The AH12: HC Helicopter is the first boss you will encounter in Armored Core 6. Though, with access to limited resources, you might die often and would have to reroll the fight, but with the right strategy, you can inflict significant terror on the boss.
If you are tired of repeatedly battling the boss, you might not be playing with the right loadout or strategy. This guide covers every bit of detail to fight and win against the AH12: HC Helicopter in AC6.
AH12: HC Helicopter Location in Armored Core 6
You will find this boss in Illegal Entry and Survey the Uninhabited Floating City missions at Southern Belius and Alean Ocean areas.
How To Beat The Helicopter Boss?
To defeat the HC Helicopter, you need to stay in range. Your first goal is to inflict ACS strain and stagger the boss. For this, use assault boost to move forward and perform combo attacks.
Once the boss enters, swing melee attacks on it with Pulse Blade to stun it and get a bigger window of opportunity to land attacks with the Missile Launcher and Assault Rifle.
When you see the boss firing back with the machine guns, use the environment to your advantage and dodge these attacks. Now, one thing to note is that the boss tends to fly away often, so to lure it back into the center, hide behind any building.
After having the boss in sight, either use the Assault Rifle or Pulse Blade to inflict stagger damage. Remember, 3-4 successful staggers will take the helicopter down. Let’s go over some tips to defeat it.
Evade to avoid the escalation
Get in close range and use Assault Boost to charge toward the boss; use the Pulse Blade to launch countless slashes to stagger it. The boss will attack you back, and these attacks might be strong enough to take you down easily. Therefore, we recommend staying afloat. Try to branch yourself away from you. This can potentially rid you of its tracking ability.
But if the tracking system prevails, use your evasive dash frequently and move as far as possible from the HC Helicopter. Additionally, we recommend using small structural buildings as cover to hide from the helicopter. This will allow you to replenish your energy to perform relevant repairs and then attack it as a surprise.
Target HC’s Wings to deal Damage
Another tip is to lock the target on its Wings as the boss finds it difficult to attack you. Use combo attacks here, mixing Assault Rifle, Rocket Launcher, and Pulse Rifle impact to maximize damage.
Boss Attacks in Armored Core 6
Let’s go over the attacks of the boss along with some counters that you can take against them:
| Heavy Missiles | The boss launches missiles that has a large blast radius when detonated | Dodge by taking cover behind buildings or fly around |
| Missile Salvo | From either one or both sides, the boss launches low-impact missiles with high homing capacity | Move sideways or above |
| Gating Guns | Gives high AP damage at effective range and severe strain | Go underneath the boss during this or behind the building |
Best Build to Defeat the AH12: HC Helicopter
This boss appears in early game so that you won’t have access to many weapons and upgrades; however, you will need a Missile Launcher, Pulse Blade, and Assault Rifle to deal with the damage.
