Beginner Tips For Earth Defense Force 6 (2024)

Earth Defense Force 6 is out on in America finally, and a lot of dedicated troops are now doing their part to fight the good fight against the bug invaders (albeit, after a rough start). However, for all those who are making Earth Defense Force 6 their first EDF game, things can be incredibly confusing at first.

This game franchise is incredibly jank, incredibly unintuitive, but also incredibly fun. It takes a while to learn how everything works in an EDF game when first starting out, and that's not even going into the general controls of the game or the gameplay loop of each mission. With that in mind, let's go over some of the best tips we can think of for anyone starting out in EDF6 to make their time in the Earth Defense Force as enjoyable as possible.

10 Air Raider: Keep Your Distance

This Class Is Just a Lot More Vulnerable Than Others

First and foremost let's give a general tip for each of the other three playable classes outside of the standard Ranger. The class closest to Ranger mechanically has to be the Air Raider, though this was obviously designed to be more of a support/AoE type class. The Air Raider specializes in drones, automated weapons, and calling in all sorts of vehicles. At the start, anyone playing Air Raider might get a bit co*cky once they obtain a Defense Drone and a few other weapons, but the key is not to let that confidence go too far.

The Air Rair has a roll just like the Ranger, but they can't sprint, and a lot of their weapons aren't meant for close-up combat, which means they should keep their distance from enemies wherever possible. So, the best tip anyone can give for this class is to keep their distance when playing it, regardless of their loadout.

9 Wing Diver: Always Read Item Descriptions

For Energy Level Usage Etc...

The Wing Diver is by far the most mobile class to play in Earth Defense Force 6, being able to fly, air-dash, and hop from building to building. So, let's not go over any of the obvious tips for this class such as talking about managing energy levels or how to stay in the air as long as possible, rather, let's talk about weapon and item descriptions. Reading the descriptions and stats of weapons before using them as the Wing Diver is incredibly important, as just about every single tool and/or weapon describes how much energy it uses, if it uses a separate energy tank, or if it doesn't draw from the Wing Diver's core energy at all.

Paying attention to these descriptions can make setting up the perfect Wing Diver loadout a whole lot easier, and this can make the class feel a lot less heavily reliant on their energy as it typically feels when first starting out in any EDF game.

8 Fencer: Learn The Shield Tech & General Spacing

There's a Reason This Class is Known as the Most Technical

And last up for general class tips is the Fencer. The Fencer is EDF's heaviest, most technical, and tankiest class, and it can be incredibly awkward to get used to at first. The way this class moves around, uses their weapons, and even jumps all takes a bit of getting used to, and it can feel so absolutely slow sometimes in terms of movement speed. In EDF4 this tip was more important, but it still applies in EDF6, and that's the shield tech.

Essentially, anyone playing Fencer should try to have a shield of some sort on either of their two weapon loadouts at all times. This way, they can switch to the loadout with the shield when they need to move around the map, and switch between dashing, using the Deflection Shields ability, and then dashing again. Doing it this way allows the Fencer to dash at a faster rate than by default, while also keeping any enemies in the path of the shield's energy wave occupied. Just like everything else with the Fencer, this cycle of dashing, shield bashing, and dashing takes some practice and time to get used to, but once a player does they'll find that the Fencer feels a whole lot more mobile than before.

7 Do Rounds of Cleaning Up Pickups Throughout the Mission

It's Always Hard to Tell When a Mission Will End

Now onto the general tips for EDF6, with the first big tip being to go around the map and grab all of the boxes marked with green circles on the map whenever there's a lull in combat. Players can leave the health boxes alone if they'd like (to use in an emergency later, if needed) but the Armor and Weapon boxes they should absolutely try and pick up whenever possible mid-mission. The reason for this is that EDF missions aren't always the most clear-cut when they'll end. Sometimes it feels like the 'Mission Complete' screen comes up out of nowhere, and once it does players only have a few seconds to grab any nearby boxes before the game auto-transitions to the results screen.

Clearing out boxes off and on throughout a mission, helps players get their Armor up a lot faster, gives them more weapons to work with earlier on, and helps them keep track of where any healing on the map can be found.

6 Don't Get Overconfident

The Minute You Do, the Bugs Will Get You

One of the biggest tips anyone can give for an EDF game is telling someone not to get too co*cky. In the early missions or on Normal difficulty, it can feel like things are too easy or that the player is way too strong. However, a lot of EDF missions ramp up over the course of the mission itself, and the difficulty between two missions right after one another can sometimes be a lot harder than anyone would expect.

So, if it feels like combat is too easy in this game, and the player is already on the hardest difficulty possible, then that's perfect. Don't go hopping into a close-range brawl with the bugs, thinking they'll always be easy to kill, as most of the time when players do this, they'll just be walking right into their death.

5 Don't Be Afraid To Play Online

The Community is Generally Very Welcoming

The EDF games have always had a very dedicated fanbase. These campy, arcade-like games aren't that incredibly well-known, but most of the people who do know of them end up being pretty hardcore fans of them. And, a lot of the late-game in an EDF title involves farming certain missions for Armor and Weapon drops.

Because, of this, having more people around to kill bugs and pick up crates is always welcome. So, don't be afraid to join random lobbies online to help get more weapons or gather more Armor, that's exactly why those lobbies exist. The only thing we'd recommend looking out for are lobbies set to the hardest difficulty, as those are the ones where the players in them are a bit more particular about everyone carrying their weight mid-mission.

4 Hard Is The Community Recommended Difficulty

Try It Sometimes, Even Just for Better Weapons

One of the best early-game tips anyone can give for EDF is to play the game on Hard. Not only does playing the game on Hard feel like the intended difficulty for the game but it's also the best way for players to get strong early-game weapons that they can then take to Normal difficulty missions and absolutely demolish (if they so choose).

Additionally, just like with EDF5, the two hardest difficulty options aren't unlocked until the player beats the campaign on the previous difficulty setting (though there is a bit of a trick to get around this), so playing on Hard at the start will just make that whole process of unlocking the last two difficulty options a whole lot less tedious.

3 Read Mission Descriptions

They Can Be Very Helpful in Knowing What to Bring

The difference in the difficulty of a mission in EDF can feel like night and day purely based on the weapons and tools a player brings into the mission. If, for example, a player using the Ranger only brings close-range weapons into a mission with a lot of bee/wasp enemies, they're going to have an incredibly tough time.

But, if they bring in long-range weapons or weapons with homing capabilities, these flying enemies become a whole lot easier to deal with. A lot of the time, players will just pick a setup they like, go into a mission, and then adjust said loadout if needed if the enemy matchup isn't in their favor. However, if players read the Mission Descriptions before picking their loadout, a lot of the time they describe what type of enemies can be found in the mission.

2 Recruit NPCs

Look for the Red Arrows

Getting help from the NPCs in EDF6 might not sound important, considering how easy it is to forget they even exist, but they're actually a huge help. If players run up to an NPC with a red arrow over their head, for example, they'll auto-recruit said NPC and any other NPCs that this NPC commands.

After doing this, the NPC(s) will then follow the player around and will fight with them. This is a huge help in any missions with enemies that can grab the player, such as the red ants, as the NPCs can help free the player from the ant's mandibles that much faster. Not only that, but these NPCs are also healed whenever the player picks up any health crates, they'll mimic whatever emotes the player uses, and they're just all-around worth grabbing. So, remember to look out for red arrows during missions and try to recruit nearby NPCs whenever possible.

1 Friendly Fire Does Exist

And It's Pretty Mean on Higher Difficulties

Lastly, it's worth reminding players that Friendly Fire does exist in EDF6, and it can be pretty brutal on the higher difficulties. Anyone who has played an EDF game previously or even another bug-hunting game like Helldivers 2 knows how rough the friendly fire damage can be at times, and it can be even harder to avoid than one might think. Explosions, for example, can send allies flying if they're too close, and with EDF6's desync issues explosions can be even more dangerous since a co-op partner might not actually be in the spot the game makes it appear.

So, the tip here is just to keep an eye on allies and make sure they're not in the path of any air strikes, explosives, and projectiles whenever possible. Wing Divers especially really struggle with avoiding friendly fire since they often stand on buildings that are easily blown up by just about any nearby explosion.

Earth Defense Force 6

Systems

Franchise

Earth Defense Force

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5

Released

July 25, 2024

Developer(s)

Sandlot

Publisher(s)

D3Publisher