ARES: THE IRON VANGUARD Early Combat Suit & Upgrade Guide

To maintain steady progression in ARES: THE IRON VANGUARD, level two distinct combat suits simultaneously, swap between them mid-combat before energy bars fully deplete, and concentrate your enhancement materials on those two suits. Following this routine keeps your Combat Power (CP) sufficiently high to clear main quest objectives without forced grinding.

Managing Combat Suit Rotations

Relying on a single suit creates unnecessary cooldown downtime during engagements. By maintaining two distinct suit archetypes, you can adapt to both single-target burst scenarios and wide enemy groups.

• Swap Before Depletion: Cycle to your secondary suit right before your active suit's energy bar empties. This maintains damage output while allowing cooldowns to recover in the background.
• Cover Multiple Roles: Pair complementary playstyles—such as a crowd-control suit with a high single-target suit—to handle varied enemy groupings in early zones.

Upgrading Suits and Allocating Resources

Spreading enhancement resources across every unlocked suit dilutes your overall combat effectiveness. Keep your primary and secondary suits prioritized to satisfy the Combat Power requirements of early story missions.

1. Check Inventory for Suit EXP: Open your inventory regularly to apply accumulated Suit EXP consumables and enhancement materials immediately.
2. Prioritize Main Suit Upgrades: Dump resources into your primary suit first until it clears current objective thresholds, then invest remaining materials into your secondary suit.
3. Avoid Premature Grinding: Keeping your core suit levels aligned with recommended quest CP allows you to clear story zones directly without stopping for extra mob farming.

Movement and Questing Strategy

Mobility and strict quest focus prevent unnecessary deaths and keep progression moving forward quickly.

• Use Aerial Dashes: Use your jetpack to dash vertically or sideways to clear area-of-effect (AoE) red indicators from bosses and elite mobs.
• Use Terrain Elevation: Position yourself on elevated ledges or funnel enemies into narrow choke points to mitigate incoming damage.
• Follow the Main Questline: Prioritize main story objectives over open-world exploration. Main quests provide the largest experience payouts, core system unlocks, and additional inventory capacity needed for long-term gearing.

Beta Performance Settings

If high enemy density or intense particle effects cause framerate stutters, lower your graphical settings to favor performance. Maintaining a smooth frame rate makes dodging AoE attacks and timing suit swaps significantly more reliable.