Shoulder weapons tend to be the heavy artillery in Armored Core 6. Arm weapons will be lighter, faster, and not deal as much damage. Shoulder weapons are much heavier and can be absolutely devastating when used wisely.
Armored Core 6 has an almost daunting amount of customization options. You get to fine tune everything about the way your AC functions, down to the literal operating system. Everything is a trade off, of course—you can’t have it all and must choose between damage, speed, durability, etc. As such, the explosive capabilities of shoulder weapons also involve big trade-offs for your AC.
Usually you might expect a game to treat something like this as a sort of “secondary” weapon tier, and as such give players significantly less options to choose from. This could not be further from the case in Armored Core 6. There are nearly as many shoulder weapons as there are arm weapons, and the versatility/customization potential is completely on par.
All Explosive shoulder weapons in Armored Core 6
Grenade Cannons/Bazookas
A personal favorite of mine, grenades and bazookas have a very fast projectile speed and massive damage. They are trickier to land than missiles, but extremely rewarding when you do. These are great for slower targets that have trouble evading, as well as for enemies that have just been Staggered and are ready to be punished.
- EARSHOT Grenade Cannon
- MORLEY Spread Bazooka SB-033M
- SONGBIRD Grenade Cannon
Decisions, decisions. The bazooka is decent, but I can’t think of a single reason to choose it over the Songbird. The Earshot does a little bit more damage than the Songbird, but has double the reload time.
Missile Launchers
Missiles travel slower, lock on to targets, and typically fire several projectiles at the same time. These can be better for faster moving targets who love evading your attacks, as even if they dodge a couple missiles, several will likely still make contact.
- Active Homing Missile Launcher BML-G3/P04ACT-02
- Active Homing Missile Launcher BML-G3/P04ACT–01
- Cluster Missile Launcher WR-0999 DELIVERY BOY
- Container Missile Launcher BML-G1/P29CNT
- Dual Missile Launcher BML-G1/P32DUO-03
- Dual Missile Launcher BML-G1/PS1DUO-02
- Dual Missile Launcher BML-G2/P08DUO-03
- Missile Launcher BML-G1/P20MLT-04
- Missile Launcher BML-G2/P03MLT-06
- Missile Launcher BML-G2/P05MLT-10
- Scatter Missile Launcher WS-5001 SOUP
- Split Missile Launcher BML-62/P17SPL-16
- Split Missile Launcher BML-62/P19SPL-12
- Split Missile Launcher BML-G2/P16SPL-08
- Vertical Missile Launcher BML-G1/P01VTC-04
- Vertical Missile Launcher BML-G1/P03VTC-08
- Vertical Missile Launcher BML-G1/P07VTC-12
Don’t let the absurd amount of missile launchers intimidate you—they’re mostly the same thing over and over again except with added weight. If you want to run Missile Launchers, prioritize other weapons or parts, and then select the heaviest type that you have room for.
Related: The best missile builds in Armored Core 6
All Kinetic shoulder weapons in Armored Core 6
Shields
Shields are a slept-on piece of equipment in Armored Core 6, and they can be absolutely life saving. As you can guess, they block damage. Some shields even have a sort of “perfect block” system that rewards you by completely negating the damage from an attack if activated the moment an attack is about to make contact.
- Pulse Buckler SI-29: SU-TT/C
- Pulse Buckler VP-61PB
- Pulse Scutum VE-61PSA
- Pulse Shield SI-24: SU-Q5
- Pulse Shield SI-27: SU-R8
- Pulse Shield VP-61PS
- Pulse Shield Launcher EULE/60D
However, I’ve found shields to be very hit or miss. During the campaign, most boss attacks will blast right through them. In PvP, they’re fantastic against certain builds, but you don’t have any way of knowing what your opponent will be using before the match.
Weapons
Okay, so there’s only two, and neither really feels like a Kinetic weapon, but the game labels them as such—and the label really matters because OS Tunings improve damage of specific weapon types (Kinetic, Energy, and Explosive). Plus, one of these weapons is the literal best in the game, so it deserves it’s own category.
- Needle Missile Launcher EL-PW-01 TRUENO
- Stun Needle Launcher VE-60SNA
The Trueno is cool, I guess? The Stun Needle Launcher, however, is the objectively best weapon in Armored Core 6. Seriously, it’s annoying—nothing else even comes close. You can get around the need to use it in in single player by being skilled enough that you don’t need it, but choosing anything else puts you at an immediate massive disadvantage in PvP.
In any event, both weapons inflict Electrical Discharge, a rare and very powerful effect in Armored Core 6.
Related: Best weapons by type in Armored Core 6
All Energy shoulder weapons in Armored Core 6
Plasma Cannons
Plasma weapons can sort of be thought of as the explosive equivalent of Energy weapons. They have a slower projectile speed which translates to less accuracy, however, they deal damage in a splash zone, meaning they don’t need to make direct contact to be effective and they can even damage multiple enemies at once.
- Plasma Cannon FASAN/60E
- Plasma Missile Launcher Vvc-703PM
- Plasma Missile Launcher Vvc-706PM
- Plasma Missile Launcher Vvc-70PM
- Pulse Cannon KRANICH/60Z
Personally, I don’t like any Plasma Launchers (I’m a Songbird loyalist). Of the lot, I think the Plasma Cannon is the best option, as it reaches it’s target fastest and covers a wide spread of ground, mitigating the lack of accuracy on plasma weapons.
Laser Cannons
Laser Cannons are more like Kinetic weapons. They have a very high projectile speed, but they don’t do splash damage. Typically, Lasers can be charged by holding down the fire button in order to greatly ramp up damage as well as projectile speed.
- Diffuse Laser Cannon VP-60LCD
- Laser Cannon VE-60LCA
- Laser Cannon VP-60LCS
Lasers are an absolutely awesome choice if you aren’t feeling explosives on the shoulders. Truly, they make me wish the Stun Needle Launcher didn’t exist so that there would be an actual reason to use them with their great rate of fire and projectile speed. Think rail-guns.
