As much as you’re a pilot in Armored Core 6, you’re just as much a mechanic. Almost every mission will have you back in the garage swapping out parts, buying new ones, replacing weapons, and customizing your mech for the task at hand. This is quite different from typical FromSoftware games due to the fact that you can’t actually improve any weapon or mech part, but that doesn’t mean the only way to get better is to buy new parts. OS Tuning upgrades play a major part in your build by giving you a wide range of advantages at the cost of OS Tuning chips you earn from the Arena. These come in passive and active types, and you can unlock and keep all the passives active at once, but will need to pick and choose between active ones. Here are the most powerful OS upgrades you should spend your chips on in Armored Core 6.
Best OS upgrades
Quick Turn
Do yourself a massive favor and significantly improve your quality of life in Armored Core 6 by unlocking Quick Turn. This maneuver lets you snap your mech to either side, or completely flip around, without having to manually rotate around slowly. The only slight trouble is that it is awkward to pull off since the input is using your left analog stick to point in whichever direction you want to turn and you need to press the boost button, which can occasionally send you blasting off when you didn’t intend to.
Repair Kits
If you’re a FromSoft fan, Repair Kits are your Estus Flasks in Armored Core 6. Unlike the Estus, however, you can never get more than three of them at a time. The only upgrade you can apply to them is with this OS one that buffs how many Armored Points (AP) each one restores by 500 for each level you upgrade it. Once you get tankier mechs, upgrading your kits to max will be almost mandatory to make them at all useful, unless you’re so good you just never need to heal.
Assault Armor
Do you find yourself getting swarmed and annoyed at how hard it is to get those little pests off of you? Assault Armor is your “get off me” move that creates a small blast surrounding your mech that deals damage and stagger on anything that’s too close for comfort. You don’t hurt yourself using it, and each upgrade you invest in lets you use it more times per mission.
Explosive Weapons
Missiles, grenades, and anything that goes boom is probably a key part of your arsenal already. These are already the weapons with the highest damage potential in the game, so why not make them even more powerful? The Explosive Weapons upgrade isn’t going to make your weapons too overpowered, with each upgrade only giving you a 3% damage increase, but that can add up fast once you get to the max rank.
Direct Hit Modifier
Similar to Sekiro, staggering enemies in Armored Core 6 is a major mechanic for the flow of combat that lets you get in a lot of damage quickly and without danger. You need to make the most of these opportunities whenever you create them, especially on bosses, so Direct Hit Modifier is an easy upgrade to recommend as it will increase the damage you do to a staggered enemy by 5% per upgrade.
