13 Best Horizon Zero Dawn Weapons (2024)

Weapons are the key to Aloy's survival in Horizon Zero Dawn, and luckily for players, the game has an expansive arsenal of weapons fit for any machine hunter. Combat in Horizon Zero Dawn is all about flexibility, and although Aloy will encounter increasingly dangerous machines on her quest, they can all be defeated in many different ways. If you're a new player, the challenge is figuring out which of the game's trusty bows, slings, and other unconventional gadgets best fit your own playstyle.

Although Horizon Zero Dawn has lots of weapons to choose from, Aloy can only assign a maximum of four weapons to her weapon wheel at once. This is more restrictive at the start of the game, so focus on the best weapons to buy first during the game's opening hours. From there, you'll get a better idea of which weapons you like best, and don't waste valuable upgrade resources on gear you don't like using.

13 Aloy's Spear

Standard Weapon For Melee Combat

• How To Get: Automatically obtained at the story's start but is upgraded after certain quests.

Aloy's Spear is central to Horizon Zero Dawn's limited melee combat, allowing you to hit enemies with light and heavy attacks. The Spear can be particularly brutal against smaller machines, knocking off components and armor plating or even knocking them prone. This creates openings and weaknesses that you can exploit with ranged attacks.

To improve the Spear, grab spear-specific skills from the Brave Tree. These increase spear damage and allow Aloy to deliver high-damage Critical Hits to downed machines. Critical Hits can even kill smaller machines like Watchers and Scrappers outright, so spear skills are highly recommended even if you're fighting with ranged weapons most of the time.

In summary, remember to use the Spear whenever you have an opening. You can also upgrade Aloy's Spear. During the In Her Mother's Footsteps side quest, Aloy can help an NPC in return for a permanent increase to her spear damage. Unique upgrades also appear during the main story, including the ability to override machines in Horizon Zero Dawn. Eventually, you will receive Sylens' Lance, a significant upgrade on the Spear that also deals Shock Damage.

12 Rattler

Almost A Shotgun

• How To Get: You can buy the versions of this weapon from Merchants throughout the game, ranging from Tier 2 to Tier 4 Merchants.

A specialized but short-ranged weapon, the Rattler is the closest thing in Horizon: Zero Dawn that players can get to a shotgun. It is a type of bolt gun that will fire five projectiles per shot but must be used at quite close range to be effective. Typically, you will have 25 total shots for a total of 150 bolts fired.

I wanted to like the Rattler a lot, but the main issue with this weapon is how close you have to be. At that range, the spear will almost always be better, even with a Ropecaster keeping the enemy in place. However, it can be an excellent emergency weapon if you can switch to it fast enough to blast machines quite close to you in the eye. And, in the hands of a master, it can do a lot of damage fast, shown in YouTuber Mostropi's video.

You can also find Rattlers that can fire Shock or Freeze Bolts, which can do good damage to machines vulnerable to either. Personally, the Freeze Bolts are probably the most useful ammo on this weapon, which can only be used with the Shadow version of the Rattler outside of New Game Plus. While it is a bit finicky and takes some getting used to, the fact that it fires five bolts eliminates a need to be accurate and does a lot of individual instances of damage.

11 Ropecaster

Tie Down And Immobilize Enemies

• How To Get: The Basic, Carja, and Shadow Ropecaster are all available from merchants. The Shadow Ropecaster can be bought from merchants in Meridian for 500 Shards and 1 Snapmaw Heart.

The Ropecaster doesn't do much damage on its own in Horizon Zero Dawn, but it's the perfect tool for crowd control. It shoots ropes that latch onto machines, allowing you to tie them down and immobilize them. Immobilized machines are essentially defenseless, enabling you to deal extra damage or inflict status effects while they're tied down.

Notably, this works on all machines, making it one of the best gear for fighting Horizon Zero Dawn's toughest machines, such as the Stormbird and Thunderjaw. Flying machines such as Glinthawks are also prime targets. Tying them down allows Aloy to finish them off before they can flee.

You can buy the Basic, Carja, and Shadow variants of the Ropecaster from merchants. However, the best variant outside of New Game Plus is the Lodge Ropecaster. To get it, you'll need to tackle Horizon Zero Dawn's Hunting Grounds and complete challenges to earn 15 Full Sun marks. These marks can be exchanged for the Lodge Ropecaster at Meridian's Hunters' Lodge.

10 Tripcaster

Trick Enemies With Tripwires

• How To Get: The Basic, Carja, and Shadow Tripcaster are all available from merchants. The Shadow Tripcaster can be bought in Meridian for 750 Shards and 1 Scrapper Heart.

With the Tripcaster, Aloy can place various types of Tripwire in Horizon Zero Dawn. These inflict different types of elemental damage on enemies that cross them, including Fire and Shock, and can even stun or burn them.

This makes the Tripcaster one of the best tools for stopping rampaging machines in their tracks, and they give Aloy a much more even footing on unpredictable battlefields.

All Tripcasters have Shock Wires, which deal Shock Damage. However, the fully upgraded Shadow Tripcaster variant also has Fire Wires and Blast Wires, which explode when crossed, potentially blasting machines apart on contact.

9 Machine Weapons

A Limited High-Tech Option For Combat

• How To Get: Tear off certain machines (Deathbringers, Thunderjaws, Scorchers, Ravagers)

One of the best ways to defeat a tough machine in Horizon Zero Dawn is to turn its own weapons against it. Many of the game's toughest machines come equipped specifically for combat, with heavy weapons meant to kill machine hunters. Aloy can use various weapons that deal Tear damage to blast off them before picking them up and using them herself.

It's possible to override machines and knock off their weapons when they aren't hostile, but it can also be done in combat. The Tearblaster and Tearblast Arrows are easily the best tools for this, as they're designed specifically to knock off components while dealing no damage.

This tactic works particularly well with Ravagers and Thunderjaws, both tough machines surprisingly vulnerable to their weapons. There are also many combat encounters in Horizon Zero Dawn where Aloy faces multiple machine types at once. As such, you can take a high-tech cannon from a tough machine and use it to wipe out a horde of weaker machines with minimal effort.

8 Tearblaster

Breaking Off Parts

• How To Get: As a reward at the conclusion of the Hunters’ Blinde side quest, or purchase it from merchants after completing the quest.

While the Tearblaster weapon seems less good than Tearblast Arrows at first glance, it is actually quite useful. The significant part about this weapon is that it can knock off machine parts easily and without having to struggle for it. This means you can knock off one of the heavy weapons to pick it up and use it or strip a machine of its parts for farming.

It can even knock over smaller machines and humans, making it useful if you are getting swarmed and need to back up to heal or regain stealth. While it is certainly not the best weapon in the game, as it does not deal damage by itself, I found it extremely useful.

You can see evidence of this in YouTuber TimeTravel Kiwi’s video, which also shows you how to acquire the weapon. Tearblaster Charges are the ammo you can use with the weapon, which cost around 30 Metal Shards or can be crafted with a Metal Vessel and an Echo Shell. However, as you likely only need one or two per Machine, the ammo can last longer than you would think, providing you with plenty of opportunities to tear the machines apart before they are able to land a hit.

7 Blast Sling

Lob Explosive Bombs At Enemies

• How To Get The Basic, Carja, and Shadow Blast Sling are all available from merchants. The Shadow Tripcaster can be bought in Meridian for 1,400 Shards and 1 Lancehorn Heart.

The Blast Sling is essentially a slingshot for bombs, and Aloy can use it to throw explosives at enemies. The basic Blast Bomb ammo deals explosive damage on impact and can blast off or destroy machine components.

More advanced variants of the Blast Sling have additional ammo types, including Sticky Bombs and Proximity Bombs.

They're particularly good at destroying certain sensitive components, such as Snapmaw Freeze Sacs and Bellowback Cargo Sacs, which explode when hit and inflict additional status effects. The Lodge Blast Sling is the best variant outside New Game Plus, but like the Lodge Ropecaster, you'll need to complete Hunting Grounds challenges to get it.

6 Forgefire

Burning Damage

• How To Get: Defeat a rogue Oseram named Ohlgrud in the Cut’s Bandit Camp (Stone Yield).

Like the Icerail and the Stormslinger, The Forgefire is the fire variant of the special weapons available in The Frozen Wilds DLC. Likewise, you can get the upgraded version by returning to Varga and completing the Geared Up: Forgefire quest for her. Once you have the base and regular versions, you can purchase them from a special merchant in the Cut.

The Forgefire can hold up to 60 Firethrower chargers and 12 Fireburster ammo. The Firethrower ammo turns the Forgefire into a flamethrower, while the the latter is more like a fireball attack. They both do fire damage, but the latter also does Explosive Damage, which can be quite useful against vulnerable enemies. You can see it in action in Gaming Mike's YouTube video.

Like anything with fire damage, do enough, and it will grant a Burning status effect to the enemy, which can cause some machines to explode depending on the parts. While the three DLC weapons can take a while to get your hands on and only become relevant toward the end of the game, they can be quite useful if you do decide to go into Horizon: Zero Dawn’s New Game Plus, which allows you to bring your gear into the next playthrough.

5 War Bow

Deal Elemental Damage From Range

• How To Get: The Basic, Carja, and Shadow War Bow are all available from merchants. The Shadow Tripcaster can be bought in Meridian for 800 Shards and 1 Trampler Heart.

The War Bow has specialized arrows that allow Aloy to deal elemental damage from range. All War Bows come with Shock Arrows for dealing with Shock Damage by default, but upgraded variants also have Freeze and Corruption Arrows. As such, War Bows are a highly versatile weapon type, allowing Aloy to deal with various elemental damage types to trigger status effects.

However, when using the War Bow, you will need to pay attention to each machine's strengths and weaknesses. Smaller machines tend to be weak to most elements, but tougher machines are sometimes highly resistant to certain elements; Stormbirds are resistant to Shock Damage, for example. To avoid wasting ammo, scan machines beforehand.

You can obtain the Lodge War Bow with 15 Blazing Sun marks from Hunting Grounds. However, the best War Bow in the game is the Banuk Champion Bow, available only in The Frozen Wilds DLC. This variant allows Aloy to overdraw shots for additional damage. However, it has to be bought with Bluegleam, a rare currency unique to the Frozen Wilds.

4 Stormslinger

A Specialized Shock Weapon From The Frozen Wilds

• How To Get: Complete The Shaman's Path quest in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds and speak to Ourea.

A rare weapon belonging to the shamans of the Banuk, a tribe inhabiting the frozen north, the Stormslinger fires charged electric bolts that deal Shock Damage. It can fire multiple shots, each dealing increased damage, allowing Aloy to electrocute and shock most machines within a few seconds.

The War Bow is still more versatile as it has multiple ammo types; however, the Stormslinger is the best weapon in the game for dealing Shock Damage.

The basic Stormslinger is gifted to Aloy for free, but you can also get the Improved Stormslinger by bringing the weapon to the Oseram engineer Varga. Varga will offer to upgrade the weapon if Aloy brings her a special machine part by defeating a Stormbird.

3 Icerail

A Specialized Freeze Weapon From The Frozen Wilds

• How To Get: Complete For The Werak in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

Like the Stormslinger, the Icerail deals Freeze Damage and can freeze enemies solid with a spray of ice-cold Chillwater. There's arguably no better weapon for dealing Freeze Damage in Horizon Zero Dawn, and it's the perfect weapon for taking down machines that are vulnerable to Freeze, such as Scorchers and Fireclaws.

The Icerail is gifted to Aloy for free, just like the Stormslinger, and it can also be upgraded by bringing it to Varga. Varga will offer to upgrade the Icerail if Aloy helps her bring down a Thunderjaw for the right component. It's no small task, but in return, Varga will upgrade the Icerail so it can fire high-damage Ice Cannon ammo.

2 Sharpshot Bow

A High-Power, High Damage Ranged Weapon

• How To Get: The Basic, Carja, and Shadow Sharpshot Bow are all available from merchants. The Shadow Sharpshot Bow can be bought in Meridian for 800 Shards and 1 Sawtooth Heart.

The Sharpshot Bow is a specialized bow in Horizon Zero Dawn with a low fire rate but extremely high-damage shots. With the Sharpshot Bow, Aloy can fire special Precision Arrows, which take longer to load and draw but deal a lot of additional damage. Human enemies are particularly weak to headshots from Precision Arrows and great for attacking weak points on machines.

Additional ammo types become available with upgraded variants. Tearblast Arrows are great for blasting off components and armor plating, while Harvest Arrows provide extra resources when used to tear off machine parts, perfect for grinding resources.

The best Sharpshot Bow variant in the game is the Banuk Powershot Bow. Like the Banuk Champion Bow, it has to be bought with Bluegleam and can be overdrawn to deal extra damage. Precision Arrows already deal incredible amounts of damage, so an overdrawn Banuk Powershot Bow is a good candidate for the strongest weapon in the game.

1 Hunter Bow

An Essential Part Of Aloy's Arsenal

• How To Get: The Carja Hunter Bow is automatically obtained at the start of the story. The Shadow Hunter Bow can be bought in Meridian for 650 Shards and 1 Watcher Heart.

Aloy is incredibly skilled with a bow, and you should keep a variant of the Hunter Bow in your inventory throughout the game. The Shadow Hunter Bow fires basic arrows but allows Aloy to use Fire Arrows and Hardpoint Arrows. Hardpoint Arrows deal more damage than basic arrows but have a faster draw speed than Precision Arrows. As such, you can use them to bridge the gap between the Hunter Bow and the more powerful Sharpshot Bow.

Like the War Bow and Sharpshot Bow, the Hunter Bow also has a Banuk variant: the Banuk Striker Bow. This can be overdrawn for extra damage, making it a fast and surprisingly powerful weapon.

Ultimately, although there are many powerful weapons in Horizon Zero Dawn, they all work best in concert. Having the best weapons in the game is important, but you'll also need to learn how to use them together, combining their effects to bring down your foes with ease.

Video Credit: YouTube/Mostropi; YouTube/TimeTravelKiwi; YouTube/Gaming Mike

Horizon Zero Dawn Game

Franchise

Horizon Zero Dawn

ESRB

Teen

Platforms

PlayStation 4

Publishers

Sony Computer Entertainment