What are the Armored Core 6 bosses? While it may not be a soulslike, AC6 still features the long, complex boss fights that FromSoftware has become known for. The emphasis of the game is still on your highly customizable mech, but the combat plays an integral part in your journey.
There aren’t a huge amount of AC6 bosses, as we covered in our AC6 review, and most of them are far from tough. To gear up to take on any of these behemoths, check out all of the AC6 leg types available for the best AC6 build. If you’re wondering whether Armored Core 6 Game Pass is a thing, we’ve got you covered there, too.
Armored Core 6 boss list
Here are all the AC6 bosses in order:
- AH12 HC Helicopter
- HA-T-102 Juggernaut
- AA P07 Balteus
- EC-0804 Smart Cleaner
- AA-602 CATAPHRACT
- IA-02: Ice Worm
- AA P03 Enforcer
- IB-01: CEL 240
- IB-C03: HAL 826
- IB-07: SOL 644
- Eliminate V.III
- ALLMIND
AH12 HC Helicopter
This is one of the tougher fights since it’s right at the end of the first mission. To defeat the boss, fly up and hit the boss with your blade weapon. When it gets close enough, use your shoulder weapon alongside your gun. You also fight the same boss later at a distance, so your best bet is using charged laser shots or tetrapod legs to hover near it.
HA-T-102 Juggernaut
Our best advice is to keep off the ground as this boss loves to try to run you over and uses explosives and mines to keep you moving. Fly above it and shoot it in the back where it’s unprotected. Using both dual shotguns and missiles will stagger it pretty quickly, so just hit it in the back as much as you can and attempt to stay airborne.
AA P07 Balteus
Balteus can seem like a nightmare if you’re not prepared. Much like before, we recommend two shotguns, but a shoulder-mounted laser weapon also works here as you can continually shoot it to break its shield. You should be able to stagger it quickly to prevent its attacks. Once the shield is broken, you can stagger it. Dodge the horizontal attacks by boosting to the side, then dodge the other one by jumping above Balteus and shoot it while you’re coming down.
EC-0804 Smart Cleaner
This one has grinders on its arms that attempt to smash you. Dodge to the side to avoid these. Again, equip dual shotguns and a mounted laser or two, run up to the glowing weak spot in its center and blast it until it’s staggered.
IA-13 Sea Spider
The Sea Spider is also very tough if you’re not prepared and aren’t sure how best to deal with it. I don’t recommend trying to fight it at range due to its huge beams and explosive attacks. It also jumps down towards you and attempts a smash attack which does a huge amount of damage. As always, stay as close to it as you can. Most of its attacks can’t hit you if you’re directly underneath it. Stagger it and then unleash your most damaging attacks. Once it gets down to the last bit of its health bar, the Sea Spider takes to the sky and charges a deadly attack. When it starts to crackle with red electricity, jump in the air and hover to avoid it.
AA-602 CATAPHRACT
This is just like the Smart Cleaner above. Its weak spot is an AC in its center, but this boss is much faster, so bring a quicker mech to keep pace with it. Just avoid its attacks and blast it directly in the exposed core.
IA-02: Ice Worm
Less of a boss and more of an event battle. Lock onto it and wait until it shows the exposed machinery of its face from a direct angle before shooting it with the Stun Needle launcher. You need to hit it dead on, so try not to shoot the side of its head or you’ll miss. Once you remove its shield via a needle, a rail gun blast will hit it and knock it down, so shoot it until you can’t hurt it anymore. When the Ice Worm is weak, it summons drones that you need to defeat before moving on to the next phase.
During the third phase, the Ice Worm comes out of the ground and unleashes a red electric torrent. Stay on the move during this section or else you’ll take some serious damage as the area around it is electrified. It also shoots homing projectiles at you that you can dodge by boosting to the side when they get close. You need to hit it with two needles this time, so just do it like before.
AA P03 Enforcer
Not much harder than a typical AC battle. You can shoot it from a distance or up close, just be wary of its blade. It tends to start by thrusting the weapon at you, so dodge to the side. If you’re fighting it up close, back off when it revs up to sweep its blade or you’ll get hit. It also slams the blade into the ground for a large area of effect attack that you’ll want to steer clear of.
IB-01: CEL 240
This is probably the hardest boss in the game. Dodge to the side to avoid its beam attacks. It likes to charge at you, so jump over this and unload on it as it passes underneath you. It has blade attacks that create a powerful projectile as well, which you can jump over. Stay on the move as much as possible and boost to the side whenever it attacks. It has two health bars and is extremely fast, so don’t waste your ammo.
IB-C03: HAL 826 (Ending 1 boss)
There are three final bosses for each AC6 ending. Talking about them at any length would ruin the fun, but they’re basically standard AC battles as opposed to full bosses. They don’t need much in the way of special advice that hasn’t worked for all of the AC battles you’ve gotten into thus far.
IB-07: SOL 644 (Ending 2 boss)
Sol 644 makes frequent use of ranged sword slashes that create a projectile, but it also charges up a really strong slash projectile that can’t be dodged unless you jump over it.
Eliminate ALLMIND (Ending 3 boss)
The ending 3 final boss also has two health bars and gets multiple helpers. However, you get a helper of your own, so it evens out. Lock on to them, circle strafe, boost when they attack, and hit them with high-impact attacks to stagger them before you unload. They deal more damage than a normal AC fight but are not necessarily harder to avoid as long as your AC is fast enough.
Those are all the Armored Core 6 bosses and how to defeat them. You’ll have to fight most of these repeatedly if you do the AC6 new game plus, and having the right AC6 OS upgrades equipped can also limit the damage.