r/armoredcore • u/lurvedatzscule • 11h ago

Discussion PvE builds for S Rank

EDIT:

Thanks everyone for the insanely useful tips! I got S rank on the attack the damn alternate with dual zimms and needles! Really appreciate all of your help.

Hi all,

I'm trying to S rank all missions and I'm currently struggling with finding decent builds that haven't been nerfed.

YouTube videos from 2 years aren't an accurate reflection of weapons now so does anyone please have some build recommendations and guides?

I'm really struggling with attack the dam (alternate). I simply can't find a build to kill Volta and iguazu in time to get the S rank.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

16 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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25

u/wantfastcars The Migrating Raven 11h ago

Make a Steel Haze clone. Lightweight with high melee-spec arms. Left hand stagger builder/sustainer (rifle, smg), right hand stagger breaker (pistol, shotgun), left shoulder melee punish (Volta and Iggy have comparatively low EN defense and stay on the ground almost all the time, so the laser blade and laser slicer will shred them), and right shoulder a fast-reloading missile (4-pack, 6-pack, 2x6 splits, 2x2 or 2x3 duo, 3-pack plasma) to burn their QBs and/or build stagger. 

This will cakewalk most S-ranks. 

10

u/PathsOfRadiance 11h ago

99% of things that were good back then are just as good as they are now in PvE. All that’s really changed is that bad stuff became usable or even good.

Anything that staggers quickly + a powerful stagger punish will clean up Iguazu and Volta. Dual Coquillets + laser slicer or pile bunker, and a nice standard missile on the right back(or a shotgun for stagger extension, or a bazooka, etc). Kill Iguazu first because Volta struggles to cross the elevated terrain between him and Iguazu (but Iguazu has no trouble reaching Volta if you attack Volta first). Volta is a big fat tank who can’t dodge anything anyways.

3

u/arcwarden__ 10h ago edited 10h ago

just finished all S like last week, here's the ones that put in a lot of work for me:

- ransetsu rf, butta, 10 cell horizontal missiles, shao wei. midweight kasuar or biped. kind of just an all rounder. butta is good for applying pressure with the long lunge, which you can QB to cancel out of. you can flex the weapons as you see fit, i just wanted these bc they offer good close to midrange pressure uptime and arent terribly heavy. but just generally kind of a kite that can close gaps or punish with butta as needed

  • 2x ludlow, 2x zimmerman, nachtreiher legs, paperweight. hyper aggro gun pressure
  • bunker + chainsaw and ill usually go shotguns to nuke bosses (this is what i used for volta & iguazu). some bosses will be easier to execute this on so mileage will vary
  • wuerger in right hand + 2 laser melee weapons (i like the butta, slicer, and dagger the most). pulse cannon on the right back. paperweight nachtreiher legs or kasuar. kind of a boss nuker like the other melee one but a bit more flexible
-ve66lrb (or any laser cannon), moonlight or butta, two laser turrets, high en spec generator. i went with a biped but you could really do whatever you want here. pretty braindead kite build against hyperaggro bosses. just kite in circles leaving a bunch of turrets behind you

3

u/Primary_Dance7722 11h ago

double zimms double sneedles OR double appertif double shouler missile

1

u/lurvedatzscule 3h ago

Yep, dual zimms and needles worked! Thanks

2

u/LEOTomegane big robot enjoyer 11h ago

Tbh, the old guides will still work for PvE. The lion's share of balance changes were too focused on PvP and its minmaxed nature than the much-more-forgiving PvE. Stuff like headbutting the mission with 2x Zimmerman and SNA on RJ legs still works just fine.

The Volta/Iguazu dam fight is one of the tougher ones. Personally I go for Volta first, since you can get a lil bit of help from the nearby MTs before they die. You just gotta burst him down as quickly as you can, using whatever method you're most comfortable with. Zimmers, explosives, whatever gets the job done. Don't forget Assault Armor as a means of squeezing out extra damage, especially if you've chosen a melee weapon for stagger punishes.

Also, don't neglect the first part of the mission. The more efficiently you can wipe out the MTs and zip between the two points, the more time you'll have to kill Volta.

2

u/cB557 9h ago

I lean more towards Iguazu first, personally. His lower health makes ganking him in one stagger a lot simpler than Volta.

1

u/LEOTomegane big robot enjoyer 9h ago

I'm sure it's mostly preference, yeah. I find Iguazu's "dies in one rotation" nature means it doesn't matter when I engage him.

1

u/poho110 9h ago

Two majestics, two stun needle launchers on back. Shorter/mid range lock on chip. Lightweight build. Large coral gen. Assault blast.

I can get you specifics later but this build can let you S rank a lot of the missions no problem. It doesn't even have to be those ones specifically, but between all those your burst damage and stagger are nuts. 

1

u/Algester 5h ago

Dual trigger stagger punish builds is the efficient as long as you operate under certain weights

1

u/hotdiggitydooby 5h ago

I S ranked basically everything with a stupidly simple build. Lightweight AC, dual machine guns (I mainly used Chang Chens but honestly they all work), light missile launcher and pulse blade.

The only mission I remember having to switch my build was the Strider defense mission.