Despite being an optional boss in Armored Core 6, AA-602 Cataphract is a menace to deal with. This boss is a heavily armored tank that can also dish out lots of damage while being extremely resilient and agile, making it one of the most aggressive bosses in the game.
Although the description of the AA-602 Cataphract boss sounds scary, defeating it is easy with a proper build and strategy. In this guide, we will focus on a particular build and different ways to beat the Cataphract Boss in Armored Core 6.
How to beat the Armored Core 6 Cataphract Boss (AA-602)
In the middle of Chapter 3, you’ll be given two options to choose from: Eliminate the Enforcement Squads or Destroy the Special Forces Craft.
Choosing the second will transfer you to the Central Ice Fields of the old Bertnam spaceport, where you’ll face a mobile tank boss named AA-602 Cataphract.
This boss has a heavy tank-like build with a lot of different types of weapons in its arsenal, which can be lethal especially at long ranges. As the Central Ice Field is also a wide-open area that complements these long-range weapons, you must close that gap as soon as possible.
Similar to other bosses like Ibis in Armored Core 6, AA-602 Cataphract also has a weak spot. For this AC, the weakness lies between its wheels in the lower-middle portion of its body. As this weakness is protected from the sides and difficult to hit from a distance, closing that gap will be your best bet. Read our guide to defeat Ibis boss with the best build.
Best build to defeat the Armored Core 6 Cataphract boss
As the boss is impressively agile and resilient while being covered with a lot of armor and weapons, the only way to defeat it is by resorting to a heavy DPS build with exceptional agility. Such a build will include:
- Arm weapons: HG-003 C0QUILLETT and HI-32:BUTT/A
- Back weapons: BML-G1/P20MLT-04
- Head: NACHTREIHER/44E
- Core: NACHTREIHER/40E
- Arms: NACHTREIHER/46E
- Legs: EL-TL-10 FIRMEZA
- FCS: FC-006 ABBOT
- Generator: VP-20S
- Booster: ALULA/21E
Tips to defeat AA-602 in Armored Core 6
- As mentioned above, focus on closing your distance and keeping an eye on its exposed core from the start of the fight.
- Once you’re up close and personal with the boss, stagger and use your guns to shred its HP.
- Throughout the whole fight, the Armored Core 6 Cataphract boss will continuously shower you with barrages of missiles, artillery fire, or even precision lasers. To avoid that, try to strafe as much as you can while clinging to the boss. Doing this will allow you to stagger the boss very quickly and burst it down before it can use its lethal moves on you.
- Once you reach around 50% of its health, the AA-602 Cataphract will attempt to ram you with more fierce attacks and fewer openings.
- In this phase, it’s best to sidestep those attacks as much as you can and be patient for the opening at the exposed core.
- As soon as you see the opening, rush in front of the boss and repeat the previous stagger-and-shoot strategy to deal maximum damage in that short window.
If you’re able to follow all the aforementioned tips, you’ll be able to defeat the Armored Core 6 Cataphract boss without any problem. Let us know in the comments below if this build and the tips worked for you.
