Armored Core 6 is a FromSoftware game. In case you don’t recognize that name, that’s the studio that made Elden Ring and Dark Souls.
In case you don’t recognize THOSE names, Dark Souls is widely renowned and infamous for being extremely challenging—some people consider it among the hardest video gaming series ever created. Elden Ring, though perhaps not considered as difficult as Dark Souls, certainly has a seat at the same table.
Armored Core 6 came in unannounced, didn’t knock, didn’t say hello, and brought it’s own chair to that table. It’s hard. Very hard. There isn’t a single easy boss in Armored Core 6, but there are definitely some standouts.
The five hardest bosses in Armored Core 6
These bosses all took me at least an hour on my first playthrough, and I’ve corroborated my experience. Most forums aren’t able to agree on an objective hardest boss, as difficulty will naturally fluctuate with an individual’s playstyle and personal strengths/weaknesses in gameplay.
With that said, you won’t find a single person who thought any of these bosses were easy, and you likely won’t find a single person who will name a boss other than these five as their choice for the most difficult.
5) Helicopter
This is the first boss you’ll encounter in Armored Core 6. Usually, the first boss will be designed to sort of ease you into the way boss fights will function in a specific game. They’ll provide a decent challenge, but mostly, it will be about learning.
In Armored Core 6, the Helicopter is also about learning. Learning that this game is different—that the first boss will NOT be easy. In fact, it almost feels like devs are warning you; this won’t have bosses based around learning mechanics or dodging certain attacks, they will be flat-out skill checks.
The “gimmick” to beating the Helicopter is to get better. Better at aiming, better at movement, better at timing your attacks—all of it. Get good.
While this AC6 boss can be extremely frustrating on your first playthrough, the despair is necessary, as it ultimately is just a primer for the frustration to come.
4) SEA SPIDER
The Sea Spider is an absolute menace and comes at a sort of horrible time. It’s not too far after a different boss fight (which we’ll get to later in this list). After this other boss, you probably feel like you can do anything. Not because you flattened that other boss, mind you—in fact it’s quite the opposite. You’ve been in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. You’ve trained for hours and hours on end. Nothing can EVER be as hard as that last boss which you eventually managed to be.
In a way, you’re right. The Sea Spider isn’t AS hard in our opinion, but it’s also anything but a cakewalk. Expect to need at least five or so lives to even get this thing to its second stage.
The real kicker that makes Sea Spider so difficult is its pincer/leg attacks, which there just doesn’t seem to be any foolproof way of avoiding. There are no i-frames (invincibility frames) during a dodge in Armored Core 6, so dodging at the perfect moment doesn’t necessarily mean evading damage.
Related: How to beat the Sea Spider and Best build for fighting the Sea Spider
The Sea Spider does a great job of locking on and tracking your AC with this pincer attack, and it does MASSIVE damage. Because there aren’t i-frames, the only way to avoid it is to outsmart the boss’s programming. This means adapting on the fly every time the attack is used, as there will never be the exact same scenario twice.
3) PCA Warrant Officer
Some of the hardest elements of this fight are just complete mental warfare. He’s just an enemy AC. JUST AN AC. So WHY is he flooring me over and over and over again? When you’re losing to say, Sea Spider, you’re losing to a massive mechanized flying laser spider nightmare. Yeah, that checks out. There’s something about being walloped by a boss using the exact same equipment as you that just makes it extra frustrating.
On top of that, you don’t get a checkpoint at the start of this fight, meaning when you lose (you will lose), you have to start the mission over.
Granted, the PCA Warrant Officer will only take about three to five minutes to reach, but that time adds up quickly and makes losing infinitely more frustrating. Not to mention the fact taking any damage at all (god forbid you have to use a Repair Kit) during the first three minutes will put you at a massive disadvantage.
Related: How to beat the PCA Warrant Officer
As if THAT wasn’t enough, this fight takes place in a tiny indoor room, and the Officer isn’t the only enemy in the room. This greatly hinders your build/playstyle options. If you like long ranged weapons and evasive, movement-based ACs, forget it. This fight forces you to play up close and dirty. Most other bosses, though there may be a more advantageous style, at least allow you to decide how you would like to approach the fight.
2) BALTEUS
BALTEUS. We can almost leave it at that. This boss made me question whether I would ever be progressing past Chapter One in Armored Core 6. I mentioned the Helicopter is a skill check, but also a primer. The primer is for BALTEUS.
I’m not exaggerating when I say BALTEUS made me legitimately question the design choice in Armored Core 6. There are no difficulty settings that can be changed, what you get is what you get. I have never been the type to lower difficulty, I love being challenged. My personal claim to fame is beating the original God of War and God of War 2 on God Mode, which required button mashing at a speed that quite frankly isn’t possible for some people.
Related: How to beat BALTEUS and Best build for fighting BALTEUS
All that is just to say that I play a lot of games, and I know my way around a boss fight. BALTEUS took me almost five hours to defeat. Towards the latter half of those five hours, I found myself genuinely curious if average everyday gamers who aren’t looking to test their mettle would actually be able to progress past this fight.
I’m still not sure if I know the answer to that question.
1) CEL 240
CEL 240… this boss genuinely feels like you’re the NPC, and it is the player. By that I mean CEL will be constantly dashing around you, breaking line of sight, and… just outplaying you. It feels like this boss actively takes advantage of “cheesy” mechanics in ways you usually will only ever see humans do.
It’s difficult to describe exactly what this feels like, but you’ll see when you get to this boss. CEL does not feel like player vs. computer, it feels like a PVP match against your best friend’s older brother who has a good controller and gatekeeps controls.
CEL 240 plays mind games to break your spirit too. Almost every boss has a second phase, so that has come to be expected by the time you get to this boss in Chapter Four. However, every other boss reaches their second phase around half health. CEL does not.
Instead, CEL reaches its second phase when you “kill” it, or at least when you think you have. Rather than having more health stock, CEL regains all of its health upon being defeated and then enters its second phase. There truly is no reason for this boss to be different in this sense—it’s pure cruelty. I truly think FromSoftware just thought it would be hilarious to make players think they’ve FINALLY done it, only to realize they’re only halfway.
