After two years of waiting, the latest installment of Aloy’s adventures has finally arrived on PC. In our Horizon Forbidden West Tips and Tricks, we show you how to master the battles and which weapons are most effective. We also explain how to upgrade them and which skills you should specialize in.
Table of Contents
1) Master the Hunter skills first
The game gives you a total of six skill trees, each with 21 or 22 ways to improve your skills. From left to right, these are:
- Warrior
- Trapper
- Hunter
- Survivor
- Infiltrator
- Machine Master
Since most combat takes place at a distance, you should specialize in ranged combat rather than melee combat. The skill tree for this is the Hunter one. There you can increase your concentration to gain more bullet time and increase your ranged damage. Concentration regeneration is also important so that the associated bar has a shorter cooldown.
2) Fight from a distance
Aloy is hopelessly inferior to her enemies in melee combat. Not only will your attacks be less effective, but you will also have trouble getting the right machine parts. It’s better to keep your distance and aim your bow at your opponent. This will make it easier to hit the sensitive body parts that cause more damage, and will also protect you from counterattacks.
3) Skill healing abilities early
After the Hunter skills, your second most important skill tree in Horizon Forbidden West is Survivor. Here you will find healing skills to replenish your health bar after it has been depleted by beastly machines. To start, we recommend the skill “Potent Medicine”. It gives you more HP from berries and also increases your healing speed.
“Medicine Capacity” is also useful. This skill increases the size of your medicine pouch so you can carry more berries. You should also take a look at “Low Health Regen” and “Low Health Defense”. The former means that your HP bar will replenish more quickly when it drops below 25 percent. The latter allows you to take more damage when you are in critical condition.
If you’ve been drinking healing potions, you may have noticed that it takes a while for Aloy to regain her full health. So our tip is the “Potion Proficiency” Skill. Not only will the healing process be faster, but the potions will also work better.
4) Scan all machines
Before firing your first arrow or striking your first blow, you should always scan newly appearing enemies. By finding their weaknesses, you’ll know which components to attack. If you focus your attacks on the vulnerable elements, you’ll bring down even large machines in no time.
On the other hand, firing at the more resistant body parts will do minimal damage and make fights extremely drawn out. Especially in boss fights, you will only survive if you know where your opponent is vulnerable. It’s best to attack parts with the Chain Reaction Tag. As the name suggests, destroying them will also damage other components of the creature.
5) You don’t always have to fight
One of our Horizon Forbidden West tips and tricks that will save you a lot of trouble is to lie in wait instead of jumping straight into battle. Of course, you want to farm experience points. Sneaking past all the enemies and playing the pacifist Aloy isn’t an option. At least not if you want to level up and unlock as many skills as possible.
The problem with melee combat is that not only the person you’re attacking but also nearby machines will notice you. While you can keep a single enemy at a good distance, a group of enemies is more difficult. The solution is to hide. Crouch down in the grass and sneak up close to the machine you want to kill.
As long as your body isn’t visible, you’ll remain undetected. Then scan the machine and find out where it’s moving. Every creature in Horizon Forbidden West has a set sequence that it repeats constantly. Then move to a spot where you can strike with a silent attack. For smaller and medium-sized machines, the attack will be a silent insta-kill. And for larger enemies, you’ll still do a fair amount of damage.
6) Horizon Forbidden West Tips: Set traps
In addition to ambushing, trip traps are a great way to inflict damage on your enemies undetected in Horizon Forbidden West. Set them with your rope launcher so that your target walks right into them. It’s important to choose the right type of damage.
7) Get a Spike Thrower
There are different classes and types of weapons in Horizon Forbidden West, each of which is useful in different situations. The Spike Thrower is the ideal weapon for the first strike. Complete all the side quests from the Salvage Contractor in Barren Light and you’ll receive the Impact Spike Thrower as a reward.
You can also buy the Bellowblast Spike Thrower in Stone Crest and The Bulwark, the Burning Launcher in the Maw of the Arena, and the Pulverizing Launcher in the Base. The Glowblast Spike Thrower can be purchased from the Prize Master Dukkah at The Maw of the Arena.
Since you cannot use the Spike Thrower while jumping or crouching, and it takes a long time to reload ammo, it’s best to use it before you’re spotted. Note that a shot must be fully charged to penetrate armor.
8) Upgrade quality weapons and armor
The amount of weapons and armor in Horizon Forbidden West is huge. The temptation to go to the crafting table and level up every new item is also great. However, we strongly advise against this. In the long run, upgrading low-rated equipment will only waste valuable resources that can be better spent elsewhere.
An item with only three stars isn’t worth it. If you follow the main story, you’ll quickly find loot chests with 5-star loot. It also depends on your personal play style which type you mainly use. Save your resources to optimize them.
We recommend the Hunter Bow as an all-purpose weapon. It’s your universal tool against machines and wild animals, and when you don’t know what to use, you can rely on it.
9) Stop at every campfire
If you see a campfire in Horizon Forbidden West that you haven’t visited before, you should stop there. This will unlock it as a fast travel point and you can teleport back from another hotspot at any time. Another advantage is that you can manage and save your scores at the bonfire.
If you want to get away from the waypoints and to another location as quickly as possible, you’ll need to buy fast travel packs from a vendor. Alternatively, you can make them yourself. You’ll need ten pieces of ridge-wood and three pieces of wild meat per pack.
10) Stock up on supplies
If you’re diligently gathering all the resources you can get your hands on, your inventory will soon be full. But that’s not a problem. Horizon Forbidden West has a handy mechanic that gives you access to your belongings in every major town and other locations: supply boxes. Their locations are also marked on the map.
If your local inventory is depleted, for example, because you have just produced ammunition or something else, you can simply go to a nearby supply box. There, you can replenish your resources at the touch of a button without having to go searching again. So it pays to not leave anything lying around and send all your loot to the warehouse.
The longer you play, the less you’ll need to rely on merchants for resources. Eventually, your warehouse will be better stocked than the NPCs in the settlements.
11) Fill up your berries
During boss fights in Horizon Forbidden West or when dealing with multiple enemies, you may find yourself using up all of your healing berries. Press and hold the top button on the +Control Pad and Aloy will raid her inventory to replenish her bar. Of course, this only works if you have enough berries in your resource bag.
One of our Horizon Forbidden West tips and tricks that will save your life in a pinch is this: Always replenish both your inventory and your berry bag. Especially when you’re on your way to one of the breeding grounds, tough battles await you. Under no circumstances should you face them without a good supply of berries.
12) Upgrade your pouches
Finally, let’s talk about Aloy’s pouches in Horizon Forbidden West. The huntress carries a total of six equipment pouches and nine ammunition pouches. The most important of these are the potion pouch, the arrow quiver, and the resource pouch. Each of these has a certain capacity. To increase their capacity, you must upgrade them at the blacksmith’s shop. To do this, you will need metal shards and other loot.
In addition to metal shards and wood, you’ll also need animal meat, bone, or skin for the higher upgrades. Each bag can be upgraded up to four times.
Take on the machines with PLITCH!
With our Horizon Forbidden West tips and tricks, you should be well-prepared for the game. However, if you want to play by your own rules and customize the game to your liking, you should try the Horizon Forbidden West cheats by PLITCH.
You can make the game easier or harder by changing the damage you deal and take, adjusting your oxygen and concentration usage, and much more. Use your healing berries and items for free, make yourself invisible, or get infinite ammo – our Horizon Forbidden West cheats make it possible.
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Happy Gaming!
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