Armored Core 6: How to Beat the PCA Warrant Officer in AC6

If you’re stuck on this boss, our hearts go out to you. We must have run this one back twenty times at least. The PCA Warrant Officer has shields, can instantly stagger you, packs missiles, and wields a huge melee weapon that could cut Superman in half.

This one’s a toughie, but we’ve cracked the code. In fact, with the right build, you can beat the Warrant Officer in under a minute. Observe.

Let’s do some play-by-play, starting with our build. We’re rocking a medium-weight build with just a little over 10,000 AC. For weapons, we’re using:

• Right Arm – MA-T222 KYORAI Napalm Launcher
• Hi-32: BU-TT/A Pulse Blade
• Shoulders – Vvc-703PM Plasma Missile Launchers

Choose a generator and boosters that will give you lots of dodges. You’re going to need them.

How to reach the Warrant Officer in AC6

Before you can even get to the boss fight, you’ll need to take out two of his lackeys and a bunch of little ACs. This makes this mission annoying since each time you wipe you’ll restart at the very beginning.

Important to note here if you take too much damage in the first part of the mission you should restart and try again. We started our fight around 3,500 AC and with three repair kits. We finished with no repair kits and around 6,200 AC.

PCA Warrant Officer Attack Phase I

The Warrant Officer has just one attack phase—trying to utterly annihilate you. He has a massive energy shield on his left arm and a laser rifle on his right. On each shoulder, he has a four-cell missile launcher. He can stagger you with a single hit or bash you with his shield. This guy is playing for keeps, so dodge around him as much as you can.

The key to beating him is staggering him and letting loose your plasma rockets and napalm bomblets. Use your pulse blade to stagger him and then hit him with everything you’ve got. If you can, throw in a boost kick.

A brief note about kinetic weapons; they’re utterly useless in this fight. We tried a number of projectiles and strangely, the only one that had any effect was the napalm launcher.

It may take you a couple of tries to nail the pacing or just get lucky but the Warrant Officer isn’t invincible. Use the tight arena to your advantage. Giving him lots of space will only let him charge up his melee so stick close. We found staggering him with your pulse blade and then firing your other weapons to be the best way to deal a good amount of damage. If your melee is recharging, feel free to hit him with a salvo of plasma missiles.

Plasma missiles have an area of effect so don’t worry about needing lock-ons. Plasma is especially effective if the warrant officer has his back to a wall; the missiles will hit the wall behind him and explode, catching him in the blast.

Time your attacks, dodge what he throws at you, and you’ll eventually have the Warrant Officer beat. Yes, it’s frustrating to wipe and go back to the beginning, but follow these tips, tune your build properly, and you’ll make it out alive.