The complete guide to kicking in Armored Core 6 along with 5 tips & tricks to improve your gameplay

[@LikelyFeral]

If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe! kzbin.info/door/4Q4ew6jGnXoXoa9t1mqj7w

[@CHR1SZ7]

Important missing detail is that kicks have a really high direct hit adjust, so if you happen to get a stagger and don’t have anything off cooldown to punish with, you should always go for a kick, direct hit kicks put out around 1.5k damage depending on weight.

[@LikelyFeral]

Good advice

[@Taolan8472]

A point about kicking not mentioned here: The tank legs maintain their momentum through the kick. All other leg types will come to a stop at the end of their kick animation, but tank legs continue moving at or near your boost speed. This is especially useful for boost-kick flight, as this lets you cover way more distance than you'd think you could.

[@LikelyFeral]

That's a great point!

[@securatyyy]

Wheelchair boost kick is the best in the game imo.

[@LikelyFeral]

@@securatyyy that one is pretty great

[@ZDWario]

It is such great movement tech for tanks and just feels perfect using.

[@kaibatsukumo8026]

This video helped me realize that distance information is directly on the reticle. While the kicking info was very helpful, by proxy you helped me optimize my FCS ranges.

[@LikelyFeral]

It is indeed! A small detail, but very important. Glad it was helpful.

[@Zero_8347]

I also didn't notice that info, good to know

[@seanomygod]

This game has so much tech. It’s like a fighting game, a shooter, and a rpg all rolled into one satisfying package. Didn’t think I was ever going to get another ac game and then I get this, I feel truly spoiled. #GOTY

[@LikelyFeral]

Never thought I would see another! 10 long years.

[@redsixx669]

Another bonus tip, thw faster your assault boost on your thruster, the longer range "quick kick" you can do (basically double tapping the ab button to try to "rollcatch" someone), more ab speed means you get more distance out of that mandatory lil burst before the kick amd if you find yourself really needing to close distance use a melee cancel qb into ab

[@LikelyFeral]

Good tip. I'll cover melee canceling in the future too.

[@youtousim]

Learned to love kicks when I (totally intentionally) ran out of ammo during the mission. Thanks for the insight. Very useful!

[@LikelyFeral]

Haha maybe a tip I should include. Kick your way to victory!

[@legalnews5950]

Love this analysis. Kicking is a quintessentail part of ac6 as it is your fifth weapon

[@LikelyFeral]

If you aren't kicking, you are missing out on so much of the combat.

[@ferro9926]

Sadly, the kicks aren't as easy to land on pc (without hardlock, which disengages at the slightest movement), so i have been missing out on that, only landing my first kick on ibis while trying to cheese it

[@LikelyFeral]

@@ferro9926 that's what I hear. I'm on PC but use a controller.

[@ferro9926]

@@LikelyFeral it's mostly because assault boost gives you a tiny fraction of the dpi speed from recent use. Along with it's startup, it rarely feels worth it to me, so i've been using it like a sprint button 💀

[@d4arken3ds0ul]

Sixth. Technically gists are an option and auto used when out of ammo

[@Efwerd]

Some weapons make it easy to transition into a quick-boost for kicking. For example, the laser daggers’ charged attack lifts your AC off the ground after the attack, making it a quicker transition into a quick boost as opposed to normal slicing.

[@LikelyFeral]

Great tip

[@paulgrimm1757]

You can curve your kicks with soft lock and catch people boosting

[@LikelyFeral]

Great tip. I imagine the timing is tricky on that one, but would certainly catch people off guard!

[@Taolan8472]

That is super inconsistent in my experience. However, if you click hard-lock while assault boosting slightly off-target, your kick almost always connects.

[@Raso719]

I LOVE the reach on my RJ's kick. It catches a lot of people off guard on PvP and is really helpful for getting that stagger state in the campaign.

[@LikelyFeral]

It only sounds like a bit more, but it FEELS like a big difference.

[@cloudniinee941]

RJs get a initial distance and base damage boost to the kicks as well, before weight is factored in, they do 100 more damage than anything else at the same weight range

[@alcoyot]

There is so much more depth to be covered. I hope we continue to see manh more videos like this discussing aspects of the game. Because it feels to me like almost every other yt channel who was covering this game, stopped covering it almost immediately after the game came out for the general public. It’s really baffling to me why there isn’t much more mainstream love for the game happening. The coverage is already down to the small niche channels. This game is a masterpiece, it is head and shoulders above any other game being released. And most regular players aren’t even half way through their first completion of it. Influencers binge played the whole game before it was even released to the public and then already forgot about it as soon as it came out. This rubs me the wrong way.

[@Graati]

The game lacks longevity to be honest. Multiplayer feels incomplete and possess a lot of issues. You can get all achievements in like 35 hours without much struggle. Hope the next AC will have a better integrated multiplayer.

[@antarescypher2551]

@@Graati Multiplayer IS incomplete, Fromsoft said that it would receive updates later on but they wanted to ship the single player correctly first.

[@Graati]

@@antarescypher2551 I think they mostly mean balance patches. Don't get your hopes too much up

[@alcoyot]

@@Graati I just beat sea spider and now I’m going back to finish the check boxes from the chapter. You binged the game all at once ?

[@LikelyFeral]

It is great, and there's alot of depth to be explored for sure. I do hope that there will be some multiplayer improvements, but it's very fun regardless. While I plowed through my first playthrough in the first day my second two I did gradually over the week. I've still got a few things left to wrap up. Mostly S ranks. It's a shame so many creators have dropped it, especially after it's reviewed well.

[@stefanhvidklint9564]

Oh god, that tip about hard lock will be the biggest change for me, been missing a ton of kicks since hard lock sucks on PC. Gotta get used to quickly turning that on for kicks on non stunned enemies

[@LikelyFeral]

It's a struggle with mouse for sure!

[@zuurek6907]

You can also quick boost out of kick recovery, and then you can recovery cancel the qb with another assault boost or a right hand punch/left hand melee, which also boosts you forward

[@LikelyFeral]

Great advice 👍

[@notebooks6461]

Little side note, kicking extends stagger, giving ya more time to reload, I sneak in a cheeky reload every once in a while if I can’t do damage

[@LikelyFeral]

Nice tip. Hadn't timed that

[@azurespectrum1985]

Nothing like a good kick to finish off a match with a slowmo ending!

[@LikelyFeral]

Extremely satisfying 😌 👌

[@antonmaul2702]

I know these kinds of videos tend to take a lot of dedication and effort but I love the details.

[@LikelyFeral]

I'm glad, they certainly do.

[@jonathankkennedy]

Cant say the same for pvp, but the moment I discovered the use of boost kick in regards to chaining together attacks, was the moment everything changed. Suddenly every enemy in the arena was a pushover, cause i can just boost kick them in the face, follow it up with a barrage of weapons fire, and boost kick them again while they reload/cooldown.

[@FSVR54]

this is what I do in pve

[@LikelyFeral]

Makes a huge difference for sure. My biggest advice for Balteus to new players is to be more aggressive and kick alot.

[@kylew1950]

​@@LikelyFeralwhy, Balt was nerfed into the ground

[@BMuR13]

It’s a fantastic piece of the whole combat system. Creates so many great openings and enables combos/mix ups. Looks/feels great too.

[@LikelyFeral]

@@kylew1950 I actually haven't played him since the patch. That's a shame.

[@Dhieen]

I love the reverse joint kick, so classy, so cool I was watching a streamer play the game and i saw him kicking alot the enemies, being very agressive, finishing missions in ng+ super fast, thats when i understood that i had to do the same; and when i tried kicking more and be more agressive my whole gameplay changed, the game felt way more easy, bosses died so fast like this, its so satisfying I broke everything with double zimmies + double stun needles + kick, on pve at least

[@LikelyFeral]

Yep, that build will do it.

[@Pontif11]

Love the early days of a game. I was just wondering about this... today! I hadn't used bipeds at all and noticed i had a hard time landing kicks with one i just made.

[@LikelyFeral]

They can be a bit more finicky than some of the others. Now you know why!

[@FSVR54]

but the most satisfying! @@LikelyFeral

[@LikelyFeral]

@@FSVR54 haha could be. I'm partial to the RJs claw kick myself.

[@HaykInWonderland]

​@@LikelyFeralsaaame

[@montgomeryfitzpatrick473]

Tanks just ram, I find quads spin kicks the most satisfying

[@phailupe2941]

im just binging all these weapon and mechanic analysis videos knowing im still just gonna use the zimmermans with a laser sword and a 10 cell missile launcher

[@LikelyFeral]

Haha, Zimmermanns got a hold on you.

[@phailupe2941]

@@LikelyFeral just shotguns in general

[@LikelyFeral]

@@phailupe2941 FAIR

[@vespertide7311]

I'm new to this series, love seeing smaller videos like this in my feed. It seems like there is lots of nuance in this game, stuff like this help bridge the knowledge gap. Thanks :D

[@LikelyFeral]

AC is notorious for not explaining everything, though this game is way better about it. Still tons to dive into though.

[@Zero_8347]

The two-hit combo is a really good tip!

[@LikelyFeral]

Hard to pull off on a moving target, but if they are staggered or it's PvE might as well.

[@kingmasterlord]

*"D Y N A M I C E N T R Y!"*

[@LikelyFeral]

🤣💥

[@marsbase3729]

Thanks for the tips, stuck on Balteus, so anything like this that I can practice in test area helps 👍😎👍

[@LikelyFeral]

For sure! My advice is to be REALLY aggressive with balteus. Assault boost and kick him more if you aren't already.

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

This is good info. Thanks for spending the time and effort to test and report!

[@LikelyFeral]

You're very welcome!

[@shinb2897]

Great work. Will work on my kicks more keeping this info in mind

[@LikelyFeral]

Always room to improve :)

[@RicePattyMaster]

This is the only mechanic ive been truggling with. Thank you!

[@LikelyFeral]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sashastronghold5775]

Thank you for this video! It's very informative and definetely taught me things i didnt know

[@LikelyFeral]

👍I'm glad

[@Chilli_Tea]

Try time reloading with your kicks, usually reloading finishes just before a successful kick, allowing you to get more damage in

[@LikelyFeral]

A good tip, I could have potentially done more/better for the chain kicking demo. It also of course works even better with Zimmermans, but then again what doesnt...

[@Oninzuka_Badjula]

I completee both walter and Ayre endings with range builds so This made me appreciate hard lock on now that I'm experimenting on melee builds that integrate a lot of kicking. Doing all S rank missions kinda forced me to do melee builds and add in kicks into my kit.

[@LikelyFeral]

Yea, adding in some kicks should definitely help with some of the S ranks, along with the high damage of melee for some bosses

[@Oninzuka_Badjula]

@@LikelyFeral very true. Using A Dash to kick then attack can stun immediately saving up time for those time based missions. During 1 v 1 missions it helps get in more damage during combo strings. Definitely something useful overall Haven't done much PVP tho coz there are no PVP based trophies/qchievements. Maybe in the future after getting all S Rank.

[@BaBaNaNaBa]

the most important fact you missed is to kick cancel with QB into another AB kick

[@LikelyFeral]

A good tip. I've actually got that one included in an upcoming video as well. Would have been good to I clue here too.

[@jacobqueen3113]

It's hard to get tanks into the air, but aiming a kick skyward can quickly and cheaply increase elevation. You think "Wheel-Chair" is crazy on the ground, wait till people realize that a kick can send them 1/3 the way across a map. And a chain of kicks can easily give infinite flight. "Wheel-Chair" is broken, and I love it so!

[@LikelyFeral]

Wheel-chair is peak fun for sure.

[@Ersb99]

Just the video I needed , thanks bro

[@LikelyFeral]

Awesome! There's a lot to be overlooked or taken for granted.

[@Ersb99]

@@LikelyFeral hope you make more videos with these quality bro, the game at first glance was simple, But right now I starting to think that if they drop a big dlc or patch, these game could be an excellent competitive ranked game

[@lordhare2012]

Nice rundown!

[@LikelyFeral]

Thanks

[@zeehero7280]

Although I'm not a fan of tetrapod legs I like how they do a spin when boost kicking with them.

[@LikelyFeral]

It is a fun animation for sure.

[@charles9754]

Ty, great info!! ❤

[@LikelyFeral]

Very welcome.

[@vulkan5790]

A couple points to note from someone who has been religiously playing this game since launch. This is more of a nitpick but the BASE damage isn’t actually 311. The trainer AC has the Melander parts on which have decent defense. It’s probably closer to 330-350. The Nachtrieher legs for some reason don’t use the dropkick despite being RJ legs. On ram kicking, it’s useful as a punish or PvE but is a pretty much guaranteed way to miss your kick in PvP/AC fights because of how mobile your opponent is. The dropkick has some Titanfall 2 heat seeking melee level tracking and will practically teleport you to your target. On chain kicking, in PvP/AC fights…. Don’t. They’ll be able to get out of it after the first kick. BUT if you strain them with a kick you can get one off as a punish.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

I'll add some more in. Tank legs have two big perks to kicking. First, tanks often have difficulty getting decently airborne quickly, but a kick against an airborne target is a pretty massive amount of vertically compared to their usual mobility. Second, tanks maintain momentum after a kick, unlike all others, meaning it's generally less committal or punishing if you miss, since you're not standing in place, and can even be immediately converted into more distance if you're an otherwise ranged build being closed in on. However, it also means that things like a kick scoring a stagger, and then being able to reliably follow up with Songbirds or a pile bunker or something is a bit less reliable. These two things mean that tanks in general get a lot out of kicking frequently and aggressively as a general part of movement, and less out of using it as a combo extender/securing hits with them. A final unrelated thing. If you're good at managing your bar, kicks complement the Coral generators really well. If you can reliably kick to deplete the last of your bar, you buy most of the time to recharg during the interaction. And, of course, the opportunity to follow up with the defacto increased Assault Armor damage.

[@slaps9402]

Chain kicking really good in pvp for shutting down charged and stationary weapon fire. Really helps pin down and start a kill combo on rifle/missile boat builds. Of course it's easier to do with quads but I've practiced with light bipeds and it's pretty much about finding the right time to kick some one. Quick boost recovery is one good window to catch someone. Just observe the target and may ping have mercy lol

[@fusoryx6380]

The nachtreiher legs are bipeds not reverse joints.

[@LikelyFeral]

Despite the Nachtrieher looking like RJs they are actually bipedal. PvP chaining can be heavily timing and weapon dependant, and is of coarse much easier against lightweights with lower stability.

[@wubfiish]

Noticed that sometimes the kick sends them ~100m rather than ~20m, breaking some combos. Happened both on Kasuar RJs and Nacht Biped legs; timing, distance, or stagger state doesn't seem to decide it randomly happening. Any idea why that is and if there's a way to make it more consistent?

[@redsixx669]

Maybe its weight of the target? I havnt tested it but its a theory

[@LikelyFeral]

I think it depends on if you Stagger them with the kick. Maxing the stagger bar sends them flying back farther I believe.

[@ObsidionshadowX]

Thanks for all these videos, they've really helped me understand the game better and all my builds have flourished. You're doing excellent work! Would you happen to know what makes the nightfall head part different than others?

[@LikelyFeral]

Minus the differing stats, it actually had an extra animation as well! I'll cover that soon hopefully too.

[@aurumarma5711]

Kicking? I want to do some kicking!

[@LikelyFeral]

I DID hear you all like kicking

[@sintwelve]

If it is a bell curve maybe the damage is a function of speed and weight.

[@LikelyFeral]

From testing by myself and others, speed doesn't seem to play a role. Even the same weight with different boost speeds will hit the same.

[@zjay]

The Nachtreiher legs are bugged, they do the same kick as bipedal, if you plan to use them keep that in mind. I've seen at least one bug that was only present in a very specific build, it could be the same case here, so at least try it out first before using them.

[@LikelyFeral]

The Nachtreiher are bipedal, regardless of how they look. They are classified that way. The actual demo on this one is shown with the Kasuar unless I messed up somewhere :P

[@zjay]

@@LikelyFeral oh yeah, you're right, i always assumed they were reverse joints because of how they look, that's what i get for not reading lol. Yeah, you used the Kasuar i looked at it again while writing my comment. Also, thanks for this video, Kicks are a huge part of my playstyle and this helped lot!

[@LikelyFeral]

@zjay you are BY FAR not the only one to do that. I did it before the game came out in my know parts list lol.

[@zjay]

@@LikelyFeral knowing that makes me feel better lol

[@Outofrealman]

Nice vid but when you talk about kick you really should talk about the direct hit bonus of kicks. It does like 3-4 times the damage then kicking normally.

[@LikelyFeral]

Good tip. Guess I skipped it since most things get a large direct hit bonus. A good point though.

[@plebula_9894]

This is great I needed it bad haha

[@LikelyFeral]

Haha glad it's helpful.

[@T1Oracle]

I miss and accidentally kicks all the time! I tried taking kick off the joystick, but I was afraid that I wouldn't play the same with the key remap. I may have to revisit that. Of course PC players probably don't understand this...

[@LikelyFeral]

I'm guilty if the accidentally kick too. Controller on PC. Mouse suffers the issue of struggling to hard lock at all :P

[@Fundywhatshappening]

Okay…okay…f…I just finished my whole first playthrough not realizing hard lock was a thing until now

[@LikelyFeral]

Oh no! Haha well second playthrough should be different lol

[@shenv77]

Hi, would you mind making a similar guide to pile bunking? I am having trouble getting it to hit, I miss my shots a lot because of either range or the enemies getting out of stagger faster

[@LikelyFeral]

I've got a bunch of videos to make, but I'll definitely add it to my list of ideas.

[@ReaveShot]

Nothing more annoying than getting kicked when it appears as though they're kicking far left of where you even are.

[@LikelyFeral]

Yea, a few high ping issues that can also contribute to that.

[@Laevatrien2]

A thing I noticed about chain-kicking which may/may not be correct. If you kick a target at ground level, you'll get grounded in the finishing animation where you can't immediately chain into another assault-boost but can QB cancel. This does not occur if you're chain-ramming near the ground or chain-kicking in midair. I've yet to properly test this to confirm it, and was using a biped. If this IS true, I wonder how far off the ground do you need to be to not get ground-locked?

[@LikelyFeral]

Hmm, I'm not positive on that one. I'll have to test it out!

[@Laevatrien2]

@@LikelyFeral After some testing, it seems to occur when ending your boost-kick at ALT 0, if you aren't holding a movement input, you are unable to chain into another assault boost. Unlike in mid-air, which you can chain by mashing a single button. This affects Bipeds, Tetrapods and Tank legs. It's more noticable on the tetrapods because they actually show the landing animation. This probably won't affect usual gameplay being how simple it is to outright negate it, but it's interesting to note at least.

[@AluinKali]

Minimum effective range for kicking would be interesting to know. Not sure if it’s just a skill issue but I tend to miss a lot in pvp when I initiate the kick very close to my enemy.

[@LikelyFeral]

You should be able to pull it off right beside them. Maybe it's a lock break or soft lock issue? Not sure.

[@resurrection1174]

Hey man what happened to the podcast? Also very helpful video thanks

[@LikelyFeral]

Life and work 😢 I've been away from gaming/youtube for a bit. Hopefully back into it though with the new year!

[@OfficerQuavers]

So I'm only up to the leg comparison numbers. And I'm already learning I made a pretty damn meta pve build for my first play through. 88k weight reverse joint build with 2 mini guns and two stub needles. Whoops 😂😂

[@LikelyFeral]

Hahaha that should do it!

[@RenoKyrie]

Moral of story Ban any Quad Kick spammer

[@LikelyFeral]

Haha 😄 use your kicking powers for good not evil

[@levi9682]

Nice guide! Does FCS affect kicks?

[@LikelyFeral]

Not that I've noticed

[@quecobpt]

How do i improve kick damage with OS Tuning? Does it benefit from kinetic or melee damage increase?

[@LikelyFeral]

While I'm not 100% on it as I've unlocked them all and haven't tested it, I don't believe it's affected by any of the upgrades. Just your weight.

[@ericcarlton87]

I need to re map the kick button to a different button b/c this shit is ridiculous. I’m kicking fucking everything and every time I boost except when I actually try to do it

[@LikelyFeral]

Certainly could. For a while I had a bad habit of ending my assault boost by clicking the stick rather than pulling back, so kept kicking by accident.

[@realjondo9601]

is the melee thrust stat just not a thing for kicks?

[@LikelyFeral]

Nope. It doesn't seem to affect kicks at all.

[@quelldieu7263]

its only one button really press select button to kick player from the room XD

[@LikelyFeral]

🤣

[@mkv2718]

More like a guide to KICKIN’ ASS!!! … sorry, couldn’t help myself. I’ll see myself out. Edit: side note, Zero Lenny did a “no weapons” run, yet somehow completely missed that reverse joint legs were considered a different leg type and completely ignored them. Might’ve helped if he realized that 🤷‍♂️

[@LikelyFeral]

🤣 amazing. Yea, that may have though! I'll have to check that out.

[@rolandotillit2867]

Is shield bash a thing?

[@LikelyFeral]

I wish, sadly it's not.

[@keenheat3335]

interesting, so melee thrust doesnt affect kick range? too bad

[@LikelyFeral]

Nope. Kick range seemed to be static from what I tested.

[@legalnews5950]

Yea melee range seems to only affect weapons that boost you to the target.

[@HellGatyr]

No booster tip? It's has assault boost stat that help you to reach target

[@LikelyFeral]

Only for melee weapons. Booster stats have no effect on kicking.

[@JaggedJack1]

Any tips for kicking when using keyboard and mouse? Hard lock kinda sucks for us.

[@Taolan8472]

Kicking from soft lock can miss even if you are moving directly at your opponent and they are centered in your camera. I don't know why. It's annoying AF. Toggle the hard lock on just before you kick to ensure it connects. Even playing with a controller on PC I find this is essential in PVP. Also remember that the Quick-Turn can be used to do hard 90s while assault boosting.

[@LikelyFeral]

Not really. I haven't touched keyboard and mouse much. I heard someone suggest lifting the mouse up so you can't "move" it.

[@JaggedJack1]

@@LikelyFeral Yeah that's just silly, picking up the mouse.

[@vahnayasaki6989]

​@@JaggedJack1just hardlock as you boost and keep your mouse still

[@LikelyFeral]

@@JaggedJack1 silly it is lol

[@aW-qi4od]

You know its 311 and you know it ain't easy.

[@LikelyFeral]

Yep 311 base. Though I find it interesting that reverse joints are the only exception to everything.

[@aW-qi4od]

@@LikelyFeral kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYjSXmNofdiUmJYsi=CbeHhYioFf96Oj24

[@Saturn2888]

But how do you kick?

[@LikelyFeral]

Haha a fair enough comment. Check that control layout :P

[@jadawngriffis3745]

Im so fucking aggravated my kicks almost never land and people kick me all the time its so infuriating bro

[@LikelyFeral]

Do you play with hard lock? If your on PC, moving the mouse at all will break that hard lock as well.

[@jadawngriffis3745]

@LikelyFeral I play with hard lock and I never touch the right stick because that will disengage it

[@labakrapscalio451]

But how do you kick haha

[@LikelyFeral]

You win this round 😆

[@mingodingo]

I'mma need proof not just speculation based on the model animation that quads can hit all around and behind. Tip 2, tip 4, are completely unconvincing if you can't give an example of doing that to a moving target. Even enabling AI here would have done enough to prove the viability.

[@LikelyFeral]

Fair enough for tip 4, but for tip 2 you can see the difference during the demonstration. There is a little more stagger and it does 44 damage as seen on screen. Hit boxes are more difficult, especially as you have to be assault boosting to kick. I can definitely say I've hit people beside me with quads, and I've hit someone behind me while coming from above when I overshot them.

[@Tekka579]

Kicking needs to be nerfed hard lock kicking is broken

[@LikelyFeral]

Hmm, potentially should.