Horizon Zero Dawn: Combat Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Your Focus Is Everything

Horizon Zero Dawn Combat Tips and Tricks

Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat is a heck of a lot harder if you ignore Aloy’s Focus. By pressing R3, you’ll be able to scan hostile machines, pinpoint their weak points, identify elemental weaknesses, check what level they are, and track their patrol routes.

By using all of this, you can begin to devise and plant traps that will make that swarm of machines much more manageable. Knowing what weapons will best exploit these weaknesses is also key, so don’t be afraid to check your ammo inventory and reading up on what you have at your disposal.

Keep Your Distance and Dodge

Horizon Zero Dawn Combat Tips and Tricks

Just as you can in most ARPGs, Aloy has the ability to dodge and roll in Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat. By pressing Circle, Aloy will dive out of the way of an incoming attack into safety. Simply move the left stick in the direction you want to go and watch her dive through the air.

A lot of the machines in Horizon Zero Dawn like to get up close and personal with Aloy in combat, but that’s going to spell serious trouble for you. Always keep your distance and whenever you see a machine trying to get close, dodge and sprint away. With some space between you, you can now continue your attack without having to worry about getting cornered.

Exploit Weaknesses

Horizon Zero Dawn Combat Tips and Tricks

Coming face to face with a towering machine can be pretty daunting in combat, but don’t just go ahead and start launching all of your ammo at the beast, take a moment to use your Focus, pick out its weak points and elemental weaknesses, and focus your attack on these. Hitting weak points as opposed to just a standard body shot can net you up to an additional 100 points of damage with each hit.

What’s more, you can wipe out over 50% of some machines’ health bars if you hit these weak points with elemental weaknesses. For example, a Fire Bellowback has a huge Cargo Sac on its back filled with Blaze – a highly flammable solution. A few fire arrows into this Cargo Sac will wipe out half of its health and continue to deal burn damage afterward. Use what you know to your advantage and exploit these weaknesses.

Stealth Is a Viable Option

Horizon Zero Dawn Combat Tips and Tricks

You don’t always have to sprint into the middle of a bunch of machines and start firing arrows all over the show. In fact, Horizon Zero Dawn is at its best if you opt for a more silent and stealthy approach to combat. Sit back, plant traps, hide in the darkness, and pick off machines one at a time.

Not only do you feel like some badass ninja hunter, but you’ll also earn additional EXP for going undetected when killing machines. Patience and planning are key in Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat, so don’t be afraid to take your time and wait for the perfect moment to nail that Blaze Canister and set that machine alight.

Crowd Control

Horizon Zero Dawn Combat Tips and Tricks

Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat becomes a whole different beast when you’re facing off against multiple machines, especially when they’re all different types. This is where learning some crowd control methods will come in particularly handy.

The first thing you’ll want to do is check what you’re up against. If you can, look for cover and try to get to higher ground that the machines can’t reach. From here, you can dodge any ranged attacks that come your way, while using your Focus to identify weak points.

Next, prioritize which machines are going to cause you the most issues in this fray. If close quarters, mobile enemies are going to keep pestering you whenever you try and get distance to deal damage on the slower, heavier hitters, take these out first.

Don’t be afraid to look around your environment for some help. Log traps can be found which, when triggered, can crush smaller machines stood in their way. Also, don’t forget that you can always remove a machine’s weapons or components that may be giving you trouble. You’ll need a ton of Tear damage, though, so any of the arrows available with the Sharpshot bows should be your preferred ammo here.

Now that you have Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat mastered, be sure to check out our ever-expanding wiki guide for more tips, tricks, and guides.