Armored Core 6 has been on the market for a few weeks now, so a balance patch was bound to arrive sooner than later. After all, the first notable balance patch for Elden Ring hit after roughly the same amount of time. For Armored Core 6, FromSoftware has released a new patch to seemingly address some of the bigger talking points that the game has seen since release. It buffs a variety of weapons while adjusting “certain attacks” performed by a few bosses.
Among the boss names listed here is Balteus, who has already developed a fierce reputation. After a string of relatively easy missions in Chapter 1, Balteus shows up as an abrupt difficulty spike. For players still trying to learn the game’s core mechanics, this fight can grind progress to a halt. While the patch notes don’t specifically say FromSoftware has nerfed Balteus, I can only assume that was the case here.
Some may feel sad they can’t challenge Balteus in its original state after this patch, but I’d say it’s for the best. For my part, right after I beat Balteus, I looked at the new available parts and built the biggest, heaviest, silliest tank I could. This wound up making the game downright easy afterward, as enemies quickly fell to me simply going vroom and boom over and over again. So, in other words, the Balteus difficulty spike sort of felt out of place since it doesn’t really prepare you for anything to come. It didn’t in my case, anyway.
Weapon buffs and bug fixes
In addition to the boss adjustments, the following weapons have seen buffs:
- MA-J-200 RANSETSU-RF: Increased attack power/rate of fire, decreased reload time.
- LR-036 CURTIS: Increased attack power, decreased reload time.
- RF-024 TURNER: Increased attack power/projectile speed, decreased reload time.
- RF-025 SCUDDER: Increased attack power/projectile speed, decreased reload time.
- MA-J-201 RANSETSU-AR: Increased attack power/projectile speed, decreased reload time.
- MG-014 LUDLOW: Increased attack power/total rounds/projectile speed, decreased recoil and reload time.
- DF-MG-02 CHANG-CHEN: Increased attack power/total rounds/projectile speed, decreased reload time.
- MA-E-210 ETSUJIN: Increased attack power/total rounds/projectile speed, decreased reload time.
The patch notes state that these adjustments “will allow players more build diversity in the early and mid-game.” That sounds good! Coming up with wacky builds quickly became my favorite part of Armored Core 6, even though I’m as far from a mech head as you can get. Anything that facilitates more fun builds gets an A+ in my book.
Along with this, we have a small selection of bug fixes as well. Most of these focus on relatively small changes, though some are mission-specific. Additionally, the notes state that PvP balance adjustments will arrive “at a future date.” In other words, sit tight if you’re in the competitive mech scene.
Armored Core 6 is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
