This gaming guide is designed to help you obtain all achievements in the game Horizon Forbidden West™ Complete Edition. It covers missable achievements and time-saving tips, and all achievements are written in text format for easy searching. Happy Achievement Hunting!
Introduction
Estimated time to complete: 55-70 hrs
Offline achievements: 80
Online achievements: 0
Playthroughs required: 2
Difficulty achievements: Yes, but Ultra Hard difficulty is only unlocked after beating the game once.
Missable achievements: 1
DLC achievements: Yes, but the Steam version comes with all DLCs
Welcome to my Horizon Forbidden West 100% guide, unlike the previous installment and contrary to the title you only need to do ~50% of the games content to actually 100% it so it’s a short and easy one, this is the type of game that you would 100% naturally just by playing as long as you keep a lookout for the missable achievement. For efficiency sake it’s best to grab the two missable scans then save the rest of the collectibles and side content for post story completion as you will get an unlock, Flying Mount , that will make the process easier, but it’s up to you how you go about it.
Missable
There are 43 machines to scan, two of which aren’t available in the open world. Specter and Specter Prime are both encountered in “Main Quest 17: Singularity” so make sure to scan them as missions can’t be replayed. Specter can also be encountered in New Game+ or the during the Burning Shores DLC, while Specter Prime after a PlayStation patch is supposedly unlocked automatically during the story (though I can’t confirm as I did it before the patch on console) but It’s better to get the scans as soon as possible just to safe.
Before being able to fight The Enduring you will first have to complete 4 Melee Pits to prove your worth, Melee combos are required to challenge all the pits so it’s best to invest stat points early into the “Warrior” skill tree to unlock them so you don’t have to grind stat points later.
Story
Self Explanatory, none of these can be missed as they are acquired by playing through the story. As the game requires you to do a secondary playthrough for New Game+ and the Ultra Hard difficulty which are both only unlocked after first playthrough, it’s best to take it casually on your first playthrough.
Side Quests
There are three side quests part of a quest chain tied to this achievement, they are:
1.) Thirst for The Hunt (quest location in Arrowhand)
2.) The Wound in The Sand (starts upon completion of last quest)
3.) The Gate of the Vanquished (starts upon completion of last quest)
There are four side quests part of a chain tied to this achievement, the quests are:
1.) Shadow from the Past (quest location in Barren Light)
2.) Shadow in the West (starts upon completion of last quest)
3.) The Twilight Path (quest location in Chainscrape)
4.) The Bristlebacks (quest location in Chainscrape)
To do this achievement you just have to complete the What Was Lost Quest found in either The Base (during story) / The Memorial Grove (post story) depending when you choose to start it.
This achievement is tied to the quest The Second Verse found in the The Base (during story)/ Plainsong (after story) depending when you choose to start it.
This achievement requires the quest Forbidden Legacy found in The Base (during story) / Legacy’s Landfall (after story) to be complete.
There are four flying mount quests available, you just need to do two of them. The quests are:
1.) Shining Example (quest location in Arrowhead)
2.) First to Fly (quest location in The Bulwark)
3.) The Way Home (quest location in Legacy’s Landfall)
4.) Tides of Justice (quest location in Tide’s Reach)
Collectibles/Points of Interest
Tallnecks unfog the map and unlock icons for other points of interests on the map, there are 6 of them. 1 is unlocked in the story, the other 4 have icons on the map even if the map is fogged and the 6th one is found inside the IOTA Cauldron.
The arena is found near the center of the map, called “The Maw of the Arena” on the map. It’s directly north of “The Memorial Grove” which is a story related settlement. You just need to complete 1 full set of the easiest difficulty “Amateur Tier”.
There are 4 Hunting Grounds with 3 Trials each for a total of 12 Trials, you just need to earn the lowest stripe in all of them for the achievement. Video below has all their locations:
There are 6 cauldrons required for this achievement, cauldrons unlock overrides for different machines. Video Below has all their locations:
You need to clear 6 rebel camps before being able to fight Asera. Video below shows the location of those camps:
There are 17 Rebel Outposts on the map, you only need 4 of them for the achievement. They’re marked as well if you’ve been in their general location.
There are 4 Gauntlet Runs in the game, only 2 are required for the achievement. Video below shows their locations:
There are 4 Salvage Contractor locations, for the achievement you only need to do all contracts at one location. Video below provides all their locations:
Miscellaneous/Cumalative
Unlocked naturally with completion of main story and side content. Should be no need to grind this out.
The easiest way to get this is simply buying them off Merchants. There are 8 weapon classes in total, list below:
1.) Hunter Bow
2.) Warrior Bow
3.) Sharpshot Bow
4.) Blastslings
5.) Tripcaster
6.) Ropecaster
7.) Shredder Gauntlet
8.) Spike Thrower
9.) Boltblaster
Valor Surge are passive perks on the skill trees, you must first unlock the skills connected to it before unlocking and upgrading them using skill points
This can be done easiest using uncommon weapons and outfits as they only require 3 upgrades and common materials.
Pouches are upgraded at workbenches, if you’re short on materials using the “Create Job” function while in the upgrade menu will create a quest marker leading to the materials you require.
Weapon techniques are unlocked via the skill tree and unlock new weapon combos, make sure to get 3 techniques for different weapons and not for the same one.
You need to unlock all the sklls from 1 of the 6 skill trees, the cheapest would be Trapper but the best one is probably Warrior. The 6 available skills trees are:
1.) Warrior (31 skills)
2.) Trapper (20 skills)
3.) Hunter (29 skills)
4.) Survivor (29 skills)
5.) Infiltrator (27 skills)
6.) Machine Master (26 skills)
To ride mounts you’ll need to unlock their specific overrides with cauldrons, Bristleback is unlocked with the TAU Cauldron as part of the main quest, the Charger is unlocked by default, and the Clawstrider is unlocked with the IOTA Cauldron.
You just need to use the Shieldwing to glide down from a high area, there are many opportunities and locations to get this but the easiest way to go about is unlocking a flying mount which is required anyways for the Completed 2 Flying Mount Quests achievement then simply fly up and jump off it.
Machine strike is a board game marked by a blue cube icon in all big settlements, you just need to head to two different locations and defeat your opponent.
Coils and be equipped by selecting your weapon in the inventory screen, how many coils can be put on a weapon depends on its rarity. To equip two coils you’ll need at least a Rare weapon.
Dying armor can be done at dye merchants, and is entirely cosmetic. There are 3 dye merchants (represented by a bowl icon), they’re located in Plainsong, Scalding Spear and Thornmarsh.
Combat/Machines
There are 18 Acquisition Machine types, you need to defeat one of each type. I’ve list them below:
1.) Grazer
2.) Scrounger
3.) Scrapper
4.) Spikesnout
5.) Plowhorn
6.) Charger
7.) Lancehorn
8.) Bristleback
9.) Fanghorn
10.) Widemaw
11.) Glinthawk
12.) Snapmaw
13.) Sunwing
14.) Clamberjaw
15.) Rockbreaker
16.) Tideripper
17.) Frostclaw
18.) Fireclaw
There are 4 Reconnaissance Machine types, you need to defeat one of eaeh type. I’ve list them below:
1.) Burrower
2.) Skydrifter
3.) Longleg
4.) Redeye Watcher
There are 15 Combat Machine types, you need to defeat one of eaeh type. I’ve list them below:
1.) Clawstrider
2.) Corruptor
3.) Stalker
4.) Grimhorn
5.) Ravager
6.) Dreadwing
7.) Shellsnapper
8.) Stormbird
9.) Thunderjaw
10.) Scorcher
11.) Slitherfang
12.) Tremortusk
13.) Slaughterspine
14.) Specter
15.) Specter Prime
There are 5 Transport Machine types, you need to defeat one of eaeh type. I’ve list them below:
1.) Leaplasher
2.) Bellowback
3.) Shell-Walker
4.) Rollerback
5.) Behemoth
To know which states you’ve already applied you can keep track of them in the Statistics section of the Notebook, to apply states you either need to either shoot weak spots on machines or use weapons with elemental effects.
Melee combos are unblocked in the Warrior skill tree, you need to land 3 different ones for this achievement which should be earned naturally while completing the Melee Pits for the The Enduring achievement.
To do this achievement you must first execute a silent strike takedown while sneaking up on an enemy without being seen (helps to be crouched). Do this on small machines so they’ll actually be killed by the silent strike.
All machines have weak points that can be shot of during battle, this will most likely be earned naturally while playing to get other achievements.
Heavy weapons are weapon parts that can be shot off certain Combat type machines, you just need to pick it up when dropped 5 different times. Below I’ve provided a list of enemies that drop heavy weapons:
1.) Stalker (Stalker Dart Gun)
2.) Grimhorn (Grimhorn Cluster Launcher)
3.) Ravager (Ravager Cannon)
4.) Dreadwing (Dreadwing Bomb Launcher)
5.) Shellsnapper (Shellsnapper Frost Blaster)
6.) Thunderjaw (Thunderjaw Disc Launcher)
7.) Scorcher (Scorcher Mine Launcher)
8.) Slitherfang (Slitherfang Shock Orb)
9.) Tremortusk (Tremortusk Shock Cannon + Tremortusk Plasma Cannon)
10.) Slaughterspine (Slaughterspine Plasma Spine Launcher)
11.) Specter / Specter Prime (Specter Pulse Cannon)
Machine overrides are unlocked at cauldrons which you get naturally while going for All Cores Overridden achievement, after unlocking them simply sneak up to a machine and hold the button prompted. Repeat 9 more times on different ones, 40 of the 43 machines in the base game can be overridden.
[DLC] Burning Shores pt.1
These are unlocked by progressing through the 5 Main story missions of the DLC.
For this achievement you have to complete both the side quest “The Splinter Within” and “In His Wake” which you will obtain naturally while going for the All Quests Completed achievement.
Simply complete the 5 story missions then the 3 side quests for this achievement. The Side Quests are:
1.) The Splinter Within (Central Fleet’s End)
2.) In His Wake (Eastern end of Fleet’s End, Mandatory to continue Main Quest)
3.) A Friend in the Dark (unlocked upon completion of the Murmuring Hollow Relic Ruins puzzle)
Five figurines are required to be found before being able to answer any questions at the quiz terminals located in the central area of the park. The figurines are marked on the map by a dinosaur icon, or a ? if the location is undiscovered.
There are 7 trinkets that need to be found and provide hint’s towards the location of the Delver’s Trove, you must acquire them all then the chest for the achievement. The locations are very off road and even with screenshots can be difficult to track so below I provided a video guide with their locations. If someone makes a guide in the future I’ll link that as well.
There are 6 total Aerial Captures, the first 5 are done via a scannable box that can be found using focus within a few hundred feet of their location. The 6th one is found via a quest unlocked automatically upon completing the first 5 captures.
If you have difficulty finding them, this video guide shows their locations.
4 New Machines to scan, none of which are missable. They are:
1.) Stingspawn (First Encountered in first Main story mission To the Burning Shores)
2.) Bilegut (First Encountered in first Main story mission To the Burning Shores)
3.) Waterwing (First Encountered in fourth Main story mission For His Amusement)
4.) Horus (Mandatory scan in fifth Main story mission His Final Act)
Cauldron THETA is located on the Eastern side of the map (refer to image below), however the main entrance is inassessible so you have to take a detour to a nearby cave near the lava. It’s very similar to the base game except with some geyser platforming.
(Credit: Swotam and Argandalf_01 on psnprofiles)
With the Burning Shores DLC comes the addition of two new skills and a Valor Surge per skill tree, each skill costs 2 Skill Points while Valor Surges cost 8 for a total of 72 Skill points. This should be obtained naturally while doing everything else in the DLC.
If you were already lvl 50 before entering the DLC then this achievement should be earned naturally with the completion of the main quests and side content.
Specter Gauntlet Upgraded
The Specter gauntlet is unlocked during the third Main Quest The Stars In Their Eyes, the upgrade component is unlocked during the mandatory side quest In His Wake. Once you’ve obtained the upgrade component you can upgrade in Fleet’s End via the workbench.
[DLC] Burning Shores pt.2
Brimeshine is a mineral found around the Burning shores, it has the appearance of a yellow ore. Brimshine is used to purchase weapons and outfits from the DLC, of which there are 3 and 6 respectively though you only need to purchase one of each. Going for the The Delver’s Trove achievement should provide you plenty to meet that requirement.
For this achievement you need to acquire and equip an Elite Weapon Coil or Elite Armor Weave, which can be gotten from defeating machines or from vendors in Fleet’s End. The easiest way is to get one inside the Delver’s Trove while going for that achievement.
For this achievement you must unlock Machine Grapple skill from the Hunter tree, and ideally the Knockdown Shot from the same skill tree. Land a Knockdown Shot on a machine, when knocked down you simply have to press the grapple prompt. Repeat 4 more times with different machines.
For this you’ll need the Specter Gauntlet acquired via Main mission three The Stars In Their Eyes and the Glide Targeting skill from the Hunter skill tree. From there just find some weak mobs and kill 5 of them.
Bileguts and Stingspawn are exclusive enemies to the DLC, by the end of the main story you should be around half way complete with this. The rest can be farmed, Bileguts in Bileguts sites and Stingspawn inside the THETA Cauldron.
New Game+
If you choose to immediately hop into New Game+ on Ultra Hard difficulty both achievements will pop at the same time upon story completion.
There are 8 Legendary Weapons, 4 Dyes, and 5 face paints required for this achievement, they are all purchased via Champion’s tokens which are awarded for completing main story and side story content. You need 125 total tokens to unlock everything, the main story gives you 30. Errands give 1 token. Gauntlet, ruins, and side quests give 2 tokens, Cauldrons and rebel camps give 3 tokens. It may be faster to just do a second NG+ story run to get an extra 30 than grinding out side content once you reach 95 tokens.
The final achievement obtained once all others are acquired.
Conclusion
And that’s all for the 100%, Let me know if I missed anything or of any glitches you encounter so I can update the guide to warn others. Happy Hunting Folks!
And that wraps up our share on Horizon Forbidden West™ Complete Edition: 100% Achievement Guide ~ Horizon Forbidden West. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by Dragon, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!