The best weapons in Armored Core 6

Time to load up for your next mission, merc. Your mech is your real character in Armored Core 6, and the different components you attach to it can completely change how it functions. There are different legs, cores, and all types of ways to change up your mech, but the most immediate and important has to be your weapon loadout. These can range from melee weapons and shotguns to massive missile launchers and Gatling guns. Since your mech can hold weapons in both hands and on each shoulder, there’s a lot of room to experiment and give yourself options. Still, weapons aren’t cheap and credits aren’t always easy to come by as a gun for hire, so here are the best weapons in Armored Core 6 to invest in first.

Let’s begin with a melee weapon, which is far more useful in a game with rifles and lasers than you might expect. This is great for cleaving through mobs of smaller enemies thanks to its wide attack range and the fact that each swing counts as two hits. With an attack power of 1,615, that’s a lot of damage coming out very fast — and that’s not even considering the ability to charge it up while advancing. It is on the heavier side for its class, and takes a while to “reload,” but is a perfect way to get some breathing room if you get swarmed.

If you need an early shoulder-mounted laser weapon, the VP-60LCS is a great one you can pick up in Chapter 1. They do decent damage, but the real usefulness comes in their staggering ability. Their rate of fire is essentially as fast as you can pull the trigger, and without a need to reload, you can rely on them whenever you need to so long as you don’t overheat.

Sometimes we just want to hold down the trigger and make our problems go away. That’s what Gatling guns are for, and this one ranks among the best. Each round will obviously do little damage, but with 1,300 rounds to chew through, not much can hold out against its sustained fire. Having one or two of these in your hands to follow up after stunning enemies with a laser weapon results in the perfect combo.

You won’t have access to heavy explosives like the Songbirds until around midway into the game, but it is a must-buy as soon as you can. As you would expect, these explosives deal a ton of impact damage that has a decent area of effect if you’re firing near a group. As a cherry on top, the grenades also inflict a high amount of stagger, so they’re quite useful against bosses as well.

We couldn’t close out a list of best weapons without a missile launcher, could we? For your money, this model is king. This shoulder-mounted weapon of mass destruction houses 12 missiles in its case that are ready to track your targets down, even behind cover and around obstacles. Just lock on to up to a dozen targets and let the missiles do the work from there.