Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Guide

Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Guide

This was going to be a more complete guide for Horizon Zero Dawn, but for now I stopped with Trophies. I was planning on adding animal locations and robot strategies soon, though I haven’t decided on making separate small guides or a single large one with all the info shoved in one. If there’s specific information you’d like to see added (or if you have anything to contribute), feel free to leave a comment or contact me.

Important to note: nothing trophy-wise is missable whatsoever in Horizon Zero Dawn; it’s one of my favorite design decisions in the game. Horizion is a very low-stress game.

You can complete the game any way you like then go back and get all trophies, no matter how you happen to play. There are a few choices that do matter story-wise and a couple missable quests with Nil, but none of them count toward trophies.

If you want to avoid spoilers, you can just totally ignore this section and come back after beating the game or when you’re stuck.

Platinum

  • All trophies obtained
    • Obtained all Horizon Zero Dawn trophies.

Before you ask yes, all the trophy titles in Horizon are literally just descriptions.

Gold

  • Ended the war machine threat
    • Ended the threat of the ancient war machines.
      • AKA, beat the game. Just keep advancing your main quests and you’ll get there. No rush but also no fear as beating the game won’t lock you out of any other trophies or content.
  • Blazing Suns at all Grounds
    • Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all trials at all of the Hunting Grounds.
      • Can be completed as early as you can leave the Sacred Grounds (Nora Tribal Lands), but you’ll need to be able to override Ravagers from the Cauldrons first for one of them.

Silver

The infinite fast travel backpack (bought from traders as early as Daytower) will help in a lot of these that require much travel back and forth.

  • All Tallnecks Overridden
    • Scaled all of the Tallnecks and accessed their information.
      • Once you reach Devil’s Thirst in the story you’ll notice the first Tallneck. Scale and Override it to mark the locations of all four other Tallnecks on your map.
  • All Suns at all Grounds
    • Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all trials at all of the Hunting Grounds.
      • Again this requires the ability to Override Ravagers
      • Most Blazing Suns aren’t really THAT hard, and the reward is worth it, so try to get all 3 blazing suns before leaving a Hunting Ground.
      • Go to Meridian and find the Hunters’ Lodge to find all their locations. A quest to find the Lodge will be given after clearing the Hunting Ground in the Nora Sacred Ground.
  • Cleared all the Bandit Camps
    • Took back all settlements from the bandit clans.
      • Keep an eye out for Nil camping outside some bandit camps to take an optional sidequest where he’ll help out a bit.
      • Override all Tallnecks to find their locations most easily.
  • All Cores Overridden
    • Reached the Core of every Cauldron and accessed the information within.
      • I recommend you do this fairly early since you’ll be able to override all the robots this way.
      • You can find all Cauldron locations by Overriding the first, complete the sidequest given to investigate the Cauldron to find it easily.
      • You can finish this as soon as you’ve finished the Proving and can leave the Nora Sacred Grounds.
  • All Corrupted Zones cleared
    • Killed all the corrupted machines in every Corrupted Zone.
      • You’ll probably want to save this for fairly late, as there’s a zone with two Corrupted Rockbreakers that’s pretty hard. That zone is made a bit easier by camping across the river and hitting them from afar, and corrupting the Behemoths nearby to get them to fight.
      • Clear all Tallnecks to find these zones on the map easily.

Bronze

Story Trophies

These trophies are obtained through a regular story playthrough of Horizon Zero Dawn and are effectively impossible to miss.

  • Followed Rost’s teachings
    • Learned to hunt and fight alongside Rost.
  • Defeated the Sawtooth
    • Defeated the Sawtooth that threatened the Nora.
  • Triumphed in the Proving
    • Overcame adversity and placed first in the Proving.
  • Learned of the ancient past
    • Learned of the ancient past at Maker’s End.
  • Fought back the corruption
    • Destroyed the corruption inside the Nora valley.
  • Crashed the Eclipse network
    • Infiltrated the Eclipse battle camp and crashed their network.
  • Discovered the truth
    • Discovered the truth of Zero Dawn.
  • Broke the siege of All-Mother
    • Defeated the invaders and went inside the sacred mountain.
  • Recovered a powerful weapon
    • Explored the Mountain That Fell and recovered a powerful weapon.
Sidequests

These are fairly hard to miss for thorough players, but are side quests not main story missions.

  • Victorious with the War-Chief
    • Found the Nora War-Chief and defeated the killers in the Ring of Metal.
  • Saved Meridian from its foe
    • Helped Erend investigate Ersa’s fate, and foiled a plot against Meridian.
  • Aided the defectors
    • Aided the escapes of Uthid and the child king Itamen from the Shadow Carja.
      • This is a late game sidequest unlocked only after getting the special Shadow Carja disguise after a story mission. Simply take the side quest at the Shadow Carja city with the arena.
  • All allies joined
    • Given Aloy’s actions, all possible optional allies joined the defense.
      • There are a few missable allies given Aloy’s choices, but they do not affect this trophy.
      • This will be given during the final mission if all possible allies are available.
      • Heart/Brain/Fist dialog options have no bearing on this. They’re actually pointless specifically to allow you to express yourself rather than play towards some goal a la the paragon/renegade system.
      • Allies will  join given their respective side quests (mostly the above trophy-tied side quests) are completed.
        • Refusing to fight Nil will allow him to join for this mission for example, but you get the trophy either way.

Gameplay Trophies

These trophies are likely to be earned through regular gameplay.

  • Headshot 30 human enemies
    • Killed 30 human enemies by landing headshots on them.
      • Clear Bandit Camps with headshots and this should come in no time.
  • 7 types of machine overridden
    • Unlocked and used the overrides for 7 different types of machine.
  • Tore off 5 heavy weapons
    • Detached 5 heavy weapons from machines during combat.
      • Ravagers and Thunderjaws have detachable weapons on them, the cannons on the backs of Ravagers and the blade launchers on either hip of the Thunderjaw.
  • Stealth killed 10 machines
    • Performed a stealth kill on 10 machines.
      • Very easy, just make sure you’re crouching and have the Silent Strike skill.
  • 10 Vulnerable machine kills
    • Killed 10 machines weak to Fire while burning, or weak to Freeze while frozen.
      • Especially easy with Glinthawks, as they’ll drop from the sky while their Burn meter is full. Pegging them with lots of Fire arrows will get you this in no time.
  • Tore off 10 components
    • Detached 10 components from machines during combat.
  • Reached level 10
    • Reached player level 10.
  • Reached level 25
    • Reached player level 25.
  • Reached level 40
    • Reached player level 40.
  • Reached level 50
    • Reached player level 50.
  • All Skills learned
    • Learned all available skills.
      • Even achieving level 50 won’t be enough for this, but quests give skill points too. If you can’t seem to get this, continue the main quest.
  • First Modification
    • Used a Weapon Coil or Outfit Weave on a modifiable weapon or outfit.
      • Note that even if you don’t have Tinkerer, you can safely put a mod on a weapon/outfit without losing it, you just can’t remove it.
  • First Corrupted Zone cleared
    • Killed all the corrupted machines in a Corrupted Zone.
  • First Tallneck Overridden
    • Scaled a Tallneck and accessed its information.
      • This should be the first thing you do when you see your first Tallneck in Devil’s Thirst, as it will show part of the map and reveal the other 4 Tallneck locations immediately.
  • All Acquisition machines killed
    • Killed at least one of every type of Acquisition machine.
      • This includes Charger, Lancehorn, Rockbreaker, Scrapper, Snapmaw and Trampler machines
  • All Recon machines killed
    • Killed at least one of every type of Reconnaissance machine.
      • This includes Watcher, Redeye Watcher, Glinthawk, Longleg
  • All Combat machines killed
    • Killed at least one of every type of Combat machine.
      • Fire Bellowback, Freeze Bellowback, Sawtooth, Stalker, Stormbird, Ravager, Thunderjaw
  • All Transport machines killed
    • Killed at least one of every type of Transport machine.
      • Broadhead, Grazer, Shell-Walker, Strider, Behemoth.
  • First Bandit Camp cleared
    • Took back a settlement from a bandit clan.
  • 3 Strikes From Above
    • Killed 3 enemies using the Strike from Above skill.
      • If you’re not in a place to do this properly, almost any jump from a place of higher altitude than your target, even just by a foot or two, will put you high enough for a Strike from Above. Just jump directly over them and press the critical hit button when the prompt appears.
        • You do not have to be unseen to execute Strike from Above
  • First Core Overridden
    • Reached the Core of a Cauldron and accessed its information.
Collection Trophies
  • Topple 23 Grazer dummies
    • Found and knocked over all of the Grazer training dummies in the Nora region. Knock them over with a heavy spear attack (R2)
    • Probably the one thing you’re going to really need a map for, you can find them at almost every settlement in the Nora region, but here’s a handy map to be sure.
  • First Ancient Vessel found
    • Found an ancient vessel once used by the Old Ones.
      • Almost any trader will sell you maps that list all locations of Ancient Vessels, Vantages, Metal Flowers and Banuk Figures. They’re cheap, so get them early and keep an eye out.
      • You’ll run close to many collectable locations in your travels, so you can choose whether to focus your efforts or just see how many you pick up as you play the game normally. The rewards are not particularly amazing.
  • All Ancient Vessels found
    • Found all the Ancient Vessels.
  • First Vantage found
    • Found and accessed a Vantage datapoint.
    • Note that the waypoint for a Vantage (and all other collectables) is set at the exact Y axis (height) of the item, even though there’s a range of possible locations on the other two axes. Look for a way where you can reach that height.
  • All Vantages found
    • Found and accessed all of the Vantage datapoints.
  • First Metal Flower found
    • Discovered a strange metal flower.
    • These are most easily found by looking for a large Delta (triangle) shape of purple flowers. A purple collectable Metal Flower will be in the center.
  • All Metal Flowers found
    • Found all of the Metal Flowers.
  • First Banuk Figure found
    • Found a wooden effigy left by a Banuk traveler.
    • There are large, suspiciously Triforce shaped markings on walls leading to these figures, guiding travelers to them. Follow the signs to find these the most easily.
  • All Banuk Figures found
    • Found all of Arnak’s figures.
  • All machines catalogued
    • Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.
      • Just be sure to scan every new thing with the Focus and this isn’t too hard. The most easily missed is the Red Eye Watcher, which doesn’t look so different from the regular Watches but is more heavily armored and shoots energy balls.
      • Redeye Watchers can be found outside the Zeta Caudron on the map, on a high cliff next to the larger entrance (left as you face the entrance).
  • All Suns at one Ground
    • Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground.
  • Blazing Suns at one Ground
    • Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground.
  • Got the Shield-Weaver outfit
    • Recovered an ancient technology and put it to use.
    • South of Devil’s Thirst in the mountains you’ll find a Bunker-icon area that is mostly inaccessible due to needing Power Cells. You can get inside with two, but then you’ll need three more to actually get the item.
      • Most power cells are locked by the story and you’ll need to progress until the second to last mission at least to actually get the armor. Fortunately, it’s by far the best armor in the game!
        • Power Cell locations:
          • Aloy’s first ruins (east of Mother’s Watch)
          • All Mother Mountain (in a side tunnel lit with candles)
            • The gates are usually locked (a bug?), but if you fast travel to it, then leave the gate area and return it may open. Alternately, a later story mission will put you inside there again.
          • Maker’s End, at the very top of the tower
          • The Grave Hoard on the third floor, almost unmissable
          • GAIA Prime, just before the rappel point, turn around and explore

Credits

Thanks to gosunoob.com for the most helpful Grazer Dummies guide I found.

Thanks to Fallen Angel Eyes for some corrections here and there.

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Author: SirTapTap

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