Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon - 10 Tips and Tricks to Become a Master AC Pilot

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Be Willing To Experiment And Customize Your AC
Read Descriptions And Stats
Practice In AC Training And Save Your AC Data
Build Enemy ACS And Protect Your Own
Take In Your Surroundings And Use Cues To Prepare For Attacks
Replay Missions To Get Money And S Ranks
Put Time Into The Training And Arena Program, Get Rewards And OST Chips For OS Tuning
Assault Boost Is Not Just For Crossing Long Distances
Don’t Always Use The Hard Lock
Never Stop Moving!

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is a game that puts you in the cockpit of the series’ titular ACs and will require you to really prove yourself as a pilot if you wish to survive the wartorn surface of Rubicon. As you face bigger and tougher threats throughout the game’s main story, you will have to grips with the game’s mechanics and continuously improve. Whether you are just starting out as a first-time Armored Core player or a series veteran trying to shake the rust off, we here at Gameranx have a few tips that might help you! This guide will provide 10 tips and tricks that will help you become a better pilot in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.

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Be Willing To Experiment And Customize Your AC

While getting into the thick of things and battling the many different mechas and enemies throughout the game plays a strong role in your success, the most important part of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon‘s gameplay is learning how you customize and build your AC. While it might be tempting to unlock the weapons that you like and then try and run through the whole game with the same AC, the large variety of encounters you will face can be made easier or harder depending on what you’re using. Arguably, the battles against the many bosses are won in the Garage before ever facing them in a mission since bringing in the right build that is tuned to the encounter can be the difference between a fight being a couple of minutes and a couple of days.

This extends past just what guns or melee weapons you want to use as your AC parts can greatly alter how you play. This is most seen in the Leg Units since the different types of this part will give you different movement options.

All of this to say, If you find yourself hitting a wall in the form of an enemy encounter, don’t just smash your head against it. Go back to the Assembly area of the Garage, rethink your build, and consider what changes can be made to help you overcome it.

Read Descriptions And Stats

An extension of the previous tip, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon actually comes with a large amount of stats and data for each weapon along with descriptions that might fill you in on details that even an in-depth stat screen could overlook. Whenever you hover over a weapon or part in your Assembly menu, read the little item description in the box as it can give some basic insight into the weapon. Let’s use the HI-16: GU-Q1 Pulse Gun and the BALTEUS Boss Fight. Many players find themselves hitting this boss like a brick wall, unable to overcome it with their build. When I reached it and died a few times, I took the advice provided in the first tip and went back to my Assembly men and started looking through my equipment to see what I should change. It was reading the description of the Pulse Gun that told me that it was “suited for canceling out pulse defenses.” Knowing that BALTEUS used a Pulse Shield and is definitely the greatest obstacle to getting damage on the boss, I equipped this weapon and made the fight so much easier. This small box of text helped me get a quick understanding of the weapon, making reading this description paramount in my early game success.

Don’t just rely on the description, however. By pressing the “Toggle Display” button while selecting a weapon/part, an expansive data page will come up to show you every facet of your AC and what changes when the weapon you have selected is equipped. You can also use the “Contextual Help” button in the Help tab to get a deeper explanation of exactly what each stat means. Finally, pressing the “Play Video” button will show you a short clip of exactly how a specific weapon works in-game. Utilize all of these tools to gain a full understanding of how a weapon or piece of equipment functions so that you have a complete grasp on every aspect of your AC.

Practice In AC Training And Save Your AC Data

Building your AC is just part of the battle as getting a feel for how it moves in the field and how your weapons work together is something you can only learn by doing. Luckily, you don’t need to load up a mission to test out these new builds as you can spend time in the AC Test program. This puts you in a digital room where you have free reign to move and shoot to your heart’s content. You can also spawn in some enemies to test your build against. This is a great way to get a feel for your builds in a safe space before jumping into a mission.

As you make multiple builds for different situations or playstyles, make sure you save them in your AC Data section. Saving your builds will make it easy to use them again, cutting down on the time that you need to reconstruct a certain AC you want to use against a certain boss or when you replay a specific mission.

Build Enemy ACS And Protect Your Own

Every enemy you come across in the game has one thing in common with you: You all have an ACS meter right above your health bar. This meter determines whether or not you are staggered. When either you or an enemy is staggered, you will be stunned in place for a few moments and become susceptible to Direct Hit damage. This will deal increased damage to the staggered character. For many encounters, especially with many of the tougher enemies and boss fights, building ACS should be your primary focus since it allows you to take huge chunks of health in a single flurry. That being said, while you focus on trying to stagger the enemy and fill their ACS, be mindful of your meter as well as a stagger for your AC can quickly bring a fully functioning AC back to checkpoint. Keep an eye on that bar above your health and make tactical movements and retreats when it starts to get dangerously close to filling up. You should keep an eye on your environment and look for cover when things get too dicey and use that cover as moments to let your ACS go back down.

Take In Your Surroundings And Use Cues To Prepare For Attacks

A missile coming at your AC from an enemy that is standing directly in front of you isn’t too much of an issue. You can track the course of the incoming attack the whole time and will improve your dodge timing as you play. Some attacks, however, can come at you from off-screen and others are so quick or powerful that you will need to be ready to avoid the incoming damage before it is even fired. Thankfully, the game accounts for these types of attacks as they will provide a visual and audio cue to let you know about the incoming damage. When an attack from off-screen is launched, a beeping sound will trigger and a red icon around your crosshair in the direction the damage is about to come from. For quick-hitting or extremely damaging moves that happen in front of you, you will hear the same beeping sound cue but you will also see red boxes surround the point that the damage is coming from before it fires, giving you a chance to see where the attack will come from and some time to avoid it before it is fired in your direction. Learn these cues and be aware that they should be your top priority when they are seen and/or heard to ensure that you stay alive during a battle.

Replay Missions To Get Money And S Ranks

Going through the main story missions is a great way to blast through the game as quickly as possible, but players who take their time and decide to revisit some of the levels that they have already beaten will be able to reap several benefits. Firstly, it’s just good practice. We discussed it earlier but getting hands-on with your AC will always be the best way to master it. While the AC Test section is great, you can also go into the already completed missions to practice as well. This provides the extra benefit of being able to get money to spend on more equipment. Every time you complete a mission, you will receive that level’s base pay with some cash removed due to expenses that depend on things like ammo spent and so forth. This means that playing these missions and earning S Ranks can get you a lot of money very quickly. You can check out our guide on some of the best missions to farm Credits here.

Put Time Into The Training And Arena Program, Get Rewards And OST Chips For OS Tuning

Going through the main story missions and replaying those missions make up a large part of the Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon but there are a few other modes that are unlocked as you make your way through the game for the first time. These aren’t just simple distractions but also provide you with rewards that will help you improve your ACs with new upgrades and parts. The first thing you should do is the Training Programs as they are unlocked because they not only provide you with an understanding of the game’s systems but also provide several rewards. You will be able to start completing the Training Programs right after you complete Mission 1: Illegal Entry with more programs unlocked over the course of Chapter 1.

Beginner Training 1: Basic Controls (Unlocked After Mission 1: Illegal Entry) – MG-014 LUDLOW Machine Gun
Beginner Training 2: Combat Fundamental (Unlocked After Mission 2: Destroy Artillery Installations) – LR-036 CURTIS Linear Rifle
Intermediate Support 1: Assembling an AC (Unlocked After Mission 07: Destroy the Weaponized Mining Ship) – ALULA/21E Booster Part, FC-006 ABBOT FCS Part, VP-20S Generator Part
Intermediate Support 2: Reverse-Jointed ACs (Unlocked After Mission 07: Destroy the Weaponized Mining Ship) – VP-66LH Laser Handgun
Intermediate Support 3: Tetrapod ACs (Unlocked After Mission 08: Operation Wallclimber) – DF-GR-07 GOU-CHEN Grenade Launcher
Intermediate Support 4: Tank ACs (Unlocked After Mission 08: Operation Wallclimber) – BML-G1/P01VTC-04 Vertical Missile Launcher

In addition to these rewards from the Training Programs, there is also the Arena Programs. These are specialized 1-on-1 battles with AC pilots you will encounter throughout the game. Along with being a testing ground for your abilities against other ACs they also provide you with OST Chips which are used to upgrade your mech on the OS Tuning page. You also receive the AC Data for the defeated mech, allowing you to play as other ACs as long as you own all their parts and weapons.

You should definitely go through all of these missions to get the upgrades and rewards. Getting the weapons from the Training Programs will round out your Arsenal and will also give you some progress toward several Achievements and Trophies for unlocking everything in the game. The Arena’s OST Chips also gives you great upgrades that can completely change your playstyle with abilities like Boost Kick and Weapon Bay while other upgrades provide increased damage for your weapons, allowing you to unleash more and more powerful attacks.

Assault Boost Is Not Just For Crossing Long Distances

While Quick Boost will be the boost type that you will be forced to become familiar with the fastest since it functions as your dodge, the Assault Boost is arguably the most versatile out of all of the boosts that are available in the game. On the surface, the boost seems to be used to travel long distances quickly. This is how it is introduced in the first mission of the game, but it has many more functions that can be beneficial not just for traversal but also in combat. The easiest way this can be seen is with the Boost Kick move. This attack is also an OS Tuning Upgrade and allows you to get a small melee attack to end an Assault Boost. This move gives you a melee option even if you didn’t bring any melee weapons into a level and it does massive damage to the enemy’s ACS meter. Speaking of the stagger meter, one thing that many players might not know is that while you are Assault Boosting, you take less damage to your ACS meter, making it harder for you to stagger. This means it also has some defensive capabilities that you can use as you approach a target.

Another technique that can be used with this Boost is for quick repositioning. let’s use the Juggernaut Boss Fight from Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber. You need to get behind the machine’s armor cover to deal damage to its exposed booster in its back. The Assault Boost partnered with the Quick Turn OS Upgrade can be used in tandem to get you behind the boss and then snap around to face the weak spot before the boss has a chance to move out of the way. This can be made even quicker with the boost cancel. During the Assault Boost introduction, you are told you can stop your boost by hitting back on your controller but you can also stop your boost by simply pressing the jump button. This provides the added benefit of not stopping you in your tracks for a brief moment and allows you to retain your forward moment. All of this makes the Assault Boost a great tool in your AC’s arsenal that goes beyond just traversal.

Don’t Always Use The Hard Lock

It can be tempting to just enable the game’s Hard Lock-On Target Assist System to stay hyper-fixed on a single enemy, but will often be to the detriment of your gameplay. Using your Soft Lock when the Target Assist System is disabled makes battling against large groups of enemies much easier since your movement of the camera is freer and can make moving from target to target much more fluid. Hard Lock isn’t a useless tool, however, as it can keep your camera completely fixed to a single target and make it hard for them to escape your line of sight. This is great when battling against solo enemies.

A small thing you will also notice is that when you Hard Lock, while the camera will track the enemy, your crosshair needs to catch up to the target before your shots will start to land, making quicker enemies harder to hit. Since you have more control of the camera when you are Soft Locked, you can catch up to these enemies quicker but you are more likely to lose them since your camera is fixed on them.

Never Stop Moving!

A simple one to end it off! The amount of incoming damage that will be thrown your way in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is massive. Bullets, missiles, energy beams, etc. You will need to be on your toes at every moment to mitigate enemy volleys. When you are ready to move, make sure you use your Boost Movement Speed and keep up the speed. An AC that stands still will quickly be turned to scrap metal so move around and use everything else we discussed and you will find yourself as a Master AC pilot in no time!