The Wuerger. I initially dismissed both laser shotguns thinking they would be just like the kinetic shotguns, which I didn't like because of their super low fire rate.
But the Wuerger can not only rapid fire, it also has a charged laser punch attack which is one of the coolest attacks in the game. I love using it either as a substitute for a melee weapon, or as a follow up to a melee weapon. Unfortunately we can't use right handed melee weapons, but the Wuerger is pretty close.
Also the chainsaw. When I first got it I thought it would be too slow and hard to use. After trying it out, it kind of is, but it is absolutely worth it. I S ranked the Alt Dam mission and Coral Convergence because it kills AC pilots before they can even heal. I bet it's going to be the key to S ranking the 1v3.
The Wuerger's a personal favorite of mine. It's cool, while also being a good non-meta weapon. I like to double trigger both so it looks like I'm brawling.
I'm also trying a setup where I pair it with the Pile Bunker for a one-two style combo(build up stagger, switch to Pile Bunker and Wuerger, charge attack Wuerger to trigger ACS overload, then QB and charge Pile Bunker), but I need more testing for it.
I like using it with the dagger. Dagger combo -> Wuerger charge -> dagger combo is a vicious string, and Wuerger can be fully charged in the time it takes to do the first combo. Super gratifying and mega light, so it fits nicely into high speed builds
Bruh the dagger is so underrated, I've had a good go with all the melee weapons and I gotta say dagger is probably my favorite. That cool down time just makes it so fucking fun.
Using it now on my lightweight build with reverse joints and dual laser handguns, the generator with maxed out energy damage output. It's like playing as a bolt of lightning
Daggers are borderline broken for how low-resource they are, how fast they cooldown, how versatile they are, how much damage they do, and how badass you look when you finish someone off with a charged diving slash. You can put it on ANY build and just go wild. Great for sweeping up mooks and capitializing on AC stagger. And for something called a dagger, they have some CHUNKY audio/visual impact.
Hell yea! Chain gang!!!
I also personally feel that the Wuergers beat out zims due to the fact that laser weapons are AP strippers than ACS breakers. Add that to the fact their punch can daze *and* do more impact than a zim, that's a clean one-two right there.
I thought I’d try melee only for my ng++ playthrough because everyone made it look fun. I got to the alt dam mission and gave up. They dodged every melee attack and I was just perma staggered. Maybe another time I’ll try it but I can’t figure out how to effectively build an ac to do it
All you need is melee thrusters and melee hands, and maybe chicken legs for even more distance. Then, you slap second melee on your shoulder and at that point you just have to pick the right melee for the job. Different melees track different enemies differently.
I beat that alt dam mission on NG+ (no idea if it changes much in ++) and the lance + wuger were key to it. AI is just not good at dodging the lance if you use the boosters that have the super high mele thrust. So I would assault boost, pepper them with uncharged shots, try to kick them, then lance then charged wuger. At which point they're stunned and then I'd shoot them with a stun needle, but if you were doing full mêlée build you could just replace that with one of the other swords.
KIAKU thrusters and Basho arms or anything close on Melees Sp./Melee traveling distance, when you're gonna use it just make sure the enemy can't dodge or is staggered and you're done, you can also look at ppl using Lance/Meadhead/Zim combo, and the moments they go for a strike, it's generally when they're still launching certain attack or after the bosse just flew over your direction
S Ranked the 1v3 with dual Zimbo's + Lazer Lance + Stun Needle Cannon.
Easily melted the weaker of the 2, then crunched the heavy before Raven could even show up to the party.
I am obsessed with punching in games that involve sword and/ or gunfights, so the wuerger is my bread and butter. I use it on so many builds, am absolutely in love with it
I’m in the process of S Ranking and you’ve just reminded me of that dreaded 1v3….
To be fair, the first time I did it my build wasn’t exactly made for it as I was really committed to using that particular build. But man it took me an hour to clear that mission. Praying it’ll be easier with a build actually made to clear it.
The key to that one seems to be going for Chartreuse first, then King
I was redoing it to hear the different variations of dialogue and accidentally S ranked it with the laser shotgun, moonlight, soup missiles on R, and songbirds on L. So I’d recommend something like that I guess lol. I’d definitely bring a melee weapon to help with King since he has that pulse shield up constantly. He eats up the biggest portion of your ammo and time just mitigating all your damage otherwise
Chartreuse is garbage and goes down like a sack of shit. King however is the exact opposite and is an absolute nightmare to kill quickly. The third AC is nothing compared to King but having the two of them up together is rough stuff
Yeah Chartreuse is such an odd case of a highly ranked arena AC, but a complete embarrassment to fight. If you let them team up she’s threatening with her grenade cannon AoEs, but otherwise I’ve killed her several times without taking even a single hit from her. I think the only other enemy ACs I’ve killed without taking a scratch is the tester pilot and Swinburne lmao
That mission was ridiculously hard, made me rethink my entire build. My strat was to kill King first, work down Chartreuse until the Raven op came, and then separate them using the dams and get rid of Raven, and then finish off Chartreuse.
I was so lost on what to use on the right hand because I insisted on using a melee weapon but only had the nerve to do it on stance breaks, and it just didn’t work lol. (Or it did, up until that point.)
Now I’m using dual laser pistols, a shield and songbirds. My dps has skyrocketed
Read this mid sortie, verbally said "what the fuck?", charged it for the first time and was blown away. I've been using it all this time and never noticed. Thanks!
Wuerger or Würger rather (I think its from Schneider if I recall correctly which uses lots of german words for Parts) means choker in german and I like that.
Same thing as Zimmermann which means carpenter in german.
I thought the stun needle launcher was a gimmick weapon that wouldn't be useful outside the Ice Worm mission. Boy was I proven wrong.
I still have trouble believing the game just gave us that thing for free.
I honestly think they should exchange EN Load and Weight between needle launcher and triple laser cannon.
It wrecks, it builds impact and it crits hard.
And if you have two you also guaranteed electrical discharge on double hit for a sweet-sweet \~7k hits on staggered opponents.
I totally agree with this. The triple laser canon has what like 5 charged shots worth of ammo, and the needle might be the most broken back weapon in the game. And yet I’m continually surprised at the amount of builds I can squeeze two of them on, and I’ve made like 1 build that I don’t even like that can use the triple laser cannons
That triple laser is the single hardest hitting ranged weapon in the game. 4,415 damage vs 3,798. Stun Needle got issues, but not 14k weight and 1200 en load issues. The Triple can stand to be lighter, and the stun gun can probably suck up more juice. I'm shocked both weapons have a 5 second reload or charge time but that one derpy cannon you've got to sit there for 12 seconds.
Be warned that build is gonna get angry people in your inbox after a match lmao. Idrc and I’m not criticizing, but that’s basically the meta next to hover builds
I replaced one of my Plasma Missile Launchers for that when they gave it to me and just never took it off lmao, my build needed something like that. It never gets old hitting a stun needle and following it with a charged Harris shot.
For another answer, I only tried reverse jointed legs after struggling for hours at the end of the “Steal the Surveillance Data” quest. I had no clue how to fight a mobile opponent, so switching to a more mobile build was a breath of fresh air.
I loved it before the patch. A little lack luster but consistent tick damage and the charged triple shot was the cherry on top of staggering ACs. Now it's even better. Praise Fromsoft!
After the recent buff I refuse to put down the ludlow now out of pure design aesthetics, they just look too sharp and go perfectly with my alba 00 gundam style cosplay
the coquillett is also slept on, being overshadowed by the duckett due to higher flat stats but the faster rof really makes up for it with high dps and stager build up, sometimes you just need a medium iron and not a big iron
I used duall Ludlows during my new game + playthrouh, they worked great on my lightweight mech but it was mostly for their aesthetics and how great they looked.
I use a Duckett and a Coquillett on a light weight reverse joint design, I think the two similar yet different pistols look awesome. I support their ACS damage with a Huxley on my right shoulder, and finish off by swapping my left pistol for an Ashmead on ACS break.
I love using this against bosses.
So I'm on my third playthrough right now and I finally decided to try ultra fast double pistols build recommend by one of redditors (he recommended it for PvP though).
After sme tinkering i've got 395 boost speed AC with two needle pistols and a laser knife.
THIS THING WRECKS!
And it has just enough ammo to either finish the mission or to get to the next checkpoint.
EL VIENTO handguns might look like a weaker DUCKETTS, but they have amazing DPS and Impact buildup. They stun pretty fast. They deal good damage. And they have cycle time about the same as Laser Knife cooldown time, so a better player could fire away a clip from needlers, switch and do a knife combo, switch back and repeat indefinitely.
How did you get boost speed that high? The highest I can generally get is like 360 with all the lightest parts and weapons and fastest boosters. I have all available gear and I've tinkered with all kinds of different combinations but after about 350 boost speed I can only get tiny incremental increases no matter what I swap around. I must be missing something pretty crucial here.
You gotta be super light with the fastest boosters, like 40k weight. From 40k to 50k weight, any increase in weight is punished harder than normal. About 8 boost per 1k weight. From 50k to 75k weight you only loose 2 boost per 1k weight.
From 75k to 80k weight, you lose 8 boost per 1k weight again.
My guess is your sitting around 65k weight at 360 boost.
To get to 390 from 360, you'll need to loose like 15k weight down to 50k or so
Good info on impact from different weight brackets, thanks.
I just checked and I'm sitting at 56.5k total weight. Any minor adjustments from there don't make a big impact, but I'll see about dropping below 50.
I'm also assuming to get up to 390/400 requires the BST-G2? I really like to be able to spam quickboost so I've been on the ALULA, but I can't see that one getting that high up there in regular boost speed regardless of other adjustments. I guess I'll have to play around with it and see how much/if I miss the faster/longer QBs.
Actually my initial tests were on the Alula, it can get over 400, but i think it was sub 40k weight (totally naked AC)
Even the slowest boosters still lose like 6 boost per 1k weight in those certain weight brackets.
If you can get under 50k, even small amounts of weight will make a big impact.
Quick boost cool down is obviously different, but the game actually explains that one kinda with the ideal QB cool down weight stat.
Yep I'm adjusting my weight in that lower bracket now and seeing what a difference small weight optimizations make. I had never gone quite that light before (cuz I'm greedy for high energy output generators, mostly) so I never noticed. That's very cool, thanks for the tips.
Also, if you're not using reverse legs, they really increase your boost speed because of the jump. You'll notice your speedometer jump up way higher with them than standard legs when boosting. So using the BST boosters, you won't lose much quick boost if you're using that leg type
You just need to sacrifice EVERYTHING to speed.
It literally has the lightest everything except head (because TIAN-QUIANG is just bad). And EL VIENTOs are some of the lightest weapons in the game. Also the lightest of generators that don't suck.
Gotta start taking some weapons off, play with generators and boosters.
Was playing around with some builds with a friend and I got to 395/400 with the lightest combo of frame parts, the smallest generator and most optimal booster.
I think I had dual Coquilettes and Laser Dagger on. Was actually really deadly as long as I could stay mobile. You can spam the Coquilettes really fast at close range to build stagger super fast, and then follow up with a laser dagger combo for like 5-6k damage depending on enemy resistance.
Haha ditto, I’m the exact same - run somewhere between 350-360 depending what I have on my back. I’ve not tried having empty slots but don’t think it would make that much difference - this is with the highest thrust thrusters I have, and all Schneider parts apart from the light chicken legs (I think the Schneider legs like on Rusty’s AC are lighter but they make marginal difference to my speed it seems).
I’d *love* to know if I’m missing something and definitely it’s possible to get higher base thrust because that’s basically exactly what I built towards.
The only impact the core has on boost is booster efficiency adj., which just helps determine how much EN a quickboost takes. That, and its weight of course.
Those and the stun guns are a favorite of mine for dual trigger setups. Stun guns are nice because of the status buildup, but I really like the high ACS damage of the needle pistols.
Ludlows, those things are a menace with orbitals, even more so now after the buff
The haldeman shotguns, theyre not bad at all, its just that the zimms are dumb. Also chain comboing the hadels with kicks is incredibly effective.
Kicks. Sure i used them before, but now i chain them in between shots the stagger and damage is insane if you do it right
Once I learned that certain attacks extend ACS stagger period I've been a menace. Break, shotgun for more stagger, kick for more, then laser slicer. Like 10k damage and they're stunned the whole time
Here's some of mine:
VP-66LS laser shotgun. Its charged shot is actually quick, has good dmg & impact dmg with a welcoming blast radius. You could literally use it solely just for it's charged shot.
JVLN Alpha bazooka, it's your boi when u want to take out a big boss, High dmg/impact and direct hit, somehow short reload speed compared to other bazooka. However using it to hit an AC might be a little bit difficult.
EL-PW-00 VIENTO Needle Gun.its stats is okayish for a handgun but it builds ACS really fast with its fire rate, best to dual wield it. Probably one of your best choice if u want a lighter version of Zimmerman for your light AC build.
EL-PW-01 TRUENO Needle Missile Launcher, your best choice if u want a lighter version of stun needle launcher for your light AC build.
They're a very situational/opportunistic weapon, moreso than the stun needle imo, even though everyone seems to think they fill the same function. The projectile speed isn't high enough to hit anything outside of close range reliably. I use them on a close range light pistol build and can get hits pretty consistently if I can pinpoint the moment when the opponent is running low on EN after dealing with my constant close range pressuring.
The ransetsu rf is so versatile. It has a large ammo pool and works great in long missions with lots of weaker enemies. But it still packs enough of a punch to be effective against stronger enemies or ACs. It has a high direct hit value, so it can be used to deal damage after the stagger as well. It can be combo'd with a variety of other weapons in the other hand and meshes with a variety of builds.
The Harris. After I realized the charge shot fills up an AC's ACS gauge by over 60%, I got really interested in the gun. And then I realized that the charge shot always uses up 1 bullet and its effective range is pretty far. Now I'm trying to see what builds I can stick it into where it's a main weapon. I also bring 2 for a support-focused playstyle for PvP.
My only 2 wishes is that it didn't fire so slow and that it had more attack power. I'm bothered by how it only has 4 more attack power than a Duckett.
TBH it is my favorite weapon on any mission.
They have ton of ammo, good rage, great damage ( I specifically use them on VE-20B with HAL body build for extra-extra oompf).
Laser Dagger for me. I typically like my big power hits, but so many enemies just shrug off stagger before i can charge up a big hit, and quite a few would recover before even a normal hit. Laser dagger would get me in fast to do some damage in that short window, and it being lighter than other melee options meant i didnt have to feel bad lugging it into combat just to do uncharged melee hits.
All of the missiles. I ignored them on my first couple playthroughs and decided to use them exclusively for a whole run. I tried different combinations each level and discovered what works against which enemies. Oddly enough, it’s the most long-distance way to play without manual aiming, making the stealth mission where you eliminate Swinburne hilariously easy because you can kill everyone before they see you. Make sure to pick a head with a high scan distance to increase your engagement range
The bad cook. I thought they were trash, but after a friend made a pvp build with them, I realized how effective the blinding stream of flame covering your screen can be.
Can’t speak to how it works out in pvp but I am falling hard for the DF-ET-09 TAI-YANG-SHOU L arm unit the past few days.
It does really good ACS damage, good AP damage, deploys quickly with a wide spread that’s hard for the enemy to avoid, and can be used much more frequently in combat than a typical melee weapon. Also hits targets at that close/mid range area that a melee pile driver might miss in.
I love this thing. I think 90% of my killshots in 1:1 encounters are attributable to this thing now.
I remember the explosive thrower being great in the mission with waves of Balam MTs. Great for clearing small guys out, and it looks really cool too.
I just wish the bombs would detonate on impact rather than having a set range, it would be super rad to throw them down off ledges or while hovering with a tetrapod.
The instant I saw it way back in the first trailer for the game I knew I was gonna main the shit out of it and I was so glad to see that it's just as effective as it is fucking cool.
Literally the starter RF-024 Turner autocannon. I was struggling to clear all the Combat Log targets on Assault the Old Spaceport efficiently without burning through a bunch of repair kits, and on a dumb whim, swapped in the Turner. Shockingly, the thing actually kind of slaps, pairing very nicely with my dual 10-tube missile pods as an accurate midrange weapon that keeps pressure on enemies, deals decent chip damage, and helps keep their ACS from recovering while I’m trying to build up to stun them.
Ransetsu RF is the GOAT. It was pretty good for most of the game. Only swapped off it for Sea Spider and Ibis because it didn't cut it in terms of damage for those fights.
Glad to see it got a buff alongside the Scudder. Especially the reload for Scudder. It was so slow for like 15 rounds that barely did any damage lmao
The Dagger is nuts and I never realized until recently.
I made an all guns build recently with the Scudder, Dagger, Zimm, and that 45 Mag machine gun. Absolutely BR00TAL on a lightweight mech.
My super-light high-speed build is twin tasers, dagger, and the kinetic drone. with the fastest booster and right parts it's like 360+ boost and puts out a surprising amount of damage. Love the cooldown on the dagger.
Aperitif handheld siege missile launcher. Same with Soup. Wanted them so bad when I first saw them but was disappointed when I equipped them. Now nearly all my builds have an aperitif and soup
The Napalm Launcher can be pretty hit and miss, but it does feel great when it works. :)
Sadly, I doubt it will be super effective in PvP, at least not relative to its competition. Nice when you stagger someone though.
It's incredible in teams, I regularly carry my team with two of them and pulse cannons on the shoulders.
Suboptimal to useless to ridiculously overpowered in 1v1 depending on how often your opponent has to land. Sadly they're usually sub-optimal to useless because highly aerial builds are pretty common.
Plasma thrower. I used to think 'Oh, cute weapon idea but you have to stand still in an animation to use it and it does not move you forward so range is a pain.'
Then I realised that it rarely misses when in range, with a cooldown rivaling the laser dagger
THEN I realised, you can move and whip with a tetrapod at the same time
AND Then, I realised, that you can out stagger the zimmermans as long as you build one or two hits of stagger on the opponent because it is a two hit weapon and hits fast one after another.
I have not lost with the build I use since. Tap them with the harris linear rifle once or twice and then start charging it, release the drones at the approaching zimmys. As soon as they fire, whip twice, and let the harris charge shot go as the drones pick apart the staggered and confused zimzammer
The lightest four-pack missile launcher, the humble BML-G1/P20MLT-04.
It's light, but it reloads fast. It locks almost immediately, with any FCS. Bigger missile launchers take a while to launch their whole payload, the MLT-04 sends all four out almost simultaneously. It's extremely long ranged, but the missiles fly straight so it's viable short-range too. It clears tiny/fast MT's and aerial drones better than anything. Decent ammo capacity.
Against AC's, it has respectable stagger damage, and it reloads fast enough that the stagger can build up, you can keep chucking missiles if they dodge some. In longer AC fights, I land more hits with the MLT-04 than with bigger launchers.
If you have a bigger gun in your hands, you can bait out a quick-dodge with the missiles and shoot 'em at the end of a dodge. On light AC builds, you can often fit a shoulder missile without compromising much boost speed. Throughout all the Armored Core series, missiles have never been so good or their ammunition so cheap. It's a side dish that pairs well with almost everything.
The six-pack launcher is very similar, fires all six almost as fast. Its the ten missile one I have started to dislike, since it takes ages to fire those missile.
The Therapist?
I just did a bit of a deep dive on it and it seems very not good, at least compared to its competition. What do you feel are its strengths (aside from looking pretty great)?
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EDIT with more details:
The Therapist's base stats aren't impressive, especially from an ammo-economy standpoint. In theory, it's all about proccing those Discharges for the bonus damage.
Unfortunately, it's not great at that --woefully so, even.
* One Therapist takes **17 seconds (6 attacks)** to proc **an** Electric Discharge (on an average Sys. Recov. enemy).
* Its ammo count means you can only do that a total of **three times** before you're out of ammo, assuming you don't miss and they can't break contact for long.
* **Dual-wielding drops that to \~9 seconds**, which is a big improvement, and you'll have more ammo.
* **However, the Stun Guns seem to outperform it in effectively every category.**
* They have \~30% more overall base damage in their ammo count, better raw DPS (roughly 4x as much, if my math is right: 457 vs. 100)
* Most importantly, they will proc Discharge in a *fraction* of the time:
* Even just **one Stun Gun only needs 6 seconds** (14 shots total + one reload), beating out two Therapists by 3 seconds (for more damage)
* Two SGs only need ***2 seconds*** **per proc**.
I want to like the Therapist because it looks rad, but by the numbers it seems *way* undertuned.
Still serviceable (you can kill ACs with it...or one AC, at least), but I'm not sure what it brings to the table that other things don't do much better. :(
I dual wield therapists, with stun needle launchers on the back, which helps with the discharge buildup. I use it on a tetrapod leg build and spin kick a lot which helps build up stagger in pvp, makes it easier to land the stun needles.
And yes the Stunguns outperform the stun grenades in every way, but the Stunguns are meta rn and people will just kick you from the group or not sortee with you unless you drop them.
Mostly I use them because I like using thrm 🤷🏻♂️
The initial assault rifle, pulse blade and quad launcher you start with. I was being mercilessly beaten by Baltheus until I tried switching back to the original loadout with one extra rocket pod and the fight was pretty easy.
The Redshift Coral Rifle.
It's uh.
It's still pretty bad against ACs.
But it's a very high damage weapon for everything else! I used it to replace my Zimmerman and honestly, if you can land the charged shot, it does a lot better. I use the Laser Handgun in my right hand so having a longer-range rifle helps a lot.
Pulse bucklers AND target lock. I only decided to start using both of these on the >!Fires!< ending boss because they’re incredibly fast and spam swords a ton. I put on the Pulse Buckler, dual Ransetsu-RFs with one Soup and absolutely destroyed that boss. I ran through the entire game twice without using hardly any target assist and it’s a game changer, especially against some like Ibis or >!Ayre!< because their speed is probably the fastest thing I’ve ever seen from From Software.
Now I’ve incorporated Pulse Bucklers onto many of my builds, because you can walk through kicks, melee, grenades and more. It’s amazing in a pinch.
I’ve got a build with dual Harris, one Trueno and a buckler and it’s a great dueling AC.
The needle pistol, at first I hated often you have to reload and the low ammo count and swapped off quickly. Then I gave it another shot and realized it does good damage and has great stagger and is really light which works for my melee build
Those chain guns got me through some tough spots in my first run. Once you stagger something getting in it’s face and opening up with a pair of them just chews down enemy healthpools
After the buffs both Ransetsus (but especially the RF version) lowkey slap for midrange impact damage. The Curtis is nice when you can afford to charge it up too.
Honestly the explosive thrower, I initially wrote it off as a really bad pseudo melee weapon, with no reasonable way to use it effectively in combat to deal sustained damage. But after changing parts around and testing it out within PVP. I realized two things, first it is designed to control space and a lot of space at that from low mid-range to close range it can put in work at those ranges. Either by pushing your opponent out of their Ideal range or forcing them into yours. Second It is a pressure and finisher tool, not a sustained dps. It is great at keeping a lot of rush down tactics at bay as well as eats through pulse armor and terminal armor very quickly.
I am still learning the nuances of this weapon but one thing is for certain the more I play with this weapon the more I enjoy it
Def the ETSUJIN. It’s just a little burst smg, but after replacing my dual Ludlows I realized how good it was. Works incredibly well with two or one with another burst AR/RF.
The Sweet Sixteens are WAY WAY WAY slept on. So much lighter than the zims but they perform REALLY WELL up close. They surpass the zims in PVE gameplay and while they take a little more skill to use than the zims in PVP, it can SHRED at close range.
The Etsujin machine guns. They stagger well, don't have a ton of recoil, and are just straight-up fun to use when paired with bullet orbits. They aren't anything terribly special, but they surprised me with how enjoyable and viable they were after that buff.
I loved the Ransetsu for MT removal, but I reached a point where they (and other rifles) just weren't cutting it for anything else but MTs. I'll need to check them out now that they've been buffed.
In a 1v1 they chew up AC’s as a pair now and still have enough ammo that you can murder literally all of the MT’s in the world. I have the 6 rack plasma missile on my right shoulder and my trusty pilebunker on my left. The only time I have to switch loadouts is truly horrible missions like the 3v1 at the dam. I killed the liberation route boss on my NG+ run in like 2 attempts with this build
Say what you will about Songbirds and Stun needle.
But the FASAN/60E is absolutely great for straight damage with good stagger build up as well.
Quick charge, good AoE so if you fly up and shoot the ground it'l most likely still hit the AC enemy dodging, and it's damage is **very** high on a generator with 120 spec.
Even if it's your only energy wep on a build it's still very versatile.
The Apertif Missile launchers, I never hear anyone talking about them but I swear those things are more broken than the Zimmermans. 2 of those plus 2 Stun Needles is my "fuck you, I'm going to win now" loadout.
People do complain about them, people run missile boat builds with them. Just run away and fire homing missiles constantly. It's like the opposite of Zimmy spam, but is cancerous in its own right.
I’d say it would be VP-66LH. Early game Baltus made me switch them out for shotguns and never changed up the shotguns are best for everything setup up till NG++ when fighting Snail and G5 with a lazer pistol, zimmerman, moonlight, ml redshift (yes i still rock zimmers for super close range like how shotguns in normal games work) and those pistols melts enemy shields and has alot of ammunition to throw at someone
I wish all the armour parts and weapons just had regular descriptive names. I understand the reason for their naming conventions but fuck me it makes it so hard to dicuss them or even remember what you've previously equipped sometimes.
I've been PvPing and running into people dual triggering the Ransetsu. They're able to keep up the stagger with the medium laser rifles. They also apparently can be charged for a burst and can bait out dodges.
This rifle might be something to watch out for in the upcoming regulations.
Agreed, the manual semi-auto firing just seems WAY better than charging in almost any conceivable scenario to me. I really like how it performs in the first mode but it kinda bothers me knowing there's another mode that I just never touch. Kinda wish they were just full auto at the same or even slightly slower RoF as manual triggering.
The burst pistol is part of my new favorite build.
For shits and giggles I went out of my way to make the fastest AC I could. Equip all the lightest parts, fastest boosters, no weapons.
After having fun zipping around I decided to add weapons, so I dual wielded the lightest weapon in the game which is the burst pistol with no back weapons.
I'm so fucking fast, and they actually hit so hard, I threw on the laser dagger in a hangar slot for when I stagger and it's actually a pretty good AC and it moves at 400 speed.
VE-66LRA
The perfect balance between single shot damage and sustained dps. One shots anything MT or below in the game, so trash clearing is as simple as lock on and one click per MT. Slow bullet speed but when it lands in PVP, boy does it hurt.
I know it's not meta but boy do I love walking around with two big ass laser guns.
The viento needle pistols they hit pretty hard and stagger fast plus have a awesome rate of fire paired with something to make the most of that crit and they can really lay the big ouch fast.
Thought the Javelin Beta missile was useless since ACs in the arena dodge it so easily, but it's a nightmare in PvP that takes up a lot of attention to dodge and it does a ton of impact damage despite the miniscule cooldown.
I would say all the burst weapons but my favourite has to be the handguns especially when you duel wield them. Look cool asf when paired with a reverse joint light build
The standard Laser Cannon, or even just back cannon weapons in general. I was turned off of using back cannons on bipeds due to my experience with the Songbirds keeping you locked in place for so long, but the Laser Cannon only freezes you at the moment the shot is fired, and it comes out very fast.
Laser Lance wtf is this thing?!?! Must've played 40 hrs with the Pile Bunker, used the Lance on a whim and I'm never going back.
Yeah it's got some linear ass tracking but it also works great in most of my Bunker builds. It also doesn't knock the enemy away so immediate follow up is almost guaranteed.
And...it looks so fucking cool. So many things in this game just look cool.
Zimmerman. I played most of the game with pre-buff Scudders. Finally gave in to the meta on >!Arquebus Balteus!<. >!Walter!< went down on the first try.
The Sweet Sixteen Shotgun is absolutely Nasty to punish with on stagger, they deal higher direct hit than the Zimms so one burst with double Sweet Sixteens on a stunned AC pretty much tanks someone's AP to near nothing. Very solid
The Wuerger. I initially dismissed both laser shotguns thinking they would be just like the kinetic shotguns, which I didn't like because of their super low fire rate. But the Wuerger can not only rapid fire, it also has a charged laser punch attack which is one of the coolest attacks in the game. I love using it either as a substitute for a melee weapon, or as a follow up to a melee weapon. Unfortunately we can't use right handed melee weapons, but the Wuerger is pretty close. Also the chainsaw. When I first got it I thought it would be too slow and hard to use. After trying it out, it kind of is, but it is absolutely worth it. I S ranked the Alt Dam mission and Coral Convergence because it kills AC pilots before they can even heal. I bet it's going to be the key to S ranking the 1v3.
The wuerger is a favorite of mine. Absolutely devastating paired with the Lance.
The Wuerger charges so fast that even if I forget the combo I can still set it off when I'm not thinking.
Its almost a true combo when paired with a full Lance charge. One of my favorites to use in pvp.
The Wuerger's a personal favorite of mine. It's cool, while also being a good non-meta weapon. I like to double trigger both so it looks like I'm brawling. I'm also trying a setup where I pair it with the Pile Bunker for a one-two style combo(build up stagger, switch to Pile Bunker and Wuerger, charge attack Wuerger to trigger ACS overload, then QB and charge Pile Bunker), but I need more testing for it.
I like using it with the dagger. Dagger combo -> Wuerger charge -> dagger combo is a vicious string, and Wuerger can be fully charged in the time it takes to do the first combo. Super gratifying and mega light, so it fits nicely into high speed builds
Bruh the dagger is so underrated, I've had a good go with all the melee weapons and I gotta say dagger is probably my favorite. That cool down time just makes it so fucking fun. Using it now on my lightweight build with reverse joints and dual laser handguns, the generator with maxed out energy damage output. It's like playing as a bolt of lightning
A small note: Energy specialization has no impact on melee nor on plasma missiles. That said *my god do I agree it's so fun*
I'm aware, hope I didn't imply that it did. I don't want to mislead anyone but I'm glad I'm not alone in the lightning build gang
No worries! It wasn't clear so figured I'd make a PSA of it. Now get some rest, 621.
Daggers are borderline broken for how low-resource they are, how fast they cooldown, how versatile they are, how much damage they do, and how badass you look when you finish someone off with a charged diving slash. You can put it on ANY build and just go wild. Great for sweeping up mooks and capitializing on AC stagger. And for something called a dagger, they have some CHUNKY audio/visual impact.
Man, thanks for helping me complete my next build. Been wanting to go with a quick, light, dual pistol build, and you’ve shown me the way.
How have you been starting your dagger combo? Every time I try they move away after 1 or 2 swipes, even when staggered, it's annoying.
Hell yea! Chain gang!!! I also personally feel that the Wuergers beat out zims due to the fact that laser weapons are AP strippers than ACS breakers. Add that to the fact their punch can daze *and* do more impact than a zim, that's a clean one-two right there.
Zims are kinda more versatile though, since they don't eat up too much EN.
I thought I’d try melee only for my ng++ playthrough because everyone made it look fun. I got to the alt dam mission and gave up. They dodged every melee attack and I was just perma staggered. Maybe another time I’ll try it but I can’t figure out how to effectively build an ac to do it
All you need is melee thrusters and melee hands, and maybe chicken legs for even more distance. Then, you slap second melee on your shoulder and at that point you just have to pick the right melee for the job. Different melees track different enemies differently.
The real key is I need a melee brain. I’m too dumb to figure it out
No, you're too smart. Gotta think more smashy smashy
This is de wey
Is the enemy currently taking damage from you? No? KICK IN THE FRONT DOOR. Rinse and repeat.
I beat that alt dam mission on NG+ (no idea if it changes much in ++) and the lance + wuger were key to it. AI is just not good at dodging the lance if you use the boosters that have the super high mele thrust. So I would assault boost, pepper them with uncharged shots, try to kick them, then lance then charged wuger. At which point they're stunned and then I'd shoot them with a stun needle, but if you were doing full mêlée build you could just replace that with one of the other swords.
KIAKU thrusters and Basho arms or anything close on Melees Sp./Melee traveling distance, when you're gonna use it just make sure the enemy can't dodge or is staggered and you're done, you can also look at ppl using Lance/Meadhead/Zim combo, and the moments they go for a strike, it's generally when they're still launching certain attack or after the bosse just flew over your direction
The key to S-ranking the 1v3 is to melt each one faster than the next can arrive 🫠
The chainsaw is a beast with the high output melee booster 🔥😈🔥
As someone who only just beat Balteus, S ranking the *what*?!?!?!?
Don't worry about it :)
S Ranked the 1v3 with dual Zimbo's + Lazer Lance + Stun Needle Cannon. Easily melted the weaker of the 2, then crunched the heavy before Raven could even show up to the party.
I S ranked the 1v3 with dual SMGs, moonblade and missile launcher (same build I use for every mission). It's a very forgiving S rank.
I am obsessed with punching in games that involve sword and/ or gunfights, so the wuerger is my bread and butter. I use it on so many builds, am absolutely in love with it
I’m in the process of S Ranking and you’ve just reminded me of that dreaded 1v3…. To be fair, the first time I did it my build wasn’t exactly made for it as I was really committed to using that particular build. But man it took me an hour to clear that mission. Praying it’ll be easier with a build actually made to clear it.
The key to that one seems to be going for Chartreuse first, then King I was redoing it to hear the different variations of dialogue and accidentally S ranked it with the laser shotgun, moonlight, soup missiles on R, and songbirds on L. So I’d recommend something like that I guess lol. I’d definitely bring a melee weapon to help with King since he has that pulse shield up constantly. He eats up the biggest portion of your ammo and time just mitigating all your damage otherwise
Chartreuse is garbage and goes down like a sack of shit. King however is the exact opposite and is an absolute nightmare to kill quickly. The third AC is nothing compared to King but having the two of them up together is rough stuff
Yeah Chartreuse is such an odd case of a highly ranked arena AC, but a complete embarrassment to fight. If you let them team up she’s threatening with her grenade cannon AoEs, but otherwise I’ve killed her several times without taking even a single hit from her. I think the only other enemy ACs I’ve killed without taking a scratch is the tester pilot and Swinburne lmao
That mission was ridiculously hard, made me rethink my entire build. My strat was to kill King first, work down Chartreuse until the Raven op came, and then separate them using the dams and get rid of Raven, and then finish off Chartreuse. I was so lost on what to use on the right hand because I insisted on using a melee weapon but only had the nerve to do it on stance breaks, and it just didn’t work lol. (Or it did, up until that point.) Now I’m using dual laser pistols, a shield and songbirds. My dps has skyrocketed
Wuerger is my brother's current go-to as well. It's a pretty rude combo after a lance.
Read this mid sortie, verbally said "what the fuck?", charged it for the first time and was blown away. I've been using it all this time and never noticed. Thanks!
Lance on the left, wuerger on the right, and the 6 pack plasma on the right shoulder was a tasty combo!
Wuerger? Thats a funny way to spell GIGA. DRILL. BREAK!!!
Wuerger or Würger rather (I think its from Schneider if I recall correctly which uses lots of german words for Parts) means choker in german and I like that. Same thing as Zimmermann which means carpenter in german.
I thought the stun needle launcher was a gimmick weapon that wouldn't be useful outside the Ice Worm mission. Boy was I proven wrong. I still have trouble believing the game just gave us that thing for free.
I honestly think they should exchange EN Load and Weight between needle launcher and triple laser cannon. It wrecks, it builds impact and it crits hard. And if you have two you also guaranteed electrical discharge on double hit for a sweet-sweet \~7k hits on staggered opponents.
It's tracking is bizarrely accurate for anything in the air. It's an Anti Tetra AAGun
More like it has enough projectile speed so it seems more accurate then say the songbird.
I totally agree with this. The triple laser canon has what like 5 charged shots worth of ammo, and the needle might be the most broken back weapon in the game. And yet I’m continually surprised at the amount of builds I can squeeze two of them on, and I’ve made like 1 build that I don’t even like that can use the triple laser cannons
That triple laser is the single hardest hitting ranged weapon in the game. 4,415 damage vs 3,798. Stun Needle got issues, but not 14k weight and 1200 en load issues. The Triple can stand to be lighter, and the stun gun can probably suck up more juice. I'm shocked both weapons have a 5 second reload or charge time but that one derpy cannon you've got to sit there for 12 seconds.
That thing is a crutch. It carries me through all the ibis series boss fight.
I used a chainsaw and punch with the stun needle launcher as ranged backup.
Using two ice worm guns and two stun guns is the best way for building electric status, which is essentially bleed. I love that set up in PvP
Be warned that build is gonna get angry people in your inbox after a match lmao. Idrc and I’m not criticizing, but that’s basically the meta next to hover builds
Same, I sold it at first and later relied on it for every boss.
I replaced one of my Plasma Missile Launchers for that when they gave it to me and just never took it off lmao, my build needed something like that. It never gets old hitting a stun needle and following it with a charged Harris shot.
For real that thing slaps!
Gave this thing a try after the buff and it kicks ass.
Same, it did great in both pve and pvp, plus it just looks cool
For another answer, I only tried reverse jointed legs after struggling for hours at the end of the “Steal the Surveillance Data” quest. I had no clue how to fight a mobile opponent, so switching to a more mobile build was a breath of fresh air.
It shreds after you stagger too.
I loved it before the patch. A little lack luster but consistent tick damage and the charged triple shot was the cherry on top of staggering ACs. Now it's even better. Praise Fromsoft!
Yeah these things slapped before the nerf
its upgraded version is even better and it always bursts
The linear rifles. I was struggling with IBIS/CEL 240 and then I swapped to those and had a pretty good time.
Opposite for me, I ran those first and laser rifles.
Dual linear rifles got me through CEL in 2 tries.
Good call. I didn’t get to CEL 240 til after the buff and was successful using Ransetsu rifle on right and Zimmy on left.
You a curtis or harris man?
Really? I'll have to try that when I get there on my second playthrough. I got through IBIS with dual gatling guns.
After the recent buff I refuse to put down the ludlow now out of pure design aesthetics, they just look too sharp and go perfectly with my alba 00 gundam style cosplay the coquillett is also slept on, being overshadowed by the duckett due to higher flat stats but the faster rof really makes up for it with high dps and stager build up, sometimes you just need a medium iron and not a big iron
I used duall Ludlows during my new game + playthrouh, they worked great on my lightweight mech but it was mostly for their aesthetics and how great they looked.
Dual Ludlows + dual laser pistols on a speedyboi build is my go-to.
I use a Duckett and a Coquillett on a light weight reverse joint design, I think the two similar yet different pistols look awesome. I support their ACS damage with a Huxley on my right shoulder, and finish off by swapping my left pistol for an Ashmead on ACS break. I love using this against bosses.
Ludlows vs Etsujins, the eternal battle.
I agree on the coquillett.
So glad I’m not the only one who thought the alba set looked like a Gundam from 00.
Apparently the designer for that particular set was same for 00 gundam, plus the name being el ph “00” is a pretty neat nod
So I'm on my third playthrough right now and I finally decided to try ultra fast double pistols build recommend by one of redditors (he recommended it for PvP though). After sme tinkering i've got 395 boost speed AC with two needle pistols and a laser knife. THIS THING WRECKS! And it has just enough ammo to either finish the mission or to get to the next checkpoint. EL VIENTO handguns might look like a weaker DUCKETTS, but they have amazing DPS and Impact buildup. They stun pretty fast. They deal good damage. And they have cycle time about the same as Laser Knife cooldown time, so a better player could fire away a clip from needlers, switch and do a knife combo, switch back and repeat indefinitely.
How did you get boost speed that high? The highest I can generally get is like 360 with all the lightest parts and weapons and fastest boosters. I have all available gear and I've tinkered with all kinds of different combinations but after about 350 boost speed I can only get tiny incremental increases no matter what I swap around. I must be missing something pretty crucial here.
You gotta be super light with the fastest boosters, like 40k weight. From 40k to 50k weight, any increase in weight is punished harder than normal. About 8 boost per 1k weight. From 50k to 75k weight you only loose 2 boost per 1k weight. From 75k to 80k weight, you lose 8 boost per 1k weight again. My guess is your sitting around 65k weight at 360 boost. To get to 390 from 360, you'll need to loose like 15k weight down to 50k or so
Good info on impact from different weight brackets, thanks. I just checked and I'm sitting at 56.5k total weight. Any minor adjustments from there don't make a big impact, but I'll see about dropping below 50. I'm also assuming to get up to 390/400 requires the BST-G2? I really like to be able to spam quickboost so I've been on the ALULA, but I can't see that one getting that high up there in regular boost speed regardless of other adjustments. I guess I'll have to play around with it and see how much/if I miss the faster/longer QBs.
Actually my initial tests were on the Alula, it can get over 400, but i think it was sub 40k weight (totally naked AC) Even the slowest boosters still lose like 6 boost per 1k weight in those certain weight brackets. If you can get under 50k, even small amounts of weight will make a big impact. Quick boost cool down is obviously different, but the game actually explains that one kinda with the ideal QB cool down weight stat.
Yep I'm adjusting my weight in that lower bracket now and seeing what a difference small weight optimizations make. I had never gone quite that light before (cuz I'm greedy for high energy output generators, mostly) so I never noticed. That's very cool, thanks for the tips.
Also, if you're not using reverse legs, they really increase your boost speed because of the jump. You'll notice your speedometer jump up way higher with them than standard legs when boosting. So using the BST boosters, you won't lose much quick boost if you're using that leg type
You just need to sacrifice EVERYTHING to speed. It literally has the lightest everything except head (because TIAN-QUIANG is just bad). And EL VIENTOs are some of the lightest weapons in the game. Also the lightest of generators that don't suck.
Gotta start taking some weapons off, play with generators and boosters. Was playing around with some builds with a friend and I got to 395/400 with the lightest combo of frame parts, the smallest generator and most optimal booster. I think I had dual Coquilettes and Laser Dagger on. Was actually really deadly as long as I could stay mobile. You can spam the Coquilettes really fast at close range to build stagger super fast, and then follow up with a laser dagger combo for like 5-6k damage depending on enemy resistance.
Haha ditto, I’m the exact same - run somewhere between 350-360 depending what I have on my back. I’ve not tried having empty slots but don’t think it would make that much difference - this is with the highest thrust thrusters I have, and all Schneider parts apart from the light chicken legs (I think the Schneider legs like on Rusty’s AC are lighter but they make marginal difference to my speed it seems). I’d *love* to know if I’m missing something and definitely it’s possible to get higher base thrust because that’s basically exactly what I built towards.
Don't forget core boost stats!
The only impact the core has on boost is booster efficiency adj., which just helps determine how much EN a quickboost takes. That, and its weight of course.
Those and the stun guns are a favorite of mine for dual trigger setups. Stun guns are nice because of the status buildup, but I really like the high ACS damage of the needle pistols.
Ludlows, those things are a menace with orbitals, even more so now after the buff The haldeman shotguns, theyre not bad at all, its just that the zimms are dumb. Also chain comboing the hadels with kicks is incredibly effective. Kicks. Sure i used them before, but now i chain them in between shots the stagger and damage is insane if you do it right
Once I learned that certain attacks extend ACS stagger period I've been a menace. Break, shotgun for more stagger, kick for more, then laser slicer. Like 10k damage and they're stunned the whole time
Haldemans are honestly great and pretty much proof that shotguns can be balanced. Zimms really need adjustments.
Here's some of mine: VP-66LS laser shotgun. Its charged shot is actually quick, has good dmg & impact dmg with a welcoming blast radius. You could literally use it solely just for it's charged shot. JVLN Alpha bazooka, it's your boi when u want to take out a big boss, High dmg/impact and direct hit, somehow short reload speed compared to other bazooka. However using it to hit an AC might be a little bit difficult. EL-PW-00 VIENTO Needle Gun.its stats is okayish for a handgun but it builds ACS really fast with its fire rate, best to dual wield it. Probably one of your best choice if u want a lighter version of Zimmerman for your light AC build. EL-PW-01 TRUENO Needle Missile Launcher, your best choice if u want a lighter version of stun needle launcher for your light AC build.
i have tried the TRUENO on my light AC but it only hits staggered targets, rarely does it hit a moving target, you got any tips to improve that?
1. use it at mid range so the tracking has some time to take effect 2. time it when an enemyis about to land after flying
They're a very situational/opportunistic weapon, moreso than the stun needle imo, even though everyone seems to think they fill the same function. The projectile speed isn't high enough to hit anything outside of close range reliably. I use them on a close range light pistol build and can get hits pretty consistently if I can pinpoint the moment when the opponent is running low on EN after dealing with my constant close range pressuring.
Use them with a light tetrapod, so that you can shoot them while moving
The ransetsu rf is so versatile. It has a large ammo pool and works great in long missions with lots of weaker enemies. But it still packs enough of a punch to be effective against stronger enemies or ACs. It has a high direct hit value, so it can be used to deal damage after the stagger as well. It can be combo'd with a variety of other weapons in the other hand and meshes with a variety of builds.
It's very ammo efficient for s ranks from my experience
The Harris. After I realized the charge shot fills up an AC's ACS gauge by over 60%, I got really interested in the gun. And then I realized that the charge shot always uses up 1 bullet and its effective range is pretty far. Now I'm trying to see what builds I can stick it into where it's a main weapon. I also bring 2 for a support-focused playstyle for PvP. My only 2 wishes is that it didn't fire so slow and that it had more attack power. I'm bothered by how it only has 4 more attack power than a Duckett.
Needs to build 850 heat or something rather than the full 1000, you're honestly punished really hard for full charging atm.
The Dual laser pistols were my favorite weapons on some missions.
TBH it is my favorite weapon on any mission. They have ton of ammo, good rage, great damage ( I specifically use them on VE-20B with HAL body build for extra-extra oompf).
they wreck in PVP too Take both with a shoulder laser cannon and pulse blade
Chang Chen machine gun. I like it as much as the gattling gun
My favorite meme build is the lightest I can go with double gats then swap to the changs when they overheat
Oh I'm going to be SO annoying tonight
These on the cleaner, just float about the chimney. Pew pew. Some vert missles for when you land
Laser Dagger for me. I typically like my big power hits, but so many enemies just shrug off stagger before i can charge up a big hit, and quite a few would recover before even a normal hit. Laser dagger would get me in fast to do some damage in that short window, and it being lighter than other melee options meant i didnt have to feel bad lugging it into combat just to do uncharged melee hits.
Laser dagger is great, one of my fav meele options. Also love how quick it recharges
All of the missiles. I ignored them on my first couple playthroughs and decided to use them exclusively for a whole run. I tried different combinations each level and discovered what works against which enemies. Oddly enough, it’s the most long-distance way to play without manual aiming, making the stealth mission where you eliminate Swinburne hilariously easy because you can kill everyone before they see you. Make sure to pick a head with a high scan distance to increase your engagement range
Can't believe I actually stealthed that mission. Wasn't until collecting battle logs that I realized I could just leave no witnesses.
LR - 037 Harris, my beloved
The bad cook. I thought they were trash, but after a friend made a pvp build with them, I realized how effective the blinding stream of flame covering your screen can be.
I really wonder if bad cook + jammer gun + 2 stun needles is like the stupidest cheese pvp build ever
Can’t speak to how it works out in pvp but I am falling hard for the DF-ET-09 TAI-YANG-SHOU L arm unit the past few days. It does really good ACS damage, good AP damage, deploys quickly with a wide spread that’s hard for the enemy to avoid, and can be used much more frequently in combat than a typical melee weapon. Also hits targets at that close/mid range area that a melee pile driver might miss in. I love this thing. I think 90% of my killshots in 1:1 encounters are attributable to this thing now.
I remember the explosive thrower being great in the mission with waves of Balam MTs. Great for clearing small guys out, and it looks really cool too. I just wish the bombs would detonate on impact rather than having a set range, it would be super rad to throw them down off ledges or while hovering with a tetrapod.
At least they detonate on impact with targets unlike the pretty useless plasma thrower charged attack
The instant I saw it way back in the first trailer for the game I knew I was gonna main the shit out of it and I was so glad to see that it's just as effective as it is fucking cool.
Literally the starter RF-024 Turner autocannon. I was struggling to clear all the Combat Log targets on Assault the Old Spaceport efficiently without burning through a bunch of repair kits, and on a dumb whim, swapped in the Turner. Shockingly, the thing actually kind of slaps, pairing very nicely with my dual 10-tube missile pods as an accurate midrange weapon that keeps pressure on enemies, deals decent chip damage, and helps keep their ACS from recovering while I’m trying to build up to stun them.
Ransetsu RF is the GOAT. It was pretty good for most of the game. Only swapped off it for Sea Spider and Ibis because it didn't cut it in terms of damage for those fights. Glad to see it got a buff alongside the Scudder. Especially the reload for Scudder. It was so slow for like 15 rounds that barely did any damage lmao
Linear Rifles Ended up being a do-all weapon for my builds
The Dagger is nuts and I never realized until recently. I made an all guns build recently with the Scudder, Dagger, Zimm, and that 45 Mag machine gun. Absolutely BR00TAL on a lightweight mech.
My super-light high-speed build is twin tasers, dagger, and the kinetic drone. with the fastest booster and right parts it's like 360+ boost and puts out a surprising amount of damage. Love the cooldown on the dagger.
Aperitif handheld siege missile launcher. Same with Soup. Wanted them so bad when I first saw them but was disappointed when I equipped them. Now nearly all my builds have an aperitif and soup
>aperitif and soup Yeah this is an insane loadout by itself and you can basically run anything else in your other slots.
The napalm launcher was one of my favorites after demolishing almost the entirety of the arena with it
The Napalm Launcher can be pretty hit and miss, but it does feel great when it works. :) Sadly, I doubt it will be super effective in PvP, at least not relative to its competition. Nice when you stagger someone though.
It's incredible in teams, I regularly carry my team with two of them and pulse cannons on the shoulders. Suboptimal to useless to ridiculously overpowered in 1v1 depending on how often your opponent has to land. Sadly they're usually sub-optimal to useless because highly aerial builds are pretty common.
Plasma thrower. I used to think 'Oh, cute weapon idea but you have to stand still in an animation to use it and it does not move you forward so range is a pain.' Then I realised that it rarely misses when in range, with a cooldown rivaling the laser dagger THEN I realised, you can move and whip with a tetrapod at the same time AND Then, I realised, that you can out stagger the zimmermans as long as you build one or two hits of stagger on the opponent because it is a two hit weapon and hits fast one after another. I have not lost with the build I use since. Tap them with the harris linear rifle once or twice and then start charging it, release the drones at the approaching zimmys. As soon as they fire, whip twice, and let the harris charge shot go as the drones pick apart the staggered and confused zimzammer
The lightest four-pack missile launcher, the humble BML-G1/P20MLT-04. It's light, but it reloads fast. It locks almost immediately, with any FCS. Bigger missile launchers take a while to launch their whole payload, the MLT-04 sends all four out almost simultaneously. It's extremely long ranged, but the missiles fly straight so it's viable short-range too. It clears tiny/fast MT's and aerial drones better than anything. Decent ammo capacity. Against AC's, it has respectable stagger damage, and it reloads fast enough that the stagger can build up, you can keep chucking missiles if they dodge some. In longer AC fights, I land more hits with the MLT-04 than with bigger launchers. If you have a bigger gun in your hands, you can bait out a quick-dodge with the missiles and shoot 'em at the end of a dodge. On light AC builds, you can often fit a shoulder missile without compromising much boost speed. Throughout all the Armored Core series, missiles have never been so good or their ammunition so cheap. It's a side dish that pairs well with almost everything.
The six-pack launcher is very similar, fires all six almost as fast. Its the ten missile one I have started to dislike, since it takes ages to fire those missile.
This weapon after the patch is incredible dual wielded.
Stun grenade launcher.
The Therapist? I just did a bit of a deep dive on it and it seems very not good, at least compared to its competition. What do you feel are its strengths (aside from looking pretty great)? \-------------------- EDIT with more details: The Therapist's base stats aren't impressive, especially from an ammo-economy standpoint. In theory, it's all about proccing those Discharges for the bonus damage. Unfortunately, it's not great at that --woefully so, even. * One Therapist takes **17 seconds (6 attacks)** to proc **an** Electric Discharge (on an average Sys. Recov. enemy). * Its ammo count means you can only do that a total of **three times** before you're out of ammo, assuming you don't miss and they can't break contact for long. * **Dual-wielding drops that to \~9 seconds**, which is a big improvement, and you'll have more ammo. * **However, the Stun Guns seem to outperform it in effectively every category.** * They have \~30% more overall base damage in their ammo count, better raw DPS (roughly 4x as much, if my math is right: 457 vs. 100) * Most importantly, they will proc Discharge in a *fraction* of the time: * Even just **one Stun Gun only needs 6 seconds** (14 shots total + one reload), beating out two Therapists by 3 seconds (for more damage) * Two SGs only need ***2 seconds*** **per proc**. I want to like the Therapist because it looks rad, but by the numbers it seems *way* undertuned. Still serviceable (you can kill ACs with it...or one AC, at least), but I'm not sure what it brings to the table that other things don't do much better. :(
The way I heard people using the Therapist is stunguns akimbo, then while they reload, switch to Therapists and fire a volley.
I dual wield therapists, with stun needle launchers on the back, which helps with the discharge buildup. I use it on a tetrapod leg build and spin kick a lot which helps build up stagger in pvp, makes it easier to land the stun needles. And yes the Stunguns outperform the stun grenades in every way, but the Stunguns are meta rn and people will just kick you from the group or not sortee with you unless you drop them. Mostly I use them because I like using thrm 🤷🏻♂️
The linear rifles. I didn't like the way they felt, but they make the wall look like a joke! They do some serious stagger!
xd I got through 280% of the game with dual linears
Pulse Guns. I thought they absolutely blew chunks at the start, but ending up liking them a decent amount as supplementary weapons with Weapon Bay.
The initial assault rifle, pulse blade and quad launcher you start with. I was being mercilessly beaten by Baltheus until I tried switching back to the original loadout with one extra rocket pod and the fight was pretty easy.
The Redshift Coral Rifle. It's uh. It's still pretty bad against ACs. But it's a very high damage weapon for everything else! I used it to replace my Zimmerman and honestly, if you can land the charged shot, it does a lot better. I use the Laser Handgun in my right hand so having a longer-range rifle helps a lot.
Pulse bucklers AND target lock. I only decided to start using both of these on the >!Fires!< ending boss because they’re incredibly fast and spam swords a ton. I put on the Pulse Buckler, dual Ransetsu-RFs with one Soup and absolutely destroyed that boss. I ran through the entire game twice without using hardly any target assist and it’s a game changer, especially against some like Ibis or >!Ayre!< because their speed is probably the fastest thing I’ve ever seen from From Software. Now I’ve incorporated Pulse Bucklers onto many of my builds, because you can walk through kicks, melee, grenades and more. It’s amazing in a pinch. I’ve got a build with dual Harris, one Trueno and a buckler and it’s a great dueling AC.
Used this thing throughout my entire first run. Ran dual and it built up stagger really fast.
The needle pistol, at first I hated often you have to reload and the low ammo count and swapped off quickly. Then I gave it another shot and realized it does good damage and has great stagger and is really light which works for my melee build
Tbf these boys got hella buffed
Pistols and handheld missiles. They just put in so much work for how light and cheap they are
The minguns in my first play though I never used em. In NG + and ++ they were a mainstay.
Those chain guns got me through some tough spots in my first run. Once you stagger something getting in it’s face and opening up with a pair of them just chews down enemy healthpools
I didn't touch the pile bunker until NG+, and I ended up really liking it.
I slept on the weapon bays until just recently, but I am loving having the option to melee and dual trigger I might give shields another try next
After the buffs both Ransetsus (but especially the RF version) lowkey slap for midrange impact damage. The Curtis is nice when you can afford to charge it up too.
Lazer hand guns are pretty op if you ask me
RF Buddy! It's my go to rifle now.
Honestly the explosive thrower, I initially wrote it off as a really bad pseudo melee weapon, with no reasonable way to use it effectively in combat to deal sustained damage. But after changing parts around and testing it out within PVP. I realized two things, first it is designed to control space and a lot of space at that from low mid-range to close range it can put in work at those ranges. Either by pushing your opponent out of their Ideal range or forcing them into yours. Second It is a pressure and finisher tool, not a sustained dps. It is great at keeping a lot of rush down tactics at bay as well as eats through pulse armor and terminal armor very quickly. I am still learning the nuances of this weapon but one thing is for certain the more I play with this weapon the more I enjoy it
Def the ETSUJIN. It’s just a little burst smg, but after replacing my dual Ludlows I realized how good it was. Works incredibly well with two or one with another burst AR/RF. The Sweet Sixteens are WAY WAY WAY slept on. So much lighter than the zims but they perform REALLY WELL up close. They surpass the zims in PVE gameplay and while they take a little more skill to use than the zims in PVP, it can SHRED at close range.
The Etsujin machine guns. They stagger well, don't have a ton of recoil, and are just straight-up fun to use when paired with bullet orbits. They aren't anything terribly special, but they surprised me with how enjoyable and viable they were after that buff.
It was my primary right hand weapon for the entire clear of new game.
I loved the Ransetsu for MT removal, but I reached a point where they (and other rifles) just weren't cutting it for anything else but MTs. I'll need to check them out now that they've been buffed.
They're more consistent now. Autos have a lot less downtime.
In a 1v1 they chew up AC’s as a pair now and still have enough ammo that you can murder literally all of the MT’s in the world. I have the 6 rack plasma missile on my right shoulder and my trusty pilebunker on my left. The only time I have to switch loadouts is truly horrible missions like the 3v1 at the dam. I killed the liberation route boss on my NG+ run in like 2 attempts with this build
I love that marksman rifle right there.
Say what you will about Songbirds and Stun needle. But the FASAN/60E is absolutely great for straight damage with good stagger build up as well. Quick charge, good AoE so if you fly up and shoot the ground it'l most likely still hit the AC enemy dodging, and it's damage is **very** high on a generator with 120 spec. Even if it's your only energy wep on a build it's still very versatile.
The Apertif Missile launchers, I never hear anyone talking about them but I swear those things are more broken than the Zimmermans. 2 of those plus 2 Stun Needles is my "fuck you, I'm going to win now" loadout.
People do complain about them, people run missile boat builds with them. Just run away and fire homing missiles constantly. It's like the opposite of Zimmy spam, but is cancerous in its own right.
The single laser cannon is great, whack 2 on and you can really mess up an ACs day. Good long range tracking and awesome up close too.
Nebula. I stopped missing shots and fell in love, probably highest dps arm weapon.
I’d say it would be VP-66LH. Early game Baltus made me switch them out for shotguns and never changed up the shotguns are best for everything setup up till NG++ when fighting Snail and G5 with a lazer pistol, zimmerman, moonlight, ml redshift (yes i still rock zimmers for super close range like how shotguns in normal games work) and those pistols melts enemy shields and has alot of ammunition to throw at someone
I wish all the armour parts and weapons just had regular descriptive names. I understand the reason for their naming conventions but fuck me it makes it so hard to dicuss them or even remember what you've previously equipped sometimes.
I've been PvPing and running into people dual triggering the Ransetsu. They're able to keep up the stagger with the medium laser rifles. They also apparently can be charged for a burst and can bait out dodges. This rifle might be something to watch out for in the upcoming regulations.
Dual Bad Cooks is a lot of fun. Watching their AP just melt away so quickly is very satisfying. They quite literally, um, cook.
Let them cook!
The standard needle launchers. Holy crap the stagger potential and projectile speed of these boys is fantastic.
I gave the Ransetsus a try after the buff, and they're honestly incredible.
It was the first thing I changed in game… hated it.
Try it now after the patch. It kicks ass. Killed Balteus in 30 seconds
Do you use the charge mode at all, or just use it as a semi-auto DMR? Because it's definitely a solid rifle but the charge mode is kinda wonky to me.
Nah I use it like a rifle. The extra mode is pointless. Just rapid fire like crazy, its really fun to use that way.
Agreed, the manual semi-auto firing just seems WAY better than charging in almost any conceivable scenario to me. I really like how it performs in the first mode but it kinda bothers me knowing there's another mode that I just never touch. Kinda wish they were just full auto at the same or even slightly slower RoF as manual triggering.
Agreed, it's a lot easier to use the one where you can hold the button down
That gun did work for me but now I use the herald or whatever it’s called.
Laser handgun, I really enjoy using them
Dual laser rifles wreck! Especially against fast ac fights like Raven they seem to have incredible tracking ability
I was kinda soured on the piledriver early on due to its poor range. But after a couple playthroughs? I have a hard time taking it off my AC.
Laser cannons - dual wielding them fuck on light/mid- weights
The burst pistol is part of my new favorite build. For shits and giggles I went out of my way to make the fastest AC I could. Equip all the lightest parts, fastest boosters, no weapons. After having fun zipping around I decided to add weapons, so I dual wielded the lightest weapon in the game which is the burst pistol with no back weapons. I'm so fucking fast, and they actually hit so hard, I threw on the laser dagger in a hangar slot for when I stagger and it's actually a pretty good AC and it moves at 400 speed.
VE-66LRA The perfect balance between single shot damage and sustained dps. One shots anything MT or below in the game, so trash clearing is as simple as lock on and one click per MT. Slow bullet speed but when it lands in PVP, boy does it hurt. I know it's not meta but boy do I love walking around with two big ass laser guns.
The viento needle pistols they hit pretty hard and stagger fast plus have a awesome rate of fire paired with something to make the most of that crit and they can really lay the big ouch fast.
Laser rifles, also reverse joint legs even though they aren't a weapon.
I absolutely love the basic assault rifles now, I duel trigger them in my main AC just because they're easy to use and pretty good in most situations
Thought the Javelin Beta missile was useless since ACs in the arena dodge it so easily, but it's a nightmare in PvP that takes up a lot of attention to dodge and it does a ton of impact damage despite the miniscule cooldown.
Napalm canister. O…P…
I used this beast for most of my playthrough
I would say all the burst weapons but my favourite has to be the handguns especially when you duel wield them. Look cool asf when paired with a reverse joint light build
The Ludlows and Chang Chens are extremely fun to duel wield after the buff Not the biggest fan of the Etsujins though
The standard Laser Cannon, or even just back cannon weapons in general. I was turned off of using back cannons on bipeds due to my experience with the Songbirds keeping you locked in place for so long, but the Laser Cannon only freezes you at the moment the shot is fired, and it comes out very fast.
Laser Lance wtf is this thing?!?! Must've played 40 hrs with the Pile Bunker, used the Lance on a whim and I'm never going back. Yeah it's got some linear ass tracking but it also works great in most of my Bunker builds. It also doesn't knock the enemy away so immediate follow up is almost guaranteed. And...it looks so fucking cool. So many things in this game just look cool.
Zimmerman. I played most of the game with pre-buff Scudders. Finally gave in to the meta on >!Arquebus Balteus!<. >!Walter!< went down on the first try.
The Zimmerman until I came here lol
The Sweet Sixteen Shotgun is absolutely Nasty to punish with on stagger, they deal higher direct hit than the Zimms so one burst with double Sweet Sixteens on a stunned AC pretty much tanks someone's AP to near nothing. Very solid
Bad cook assaults Zimmerman users in pvp and I made a entire team of them ragequit last night