Horizon Zero Dawn

"This game is not what I expected. It's better then I expected!"

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my blog. In this post I will be talking about the game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Horizon Zero Dawn is primarily based off the Craja, Nora, and Shadow tribes. You can use merchants to buy these tribes special weapons and outfits. Also you can create jobs(errands) to look out for resources you need. Use the machine catalogue to find what machine drops the resources your looking for. Potions weapons, outfits, sling-shots, traps and trip-wires use many resources. Modifications are used to increase the power of your weapons and outfits. The skill tree will help you get an advantage on your enemies. Complete cauldrons for override codes. 

Merchants

Merchant

This game offers a real easy way for collecting and hunting items you need. When you meet a merchant, they will present you with new items and weapons that you can buy. You may not have all the resources for what you need yet, but don't worry, there's a really easy way to get them.

After selecting an item in the merchant's list, you will see in the bottom right corner something that says, create job. After you create a job it will ask you if you want to make it your active quest now. That's up to you but I would suggest making jobs for all the items you want, right away. They will be kept in your, errands quest log. 

Errands and Job Creations

Unlike any other game that I have tried, setting errands for jobs is a really unique and cool way to gather resources. Only one small thing that I love about this game. I will talk about many of the other things later, that make this game a must buy.

Once you've created a job you can check the machine catalogue for the machines that have the items you need. Even though I love hunting in this game more than any game I've played, this options makes thing's a little easier. Save your time going rogue for when you need meats, and you will need meats. The parts are fairly easy to find when you first start. So you won't need to know the whole map just to find them. When you progress further into the game you will have more of the map opened, then you don't need to follow the errands so strictly. Opening more of the map shows more areas with machines you need.

When your first starting out don't worry to much about selling certain items. Just stick to the resource list I've provided bellow and selling anything else you have. Because you will need metal shards, and there is no faster way to get them then selling some items.

New merchants will become available the further you go. The weapon and armor types stay the same, their benefits don't. Most common merchants offer items from the; Carja, Nora, and Shadow tribes. Each tribe you discover offers new more enhanced weapons and armor. Weapons will also come with additional modification slots. Once you get to a city called Meridian you will find new merchants offering many different types of items for different types of resources. They do not trade in shards. They will tell you what they need. For some of the items you will need a buy special maps for the locations.

Also in Meridian you will find a hunting lodge. Unique items are available for half-sun and full-sun rewards. You can earn sun rewards by completing the trials found at hunting grounds. For certain trials you need certain weapons so check the quest log to see what you will need, and use the method I told you above to acquire them. 

Meridian is a city settled comfortably on a mountain top. It is found in the furthest south west corner of the map. The people of Meridian are of a different type. Their well protected and do not know so much about the dangers on the outside. They will mumble bad words and say odd things like, "I thought she was taller." I'll leave you to figure that out.

Resources

Most used resource items:

• Wire (High Availability)
• Chillwater (High Availability)
• Blaze (Medium Availability)
• Sparkers (Medium Availability)
• Metal Vessels (Medium to High Availability)
• Metalbrun (Medium Availability)
• Echo-shells (Low Availability) 
• Ridge-Wood (High Availability)
• Metal Shards (High Availability) 

Resources and what there used for:

• Wire: Tripcasters, and Precision Arrows 
• Chillwater: Freeze Weapons, and some upgrades
• Blaze: Fire Weapons
• Sparkers: Shock Weapons, and some upgrades
• Metal Vessels: Slingshots, and Traps, and some upgrades
• Metalburn: Corruption, and some upgrades
• Echo-Shells: Tear Weapons, and some upgrades
• Ridge-Wood: Arrows and some upgrades
• Metal Shards: Everything

Blaze is a resource used for many things like ammo, traps and trip-wire. You can easily get blaze from grazers. You can get wire from pretty much any machine. The wire is for making ammo like, precision arrows, which are very useful, especially early in the game. Echo-shells are used mostly for making tearblaster ammo. They are not easy to find, only a few machines drop them. Other then that you have to buy them from merchants, which may be expensive but worth it. To find an item your looking for, check the machine catalogue. 

Machine Catalogue

Health potions can be very useful for backup if you run out of your medicinal healing. You must hunt, turkeys, boars, foxes and other animals to get these resources and for upgrades. Boars offer the most meat. 

Animals:

• Fox
• Raccoon
• Rat
• Turkey
• Boar
• Fish
• Rabbit
• Bird

All animal skins and bones are used for upgrades.

Meats: 

• Richy Meat 
• Fatty Meat
• Bony Meat

        Full Health Potions:

•         Rich Meat x5
•         Fatty Meat x5
•         Bony Meat x5

        Health Potion: 

•         Rich Meat x2
•         Fatty Meat x3

        Health Boost Potion:

•         Fatty Meat x3
•         Bony Meat x5

Resist potions come in handy when your up against fire,  sock, or freeze attacks. They don't last long but are easy to make. If your anything like me and pick up everything along the way, you'll be fine. 

Resist potions:  

• Fire Kiln Root: Resist Fire 
• Shock Wax: Resist Shock
• Freeze Rim Root: Resist Freeze
• Corruption Glaze: Antidote

The medicinal plants are the most important and are red in color.

Tripwire and Traps

All animals and some machines like Grazers, will run but not very far. They usually stay in their areas. Use your traps and trip-wires to take advantage of these machines. There are many hunter test available to help you increase your skills with machines and weaponry. For machines that don't run, use your traps and trip-wires creatively. Not all machines move forward on you. Some stay back and fire from a distance. Backing off too far will stop their attack. The best option is to get as close to the machines as you can and set your traps and/or trip-wires. I would suggest setting your traps and trip-wires in conjunction with tear arrows. Check the machine catalogue for what area of the machine is weakest. You can use the associated effect on the vulnerable  area of a machine. For the most part using tear arrows, like tearblasters, will knock off armor, making the machine more vulnerable to your traps, trip-wires, and attacks.

Blast Tripwire Kill

To see what effect to use on what area of a machine check your machine catalogue it is very useful for finding weak spots.

Bows, Ammo and Modifications

The Sharpshot bow uses ammo like the tearblasters, which I've found very useful. I've taking down mighty machines just with tearblaster arrows trip-wires, traps and precision arrows or hard point arrows.

Sharpshot Bow

I would suggest modifying you Sharpshot bow with tear mods and damage mods if you can. Use handling and damage mods on your hunter/mighty bow. Having a large amount of handling is really effective for your hunter/mighty bow. Also it is good with the concentration, and concentration+ skill. I would suggest using allot of damage for your slingshot if you are using a blast sling and fire. Use freeze and shock for your freeze and shock sling. You can not put a slingshot mod into a bow or armor coil. Mods are separated by each type of weapon.  Sling shot mods are for sling shots and bow mods are for bows. So don't freak out if you accidentally put some handling on your Sharpshot bow and wanted it for your hunter bow.

Slingshot Bombs: Shock, Freeze, Proximity, Sticky and Blast

Traps: blast,  shock

Tripcaster:  blast wire, shock wire

Hunter/Mighty Bow Arrows: Hunter Hardpoint, Fire, Corruption, Freeze and Shock
Precision Bow Arrows: Precision Shot, Tearblaster

The more difficult the machine the better the mod.  Having the modification replacement skill(tinker) comes in handy further in the game, especially if you have a mod you want to use installed in a weapon your going to upgrade. They do not explain what mods are for what weapons, but it's kinda self explanatory. Corruption mods are for corruption, fire mods are for fire, shock mods are for shock, resist mods are for outfits and so on. 

Modifications

Skills Tree

The skills take allot of time to get. The first basic skills use only 1 skill point. The more advanced skills take 2-3. Easily get all the first skills as soon as you can, then worry about the rest later. At first I didn't think the disarm traps skills was worth it, but I found out later in the game that it can be. Traps and trip-wires take resources to make and if there's anyway that you can limit the amount of resources you waste, do it. Also after you get the disarm traps skill you will be able to get the tinker skill,  which allows you to remove mods. Much more useful then you think. I myself have not tried the override skills. It is a great tactic for killing other machines or traveling long distances, but overriding low level machines doesn't seem to do much since they tend to die quickly.

Skills Tree

How to take down a shell-walker

How to take down a mighty machine.

Say your getting bored of killing Watchers, Strider, Grazers, and you want more of a challenge. Maybe you need some of the parts to get a new outfit or weapon. Let's take a shell walker for instance here. A shell-walkers body has no weaknesses. So your gonna have to take him apart piece by piece. His lightning gun are vicious but very vulnerable to tear. So you want to use a tear weapon such as the: sharpshot, tearblaster. Use your concentration skill and focus on the lightning gun/claws. His shield-claw is vulnerable to tear, as well. backup, use concentration, and fire at the lightning gun or shield-claw. I would suggest focusing on taking out his lightning gun first cause I do believe this is his mightier weapon. The can fire heat seek lighting bolts at you and you have to run pretty far to get away from them. once you got the gun and the claw, backup away from him and use your concentration again. Now fire your hardpoint arrows, or fire-arrows as fast as you can at him and he will fall. Another way to take down a shell-walker is to look at his tracks and set up traps, and/or tripcasters. This works but you will still need to use your tearblasters to weaken him and make him come after you. Once the gun and claws are gone he will not be able to fire at you from a distance and he will have to move in to preform his lighting punch, or whatever it's called. This method can also be used for mightier machines. Always remember to check your machine catalogue 

Cauldrons

Cauldrons are not always easy to find and are very challenging to complete. For each Cauldron you will encounter a new and very difficult enemy. The Zeta cauldron is the second one I found. The final machine takes allot of effort to take down. It will not fall easy. I've used many trip-wires and traps but still found I couldn't beat it. You will have to use your tear arrows to blow of it's weapons. Some of the weapons will fall and you can pick them up and use them. Here's the map for the Zeta Cauldron:

Zeta Cauldron Location

The world is a vast with many machines mighty and weak. Just because you reach level 27 and get new weapons and outfits doesn't mean your invisible.  As you grow and explore you find harder and harder machines. Beware of machines that are to difficult for you. There are a few and you will be able to tell by their size.

World Map

  

I've had more fun hunting in this game then any other.  It's challenging and fun and the different methods of taking down machines is one of the greatest ideas I've ever seen. The traps and trip-wires are so much fun to play around with. The different types of weapons and modifications are great to experiment with. The skills are a fun way to level-up your character. The cauldrons are a great challenge. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Taking down a mighty machine at any level is very rewarding. I often find many video and screen-shot moments and share them on my twitter. 

I hope you find this information useful and I invite you to tell your friends and  follow me here or on:

twitter: @madmangamerz

Instagram: @mad_man_gamerz
Facebook: @Michael Sarpathins

I will be added to this post, and others, periodically so stay tune for more helpful hints with Horizon Zero Dawn and other great games

Enjoy gamers and remember,

"game on!"