Armored Core 6: How to Beat Balteus

Balteus presents Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’s first real test of the player’s mettle. Defeating this boss is required to move on to Chapter Two. Nothing you’ve ever faced before, no matter how formidable, could compare to Balteus. It can easily melt your air conditioner with its flamethrower arms and stun you with barrages of missiles. How to defeat Balteus in Armor Core 6 is detailed here.

Read Also: Armored Core 6 S-Rank Requirements Guide

How to Beat Balteus

Two distinct phases of attacks are used in the battle against Balteus. The energy field all around Balteus suggests that it, too, is protected. As long as the shield remains in place, none of the damage you give will be taken. Therefore, during the battle, your primary objective should be to target Balteus to reduce its defenses. The shield’s health is represented by the light blue bar above the main circle on the hud.

When Balteus lowers his shield, the normal stagger bar displays, and you can deal damage to his AP bar. Staggering Balteus is an effective tactic for extending the amount of time the boss is unprotected. The boss, however, will eventually regain its protection after a period.

In the First Phase:

Because the fight is not entirely scripted, you can’t just memorize the sequence Balteus uses its attacks – however the boss’ first attacks are always the same ones. The goal is to study its strategy and develop effective countermeasures. During the first phase, avoiding Balteus’s missiles is your first priority. The boss doesn’t use them in any particular pattern, but you can always tell which one Balteus is getting ready to fire off by his body language.

When Balteus fires a barrage at you from all three angles at once, it can be extremely challenging to evade them. There are two options for evading them. To begin, you can use your upward flight to lure the bullets before dodging to the opposite side. Dodging in the direction of the boss is another effective method of evading this kind of attack. The rockets can’t make a sudden shift in trajectory, therefore these tactics succeed.

So, if you make a beeline for the boss, they’ll be unable to follow you. Staying at a medium distance from the leader makes executing this dodge much simpler. One more of Balteus’ attacks in the initial phase is a one-shot target at you, so be wary of that. An alarm will sound whenever the boss utilizes this technique. A red square indicates the direction of the assault on the screen.

You can protect your stagger bar from the damage this attack deals by taking precautions. When confronted by the boss, use the square along the sound to predict when to take cover. You should try to rely on the sounds to begin executing evasive maneuvers, even though there will be many circumstances in which the boss is changing positions, preventing you from calmly checking from where the attack is coming.

In the Second Phase:

The next phase will begin when Balteus’s AP falls below 50%. As the scene shifts, Balteus charges an area-of-effect attack while Ayre says, “The waves are intensifying.” Escape to a safe location and be ready for round two. Balteus will continue to employ both missile and target-locking strikes throughout this stage. However, the boss has introduced several new attacks with flamethrower arms, and taking more than one hit from them will likely kill your run.

After releasing a barrage of missiles, the first new tactic is a flamethrower-arm swipe attack. Trying to fly out of its grasp is almost impossible if you don’t already have a considerable distance from the boss. To dodge an assault at close or medium range, you should move forward and under the attacker’s arm. Balteus can also unleash a three-pronged version of the swipe move, in which he strikes first with one arm and then again with the other.

Think about this so you can avoid getting hit from behind. As for the second, it’s a two-arm swing. For this one, Balteus will first get some space, then begin to fly toward you with both flamethrower-arms open. However, as Balteus begins to move, you can easily avoid this attack by just climbing upward. You can easily avoid the boss’s attack by baiting it and then quickly escaping in the opposite direction it was going to go in anyway.

Balteus’s final attack is a two-handed volley of fire that you should be prepared for. The boss will make an alert noise and display a red square in front of it when it is preparing to use this attack, which is one of the locking-target attacks. Since Balteus always shoots downward, dodging the lethal flames is a simple issue of timing and placement.

If you’re already far away from the boss when it uses this strike, you can try to get even further away by flying upward. However, if you are near Balteus, you may just head in the direction of the boss and duck under it. You’ll get an opportunity to assault the monster after dodging this attack, as the flamethrower animation will keep it immobile for a moment.

Best Build to Beat Balteus

For my most successful build against Balteus, I swapped out my L-Arm Unit for the HI-32:BU-TT/A Pulse Sword and used the HI-16:GU-Q1 Pulse Gun as my R-Arm Unit. Both the BML-G1/P31DUO-02 and the BML-G1/Po3VTC-08, the most expensive missile launchers I could purchase at the time, were strapped on my back. I used a combination of medium and light armor to give my frame a healthy AP boost without significantly slowing me down.

Try out different variations of your build until you find the one that serves you best. Armored Core 6 is a game about experimentation and discovery through trial and error. Although the pulse shield presented some challenges, I was also able to kill Balteus with an SG-026 Haldeman Shotgun, which is a different type of build. Use the Pulse Gun, as that is what the game encourages.

FAQs

Is Balteus the hardest boss?

If you’re looking for a challenging early-game monster, look no farther than BALTEUS in Armored Core 6. The fact that it follows a mini-boss encounter on the way to the end of Chapter 1 contributes to the battle’s extraordinary difficulty.

What is the hardest final boss in Armored Core 6?

Chapter 4’s last boss, CEL 240, must be vanquished before you can proceed to the endgame. You’ll have to deal with a fully-healthed opponent again, and its high mobility and lethal AoE strikes make this the most challenging boss in Armored Core 6.

What is the spider weak to in Armored Core 6?

The Sea Spider is highly prone to ACS Strain, which can be exploited by loading up SONGBIRDS grenade launchers or a 10-cell missile launcher on the AC’s shoulders. When used correctly, explosive weapons are also quite effective for this goal. Once your opponent is dazed, you should rush in for the kill with a melee attack.