Horizon Forbidden West is the 2022 action role-playing game from Guerilla Games. As the sequel to the first game, Zero Dawn, Aloy returns alongside other familiar faces to go up against a brand new threat. A mysterious red plague is destroying the land. It's up to Aloy to figure out what this is and find a way to stop it.
You will face many challenges on your quest and you will battle a lot of machines that can crush you without a second thought. However, you are going to have access to many powerful weapons that can help you fight back and hopefully save the world, again.
In this guide, we're going to go through all of the new weapons and ammunition types in the game. If you've played Zero Dawn, then you may be happy to know that there are some familiar weapons and ammunition on this list too.
New Weapons List
You can carry up to six different weapons in your weapon wheel at one time. Higher-class weapons can carry multiple ammunition types. This means that you can have multiple strong weapons on you at one time.
Spike Thrower: The Spike Thrower is a weapon that causes a lot of damage if you use it correctly. It can be used to get easier hits on bigger enemies (such as a Tremortusk) and cause more damage to them.
Tenakth Ranger Sharpshot Bow: A variation of a Bow-type from the first game, the Tenakth Ranger Sharpshot Bow seems to be the weapon of one of the new Forbidden West tribes.
Oseram Forgeblast Spikethrower: This looks to be a completely new weapon with a new mechanic. Used in conjunction with the explosive javelin, this can be used to cause significant blast damage to any machine it comes into contact with.
Nora Elita Hunter Bow: Another new variation of a type of Bow seen in the original game. The Nora Elite Hunter Bow is a serious upgrade on the older versions. Granted, it does sport similar ammunition types as its predecessors, but the potential to upgrade this to a powerful weapon is far greater than before.
Carja Adhesive Blast Sling: Extremely similar to the Carja Blast Sling from Zero Dawn, this version uses brand new ammunition including Adhesive Grenades. It also seems to use a type of projectile ammunition similar to that of a Rattler.
Smoke Bombs: Smoke Bombs can be thrown down by Aloy at any moment in battle. The bomb temporarily blinds enemies which can give you the chance to make a quick escape. It can also work as a good distraction technique. While the enemy is blind, you can move to attack them from a new angle.
- Read More: Meet the Tribes of Horizon Forbidden West
New Ammunition Types
Explosive Javelins: Long and thin pieces of ammunition that explode on impact. Can be used to disable weaponry on machines and inflict a lot of damage.
Adhesive Grenades: When this grenade explodes, it significantly slows the enemy down and is most effective against hostile machines. While the machine has slowed down or been stalled, you can inflict a lot of damage without being in harm's way.
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Returning Weapons and Ammunition Types
Weapons
Aloy's Spear: As an important part of who she is and her ability to fight back against machines, it is no surprise that Aloy's spear has returned. However, it is now sporting some serious upgrades. It looks like it can be manipulated mid-battle to use specific elemental attacks too.
Ropecaster (trailer speculation): The Ropecaster can be used to temporarily tie-down machines. While a machine is tied down, you can inflict a lot of damage to it and get easy access to its weak spots.
War Bow: From the gameplay trailer, it seems that there is a type of War Bow in the game. War Bows specifically use Elemental Ammunition types and can be used to inflict heavy amounts of damage to enemies.
Variations of Hunter Bows: With the appearance of the Nora Elite Hunter Bow, it's safe to assume there will be more than just one variation of this classic Bow-type in the game.
Variations of Sharpshot Bows: Having the new Tenakth Sharpshot Bow appear in the gameplay trailer shows that there is a huge possibility that there are more variations of this type of
Variations of Blast Slings: The Carja Adhesive Blast Sling is the variation of this weapon type that has already been shown. Zero Dawn featured several variations of each weapon type, therefore we feel it's safe to assume that there will be more than one Blast Sling available in Forbidden West.
Ammunition
Hard Point Arrows: Hard Point Arrows are a basic arrow type that inflicts a lot of damage to the metal bodies of machines and can typically take down a human enemy in one precise shot.
Freeze Arrows: An elemental arrow type that inflicts freeze damage on human and machine enemies. If a machine is shot repeatedly with a freeze arrow, its element meter will fill up. Once the meter is full, the machine will be frozen for a brief period of time and it becomes extremely vulnerable to all attacks. Also, if you shoot freeze canisters on machines with freeze arrows, they will explode. This inflicts damage to the machine and can often freeze it too.
Shock Arrows: Another elemental arrow type. This arrow inflicts shock damage on human and machine enemies. If you shoot a machine that is weak to shock arrows enough, its elemental meter will fill up. Once the meter is full, the machine will succumb to the shock damage and be temporarily stalled. While stalled, the machine is vulnerable to any and all attacks.
Tearblast Arrows: Tearblast arrows are best used as ranged weapons. When they hit a machine they explode and strip parts off of it. They are one of the ammunition types that take time to re-load but the amount of damage they can inflict is worth it. If the Tearblast arrow embeds itself into a specific part of a machine (such as a Blaze Canister) it will remove that instantly.
Precision Arrows: Another arrow type that is best used as a ranged attack, it allows you to get precise shots on enemies. They can be a one-shot one-kill arrow if used against human enemies. Against machines, they are best used to attack specific parts of machines that could be difficult to hit with any other ammunition.
Tie Rope (Ropecaster Ammunition): Tie Rope is the ammunition for the Ropecaster. Once you shoot 2, 3, or more of this ammunition out of the Ropecaster they will tie down a machine. The quality of your Ropecaster and ammunition will determine how many ropes it will take to tie down a machine. It will also decide how long a machine can stay tied down for and which machines can be tied down.
We will update this page as we learn more about the new weapons and ammunition.
Horizon Forbidden West brings back a few familiar faces from Zero Dawn and puts them into a brand new story. If you want to refresh your knowledge on the first game, take a look at our story recap. Also, we have an article that shows you how big the map for Forbidden West might be.