Ace Combat 7 S Rank Requirements: Time and Score for All 20 Missions

Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements are based on your destruction score plus a separate time bonus. The important figure is the combined total, not simply the score shown during the mission, and that distinction explains why some apparently excellent runs still finish with an A rank.

There are 20 standard campaign missions to master. Below you’ll find the exact combined thresholds extracted from the game’s ranking data, together with practical advice for earning the time bonus and improving awkward missions. The three SP DLC missions use separate requirements and are not mixed into this table.

Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements: all 20 mission thresholds

The numbers below are Destruction Score + Time Bonus minimums for S rank, not the number you must earn by destroying enemies alone. They come from community analysis of Ace Combat 7’s in-game ranking data, rather than from a single player’s approximate runs. A fast run can meet a total with less destruction score; a slower run has to compensate by shooting down more targets.

It is important not to read the list as a ‘target on-screen score’. For example, Mission 1 requires 20,530 combined points, not 20,530 points of destroyed aircraft. Trying to earn that many destruction points in the opening sortie would send you chasing the wrong goal.

Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements and time bonuses

Ace Combat 7 records the score for enemies and objectives you destroyed. At the end of the mission it also awards a Time Bonus based on how quickly you cleared the sortie. Add the two together and you have the total compared with the table. The game does not present this combined figure during flight.

When checking Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements, remember that each mission has its own maximum bonus, ideal clear time and rate at which the bonus falls after that time. There is no single universal target such as ‘under ten minutes’ that works for all 20 missions. This is why the Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements are best understood as a balance between killing efficiently and keeping the route short.

Mission 1, Charge Assault: finishing in 4 minutes 50 seconds or less gives a maximum 10,230-point time bonus. The combined requirement is 20,530, meaning you need at least 10,300 destruction points at that pace. Only shooting down required bombers is not quite enough, so take out at least one of the other aircraft along your route.

Mission 2, Charge the Enemy: at six minutes or faster, the maximum time bonus is 25,550. That means 7,500 destruction points is enough to hit 33,050 combined. Taking longer reduces the bonus, so you have to destroy more enemies to make up the difference.

Mission 3, Two-pronged Strategy: the ideal nine-minute timing can pair with at least 16,800 destruction points to meet the threshold. It’s a useful demonstration of why unnecessary dogfights can hurt you more than they help.

Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements for score attack missions

Long Day, Mission 6, and Fleet Destruction, Mission 11, are score-attack missions. The S-rank requirements are 27,000 and 40,000 points respectively, earned by destroying enough targets before the sortie ends. You still need to finish successfully, but for these two the central challenge is maximising your destruction total, not racing for a normal time-bonus threshold.

Fleet Destruction rewards sensible targeting. Ships, platforms and their structural weak points are more important than getting stuck in a long dogfight. Choose an aircraft with an effective anti-ship special weapon, plan the order of your targets and avoid long empty trips across the map.

How to improve difficult Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements

• Work backwards from the objective: find the marked targets you can destroy quickly, then plan the shortest safe sequence between them.
• Choose an appropriate special weapon: air-to-air missiles for UAV-heavy battles, anti-ship weapons for Fleet Destruction, and ground-attack options when the map is full of installations.
• Don’t overfarm ordinary enemies: extra kills help only when their points outweigh the time you’re losing.
• Learn the mission updates: many sorties change objectives, and waiting around after a transition is an easy way to waste a strong opening.
• Fly the entire attempt cleanly: checkpoint restarts consume time when calculating the final result, so don’t assume a quick retry erases the time already spent.

Named enemy aces can provide additional points on eligible replayed missions, but hunting an ace far away from the mission objectives can be counterproductive. If you need an S rank, only chase a special aircraft when the detour helps your overall score and time.

Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements on Ace difficulty

You can earn mission S ranks on different settings, but the ACE OF ACES achievement specifically calls for S ranks across all 20 standard campaign missions on Ace difficulty. Unlock Ace by completing the campaign on Hard first. Replay the problem missions as needed and track which Ace S-rank results are already recorded.

These Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements are for the base campaign. The separately sold SP missions have their own values, and the PlayStation VR missions are separate as well. Do not mix a DLC result into your progress toward the main 20-mission achievement.

For Ace Combat 7 S Rank requirements, the score table tells you what is required. Getting there is about cutting downtime while making your attacks count. The best S-rank attempt usually looks quite controlled: you know where to go, you pick off valuable targets along the way and you avoid unnecessary detours.

For better loadouts, see our Ace Combat 7 Best Aircraft and Ace Combat 7 Aircraft Tree guides. Our Ace Combat 7 Ace Difficulty Unlock guide explains the challenge prerequisite.

Official source: Bandai Namco Ace Combat 7 official game page.