, there are actually quite a few secrets scattered throughout. For starters, once you complete the Destroy Artillery Installations missions, you will be able to engage in the log hunts, which will reward you for finding and destroying tougher enemies. Most stages will scatter these baddies all around, so you will want to find them and destroy them. Naturally, you will be rewarded for doing so.

In the mission briefing screen, you will be able to see if there are, indeed, logs left to hunt. So, if it doesn't say "pending" under log hunts, then there aren't any to find.

You will also find fallen ACs scattered throughout each stage. Interacting with them will provide you with documents and data that you will collect in your archive. These fallen soldiers are frequently placed in pretty out-of-the-way places. This means that if you are hopping from objective to objective you will miss them. Though rare, there are even a few chests scattered around certain stages!

If you are looking for fallen mechs, look for blue sparks. That is their trademark giveaway. These sparks will be visible from pretty far away, so a high vantage point can be quite useful.

It is important to note that your first run is never timed. So, this is the perfect time to go exploring. That way you can save the subsequent runs for getting high grades and impressing all your friends. Well, I'll be impressed.

While in the midst of combat, you will frequently find that you are stunned, locked into a lengthy attack, or attempting to dodge an attack. While Armored Core 6 has gracefully provided you with its own interpretation of an Estus Flask, these repair kits have a few more strings attached. For starters, they can't be rapidly used. There is a cooldown that takes valuable seconds to dissipate before you can heal again.

What compounds this issue is that you may find that you can quite quickly become staggered yourself. You aren't going to be able to heal while staggered! An injured AC can quickly become a dead AC, which means you need to stay on top of your healing efforts. Your best bet is to heal once you have dodged a big attack, and your opponent is committed to their animation.

A number of boss arenas do feature obstacles that you can hide behind as well, so feel free to use these to shield your AC from your foes and pop a quick heal.

As for the potency of your Repair Kits, you can increase their power by upgrading them with OS Chips. However, you won't unlock OS Tuning until you complete the Retrieve Combat Logs mission near the end of the first chapter of the game.

Even if you have gone the full-tank route, mobility is incredibly important in Armored Core 6. But if you are a Souls veteran, and you think you are simply going to handle mobility the same way you do in those games, you are sorely mistaken.

First and foremost, you have the quick boost at your disposal, this is the closest parallel to the famous Souls roll. However, while the Quick Boost is stunningly fast and recovers instantaneously, gone are the I-frames of the Souls Roll. Your Quick Boost can be used to dodge to the left in battle, and you will most certainly be doing a lot of this. Naturally, you are going to need to string multiple QBs together sometimes, though when approaching an enemy, a zigzag pattern is an effective means for gaining ground on them. That being said, you will only want to approach this way if they are at a medium distance, as there is a better tool for approaching from a great distance (we'll tackle that in the next section).

While you can't use your Quick Boost to cancel an attack's recovery (if you shoot your shot you're going to have to accept that you may be left momentarily vulnerable), you can cancel an attack's startup with one. So, if you are firing your big, slow cannon, and you see a missile is about to land on you, you can Quick Boost out of the opening animation.

At first, you may think that this is more of a traversal tool, and it, of course, is used to traverse the world of Armored Core 6, but the Assault Boost is also an excellent way to close distance. Not only is it much faster than your Quick Boost, but as you are propelling yourself toward your opponent, you can press left or right for a quick evasive maneuver. Some of the hardest attacks to avoid in the game are best dealt with by utilizing the Assault Boost. Missiles won't be able to keep up with you. It also grants a bonus to your melee attacks, which means that you can often use it to dodge an attack, close the distance, and instantly deliver a powerful blow.

Pressing back while performing an Assault Boost will allow you to stop abruptly.

One of the absolute most vital things to understand is that moving through the air is a means in itself to dodge attacks. The Reverse-Joint legs are particularly good at helping you avoid harm this way, as they allow you to ascend, without cost, by leaping into the air. If you are hovering in midair, and see missiles approach, stop using your boosters and as you fall to the ground those missiles will likely miss their target. When used successfully, a Reverse-Joint mech will be leap-frogging constantly, which can make it extremely hard to hit.

The primary aspect associated with your AC's legs is how they affect your mech's maximum load capacity. And while that is very important, each leg-type (outside of the basic Bi-Pedal leg-type) also has different abilities associated with them. These abilities will fundamentally change the way you use your AC. For your convenience, we will list them all below...

Bipedal

As previously mentioned, these are the only leg types that don't provide any benefit. They are good for being an all-round option, but they will quickly be replaced by better options.

Reverse-Joint

With these legs equipped, your AC will be given a large jump that doesn't cost any energy to use. This allows you to freely hop around the arena and makes the Reverse-Joint legs the perfect option for an extremely mobile AC.

Tetrapod

These legs are able to support heavier loads, which is already nice, but even better than that is their ability to hover. That's right, pressing the jump button a second time will give you the ability to maintain your altitude for a prolonged period of time. When fighting against certain ground-focused enemies, this makes the Tetrapod an extremely strong choice.

Tank

These are the "legs" that will keep you primarily on the ground, and while that can be pretty limiting, but they do allow you to load up your AC, as they are the best legs for holding heavy loads. More to the point, they have the ability to drift on the ground! After a boost, your AC will be able to hold a drifting, making it possible to strafe around a grounded opponent.

But that's not the only ability the Tank legs give you, you can also fire heavy weapons while in motion, meaning that those heavy-hitting bazookas can be fired while you drift!

Next: Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon Review - Mech Love, Not War

James is a writer for TheGamer. He typically spends his time playing games, thinking about games, overanalyzing games, and sleeping. While he has an appreciation for all genres, he is especially interested in fighting games and RPGs. He also enjoys reading books and watching movies and will happily overanalyze those as well.