Armored Core 6 (VI) Best Builds

In Armored Core VI you can customize equipped parts in the Assembly Menu. This allows for a lot of tactical freedom. There are certain builds that are absolutely overpowered and allow you to brute force bosses without any skill required. This guide explains the best builds for each stage of the game to get past any boss easily.

Generally speaking, tank builds with a lot of AP (health) and Defense are best. They can carry heavy weaponry that deals massive damage. You want to use Shoulder Weapons that deal a lot of Impact Damage to stagger enemies fast. Then during the Stagger Phase deal a lot of damage with hand weapons, ideally dual-wielding Gatling Guns at close range.

It’s more a game of simple math than skill. If you have twice the health of your opponent and deal twice the damage per second, there is virtually no way you could lose (since the game uses auto-lockon you don’t even need to aim). Even without dodging you can simply overpower any boss through sheer brute force by staggering them fast and dealing maximum damage in the stagger phase. There is practically no way a lightweight build would possibly stand a chance against a heavy tank with twice the health and much heavier weapons equipped. Lightweight builds are at a huge disadvantage in this game. There is just mathematically no way a lightweight with half the defense stats (meaning it takes twice as much damage per hit) and half the health would stand a chance against a heavy tank that has double those stats. Tanks may be a bit hard to control while driving on the ground but you can easily negate this by flying ( / ), hover over the enemy and blast the ground with heavy explosive shoulder weapons to stagger, then drop down to unload your Dual Gatling Guns on them. While dodging you can’t fire your weapons, and it’s impossible to dodge all attacks anyway in this game. Better to just overpower the enemy and win the fight in 15 seconds, easy peasy. With the below builds you can defeat any Arena boss in under 15 seconds, and main story bosses go down in 2-3 stagger phases (usually 1 minute or less).

Best Chapter 1 Early Game Build

The main important parts that matter here are the heavy tank “legs”, having two VP-60LCS laser weapons on the back because they deal good Impact Damage and can be shot in quick succession before they overheat, allowing you to stagger enemies very fast. Then dual-wielded shotguns are great at dealing damage during the stagger phase. The beauty of this build is how simple it’s to use. Tap / & / at all times to fire the weapons continuously, press / to fly close towards the enemy in the air (try to hover over them). In flight the tank build is easy to control, avoid driving on the ground. Stay close to enemies for increased damage, otherwise the bullets can get deflected. All parts are available after Mission 8. You can farm Mission 6 (Attack the Dam Complex) a few times for easy money, just destroy the main objectives in that mission, only takes about 90 seconds and gives 180,000 COAM every time.

• R-Arm: SG-026 HALDEMAN – Shop: 75,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Chapter 1: Missions 6 & 7
• L.Arm: SG-026 HALDEMAN – Shop: 75,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Chapter 1: Missions 6 & 7
• R-Back: VP-60LCS – Shop: 147,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Chapter 1: Missions 6 & 7
• L-Back: VP-60LCS – Shop: 147,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Chapter 1: Missions 6 & 7
• Head: Anything (doesn’t matter which)
• Core: DF-BD-08 TIAN-QIANG – Shop: 390,000 COAM – Purchaseable when shop is first available after Mission 2: Destroy Artillery Installations
• Arms: DF-AR-08 TIAN-QIANG – Shop: 200,000 COAM – Purchaseable when shop is first available after Mission 2: Destroy Artillery Installations
• Legs: LG-022T BORNEMISSZA – Shop: 280,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber.
• Booster: Nothing (auto-equipped with Tank Legs)
• FCS: FC-006 ABBOT – Obtained after completing training mission Intermediate Support 1: Assembling an AC
• Generator: VP-20D – Shop: 416,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber.
• Expansion: Nothing

Best Chapter 2 & 3 Build

At the start of Chapter 2 you unlock a lot of new parts that will take our Chapter 1 build to the next level. Most importantly here are the Dual-Wielded Gatling Guns “DF-GA-08 HU-BEN” and the 2 Shoulder Launchers “SONGBIRDS”. The strategy is the same as before except you do way more damage. Hover above enemies in the air, shoot the SONGBIRD shoulder weapons for massive Impact Damage. This alone can stagger most enemies, and even if the enemy evades they will still get caught in the splash damage from the explosion. Then drop down and fire the two Gatling Guns. The Gatling Guns can keep shooting for quite a while before they overheat, lasting almost perfectly one stagger phase against most bosses. Their damage stat may seem weak at first glance but because they shoot so fast and for so long without reloading they are unbeatable in Damage-Per-Second at close range. We will use the Dual-Wielded Gatling Guns for the rest of the game, there is no better weapon for fast damage output. Even in the third playthrough New Game++ you will still tear through enemies with ease.

• R-Arm: DF-GA-08 HU-BEN – Shop: 170,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• L.Arm: DF-GA-08 HU-BEN – Shop: 170,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• R-Back: SONGBIRDS – Shop: 182,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• L-Back: SONGBIRDS – Shop: 182,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• Head: Any (doesn’t matter which)
• Core: DF-BD-08 TIAN-QIANG – Shop: 390,000 COAM – Purchaseable when shop is first available after Mission 2: Destroy Artillery Installations
• Arms: Use whatever has the highest carry capacity (if you have the pre-order DLC, AR-012 MELANDER C3 is good, but can use anything else)
• Legs: LG-022T BORNEMISSZA – Shop: 280,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber.
• Booster: Nothing (auto-equipped with Tank Legs)
• FCS: FC-006 ABBOT – Obtained after completing training mission Intermediate Support 1: Assembling an AC
• Generator: VP-20S – Obtained after completing training mission Intermediate Support 1: Assembling an AC
• Expansion: Terminal Armor – bought from AC Tuning Menu

Best Chapter 4 & New Game+ Build

In Chapter 4 you can buy a second VE-60SNA Needle Gun (Back Weapon). The first is already available before the Chapter 3 endboss. The Needle Guns are even better than the SONGBIRDS. They shoot faster and land direct hits more often, they stagger enemies faster, and on direct hits their damage is much better. When enemies are staggered keep shooting them with the two Shoulder Weapons in addition to the Gatling Guns. It will take down enemies quite a bit faster than with the SONGBIRDS, which were slow to fire. But even with the Chapter 2 build you could rush the rest of the game easily. SONGBIRDS are still nice for groups of enemies, but the Stun Needle Launchers are better against bosses. For all other parts go with what has the highest AP & Defense stats. Keep using the Heavy Tank base from Chapter 1, it has the highest stats in the game. You can keep using this build for subsequent NG+ / NG++ playthroughs.

• R-Arm: DF-GA-08 HU-BEN – Shop: 170,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• L.Arm: DF-GA-08 HU-BEN – Shop: 170,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• R-Back: VE-60SNA – Reward for completing Mission 26: Historic Data Recovery.
• L-Back: VE-60SNA – Shop: 283,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 27: Destroy the Ice Worm
• Head: HD-033M VERRILL – Shop: 205,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 27: Destroy the Ice Worm.
• Core: DF-BD-08 TIAN-QIANG – Shop: 390,000 COAM – Purchaseable when shop is first available after Mission 2: Destroy Artillery Installations
• Arms: DF-AR-09 TIAN-LAO – Shop: 310,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 11: Attack the Watchpoint
• Legs: LG-022T BORNEMISSZA – Shop: 280,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber.
• Booster: Nothing (auto-equipped with Tank Legs)
• FCS: FC-006 ABBOT – Obtained after completing training mission Intermediate Support 1: Assembling an AC
• Generator: VP-20D – Shop: 416,000 COAM – Purchaseable after completing Mission 8: Operation Wallclimber.
• Expansion: Terminal Armor – bought from AC Tuning Menu

And that’s it! Enjoy your newfound power. Some of the later bosses can still take multiple tries as they have multiple health bars and hit pretty hard, but you can brute force all of them if you land the shots with shoulder weapons early on to stagger them. Just retry the harder bosses and keep brute-forcing them, you just need to get a little lucky that they don’t evade your hits. Try to shoot the shoulder weapons after they dodge and stand still, or when they are charging an attack. Remember to fly, don’t drive on the ground. Always stay close to the enemy for more damage output with the Gatling Guns.

For everything else needed to obtain 100% completion refer to Armored Core VI Strategy Guide.