Horizon Forbidden West Weapons: What are the best weapons for early, middle and late game?

On her way out of her homeland and into the distant wilds beyond, Aloy has decided she needs some more potent and deadly weaponry. But what are the best weapons in Horizon Forbidden West, and are requirements for the end-game different to what you'll make do with at the start?

Horizon Forbidden West builds on the foundations from the first game and tasks you with using a variety of bows, spear launchers, slingshots, tripwire casters and more to lay waste to human and machine enemies alike. Though you will mostly be using a bow to subdue your enemies, understanding – and levelling – other items as you progress through the game is vital if you want to take down more powerful machines.

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Horizon Forbidden West Best Weapons

There are lots of different weapons to choose from in Horizon Forbidden West, but you probably won't need to do a big overhaul of the weapons you use more than three times throughout the game. Handily, it breaks down to weapons you'll likely use in the early game, weapons you'll use in the mid-game, and weapons you will use in the end-game.

Let's take a look at what the best weapons are, split into the three key stages of the game:

• Best weapons for the early game in Horizon Forbidden West
• Best weapons for the mid game in Horizon Forbidden West
• Best weapons for the late game in Horizon Forbidden West

What are the best early game weapons in Horizon Forbidden West?

Hunter Bow: Yep, the starting bow. If you make a concerted effort to upgrade this to its maximum level as soon as you can, it will be a solid weapon until about halfway through the game. Hint: hit Triangle on the weapon at a Workbench to make a 'Job' and get prompts on where to find upgrade items.

It's got only one coil slot (knockdown bonuses are good early on) and will eventually be able to fire off acid shots, too – use these to make machines acid-coated, when they will take more damage from regular shots.

Prototype Spike Thrower: A level 7 errand quest you pick up in Chainscrape called 'A Bigger Boom' will reward you with this weapon, and I'd go as far as saying it's essential in the early game. It's probably the first explosive item you will be able to use, and it will cleanly rip off enemy armor and let you shoot at the weak bits underneath.

Just be careful when you're using it, though; explosions will destroy key machine parts you may otherwise want to harvest.

Hardweave Sharpshot Bow: By the time you're in Plainsong, you've probably already picked up a good number of other weapons, but you'll want to make sure you have 549 Metal Shards and a Grazer Circulator to hand, if possible. The Hardweave Sharpshot Bow you get here is great – if you're in stealth, at range, and get a critical hit with an overdrawn arrow, this bow is powerful enough to take down a lot of weaker machines in one hit. It works on human enemies, too.

Pop an Overdraw damage bonus and long-range damage Coil in the bow, and you'll be laughing at enemies from miles away for a good portion of the game.

What are the best mid-game weapons in Horizon Forbidden West?

This bit's easy; just about every weapon you need from the middle of the game onwards can be picked up from the Arena vendor that'll trade you Hunting Medals for weapons.

Hunting Medals can be gained from Hunting Grounds around the map. By the point of the game that you unlock the arena, you should have access to three grounds: Sheerside Mountain (extreme north of the Memorial Grove), Plainsong (north of Plainsong), and The Daunt (north-east of Barren Light). The challenges in these Grounds aren't too tough, and if you ace them all, you will get a shed load of Medals to trade at the Arena vendor.

And you know what that means? Weapons that are good enough to use for the rest of the game. Each has three Coil Slots, too, so you can somewhat make up for their (limited) weaknesses, or exaggerate their already-impressive strengths.

Here's a quick rundown of what you can get here:

• Marshal Hunter Bow, 84 medals – essential primary weapon that uses more powerful basic arrows and can cause machines to go berserk and attack each other. Prioritise this weapon, then focus on upgrading it and it'll see you through to the end game.
• Warden Sharpshot Bow, 54 medals – another good purchase, especially if you like attacking from range. Fully upgraded, this gets Overdraw damage bonuses and more Critical Hit chance. Put simply; this weapon can one shot weak enemies, and knockdown stronger ones with ease.
• Glowblast Spike Thrower, 54 medals – A perfect upgrade to your Prototype Spike Thrower, this incredible weapon lets you pelt high-damaging Plasma spears at enemies so they get the Plasma effect, then fill up the meter quickly by using explosive spikes on them. Even the toughest enemies (like a late-game Thunderjaw boss) can be taken down with a set of Plasma and Explosive spikes, if you go in with full ammo and a decent-sized ammo pouch. I am still using this (fully-upgraded) in the endgame. It's that good.
• Rampart Blastsling, 54 medals – You will likely have an explosive Blastsling by this point in the game, so this isn't as high priority. It's volley attack and dual explosive/ice ammo capability makes it handy for slowing down then shredding the armour of bigger beasts, though.
• Relentless Boltcaster, 54 medals – Another good explosive ammo-using weapon, this item works well with a Skill Tree unlock that lets you empty an entire clip of Boltcaster ammo in one go. The result is a massive burst of high-damaging bolt fire that can be trigger Plasma explosions or one-shot a machine inflicted with its elemental weakness.

What are the best late-game weapons in Horizon Forbidden West?

We're going back to the Arena. But this time, we're actually going to fight in Arena battles. Why? Because the rewards you can get are breath-taking.

You will need to clear at least the Amateur and Intermediate levels of the Arena in order to start affording some of these weapons, but if you're using the items you purchased with your Hunting Grounds Medals, you really shouldn't have too much trouble (if in doubt, hurl explosives to the face of whatever you're fighting). It'll cost you 100+ Metal Shards to take part in an Arena Challenge, but by this point in the game, money shouldn't be too much of a concern.

The Arena Vendor will give you:

• Death-Seeker's Bow, 80 Arena Medals – With five Coil Slots, passive perks that reward getting in the flow of electrocuting enemies before peppering them with arrows, and some high base damage, this is a great late-game bow that'll make many of the missions you'll have to mop up a complete walk in the park. Customise it with Coils that allow for Instant Shock, or that help shock build-up and Critical Hit damage, and you'll be unstoppable.
• Forgefall, 80 Arena Medals – A bow that really promotes steady, consistent shooting with a focus on weak machine parts, this is the best long-range weapon in th game. Fill it with Coils that improve damage at range (and anything that plays up to its innate Plasma damage) and this will become the first weapon you use in any encounter: a critical hit from stealth will max out the Plasma gauge in pretty much one hit. A great start to any fight you want to wrap up quickly.
• The Blast Forge – Similarly to the boltcaster we mentioned above, this ludicrous powerhouse can empty a full clip of explosive ammo into a machine in one go, stacking tons of explosvie damage right off the bat. The innate draw speed perk makes it less cumbersome to use than other heavy Boltcasters, and the instant shocked chance perk may only sit at 2%... but when you're unloading a whole payload in one go, it feels more like 25%.

There's plenty more to find in the Tenakth tribe lands, for a nudge in the right direction, here's our Horizon Forbidden West guide.