Horizon Zero Dawn Frozen Wilds: How to Beat Scorchers Easily

How to Beat Scorchers Easily in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

Scorchers are the very first type of new machine you’ll come across in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. Though they may look similar to the Stalkers you took down with relative ease in the base game, Scorchers are far more lethal and the Daemonic versions of them can take a heck of a lot of damage, too. Here’s what you need to know to beat Scorchers easily as you explore The Frozen Wilds.

Scorchers are formidable machines up close, but they’re far more manageable if you keep some distance in battle. First things first, you’ll want to take care of that mine launcher it has mounted on its back. Use Tearblast arrows and notch three at once by pressing R1 twice while holding L2. These should remove the mine launcher, limiting the Scorcher’s offensive abilities and making the whole battle a lot easier to deal with.

Next up, you’ll want to start exploiting Scorchers’ weakness to freeze damage. Scorchers are slowed right down by freeze damage, with enough putting them temporarily out of service. Once the Scorcher is out of action, use either fire or precision arrows and aim for the blaze canisters it has mounted on its back. Using fire arrows will cause it to explode, dealing significant damage to Scorchers and dealing out a burn status effect, too. Removing or destroying the blaze canisters will prevent Scorchers from using some of their fire attacks, which makes staying alive a heck of a lot easier.

Continue to keep your distance, and slowly but surely try and make your way around to the back of the machine. You should now be able to spot the power generator. Here, we like to use precision arrows and notch three at once to deal out about 500 damage with the right bow.

If you’re struggling to keep these predators at bay. You may want to try opting for a more stealthy approach. If you can track out a Scorcher’s designated patrol route, you can litter this with shock tripwires and explosive traps to immobilize it and allow you to get in close for a critical hit. Of course, once it’s back on its feet, it’s gonna come for you, so make sure you don’t get too greedy with your hits here.

And that’s all there is to beating Scorchers in Horizon Zero Dawn’s The Frozen Wilds expansion. For more on the game, be sure to check out our ever-expanding wiki guide.