IMPORTANT: Coral weapons DO NOT count as energy weapons, and energy firearm specialization does not work on all energy weapons (i.e. launchers, drones, etc.). Patch 1.03.1: Aurora is now an energy specialization weapon too. I uploaded my spreadsheet, but I am still going to make adjustments/updates to better sort the other categories. You can make a copy to mess around with some stats, but definitely check back in for newer versions. The next video will be step-by-step optimization for an AC build.
Hey, as someone whose main build is medium energy rifles, I wanted to say one thing about the large rifle. It's weight cost being almost 8000 is incredibly limiting in some builds, which is what led to me using the LRA in the first place. Smart play around the LRA can throw a lot of people off their game and be incredibly rewarding. But I will admit it is absolutely not easy.
@Chrightt Fair enough, I actually tried swapping in lighter energy rifles into my build, and I will say I can absolutely see the benefits. Probably won't switch that build permanently. Absolutely gonna make a new build for that playstyle though. Now if only I could stop taking damage from projectiles I dodge on my screen...
Hey Chrightt, I was happy to see you making AC videos. One thing I wanted to note was that all weapons with the ability to charge their attacks have a hidden stat: Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment. Basically, all charged attacks generally have a higher direct hit adjustment value. For laser weapons, for example, it's usually 20-30% higher (i.e. a weapon with 140 Direct Hit Adjustment might have 160 Direct Hit Adjustment on its charged attack). This is obviously good for a lot of the energy weapons, but there's one weapon in particular where this is very relevant: the Wuerger shotgun. This bad boy has a *235* Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment, it gains an addition 90% multiplier on its charged attack! If you are running the VE-20B generator, a single charged Wuerger direct hit will do more damage than two Zimmerman direct hits. And the Wuerger isn't bad at applying stagger itself, with its 405 impact value. It also charges lighting fast, making using the charged attack as a punish a very viable option. The other weapon type where this hidden Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment value is notable are the linear rifles. They tend to get huge boosts on their charge attack direct hits. Not quite as much of a leap as the ridiculous one the Wuerger takes, but still quite sizeable increases.
You really should put the weapons name on each side if you're going to compare them side by side, and note which weapon is used in firing test as those names are quite similar to each other and I don't see which gun have X name
That laser handgun has carried me through 4+ playthroughs. It is just so hard to surpass. Damage, rate of fire, cooling, range, and ammo capacity; it's such a great package.
I think I FINALLY understand how FCS and Firearm Specialization works after testing! The red reticle does two things, MOVE and LOCK. * LOCKING only happens when the reticle is NEAR the target. So once the reticle is close to the target, it'll then snap onto and STICK to it. The speed or maybe radius of when it STICKS / LOCKS once it's CLOSE to the target is determined by your FCS. * MOVING is different, but similar. Obviously the reticle has to MOVE towards the target before it can get CLOSE enough to LOCK. The speed of this movement is determined by your Firearm Specialization. The big takeaway here is that high values of FCS or Firearm Specialization can OVERPOWER THE OTHER. The NACHTREIHER arms, for example, have such high Firearm Specialization [160] that even locking onto a target in a range with as low as 10 FCS aim assist is still SUPER FAST. On the other side, the WRECKER arms with a Firearm Specialization of only 26, can lock on in milliseconds, EVEN BEYOND 260 METERS, with something like the VE-21A which has 92 Long-Range Assist. After you're locked, RECOIL is what determines your actual accuracy. RECOIL can make shots miss even when the bloom portion of the reticle is still center. If you go to the testing range, you'll notice that shots will veer off target after firing a couple of shots before the reticle blooms at all, but if you equip arms with a high recoil like the WRECKER arms, even some full auto weapons become a LASER BEAM with ZERO deviation. Alright, there you go, now you know. (This is copied from my reddit post on it)
That is what I also noticed when using Wrecker arms. Though it's strongly advised to use FCS that maximizes close range due to the Gatling's optimal range max is within that range envelope. They outpace machine guns despite reduced per bullet damage. With low firearm spec arms, they don't care if the aim is precise; the AC with max close quarters spec wants to reliably read the target movement.
I wanna say don't be discouraged about the bubble guns. I made a build I intended to be a meme: all bubble guns on the wheelchair to go fast and get close. It's not meta, but it works significantly better than I expected. Impact doesn't matter if your dps is high enough, and melting pulse armor is hilarious. Like, the armor will usually be gone before their animation even finishes. I highly recommend at least trying it. The only issue I had was the heat buildup forcing me to do hit and run tactics.
I have tried pulse guns out, but they're just not as good in PVP because their range is still quite short if you want to hit accurately. This makes it difficult to do hit-and-run against some meta setups like double zimmermans that also rely on close ranges. While you do indeed tear through enemy HP, it's also quite difficult against missile boats that just try to stay as far away as possible. It has no combo potential whatsoever, so it falls short. But, I have plenty of success with it in PVE.
@@Chrightt you're not wrong. Mostly just advocating that it's not entirely unviable(I'm still haunted by ds3's shallow list of weapons/spells even worth looking at). Anything less than double zimms or missle boats in balteus' arena will have some counterplay. And the dps rewards the extra effort if you do get in. As an unrelated side note, really appreciate the acc. Impact explanation. Significantly changes how I will pair weapons.
I've found that mixed builds do very well at covering all your bases. If you're going close combat with bubble guns you may want to mix a laser and a machine gun into the mix - if not for the sustained firepower from having different cooldown times, then for making the enemy shit their pants when not only are they melting but they're being rapidly staggered. Barring that kick your enemy a ton.
Currently going against AM with the Microwave-N double bubble build. It’s tough cause of the overheats causing some dead air, but holy god the first phase (and really just a ton of bosses that aren’t resistant to it) can be melted
I overlooked the plasma cannons before thinking they would be a similar story to plasma rifles which felt bad against any target that moved, but seeing that heightened charged projectile speed has me pretty interested in trying a build out for them now. Thanks for the breakdown man.
Plasma rifle with an airborne AC against grounded targets felt much better to me than with a grounded one because of the aoe. It's like Earshot. You don't have to hit directly so it works like a small arms mortar rather than an actual rifle.
Fasan is very good, because of it's charged aoe dealing a very high amount of impact(which can then stack with other forms of impact and result in an incredibly swift stagger). This alone makes it very effective. I also find that uncharged shots have a similar but more efficient mechanic of not letting impact turn into accumulated impact, at the cost of the aoe, meaning you should only use it on slow moving or staggered enemies.
Paired laser handguns are my favorite weapon, hands down. They pair with any back weapon setup without fail, they eat through standard MTs and even basic PCA enemies, and they _never_ run out. And because the charged attack sucks, you'll find yourself only using them for rapid single shots, so they never overheat. Always ready to chew through a staggered opponent.
I added the Moonlight sword on my back to cycle into my rotation with the dual laser handguns. It's quite potent. The songbird on the other side seals the deal, but can be swapped out with anything. My favorite build so far.
another note about the plasma weapons, to deal their full damage the enemy needs to stay in the blast radius until the effect fades. This makes the uncharged shots effectively useless against moving targets combined with all of the other downsides.
The triple laser cannons is a followup execution. If you get a stagger after your melee or if they stagger at range. Charge it up and hold it until the stagger
VE-20B is for light bipeds with Laser handguns or Wuergers, with some light missiles or drones on shoulder (you can't put anything affected by energy spec there - too heavy, or too EN hungry in case of Kranich). Raw Impact is what breaks pulse shields. So it IS important against shielded bosses.
I tend to find the small energy rifle is very, effective with the 150 energy boost generator and fairly simple to fit into the build, making doubles a very real possibility
You should do a dedicated video for the Zimmerman, just in case it gets patch hammered before you do a projectile weapon breakdown. Such a bafflingly overstatted weapon should be immortalized.
I've found that playing with exclusively pulse weapons, with HI-18s on the arms, and HI-16s on the back slots works surprisingly well, more or less eliminating the cooldown, like how running dual Ludlows and Chang-Chens gets rid of the reload.
I calculated the rough DPS of most of the laser weapons, taking into account the heat/cooling times (avoiding overheating). When you do this, the medium laser rifle comes out way better than you'd expect. Notice how little the heavy rifle's shorter charge time matters due to overheating every shot (overheating penalizes you with 18% slower cooldown). I assumed 100 Energy Specialization, but the 2nd number in parenthesis is with 150 specialization. laser pistol - 437(546) dps laser rifle (light) - 435(544) dps - charge 764 dps (985) laser rifle (medium)- 513(641) dps - ch. 599 dps (975) laser rifle (heavy) - 545(681) dps - ch. 250 dps (494 dps)
I love my current tetrapod build with double light laser rifles. Didn’t come up with the alternating uncharged and charged attacks yet myself so this is very helpful.
One good thing about the medium laser rifle is that it one-shots many trash mobs without the large rifle's demanding requirements. The small rifle often needs to shoot a mob one more time, and the large rifle...well, it's large, so it's both heavy and requires more energy to use. You have to make adjustments around it.
I can see devoting it to dealing with the small fry in a level and then tossing it for extra speed once it's big hitter time. Problem is, the small fry are SUCH utter trash that just about anything deposes of them efficiently. Swap for a pulse gun and you've got an comparably efficient weapon for less load and en and you can utilize it for the two or three bosses that use shields.
It also has a nice sweet spot when it comes to weight and EN use, most medium legs can support 5-6 ton weaponry, good luck using the big laser and its 7.7 tonnes on anything except heavy legs or at the cost of the rest of your kit. I do think they could reasonably give it 120 ammo however.
One hidden stat you don't mention here is that charged shots increase the ideal/effective range of these. If you're wanting to fire a long shot but fear a ricochet, a charged shot might solve that (still has limits). I've used the light and medium rifles a lot, and I find myself having a more varied playstyle with the light laser rifle, as I'm willing to charge it up often. Whereas the medium rifle I rarely charge, relying on it's higher damaging basic shots. But I've many times had ammo issues with the medium, and with the playstyle it encourages I find it hard to pair it with anything with more sustainable ammo.
From my personal testing, the cooldown time is basically 1000/rate = (seconds to cool down) however if you overcharge a weapon and cause it to lock up until fully cooling down. It will add 0.5/1/1.5 seconds of extra time depending on the weapon. I have done my testing on about 80% of the weapons and this holds true. You can solidify this by doing frame breakdowns of the hu-bens and maybe I think the vp-66LR since you can get all the way up to almost 1000 heat build up. You can then calculate the amount of heat build up and speed that it goes back to 0 and find what the rate is and see if that is the same as the cooldown rate the game shows.
I got similar results. Cooling after an overheat takes about 18% longer than normal (except the Kurasawa, which is more like 40% for some reason). Really makes the double barreled arm laser rifle's charge attack limited to being a finisher, since it overheats after every shot for a whopping 4.8 seconds.
Hey man, I'm really glad you're making these AC6 videos and breakdowns of the gear. I really really hope you do arms next, because I would like to get a deeper understanding of how much recoil and recoil control affects your shots, and of it's more or less important than firearm specialization. Thanks man.
You've already blown my mind by showing me i was completely underutilizing pulse weapons. I was using them primarily for knocking down pulse armor and almost nothing else, so im going to have to give them another shot.
Even though the Zimms have greater stagger potential I feel the VP laser shotguns are more practical due to not cycling after every round they fire. If you don’t just alpha strike the AC you can play defensive and wait for your weapons to cool off.
I really like the idea of the Difuse Laser Cannons so my build for most of my NG+ has been the laser shotgun and Difuse Laser Cannon and they are no joke in the stagger department and damage department. It’s that ability to fire more rapidly like you said that gives you some flexibility in the play style but when it’s time to go in you one cycle most anything you face because of the rapid fire potential.
Fire rate matters a lot for a rifle build because recoil and tracking requires manual precision firing (i.e. not spamming shot). So for me the medium laser rifle hits the sweet spot in relation to damage and fire rate. Also charged wueger on the wheelchair is definitely fun as hell
I am near the end of my first (ng) playthrough but had to stop because of exam phase. Once that's over I am looking forward to watch all your in-depth videos to finally feel a little smarter about what I do with all the mech party. Hope until then almost all parts have a video. Love seeing this!!!
You are now blessed as the "True game data" but the armoured core variant. Love what your doing here! Breakdown with real numbers and explanations. I cannot stress how much work goes into breakdowns like this. Keep it up.
I wish you did videos on every game I play. The relief I get knowing what the hell I'm picking and why is so good. I wish I had you looking at my builds in dota 2 or something
Great video, I like your insights on the value of different stats. I've definitely been looking at raw impact too much when I should have been paying more attention to accumulated impact.
I don't have much AC experience before 6, but i love this game. This video is a huge help in learning the nuances to the game. My main build so far has been a very lightweight build with reverse joint legs and dual laser pistols. I use the 8 vertical missle launcher and sword or pile bunker for my shoulder weapons. I've rarely had to switch to get through a challenge.
22:17 YES! if you are playing 3vs3s the KRSV is a great finisher when one of your teamates manages to stagger an enemy, its pretty much an insta kill if you manage to land the shot, granted you have to time it correctly before it happens
Very good analysis, I love your content. I think you're kinda underrating the med laser rifle, in PvE at least. It one shots quite a lot of enemies at a good range. 90 ammo isn't really a downside. The KRSV is a funny weapon. The Karasawa was a plasma rifle in some of the older armored core games and became a laser in the later ones. Now it's just both. Also isn't the diffuse laser cannon JUST a laser shotgun with a shoulder mount on it? It looks like it still has the handle on it, lol.
22:20 for the Karasawas range, it does have a limited use. It can be effective in team pvp either for or against gunboats in the sky. You need to manually aim it, so it needs a good eye and skill to use that however
One nice thing about the Nebula plasma rifle is it'll kill even PCA MTs in one hit, and the AoE often catches other targets and deals respectable damage. The AoE makes a BIG difference and is why Plasma is so much better than the laser guns. Meanwhile, the KRSV needs two shots to kill the same MTs, even with the best generator for it.
You do the lorda work here. My generator usage is much improved. Edit: You answered the questions I had about the lazer back weapons. Ive been running the back lazers since release.and love them, but lately I've been loving the lazer shotgun on shoulder so I can melee and not stop moving like with songbirds, while having a way to capitalize on stagger from pile.
I was about to ask about that! My question... how does the Nebula RS compare to the regular Nebula with different generators? Which generator do you need to use to make it surpass the RS? I wish they showed energy weapon stats "live" like how your booster speed, total AP, etc is calculated. I suppose the advantage to the Coral weapons is you can ignore the energy weapon efficiency stat when choosing a generator. I also wish it was more clear in-game as to which weapons were affected by the generator.
@@greyspot00I think the nebula and redshift function differently enough that you shouldn't choose between them and just think of them as similar guns I don't like either because very low ammo is bad in pve and for pvp the projectiles speed is bad so
I would assume people do not bother with shoulder shields due to needing to hold the button. If it was a one press activation and deactivation it might be different but especially on controller it become a movement hinder.
There's a shield later in the game that provides 360 protection and is just a tap activation. Effectively just worse pulse armor, but allows you to use some other ability
@@HIIMPIEZ It does stay up for a few seconds but you can also hold to keep it out. You could set up button combos in Steam Input to change triggers to toggle, etc.
On controller you really need some kind of pro controller for shields so you can use the very few free fingers you have. TBH, to play this game optimally a pro controller is almost required (much more so than other games where it helps but isn’t needed). Since energy weapons require charging at times they play just like a shield and those other buttons underneath the controller are a godsend.
This is great information. I love energy weapons and almost exclusively use them. In the defense of medium energy rifle, however, large rifle is very difficult to find arms to dual wield with. It is definitely better on paper and testing. But you are limited on arms that can handle the weight of two heavy rifles. Medium rifles tho can fit on almost any arms dual wielded. So if I am akimbo-ing laser rifles, I found better success due to better tracking on the arms with medium than large, except for close range situations where tracking is less demanding since bullet travel time doesn't matter as much. (But at that point, shotgun beats it) Also, while medium has only 90 ammo, it does just enough damage to one shot most trash MTs. So I found it to be more efficient in long missions. Small rifle leaves a sliver health and have to waste another shot on almost all enemies. That builds up. Heavy fires a bit slow so I found clearing trash is less efficient than alternate firing the medium for each enemies.
One thing about the medium laser rifle that I think makes it preferable in some builds is the higher ideal range compared to the other two. The higher AIPS and DPS with the higher ideal range makes it better at poking while spacing out your opponent, which I've found a lot of success in doing in PVP.
the chassis also shrouds the hands, the curvature looks great with the usual parts you would use with an energy build. With the appropriate coloring, it's a real slick looking "gun arm" look when dual triggered!
I'll second the other commenter on the style points. Chrighht mentioned the more limited ammo capacity of the LRA, but I don't think it is a real drawback. I did a run with dual triggered LRAs and I only ran out of ammo for the LoR final boss. And of course PvP matches end way before we run out of ammo. Otherwise, that slight increase in damage between the LR and the LRA can mean the difference between one-shotting a trash mob and having to waste time and ammo having to double tap it.
Medium laser rifle is basically the normal shot spammer of the 3. For the light laser rifle, Its not often that you will actually get to constantly cycle through your normal and charged shots like Chrightt demonstrated so the actual dps will be lower. The big laser rifle has better stats in all areas except for rapid fire and cooling which really kills its DPS but is the best at burst damage.
You also shouldn't discount the increase in power, even if it's costing a lot. In PvP, you're not going to be landing many charge shots. So the bigger numbers do count for something. Sustained rates only mean so much.
I'm honestly kind of baffled by the VE-20B. It's obviously meant to be used with energy weapons with its absurd EN spec, but the low output means that you can't use EN weapons at all. Not really sure what From was thinking when they mixed those two together
Yep, I talked about this in my generator video, but the max energy spec gen is better for a mixed build that just pushes your weapons to do high damage while using something else efficient.
The reduce charge time is very great even with the 2nd best energy firearm spec. The laser shotgun is so good and basic the laser in the back weapon are nice too. You can actually use dual laser shotgun with 2 laser gun and still have quite decent energy load left to recover EN faster. The 2nd laser shotgun (aoe one) you are actually not overheated after an full charge hit so you can fire some more or just can open with it and still have something left. The overheat can also be used to your advantage as you can shoot until they are close to overheat then charge the weapon. The cooling time is the same as far as I know even if you overheat with charge attack at 99% heat
Wuerger charged attack is very juicy when paired with a melee weapon like the laser lance. You can charge it while performing the melee attack, and then be in a perfect position to unleash it at optimal range. Probably more of a PVP strategy though, since in PVE if you're in a position to lance the boss, you're probably in a good position to switch to a pilebunker instead.
I havent even thought about playing ac6 yet, still have backlog games I'm playing. So idk why I'm watching this now, but its really cute that you're using bugcat Capoo as your avatar.
Stumbling upon this video was timely as I recently built up an AC with the Laser Cannons and Shotty. I kinda now understand how I can make it work better. Thanks!
The first pulse gun you get was the ONLY way I was able to beat Baltaeus the first time through. Before access to act2, on that first kill the available guns suck for this fight. The pulse gun ripped through him so fast I was in shock at the death screen, as I didn't even think he was at half health at the time. My setup was dual pulse guns with the standard 4 rockets, and a purchased vertical 4 rockets. If you fight aggressively with them they are VERY good against bosses and ACs. When they are recharging I simply did kicks which also do great damage. Even if you run out of ammo, punching is actually a VERY good option in this game, doing insane impact and damage. I did not run out of ammo though, so there's that. @Chrightt
Forgive me, because I’m sure this has been said before, bro, you are diving deeper than James Cameron, listening to this is fascinating, and a little too much after a 12 hour shift and three beers but I really appreciate the information and the effort lol. You have my sub, pun intended.
I’ve found the damage buff from the highest energy specialization generator is not worth the limited energy supply, even with the torsos that max it out it’s hard to carry more than 2 energy weapons.
Yep, I talked about this in my generator video, but the max energy spec gen is better for a mixed build that just pushes your weapons to do high damage while using something else efficient.
Really looking forward to see some alternatives to the Gatling gun and shotgun, those are my fav weapons so far. Great work Chrightt, really well performed analysis
Great video. Thanks for doing this. My favorite gun/build so far is dual laser handguns. Assault boosting into combat unloading them as fast as i can really tickles the power fantasy.
It's that damn EN load and the slow uncharged shots man. That damn 128 laser correction generator has a pretty mid en output, and if I am saddling myself with this damn thing, you better bet that I am going for an all energy build, so the plasma cannon with its 800+ EN load stays in the garage, especially since unlike for weight, there is a tangible benefit to having a big difference between your max EN load and your weapon's actual load (on top of the whole "whoopsie, forgot to factor in the charge attack EN load") But yes, the plasma cannon is underrated, especially with the fast charged attack. I think most people don't even know it can do that.
@@nathansalvetti8232Yeah, I was trying to make a plasma weapon RJ a while back and I just couldn't handle the huge EN Load on the plasma cannon. In fact, the tri-laser cannon is the only weapon in the game with a higher EN Load.
In my long range hover build I mainly use double ve66lra(medium laser rifle) with full long range FCS and It works quite well in intercept the redgun too. I can one shot regular mt at any range and michigan can't really do much damage to me at all. tbf i have to bring assualt burst to take out small drone and many shield mt when they cluster, and I also have ve66lrb on my back for medium range fight and homing missile luncher for extra stagger damage But you seems to slept too much on medium laser rifle compared to the others so let me share my experience.
I am attempting to do hitless AC6 and the pulse weapon actually does come in handy in a particular situation. For my run, arena and tutorial missions count so I needed a way to do both hitless and Rummy has a shotgun, the funny thing is if you are directly above, below or next to him he won't use it. The strat is to just jump straight up and down having him chase you the whole time while hitting him. The problem comes if you stun him and don't kill him, when he comes out of the stun there is a high chance he will quick boost and follow up with a shotgun, therefore stunning is not ideal. 2 pulse weapons do decent damage but not a lot for not a lot of impact.
I really want to like the triple laser cannon but they're to danm heavy for their own good. I thought they looked ugly at first until i used it, seeing it flip over and fan out like a skeletal wing changed my mind and i made an "angel" build, but the things so heavy I had to use the ugly squatting biped legs to carry them. I also made a sort of "half corrupted one winged angel" build (no sephiroth connection, just though it was cool) using one of them and it's so demanding that i had to sacrifice some of the weapons i wanted to use to preserve the more aestheticly appealing frame i built. Long story short, the weapon needs some kind of buff to how heavy it is in both physical weight and EN load. Don't mind the low ammo as i use it highly conservatively as a way to finish a tough enemy while my other 3 weapons handle everything else. *IT NEEDS SOMETHING* they look way to casually cool to be worthless.
I've been having fun being slightly overburdened with one shoulder of triple lasers. Making every shot count, and then ditching them to start moving at full speed is pretty exhilarating. kinda like that Rock Lee and his leg weights
@@cornjeebus Never thought about actively overburdening myself, though I guess the only 2 things it does is slower boost and forced edge-walking, the AC itself is still functional. I should try a build like this in the future.
For the laser rifle comparison, one of the things you missed for the midweight one is the significantly longer effective range. While the medium seems like it has no neiche, its arguably the closest thing to a sniper weapon in the game.
Just wanted to give an idea of stuff you could add (and what I definitely noticed), is how useful some weapons become by 1 shotting a lot of enemies. A GREAT example is the laser rifles. The small laser rifle takes 2 shots for a lot of the normal, not PCA MTs. But the medium rifle will 1 shot non-PCA type MTs, make it much easier to speed through levels and get S ranks. The large laser rifle fires just a bit slower, but definitely enough to slow you down, and weighs ~3000 more (medium is ~4900 weight). Small laser rifle is more efficient ammo wise, but heats up faster (due to firing multiple shots), has a longer TTK on basic MTs, and builds up less impact per second.
Laser pistols let me put so much constant, almost unending, pressure on players in PvP that i almost always dictate the fight and cause them to slip up before i do. Usually ill constantly peck them with those until a stagger or opening occurs, then hit them with the shoulder weapons.
medium laser rifle charge attack projectile travel speed is actually the highest among the 3 rifle type (large rifle has slowest travel charge shot speed). So it's harder to dodge medium rifle charge shot from a longer range than dodging large rifle charge shot. I believe based on a video testing projectile speed, the charge shoot speed is even faster than the heavy linear rifle. So i think the balance was that medium rifle charge shot is meant to a stagger opener rather than a stagger punish
ey Chrightt, did some tests with the shoulder mounted pulse cannons (the KRANICH/60Z) are pretty good with a build that can keep up and close with the enemy, use after the lance charge for example is not bad, another decent one is dual minigun / dual shoulder pulse cannons, very nasty up close if you can close the gap and keep on top of the target, only downside is that it doesn't take long before those pulse cannons over heat
@Chright, you may not have noticed this but shields got a buff. They can indefinately keep the shield up only increasing the heat gauge from opening the shield initially where quickboosting will automatically cancel holding it out. They can still be broken yet I've noticed that all shields besides the endgame one that blocks 360 degrees are easier to use. I dunno maybe they were always like this but I am using them in mutliplayer with mixed results. Nothing can really counter dual Zimmermans.
760PR does have a benefit to its charge attack over nebula: Because it fires 3 shots that fan out it is exceptional at dealing with waves of mobs in 1 shot. This is good for the defense mission for Carla as well as clearing cruisers of their turrets to open a safe shot to their bridge with a melee weapon.
Something to note but as of Patch 1.03.1 the Aurora lightwave cannon now benefits from energy weapon specialization, however since it is the Aurora this is more for trivia than of practical concern.
I just wish you could use two of the VE-60LCA triple barrel lasers on anything but a tank chassis, that weight and EN cost is just hysterical for something with that little ammo. If they re-balanced the damage to suit a weight closer to 10k, en cost closer to 950, and actually gave it about as much total damage as the single barrel, that would be awesome. I just want my Noblesse Oblige style mech back, lmao.
Regarding the VP-66LH Handgun -- I think lumping it in with the rifles, paradoxically both heavily undermines *and* perfectly demonstrates where it's true strength lies. To see what I mean, compare it with some of the other "spammy" weapons, like assault rifles and machine guns: weapons that you'd use primarily for poking your opponent, or for clearing trash mobs in PvE. When you look at it through that lens, all of a sudden you realize that, compared to other weapons in it's niche? This thing does *crazy* damage-per-shot.
Honestly, probably going to try running a VE-20B with the Karasawa and throw on low weight and en capacity rockets with the laser dagger and as low weight and as fast of an AC I can muster and see how that works out. Might run a buckler or other stuff, but I want to really be able to nail stuff with the Karasawa like the old days. Though, considering the downsides of the Karasawa, it makes me miss things like ammo storage back parts. Then again, we probably don't need to bring back how hilariously busted it was in AC1. Once you found that thing about half way through the game there was no more challenge. As long as you could keep the enemy in front of you the fight was over.
IMPORTANT: Coral weapons DO NOT count as energy weapons, and energy firearm specialization does not work on all energy weapons (i.e. launchers, drones, etc.).
Patch 1.03.1: Aurora is now an energy specialization weapon too.
I uploaded my spreadsheet, but I am still going to make adjustments/updates to better sort the other categories. You can make a copy to mess around with some stats, but definitely check back in for newer versions. The next video will be step-by-step optimization for an AC build.
Hey, as someone whose main build is medium energy rifles, I wanted to say one thing about the large rifle. It's weight cost being almost 8000 is incredibly limiting in some builds, which is what led to me using the LRA in the first place. Smart play around the LRA can throw a lot of people off their game and be incredibly rewarding. But I will admit it is absolutely not easy.
@@e_bagel1156 Yes, the main issue for me is the cost benefit just does not carry enough benefit for its cost.
@Chrightt Fair enough, I actually tried swapping in lighter energy rifles into my build, and I will say I can absolutely see the benefits. Probably won't switch that build permanently. Absolutely gonna make a new build for that playstyle though. Now if only I could stop taking damage from projectiles I dodge on my screen...
Hey Chrightt, I was happy to see you making AC videos.
One thing I wanted to note was that all weapons with the ability to charge their attacks have a hidden stat: Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment. Basically, all charged attacks generally have a higher direct hit adjustment value. For laser weapons, for example, it's usually 20-30% higher (i.e. a weapon with 140 Direct Hit Adjustment might have 160 Direct Hit Adjustment on its charged attack).
This is obviously good for a lot of the energy weapons, but there's one weapon in particular where this is very relevant: the Wuerger shotgun. This bad boy has a *235* Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment, it gains an addition 90% multiplier on its charged attack! If you are running the VE-20B generator, a single charged Wuerger direct hit will do more damage than two Zimmerman direct hits. And the Wuerger isn't bad at applying stagger itself, with its 405 impact value. It also charges lighting fast, making using the charged attack as a punish a very viable option.
The other weapon type where this hidden Charge Attack Direct Hit Adjustment value is notable are the linear rifles. They tend to get huge boosts on their charge attack direct hits. Not quite as much of a leap as the ridiculous one the Wuerger takes, but still quite sizeable increases.
You really should put the weapons name on each side if you're going to compare them side by side, and note which weapon is used in firing test as those names are quite similar to each other and I don't see which gun have X name
That laser handgun has carried me through 4+ playthroughs. It is just so hard to surpass. Damage, rate of fire, cooling, range, and ammo capacity; it's such a great package.
Gotta love alternating the shots to manage the cooling.
everything you could want but impact
@@hopeandpiecewe're going all in on damage.
literally roc4 but slightly weaker
I have yet to find any energy weapon not feel like a handicap. Mind sharing your design/advice so I can learn how to better build for them?
We used to do breakdowns like this 20 years ago in this franchise. I am absolutely loving this series.
So nice to be back! I missed this too.
-Lionhart from the old AC Garage forums
Wait, you're Chrono. Howdy!
@@taylordiclemente5163 I remember you! Good times.
What happened to this OG AC reunion?!
I think I FINALLY understand how FCS and Firearm Specialization works after testing!
The red reticle does two things, MOVE and LOCK.
* LOCKING only happens when the reticle is NEAR the target. So once the reticle is close to the target, it'll then snap onto and STICK to it. The speed or maybe radius of when it STICKS / LOCKS once it's CLOSE to the target is determined by your FCS.
* MOVING is different, but similar. Obviously the reticle has to MOVE towards the target before it can get CLOSE enough to LOCK. The speed of this movement is determined by your Firearm Specialization.
The big takeaway here is that high values of FCS or Firearm Specialization can OVERPOWER THE OTHER. The NACHTREIHER arms, for example, have such high Firearm Specialization [160] that even locking onto a target in a range with as low as 10 FCS aim assist is still SUPER FAST. On the other side, the WRECKER arms with a Firearm Specialization of only 26, can lock on in milliseconds, EVEN BEYOND 260 METERS, with something like the VE-21A which has 92 Long-Range Assist.
After you're locked, RECOIL is what determines your actual accuracy. RECOIL can make shots miss even when the bloom portion of the reticle is still center. If you go to the testing range, you'll notice that shots will veer off target after firing a couple of shots before the reticle blooms at all, but if you equip arms with a high recoil like the WRECKER arms, even some full auto weapons become a LASER BEAM with ZERO deviation.
Alright, there you go, now you know.
(This is copied from my reddit post on it)
Thanks, I really wish FromSoftware would just tell us this stuff.
sheeeeeeeeeeeit good info
Thanks for the research! I'm saving this for later
That is what I also noticed when using Wrecker arms. Though it's strongly advised to use FCS that maximizes close range due to the Gatling's optimal range max is within that range envelope. They outpace machine guns despite reduced per bullet damage.
With low firearm spec arms, they don't care if the aim is precise; the AC with max close quarters spec wants to reliably read the target movement.
If this doesn't work out for you you should really consider deep see exploration since NOBODY goes as deep as you 😅
😂
AYO 📸
I'm sure he could build a better sub too.
I wish he would go deep in me :’(
he said what now?!
I wanna say don't be discouraged about the bubble guns. I made a build I intended to be a meme: all bubble guns on the wheelchair to go fast and get close. It's not meta, but it works significantly better than I expected. Impact doesn't matter if your dps is high enough, and melting pulse armor is hilarious. Like, the armor will usually be gone before their animation even finishes. I highly recommend at least trying it. The only issue I had was the heat buildup forcing me to do hit and run tactics.
I have tried pulse guns out, but they're just not as good in PVP because their range is still quite short if you want to hit accurately. This makes it difficult to do hit-and-run against some meta setups like double zimmermans that also rely on close ranges. While you do indeed tear through enemy HP, it's also quite difficult against missile boats that just try to stay as far away as possible. It has no combo potential whatsoever, so it falls short. But, I have plenty of success with it in PVE.
@@Chrightt you're not wrong. Mostly just advocating that it's not entirely unviable(I'm still haunted by ds3's shallow list of weapons/spells even worth looking at). Anything less than double zimms or missle boats in balteus' arena will have some counterplay. And the dps rewards the extra effort if you do get in.
As an unrelated side note, really appreciate the acc. Impact explanation. Significantly changes how I will pair weapons.
I've found that mixed builds do very well at covering all your bases. If you're going close combat with bubble guns you may want to mix a laser and a machine gun into the mix - if not for the sustained firepower from having different cooldown times, then for making the enemy shit their pants when not only are they melting but they're being rapidly staggered. Barring that kick your enemy a ton.
🫧🔫🧑🦼
Currently going against AM with the Microwave-N double bubble build. It’s tough cause of the overheats causing some dead air, but holy god the first phase (and really just a ton of bosses that aren’t resistant to it) can be melted
I overlooked the plasma cannons before thinking they would be a similar story to plasma rifles which felt bad against any target that moved, but seeing that heightened charged projectile speed has me pretty interested in trying a build out for them now. Thanks for the breakdown man.
Plasma rifle with an airborne AC against grounded targets felt much better to me than with a grounded one because of the aoe. It's like Earshot. You don't have to hit directly so it works like a small arms mortar rather than an actual rifle.
Charged plasma cannon is great for getting above AC's & other bosses & firing down on them. It pretty much trivializes some of the bosses.
Fasan is very good, because of it's charged aoe dealing a very high amount of impact(which can then stack with other forms of impact and result in an incredibly swift stagger). This alone makes it very effective. I also find that uncharged shots have a similar but more efficient mechanic of not letting impact turn into accumulated impact, at the cost of the aoe, meaning you should only use it on slow moving or staggered enemies.
Paired laser handguns are my favorite weapon, hands down. They pair with any back weapon setup without fail, they eat through standard MTs and even basic PCA enemies, and they _never_ run out. And because the charged attack sucks, you'll find yourself only using them for rapid single shots, so they never overheat. Always ready to chew through a staggered opponent.
I added the Moonlight sword on my back to cycle into my rotation with the dual laser handguns. It's quite potent. The songbird on the other side seals the deal, but can be swapped out with anything. My favorite build so far.
another note about the plasma weapons, to deal their full damage the enemy needs to stay in the blast radius until the effect fades. This makes the uncharged shots effectively useless against moving targets combined with all of the other downsides.
Laser Handgun is best used with *"Dual Wielding"* for DPS and *"Alternating the Shots"* to manage the cooling.
Or my dual laser rifle and laser pistol build in pvp I never stopped shooting
@@nathankelly5976same lol, rain of fire
Laser rifle is my favorite! It's nice I pair it up with my laser blade for most sorties @@nathankelly5976
I call that the Halo 2 special @YukitoOnline
@@Santi.Ocampos
I wouldn't understand that.
The XBOX has almost no presence here in South East Asia during that era.
The triple laser cannons is a followup execution. If you get a stagger after your melee or if they stagger at range. Charge it up and hold it until the stagger
babe wake up, new chrightt analysis video just dropped
VE-20B is for light bipeds with Laser handguns or Wuergers, with some light missiles or drones on shoulder (you can't put anything affected by energy spec there - too heavy, or too EN hungry in case of Kranich).
Raw Impact is what breaks pulse shields. So it IS important against shielded bosses.
These videos are the best breakdowns of AC6 on the internet. I learned more in 5 minutes than I have from everyone else combined.
I tend to find the small energy rifle is very, effective with the 150 energy boost generator and fairly simple to fit into the build, making doubles a very real possibility
You should do a dedicated video for the Zimmerman, just in case it gets patch hammered before you do a projectile weapon breakdown. Such a bafflingly overstatted weapon should be immortalized.
I've found that playing with exclusively pulse weapons, with HI-18s on the arms, and HI-16s on the back slots works surprisingly well, more or less eliminating the cooldown, like how running dual Ludlows and Chang-Chens gets rid of the reload.
I calculated the rough DPS of most of the laser weapons, taking into account the heat/cooling times (avoiding overheating). When you do this, the medium laser rifle comes out way better than you'd expect. Notice how little the heavy rifle's shorter charge time matters due to overheating every shot (overheating penalizes you with 18% slower cooldown). I assumed 100 Energy Specialization, but the 2nd number in parenthesis is with 150 specialization.
laser pistol - 437(546) dps
laser rifle (light) - 435(544) dps - charge 764 dps (985)
laser rifle (medium)- 513(641) dps - ch. 599 dps (975)
laser rifle (heavy) - 545(681) dps - ch. 250 dps (494 dps)
I love my current tetrapod build with double light laser rifles. Didn’t come up with the alternating uncharged and charged attacks yet myself so this is very helpful.
One good thing about the medium laser rifle is that it one-shots many trash mobs without the large rifle's demanding requirements. The small rifle often needs to shoot a mob one more time, and the large rifle...well, it's large, so it's both heavy and requires more energy to use. You have to make adjustments around it.
I agree, and this is the reason the medium laser rifle sits on that sweet spot for PVE.
feels like a very big oversight not to mention this, especially after talking so in depth about plasma weapons tearing down trash mobs
Yup. The LRA has been awesome for me. The fire rate on the LRB is too low for me.
I can see devoting it to dealing with the small fry in a level and then tossing it for extra speed once it's big hitter time.
Problem is, the small fry are SUCH utter trash that just about anything deposes of them efficiently. Swap for a pulse gun and you've got an comparably efficient weapon for less load and en and you can utilize it for the two or three bosses that use shields.
It also has a nice sweet spot when it comes to weight and EN use, most medium legs can support 5-6 ton weaponry, good luck using the big laser and its 7.7 tonnes on anything except heavy legs or at the cost of the rest of your kit.
I do think they could reasonably give it 120 ammo however.
One hidden stat you don't mention here is that charged shots increase the ideal/effective range of these. If you're wanting to fire a long shot but fear a ricochet, a charged shot might solve that (still has limits).
I've used the light and medium rifles a lot, and I find myself having a more varied playstyle with the light laser rifle, as I'm willing to charge it up often. Whereas the medium rifle I rarely charge, relying on it's higher damaging basic shots. But I've many times had ammo issues with the medium, and with the playstyle it encourages I find it hard to pair it with anything with more sustainable ammo.
From my personal testing, the cooldown time is basically 1000/rate = (seconds to cool down) however if you overcharge a weapon and cause it to lock up until fully cooling down. It will add 0.5/1/1.5 seconds of extra time depending on the weapon. I have done my testing on about 80% of the weapons and this holds true. You can solidify this by doing frame breakdowns of the hu-bens and maybe I think the vp-66LR since you can get all the way up to almost 1000 heat build up. You can then calculate the amount of heat build up and speed that it goes back to 0 and find what the rate is and see if that is the same as the cooldown rate the game shows.
I got similar results. Cooling after an overheat takes about 18% longer than normal (except the Kurasawa, which is more like 40% for some reason). Really makes the double barreled arm laser rifle's charge attack limited to being a finisher, since it overheats after every shot for a whopping 4.8 seconds.
Hey man, I'm really glad you're making these AC6 videos and breakdowns of the gear. I really really hope you do arms next, because I would like to get a deeper understanding of how much recoil and recoil control affects your shots, and of it's more or less important than firearm specialization. Thanks man.
Already a video out there showing exactly how recoil control works. Search for it on RUclips
The quality of your content is insane. Thanks for the guides.
You've already blown my mind by showing me i was completely underutilizing pulse weapons. I was using them primarily for knocking down pulse armor and almost nothing else, so im going to have to give them another shot.
Even though the Zimms have greater stagger potential I feel the VP laser shotguns are more practical due to not cycling after every round they fire. If you don’t just alpha strike the AC you can play defensive and wait for your weapons to cool off.
I really like the idea of the Difuse Laser Cannons so my build for most of my NG+ has been the laser shotgun and Difuse Laser Cannon and they are no joke in the stagger department and damage department.
It’s that ability to fire more rapidly like you said that gives you some flexibility in the play style but when it’s time to go in you one cycle most anything you face because of the rapid fire potential.
Fire rate matters a lot for a rifle build because recoil and tracking requires manual precision firing (i.e. not spamming shot).
So for me the medium laser rifle hits the sweet spot in relation to damage and fire rate.
Also charged wueger on the wheelchair is definitely fun as hell
Lordy, these are such well researched videos. Each one so far has changed my build. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Bro you're killing it with these guides. 10/10
could your next video be about boosters? I feel like mobility is a huge thing in AC6
Next few videos are planned, but I will definitely talk about boosters.
I am near the end of my first (ng) playthrough but had to stop because of exam phase. Once that's over I am looking forward to watch all your in-depth videos to finally feel a little smarter about what I do with all the mech party. Hope until then almost all parts have a video. Love seeing this!!!
You are now blessed as the "True game data" but the armoured core variant. Love what your doing here! Breakdown with real numbers and explanations.
I cannot stress how much work goes into breakdowns like this. Keep it up.
I wish you did videos on every game I play. The relief I get knowing what the hell I'm picking and why is so good. I wish I had you looking at my builds in dota 2 or something
Great video, I like your insights on the value of different stats. I've definitely been looking at raw impact too much when I should have been paying more attention to accumulated impact.
I don't have much AC experience before 6, but i love this game. This video is a huge help in learning the nuances to the game.
My main build so far has been a very lightweight build with reverse joint legs and dual laser pistols. I use the 8 vertical missle launcher and sword or pile bunker for my shoulder weapons. I've rarely had to switch to get through a challenge.
22:17 YES! if you are playing 3vs3s the KRSV is a great finisher when one of your teamates manages to stagger an enemy, its pretty much an insta kill if you manage to land the shot, granted you have to time it correctly before it happens
Detailed and based on numbers and calculations. Your guides are the best !
Greatly appreciate the detail you put into this.
Your videos are so imformative and detailed, but theyre also very chill. Great stuff.
I'm learning alot from you. I'd love to see one on missiles and how the different firing modalities affect chance to hit, DPS, etc
Very good analysis, I love your content. I think you're kinda underrating the med laser rifle, in PvE at least. It one shots quite a lot of enemies at a good range. 90 ammo isn't really a downside.
The KRSV is a funny weapon. The Karasawa was a plasma rifle in some of the older armored core games and became a laser in the later ones. Now it's just both.
Also isn't the diffuse laser cannon JUST a laser shotgun with a shoulder mount on it? It looks like it still has the handle on it, lol.
Yes, it looks like they duck tape plasma weapon and a laser weapon together
It has some slight differences, but yeah, basically a shoulder mounted laser shotgun.
The karasawa was a laser first, then plasma and now a mix.
@IsraTheBlack was pretty sure it was a Plasma Rifle in armoured core 1.
22:20 for the Karasawas range, it does have a limited use. It can be effective in team pvp either for or against gunboats in the sky. You need to manually aim it, so it needs a good eye and skill to use that however
One nice thing about the Nebula plasma rifle is it'll kill even PCA MTs in one hit, and the AoE often catches other targets and deals respectable damage. The AoE makes a BIG difference and is why Plasma is so much better than the laser guns.
Meanwhile, the KRSV needs two shots to kill the same MTs, even with the best generator for it.
Thanks for this guide. As someone who's a stickler on ammo costs and enjoy the efficiency of EN weapons, your spreadsheet is a lifesaver.
You do the lorda work here. My generator usage is much improved.
Edit: You answered the questions I had about the lazer back weapons. Ive been running the back lazers since release.and love them, but lately I've been loving the lazer shotgun on shoulder so I can melee and not stop moving like with songbirds, while having a way to capitalize on stagger from pile.
I fucking love the KRSV so much. Thanks for this!
Yiopee
Worth noting for those unaware, coral weapons are not affected by energy weapon efficiency so thats why they arent covered
I was about to ask about that! My question... how does the Nebula RS compare to the regular Nebula with different generators? Which generator do you need to use to make it surpass the RS?
I wish they showed energy weapon stats "live" like how your booster speed, total AP, etc is calculated.
I suppose the advantage to the Coral weapons is you can ignore the energy weapon efficiency stat when choosing a generator.
I also wish it was more clear in-game as to which weapons were affected by the generator.
@@greyspot00I think the nebula and redshift function differently enough that you shouldn't choose between them and just think of them as similar guns
I don't like either because very low ammo is bad in pve and for pvp the projectiles speed is bad so
I use a lot of energy weapons so this video and the generator video have been really helpful!
I would assume people do not bother with shoulder shields due to needing to hold the button. If it was a one press activation and deactivation it might be different but especially on controller it become a movement hinder.
There's a shield later in the game that provides 360 protection and is just a tap activation.
Effectively just worse pulse armor, but allows you to use some other ability
@@HIIMPIEZ It does stay up for a few seconds but you can also hold to keep it out. You could set up button combos in Steam Input to change triggers to toggle, etc.
On controller you really need some kind of pro controller for shields so you can use the very few free fingers you have.
TBH, to play this game optimally a pro controller is almost required (much more so than other games where it helps but isn’t needed). Since energy weapons require charging at times they play just like a shield and those other buttons underneath the controller are a godsend.
This is great information. I love energy weapons and almost exclusively use them.
In the defense of medium energy rifle, however, large rifle is very difficult to find arms to dual wield with. It is definitely better on paper and testing. But you are limited on arms that can handle the weight of two heavy rifles. Medium rifles tho can fit on almost any arms dual wielded. So if I am akimbo-ing laser rifles, I found better success due to better tracking on the arms with medium than large, except for close range situations where tracking is less demanding since bullet travel time doesn't matter as much. (But at that point, shotgun beats it)
Also, while medium has only 90 ammo, it does just enough damage to one shot most trash MTs. So I found it to be more efficient in long missions. Small rifle leaves a sliver health and have to waste another shot on almost all enemies. That builds up. Heavy fires a bit slow so I found clearing trash is less efficient than alternate firing the medium for each enemies.
One thing about the medium laser rifle that I think makes it preferable in some builds is the higher ideal range compared to the other two. The higher AIPS and DPS with the higher ideal range makes it better at poking while spacing out your opponent, which I've found a lot of success in doing in PVP.
the chassis also shrouds the hands, the curvature looks great with the usual parts you would use with an energy build. With the appropriate coloring, it's a real slick looking "gun arm" look when dual triggered!
I'll second the other commenter on the style points. Chrighht mentioned the more limited ammo capacity of the LRA, but I don't think it is a real drawback. I did a run with dual triggered LRAs and I only ran out of ammo for the LoR final boss. And of course PvP matches end way before we run out of ammo. Otherwise, that slight increase in damage between the LR and the LRA can mean the difference between one-shotting a trash mob and having to waste time and ammo having to double tap it.
It can also reliably one-shot trash mobs.
Medium laser rifle is basically the normal shot spammer of the 3.
For the light laser rifle, Its not often that you will actually get to constantly cycle through your normal and charged shots like Chrightt demonstrated so the actual dps will be lower. The big laser rifle has better stats in all areas except for rapid fire and cooling which really kills its DPS but is the best at burst damage.
You also shouldn't discount the increase in power, even if it's costing a lot. In PvP, you're not going to be landing many charge shots. So the bigger numbers do count for something. Sustained rates only mean so much.
I'm honestly kind of baffled by the VE-20B. It's obviously meant to be used with energy weapons with its absurd EN spec, but the low output means that you can't use EN weapons at all. Not really sure what From was thinking when they mixed those two together
Yep, I talked about this in my generator video, but the max energy spec gen is better for a mixed build that just pushes your weapons to do high damage while using something else efficient.
Trade offs is what they were thinking.
That’s how you balance a game instead of it just being 100% upside.
The reduce charge time is very great even with the 2nd best energy firearm spec. The laser shotgun is so good and basic the laser in the back weapon are nice too. You can actually use dual laser shotgun with 2 laser gun and still have quite decent energy load left to recover EN faster.
The 2nd laser shotgun (aoe one) you are actually not overheated after an full charge hit so you can fire some more or just can open with it and still have something left. The overheat can also be used to your advantage as you can shoot until they are close to overheat then charge the weapon. The cooling time is the same as far as I know even if you overheat with charge attack at 99% heat
Love to see a breakdown of the eule/800 shield launchers, great at close range lightweight suppression
Wuerger charged attack is very juicy when paired with a melee weapon like the laser lance. You can charge it while performing the melee attack, and then be in a perfect position to unleash it at optimal range. Probably more of a PVP strategy though, since in PVE if you're in a position to lance the boss, you're probably in a good position to switch to a pilebunker instead.
I havent even thought about playing ac6 yet, still have backlog games I'm playing. So idk why I'm watching this now, but its really cute that you're using bugcat Capoo as your avatar.
❤️spreading bugcat love
Stumbling upon this video was timely as I recently built up an AC with the Laser Cannons and Shotty. I kinda now understand how I can make it work better. Thanks!
Thanks for making this. Definitely subscribing just for this alone
The first pulse gun you get was the ONLY way I was able to beat Baltaeus the first time through. Before access to act2, on that first kill the available guns suck for this fight. The pulse gun ripped through him so fast I was in shock at the death screen, as I didn't even think he was at half health at the time. My setup was dual pulse guns with the standard 4 rockets, and a purchased vertical 4 rockets. If you fight aggressively with them they are VERY good against bosses and ACs. When they are recharging I simply did kicks which also do great damage. Even if you run out of ammo, punching is actually a VERY good option in this game, doing insane impact and damage. I did not run out of ammo though, so there's that. @Chrightt
the pulse laser is also pretty good for baltaeus and can also stagger/punish, plasma missiles are also pretty good at breaking the shield.
Never thought I'll be attending lectures for AC Spec Management. Sure make me feels like an Architect in Formula Front.
Forgive me, because I’m sure this has been said before, bro, you are diving deeper than James Cameron, listening to this is fascinating, and a little too much after a 12 hour shift and three beers but I really appreciate the information and the effort lol. You have my sub, pun intended.
😅
I did some tests with the bubble guns and the recoil reduction from arms does significant wonders for the pulse weapons by tightening up their spread.
I’ve found the damage buff from the highest energy specialization generator is not worth the limited energy supply, even with the torsos that max it out it’s hard to carry more than 2 energy weapons.
Yep, I talked about this in my generator video, but the max energy spec gen is better for a mixed build that just pushes your weapons to do high damage while using something else efficient.
Really looking forward to see some alternatives to the Gatling gun and shotgun, those are my fav weapons so far.
Great work Chrightt, really well performed analysis
Great video. Thanks for doing this. My favorite gun/build so far is dual laser handguns. Assault boosting into combat unloading them as fast as i can really tickles the power fantasy.
The plasma cannon is underutilized, I dont think Ive even seen it on people other than myself
I can't stand their slow projectile speed tbh. Lasers > plasma for that alone.
It's that damn EN load and the slow uncharged shots man. That damn 128 laser correction generator has a pretty mid en output, and if I am saddling myself with this damn thing, you better bet that I am going for an all energy build, so the plasma cannon with its 800+ EN load stays in the garage, especially since unlike for weight, there is a tangible benefit to having a big difference between your max EN load and your weapon's actual load (on top of the whole "whoopsie, forgot to factor in the charge attack EN load")
But yes, the plasma cannon is underrated, especially with the fast charged attack. I think most people don't even know it can do that.
@@nathansalvetti8232Yeah, I was trying to make a plasma weapon RJ a while back and I just couldn't handle the huge EN Load on the plasma cannon. In fact, the tri-laser cannon is the only weapon in the game with a higher EN Load.
Plasma cannon is my favorite back cannon. So underrated.
Consistent, quality content. Subbed. Thanks for these videos!
Cheers! Welcome aboard!
In my long range hover build
I mainly use double ve66lra(medium laser rifle) with full long range FCS and It works quite well in intercept the redgun too. I can one shot regular mt at any range and michigan can't really do much damage to me at all.
tbf i have to bring assualt burst to take out small drone and many shield mt when they cluster, and I also have ve66lrb on my back for medium range fight and homing missile luncher for extra stagger damage
But you seems to slept too much on medium laser rifle compared to the others so let me share my experience.
Babe wake up new Chrightt video just dropped
I owe my first Balteus defeat to the pulse guns! Don’t sleep on them in the right situation!
The large laser rifle is my favorite gun, I'm glad you agree it's good
Thanks for all the work you put into this video! Definitely gonna have to give the back plasma cannon a chance...
I really appreciate amount of effort you put in this video ❤
I am attempting to do hitless AC6 and the pulse weapon actually does come in handy in a particular situation. For my run, arena and tutorial missions count so I needed a way to do both hitless and Rummy has a shotgun, the funny thing is if you are directly above, below or next to him he won't use it. The strat is to just jump straight up and down having him chase you the whole time while hitting him. The problem comes if you stun him and don't kill him, when he comes out of the stun there is a high chance he will quick boost and follow up with a shotgun, therefore stunning is not ideal. 2 pulse weapons do decent damage but not a lot for not a lot of impact.
Great video. I wish more videos were this in-depth.
I really want to like the triple laser cannon but they're to danm heavy for their own good. I thought they looked ugly at first until i used it, seeing it flip over and fan out like a skeletal wing changed my mind and i made an "angel" build, but the things so heavy I had to use the ugly squatting biped legs to carry them.
I also made a sort of "half corrupted one winged angel" build (no sephiroth connection, just though it was cool) using one of them and it's so demanding that i had to sacrifice some of the weapons i wanted to use to preserve the more aestheticly appealing frame i built.
Long story short, the weapon needs some kind of buff to how heavy it is in both physical weight and EN load. Don't mind the low ammo as i use it highly conservatively as a way to finish a tough enemy while my other 3 weapons handle everything else.
*IT NEEDS SOMETHING* they look way to casually cool to be worthless.
I've been having fun being slightly overburdened with one shoulder of triple lasers. Making every shot count, and then ditching them to start moving at full speed is pretty exhilarating. kinda like that Rock Lee and his leg weights
@@cornjeebus
Never thought about actively overburdening myself, though I guess the only 2 things it does is slower boost and forced edge-walking, the AC itself is still functional.
I should try a build like this in the future.
Informative video. Very helpful!
For the laser rifle comparison, one of the things you missed for the midweight one is the significantly longer effective range. While the medium seems like it has no neiche, its arguably the closest thing to a sniper weapon in the game.
bro that sad cat had me crying. you're doing god's work. we appreciate. no neeed to feel bad!
I love the pulse weapons. They got me though some tough fights.
Great work on the analysis, looking forward if you're going do a detailed breakdown on FCS as well!!!
Just wanted to give an idea of stuff you could add (and what I definitely noticed), is how useful some weapons become by 1 shotting a lot of enemies. A GREAT example is the laser rifles. The small laser rifle takes 2 shots for a lot of the normal, not PCA MTs. But the medium rifle will 1 shot non-PCA type MTs, make it much easier to speed through levels and get S ranks. The large laser rifle fires just a bit slower, but definitely enough to slow you down, and weighs ~3000 more (medium is ~4900 weight). Small laser rifle is more efficient ammo wise, but heats up faster (due to firing multiple shots), has a longer TTK on basic MTs, and builds up less impact per second.
Laser pistols let me put so much constant, almost unending, pressure on players in PvP that i almost always dictate the fight and cause them to slip up before i do. Usually ill constantly peck them with those until a stagger or opening occurs, then hit them with the shoulder weapons.
i love 66LRA, look at heat buildup and cooling as well when you calculate the dps.
wasn't comfortable making EN build until this video dropped
Excellent video my dude! Great details
medium laser rifle charge attack projectile travel speed is actually the highest among the 3 rifle type (large rifle has slowest travel charge shot speed). So it's harder to dodge medium rifle charge shot from a longer range than dodging large rifle charge shot. I believe based on a video testing projectile speed, the charge shoot speed is even faster than the heavy linear rifle. So i think the balance was that medium rifle charge shot is meant to a stagger opener rather than a stagger punish
ey Chrightt, did some tests with the shoulder mounted pulse cannons (the KRANICH/60Z) are pretty good with a build that can keep up and close with the enemy, use after the lance charge for example is not bad, another decent one is dual minigun / dual shoulder pulse cannons, very nasty up close if you can close the gap and keep on top of the target, only downside is that it doesn't take long before those pulse cannons over heat
I would love to find a build that truly gets good use out of the maximum firearm specilaization generator.
@Chright, you may not have noticed this but shields got a buff. They can indefinately keep the shield up only increasing the heat gauge from opening the shield initially where quickboosting will automatically cancel holding it out. They can still be broken yet I've noticed that all shields besides the endgame one that blocks 360 degrees are easier to use. I dunno maybe they were always like this but I am using them in mutliplayer with mixed results. Nothing can really counter dual Zimmermans.
They've always worked like that. Some shields are better to hold on while others are designed to "parry" essentially.
Would love a booster breakdown like this.
760PR does have a benefit to its charge attack over nebula: Because it fires 3 shots that fan out it is exceptional at dealing with waves of mobs in 1 shot. This is good for the defense mission for Carla as well as clearing cruisers of their turrets to open a safe shot to their bridge with a melee weapon.
I dont even play this game but love supporting your content. Hopefully you move onto Starfield in the future!
Ty ty. If I have time I might play Starfield, but it looks like a huge game that'll be a massive time sink 😭
Something to note but as of Patch 1.03.1 the Aurora lightwave cannon now benefits from energy weapon specialization, however since it is the Aurora this is more for trivia than of practical concern.
the niche of the medium rifle is it's range, it has a longer range than even the heavy rifle by tens of meters against most targets
I like the way this guy says generator.
I just wish you could use two of the VE-60LCA triple barrel lasers on anything but a tank chassis, that weight and EN cost is just hysterical for something with that little ammo. If they re-balanced the damage to suit a weight closer to 10k, en cost closer to 950, and actually gave it about as much total damage as the single barrel, that would be awesome.
I just want my Noblesse Oblige style mech back, lmao.
GOD this is great.
But OMG, PLEASE do FCS parts next!
I can't for the life of me notice any difference in testing for the close, med, and long ranges.
Regarding the VP-66LH Handgun -- I think lumping it in with the rifles, paradoxically both heavily undermines *and* perfectly demonstrates where it's true strength lies. To see what I mean, compare it with some of the other "spammy" weapons, like assault rifles and machine guns: weapons that you'd use primarily for poking your opponent, or for clearing trash mobs in PvE. When you look at it through that lens, all of a sudden you realize that, compared to other weapons in it's niche? This thing does *crazy* damage-per-shot.
Honestly, probably going to try running a VE-20B with the Karasawa and throw on low weight and en capacity rockets with the laser dagger and as low weight and as fast of an AC I can muster and see how that works out. Might run a buckler or other stuff, but I want to really be able to nail stuff with the Karasawa like the old days.
Though, considering the downsides of the Karasawa, it makes me miss things like ammo storage back parts. Then again, we probably don't need to bring back how hilariously busted it was in AC1. Once you found that thing about half way through the game there was no more challenge. As long as you could keep the enemy in front of you the fight was over.