The Armored Core 6 first boss is one of the most challenging first bosses in any FromSoftware, largely because it lures you into playing in a specific way – the wrong way. But, to ensure you aren’t banging your head against the wall, frustrated, and possibly even throwing a controller, we have some tips on how to beat the first boss in Armored Core 6.
As mentioned this is a tough first fight and one of the more memorable Armored Core 6 bosses for how you fight it, as it is an extremely aerial battle. Plus, the Armored Core 6 weapons you are given at the start of the game aren’t too strong.
How to beat the first boss in Armored Core 6
To beat the Armored Core 6 first boss you need to:
- Melee at the start of the fight – Assault Boost to the mech as soon as it enters the arena
- Don’t fight from afar – the helicopter is far more vulnerable to your blade than rockets or machine gun pellets.
- Stay as close to the mech as possible – Try to stay as close as possible to the boss when you are recovering energy.
- Avoid rockets with several dodges or ascending – Rockets are the big damage dealer in this fight so dodging them is key.
The key thing you do not want to do in this fight is try to kill the AH12 HC Helicopter with your machine guns and rockets only. You simply won’t have the damage and ranged fire actually does very little damage to the boss. Instead, when the fight opens, you want to Assault Boost up to the boss and perform two slashes. It can be a bit tricky trying to get these to hit if the boss moves too fast, but try to land at least one each time you boost.
Once you land an attack, drop back to the ground and recover your energy. With your feet on the floor, try to keep close to or beneath the boss where possible. This won’t always be easier, but it prevents you from getting hit by a barrage of rocket fire. While on the ground, you can supplement your melee attacks with rocket and machine gun fire, just to keep up the boss’ stagger bar (the yellow bar), as we eventually want to stagger the boss and disable one of its weapons. It drops fairly quickly if you don’t keep up the offensive, so it is worth landing a few hits regularly.
With your energy back and if you are up close to the boss Assault Boost once again, perform two melees and drop back to the ground. Repeat this over and over to finish the fight.
Once the boss is staggered, it will lose access to one of its weapons systems. This makes the fight a bit easier. However, throughout this fight, you will still want to be dodging all of the missiles. All of them! Fast-firing missiles lock onto you and start heading in your direction? Three or four dodges in a single direction will be enough to avoid any serious damage. Do be careful for walls though.
You can also do this with the slow-firing missiles, but jumping and then landing back on the floor is a much better method of evasion, as is hiding behind the buildings scattered around the arena. This tactic can also be done to avoid the machine gun fire, which is quite deadly when up close and can actually leave you stagged.
This is just one of the many fights in the Armored Core 6 missions and it is a real difficulty spike in the first mission. But, once you have beaten the Armored Core 6 first boss, you can move on deeper into the game and take on tougher challenges.