Machine hunting is the heartbeat of Horizon Forbidden West, and the difference between a clean takedown and a frantic scramble for cover almost always comes down to preparation. Aloy’s arsenal is deep, the elemental system rewards planning over button-mashing, and the game’s biggest machines demand a real strategy rather than raw damage output. This guide breaks down the weapon types, elemental effects, and weak-point tactics you need to hunt efficiently, from small Scrappers to towering Tremortusks and Thunderjaws.
Scan First, Fight Second
Before an arrow ever leaves the bow, pull up Aloy’s Focus and scan the target. Scanning reveals a machine’s components, its elemental weaknesses, and which parts can be shot off to disable specific attacks or open up bonus loot. This single habit separates efficient hunters from players who burn through resources fighting the wrong way. Every machine in the game has a resistance and weakness listed once scanned, so treat that readout as your battle plan rather than a formality you skip through.
Scanning also flags detachable components like blaze canisters, cannons, and elemental sacs. Removing these before or during a fight both cripples the machine’s offense and hands you crafting materials, so it pays to prioritize called shots over simply chipping away at health bars.
Understanding Weapon Types
Horizon Forbidden West splits its arsenal into distinct weapon categories, each suited to a different role in a fight:
- Hunter Bows are your all-purpose workhorse, firing quickly and cheaply so you can apply steady damage or build elemental effects at range.
- Sharpshot Bows and War Bows trade rate of fire for precision and power, ideal for hitting small weak points or delivering heavy single hits.
- Blastslings lob explosive or elemental canisters in an arc, useful for building elemental buildup quickly or hitting groups.
- Tripcasters let you lay tripwires between two anchor points, perfect for ambushing a patrol or catching a machine off guard as it charges through.
- Spike Throwers plant explosive spikes that detonate on contact or command, capable of knocking smaller machines down entirely.
- Ropecasters fire tethers that can pin a machine’s limb or tie it down, a great option for stopping charge attacks or grounding flying machines.
- Boltblasters and Shredder Gauntlets, unlocked later, offer rapid-fire ranged and close-quarters options for when a fight gets messy.
Carrying a mix of these rather than leaning on a single favorite makes every encounter more flexible. A Sharpshot Bow for weak points, a Tripcaster for crowd control, and a Blastsling for elemental buildup covers most situations you’ll run into across the Forbidden West.
Elemental Damage Explained
Elemental effects are where Forbidden West’s combat really opens up. Each element does more than raw damage:
- Fire deals damage over time and can panic smaller machines, causing them to flee or thrash.
- Frost makes limbs and components brittle. Once a part is frozen, a couple of precision hits will shatter it outright, making Frost invaluable for stripping cannons or weapons off dangerous machines.
- Shock stuns a machine for several seconds and interrupts charge attacks, buying you a window to reposition or land follow-up hits.
- Acid strips armor and components faster than any other element, which is why it’s so effective against heavily armored targets.
- Purgewater douses fire-based machines and disables their burning attacks, a niche but essential counter against fire-heavy enemies.
- Plasma, introduced in Forbidden West, causes machines to overload and eventually explode when enough buildup is applied.
Matching the right element to the right machine turns brutal fights into manageable ones. Always check a machine’s listed weaknesses before committing to a loadout, since using the wrong element can mean doing a fraction of the damage you’d otherwise land.
Taking Down Tremortusks
The Tremortusk is one of the more intimidating early-to-mid-game giants, but it has clear openings. Its Blaze sac, mounted on its body, is the priority target: destroying it inflicts a burning state and disables its fire-based attacks entirely. The underbelly turns exposed and vulnerable whenever the Tremortusk rears up on its hind legs to attack, and that’s your best window to unload heavy damage. Its mechanical tusks also have weak segments near the tips that can be shot off individually to chip away at its overall health.
Because Tremortusks struggle to hit targets positioned above them, fighting from an elevated ledge or ridge is one of the safest approaches available. Freeze-based weapons are especially effective here, since a frozen Tremortusk becomes far easier to stagger and strip of components.
Taking Down Thunderjaws
Thunderjaws are the apex predators of the plains, bristling with disc launchers, a railgun-style cannon, and a devastating tail sweep. Acid is their standout weakness, so bringing acid-infused arrows or traps will wear down their health considerably faster than other elements. Your first priority in any Thunderjaw fight should be stripping its ranged weaponry, since a Thunderjaw with its cannons and launchers intact can shred your health bar from a distance before you ever close in.
Using cover, Tripcasters to interrupt its approach, and precision shots on its weapon mounts will turn an overwhelming fight into a controlled one. Once its major weapons are gone, it relies mostly on melee attacks, which are far easier to dodge and punish.
General Tips for Big Machine Fights
A few habits apply across nearly every large-machine encounter. Override smaller machines nearby when possible, since a friendly Charger or Bristleback can distract and even damage the larger target for you. Use terrain to your advantage, breaking line of sight to heal or reload rather than tanking hits in the open. Stock a variety of ammo types before heading into a known apex machine encounter, since running out of your counter-element mid-fight is one of the fastest ways to lose momentum.
Pay attention to attack tells. Every major machine telegraphs its heaviest attacks with a wind-up animation, and dodging through these rather than away from them often keeps you close enough to punish the recovery window. If you want a broader overview of story progression, skills, and side content alongside this combat breakdown, check out our complete Horizon Forbidden West guide for the full picture.
Building a Hunting Loadout
By the mid-game, aim to carry at least one bow for weak points, one elemental option matched to common regional threats, and one crowd-control weapon like a Tripcaster or Ropecaster. Swap ammo types before entering known machine territory rather than mid-fight, and keep potions and traps stocked so a tough encounter doesn’t end in a full retreat. Machine hunting in Forbidden West rewards patience and preparation far more than aggression, and once you internalize each machine’s weak points and elemental weaknesses, even the largest Tremortusks and Thunderjaws become satisfying puzzles rather than dreaded roadblocks.