“I feel like I can't play light builds” Armored Core 6 player opens up about a major flaw with lightweight builds

Armored Core 6 offers an incredible amount of build variety. While lightweight reverse leg builds are a valid playstyle, there are many in the community who feel that as they get further in the game, light load-outs get harder to pilot. Lightweight builds rely more on evasive maneuvering and thus depend on armor parts and weapons that do not weigh much.

However, being less tanking and taking more damage from enemy attacks is not why many Armored Core 6 players feel that light builds are not viable during certain missions. The very fact that a lighter loadout will also dictate that a lesser amount of ammo reserve is what is putting off many from going for dual-trigger lightweight builds.

The player who goes by the Twitter handle of MaxOr potently points out in a recent tweet:

“I'm really enjoying AC6. I also enjoy playing light builds a lot. But, I kinda feel like I can't play light builds. Not because of dodging, health, weapons, etc. But because they just don't have enough ammo to kill bosses. Are all bosses supposed to be fought with heavy builds?”

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Are Lightweight builds viable in Armored Core 6’s first playthrough?

What makes piloting a lightweight build during Armored Core 6’s first playthrough is the fact that you will not have access to some of the most powerful Handguns, Shotguns, and Rifles unless you have reached the endgame and completed NG+.

This limits the player build to some of the base weapons that take a lot of bullets to deplete the enemy shields and get them to stagger.

This also makes getting an S rank on certain missions incredibly difficult, as to get it, players will need to meet certain conditions, one of which is having a good reserve of ammo remaining. That is quite difficult for a lightweight build to achieve, especially if they are going for dual-trigger runs, as their reserves will run out fast.

Bosses like Balteus will take up the entirety of an ammo reserve of players who are not using Plasma weapons.

So does it mean that lightweight builds are not viable for Armored Core 6’s first playthrough?

It would be wrong to suggest that they are not viable. Players will need to compensate for the lack of ammo with some melee weapons using the Weapon’s Bay passive. They can replace one of their back missile launchers with a melee weapon or another gun.

However, the combination of the weapons they chose will depend on their total EN loadout and Load capacity.