The prequel of Horizon Forbidden West, Zero Dawn, had one particularly powerful armor that can significantly help you play the game, even on Ultra Hard difficulty. The armor, known as Shield-Weaver, is a remarkable outfit which gives Aloy extra health. It regenerates her health every few seconds, extremely reducing our heroine’s vulnerability. To get the armor, you have to complete many quests, but if you would like to learn how to reach the Shield-Weaver armor step by step, go and check out this guide.
Although fans expected to access the armor in Horizon Forbidden West, it didn’t make its way to the sequel and remained OG. However, there is a way to reach a very powerful armor and combine it with the best possible Valor Surge to approximately create the same Shield-Weaver armor. This guide tells you what quests you need to complete and what skills you have to unlock to access the Valor Surge:
Horizon Forbidden West: Barren Light Salvage Contract
The hardest choices require the strongest wills. In order to get the most powerful armor in Forbidden West, you need to complete a very long contract quest. For the first Salvage Contractor, upon finishing The Embassy main quest, head to the outside of the Barren Light to reach a small camp. Find Keruf and Larend, and talk to them. Aloy will then be asked to gather machines parts for the armor they are building.
Convoy Ambush
For the first contract, you have to travel southwest to find a camp. The objective is to take down a Shell-Walker. You will have time when you get there, so make a plan, set some traps, and get ready for an ambush. Rest at the camp and wait. Once the enemy is spotted, defeat and loot it. Return the Shell-Walker’s plating to Larend for the next contract.
Scavengers
This contract asks you to collect some parts from Chargers as Larends thinks there is some space for an excellent addition to the armor. Go to the south of Chainscrape. You will confront a group of Chargers. Easily destroy them and make sure to get 3 Scrapper Jaws. Then, go back to Larend.
Alarm Antennas
Now, you have to collect Scrounger Alarm Antennas. Go to the far east of the map, near Barren Light. At the end of the valley, there is a herd of Scroungers. Kill the machines and loot 3 Scrounger Alarm Antennas. Take them back to Larend.
Elusive Fanghorn
This is the last of Larend’s contracts. Go to the riverbank located in the south of the camp. You will see an Examine Machine Tracks option. In advance, make sure to eliminate any machines nearby, as their presence will deter you from scanning the track. Once the area is clear, use your focus to find Fanghorn’s tracks. Follow the tracks to find the Fanghorn. Pay attention that Fanghorns are fast and can run away from you easily. If you are spotted, it would be hard to catch them on foot. Therefore, ensure to have an overridden Charger behind your back or sneak up on the machine and eliminate it silently. Once you kill it, loot it and go back to Larend to finish the first out of four Salvage contracts.
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- Barren Light Salvage Contract Location
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- Elusive Fanghorn Quest
Horizon Forbidden West: The Stillsands Salvage Contract
For the next Salvage Contract, you need to go to The Stillsands, situated to the northwest of Hidden Embers. When you reach the camp, talk to Runda to start the quest.
Pristine Bellowback
To find Bellowbacks, just head to the north of the camp. Here, you should avoid damaging Bellowback’s Cargo Sacs, as Runda needs them intact. You can either perform silent strikes or use your weapon without hitting the Cargo Sacs. Loot the machine and go back to Runda. She will use the parts to set up a perimeter for security.
Lost Supplies
Runda tells Aloy that their supplies have been lost and scattered out in the desert. For this task, you need to override a Bristleback. To override the machine, you have to first complete the main mission The Dying Lands, which takes you to the TAU Cauldron, allowing you to learn how to override it. You then need to head to the Northern, Center, and Southern Ruins with your Bristleback. Make sure that the area is clear, as enemies can also damage your mount. You should now take the mount to the spot and let it dig the ground. Then, collect the appeared supplies and take them back to Runda.
Missing Gear
Now, you should go to the location you were told to examine a broken cart. Some burrowers will spawn. Kill them and wait for a Sunwing to come and take away the burrower. Follow the Sunwing without being detected. It will take you to its nest. All you need to do now is to loot the nest and gain a scrap pile. Return the missing gear to Runda.
Rollerback Salvage
In the final of Runda’s contract, you must head to the southwest of Hidden Ember near the mountains where you will recover 5 pieces of Rollerback Salvage. Once you reach there, a giant Shellsnapper will welcome you. Make sure to be well-equipped, as these machines are formidable and difficult to defeat. Kill the Shellsnapper, loot the parts, and return to Runda.
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- The Stillsands Salvage Contract Location
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- Lost Supplies Quest
Horizon Forbidden West: The Greenswell Salvage Contract
For the second-to-last Salvage Contract quest, you need to go to the northest of the Scalding Spear. Talk to Handa to give you 5 different contracts.
Plowhorns and Plants
For Handa’s armor, you should move to the northeastern area of the camp where you can observe two Plowhorns and their plants, coming out on their tracking path. Killing the Plowhorns is obligatory, while collecting the berries is optional as Handa only needs them to make a special Utaru drink. Gather the items and return to Handa.
Property Retrieval
Go to the northwest of Bleeding Mark. Find the tracks, highlight, and follow them. The tracks take you to a Snapmaw. Kill it, and then, collect the stolen treasure map from the bodies. The map gives you the location of the Ancient Ruins. Use the yellow lines indicating a climbing spot to climb the tower and get to the rooftop. Collect the Ancient Relics and return to Handa.
Ravager Cannon
For this quest, go to the same place the previous task took place. You will reach the Ravager site. Once you spot a Ravager, kill it without damaging its cannon. You can in this case avoid using explosive weapons and acid arrows. Pick up the Ravager cannon and take it to the drop-off point. Return to Handa and let her know what you did.
Ancient Relics
Now, you should look for Ancient Relics, similar to the Property Retrieval. One is located in the north of the camp, and the other one in the south. The objective is to find seven relics, so search the area and try to pry open the trunks and doors. Once you collect all of them, go back to Handa.
Speedy Lancehorns
For the last quest, you will have to kill 6 Lancehorns. You can also use your mount, as they always run away quickly. Collect the parts and go back to Handa. When you return to the camp, it’s under attack. There is a Ravager cannon ready to use and simply defeat the machines. Finally, Handa will reward you with a very practical Boltblaster weapon. When you go back to the camp, you will see Handa working on making her armor.
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- The Greenswell Salvage Contract Location
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- Plowhorns and Plants Quest
Horizon Forbidden West: The Raintrace Salvage Contract
This is the very last Salvage Contractor, Danur. You can find him in the east of Thornmarsh. When you reach him, he and his allies are fighting a Stalker. Help them defeat the machine and begin the quests by speaking with him.
Mine Launchers
Right after defeating the machine, loot them and talk to Danur. You will see that one of the contracts is ready to be finished, as Danur needs Stalker Mine Launchers to secure his camp and you have already collected them.
Colleague and Key
Next, you need to seek some keys Danur tells you about. The keys belong to one of Danur’s crew, Warend, and it can open up a locked trunk that has some information about an armor. You should head to the south of the camp where you can find tracks to highlight and follow. In the waterfall, kill the machines and examine the corpse. Keep investigating the area until you find a Disc Launcher. Use it against the Clamberjaws appearing on top of the mountain. Then, climb the mountain and loot the scrap pile. Bring it back to Danur.
Reinforced Components
The reinforced components quest takes place in the southwest of Thornmarsh along the ocean where there is a Behemoth awaiting for you. Since Behemoths are extremely dangerous, you can climb up a cliff and attack it from above. You need a strategy here. First, take a few shots at the Behemoth and wait for the Spikesnouts to reinforce. Once a red sign above the machine appears, it’s time to destroy it. If the reinforcement turns off, wait again for the machine to reinforce. Once it’s destroyed, loot and go back to Danur.
Underwater Salvage
Eventually, this is the last quest to complete. This time, you should go underwater. Head to the spot in the north of Thornmarsh. For this task, you should first finish The Sea of Sands main mission as Aloy will receive a diving mask, allowing her to breath underwater. Dive into the water and collect 4 pieces of salvage. There are also Snapmaws swimming in the water, so make sure to avoid them by hiding in the bushes as Aloy is completely vulnerable underwater and can’t attack machines. Go back to Danur and fight with the Tenakth who have invaded the camp and finish the quest.
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- The Raintrace Salvage Contract Location
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- Underwater Salvage Quest
Oseram Artificer Armor
Once you have completed all the salvage contracts, to claim the best reward ever, head back to where it all began, the camp outside of the Barren Light. You will see all salvage contractors getting together. You are now eventually given the most powerful armor in Horizon Forbidden West, the legendary Oseram Artificer. Although the path to obtain the armor takes too long, the reward is undoubtedly worth it. It’s extremely effective against almost all attacks. It can resist at least 30 damage from explosion, fire, shock, purge water, and acid. The only catch, which is definitely not concerning, is that it increases taking damage from frost and plasma attacks. It can level up to five phases, and once upgraded, the resistance to attacks massively jumps to over 55, along with a noticeable reduction for frost and plasma, from 40 to 5. There are also 4 different dye options for this armor, each costing 25 Metal Shards.
Oseram Artificer Armor
Overshield Valor Surge
In Forbidden West, there is an Overshield Valor Surge which has a feature similar to what the Shield-Weaver armor does. Once you activate Overshield, it starts creating a special damage-absorbing energy shield. It keeps generating until you run out of valor energy. To unlock this armor:
- Head to the Survivor skill tree.
- You have to unlock many skills to reach the Valor Surge. To optimize the path, in the first row, only unlock Potent Medicine, Low Health Regen, Potion Proficiency, Valor on Impact, Medicine Capacity, and Low Health Defense.
- In the second row, unlock Low Health Regen, Potion Proficiency, Potent Medicine, Low Health Ranged, and Low Health Melee.
- Obtain the Overshield Valor Surge.
The ability creates a shield with 125 health bars at level 1. At maximum level 3, the shield health reaches 400 and deflects 20% of melee damage. Also, at this level, When the shield explodes, it deals shock damage to surrounding objects.
With the combination of the Oseram Artificer armor and the Overshield Valor Surge, you now own the powerful OG Shield-Weaver armor. Now, you can enjoy challenging yourself by setting the difficulty on Ultra Hard without being worried about getting easily killed by the machines.
Maximum-level Overshield Valor Surge
