Ace Combat 8’s Elite Difficulty Is More Than Just Harder Enemies

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has four difficulty settings Rookie, Pilot, Veteran and Elite and the higher difficulties sound a lot more interesting than simply giving enemies more health. Bandai Namco has revealed that Veteran can feature more aggressive enemies, missile lock-ons that are harder to shake, and a mysterious connection between your loadout and damage recovery. Then there’s Elite, where battlefield awareness, split-second decisions and choosing the right targets become even more important. In this video, I break down everything Bandai has revealed about AC8’s difficulty settings, Standard vs Expert controls, and what I noticed after playing both Veteran and Elite myself at Gamescom 2026. I’ll be starting with Elite + Expert controls. What are you choosing? Rookie, Pilot, Veteran or Elite? #AceCombat8 #AceCombat #WingsOfTheve