Someone has already defeated Armored Core 6 using bare fists

In his latest video, the YouTuber ZeroLenny asked, 'Is it possible to defeat Armored Core 6 without weapons?' The answer is affirmative: Indeed, one can navigate their way through Rubicon without even laying a finger on a single assault rifle or missile launcher.

The run almost came to an end with the tutorial, as weapons were handed out without the possibility of accessing the assembly. This implies that one cannot customize their mech to remove them. However, ZeroLenny found a solution - by launching oneself at enemies, damage can be inflicted. Thus, he began pushing people aside and turning them into piles of scrap. It even worked against the helicopter boss.

Although striking doesn't consume ammunition - one simply punches with their fists - it depletes stamina. This can leave one vulnerable to devastating attacks if they strike too frequently. ZeroLenny planned ahead and saved up enough credits for the DF-GN-02 LING-TAI Generator, which has the shortest recharge delay in the game. This means that stamina regenerates much faster, allowing ZeroLenny to beat up even more villains in an even shorter amount of time.

At first glance, striking may seem like a method to unnecessarily increase the difficulty of the game, but it surprisingly inflicts significant posture damage and breaks the enemies' stamina bars faster than most weapons. And while they are dazed, punches deal increased damage, making it not an impossible method to defeat Armored Core 6, although not a recommended one. Even the notoriously challenging Balteus was easily held at bay with consecutive stunning strikes.

Later, ZeroLenny discovered that tank legs provided the strongest increase in damage for mech strikes, but their limited mobility offset this boost since a significant portion of the unarmed run relied on being able to dodge enemies. This left normal or quadruped legs as the best option. Additionally, they began utilizing the kicking ability, which proved effective in knocking enemy mechs off cliffs. Granted, it consumes significantly more stamina than striking, so it's all about the right timing to avoid being vulnerable to attacks.

One of the more challenging obstacles in this unarmed run was the tower defense mission, where one had to protect three missiles from waves of attacks within a five-minute time window. Normally, one can turn around and engage targets to inflict damage on their own base, but in this run, they had to fly towards them, which takes much more time. Achieving victory in this mission meant mastering it, figuring out which enemies needed immediate attention and which could be left behind. In the end, ZeroLenny had only lost one missile.

Later in the run, they began utilizing the shield bash, which inflicts some damage and breaks posture faster. They also had to use the Anti-Ice Worm missile launcher for the corresponding boss battle, an unavoidable weapon. However, for the most part, no weapons were used, only "tools," fists, and occasional kicks. With all of this, they continued their video, defeating each boss in every chapter and culminated in the final fight, which they tore apart solely with right hooks.