To maintain steady progression in ARES: THE IRON VANGUARD, rely on the quest tracker's auto-pathing feature for general map traversal, but take manual control of your suit switching and positioning during boss encounters.
Quest Tracker and Auto-Pathing Setup
The built-in quest tracker handles movement across map areas by generating direct waypoints to objective locations.
- Select your active primary objective in the quest tracker on the side of the interface.
- Allow the auto-pathing system to steer your character to the designated objective or NPC interaction point.
- If movement pauses near an objective, check the screen center for tactical interaction prompts or manual trigger buttons.
Focus primarily on main story quests during initial leveling. Completing main storyline milestones unlocks key combat mechanics and opens up additional suit slots for your character loadout.
Combat UI and Suit Switching
The combat interface displays vital stats along the periphery, including your current Combat Power (CP), suit status, and target lock information.
- Suit Loadouts: Monitor your primary, secondary, and tertiary suit indicators. Swap to alternate suits as cooldowns clear to cycle elemental damage types and target weaknesses.
- Auto-Targeting: Use the auto-targeting system to maintain focus on the nearest enemy when clearing standard mob groups.
- Manual Override: Switch off auto-combat when entering boss arenas or high-difficulty instances. Automated systems will not dodge high-damage area attacks or time critical skill interruptions.
Customizing Visibility in Settings
If combat effects clutter your screen during suit switching, adjust your UI settings to maintain combat visibility:
- Skill Cooldowns: Keep skill and suit-swap cooldown timers prominently visible.
- Health and Status Displays: Set enemy health bars and your own status indicators to high-contrast visual modes.
- UI Scaling: Lower the scale of secondary UI modules, such as chat windows or side notifications, to free up screen real estate for hazard markers.
Inventory Sorting and Gear Salvaging
Excess gear and drop items can quickly clutter your primary storage slots, slowing down routine loadout adjustments between combat waves.
| Action | Menu Path | Primary Result |
|---|---|---|
| Salvage Unused Gear | Inventory > Sort > Salvage | Converts low-tier gear into upgrade materials and clears space. |
| Verify Compatibility | Inventory > Gear Details | Confirms item requirements match your active class/suit loadout. |
| Offload Event Currency | Menu > Storage | Keeps temporary items out of primary inventory bags. |
Periodically check event and milestone reward tabs in the main menu to collect accrued currencies and materials. Clearing completed notifications keeps your peripheral interface tidy during gameplay.
Free ARES: THE IRON VANGUARD Codes
Current active codes and how to redeem them.
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Player Comments
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I wish I had read this before upgrading the wrong thing.
This saved me time in the early game.
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This helped me understand strategy much better.