Horizon Forbidden West is an action role-playing game from Guerilla Games and it's the highly anticipated sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. A mysterious red blight has started to infect the land and it's spreading rapidly. Aloy must venture into the Forbidden West to find out what it is and how she can stop it before it's too late.
Along the way, she will encounter new allies, new enemies, and brand new machines that will test all of her skills. Fortunately, you are not left completely defenceless when it comes to battles. Along with the variety of weapons that you can get your hands on in the game, you can also choose which armour Aloy wears. Picking the right piece of armour for each fight can make the battle much easier or significantly harder.
In this guide, we're going to explain what armour is, how to get it, and how you can upgrade it.
What Is Armour?
Armour comes in the form of different outfits that Aloy can wear. Often, each outfit comes with basic statistics for protection against certain attacks or elemental damage types. Most outfits can be upgraded to increase their base statistics or to add new ones to them. Some outfits can also boost one or more of the skills that you have unlocked in your skill trees.
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How to Get Armour
Armour can be gathered in a few different ways in the Forbidden West. The easiest way to get it is to purchase it from Stitchers (Outfit Traders) at settlements. They are marked by a small icon that looks like a chest piece on the Map. You can find different types or variations of armour at different Stitchers, so it's worth checking out each one you find. Another way to get Armour is to find it in chests. You can usually only find them in the chests that you need to pry open by holding R2.
How to Upgrade Armour
To upgrade your armour, you'll need to ensure that you have the required materials to do so. If you do, then you need to find a Workbench. If you don't have enough materials (or you're not sure which ones you need) then select the outfit you want to upgrade in the Workbench Menu and choose the appropriate command to "create job". This will then tell you what materials you need, and more importantly, where you can get them.
Once you have everything you need, head back to the workbench to start upgrading your outfit. Select the "outfits" section from the workbench menu and select the one you want to upgrade. At the bottom of your screen, you'll be able to see how the upgrade will impact the current statistics of the outfit. If you're happy to proceed, follow the prompted control to upgrade the outfit.
How to Add Weaves to Outfits
Weaves are another way to upgrade your outfit, but you don't need a workbench to do this. Instead, you typically need to have upgraded your outfit to level 3 to unlock the "Weaves Slot". Some outfits do come with a slot that's unlocked, with an extra one or two that can be unlocked via upgrades.
To add or edit the weaves on your current outfit, head into your inventory menu, and flick down to the "outfits" section. On here, you'll be shown your current outfits, including the one that's equipped. To edit the weaves, tap the Square button. Then, select the weave slot that you want to alter or add a weave to.
If you want to add a new weave to that slot, press X. When you do this, a small sub-menu will appear that shows you all of the weaves that can be applied to the outfit. You can hover over each one to see how it will impact the statistics of the outfit. When you find one you like, press X to equip it. However, if there is a weave in the slot that you want to unequip, hover over the slot and press Square again.
Getting the right type of armour for you will help you to survive the perils you'll face in Horizon Forbidden West. As much as you can try to avoid them, you'll need to fight large machines at some point. When you find one, we have a Slitherfang guide that shows you their weaknesses and how to defeat them. Also, check out our weapons list. In it, we detail all of the new weapons and ammunition types that you can get your hands on in the Forbidden West.