Ace Combat 8 Wings of Theve Trophy Guide & Roadmap

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Trophy Roadmap

Estimated trophy difficulty: 5/10
Approximate amount of time to platinum: 150 hours+ (because of 25,000,000 MRP grind)
Offline Trophies: 56 (1, 2, 5, 48)
Online Trophies: 0
Number of missable trophies: 0 (all trophies can be earned in Free Mission after campaign)
Glitched trophies: 0
Does difficulty affect trophies?: Yes, campaign must be completed on Elite difficulty to unlock Ace difficulty, then campaign must be completed on Ace difficulty with all S-Ranks. Enemy Aces only appear on Veteran difficulty and above.
Hardest Trophy: Ace of Aces (all S Ranks on Ace difficulty, which is the highest difficulty)
Minimum Playthroughs: 2+ (one on Elite difficulty to unlock Ace difficulty, one on Ace difficulty with all S Ranks)
PS4/PS5 Autopop, Save Transfer, Crossbuy: Game doesn’t have a PS4 version
Level Select after Story?: Free Mission mode is available after campaign, at any unlocked difficulty level
New Game+ Mode?: All unlocked planes and parts can be used in Free Mission and in replays of Campaign
Supports Manual Saves?: No, only Autosave
Release Date: September 29, 2026 (Deluxe Edition) / October 02, 2026 (Standard Edition)

Introduction

Welcome to the Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Trophy Guide! After Ace Combat 7 shattered franchise sales records, Bandai Namco have heard fan requests and have brought back several legacy mechanics for Ace Combat 8, like wingmen commands and mid-mission landings to repair/rearm. As with previous Ace Combat games, you will have to complete the campaign on the hardest difficulty (Elite) in order to unlock Ace difficulty, then you will have to complete the campaign again on Ace difficulty earning an S Rank in all 30 missions. Once you’ve completed the campaign the first time, you’ll also unlock Free Mission mode which will allow you to replay any mission in the campaign on any difficulty you’ve unlocked. So if you don’t get an S rank the first time, you can go back in Free Mission and complete it again. Every mission you complete will earn you MRP (Military Result Points) for every target you destroy during the mission, with a multiplier based on difficulty (x0.8 on Casual, up to x1.5 on Ace). There are 30 missions in the campaign, during which you will be able to spend MRP to unlock aircraft, special weapons, and parts from the Aircraft Tree that you will carry over to any future campaigns or individual missions. Aside from S Ranking every mission on Ace difficulty, the real time sink is going to be earning 25,000,000MRP. So while technically you only have to complete the campaign twice, you will still have to grind missions to earn MRP to reach the full 25 million. Luckily it counts all money earned over all playthroughs, because you’ll need all that MRP to unlock every plane, special weapon, and part in the Aircraft Tree.

Step 1: Complete Campaign on Elite Difficulty to Unlock Ace Difficulty, Don’t Skip Cutscenes

If you’re already familiar with Ace Combat or flight sims in general, feel free to start on Elite difficulty and complete the campaign to unlock Ace difficulty. Don’t skip any of the takeoffs, landings, or mid-air refueling sequences, and you’ll earn By the Book when you complete the campaign (don’t hold to skip scenes). Each of the 30 missions in the campaign has its own trophy, and finishing the campaign on any difficulty will unlock Promised Land. If you’re having trouble on Elite, you can do a player on a lower difficulty first to unlock the end-game planes before you bump it back up to Elite. Since you have to earn 25,000,000 MRP anyway, an extra playthrough won’t be a waste at all.

Step 2: Earn MRP While Obtaining All Assault Records

Take some time to go back and complete your Assault Records by downing the named Aces that appear in each mission, and fleshing out your roster of planes and weapons. Play on at least Veteran difficulty to let the named Aces appear, but bear in mind that you have to complete the mission after shooting down the Ace for it to count.
It also helps to buy additional planes of each type so that your wingmen can pilot more capable aircraft. Don’t lean into the grind too heavily though, since you’ll earn a significant amount of MRP in Step 3. As long as you’ve unlocked the endgame planes and special weapons you’ll need for Ace difficulty.

» Ace Combat 8 All Assault Records & Enemy Aces

Step 3: Complete Campaign on Ace Difficulty, Obtaining S Ranks in Each Mission

You will need to earn an S Rank on Ace Difficulty in all 30 missions for Ace of Aces. You can do this by replaying the Campaign, or you can do them individually through Free Mission mode. While you will have access to all planes, special weapons, and parts that you’ve unlocked, in Campaign mode some missions will be restricted to only aircraft that can take off from a carrier, or may occur in sets where you will have to use the same aircraft for multiple missions until you return to base. In Free Mission mode however, you will always have access to every plane, and be able to choose the plane you fly at the top of each mission (aside from mission 14 where you will always fly the unarmed A-6 Intruder) which makes some missions easier since you can customize your parts and weapons loadout individually for each mission. As an added bonus, most of the story cinematics will be skipped between missions and during the briefing, though you’ll still have to manually skip ones that occur mid-mission.

» Ace Combat 8 All Ace Difficulty S-Ranks Walkthrough

Step 4: Cleanup & 25 Million MRP Grind

Earning 25,000,000 MRP will take you several playthroughs, even with the multipliers for completing a campaign on Elite and Ace difficulties. After two full playthroughs you will probably already have earned the other miscellaneous trophies, but if not clean up any that remain while grinding towards the 25 million.

General Gameplay Tips

Target Designator
- The Green shapes in your HUD that appear around targets that are in range of your radar. The TD will relay important information about your current target and your readiness to engage them all without having to look away.
- Square TDs indicate air targets, either an aircraft or a key component of a larger craft that you can target individually (such as a VLS system on a Podarge).
- Hexagonal TDs indicate ground targets, either a vehicle, a fixed emplacement, or a key component of a larger vehicle that you can target individually (such as a CIWS system on a Land Battleship)
- Your current target will flash until it is in range of your currently selected weapon. Once in range, you will see an indicator towards the TD until you have a lock, then both the TD and indicator will turn red to indicate you have a lock.
- The shape of the indicator will also show you which weapon is currently active. A diamond shape (literally called a Missile Diamond) indicates regular missiles, while a crosshairs or other shapes will indicate Special Weapons.
- Mission critical objectives will also show TGT next to the TD on the upper left
- Distance to the current target will be shown next to the TD on the upper right.
- When they are targeted, named enemies will show the name of the target next to the TD on the lower right.
- If the TD turns into a dotted line it means that you do not have direct line of sight to your target. Usually this means it’s behind some kind of geographical feature or structure. On large vehicles sometimes components or weapon turrets can be blocked by the hull/fuselage of the vehicle itself, and will only be vulnerable from attacks from specific angles.
- If the missile diamond turns into a dotted line, it means your missiles are still reloading and it will turn solid again when they are ready to fire.
Radar
- Color: Allied blips are blue, neutral or undetermined are yellow, and enemies are various tints between white and red
- Shape: Aircraft are arrowhead shaped, land targets are squares, missiles are long curving lines, and railgun strikes are dotted red lines while they’re aiming, and solid red when they fire. Mission critical targets (TGT designated) will have a circle around them, and are always red.
- Value: You can also tell the general value of enemy targets by their color. White are the most basic, low value targets. The “redder” a target is on your radar, the more points it will be worth. Named Aces for example are always a deep red.
- Some missions also have “Return Lines”, a border on one or more sides of the map indicated by a line of blue chevrons. Crossing these lines will allow you to land, repair and rearm.
Artificial Horizon / Pitch Ladder
- At the center of your HUD is a “W” symbol (also called the Waterline symbol), which indicates your boresight. This is the direction your aircraft’s nose is pointing.
- The floating circle with short “wing” lines coming off the top and sides is your Flight-Path Marker. This shows the craft’s actual direction of travel, and you will see it trail behind the nose of the plane during maneuvers as your new attitude overcomes your previous momentum.
- The green bars above and below the Waterline is your Artificial Horizon, indicating your attitude relative to the ground. If your Waterline is lined up with the thick green bars (the Horizon line), your plane is level with no pitch or roll.
- Above and below the Horizon line are a series of bars called the Pitch Ladder. Bars above the Horizon line are solid and dashed lines are below. So if you’re level but the dashed lines are above the Horizon, you’re inverted!
- You’ll see each bar on the Pitch Ladder has “feet” coming off the end, that point back towards the Horizon line (0 degrees pitch and level flight), and numbers next to them that indicate the degrees in pitch that bar represents: 90 degrees is straight up, -90 is straight down.
- Above your Artificial Horizon, you’ll see your current heading in degrees as well as compass markers if navigation isn’t your strong suit.
- On the left of the Artificial Horizon is your speed indicator, showing in mph/kph, but the arrow around your numeric speed also points to graduated markings that show how your current speed compares to your maximum speed.
- Your throttle is indicated by the vertical bar next to the Altitude graduated markings. When not touching the throttle, it will be halfway up, indicating cruising speed. All the way up is maximum throttle (and engaging afterburners, indicated by the A/B designator at the top of the bar), and all the way down is maximum braking. As a general rule, roughly one quarter throttle is safe, but below that you run the risk of stalling. Some planes are more prone to stalling than others, and maneuvers and installed parts will have an affect on this as well, but as a rough estimate it’s fairly accurate.
- On the right of the Artificial Horizon is your Altitude indicator, showing in feet/meters, but the arrow around your numeric altitude also points to graduated markings that show your altitude in relation to the ground and maximum ceiling.
If you run out of regular missiles entirely, after about 30 seconds at 0 missiles you’ll be given 2 more. It’s not long, but it can seem like forever in a dogfight.
The upper right corner of your UI will show time left in the mission, your score, and the third line will tell you what your current target is and how much it is worth. As a general rule, aircraft are almost always worth more than land targets so they should be your main focus. Prioritize “redder” targets that have high value, and leave white enemies as targets of opportunity while on the way to other high value groups.
Leave mission objectives (TGT) for last to maximize your score. Usually when the last TGT has been destroyed, you will either immediately or shortly thereafter lose the ability to destroy enemies to earn points.
The only thing more important than target value is your safety so be sure to prioritize dangerous targets and weapons systems: AA (Anti-Aircraft guns), SAM (Surface-to-Air missile battery), VLS (Vertical Launch System), and MANPADS (Man Portable Air-Defense Systems ie: dude with a strong shoulder, a Stinger launcher, and a grudge).
On ships and land battleships, they will also frequently have CIWS defenses (Close-In Weapon System), turrets acting as point defense that spew out thousands of bullets a second to shoot down missiles or guided bombs before they hit. Always target them first before attempting to attack other components, overwhelming them with multiple missiles until destroyed.
On missions where you have to either defend a fixed position or a target that you have to escort through hostile territory, enemies will often try to make you chase them to lure them away from the target you’re protecting. Stay in their general vicinity, and intercept any hostiles that try to reach them. If you’re guarding a base or airstrip, always be on the lookout for bombers on your radar. It only takes a couple TU-95s or B-2s to ruin your whole day. Once an escort target takes a certain amount of damage, you will see a blue ping indicator emanate from the target on your radar. A single ripple will mean minor damage, two ripples will mean major damage, and three ripples means the target has taken critical damage. There is no fourth ripple.

Useful Tips, Tricks and Guides: