Category: RR Originals

Up until a certain point of Armored Core, sniper rifles were something of the neglected child of the rifle family. While they dished out absurd amounts of damage and had incredible range, their small lock boxes and slow firing rate made them nearly useless at medium to close range, which is where most AC fights happen.

So there they sat in the shops, unwanted, unloved, until From Software hit upon two changes that suddenly made it a very, very bad idea to bumrush anybody packing them. The first were left-arm mounts, which allowed users to expand the SR’s miniscule lockbox by synergizing it with the much larger lockbox of handguns in the left hand.

There are two weapons in Armored Core that quads are almost never without (pre-AC4, at least): Grenade Launchers, and Railguns. We’ve already covered the ass-kicking abilities of the Grenade Launcher, so we’ll be focusing our attention on the latter.

Being a track-based AC in Armored Core has several advantages, one of them being the ability to mount and fire some of the game’s biggest back-mounted cannons while you’re on the ground, and in the air.

In fact, some weapons only really kick you in the balls when they’re mounted on treads. And no other weapon best exemplifies this than the chain gun, at least during their heyday in Armored Core 3. Feared for their combination of shot velocity, stopping power, and rate of fire, the chain gun was like a machine gun on steroids.

Energy shields are the ugly duckling of the Armored Core series; From one of the franchise’s most useless pieces of gear, they have evolved into an essential component that is literally part of every AC you fly.

When they first made their appearance in AC, EN shields weren’t quite as effective as we all hoped they would be. While their defense boost did turn your AC into a brick wall, their energy drain and weight ensured you also had just as much mobility as one.

Of all the weapons in Armored Core, none share the consistency that the Parrying Blades have ever since they were introduced. Consistent, that is, at being utterly useless. While all parrying blades can and will hurt you real bad if they ever connect, there lies the problem: IF they ever connect.