ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank runs are scored differently on each of the campaign’s 30 numbered missions. To earn Ace of Aces, you must finish every mission with an S rank on Ace difficulty, using either the main Campaign or Free Mission after the story.
Destroying valuable targets quickly is usually more important than wiping out every enemy. Below are the best mission-specific routes, recommended weapon types and community-reported scoring benchmarks, including extra help for the difficult last four missions.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: How to Unlock Ace Difficulty and Free Mission
First finish the campaign on Elite. That unlocks Ace difficulty, while a completed campaign opens Free Mission so you can select any numbered sortie. The ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank challenge does not require 30 consecutive S ranks: you can return to the individual missions you missed, using your unlocked aircraft, weapons and parts.
Free Mission also removes most of the campaign’s aircraft-selection limits, making it easier to bring a fast endgame Fighter or a dedicated Attacker. Mission 14 is the exception; you still fly the unarmed A-6E Intruder. If you’re missing Ace difficulty, see our difficulty settings guide.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Score, Time Bonus and Mission Rules
The mission results combine destruction points with time-based scoring. High-value aircraft, named Aces and dense enemy groups help build your score, but long detours cut into the time bonus. A checkpoint restart can ruin a strong attempt; restart the entire sortie if you’ve made a major mistake early.
PowerPyx reports that named Ace kills typically add around 2,000 points and that a damage-free run can award an additional bonus. However, the exact scoring effects are disputed in community testing, so don’t depend on a no-damage bonus to make up a major score shortfall. Treat clean flying as protection for a fast, uninterrupted mission.
The following ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank score thresholds come from a player-published extraction of game data, not a Bandai Namco guide. The numbers have not been independently verified against every mission. They are reference benchmarks for comparing runs, not guaranteed cutoffs. “Time deduction starts” is the point at which that post reports the time bonus beginning to fall.
| Mission | Community S benchmark | Time deduction begins |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 3,000 | 05:10 |
| 02 | 16,000 | 10:00 |
| 03 | 16,500 | 16:20 |
| 04 | 21,000 | 11:00 |
| 05 | 17,500 | 11:10 |
| 06 | 17,000 | 17:20 |
| 07 | 53,000 | 15:10 |
| 08 | 36,900 | 22:30 |
| 09 | 12,500 | 15:10 |
| 10 | 14,200 | 12:00 |
| 11 | 44,000 | 12:40 |
| 12 | 21,500 | 11:30 |
| 13 | 22,000 | 16:10 |
| 14 | 10,700 | 12:00 |
| 15 | 19,000 | 12:40 |
| 16 | 40,000 | 07:10 |
| 17 | 15,600 | 13:00 |
| 18 | 15,000 | 09:10 |
| 19 | 26,400 | 17:10 |
| 20 | 25,000 | 13:40 |
| 21 | 41,500 | 15:10 |
| 22 | 18,500 | 12:30 |
| 23 | 51,000 | 15:10 |
| 24 | 39,000 | 17:00 |
| 25 | 87,000 | 24:10 |
| 26 | 45,500 | 23:40 |
| 27 | 130,000 | 15:10 |
| 28 | 154,000 | 31:00 |
| 29 | 30,300 | 10:30 |
| 30 | 60,000 | 25:00 |
If your destruction score is high but the result stays at A, work on finishing earlier. If you finish quickly but score poorly, add high-value targets that sit close to the required route. The ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank strategies below focus on those exact trade-offs.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Missions 01 to 10
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 01: Jokers Wild
Best loadout: 4AAM or UAVT. Shoot down the UAVs, then the MiG-21 escorts before the A-50 AWACS. Destroying the MiGs first can spawn Gigas, worth extra points; kill the AWACS last to end the sortie.
Mission 02: Nomad
Best loadout: UAVT or multi-target air missiles. Defend Endurance from the initial four A-6Es, then clear bombers from the north and east as they arrive. The final Tu-95 waves come with F-14D escorts; take the bombers before the carrier is hit.
Mission 03: Purple Magic Takes Flight
Best loadout: Multi-target air-to-air. Begin with the six Mi-24 helicopters north of White Valley Base, then cover the northeastern approaches. Intercept the A-6E and Tu-160 bomber waves far from the base; mop up the final Shadows MiG-29A unit.
Mission 04: The Fall of the Numbered Fleets
Best loadout: Air-to-surface missiles. Start at the western airbase and clear SAM sites, docked ships and aircraft on the ground. Cross east for the main fleet. The hidden Ace requires a narrow tunnel flight; skip that risk unless you need its points.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 05: Retaking of Theve
Best loadout: UAVT or balanced air/ground. Stay near all eight friendly LCACs. Eliminate helicopters first, then the two howitzer lines behind the tanks, and return to the craft for the next wave. Save enough ammunition for the dive bombers after the cinematic.
Mission 06: Attack on the Drinwich Airfield
Best loadout: Multirole with guided missiles. Protect both Chinook groups, Spread 1 and Spread 2. Clear fighters and dangerous ground positions along their routes. After the transports land, shoot down the escaping transport before turning to the approaching bombers.
Mission 07: A Lifeline in the Desert
Best loadout: FA-36 with SOD area weapons. Start with northwestern heliostats and solar-panel clusters, then sweep the airfield and refineries. Use SOD on tightly grouped targets, and use the return line for ammunition only if the next target sweep demands it.
Mission 08: Retaking of Theve II
Best loadout: Area ground weapons plus air missiles. Clear the coastal surface weapons, then the armor and howitzers stopping friendly advances. When Tu-160 bombers and Shadows arrive from the south, switch to air targets immediately before returning to the remaining ground units.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 09: The Land Battleship Blockade
Best loadout: FA-36 with SOD or anti-surface. Destroy Land Aegis escorts and anti-air guns, then protect the bomb trucks that expose the moving battleship’s tread armor. Hit the exposed treads, destroy the marked buildings at the scripted phase, then finish its port-side thrusters.
Mission 10: Over the Rainband
Best loadout: Fast multirole or Fighter. Follow laser-designator beams into the clouds to find jamming airships. Destroy the airships quickly, especially when two are guiding attacks at once. Don’t chase optional fighters while the allied fleet is under laser targeting.
For early ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank attempts, the biggest mistakes are rushing the final target before earning enough points, or chasing hidden Aces whose triggers take too long. The tunnel flight in Mission 04 is a good example: it can earn an extra kill, but a crash wipes out the run.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Missions 11 to 20
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 11: Maximum Payload
Best loadout: High-ammo missiles for large transports. Track Podarge groups through their contrails and clear air-defence turrets before destroying the propellers. Destroy guns for extra score before the last propeller, but finish each Podarge cleanly; killing the final one ends the sortie.
Mission 12: An Island in Darkness
Best loadout: Long-range air weapons or UAVT. If going for Imber, destroy the eight approaching LCACs within three minutes. Then focus on bombers near Fort Grays; once C-130s release cruise-missile pallets, intercept airborne ALCMs before they strike the base.
Mission 13: The People of the Lost Country
Best loadout: Balanced fighter with air and surface damage. Fly ahead of the escorted transport to remove radar towers, SAMs and exposed AAA, then return for enemy fighters. At the landing area destroy ambush MANPADS immediately, and intercept the late Su-25SM/F-4E wave.
Mission 14: Two on the Run
Best loadout: Forced unarmed A-6E Intruder. This is an escape and radar-avoidance mission, not a damage farm. Follow the permitted corridor, avoid radar sweeps and move promptly between navigation objectives. The A-6E stays unarmed even in Free Mission.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 15: Wings of Wax
Best loadout: High-damage air-to-air. Prioritise the heavy bombers moving towards the fleet over fighters that lure you far away. Attack their exposed components, break away from blast areas and keep special ammunition for the last bomber formations.
Mission 16: Singer
Best loadout: Fast multirole with accurate missiles. Identify the terrorist ships visually by their three deck cranes and sun-marked hulls before firing. Don’t waste attacks on civilian ships. React quickly to the self-destruct UAVs if the search takes too long.
Mission 17: Land Battleship No. 3
Best loadout: Anti-surface weapons. Clear the air defences threatening your allied bomber corridor before tackling the battleship. Use wingmen against available targets and follow each exposed component instead of firing at armour that isn’t yet vulnerable.
Mission 18: Moonlight and Shadows
Best loadout: Fast Fighter with burst air kills. Wait until the rockets launch and become valid targets, then intercept them quickly. Avoid falling debris. Destroying Shadow 24 near the launch pad is worth pursuing only if it fits your route and you need Curis or Mission 28’s squadron.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 19: Clearing the Lighthouse
Best loadout: Precise multirole missiles. Strip hostile weapon systems while avoiding damage to the Space Elevator. Commit to the main objective after the defensive targets are clear; careless shots near protected structures can spoil the sortie.
Mission 20: Escort Orbiter
Best loadout: Fast Fighter or multirole. Remain close enough to cover the escorted orbiter. When the image-recognition missile becomes the threat, intercept the missile directly instead of relying on flares. Avoid long dogfights away from the target.
On the middle ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank missions, watch for phases that temporarily change what you can attack. Mission 16 requires visual identification before a ship becomes a valid threat, while Mission 18’s rockets only matter after launching. Attacking the wrong object can waste valuable time even if you survive.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Missions 21 to 30
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 21: The Star-Bound Bird
Best loadout: Multirole with anti-air special weapons. Defend the shuttle launch complex as bombers and ground threats arrive. Shoot down aircraft moving towards the protected launch assets first; collect optional points only between attack waves, then protect the shuttle through launch.
Mission 22: Pursuing the HSCA
Best loadout: High-speed Fighter or multirole. Stay ahead of the moving objective instead of chasing it from directly behind. Strike exposed propulsion or other currently vulnerable components, then break away to avoid concentrated defences and return when the next weak point opens.
Mission 23: The Destruction of Expo City
Best loadout: Attacker with area ground weapons. The large ground battle rewards fast destruction of land ships and defensive clusters. Attack the weapons halting allied units, then shift to the next exposed group rather than lingering to dogfight distant fighters.
Mission 24: The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 1
Best loadout: Attacker or ground-focused multirole. Watch all three landing groups and switch to whichever beachhead has stalled. Destroy the ground defences blocking their advance; a long detour to optional fighters can leave a friendly landing party pinned down.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 25: The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 2
Best loadout: Ground area damage plus anti-air. Alternate between eastern and western allied advances as each calls for support. Clear dense land forces efficiently and destroy Podarge weapon systems before focusing on the main aircraft. Reserve ammunition for later flying threats.
Mission 26: Crossing Fleets
Best loadout: Anti-ship missiles with reliable air missiles. Respond to reports from both friendly fleets, sinking high-priority ships and switching sectors when a formation takes damage. Don’t clear one corner of the map while the other group gets overwhelmed.
Mission 27: Fatsia, The Ocean Fortress
Best loadout: Su-34 with UGBL and bomb upgrades. Bomb clustered enemies and the Megafloat’s support pillars so collapsing sections destroy groups below. Follow the new objective immediately, including the cease-fire instruction and the later interior phase. Some Ace players report UGBL as especially effective.
Mission 28: A Thousand Points of Light
Best loadout: FA-36 with upgraded SASM or MGP. Prioritise bombers and target-dense formations. Rearm at Cima Island before the late waves. At the final Shadows, use staggered SASM volleys or concentrated gunfire while your wingmen attack; a long final dogfight rapidly consumes the time bonus.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 29: Selene
Best loadout: Agile Fighter with rapid air-to-air. Handle Selene’s attacks while watching the laser or guidance threat. Avoid firing during scripted invulnerability, and turn back to the current objective as soon as it becomes vulnerable again. Rapid clean hits are better than missile spam.
Mission 30: Song of Wings
Best loadout: Multirole with missiles for air and surface. Defend Endurance from inbound missiles and guidance drones before attacking the submarine. Disable its exposed weapons as objectives appear, locate the later underwater launch tube and react to its last ramming threat.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank and the Delayed 1.01.002 Balance Changes
Bandai Namco announced two campaign balance adjustments that may affect attempts at an ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank. The first concerns Mission 15, where Ladon’s difficulty is being adjusted on Elite and higher. The second is Mission 28, where Shadow 22 and its wingmen will have an adjusted maximum number of flares.
These changes were listed in the 1.01.002 patch notes published October 20, but the update planned for October 23 was postponed. The replacement release date had not been confirmed in the official announcements reviewed October 28. Until you see version 1.01.002 installed, don’t assume the new Ladon or Shadow 22 behaviour is live.
The developer has not announced new S-rank score thresholds or exact new flare counts. Use the existing mission routes and community benchmarks as a starting point, not as fixed guarantees. If your ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank run is struggling on Mission 28, concentrate on reaching the last Shadows quickly and using high-damage air weapons when the enemies are vulnerable.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Why Mission 28 Keeps Giving an A Rank
Mission 28, A Thousand Points of Light, has generated the most specific S-rank complaints from players. Finishing with a large destruction score isn’t enough if the fight with the Shadows drags on. The community-reported benchmark is 154,000 points, with time deductions beginning after 31 minutes; those figures are unofficial, but players agree that the last dogfight can drain a substantial time bonus.
One successful loadout is the FA-36 with upgraded SASM. Damage and area-of-effect upgrades help with bombers; against the evasive Shadows, stagger two ordinary missiles and two SASMs rather than firing everything at once. Other players prefer the MiG-21 with machine-gun pods to destroy the Shadows during brief openings. Use Forward Atk to add wingman pressure, and avoid circling endlessly behind a target that keeps evading missiles.
Fly through bomber formations at speed, destroying the lead aircraft when possible. Some trailing bombers collide with it, creating extra kills. Replenish ammunition at Cima Island before the final waves. The ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank result here is often decided by how quickly you finish the Shadows once they spawn, not by collecting one more distant fighter beforehand.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Mission 27 and the Megafloat
Mission 27, Fatsia, the Ocean Fortress, favours high-volume ground damage. Community reports recommend the Su-34 with UGBL and bomb-damage upgrades. Hit support pillars rather than manually destroying every surface unit; collapsing decks can remove several enemy groups at once.
The ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank run also depends on following the changing objective. Stop firing when ordered, then move into the later interior phase. Keep a comfortable score buffer before committing to the final target, because a rushed clear can leave you below the rank threshold even when it feels fast.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Fix an A Rank Without Replaying Blindly
After any A-rank result, compare the destruction score, time bonus and checkpoint restarts with your previous attempt. A low destruction score suggests you’ve ignored profitable targets; a falling time bonus usually means you’re spending too long on optional fighters, unnecessary rearming or scripted targets that aren’t yet vulnerable.
Choose a plane for the mission, not simply the newest jet. The best aircraft guide, special weapons comparison and upgrade parts guide can help tailor each attempt. For area attacks, use an Attacker with SOD or UGBL; for repeated bomber interceptions, use fast air-to-air missiles.
Named enemy Aces can contribute points, but don’t trigger one when it requires a risky tunnel, detour or escort condition that is likely to cost the run. The Assault Records guide covers all the spawn conditions. A ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank is a mission scoring goal, not the same as collecting every named Ace.
ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank: Trophy and Campaign Medal Rewards
Getting an S rank on all 30 missions on Ace earns Ace of Aces. It also meets the higher-difficulty requirement for the Gold Wings campaign medal and the lower-difficulty S-rank sets. You can keep revisiting missed missions in Free Mission, so check your recorded Ace ranks rather than replaying the campaign from the beginning.
For the full checklist, use our Campaign Medals guide and trophy roadmap. Our Mission List has every operation in order, and the MRP farming guide helps you buy better aircraft between difficult replays.
The ACE COMBAT 8 S Rank route is to finish Elite, unlock Ace, then earn a clean S on each of the 30 missions in Free Mission. Use the benchmark table as an unofficial reference, follow the mission target order and change weapons when a particular phase is costing you too much time.
Scoring benchmarks are community-reported rather than Bandai Namco confirmed. Early routes are informed by PowerPyx and later player-tested strategies. Official source for the announced campaign changes: Bandai Namco’s ACE COMBAT 8 update notes.
