Armored Core 6: How to beat the Smart Cleaner boss in AC6

Try and imagine a Roomba built by a corporation in the future that has its own military. That’s pretty much what you’re up against here.

Unlike a Roomba though, it won’t simply bounce off walls and drag your socks around. Instead, this “smart cleaner” will crush you and then incinerate whatever’s left over. To avoid such a fate you’ll need to know the tricks to putting this industrial terror out of commission for good.

Best build to beat the Smart Cleaner in AC6

You’re going to want to stay clear of the cleaner’s giant arms in this fight. It has this nasty habit of swiping them back and forth over huge swaths of the arena. Get caught by one of these and you’ll get hit so hard your ancestors will feel it.

Above is a quick snapshot of our build, for the full breakdown of all the parts we used you can take a look here.

In general, you want to focus on mobility while maintaining about 9,600 health. For weapons, we recommend:

• Right arm: HML-G2/P19MLT-04 missile launcher
• Left arm: HML-G2/P19MLT-04 missile launcher
• Shoulders: BLM-G1/POV3VTC-08 verticle missile launchers

How the beat the Smart Cleaner’s Attack Phase One

The cleaner will charge at you so make use of your dodges and verticality to avoid its charge and its swinging arms. If the photo above doesn’t convince you that’s the right move then we’re not sure what will.

The cleaner is a giant target so at least it won’t be hard to miss. But what should you be aiming at? Great question, because there’s actually a special weak spot you need to hit in order to lay the factory reset down on this monstrosity.

Where is the Smart Cleaner’s weakspot in AC6?

You might have noticed the massive smokestack on the back of the cleaner. You may have also noticed you can lock onto it. This is why we brought twin 8-pack missile launchers and a pair of 4-cell handheld launchers.

Target the smokestack and send your vertical missiles up and they’ll go straight down into the mouth, instantly staggering the cleaning unit.

Next, go vertical and fly over the smokestack. Use the launchers in your hands to fire down into the smokestack.

Can you ride on top of the Smart Cleaner in AC6?

Yes, you can. When the smart cleaner is staggered you can stand on top of its head. When it gets moving though it’ll be able to shake you off. This platform at least puts you out of reach of its giant arms, so long as you can keep your footing. However, it’s pretty easy to fall off and then you suddenly become very smushable; better to engage from a distance and let the missiles do their thing.

Is the cleaning unit hard to beat in AC6?

Yes, and no. This is one of the few bosses that has a specific weakpoint to exploit. Nearly all the other ones will take practice to learn their attack patterns and how to tailor your setup accordingly.

The worst part of dealing with the cleaner is its massive swinging arms but it doesn’t have much in the way of projectile attacks. It’s fairly easy to stay to the back and corners of the arena and lob missiles at the smokestack, just be on the lookout for it to charge.

Rinse and repeat a few cycles of missiles and you’ll clean his clock in no time.