Armored Core 6: How to beat the Smart Cleaner boss
Show this glorified vacuum cleaner who’s boss, pilot.
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One of the most notable bosses you’ll face in Chapter 2 ofArmored Core 6is the Smart Cleaner, an autonomous demolition mech controlled by the Dosers of Grid 086. In order to “convince” this faction to allow passage through their territory, you’ll need to destroy this hulking monster of a machine. Doing so can be pretty tough, though, especially since it hits like an absolute truck and is almost completely covered in thick armor.
Having a hard time sweeping away the Smart Cleaner? We’re here to help with some valuable information and suggestions. This includes everything you need to know about its attacks and behavior, where you’ll need to hit it in order to effectively deal damage, a look at the type of Armored Core build we used to take it down, and more.
Armored Core 6 Smart Cleaner: Best build, weapons, and loadout
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The Smart Cleaner has a ton of health and can only be damaged by hitting the weak spots on its front or the exhaust port on its top. However, its attacks, while hard-hitting, are highly telegraphed and very easy to dodge compared to what most other bosses will throw at you.
Because of this, we recommend optimizing your mech for damage over agility. The best way to do this is toput together a heavyweight Armored Core that can support lots of heavy weapons. Ideally, you’ll want to give itreverse-jointed legs that make it very easy to get back into the air to hoverafter recharging your EN, ortetrapod legs that allow you to hover for very long periods of time. For weapons, go with precise and heavy-hitting ones such asburst rifles and bazookas in the hand slots, andgrenade launchers or energy cannons in the shoulder slots. You’d also do well withmissile launchers, too.
Pulse Armor is generally our preferred Expansion ability, and it works well in this fight, too. With it, you can create an energy shield that absorbs incoming damage until it breaks. You’ll likely take several glancing blows in this battle due to the nature of the Smart Cleaner’s attacks, and this shield helps ensure that those bits of damage don’t whittle your health down.
Armored Core 6: How to beat the Smart Cleaner
The fight with the Smart Cleaner is a fairly simple one, but it requires some careful positioning. Here’s a full overview of your duel with it.
Keep pounding those weak spots with your heavy weapons, and you’ll take down the Smart Cleaner without much trouble. Ultimately, this fight is more about patience than anything else, as its health pool is massive and there are times in the fight where you simply have to wait until you can find a good opening. As long as you’re careful and don’t get reckless, you’ll be fine.
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By defeating the Smart Cleaner, you’ve won over “Cinder” Carla and have her RaD arms dealing Dosers as allies. After doing her a favor in the next mission, you’ll have her support and guidance as you attempt to cross the Alean Ocean with the cargo launcher on the edge of her territory.
Armored Core 6 is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. It’s one of thebest Xbox gamesandbest PC gamesof 2023, and we can’t recommend it enough.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
The long-awaited reboot of FromSoftware’s mecha action series is finally here, and it’s an absolute triumph. Between its exhilarating combat systems, intriguing story, and excellent presentation, Armored Core 6 is undoubtedly one of the best games of the year.
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
