Horizon Forbidden West best weapons guide: Ammo, weapon perks, and how to get

Want to know all the Horizon Forbidden West best weapons so you can crush your next machine?

Horizon Forbidden West is an action RPG where you play as Aloy, a hunter in a post-apocalyptic world filled with animalistic machines.

You’ll encounter and fight many of these machines as some stand in your way or have a much-needed component for your next weapon upgrade.

Dominate the machine threat with our comprehensive Horizon Forbidden West best weapons guide.

List of Horizon Forbidden West best weapons

With so many weapons to choose from, we’ve narrowed everything down to the very best, so you spend less time searching and more time out in the world having fun.

There’s a lot to take in so kick back, relax, and get ready to learn why these weapons are so highly recommended.

Hunter Bows

Death-Seeker’s Shadow (Base Game)

The most versatile Hunter Bow you can pick up before New Game+ is the Death Seeker’s Shadow, a favorite amongst players for its ease of use and sentimental value.

What makes the Death-Seeker’s Shadow so good is its ability to blend seamlessly into a variety of loadouts.

It can dish out some serious damage on its own with its built in Critical Weapon Perks while also easily tearing off machine components with the Advanced Hunter Arrows.

If you prefer to run other weapons for damage, you can spec this bow to boost its Advanced Shock Hunter Arrows to apply the shock effect faster before switching to your weapon of choice. It also has Targeting Hunter Arrows if you have any overridden machines nearby.

For the lore nerds out there, Aloy’s adoptive father, Rost was a Death-Seeker and thus this bow is occasionally referred to as Rost’s bow.

You can purchase the Death-Seeker’s Shadow from the Arena for 80 Arena tokens. Completing the main story quest called “The Kulrut”, then completing the side quest called “Opening the Arena” will make the Arena and its challenges available to you.

Tears of the Land-God (New Game+)

If you’re heading straight to New Game+ after completing the game for the first time, the Tears of the Land-God bow is the ultimate Hunter Bow that you’ll want to get even with a Death-Seeker’s Shadow on hand.

This Hunter Bow is exclusive to New Game+ and is a thing to behold. This bow is built to deal insane tear damage which is very useful when you venture into New Game+ territory, which is inherently more difficult.

Though it can deal some reasonably good damage, you’ll mainly want to swap to this bow if you want to break parts and set up for higher damage output weapons such as a Spike Thrower or Boltblaster.

You can get your hands on this Hunter Bow by trading in 10 Champions Tokens with a Merchant during your New Game+ playthrough.

Sharpshot Bow

Gravesinger’s Lament (Burning Shores DLC)

A Burning Shores DLC exclusive, the Gravesinger’s Lament is a killer Sharpshot Bow that can carry you well into New Game+.

The Gravesinger’s Lament is much better than it looks. It does incredible damage with its Advanced Precision Arrows whilst the Strikethrough Precision Arrows can one-shot many human enemies.

Unlock Instant Brittle Chance and you have yourself a weapon that will have the chance to apply Brittle without the use of Frost Arrows.

The Brittle Weapon Perk alone is the reason Gravesinger’s Lament outcompetes the New Game+ Sharpshot Bow, Iriv’s Downfall.

To claim a Gravesinger’s Lament for yourself, you’ll need to purchase it for 3000 Metal Shards and eight Brimshine from the Fleet’s End Hunter.

Warrior Bow

Carja’s Bane (Base Game)

Extremely effective and easy to acquire, Carja’s Bane will win your heart as quickly as you can get your hands on it.

Warrior Bows are fast and cheap, a major selling point for the weapon type and the Carja’s Bane is no exception.

Carja’s Bane is one of the best weapons to apply an elemental state when equipped with Instant Coils. Because the weapon fires off attacks so rapidly, it can very easily trigger whatever Instant Coils you have equipped.

Close Range Coils also work on the Carja’s Bane but if you’re looking for raw damage, there are better options.

This weapon is readily available very early on so you can spend a good portion of the game with a permanent Warrior Bow in your weapon wheel.

If you fancy getting yourself a Carja’s Bane, complete all the Gauntlet Run Races to get a hold of one.

Ropecaster

The Tie That Binds (Burning Shores DLC)

The only Legendary Ropecaster in the game, The Tie That Binds is too good to miss.

No other Ropecaster can compete with The Tie That Binds. Its Weapon Perks are superior to all other Ropecasters and it is the only weapon of its type to have five coil slots.

This means that you have more customization options when playing with the weapon.

The only downside is the Plasma Rope being rather useless but everything else about this weapon offsets this one downside.

Just like other Burning Shore DLC exclusive weapons, you’ll need to purchase The Tie that Binds for 3000 Metal Shards and eight Brimshine from the Fleet’s End Hunter

Boltblaster

The Blast Forge (Base Game)

Of all the Boltblasters available, The Blast Forge is a classic that can outperform both DLC and New Game+ Boltblasters.

The Blast Forge is all about pumping out damage numbers as this Boltblaster in particular focuses on attacking as fast as possible.

Advanced Bolts will be your bread and butter but you’ll want to have an elemental weapon set up for it first. Even with the Draw and Reload Speed Weapon Perks, you’ll still be pretty vulnerable to attacks from mobile machines.

But when you find that opening, The Blast Forge is so satisfying to use.

Just like the Death-Seeker’s Shadow Hunter Bow, The Blast Forge can be purchased for 80 Arena Tokens.

Completing the main story quest called “The Kulrut”, then completing the side quest called “Opening the Arena” will make the Arena and its challenges available to you.

Blastsling

Skyhammer (Burning Shores DLC)

Sometimes it better to work smarter rather than harder, and the Burning Shores DLC exclusive, Skyhammer lets you do just that.

One of the big advantages of Blastslings is that you can fire off bombs and they’ll leave a residual pool of that specific element type at the final destination. This fire and forget style is very handy if you want to build up an elemental state like Brittle or Drenched.

With this in mind, Skyhammer is a great utility tool to set up for other offensive weapons thanks to its awesome combination of elements. Frost and Purgewater Bombs synergize with one another, allowing you to build up Frost on any machine as long as they’re Drenched, and we all know how strong the Brittle state is.

You can find the Skyhammer in a cache at Starlight Rise during one of the Burning Shores DLC first quests. If you miss it the first time, you can easily go back to retrieve it.

Shredder Gauntlets

Ancestor’s Return (Base Game)

One of Horizon’s tricker weapons to master, the Ancestor’s Return is a beast of a weapon if you want something to rip components off with ease.

The Ancestor’s Return is a component tearing machine and does it so easily if you can handle Shredder Gauntlet’s unique playstyle.

The Acid and Tear Shredders combined with the Component Tear Weapon Perk synergize so well together that it’ll strip even the most armored machines in the game.

The presence of Shock Shredders adds extra elemental damage in a pinch but ultimately should set up for the Tear Shredder to do its thing.

You can acquire an Ancestor’s Return from a cache at Hidden Ember after delivering nine ornaments to Stemmur.

Spike Thrower

Last Argument (Burning Shores DLC)

The absolute king of knockdowns, you won’t want to miss out on the Burning Shores DLC exclusive Spike Thrower, Last Argument.

Last Argument is undoubtedly the best weapon for knocking down machines because it has access to both Advanced Explosive Spikes and Drill Spikes.

You have the option to go all out on Blast Coils or boost your knock down so that machines stay downed for most of the fight. Regardless of how you choose to build Last Argument, you’ll feel its benefits almost instantly as you strip and down machines with relative ease.

You’ll be awarded Last Argument after completing the quest called “A friend in the Dark”.

Tripcaster

All-Mother’s Blessing (New Game+)

Trap junkies are going to love the All-Mother’s Blessing, a New Game+ exclusive Tripcaster.

Tripcasters are overlooked by the average player as they only see more play at harder difficulties where the ol run and gun doesn’t always work.

All-Mother’s Blessing is locked behind New Game+ because its existence trivializes the game at easier difficulties.

Invest in the Shock Tripwire with Shock Coils and watch as you stop resilient New Game+ machines in their tracks, setting you up to land the finishing blow.

The Stealth Damage Weapon Perk might seem strange at first but can be taken advantage of multiple times in a fight if you play around with smoke bombs during an intense fight.

The All-Mother’s Blessing can be yours by trading in 10 Champions Tokens with a Merchant during a New Game+ playthrough.

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