Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Guide – All Endings and How To Unlock Them

In Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, you have different side content and main missions in each chapter. However, there are also Decision Missions. They have special icons when selecting them during Sortie, and once you do, the other choices are no longer available. Depending on the Decision Missions, you can unlock one of three endings.

However, the way you unlock them is rather unique. While you can unlock the first two endings in New Game+, the third is exclusive to New Game++. You also must complete a full playthrough of the game each time for a different ending.

Without further ado, here’s how to get all the endings in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. Spoilers follow, so be warned.

All Endings and How to Unlock Them

The Fires of Raven

This ending is available in your first playthrough and New Game+. Complete your missions in Chapter 1 and 2 as usual, following whatever Handler Walter or “Cinder” Carla provide. Don’t select any Decision Missions from the Rubicon Liberation Front (RLF) or Ayre, unless they’re mandatory to progress the story. In Chapter 3, you want to complete the Tunnel Sabotage and Eliminate the Enforcement Squads missions. Then, in Chapter 4, complete Intercept the Redguns.

Chapter 5 is where the heavier consequences reside. Choose Intercept the Corporate Forces instead of Eliminate “Cinder” Carla. You work to bring the Xylem to the Coral Convergence, then complete the missions, Breach the Kármán Line and Shut Down the Closure Satellites. During this finale, you take on a horde of ships en route to the Convergence and have to fight Ayre in an Armored Core.

Defeat her, and the Xylem is delivered into the Convergence to set Rubicon 3 on fire. The planet is toast (in more ways than one), and as far as endings go, this is pretty much the worst possible outcome.

Liberator of Rubicon

The Liberator of Rubicon is also available in the first playthrough and New Game+ and essentially involves taking up any missions for Ayre or the Rubicon Liberation Front. Instead of incinerating Rubicon 3, you try to save it and ensure a bright future for the Coral and humanity.

The missions to complete are Destroy the Special Forces Craft in Chapter 3 and Ambush the Vespers in Chapter 4. There’s also Prevent Corporate Salvage of New Tech, which appears in Chapter 3 during New Game+. When you reach Chapter 5, you want to complete the opposite Decision Missions as those from the Fires of Raven playthrough. Eliminate “Cinder” Carla and then Intercept the Corporate Forces.

Once done, you have two more missions – Destroy the Drive Block and Bring Down the Xylem, preventing the latter from being sent into the Convergence. Handler Walter is the final boss in this route and attempts to stop you with an Armored Core of his own.

Defeat him, and the Xylem will crash down. Coral is safe, and there’s a more positive outlook for Rubicon 3. As far as good endings go, this comfortably fits (yes, even more so than the “true” ending).

Alea lacta Est

The third ending is exclusive to New Game++, so you must finish a regular playthrough and then another on New Game+. There are new missions in this playthrough, like Obstruct the Mandatory Insectpion in Chapter 1.

However, some missions have also undergone significant changes. Instead of Escort the Weaponized Mining Ship in Chapter 1, you must destroy it. In place of a helicopter in Survey of the Uninhabited Floating City in Chapter 3, you must fight Thumb Dolmayan, an AC for the Rubicon Liberation Front, in a boss fight.

Before you finish Chapter 3, ALLMIND contacts you. You may remember them as the organization that provides missions in Training mode. They first give the Coral Export Denial mission in Chapter 3. Complete this, and from now on, complete any other requests that ALLMIND sends, including Eliminate V.III (a Decision Mission) and Reach the Coral Convergence, both in Chapter 4.

Once you finish Chapter 4, Chapter 5 starts with a new mission called MIA. Finish this, then Regain Control of the Xylem and finally, Coral Release. ALLMIND is the final boss and perhaps the most challenging AC threat thus far. It has two phases, so play it safe and ensure you have enough Repair Kits.

Once ALLMIND is defeated, Ayre will cause the Coral to spread throughout the universe. You and several other Armored Cores then find yourselves on a mysterious planet. If this is the true ending, it could potentially set up some story DLC in the future. Regardless, the Coral being everywhere without humanity having much of a say is more foreboding, but at least Raven is alive.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is out on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5 and PC. Check out our review of the game and tips and tricks on how to survive here. You can also check how many chapters are in the game and how long it takes to complete here.