Machine Enemy Guide

In the world of Horizon you’ll come across a range of different mechanical foes who will all try their best to turn you into human paste. Each enemy has different strengths and weaknesses, and require different tactics, so we’ve laid out the best strategies to bring down every mechanical enemy on the game without breaking a sweat.

 

Watcher

One of the first enemies you’ll come across in the game, these guys are easy to take down. Just hit them right in the eye with an arrow and they’ll die in one hit usually. Other than that, a good heavy spear attack followed by a critical strike will also do the trick.

 

Strider

Much like the Watcher, you’ll come across Striders early in the game. They have a little more health though, and if they decide to attack can be more dangerous. Either go for their eyes again, or hit the blaze canister on their back with a Fire arrow to sort them out. They’re also mountable when you get the right override.

 

Grazer

These tend to always be in herds, and are more prone to running away than fighting. A Tearblast arrow to the back will nearly always bring them down. Alternatively, hit the blaze canisters on their backs with Fire arrows to get a big boom and a dead Grazer.

 

Scrapper

A slightly more dangerous customer, but easily defeated. Simply wait for them to lunge at you, dodge, then immediately hit them with a heavy spear attack. This will knock them down and allow you to finish them with a critical, easy.

 

Redeye Watcher

These guys tend to travel in packs, have a ranged projectile strike and have more health than their weaker counterparts, but the tactics don’t much change. If they’re trying to swarm you, throw down a couple of blast traps to control the space better, but otherwise, just go for the eyes as always and you shouldn’t have any trouble with them.

 

Broadhead

If you think of these as slightly tougher versions of Striders you’ll be on the right track. They are more aggressive than Striders though, and with attack in groups if provoked, so make sure you stay aware of your surroundings. As usual the eye is a weakpoint, as well as the blaze canister. You can also knock them down with a heavy spear attack for easy damage. Can be overridden and mounted.

 

Lancehorn

 

A more aggressive and damaging Grazer is the easiest way to look at these guys. They’ll try to drill you with their horns, but if you dodge that then hit the freeze canisters on their backs you’ll get some big damage and normally also freeze them, making them easier to damage.

 

Longleg

With a variety of powerful attacks, these guys are tricky customers, but not impossible. They’re weak to Shock, so your best tactic is to hit them with Shock arrows or Shock sling ammo, then use the same on the shock canisters on their backs for big damage and to expose them to critical strikes.

 

Trampler

If they can, they’ll try to run rings around you and hit you with fire attacks from their bellies, so your best tactic is to use a ropecaster to tie them down, then hit the weakpoint on their stomachs. After that they’ll try to charge you head on. They’re also weak to freeze, so you can use that to your advantage as well and get big damage once they’re frozen.

 

Sawtooth

One of the first true combat machines that you’ll come across, Sawtooths are tricky customers. Your one advantage is the fact that they don’t have a ranged attack, and so much close the distance to hit you. Use this by setting traps and tripwires between you and them to catch them when they charge. Alternatively, ropecast them to the ground then hit the blaze canister with fire for big damage.

 

Shellwalker

Despite looking a little silly, these guys are actually a real pain to fight face-to-face, so if you can, avoid a stand up fight. They’ll use their shield arm to protect themselves as they also fire at you with the other arm. They tend to patrol diligently, so set traps on their paths or, if you can, try to hit their facial weakpoint as it will almost always cause major damage. The shell is an easy target too, but it won’t kill them, so you’ll need to know where you want to hit them next once it’s been taken out.

 

Fire Bellowback

These big guys can be a right pain to fight. They’re faster than they look and have a variety of attacks, both ranged and melee. Your best tactic is to either use shock wires to disable them, or a ropecaster to pull them down, then use your most damaging weapon to hit their blaze sac and their gullet and try to destroy them. Each one will go up in a big explosion, and also set them on fire, which will do a good amount of your job for you.

 

Freeze Bellowback

Your tactics are largely the same as the Fire Bellowback, only remember that once the freeze sac goes up, it won’t do damage over time, so you’ll have to follow up with some attacks to finish it off rather than just letting the elemental damage do the trick for you. They’re weak to fire as well, so you can use that to your advantage if you like.

 

Charger

The last of the mountable Machines, the Charger is much the same in how you defeat it. It can be knocked down with a heavy attack and criticalled, or the blaze canister can be detonated, or you can simply just go for the eyes or the horns. Be careful though as the clue is in the name, they’ll try to charge you for big damage, so be ready to dodge. Once you have the right override you can mount them.

 

Stalker

A nasty enemy that can be incredibly tricky to fight unless you take control of the fight quickly. The best tactic is as soon as you engage, hit it with a Tearblast arrow. This will mostly likely pull off the stealth plates, meaning it can’t vanish on you. Then use a ropecaster to pin it down and start hammering it with critical attacks. Rinse and repeat until it’s dead.

 

Glinthawk

Not hugely dangerous on their own, but tricky in packs. Best practice with these scavengers is to hit their freeze sacs with a Tearblast arrow or two. This should destroy the sac, freeze the Glinthawk and force it onto the ground all at the same time. A critical attack follow up should put it down for good.

 

Corruptor

These are tricky enemies simply due to how versatile and tough they are. They have a variety of attacks from both range and melee and few weakpoints. There are a couple of tactics to use against them. First is to hit them with fire damage. This will force them to overheat and deploy their heat sink, which is a major weakpoint. Once it’s deployed, hit it as hard as you can for big damage. Alternatively, use a shock wire to disable it then critical attack it and use the opportunity to also hit the rocket and spike launchers. Watch for its leaping attack as it will track you in the air if you roll too soon.

 

Ravager

These guys are mean and fast, but actually not nearly as scary as they might seem. As soon as you engage with one, use a Tearblast arrow to pull off the gun, then grab it and let rip for an easy kill. It’s strategy that has never failed thus far, and has been used many a time.

 

Snapmaw

These guys look scarier than they actually are. They are capable of big damage if you let them get close, but at range is where you want to be engaging them anyways. Land a Tearblast arrow in the spot just behind their head to pull off the armour on the blaze canisters, then hit the canisters with Fire arrows to detonate them. This will either kill the Machine, or leave it with a tiny sliver of health and you can dispatch them at your leisure.

 

Rockbreaker

One of the most annoying enemies to fight simply due to its special abilities as well as its tricky to hit weak points. As soon as you start the fight with this enemy, your priority is to take out the digging arms. This will stop it being able to burrow and do its most damaging attack. Once it’s unable to dig, it will haul itself around on its arms, making it vulnerable to traps and blast wires. Also you can aim to take out the blaze sac on its stomach for big damage. Most importantly, stay on the move as it will punish you for staying still.

 

Behemoth

Big and scary, but not as tricky to kill as you might think. If you can do it, rack up 3 Tearblast arrows and hit each side of its face with a volley of these to take off all of the lifting engines, which will disable its most damaging attack. Then grab your warbow and hit the freeze and shock canisters to finish it off, no muss, no fuss.

 

Thunderjaw

Facing these for the first time can be intimidating, but they’re not so bad once you know how to stop their nastiest attack. First things first, take out both of the disc launchers as fast as you can. This will stop it from hammering you with missiles from a distance and make the rest of the fight a lot easier. Grab the launchers and hit it with as many missiles as you can land. This should bring it down to half or maybe one third health and also rip off a good amount of its armour. Next, use your focus to find its heart weakpoint and just hit this with Precision arrows until it goes down.

 

Stormbird

Possibly the most irritating enemy in the entire game, these huge birds have a lot of health, not many weakpoints and a variety of tricky attacks. Your goals in a fight with them are to disable as many of its attacks as possible, and reduce its mobility. If you have the Tearblaster weapon from the Hunting Lodge quest line, it will make things a lot easier. As soon as the fight starts, hit it with the ropecaster until you pull it down, then start hammering it with the Tearblaster to pull off the lightning gun and the engines on its wings. Once you’ve done that, hit the freeze canisters with a warbow to get some extra damage then just hit it with your most powerful weapon to finish it off. It won’t be an easy fight, but it’s easier than many other ways of fighting it.

 

Deathbringer

Despite the ominous sounding name, these enemies aren’t as bad as they could be. The main thing to remember when facing them is to keep moving. Try to be constantly strafing around them in a circle as they can’t turn particularly quickly, and their weapon tracking isn’t great, this means that you’ll be able to avoid a good amount of the damage they’re putting out. As for taking them down, as always, aiming for the components is a good idea, but sometimes lengthy. You’re much better to use a Sling to hit it with fire damage until it overheats then hit the cooling rods when they deploy for big damage. It will also expose weakpoints on its knees when it hunkers down to do missile attacks. If you hit these you’ll knock it over for some free hits before it recovers. With all of that, you should be able to kill it without too much trouble.

 

Corrupted Machines

These are the nastier, Corrupted versions of your regular machine enemies. The usual tactics will still work on them, but remember that they will be stronger, and more damaging than your regular Machines. Try to stay away from the corruption as well as it will infect and damage you.

 
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