Why Armored Core 6's Balteus is so good at killing you

Armored Core 6's first gatekeeping boss, Balteus, was the scourge of players when the game first came out. Guides to beating Balteus immediately started popping up on KZbin - but they all used different Armored Core builds. Is it really hard to beat Balteus, or can just about any mech build do it? Polygon's Clayton Ashley and Patrick Gill explore why Balteus' design and array of weaponry are such a roadblock for Armored Core players, but also why Balteus teaches you exactly what you need to know to succeed at Armored Core 6.
0:00 Introducing Armored Core 6's Balteus
0:40 Attack the Watchpoint mission briefing
2:26 Balteus' Armored Core build
7:00 Testing builds to fight Balteus
10:08 What Balteus teaches you
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[@polygon]

We did a similar breakdown on Margit from Elden Ring! Check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWqwgphtqbdorrM

[@Malikimusmaximus]

I want to ask can you do one of arquebus balteus Please

[@atticuskirby]

I've gotta say, I love a stupid big robot with one thousand guns and missiles. Always great to see love for a big overpowered robot, and much appreciation for demystifying this one. Also: biblically accurate robot

[@teslashark]

You know the bibilically accurate in Forspoken? Should have been Balteus.

[@atalbrecht]

Simone was OK with Clayton talking about mechs for 10 minutes, but spreadsheets were a bridge too far 😄

[@polygon]

i can't TAKE IT

[@datafoxy]

It really was the cry heard everywhere.

[@DannoHung]

@@polygon Too much residual Unraveled trauma.

[@Elvalley]

@@polygon b-but I do spreadsheets for fun!

[@patchpatch4008]

It's not a mecha game until you're scrutinizing the smallest minutiae for advantages. Like, switching out for a FCS that has literally allows you to scrap by the power limit by a single point.

[@Kharrakster]

Totally agreed about how Balteus pushes one to learn the game by going into the Big Menus. For me, I realized I didn't understand what 'optimal range' actually meant, so when I dug in and found the range bands that my weapons worked at - and learning to stay within those range bands - I was immediately much more successful. Personally I struggled to find success with bubble guns and lasers, but double Ransetsu Burst Rifles (and keeping them within optimal range) worked wonders for Balteus and almost every boss fight afterwards.

[@rpemulis]

ransetsu burst rifles are so good. dual wielding those things and swapping shoulder stuff around as needed will get you through most of the game for sure.

[@cptncutleg]

I went full aggression with a shotgun and plasma sword. I did the leadup to Sulla with vertical missiles to avoid all damage and got too close for Balteus to deal with

[@cyberspacecat]

Man, Pat does a great handler voice, almost had me confused for Walter for a minute

[@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy]

I too found myself wondering who "Handler Patrick" was and what part of the game I missed for not having been briefed by him.

[@livemynd]

Simone screaming NO was so perfectly executed and timed, I wish I was able to like the video again (first time was on seeing Pat's icon).

[@Wilsontripplets]

He is definitely a boss that is hard because of not what he is but the point you encounter him. Taking him on in subsequent playthroughs was a cakewalk compared to my first playthrough.

[@chef_Jeremy]

I was stuck on Balteus for so long and got so used to the extremely fast paced fight that when I finally beat him and then got to the Smaet Cleaner I had forgotten how to deal a big slow guy and died a bunch

[@peanhead2543]

for real tho' spent like 45 minutes at Balteus and end up one hour dead to Smart Cleaner, and i ended up changing my build to hover with gatling/energy gun + the starting missile launcher.

[@fjordojustice]

This uncannily described my journey fighting Balteus for the first time. I fought him for hours learning his patterns but failing to beat him, refusing to change my build, because hat's always been my habit in Dark Souls, When I gave in and started tweaking things, I finally realized that this is what the game had wanted from me all along. It was really satisfying to experiment and find a build that really clicked for me

[@Danieltp3]

Rockets were pretty easy for me, his crazy sword thing got me the most, also running out of ammo

[@redsands1001]

I had learned when he would sue that flame sword but so many times I couldn't stop myself from trying to melee at that moment and would get ruined. Had to fight my instincts. Loved the game

[@diel6755]

Just remember he often use his sword after he had use his machinegun. He did that only when you bring his health to half bar. When he did that, just fly high and drop to avoid it. It's mostly horizontal attack so vertical movement would help you dodge it easily

[@TheAzureGhost]

i ran out of ammo too when i first beat him... literaly. I punched him to death after my guns ran dry. xD

[@spark9189]

yeah, missiles you just have to move left or right while boosting (pre-nerf)

[@_BlackenedSun]

The hardest boss had to be the ugly ps3 graphics my god it was hard 😂

[@enzoTHEferrari]

Balteus was by far my favourite 3 hours of Armored Core. The difficulty, the grind, the problem solving, the music pumping the whole time, and the sweet sweet satisfaction of finally beating him. 11/10 would rocket my salvos again.

[@PandaCheeks]

3 hours 😮😂

[@Helldiver450]

Balteus is a beautiful design, easily one of the coolest bosses of all time.

[@patchpatch4008]

He's easily iconic for me now. It's super incredible going from a grueling onslaught won by grit and persistent engineering, to eventually on my third playthrough finding myself dancing through the battle like an omen of war.

[@PandaCheeks]

​@patchpatch4008 Yeah, who knew the more you play a game, the better you get at it....

[@patchpatch4008]

​@@PandaCheekscrazy isn't? I can't believe it myself!

[@PandaCheeks]

@@patchpatch4008 crazy? No! I think the kids call it practice or you know git gud!

[@molnet999]

the look of the entire fight + the music is perfect

[@EinDose]

The main thing I know about Balteus is that I feel like it's only a matter of time until there's some Armored Core 6 gunpla (Bamco published the game, after all), and Balteus is probably the natural star of that line. And I want a gunpla that gives random visitors traumatic flashbacks.

[@LEOTomegane]

iirc Kotobukiya and 30 Minute Missions are handling the figure kits for this game! Speculation is that Kotobukiya will do the more unique mechs (such as SOL 644 and Balteus) while 30MM will handle the player ACs, since their kits are known for being customizable

[@Sparticuse]

My build was reverse joint, dual plasma rifle, dual vertical plasma missiles. I don't remember what thrusters and generator I used, but I remember my goal was to stay above Balteus as much as possible. His flamethrowers are completely toothless if you can stay above him and the reverse joints get you at least eye level with him for 0 energy.

[@Attaxalotl]

Vertical Plasma Missiles + Pulse Gun + Something to exploit stagger (Like the Pulse Blade)

[@henryfleischer404]

I remember I ended up using a vaguely similar strategy, but i determined that I should stay below him, and used a reverse joint build with a grenade launcher, pulse blade, and a shoulder mounted rocket launcher. I think I also had some kind of machine gun.

[@divinelycursed768]

I took on and beat Balteus first time. I used a lightweight reverse joint build with dual smgs and dual bubble gun. The reason that I went with this set of weapon was because the last mission (where you go survey some coral water wells) had an enemy with a pulse shield, so I took a wild guess that the next level will have enemies with pulse shield. Well, that wild guess really saved me.

[@BlastMagicianYGO]

Mid-weight biped, Assault rifle, pulse blade, split missile and shield. Yes, really, no I was not there for hours. Though I doubt I could have s-ranked it with that build, even though that particular build was and is my main driver.

[@Wilsontripplets]

I went quad legs, with twin bubble guns and twin laser cannons.

[@SephirothsBIade]

You missed a weapon in phase one. The booster ring around Balteaus does in fact have extremely short range damaging jets that can stagger interrupt your melee attacks with a similar punch to his grenade launcher. Very rare to hit by them, but they made me think melee was deterred in this fight

[@RainbowRandolf]

Simone with the off-screen "NO" made me laugh so hard that I kind of sounded like her laughing. Also, those Simpsons references have my whole ass heart.

[@zovinchen3281]

2:27 "Handler Patrick" is surprisingly fitting considering that Handler Walter is voiced by none other than Patrick Seitz

[@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy]

I only realized after beating Balteus without utilizing Sula's methods (aside from the bubble gun) how much of a tutorial Sula was on how to handle Balteus. In that moment, the game became truly great to me.

[@haphazardlark1502]

I don’t even have this game or anything to play it on but this is weirdly soothing to watch anyway. Cool robots, explanations that even my clueless ass can parse, great soundtrack! Being a pat and Clayton group project gives it an unfair advantage

[@bretscofield]

Yeah. I love polygon easays, even if I don't dig the game. They're always worth the time still

[@haphazardlark1502]

@@bretscofield I haven’t been able to afford my own console since the ps3 so the internets been a godsend for keeping up with an old hobby, even if it’s mostly vicarious now. Doesn’t hurt that it’s just fun listening to people talk about stuff they care about. Unironically stoked about spreadsheets if they’re presented by someone who is into spreadsheets

[@ktvx.94]

You can do all of that analysis, or just AB straight through all the missiles, stick close and keep firing and kicking and pulse blading and assault armoring. Once you know Balteus and lose the fear factor it's crazy how quickly you can rush him down. But you don't get that comfortable in your AC until a few playthroughs in.

[@robertmarsh5322]

Even in playthrough 1 this here is why the second coming is so satisfying. If you punched his ticket with effort the first time then the second time the fear is gone, and all that's left is to take 1 more name.

[@AngelBeatYunara]

Balteus gave me so much trouble, and the adrenaline rush from finally defeating him was amazing. I'd decided on a lightweight build, and Balteus made me learn how to wield it.

[@Ghost19_]

What this game actually teaches you is to revamped your eye coordination and responses as fast as possible. You gotta actually embraced dying a lot even from the simplest enemies, but the point is to get and master the speed and flow of their actions (that's the very beauty of this game), and once you actually get it, pre-nerf Balteus or not, you'd actually be surprised on how 'slow' he suddenly is (and that's because you've already conditioned yourself to the speed of the game).

[@UndeadDrifter]

I really appreciate Clayton using the anime term for this fight, Balteus is a flying itano circus and i LOVE it. Balteus captures everything cool about the mecha genre in one kickass fight

[@finalcam1740]

I was dumb and didnt know the training missions provided a lot of good AC parts, having only done the first training mission until the snail-baltaeus fight... haha. All of those parts are actually really good and useful. The first Baltaeus fight was an amazing experience for me. Really hit me in a lot of ways. The music, Ayre, the ridiculous design of Baltaeus, like an AC with a huge missile/booster backpack. Loved the whole thing.

[@limegreen000]

So glad there's another ac6 video!! I've been dying to hear Clayton talk more about Big Robot

[@drmrqs]

Balteus was a huge challenge for me (both early and late game variants). I figured out that the most reliable way to avoid all his missiles was just to boost directly at him - it's also the perfect window to get a kick or melee attack in. I would recommend a melee build and use weapon hangars to bring 2 melee weapons into the fight. Early game, you can use the pulse blade and laser blade. It's the most satisfying combo when you can break through the shield with one melee weapon, switch to the other, and then get big damage in while he's staggered.

[@kamuiomikami165]

Ill be honest, Balteus was definitely my first real challenge going into the game, but once you start experimenting with things, like I was eventually forced to do, I decided to pick up the pulse gun and that was the game changer because you dont need impact weapons to stagger him when you pop his bubble and thats where the kinetic weapons/shoulder weapons came in so I could raise that stagger and deal damage. It didnt make the fight stupid easy but it certainly made it possible to beat Balteus.

[@shitpistol2880]

Pretty sure you can charge up the shots in those laser canons too. Always worth charging up lasers when you’re about to stagger the enemy.

[@Wilsontripplets]

I used them a lot to deplete the pulse shield a lot of times as it did a lot of dmg to the pulse shield. Slowly grinding him down over the courses of the fight.

[@miinyoo]

At first it's intimidating. Like you don't want to get close intimidating. But in typical brilliant FromSoft game design fashion, it forces you to learn how to play the game with events like the tutorial boss and this one. Once you master Balteus, you're pretty much set up conceptually and mechanically for the entire game.

[@robertmarsh5322]

Agreed, Balteus was the hardest challenge for me first run, and objectively is not the hardest fight. The second meeting with Balteus proved as mush when i dropped him like a pre-teen getting kicked in the nuts.

[@Phrosphor]

Beating Balteus on stream was a pretty awesome moment, and it cemented my love of the pulse blade that kept it in my left backslot for pretty much the rest of my run through the game, NG+ and NG++. That sword still remains one of the most satisfying melee weapons of any game I have ever played, with the pilebunker coming in a close second.

[@polygon]

that sounds awesome

[@anubis520]

I was working on a guide but debated whether I actually want to do it or not. My guide was on doing balteus hitless though. The one thing I will say for the light build is that obviously you don't want to get hit. I can share a couple of tips for a light build. If you start to fly up vertically right when he starts to fire and stop moving (no movement at all) when they actually start homing on youyou will drop fast enough that none of the missiles will hit you, if you don't have enough height, quick boosting towards him will cover it. For the shoulder mounted ones, many times the best option is to fly towards him and over them. If you are below them you can boost under instead. You actually don't need to quick boost for either of these. The other thing I will note is that when balteus transitions (barring being extremely far from him), he will always do the same combo. (directions are from your point of view) Fly right shooting the machine gun, 1 sword attack to the left, 2 shot gun blasts, fire 2 sets of missiles, two sword swings. An important note is that the last sets of missile will be seperated and the first set will hit you before the swords swings then others will hit after. I might throw that guide together after all.

[@polygon]

do it!!

[@_You_Are_Not_Him_]

My tip for not getting hit is to just not get hit. A little on the nose, but it works every time!

[@anubis520]

@@_You_Are_Not_Him_ I expect no less from you howard

[@_BlackenedSun]

If we were still in 2009 this game would definitely win goty with those ps3 graphics

[@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy]

3:13 One of the most Boss things I have ever seen My eyes widened, and my mouth went agape

[@inray__]

my victory build was the lightest reverse joint possible, using a linear rifle, pulse sword, and twin plasma missles, and funnily enough, instead of overwhelming balteus' shield i played an endurance game! the lightweight reverse joint was good at avoiding the missile halos, which have trouble tracking vertical movement, and the super ranged build made sure that i could focus on avoiding its flamethrower and grenade attacks from range, while chipping it down with plasma missles

[@person906]

Lot of people dont seem to understand that Balteus is a knowledge check in understanding how to dodge missiles. You just have to dodge when they speed up. Glad to see this vid touch on this

[@Revenge221]

Kudos for using the term Itano Circus. Hell yeah. Real mecha fan handshake there.

[@Mordalon]

At this point the reputation of the Zimmermans is well known, but before that I had heard someone say how good shotguns were and I thought they sounded cool so I got the ones you get before Balteus and they were how I won. While Balteus can be scary up close, rushing him down is actually a good way of avoided a lot of the missiles while also staying on him when staggered.

[@CraigJudd]

Yeah I always had better results with kinetic weapons once the shield was down, so I beat it first time using twin bubble-guns and weapon-bays loaded with a shotgun and Turner AR. On NG+, double bubbles and double Zimmermans (even post-nerf) melt it in seconds.

[@brockmckelvey7327]

This has been a great pitch for Armored Core 6

[@rionsanura]

ok i will watch this in a second after the stream but let me say right now i am anticipating a great deal of combat mechanic nerdery from these contributors and i am Ready For It

[@polygon]

you will Receive

[@ixiahj]

My theory why Balteus is so hard the first time isn't because of your weapons. The first time you encounter this thing, you don't have a lot of boosters and generators and the boss likes to fly away from your weapons optimal range. You can have the strongest weapons to attack him at the time but you're gonna have a hard time chasing him to get into range. Its also why the boss is easier when you return to it later. Its not because your weapons are stronger. Its because your AC can fly longer and faster with new gens and boosters.

[@Newkenshin417]

I just want the record to show that small details, like Pat’s icon being pizza, as in his pizza suplex handle, is perfect.

[@OmegaUberDeathbot]

I do love that they have a habit of screaming into your ear “You have to concentrate!!” While I am fighting bosses. Very helpful.

[@RossLlewallyn]

Great tag-team video

[@EmissaryOfStuff]

I recently obliterated Balteus with Duckett, Laser Dagger and Missile launchers on both Shoulders. If you move fast and build up stagger quickly, Balteus can't keep up.

[@l.c.7168]

I found the quad legs' ability to hover invaluable for avoiding the flame swipes. Also, as someone who has never played a Souls game, I thought of switching up my AC instantly. I'm surprised so many people didn't.

[@geode5224]

as someone who beat the base game last night and is starting new game+ today, this is a delightful topical video

[@Whisper91Films]

I actually ended up beating Balteus with a fast build similar to the one that you struggled with! The win that I finally got was cathartic

[@hannabelphaege3774]

The biggest thing Balt does is fire so many goddamn missiles you can't dodge them all. It's an important lesson to learn, you never avoid damage completely, only mitigate it through good evasion and armour. (Hitless *is* possible, even pre-nerf but realistically you're only reducing the number of missiles that hit you). You're on the clock against Balteus and no matter what your build is, you NEED to keep the damage on. Surviving longer is a skill problem; recognise the patterns, come up with evasion strats and react quickly but your damage problem is solved almost exclusively in the hangar. I learned quite a bit trying to beat Balt but after an hour and one complete rebuild I was pretty pissed off and gave up on solving it myself. I found a video that showed me an absolute ape build with tank treads, double plasmas and double laser canons, that promised to blitz down Balteus without really having to dodge at all. (I still had to swap to my preferred tetrapod legs to secure the win) As I got deeper into the game I would get obsessed with an ultralight, reverse-joint, pistols and laser dagger AC I called the Corn Snake but maximum firepower is shockingly effective right to the end. It gets pretty hard to land heavy weapon shots against some of the later bosses but if you find your windows they'll bleed and buckle like everything else. I've since beaten the endgame bosses with both the lightest and heaviest loadouts and I thought a lack of speed would make the game unplayable but honestly the good ol' ape strategy was easier.

[@senecauk8363]

Really interesting vid. I had never seen the big floor napalm attack. The thing is, and Thingfishy explained this really well in his video explaining his transition from Soulsborne to AC6, analysing each attack like this in a careful studied manner is exactly what a Soulsgame would expect. But AC6 doesn't. Unless you are deliberately playing a handicapped build or doing a challenge run, thinking through each of these attacks means you've already failed. AC6 rewards going ham with powerful builds so you don't see half these attacks- as in my case with the floor flames. That's why it is so cool to see this vid break everything down- the game hurts you if you take the time to try it! Nice work guys. Edit: it is also worth pointing out that the various builds likely came before a bunch of patches that buffed some of the less meta weapons (like the sub machine guns and assault rifle types)- so they might do better now.

[@elqord.1118]

How is this video this well done!? Unbelievable

[@goldsocks9999]

It's so facinating because i forgot it was a boss i fought, i only remember sulla

[@seanz5827]

i played around with diff builds but one i fell back on alot was a double handcannon (one kinetic one laser) and 2 vericall launching missiles (one plasma one rocket) since they had good tracking and dmg alowing be to spam the back pods without thinking and focus on dodging and gunslinging, and with the 2 types it was pretty good for both stagger and shield breaking, kinda like jack of all trades master of none, but its alotta fun to play and reliable

[@davidruckle7064]

This is the first time I noticed there was an AC in the middle of Balteus because I was too busy with missile hell

[@moonbasket]

Thanks for a great video!

[@Primalintent]

I think I beat Balteus on a dual shotgun, upward missile pack, and pulse blade super-light build. It took a lot of learning his patterns but it turned him into more of a Soulsborne boss, which is where my history was from. I was so excited and felt like I'd struck gold because I love being fast, aggressive, and melee-oriented in any game that will let me. Then I saw 2 shotguns was considered the boring meta for online play and I nearly wept.

[@Ben-ex1kv]

A game entirely about creating different builds to suit different challenges: maybe try bubble guns Me, trying to S rank every mission with melee only: pilebunk'd

[@otamatonefan8996]

I used a fairly default setup of shoulder vertical missiles, pulse blade and curtis on a medium weight -yet mobile Alula Booster AC. Was going for a Furi Cosplay: The Rider. Honestly, i beat Balteus first try, but it does present an alternative side to learning Balteus and how to build an AC for it. The main thing that kills players is the gradual eroding damage from the missiles. I had already fought Risk of Rain 2's All Artifacts On Monsoon challenge countless times, so i had refined my situational awareness and knew how to keep a mental note of where projectiles are and the angles it is all about to pulverise me from. Then the Void DLC boss was added, i fought it many times, and knowing through experience that even fast homing projectiles from sharply overhead can be tricked into slamming the floor and overshooting on a sharp enough turn, it had prepared me. I knew immediately that the overwhelming swarm of missiles, i had to trick their aim with a sharp and immediate Assault Boost towards the underneath of the missile cloud, to drive most of them into the floor and prevent any chance of them looping around me to strike again. From there, it was all about not making mistakes too many times. It was long, but those missiles still (slowly) gradually chipped my health over time. I had time to observe and learn as i shot at them with my Curtis. I learned that Curtis' regular shots were better for adding Impact over time, but i later realised that even against a Shield, Richochet was still a factor weakening each shot. As i got closer, i learned to use my Pulse Blade in moments of Balteus' downtime, even for some cheeky hits right as they are still unloading their missile salvo, but then to waste no time moving to the side of the missile's flight path immediately after. Having wasted a couple Pulse Blade oppertunities by barely breaking the shield with the slashes, i realised that while i could suddenly drop their guard with those strikes, the damage i could follow with was less than with the blade itself. Sometimes interrupting was better though, to shut down their attacks early. Then came Half Health Phase 2, and if Souls has tought me anything, it's to never underestimate a wounded foe. Once they brought their full arsenal out in that combo with flames and bullet hail, i knew to simply watch and observe as i chip the shield. They may not have used their flamethrower blade as frequently as some other people have seen, but i knew from the sweeping behaviour that above and below was the blindspot. And so i took advantage of that and fought blade against blade to keep out of their way. Eventually, i dealt the last blow, with only a few hundred of health to spare. First try, thanks to Risk of Rain 2. You can fight Balteus slow or fast, with heavy-duty or lightweight equipment, but it's your Technique that dictates if you're a easy target to crush like a garbage compactor from BeamNG. And if you don't use efficient brute force, then Balteus will teach you to recognise oppertunities and seize it, without too much carelessness.

[@vuklind_9301]

I dig the mech essay videos

[@burnin8able]

I came to basically the same conclusion naturally during my first playthrough of the game. it really was a perfectly elegant way of teaching the player naturally and intuitively. "oh. he staggers completely when the shield pops. is there anything that's strong against shields? oh hey look at that, the description says pulse weapons are strong against pulse shields, easy." and then I won, done deal.

[@Mordalon]

A version of that happens even earlier when you unlock the vertical missile launchers right before Operation Wallclimber with the Juggernaut boss being weak to them.

[@nezzivancic3644]

I accidentally made this fight much harder on myself than needed, but I am glad for it. I did not take the Sulla hints, and never even considered the pulse guns. Instead, I used one quad missile battery, one plasma missile battery, a sword, and a energy rifle, on reverse joint legs. I could damage him consistently, but slowly. This, in tern, taught me how to move and dodge extremely well, and because of this, I didn't get "stuck" again till IB-01.

[@user-pq4by2rq9y]

I think I used the starter mech which is even worse in terms of weaponary but I knew that my pulse blade was the only good source of damage from my fight against the helicopter.

[@samwizgamgie3rd828]

Man that music though!!! Its exhilarating!

[@pinstripeowl]

Oh this is a cool series idea.

[@JustGromski]

The game awards robbed this game of the glory it deserves

[@BlastMagicianYGO]

This was interesting, I don't think I consciously picked up on most of balteus's patterns because i play very aggressively by default. Even going in with the pulse blade instead of the laser blade was a happy accident, as i didn't realize at the time that it was a different kind of blade, I just liked bring able to swing twice, and the greater recharge.

[@thechampvc]

This was very helpful this is were I'm stuck.

[@fer1f1tz]

I might’ve just been stubborn but I beat balteus using the build that I started the fight with. Individual skill of the pilot also has a lot to do with this fight. I beat balteus before the nerf, and he put me through hell. But the fight taught me to “get good” above all else (I did change my build after because I did find things that I disliked but still). Fighting through him was an amazing time. And I’m happy I at least got to beat him before the nerf

[@dsagent]

This fight is extremely easy once you know what to do. I replay this mission for fun now, even with random builds. From Software boss design is fantastic.

[@quelanathecrow]

man I bounced off this boss so bad, I hope this can help me get back to it ^.^ I've beat sekiro twice, but apparently not very transferable skills, cuz I suck at this game >.< thanks for all the great videos!!

[@Mordalon]

The boss did receive a nerf at some point post-release. The emphasis on swapping builds is the main difference to me between this and Souls games.

[@caseysailor9301]

YOOOOOOOOO I can't believe two of my favourite KZbinrs know each other and collabed!!! This is le epic!!! ❇ (I wonder if they'll ever get Simone on the pod)

[@syris1952]

This is a banger video but it doesn't mention the best part of Balteus - The sheer fucking terror you feel when you first start the fight and see it do some Touhou shit to your face and body

[@MantasticHams]

Yeah i distinctly remember bombing Balteus more times than felt good, finally looking up a guide after largely avoiding them besides item pickup guides, not liking the build they chose, looking at another one, realizing they were suggesting totally different builds and suggesting they made ALL the difference and realizing this was jsut a good time to really lean in to honing my idea of the best build. Once i committed to that, i rapidly found a very different build from my others that worked great and it only took a few more trys. It was nothing like the other builds i saw suggested.

[@Lambguy1999]

If you're trying to time the vertical missile launches in this fight you're using them wrong. They have way more ammo than you'll ever need for Balteus so just spam them every time they're off cooldown to keep Balteus softened up for your other weapons

[@markdonovan2616]

I beat pre-nerf Balteus with dual plasma missiles, the pulse gun and pulse blade with no strategy other than sticking close and being as aggressive as possible. It felt amazing beating Balteus like that.

[@Adalore]

those shoulder lasers are also apparently pvp meta from what I have seen. - I will also say that baltaus is also a "Time to learn where your effective range is, bucko!" because unless you are a heavier weapon AC, you need to get closer than baltus's typical range, you must play within their sphere of attack. Which this being the first poss where you have that sort of exchange of functional distance causes a lot of frustrating things like finding out how hard max range falloff makes a lot of weapons do less than tickle damage.

[@user-pq4by2rq9y]

Just beated balteus on the starter mech with no OS tuning and I can tell a few things. 1- Balteus encourages you to be agressive. You can avoid his entire missile salvo by assault boosting towards him; 2- he is particularly easy to punish. Don't rush to break his shield, make sure your weapons are ready first. 3- He is very mobile: bring either fast boosters like the Buerzel, SPD or Alulas, or weapons with long range, such as lasers, missiles and bazookas.

[@RedheadJack]

I feel like a deserve a medal for finally beating balteus pre-nerf. This game makes you feel so proud and powerful when you finally beat the big bosses

[@nvrndingsmmr]

I love this so much! Time to try this battle again! I literally stopped playing once I hit this wall lmao

[@polygon]

You can do it!

[@nvrndingsmmr]

@polygon Thank you so much!! With all this new knowledge I know I can!

[@IdiotAtBest]

I used bubble gun, laser sword, twin forward facing rockets, and spider legs. ‘Twas a great fight, but alas, I emerged victorious.

[@chrishiggins2588]

Lmao I’m glad I’m not the only one who rocked the unit 1 paint job

[@samfivedot]

I found the best way to avoid the missile barrages is just to assault boost into his face as soon as he starts firing. The missiles don't start tracking until they're a ways out, and they won't be able to curve around backwards to hit you

[@danielboyd7810]

Despite everyone's whining and all the lying about how badly they nerfed this boss, it's the missle salvos that were the only attacks they nerfed as far as I can tell. Original balteus had crazy missle tracking where if you did this tactic a good chunk of these missles would turn all the way around and continue to track. Fromsoft clearly thought that was a little too ridiculous and the fight is better for it post nerf.

[@losthegames7190]

NGL I never had a problem with Balteus, I first tried him my first run-through and NG+ (I haven't played NG++ yet), so it was very interesting to see this perspective of how he works and how he forces you to look closer at your builds that I overlooked because I frankly didn't spend very much time with him lol. I feel like I still got the true Balteus experience tho with Snailteus lol, that guy is the worst

[@turntyle]

yes good. i need all the AC6 content

[@TheBlackKakashi]

I gave Blateus the business after I used that plasma gun that destroys shields

[@gamingonamonday6342]

First playthrough I beat balteus with the pulse blade, pulse gun, 4 cell rockets and vertical plasma missiles, on a lightweight AC made for jumping. Took a few tries but I dumpstered him, pre-nerf too!

[@nomysonisalsonamedbort]

My issue with the bosses was never that they seemed insurmountable. It's just that I can't buy guns at checkpoints! 😭

[@Mordalon]

At that point in the game, the Eliminate the Tester AC mission is a good one to grind both to get better at AC battles but also because it gives a lot of money for a short mission, so you can have most of what you need if that situation comes up.

[@ashenhunter1]

Love the Gundam looking AC!

[@benbagley6103]

I ended up adapting a speedrunner's build with dual bubble guns and dual shotguns to stagger lock and avoid the flamethrowers all together.

[@AORaiMechWork]

Your Pulse blade is the Best weapon for entire game

[@FUNFUN_101]

The first time I fought balteus was the most Intense thing ever I died a few times but every time I was just excited to fight him and I think that is part of what makes an awesome boss but now I stomp balteus every time but the fight is still so fun

[@w1mark275]

Here's a fun build which is what I ended up using to beat balteus the first time: Double active homing missile, pulse sword, and chen grenade launcher. The active homing missile is an interesting choice for balteus, unlike most missiles, if balteus tries to run away from you the missiles will continue to "slowly" chase after balteus and sorta even punish him since they'll double up and hit him all at once. The missiles are quite impressive damage wise as well given in most scenarios they tend to be difficult to use against faster evasive opponents. The pulse blade and grenade launcher serve a similar purpose, they do high damage and impact but have a slow cooldown. As such, you can alternate between the pulse sword and grenade launcher to do damage to both balteus's shield and health, however the difference is that the grenade launcher can be used to punish balteus when he's further away from you whereas the pulse blade is specifically when you are up close with balteus.

[@peanhead2543]

for me the hardest Balteus attack was his flamethrower x sword, his rockets rain was never a problem for me, because i just L3 straight up at him and attack with sword,

[@sawdust8691]

Seeing everyone struggle with Balteus so much makes me wonder how I've never died to it. This is the first and as of now only fromsoft game I've ever played. And I didn't even know there was a big boss in the mission beforehand, and did not have an optimal build as far as I can tell. Pre patch too. But somehow I beat it first try. Barely. Looking at the footage I totally lucked out. But second playthrough he died super easily. After the patch especially. But hey, never been killed by Balteus. Now Ibis on the other hand.... Took me over 2 hours to kill that slippery little jerk, and had to resort to a guide. Also pre patch.

[@somthin]

I didn't find Balteus to be that difficult. Sulla teaches you what you need: the bubble gun, to shred Balteus shields.

[@RyanStanis]

Hell yeah here for the Armored Core love! Was obsessed with the original on ps1

[@oldking8276]

Balteus was my biggest case of visible "beginner's luck" I ever experienced. I died countless times to the tutorial boss yet managed to one-shot Balteus to a point I barely saw any of phase 2's attacks or I blacked out and just kicked his ass....Was truly a strange experience because I was dreading that fight due to all the comments on the net.

[@TheAzureGhost]

had that feeling with the seaspider. some collegue was talking about how some streamer stuck at that boss for hours and how he himself still couldn't beat it after watching several videos. I was prepared for a hellmarch but actually beat it in my first try... even more so i failed to dodge the orbital laser on the way and already used up my last repair pack before the boss spawned (also missed the repairstation right in front of the boss XD)

[@hermangonzalezbarrios]

I did it by brute force, i loaded my ac with the biggest canons i could and switch between using the shulder mounts to reload them

[@datafoxy]

The Simpsons brief was very nice and great explanation of the boss.

[@ademas2010]

My tank build did it fir me. Specially since it has 17000+ AP and 4 different heavy guns that have high impact and high attack power.

[@redsands1001]

Loved this game. Fully agree with the point of findinf the builds that work for you for the mission thats holding you. Only thing that broke me off ac6 was the return of titanfall 2 mp servers. Giant robots are my thing for months now i guess

[@Voidb3rg]

After watching like 50 why baltaeus is hard videos I must say that I simply focused on air mobility and never had to fight him more than twice in a play through ever. If you can dodge his rockets in midair while firing your own it’s just a 2m easy fight. I used basic vertical rockets

[@katamed5205]

Don’t forget auto lock on. It helps not having to manage the camera when balteus and you boost around

[@stallionduckchaser9594]

iirc i beat balteus with a mobile glass canon mech that had an energy sword, forward missiles on the left shoulder, an smg in the right and the bubble smg id swap to on the right shoulder when one smg reloaded, super fun build do recommend