Sunwing

The Sunwing is a machine in Horizon Forbidden West. As an Acquisition class machine, its job is to locate perches at high altitudes and roost there, absorbing as much solar energy as possible during the course of the day.

Appearance[]

The Sunwing resembles a pterosaur in form, with a retractable fin used for plasma attacks located on its head, mimicking the distinctive crest of these long extinct creatures. Its arms hold the majority of its defensive/acquisition equipment, with two shields situated at the bend in their joints and a thin conductive-mesh knitted to the body and the arms, acting both as wings and solar collection panels. It possesses a resource canister in its chest for storing collected materials and two Sparkers on its hips which, presumably, store collected solar energy. It also possesses a small tail, with a white tip and two small solar collection weaves.

Behavior[]

Sunwings possess photovoltaic wings which they use to collect and store energy. They can be found patrolling the skies of the Forbidden West, frequently hovering at great heights or roosting on tall mountain peaks to absorb as much solar energy as possible. Sunwings are particularly fast and agile in the air.^[1][2]

Outside of combat, Sunwings will scavenge machine carcasses and scavenger scrap piles using their plasma to convert into Processed Metal Blocks. During their scavenging, they will deploy shields to protect their body.

Sunwings usually congregate in groups.

Abilities[]

The Sunwing is able to use Plasma attacks from its fin, and it can raise the defensive shields on its shoulders to protect itself from head-on attacks. It is a fast flyer and capable of striking quickly from the air. However, it needs to recharge every so often after attacking, which it can only do by aligning its solar wings to the sun.

After Cauldron GEMINI, Aloy can override and ride on a Sunwing; the ability to override is available immediately in New Game+ however Sunwings cannot be summoned until after Aloy begins encountering them again after unlocking The Base and overrides one, though she can still utilize them much earlier in the game than a first-time playthough. It is its own individual mount, meaning a ground based mount can be used without losing the Sunwing. When overriden, a Sunwing is also able to pick up a Horus' EMP and drop it on enemies. If the overridden Sunwing is flying close enough, a grapple point becomes available, allowing Aloy to quickly mount the machine from the ground.

Weaknesses[]

Sunwings are weak to Purgewater, and inflicting the Drenched state will hamper most of their attacks if not outright disable them.

An overridden Sunwing while flying can still take damage from other enemies and lacks the ability to fight back. Also, unless properly landed (i.e., Aloy dismounts from the air), the Sunwing will follow her in the air. One benefit of this is they can distract enemies, but at the cost of losing Aloy's stealth and they will take damage from ranged attacks. Other than allowing its destruction the only way to stop this is for Aloy to remount the Sunwing and properly land it out of range of the enemies.

Aloy cannot land an overridden Sunwing inside a settlement (some of the later-encountered settlements have dedicated landing perches nearby).

Attacks[]

Name	Windup Time	Stance	Damage	Damage Area	Trigger Range	Description
Burst Defender	Short/Medium	Grounded/Perched	50/hit 25 buildup/hit	-	15m - 61m	Enters a fortified stance with wings outstretched and Shield Casters activated, then fires bursts of plasma. Attack disabled when Drenched.
Air Burst	Short/Medium	Flying	50/hit 25 buildup/hit	-	20m - 54m	Hovers and strafes around target while firing plasma in bursts. Attack disabled when Drenched.
Power Fling	Short	Flying	143 Ranged 143 114 buildup	-	17m - 62m	Shoots a plasma beam into the ground, then rips out a chunk of plasma-infused boulder with its talons before throwing at target. Generates a plasma explosion on impact. Plasma damage disabled when Drenched.
Aerial Plasma Sweep	Short	Flying	Beam Impact: 100, 63 buildup Trail Explosion: 75, 63 buildup Beam DoT: 50/s, 62/s buildup	10/s 10/s buildup	6m - 32m	Backflips in the air and cleaves the ground with a beam of plasma. Generates a trail of plasma that shortly detonates. Attack disabled when Drenched.
Ground Breaker	Short	Grounded	Body: 125 Melee, Shockwave Trail Explosion: 75, 63 buildup Impact Explosion: 75, 63 buildup	10/s 10/s buildup	15m - 30m	Lunges forward, plowing its beak into the ground. Generates shockwave and a trail of plasma that shortly detonates. Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed.
Crashing Tear	Medium/Long	Flying	Body: 200 Melee, 200 Impact Explosion: 25 Melee, 75, 114 buildup Trail Explosion: 75, 63 buildup	10/s 10/s buildup	0m - 80m	Gains altitude and swoops towards target, slamming the ground with its beak. Generates a trail of plasma that shortly detonates. Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed.
Wing Swipe	Very Short	Grounded	200 Melee	-	2m - 19m	Hops towards target and swipes with a wing. Follows up with another swipe if the first misses.
Ascending Burster	Very Short	Grounded	Body: 123 Melee Explosion: 25 Melee, 75, 114 buildup Air Burst: 25 Melee	15/s 10/s buildup	0m - 10m	Takes off vertically, generating a wind blast that knocks nearby targets back while simultaneously firing a plasma beam beneath it. Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed.

Components[]

Loot[]

Body

• Metal Shards (100%)
• Glowblast (100%)
• Crystal Braiding (100%)
• Braided Wire (74%)
• Sunwing Circulator (50%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (30%)
• Medium Machine Core (26%)
• Sunwing Primary Nerve (35%)
• Volatile Sludge (15%)
• Metal Bone (11%)

Plasma Fin

• Braided Wire (67%)
• Crystal Braiding (51%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (34%)

Shield Caster

• Sunwing Shield Caster (100%)

Resource Container

• Braided Wire (89%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (56%)
• Blastpaste (26%)
• Medium Machine Core (25%)
• Sunwing Primary Nerve (15%)

Sparker

• Sparker (100%)

Trivia[]

• Sunwings were the second Acquisition-class machine to be named in Horizon Forbidden West.
• Mathijs de Jonge, the director for Horizon Forbidden West, described flying as the most difficult feature to implement in the game^[3].
• While Apex Sunwings have never been encountered, Apex Sunwing Hearts can be found in certain chests.
• Sunwings are large enough to accommodate two passengers. The only other character that rides on Aloy's Sunwing is Seyka.

Gallery[]

Key art, featuring a Sunwing

Sunwing on a snow covered mountain

Concept model by Koen Wijffelaars

Sculpt by Tom Delboo

References[]