Welcome to the official starter guide for Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon.
In this long-awaited continuation of FromSoftware’s classic mech action series, learning how to pilot your Armored Core and customize its assembly will be key to outperforming your opponents and surviving long enough to uncover Rubicon’s fiercely-guarded secrets.
Whether this is your first sortie at the controls of an AC or you’re a grizzled veteran with extensive knowledge of previous titles, we’ve designed this guide as a training manual to quickly get you up to speed on the fundamentals of the gameplay.
It will introduce you to this installment’s high-octane combat system and help you become familiar with many of the enigmatic factions vying for dominion over the crimson-scorched planet that serves as the backdrop for the unfolding conflict.
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Setting the Stage
After awakening above ISB2262 “Rubicon 3”, you activate your Armored Core, readying for an illegal descent to the surface. You are immediately intercepted and fired upon by one of the Closure System satellites orbiting the planet, altering your trajectory and forcing you to crash just outside of your intended drop site.
Identified only as “C4-621” and outfitted with a cerebral Coral control device, you are one of the independent mercenaries employed by Handler Walter to complete jobs on behalf of the various factions operating on Rubicon.
As a faithful “hound,” you’re told to focus only on the job at hand, without consideration for the politics of the extraplanetary corporations or the local inhabitants waging war on the surface.
After retrieving the independent mercenary license of a fallen pilot—designation Rb23 “Raven”—you assume this stolen identity and embark on a journey across Rubicon to increase your renown while surveying the planet in search of an elusive bounty that will set you and your handler up for life: Coral.
Getting Started
The latest entry in a long-running series that first made its debut in 1997, Armored Core VI can best be described as a third-person mech action game with a heavy emphasis on shooting, vertical mobility, and customization.
Many of its elements might feel familiar, but in typical FromSoftware fashion, the gameplay has been carefully crafted and refined to offer a degree of depth and flexibility that sets it apart from other superficially similar titles. Find in this guide some basics you should know before getting started.
Game Flow
Armored Core VI is a game of two halves: assembly and combat.
Each of these aspects feeds into the other, and mastering only one of them will lead to a much less balanced play experience.
When you view combat as only one half of the game’s challenge, you’ll be able to see much more clearly how it’s affected by your choices during assembly.
This section aims to shed some light on the game’s interlinking systems and overall structure by taking a high level view of some of the concepts and gameplay formats that you’ll be introduced as you progress through the game’s first chapter.
Gameplay & Combat
From infiltrating an enemy excavation site deep underground to tackling a massive, two-kilometer tall weaponized mining fortress, you’ll be thrown into a wide variety of scenarios that will test your mettle as you battle your way across Rubicon.
In this section, we’ll attempt to lift the veil on some of the various gameplay systems to help get you started on the journey toward mastering them and becoming an elite mercenary.
Constructing your AC
Due to the highly customizable nature of ACs, putting one together with your own selection of parts, and then changing their design for your own personal look is a major component in making your experience in the game feel unique.
You can choose your weapons, head, core, arms, legs, booster, FCS, generator, and core expansion slots to truly ne-tune your experience, and every piece will have a significant impact on your AC’s specs and how it controls.
All of the parts you collect can then be equipped in the Assembly, and in this section we’ll cover the most important unit specs before going over some of the customization options to help get everything looking exactly how you want.
Mission Guide
Welcome to the Mission Guide.
This section will walk you through the early missions of the game’s first chapter. Each mission is covered with a point-by-point walkthrough that follows a specific route, which we’ve highlighted on the accompanying maps.
Any Armored Cores or Bosses you’ll encounter in these missions are also covered here, with full strategies and detailed breakdowns of their potential attacks. Below we’ll explain the format a little to make sure it’s all as clear as possible.
Mission List (Walkthrough)
- [00] [Prologue] Illegal Entry P.40
- [01-A] Destroy Artillery Installations P.44
- [01-B] Grid 135 Cleanup P.46
- [02-A] Destroy the Transport Helicopters P.48
- [03-A] Attack the Dam Complex P.52
- [03-B] Destroy the Weaponized Mining Ship P.56
- [04] Operation Wallclimber P.60
Boss List
- HC HELICOPTER P.43
- STRIDER P.59
- JUGGERNAUT P.64
ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON – Strategy Guide
Official Pilot’s Manual
