Horizon Zero Dawn is a scary open-world RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Earth dominated by feracious robots. Savage metal beasts roam the world with humans dispersed in small, technologically backward tribes in the distant future of the 31st century. Machines have already annihilated life on planet Earth once, and they could do so again unless Aloy can save the day by defeating the Eclipse and Hades. Here are some Horizon Zero Dawn tips to help you get through the game and save the world from mass extinction.
Read also: 5 Power Cell Locations in Horizon Zero Dawn
Unlock Silent Strike ASAP
You can unlock various skills in Horizon Zero Dawn, and Silent Strike should be top of your list. Silent Strike is probably the most useful combat skill in the game that only costs a single point to unlock. Unlocking this skill gives you a silent, high-damage attack with which you can instantly kill nearly all human foes and the smaller robots in the game by sneaking up on them from behind. This skill makes it much easier to eliminate small robots and humans with single attacks, especially as you can avoid large brawls by killing them quietly.
The best way to execute this attack is to approach enemies in long grass where you’re not visible and strike when they’re close enough. It combines very well with the Lure whistling skill. Use Lure in the long grass to attract enemies toward you and then execute Silent Strike when they’re within range. So, unlock Silent Strike and Lure as soon as you can to unleash stealthy attacks.
Don’t Forget to Claim Your Free Treasure Boxes
The merchants in Horizon Zero Dawn are quite a charitable bunch since they all offer one free sample box. These free samples include some handy resources for Aloy to indulge herself in. To claim your free sample, go to the Treasure Boxes tab when you first speak to a merchant. Then select the Free Sample box on that tab to add to your inventory. Of course, you only get one free sample per merchant, but don’t forget to claim your free samples when they’re available.
A free sample box
Check Out the Cauldrons
Cauldrons are where the machines make more robots. The four Cauldron locations in Horizon Zero Dawn are SIGMA, RHO, XI, and ZETA. Check out the Cauldrons (marked by blue triangles on the map) when you’re at suitable levels, for they all give you new override abilities to pacify more robots. You’ll also be rewarded with a skill point and XP for each Cauldron completed.
However, make sure you go into these Cauldrons reasonably well-equipped with ammunition (arrows), potions, and crafting supplies. The Cauldrons are full of robots that don’t give Aloy an especially warm welcome. You’ll also need to defeat a big robot at the end of each Cauldron to finish it. So, don’t attempt them until you’re at or above the recommended Cauldron levels ranging from 11-20.
Hunt Wildlife for Resources
Meat and skins are valuable resources you can only obtain by hunting the real animals in Horizon Zero Dawn. Set aside some time to kill boars, rabbits, racoons, birds, foxes, and other animals throughout the game. They’re easy to kill and their resources will enable you to craft potions and upgrade pouches.
A boar
Craft as Much as You Can
Crafting ammunition and potions is more economical than purchasing the same supplies from merchants. It costs fewer metal shards to craft ammunition than to buy it. Nor do you need metal shards to craft potions, which merchants also sell for shards. So, craft more ammo and potions to save metal shards for weapons and outfits that you can only purchase from merchants.
Sell All Useless Resources for Metal Shards
A useless Smooth Ancient Charm resource
You can utilize many of the resources picked up for crafting, but some are useless. However, you can still sell those useless resources (typically relics) to merchants for metal shards. So, don’t hold on to any resources you can only sell to merchants, which wastes space in your inventory. You can see what resources can be utilzed for by selecting them in the inventory menu and reading their Used For details. Sell everything that you can’t utilize in any way.
Purchase the Golden Fast Travel Pack When You Can
Campfires are the fast travel points that enable you to jump across the map in Horizon Zero Dawn. However, you must save games at campfires to use them with fast travel packs. The Golden Fast Travel pack is a must-have item you should snap up from a merchant who sells it ASAP. This item gives you unlimited fast travel when you’ve got one, which will save you from having to stock up on standard packs to quickly travel across the map.
A Golden Fast Travel Pack
Exploit Robots’ Weaknesses
Scary though they are, most robots in Horizon Zero Dawn have weaknesses (or vulnerabilities). They can have body or component weaknesses that make it easier to destroy them. Some have weaknesses against fire, ice, tear, or electrical power that you can exploit by targeting their bodies or specific parts of them with suitable arrows. For example, flame arrows do wonders against machines with fire body weaknesses, such as Rockbearers, Snapmaws, Ravagers, and the dreaded Deathbringer.
A Scorcher robot
So, utilize Aloy’s Focus device to see what machines are weak against and components to target, preferably before they know you’re there, and equip the most suitable weapon accordingly. However, using Focus when actively fighting a machine close-up can be a bit distracting. Note that you can also review more detailed robot weakness info on the Notebook tab within the map/inventory menu with the game effectively paused. This KeenGamer guide provides further details on how to combat the machines.
Weakness info for a Snapmaw
Most robots in Horizon Zero Dawn have an override code weakness that will turn them against other machines. That’s why it’s a good idea to check out the Cauldrons to obtain more overrides, as suggested for the third Horizons Zero Dawn tip in this guide. You can override many machines by sneaking up on them.
Increase Damage by Filling Robots’ Status Meters
The status meter is a circular meter that appears above machines when attacked with elemental arrows. Filling up that meter inflicts an extra status damage effect on a robot that lasts for a limited time, highlighted by a diminishing white circular timer. For example, filling the flame status meter sets a machine ablaze for a limited time, inflicting extra damage. To activate that special damage effect, you must fill up the status meter by repeatedly hitting a robot with the same elemental arrow type. So, quickly shoot arrows at robots to fill up those status meters!
Expand Your Field of View
The Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition PC version includes a Field of View slider that will interest some players. This slider setting enables you to expand Aloy’s field of view beyond the default setting. Doing this will enable you to see more surroundings when playing, which can sometimes be an advantage. You can expand Aloy’s view by dragging the Field of View bar’s slider to the right on the Display settings tab.
The Field of View setting
Those Horizon Zero Dawn tips will give you a fighting chance of completing the game. Saving the world from extinction in Horizon Zero Dawn isn’t especially easy, but you can do it by making the most of your resources and mastering combat against robots and humans. Good luck and have fun!
