Ace of Aces checklist
Ace Combat 8 S-Rank Guide — All Missions on Ace
Earn S-rank on Ace difficulty for every campaign mission (via Campaign or Free Mission) for Ace of Aces. Score comes from destruction value, speed, and surviving — prioritize high-value clusters, ignore worthless stragglers late, and replay outliers in Free Mission with optimized loadouts.
Campaign Play-sourced
S-rank rules of thumb
- Difficulty: S on Ace is required for Ace of Aces; lower-difficulty S still helps medals that say “or higher.”
- Free Mission advantage: pick any unlocked jet per mission (except Mission 14’s fixed A-6); skip most story cinematics.
- Carrier / chained restrictions: some Campaign sorties limit takeoff types or lock the same jet across a set — Free Mission removes most of that.
- Point economy: perimeter AA/SAM/radar first on ground maps; bombers/AWACS first on air maps; finish with gun strafes if you’re a few thousand short.
- Wingmen: buy duplicate airframes so Baxter/Tasha/Coster fly capable jets; use Forward Atk on high-value TGTs.
Hard highlights
- Mission 14: unarmed A-6 stealth — S comes from perfect route + objective pace, not kill spam.
- Escort medals (21, 30): zero/near-zero escort damage while still scoring enough elsewhere.
- Mission 28: best for practice runs and MRP — endless Cima rearm loops.
Checklist workflow
- Finish Elite campaign → unlock Ace.
- Ace clear or Free Mission each stage until S.
- Log fails next to campaign index and retry with better SP weapons.
People also ask
Do I need S-rank on Ace for platinum?
Yes — Ace of Aces requires S on Ace for all 30 missions.
Can I S-rank in Free Mission?
Yes, and it’s usually easier thanks to free jet choice.
Does restarting from checkpoint hurt S-rank?
It can scramble timers/ace spawns — prefer full mission restarts when chasing score or aces.
Further reading
Related guides
Campaign Hub · Hidden Aces · Free Mission · Difficulty
Primary: Ace Combat 8 S-rank. Also: Ace of Aces, S rank Ace difficulty, Free Mission S-rank. Independent fan guide — verify in-game if patches change conditions.