Horizon Forbidden West: Tips and Tricks

To excel in Horizon Forbidden West, you'll need to know more than 100 vital tips and tricks, methods, and secrets. We've got you covered in our complete guide below, whether it's how to obtain powerful early-game weaponry, how to make the most of the Mount system to get free resources, or how to make tracking down collectibles much easier.

Quick Early-Game Tips and Tricks

• Pick up everything while you're first starting off! Early on in the game, it's critical to stockpile resources and commodities such as medicinal berries, animal parts, and machine parts, which may be utilized to construct ammo, traps, and even outfit improvements. If you have these resources, it will make the early hours of the game much easier and more comfortable, as well as reduce the need to constantly seek out these Resources as you move through the game.
• Look for the list pop-up in the bottom-left corner of the screen when picking up Resources. The value in brackets at the conclusion of this equation represents your new total amount of that resource. If a Ridgewood pickup, for example, finishes in "(122)," you now have a total of 122 Ridgewood! Your pouch is full here, and those Resources have been despatched to your Stash, you're told.
• The Stash is a brand-new feature in Forbidden West that functions as a large storage chest. Any materials obtained will be immediately delivered to your Stash, which can be located at all major villages, shelters, and other predefined areas around the world when your inventory and pouches begin to fill up. If you're having problems finding your Stash, keep a lookout for Hunter merchants and Workbenches in the same region.
• Consider activating the Custom HUD Settings and setting Interaction Markers to Always On (located under "Player Misc") when it comes to specific settings. This means that the indicators for Resources, Chests, and other items will always be visible, making it much easier to figure out where things are and whether or not a machine/animal has something useful.
• It's beneficial to master the iconography of markers, whether or not you use them on a regular basis. Plants, rocks, and wood, for example, are marked with triangular markers, whereas machine parts and traps are marked with diamond-shaped markings. The color of the icon denotes its rarity; in the event of numerous things, the color denotes the object's rarest item.
• Setting Climbing Annotations to Always On is a good idea because it's not always clear where the handholds are or what the best route up the surface is. This setting will also assist you in reducing the need to ping your Focus on a regular basis.
• If you're going down a slope, slide to go faster!
• Burrower Soundshells, Shellsnapper Shell Bolts, or even a Rollerback Hammer Tail are all-important upgrade resources. Salvage Contractors is a great place to go if you're looking for unique upgrading supplies at a good price.
• Using Workbench's "Create a job" option is another way to upgrade materials. This will construct a custom quest that will automatically direct you to locations where you may obtain the parts you want for the improvement, saving you time!
• Any parts highlighted yellow when scanning machines in the wild imply that you have a job set up to get these items. It's worth noting that the job doesn't require the quest to be active in order for this to show.
• After resurrecting a Mount, it costs 270 Shards to fully repair it (or 135 Shards if you have both of the Efficient Repair talents).

Essential Tips and Tricks

• To make the most of your time and avoid having to go back to the beginning of the game, it's highly recommended that you complete the first three Main Quests - Tap to Reveal, Tap to Reveal, Tap to Reveal - as they unlock useful tools that can be used to explore the game's many hidden nooks and crannies.
• Spend some time listening to rumors. Plainsong, for example, will include areas where you may sit and listen to a rumor. These, similar to Ghost of Tsushima, disclose points of interest on the map, such as Cauldrons and Side Quests. So, if you're towards the conclusion of the game and looking for something to do, pay a visit to one of these locations to see what you're missing!
• While you can now mount a larger range of machines, keep in mind their dimensions. Larger mounts, like as Bristlebacks, may not fit beneath Plainsong's modest arches. See How to Override and Mount Machines for more information.
• Despite being one of the largest mounts, the Bristleback can assist you in obtaining resources in a passive manner. It will begin digging into the earth when not in use, pulling up containers containing modest amounts of Metal Shards.
• Avoid contacting your Mount while in stealth mode; as it approaches your location, it will draw the notice of any surrounding machines.
• You can set an Overridden machine to aggressive behavior instead of defensive behavior if you buy the Override Subroutines talent. However, they can be more bother than they're worth: your Mount will follow you around and attack anything it sees, and you won't be able to change its behavior back to defensive.
• After combat, inspect the surrounding area for any possible components that may have broken off during the conflict. Don't be astonished if some of your opponents rolled away if you were battling on a slope!
• Do you need Metal Shards right away to make ammo? To easily get metal shards, go to your inventory and disassemble valuables and other vital materials. With that said, unless it's an emergency, you should avoid deconstructing too many valuables and other critical goods from your inventory, as selling them via Merchants will net you a considerably bigger profit. While selling an Ancient Black Bracelet to a Merchant, for example, you'll receive 20 Shards, opposed to only 10 when disassembling the item in your inventory.
• Purchase meals from Cooks that provide momentary yet substantial boosts and repair affects. Expect to encounter meals that raise your maximum health, potion proficiency, and weapon stamina, as well as restore effects that can improve your health and stamina by up to 75 percent, with meals ranging from common to legendary.
• As you visit each new community, don't be startled if you are unable to purchase products from Merchants right away. In most circumstances, Merchants will require specific animal and equipment parts that are particular to their region.
• Are you unprepared for a difficult Quest? Don't worry; the game has an autosave right before starting a Quest, so if you're having trouble taking down a strong Machine, load into the autosave to give yourself time to regear and appropriately prepare for any following bouts. Boss Saves are produced right before boss bouts and serve the same purpose.
• It's crucial to remember that Silent Strikes doesn't always kill an enemy, especially if you haven't mastered the Infiltrator skill tree's higher damage skills. When sneaking up on an enemy, watch for the skull icon before going in for the kill. If a skull appears, it implies that the stealthy attack will deal a fatal blow.
• Bring up the Weapon Wheel and then click R3 to have Aloy put her weapon away at any time (push the Right Analog Stick into the controller until you hear a click). Aloy will then put her weapon away when you exit the Weapon Wheel. It's even effective on her spear!
• Once you've cleared certain Rebel Camps, such as Fenris, make sure to check in with them once you've got a good distance away. You won't need to physically return to the village; simply checking the map will be sufficient. They'll transform into a settlement complete with merchants, Campfires, and Stash chests.
• You can remove any Traps or other Hunter's equipment that you aren't using! To access the Hunter's Menu, hold down the D-Pad. Scroll through the items until you find the one you don't want and press Square to Change. Then simply press X to remove it from your choices! This also allows you to rearrange your equipment by utilizing empty spaces if necessary.
• You can modify how a category is sorted while viewing your Inventory in the pause menu by pressing Options. All categories can be sorted in bulk or by rarity, however, some are unique, such as armor, which is sorted by playstyle type.

Combat Strategies and Techniques

• Always keep a full medicine pouch with you. Aloy comes equipped with ten healing berries by default, and while medicinal plants are plentiful across Horizon, it's easy to forget to stock up! As you move between fights, make sure you pick some up from the ground.
• Aloy also has a medicine reserve pouch, which is indicated by a number that is just over the typical medicine count. Holding Up on the D-Pad allows you to swiftly replenish your medicine supply using your reserve pouch.
• Scan with the Focus if possible before engaging in a full fight. You may use this to find and tag any machines, pin any components you want to remove, examine their scouting pathways, and more. It's always better to be prepared, as you'll shortly discover!
• Machine corpses from the past can still be utilized! In addition to salvaging them for resources like as appropriate kills, certain machines, such as Bellowbacks, will include sections that can be attacked for explosive consequences, thereby turning them into free traps.
• To generate a moment of invincibility, use Aloy's Dodge movement. It's worth noting that the Dodge move doesn't require precise timing; simply dodging away from an attack when it's close enough to harm Aloy will suffice.
• You should employ High Tear damage guns and ammo to destroy a machine's components at the start of a machine conflict. When you do this, you lose a lot of health, and particular portions of your body inhibit specific attacks and functions. By scanning a machine with the Focus, you can highlight components, but memorizing them will be faster. With our favorite Valor Surge, Part Breaker, you can rip components off even faster.
• Switch to guns and ammo with High Impact damage to take off more health when hitting a machine in general once you've depleted all components (or at least the easiest ones to strike). If a machine, such as the Sunwing, has small, protected, or difficult-to-hit components, this is a useful strategy.
• On that note, strive for big sacs of elemental material, such as those found on a Spikesnout or Bellowback. They frequently produce a massive elemental explosion that damages everything in a large radius, including the victim!
• Some machines feature components that will only detonate when hit with certain types of elemental ammunition. If you hit Blaze Canisters, such as those on a Fanghorn, with fire-based munitions, they will explode violently.
• Before combat, try grouping machines with the same type of canisters – this is best done with pebbles – because blasting a canister once they are near together would cause it to explode. This will set off a chain reaction, causing other machine canisters to ignite and explode.
• Keep an eye out for regions where machines have deployed their radars. This feature allows machines to momentarily disable your Focus while simultaneously detecting your location, even if you are concealed from their view.