Horizon Zero Dawn is an incredibly open-world RPG game where you play as Aloy, a Nora outcast who grows to become a formidable warrior and is intent on learning the truth of the world and her own history. To do so, she must travel the lands and face-off against a myriad of deadly machines.
It’s a good thing she is supplied with multiple weapons throughout the game to aide her in her battles. One of the best parts of playing Horizon is discovering all the weapons, upgrading them, and using them against the many different machines depending on their weaknesses. We’re looking at the ten best weapons in the game.
10 Tearblaster
After acquiring the Sharpshot Bow, you probably went a little bit crazy using Tearblaster arrows on all the machines you came in contact with. The Tearblaster arrows are great because you can shoot an arrow from a long distance and remove several parts of the machines. However, the actual Tearblaster is even better.
It’s basically a giant gun that shoots compressed air at the machines and can strip them of more armor in a faster span of time. It’s great to use on the bigger machines, such as Ravagers and Thunderjaws. Then you can grab the weapons from their backs like the Ravager Cannon and Disc Launcher to use against them!
9 Lodge Ropecaster
The Ropecaster is a great weapon to use against many of the machines in the game. It is particularly helpful against the bigger machines and flying machines. If you can get a Glinthawk to fall out of the sky, or even a Stormbird, you can then use your Ropecaster to keep them tied to the ground and apply a critical hit to finish them off for good.
But the original Ropecaster can be frustrating due to how much ammo it uses to trap one machine. However, once you complete the Hunters of the Lodge side quest, you can get an upgrade to the Lodge Ropecaster that will tie machines down much faster.
8 Icerail
The Icerail is a weapon you can get during the Frozen Wilds DLC. The original version of the weapon isn’t great, it does a great job at freezing your enemies but doesn’t deal all that much damage. However, once you complete the Geared Up: Icerail mission, you get a significant improvement where you can then use the freeze cannon part of the weapon and deal massive freeze damage to your enemies.
Try it out against one of the nasty Fireclaws roaming The Cut and it should make your battles a little easier. It can hold twelve shots with the upgraded ammo pouch.
7 Banuk Striker Bow
The Hunter Bow is one you’ll get a lot of usage out of in the game. The two best arrows, Fire arrows and Hardpoint arrows, can be shot with this weapon. The initial upgrades you can get in the main game, the Carja version and Shadow version, are excellent but they can’t quite compare to the version you can get in the DLC, the Banuk Striker Bow.
This bow has a new overdraw capability that allows you to get even more power in your shots. If you mod your weapon correctly, you can do some serious damage with those Fire and Hardpoint arrows.
6 Stormslinger
The Stormslinger weapon is easily one of the most powerful in the game, particularly after you do the Geared Up: Stormslinger errand that allows you to improve it by quite a wide margin. This weapon is so powerful, it can actually kill Aloy due to the power behind the shot. However, that risk can be mitigated if you get the Shield Weaver Armor before beginning the DLC, which is how you’ll get the Stormslinger.
It will always cause Shock damage against your enemies, which is great if that is their weakness. Additionally, each shot will get increasingly powerful until you reach maximum potential. You can take down even the mighty Thunderjaw with ease.
5 Shadow Tripcaster
You’ll find early on in the game that the Tripcaster is one of your most-used weapons. It’s an excellent game addition as it allows you to prepare for your battles ahead of time and sometimes even finish off machines before they get close to you. If you know you’re going to be wandering into a dangerous area, you can set Blast wires, Shock wires, and Fire wires everywhere in the vicinity to kill the machines the second they arrive.
The Shadow Tripcaster is a must-have upgrade as it is the one that allows you to get Fire wires. You’ll find this weapon most handy when it comes to the bosses in Cauldrons. Just cover the floor in Blast wires before they emerge and you’re good to go!
4 Sylens’ Lance
You’ll find that Aloy’s Spear is a welcome addition to melee fighting in-game. You’ll be able to unlock skills that let you strike from above and below, in addition to making silent strikes during stealth attacks. The Spear is Aloy’s faithful weapon, always in hand and critical to learning how to override machines.
But you get a significant upgrade towards the end of the game when you’re gifted Sylens Lance and modify it with your own Spear. It gives you a much stronger melee weapon and eventually, you can even add modifications to the weapon during the DLC.
Overriding machines is one of the best parts of the game. There’s nothing like knowing a Thunderjaw will protect you suddenly or being able to mount and ride a machine for faster travel.
3 Machine Weapons
Not every great weapon in the game comes from a merchant or side quest. Some of the games’ best weapons are free in the wild for your taking, all you have to do is knock them off of a machine. From Disc Launchers to Cannons to Mine Launchers, machines like Ravagers, Thunderjaws, and Scorchers all have great weapons you can knock off with the Tearblaster, pick up, and use against the very machine that gave it to you!
The Thunderjaw Disc Launcher is particularly helpful against the Thunderjaw. Then there are the guns humans carry. At most Bandit Camps you’ll find at least one Deathbringer or Fire Cannon which you can pick up and use to fend off your enemies.
2 Forgefire
The Forgefire is similar to the other DLC weapons, the Stormslinger and the Icerail, except that this weapon is all about the firepower. You can get the Forgefire from the special merchants in The Cut and also from defeating an Oseram at the Bandit Camp in the area.
The Forgefire will deal a medium level of firepower initially but you can get the upgrade through Geared Up: Forgefire, and from there it will do even more damage and become quite the formidable weapon against anything you’re up against in the area. It’s a great weapon to use on Frostclaws.
1 Oseram Cannon
The Oseram Cannon was designed by Petra Forgewoman, one of the most popular side characters in the game. You get to help her with the cannon in one of the games side quests before getting to use it yourself towards the end of the main game. It is an incredibly powerful cannon.
Unfortunately, you do have to reload it somewhat frequently and you only get to use it during a couple of parts of the game, perhaps due to its power it would make the game too easy if you could carry it with you at all times. But it’s definitely fun to aim it at Deathbringers.
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