Armored Core VI's PvP and PvE meta is about to see a major shift, as some of the game's most overpowered weapons have been made far less effective.
Patch 1.03.1, which is out now for all platforms, is mostly a long list of buffs to weapons like handguns, bazookas, and missiles, as well as a number of AC parts. But far and away the biggest news is that two of the game's most powerful and popular weapons, the Zimmerman shotgun and the Songbirds grenade cannon, have been substantially reduced in effectiveness. Players would often use a Zimmerman in each hand and Songbirds on each shoulder, a combo that would deliver a powerful one-two punch and oftentimes decimate foes in PvP as well as many of the game's PvE bosses.
That looks like it will soon change. Basically every aspect of the Zimmerman and Songbirds has taken a hit. The weapons have seen their attack power, impact damage, and accumulative impact stats reduced, with the Zimmerman additionally also seeing a decrease to its direct hit damage.
The good news is that players should have plenty of new options to experiment with. Grenade launchers and bazookas have seen some significant buffs to their reload times and projectile speeds. In another change, bazooka and grenade launcher-rounds now explode upon reaching their effective range, even if they don't make contact with the enemy. That should result in them being more effective at dealing damage to fast-moving targets. A number of missiles have seen their damage, guidance, and projectile speed increased, and handguns almost across the board have had their total number of rounds increased.
Other changes include a long list of buffs to various AC parts, mostly in regards to things like increased system recovery, recoil control, attitude stability, and jump distance. Assault Boost has been nerfed, specifically for players who enjoyed using it in conjunction with the Boost Kick ability to deal damage. Assault Boost and Boost Kick now deal less impact and accumulative impact damage for most leg types, and the top speed for heavier ACs using Assault Boost has been decreased.
Armored Core VI's previous update took aim at some of the game's most challenging bosses, "adjusting" certain attacks. It also increased the attack power and decreased reload times for a number of the game's assault rifle-style weapons, with developer From Software noting the changes were to "allow players more build diversity in the early and mid-game when assembling their AC." Below is the full list of patch 1.03.1 changes.
GRENADE “DF-GR-07 GOU-CHEN”: increased Total Rounds/Projectile Speed, decreased Reload Time. Rounds now explode upon reaching their Effective Range, even if they don’t make contact
GRENADE “DIZZY”: increased Total Rounds/Projectile Speed, decreased Reload Time. Effective Range also adjusted. Rounds now explode upon reaching their Effective Range, even if they don’t make contact
GRENADE “IRIDIUM”: increased Total Rounds/Projectile Speed, decreased Reload Time. Reduced sway caused by accumulated Recoil. Effective Range also adjusted. Rounds now explode upon reaching their Effective Range, even if they don’t make contact
SIEGE HAND MISSILE “WS-5000 APERITIF”: increased Reload Time, decreased Guidance
GRENADE CANNON “EARSHOT”: decreased Reload Time. Rounds now explode upon reaching their Effective Range, even if they don’t make contact
GRENADE CANNON ”SONGBIRDS”: decreased Attack Power/Impact/Accumulative Impact. Rounds now explode upon reaching their Effective Range, even if they don’t make contact
STUN NEEDLE LAUNCHER “VE-60SNA”: decreased Impact/Accumulative Impact/Direct Hit Adjustment/Attack Power on consecutive attacks
LASER CANNON “VP-60LCS”: increased Total Rounds
DIFFUSE LASER CANNON “VP-60LCD”: increased Total Rounds
Adjusted Attitude Recovery rate according to Total Weight. ACS Strain now dissipates much faster on lighter ACs, and slightly slower on heavier ACs
Adjusted various Boost Speed rates according to Total Weight
Decreased top speed during Assault Boost for heavier ACs
Decreased Boost Kick attack range for Tetrapod legs
Increased EN Consumption while hovering with Tetrapod legs
Decreased Impact reduction effect during Assault Boost
Decreased Impact/Accumulative Impact dealt when colliding with enemies during Assault Boost
Decreased Impact/Accumulative Impact dealt by Boost Kick from all leg types except Reverse Joint
Adjusted damage dealt by certain weapons when attacking the pulse shield deployed from PULSE SHIELD LAUNCHER “EULE/60D”
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug with CORAL OSCILLATOR “IB-C03W2: WLT 101” where charged attacks would have stronger tracking than intended when using Tetrapod legs
Fixed a bug where the attack warning marker would not display for an enemy AC firing DETONATING MISSILE “45-091 JVLN BETA” equipped to the left back slot
Fixed a bug where the attack warning sound would not play correctly for an enemy firing GRENADE “IRIDIUM”
Fixed a bug where charged attacks from LIGHT WAVE BLADE “IA-C01W2: MOONLIGHT” and CORAL OSCILLATOR “IA-C01W7: ML-REDSHIFT” would clip through certain structures/objects
Fixed a bug where reloading with a full magazine would cause certain weapons to fire unintentionally