Highlights
- Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon challenges the Soulsborne formula by focusing on mech customization and strategy against bosses.
- The Pile Bunker is the best melee weapon, dealing high impact damage and staggering bosses with its fast charge attack.
- The Laser Handgun is a top choice for dual-wield builds, with high rate of fire, impact damage, range, and accuracy.
It's rare for a studio that effectively pioneered a genre to, just over a decade later, buck the trends of that genre entirely in their latest release. Leave it to FromSoftware to not only take that approach but blow it out of the water with Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon. While there are unmistakable elements of the studio's legendary Soulsborne franchises that have worked their way into their new mech-action game, the bones and guts of this release are entirely their own beast.
The game's challenging bosses are where Armored Core 6: Fire Of Rubicon most obviously goes against the Soulsborne formula. In a Souls game, players would need to learn a boss' moveset to spot dodge windows. In Armored Core 6, they must also learn how to customize their mech (or Armored Core) to suit the scenario they're facing. The game's customization features over 100 AC pieces, all of which have perks and detriments. One of the most crucial AC pieces players will choose from is their weapons. Here are the very best weapons the game has to offer.
10 PB-033M ASHMEAD (Pile Bunker)
For the melee weapon ACs out there, the choices available are all solid in terms of effectiveness. Some deal more damage or stagger than others, but overall, if a player wants to have a melee weapon in their left hand, any option will do.
However, if they want the best, that weapon is the Pile Bunker. This gauntlet has excellent impact damage and can stagger most bosses with a single hit if they've been softened up a little. Once staggered, the Pile Bunker's extremely fast charge attack can wipe out a good chunk of health while still leaving time to fire off a few other weapons before the enemy gets back up (if they get back up).
9 DF-GR-07 Gou-Chen (Grenade Launcher)
The Gou-Chen becomes available fairly early in the game, and players will find that it's one of the more effective ranged weapons for staggering tougher enemies. Its rate of fire is startlingly quick and meshes very nicely with its equally surprising accuracy. Even if the initial shot misses, the resulting explosion should still deal damage.
Where the Gou-Chen truly excels is when combined with a set of Tetrapod legs like the VP-424s. The ability to hover for long periods in the air and rain down fire from the Gou-Chen is something truly special, and a few of the game's bosses, such as the Smart Cleaner in Chapter 2, aren't equipped to handle it.
8 VP-66LH (Laser Handgun)
Not every player will be able to make full use of the Laser Handgun, but for anyone who is playing a dual-wield build, there aren't any better Handgun options available. One of these bad boys in each hand of an AC allows for a relatively lightweight build that still deals crazy damage and builds up stagger at a rapid rate.
The Laser Handguns have a charge shot available, but players won't make much use of it. Their rate of fire is already so high that hampering it by charging up a shot is actually a detriment. Add to that their fantastic impact damage, and excellent range and accuracy, and these handguns are nothing to scoff at. Just be ready for the muscles on that left trigger finger to get a bit of a workout.
7 IA-C01W6: NB-REDSHIFT (Coral Rifle)
This laser rifle can't even be unlocked until players reach NG++, and for that much effort, it's no wonder this is one of the game's stronger weapons. Powered by Coral energy, this gun is the best of both worlds for range and damage, which makes it hard to beat.
The damage output alone makes this laser rifle one of the best in its category, but what elevates it above its peers is the AOE damage that results from its shots exploding after contact. One pull of the NB-REDSHIFT trigger is more than capable of taking out two or more closely grouped enemies if timed correctly. Its effectiveness against bosses varies depending on the enemy in question, but when dealing with mobs, it's in a class of its own.
6 VP-60LCS (Laser Cannon)
One of the earliest high-powered shoulder weapons players will gain access to in Armored Core 6, the Laser Cannon fires a deadly-accurate beam of energy at its target. It has fantastic range, is accurate against all but the quickest enemies, and will deal a ton of damage when it connects.
The best part about this weapon is that, much like its handheld laser counterparts, it doesn't need to reload. While it doesn't have a noticeably quick rate of fire, players need not wait for their Laser Cannon to cool down before firing again. It's not always advantageous to do so, but this weapon will fire as frequently as its user desires, making it one of the quickest shoulder weapons in the game.
5 VP-67EB (Stun Baton)
The Stun Baton is not the best melee weapon in Armored Core 6. In fact, in most builds and in most fights, it's not particularly useful. There is exactly one reason why this weapon ranks so highly on this list: it absolutely demolishes the game's bosses.
The Stun Baton does this by allowing players to essentially stun lock any boss that has the misfortune of being struck with it. Its attacks recharge quickly and deal an absurd amount of stagger buildup that all but guarantees staggering even the freshest bosses. As YouTuber Oyff discovered, even Armored Core 6's hardest boss is reduced to a meme by this weapon.
4 DF-GA-08 Hu-Ben (Gatling Gun)
One of the most difficult (and often frustrating) aspects of Armored Core 6's boss fights is that the enemy often moves so quickly that maintaining stagger buildup becomes exceedingly difficult. If the enemy dashes too far away, by the time players get in close enough to start firing again, the boss' stagger meter has recovered. Enter: the Hu-Ben Gatling Gun.
Despite being a ballistic weapon, the Gatling Gun doesn't have a magazine, so reloading is never an issue. Players can just hold down the trigger and fire away; their only concern is the weapon overheating. This steady application of ballistic fire can stagger bosses all by itself, and if they're already staggered, the Gatling Gun does excellent damage. Players who dual-wield these bad boys will only amplify these effects.
3 SONGBIRDS (Grenade Cannon)
As far as explosive weapons go, there is no better option than the shoulder-mounted SONGBIRDS. This double-barrelled Grenade Cannon may have a painfully slow reload speed, but it more than makes up for it in pure, unrestricted damage.
The SONGBIRDS' two barrels fire simultaneously, essentially making it a two-for-one version of the Gou-Chen. However, the explosive radius of each grenade is much higher, as is the stagger potential. If a player can get their AC in close and fire off the SONGBIRDS right in the enemy's face, they'll be hard-pressed to find a more efficient way to deal large amounts of damage.
2 SG-027 Zimmerman (Shotgun)
There is pretty much one ubiquitous detail about shotguns that remains consistent throughout any video game that features them: they are a close-range weapon. Well, players should forget what they know because Armored Core 6 doesn't play by the rules. The Zimmerman is a long-range shotgun, and it's as unfair as it sounds.
The addition of "range" to this shotgun's toolkit makes it a stagger machine. No enemy is safe from its blast, which means it's virtually effortless to melt through their defenses. The damage it can deal once those defenses are gone is equally impressive. The only downside to the Zimmerman is its slow rate of fire, but a player who dual-wields these shotguns and has a good understanding of positioning won't find a more powerful handheld weapon anywhere in the game.
1 VE-60SNA (Stun Needle Launcher)
The strongest weapon in Armored Core 6 is also the only weapon on this list that is gifted to the player. During the final battle of Chapter 3, on a mission called "Destroy the Ice Worm," players will be granted the Stun Needle Launcher to, believe it or not, destroy an Ice Worm.
While players will automatically have access to the Stun Needle Launcher for their right shoulder following that mission, they can purchase a left-shoulder version immediately afterward. Doubling up on this weapon is the most consistent way to stagger or damage bosses. It fires quickly, is deadly accurate, and reloads in no time. It's essential for certain fights in the game's later chapters and is becoming a must-have in PVP. It is, simply put, the best weapon in Armored Core 6.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon was released on August 25th, 2023, and is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.
