Armored Core 6: How to Beat the Juggernaut

The Juggernaut boss in Armored Core 6 is the first actual test of your skills. Like the PCA Heavy Combat Helicopter before it, the Juggernaut is here to test all the skills and gear you’ve acquired to this point in the game. The difference is there are many more mechanics to deal with, and the pace is vastly increased. The fight is split into two phases, and the first is much easier than the second but is meant to teach you the basics of how to win the fight. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to beat the Juggernaut.

How to Beat the Juggernaut Boss in Armored Core 6

Beating the Juggernaut is actually pretty easy. In principle, anyway. All you need to do is hit its massive weak spot on its back enough to stagger it, then wail on that same weak spot until it explodes. In practice, hitting the boss’s backside is quite a bit more difficult. With V. IV Rusty on the field running interference, you can get a handle on the Juggernaut’s attack patterns and tells, but at about 50 ~ 60% health, Rusty will bug out, leaving you alone with the boss.

In my fight, my goal was always to be just close enough to the boss that I could get behind it whenever it had to stop after a boost while keeping my eyes on the mines it dropped. My biggest downfall was the third dimension. The Juggernaut’s biggest weakness is its back and topside, as the weak spot extends above the back as well. That means even if the boss is backed into a corner, you can fly above it and rain hell from on high.

The reason? The Juggernaut has no vertical attacks. It has no way to hurt you if you’re directly above it. The mines also only go off if you’re close to them on or near the ground, so if you’re in the air even a few meters, you can avoid them entirely. The best time to go over the boss is when it charges, as it has a few-second recovery period after boosting, giving you plenty of time to get airborne and shoot it with whatever you have access to.

You can also equip a vertical missile launcher to essentially trivialize the Juggernaut fight. Vertical missiles bypass its front-facing shield altogether, and you can use them frequently enough that their already high stagger builds too fast for the boss to recover. Equipping two of them is just as good an idea. I didn’t realize this during my fight, so I spent a lot of time trying to get behind the boss, only to eat mines.

The high-powered rocket is the only other attack you need to watch out for. This is the same kind the PCA Heavy Combat Helicopter had, but the Juggernaut only has one. The danger is still there, however, as the hitbox is the same. Stand too close to the explosion, and you’ll still get hit for between 1,800-2,100 damage (on an average build like mine was). The rocket can also instantly stagger your AC, leaving you vulnerable to any of the Juggernaut’s few other attacks.

Basic Steps to Beating the Juggernaut

In short, follow these steps to beat the Juggernaut:

• Get used to the fight with V. IV Rusty on the field
• Once alone, wait for the boss to charge, fly over it, and do damage
• Stay near enough to it that you have the energy to doge if necessary
• Use Vertical Missile Launchers
• Stay off the ground enough to avoid mines

Don’t worry if the fight takes you a few tries to get down. This is all you need to know to beat the Juggernaut in AC6. It only takes a couple mistakes to get into a bad situation, and bad situations in Armored Core 6 turn deadly in a heartbeat. For more on FromSoftware’s latest excellent meat grinder, check out our AC6 guides hub.