Have you stumbled across the Smart Cleaner boss fight in Armored Core 6, after reaching the end of the Infiltrate Grid 086 mission, and don't know how to deal with it? In this guide, you'll find everything you need to know about it!
Armored Core 6 is a real playground for everyone who loves mechs and difficult boss fights. With the Smart Cleaner, FromSoftware delivers the next difficult boss fight, after we hardly managed to fend off Balteus in the Watchpoint mission off.
The driving volcano, "Smart Cleaner", tries to literally clean us off the stage and wipe the ground with our mechanical parts. It's powerful and aggressive but lacks the much-needed mobility to counter our 3D-maneuvers.
That's the opening we need to defeat it for good and send it back to the trash yard where it belongs!
Armored Core 6: Smart Cleaner Attacks To Watch Out
With this fight, we get another taste of how bosses in Armored Core 6 work. After fighting Balteus and concentrating on pulse-weapons, we need a completely new approach with the Smart Cleaner.
But before we talk about the AC Build, let's take a look at the attacks you need to watch out:
- Molten Eruption: An eruption occurs, and molten rocks begin to burst out and spread in the area – keep the distance between you and the cleaner or just hover over the area
- Charged Assault: The cleaner revs its engine before charging towards you and dealing tons of damage – to counter it quick-boost on either side or boost upwards
- Giant Swing: Swings its colossal overheating arms with multiple attacks – get away and stay away as long as it's attacking, this one will otherwise cost you a lot of life or directly kill you
Armored Core 6: Possible Best AC Build
With this boss fight, we need a decent amount of mobility while creating an opening for the victory. Be as aggressive as possible worked pretty well for me, and concentrate on the core and hover above him (not directly over the volcano) every once in a while. This way you will melt his overheated core in no time!
This is the equipment that lead to my victory:
- Right Arm Unit: Burst Rifle "Ransetsu"
- Left Arm Unit: Handgun "Coquillett"
- Right Back Unit: Missile Launcher "P20Milt-04"
- Left Back Unit: Missile Launcher "P05Milt-10"
- Head: VP-44S or Finder Eye
- Core: BD-011 Melander or Orbiter
- Arms: AR-012 Melander C3 or Nachtreiher
- Legs: LG-012 Melander C3 or Tetrapod
- Booster: BST-G2/P04
- FCS: P10SLT
- Generator: DF-GN-02 Ling-Tai or VP-20S
- Expansion: Assault Armor
Other builds will certainly work as well, but this one is focused on mobility and precision weapons. You need to move fast to avoid the overheating arms, while also deal a lot of damage at the same time.
If you don't want to stress yourself out too much, just stick to the Tetrapod Legs and hover over the Smart Cleaner. Allow the Rocket Launcher to pour down upon it, and the bosses' life will swiftly be depleted to nothing. If you need some money, get all the information you need from this article:
Armored Core 6: Tips How To Defeat The Volcano
There are two possible ways to fight the Smart Cleaner. Either go into full aggressive-mode just like your enemy or stick to the almighty "Hover Strat".
- Aggressive way: Try to stick to the body of the Smart Cleaner and his weak spot, the red vent on the chest. Attacking the vent staggers and stuns the maniac, and you create yourself the openings you need for the victory. Keep in mind, this one is fairly risky but leads to the fastest defeat possible. (It worked so good for me, I was quite shocked)
- The hover strat: Get into the air and fight the Smart Cleaner where it can't reach you. If you need to land somewhere, try to get as far away as possible until you move upwards and hover above it again. With burst rifles, rocket launchers and missile launchers on your shoulder you won't run into any problem while fighting it
That's it. This marks the end of the mission and the start of chapter two. But don't think the boss fights will get easier anytime soon... Good luck!