Horizon Zero Dawn [+DLC] - 100% Achievement Guide

No missable achievements - Full NG+ playthrough on Ultra Hard difficulty required.

The stuff you want to know about

The Sequel Horizon Forbidden West is out now!

If this guide right here was a help to you, I'd be honored to be of assistance to you once more:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3194697969

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Attention:
Several people in the comment section reported, that meeting achievement requirements while playing offline effectively locks you out of obtaining those achievements, even if done again after coming online!

Okay, so, there are no actually missable achievements in the game.
After you've completed the last main mission, you'll be put back right before it.
But if you dislike doing the same thing more often than necessary, make sure to check out the following 2 achievements:

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All machines catalogued	Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.

The full list of all machines isn't necessary at this point; just remember to scan every machine upon seeing it for the first time. There are 2 distinctive story-exclusive machines, which you only encounter a few times and only during main story mission. Make sure to scan them.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All allies joined	Given Aloy's actions, all possible optional allies joined the defense.

Play the game however you want until the second-to-last main mission "The Looming Shadow".
Even after starting that quest, you can play until you're warned, that there is no way back.

When you're at this point, check the "list of all allies" chapter below, if you've done all the necessary side quests in order to unlock all of them. You can do those side quests whenever you want.


And upon selecting to rest, you will be warned again:


Even if you've missed either of the 2 achievements above, you may as well grab them in NewGame+, instead of redoing the final mission, since you're gonna have to play another round anyway:

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Ultra Hard Completed	Completed a New Game+ playthrough on Ultra Hard difficulty.

The difficulty for your first run does not matter.

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And then there are the Open World collectibles. While not missable, it's a pain to backtrack them at the end. Most merchants in the game sell maps for all the collectibles under their "special items" tab.
You'll want to buy those maps rather early and collect all the stuff highlighted by the maps while you're close to them.



You will also need to complete basically all side missions and errands you come across, since several of them reward you with skill points, which you actually need to unlock all skills.

The DLC's story is intended to be played AFTER finishing the main story.
Avoid going there early, as it contains some major spoilers.



And finally - Here are some other steam guides you might find useful:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2190192369
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2191861858
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2546519883

Story

You need to explicitly finish a NG+ run on Ultra Hard, so play whichever difficulty you fancy for the first run.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	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.
	Victorious with the War-Chief	Found the Nora War-Chief and defeated the killers in the Ring of Metal.
	Fought back the corruption	Destroyed the corruption inside the Nora valley.
	Saved Meridian from its foe	Helped Erend investigate Ersa's fate, and foiled a plot against Meridian.
	Learned of the ancient past	Learned of the ancient past at Maker's End.
	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.

Up until this point, nothing is missable. So just play whichever way you want.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All allies joined	Given Aloy's actions, all possible optional allies joined the defense.

In order to recruit all allies, you need to finish several side quests scattered all over the map.
Some quests will only unlock later in the story, but they will stay available until the end of the game.
The first chapter of this guide will show you the point of no return.

The bandit hunter named Nil is actually NOT needed for the achievement, even though he can show up for the defense, if you let him live.

For the complete list of allies, check the chapter right below this one.
Note that the final mission is repeatable infinitely, and thus you can grab all allies after having already completed it once, then just do it again.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Ended the war machine threat	Ended the threat of the ancient war machines.

Remember to scan the non-dinosaur machines during the final boss fight with your focus for the "All machines catalogued" achievement, if you haven't already done so on earlier occasions in the story.

The list of all Allies

Okay, so, here's the full list of all allies, promised in the chapter above.

Note, that the bandit hunter Nil is actually not required for this achievement, even though he is a possible ally.
Thanks to Akylios for pointing this out.

• Aluki
  
  • Side Quest: A Moment's Peace | Level 12
    
  
  
• Nakoa
  
  • Side Quest: A Daughter's Vengeance | Level 15
    
  
  
• Namman
  
  • Side Quest: Honor the Fallen | Level 16
    
  
  
• Elida
  
  • Side Quest: Sun and Shadow | Level 20
    
  
  
• Janeva
  
  • Side Quest: Sunstone Rock | Level 20
    
  
  
• Uthid
  
  • Side Quest: Traitor's Bounty | Level 21
    (automatically picked up during the main story)
    
  
  
• Vanasha
  
  • Side Quest: Queen's Gambit | Level 28
    (automatically picked up straight after completing the quest for the ally just above)
    
  • This will also unlock:
    

    Picture	Achievement	Description
    	Aided the defectors	Aided the escapes of Uthid and the child king Itamen from the Shadow Carja.

  
  
• Talanah
  
  • Side Quests (each of them automatically starts the next):
    Hunting for the Lodge | Level 16
    Hunter's Blind | Level 12
    Deadliest Game | Level 18
    Redmaw | Level 19
    
  • This will also unlock:
    

    Picture	Achievement	Description
    	Hunted Redmaw with Talanah	Rose through the ranks of the Hunters Lodge and helped Talanah defeat Redmaw.

Level Ups and Skills

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Reached level 10 Reached level 25 Reached level 40	Reached player level 10. Reached player level 25. Reached player level 40.
	Reached level 50 Reached level 60	Reached player level 50. Reached player level 60.
	All Skills learned All Frozen Wilds Skills	Learned all available skills. Learned all of the new skills in the Frozen Wilds.

This is rather straight-forward. Kill everything you come across, complete all quests and invest all your skill points.



Amoung those skills, you will find what you need to unlock:

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Stealth killed 10 machines	Performed a stealth kill on 10 machines.
	3 Strikes From Above	Killed 3 enemies using the Strike from Above skill.
	5 Machine Types Repaired	Used the Machine Repair or Mount Repair skill on 5 different types of machine.
	5 Dismount Strikes	Killed 5 enemies using the Dismount Strike skill.

Once you unlocked the skills, you shouldn't have any problems unlocking the achievements as well.

Machines & Combat

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Headshot 30 human enemies	Killed 30 human enemies by landing headshots on them.

Self-explanatory. There are by far enough human enemies in the game to unlock this without any problems.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Tore off 10 components	Detached 10 components from machines during combat.
	Tore off 5 heavy weapons	Detached 5 heavy weapons from machines during combat.

It's completely impossible not to tore off 10 components while playing the game.
Heavy weapons on the other hand are somewhat rare.
There are but 3 machines in the game, which are equipped with such weapons:

• Ravager - 1 "Ravager Cannon"
  
• Thunderjaw - 2 "Disc Launcher"
  
• Deathbringer - 2 "Gun Turret"

Picture	Achievement	Description
	10 Vulnerable machine kills	Killed 10 machines weak to Fire while burning, or weak to Freeze while frozen.

Should come naturally. Fire and Freeze are actually really strong in Horizon, so you'd do yourself a favor by using them.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	7 types of machine overridden	Unlocked and used the overrides for 7 different types of machine.

You'll automatically unlock the ability to override machines early on in the story. You won't be able to override all machines from the get go, though. In order to unlock more overrides, you need to complete the Cauldrons (the sci-fi dungeons), which are revealed on your map by overriding a tallneck.
Here's the full table of overrides:

Cauldron PSI	Cauldron SIGMA	Cauldron XI	Cauldron RHO	Cauldron ZETA
Watchers Tallnecks Striders Chargers Broadheads	Grazers Scrappers Lancehorns Sawtooths	Glinthawks Stalkers Bellowbacks Behemoths	Longlegs Shell-Walkers Tramplers Ravagers Snapmaws	Rockbreakers Stormbirds Thunderjaws

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All Acquisition machines killed	Killed at least one of every type of Acquisition machine.
	All Recon machines killed	Killed at least one of every type of Reconnaissance machine.
	All Transport machines killed	Killed at least one of every type of Transport machine.
	All Combat machines killed	Killed at least one of every type of Combat machine.
	All machines catalogued	Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.

Well, scan and kill every type of machine in the game.
Already killed machines can still be scanned with your focus.

You can use your notebook to check, which machines you've already scanned.

Make sure to scan the Non-Dinosaur machines, when you have the chance to do so during certain main story missions, as you gonna have to replay the very lengthy final mission an extra time, if you skip this for too long.

Acquisition	Recon	Transport	Combat
Broadhead Charger Glinthawk Grazer Lancehorn Rockbreaker Scrapper Snapmaw Strider Trampler	Longleg Watcher Redeye Watcher	Behemoth Fire Bellowback Freeze Bellowback Shell-Walker	Ravager Sawtooth Stalker Stormbird Thunderjaw

You should cross paths with all of them naturally, while going for all the other achievements.

Open World

Note, that all the achievements in this chapter exclude the DLC region in the northeast of the map.

First	All	Achievement	Description
		First & All Tallnecks Overridden	Scaled a Tallneck and accessed its information. Scaled all of the Tallnecks and accessed their information.
		First & All Bandit Camps cleared	Took back a settlement from a bandit clan. Took back all settlements from the bandit clans.
		First & All Corrupted Zones cleared	Killed all the corrupted machines in a Corrupted Zone. Killed all the corrupted machines in every Corrupted Zone.
		First & All Cores Overridden	Reached the Core of a Cauldron. Reached the Core of every Cauldron.
		All Suns - at one Ground - at all Grounds	Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all three trials - at one Hunting Ground. - at all of the Hunting Grounds.
		Blazing Suns - at one Ground - at all Grounds	Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all three trials - at one Hunting Ground. - at all of the Hunting Grounds.

These achievements are pretty self-explanatory.
Override all the Tallnecks and the locations for the other activities will be revealed on the map.

First	All	Achievement	Description
		First & All Vantages found	Found and accessed a Vantage datapoint. Found and accessed all of the Vantage datapoints.
		First & All Metal Flowers found	Discovered a strange metal flower. Found all of the Metal Flowers.
		First & All Banuk Figures found	Found a wooden effigy left by a Banuk traveler. Found all of Arnak's figures.
		First & All Ancient Vessels found	Found an ancient vessel once used by the Old Ones. Found all the Ancient Vessels.

You can actually buy some maps at most merchants under the "Special Items" tab, which roughly display all their locations.



That being said, here are a few further hints on how to locate them exactly:

Vantage Points (12):	Metal Flowers (30):
While you can not Focus-search for Vantage Points, they are always right next to a supply crate, for which you CAN Focus-search.	You can directly Focus-search for Metal Flowers. They are always surrounded by a triangle of normal flowers.

Banuk Figures (6):	Ancient Vessels (12):
Banuk Figures are always right next to a slope. As such, they are the easiest to spot.	Ancient Vessels appear as "Ancient Debris", when you're Focus-searching for them.

Miscellaneous

Picture	Achievement	Description
	First Modification	Used a Weapon Coil or Outfit Weave on a modifiable weapon or outfit.

Modifications are uncommon drops from killed machines.
To use them, open your menu, go to crafting, choose weapons or outfits, pick a weapon/outfit with an empty slot and choose a mod to equip.
You'll be given your first outfit with a slot just before the Proving.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Downed 23 Grazer dummies	Found and knocked over all of the Grazer training dummies in the Nora region.

Here's a screenshot with all locations (click to expand):

• 

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Got the Shield-Weaver outfit	Recovered an ancient technology and put it to use.

Refer to this steam guide:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2190278773

DLC - Frozen Wilds

Yes, the DLC is already included and does not need to be purchased separately.

All of the achievements below refer to the snowy area in the north-east corner of the map:

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Took the Shaman's Path	Survived the Shaman's Path and found Ourea's retreat.
	Won the Werak Challenge	Challenged Aratak at the Frostfigures and won.
	Completed the Second Expedition	Successfully assaulted Thunder's Drum.
	Conquered the Mountain	Drove out the threat within the mountain.

These 4 are the story achievements of the DLC and therefor impossible to miss.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All Activities completed	Completed the Tallneck, Bandit Camp and Hunting Ground in the Cut.
	All Control Towers disabled	Disabled all Control Towers by overriding or destroying them.

Clear the open world activities. Basically identical to the base game versions.
You need to have finished the second DLC story mission - the one which unlocks "Won the Werak Challenge" - in order to be able to attempt all Hunting Ground trials.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All Pigments Found	Found all of the Pigments in the Cut.
	All Animal Figurines found	Found all of the Animal Figurines in the Cut.
	First Bluegleam Trade	Traded Bluegleam for a special weapon or outfit.

Just buy the 3 maps for the collectibles, just as for the base game collectibles.
You don't even to need to collect the Bluegleam. You might just ignore it and the map alltogether; you get by far enough for one trade as quest rewards. You might just get enough for three, actually.
And if you're looking for that last Animal Figurine - it's in the hut at the end of "The Shaman's Path":

Picture	Achievement	Description
	First Spear Modification	Applied a modification to your spear.

Complete the errand "A Secret Shared", which you can start just north of the entrance village to the DLC, and you'll unlock a mod slot for your spear. Put a mod inside it via the crafting menu.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Drained the Flood	Completely drained the floodwater from inside the Greycatch.

This is part of the side quest "Waterlogged", which you can start at the entrance village to the DLC. Pretty late into the quest, there's an optional bunker door with a pipe puzzle behind it. You need to complete both the puzzle and the quest, in order to unlock the achievement. You can come back after completing the quest; I'd advice to do it right away, though.

• 

The puzzle then looks like this:

• 

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Won Ikrie's Challenge	Met Ikrie again at the Snowchants Hunting Ground and took first place in her challenge.

Visit the camp just southwest of the Hunting Grounds to start the side quest "Survivor". During that quest, you'll meet Ikrie. Finish the quest and find her at the Snowchants Hunting Grounds afterwards to take the errand "Ikrie's Challenge".

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Fully Improved Weapons	Acquired the improved versions of three weapons from Varga.

Find Varga, next to the Bluegleam trader in the south-east of the new region.
Once you've aquired the Forgefire, the Stormslinger and the Ice Rail, which are awarded for completing the first 2 main missions of the DLC and killing the leader of the only bandit camp, Varga will give you 3 errands to gear up the 3 beforementioned weapons. Upon completing all 3 errands, the achievement will unlock.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All Quests completed	Completed all side quests and errands in the Frozen Wilds.

After you've unlocked the 4 achievements just above this one, you're still 2 side quests and 2 errands short of this achievement.

• Errand | Out of the Forge - Automatically started upon completing the DLC's main story
  
• Errand | The Claws Beneath - Given by a Banuk close to the Bluegleam trader in the southeast corner of the region; right next to where you took Varga's errands.
  
• Side Quest | The Hunter's Three - After completing the "The Shaman's Path" DLC main mission, return to Burgrend at the entrance village to the region to accept this quest.
  
• Side Quest | Frontier Justice - After completing the DLC's story, you'll be able to accept this quest at the entrance village as well.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	Killed 15 Scorchers	Killed 15 Scorcher machines.
	Killed 10 Frostclaws	Killed 10 Frostclaw machines.
	Killed 6 Fireclaws	Killed 6 Fireclaw machines.

Well, have fun with the DLC exclusive machines. Fireclaws unlock late into the DLC's story.

New Game +

Picture	Achievement	Description
	New Game+ Completed	Completed a New Game+ playthrough on any difficulty.
	Ultra Hard Completed	Completed a New Game+ playthrough on Ultra Hard difficulty.

You only need to do 1 NG+ playthrough. Both achievements unlock at once, if you've played it on Ultra Hard.
Upon selecting to start New Game+ from the main menu, you'll be asked which difficulty you want to play it on. Starting NG+ creates a new save file, and you'll still be able to continue your non-NG+ save afterwards.

The DLC section is NOT required for this, neither are the base game side missions.
(-> Yes, the heavy artillery weapon in the final mission of the game, crafted by the character Petra, IS still available, even if you never even talked to her or started her quest.)

Well, prepare yourself in the first run. All your aquired equipment and invested skill points carry over.
Since you need to earn all Blazing Suns at all Hunting Grounds for another achievement anyway, you might as well grab the Hunters Lodge's special weapons in Meridian.
Make sure to also finish the DLC region in your first run, since you'll be getting really useful equipment there.
Apart from that: Just go for it. If you've already finished the game once, you'll know what to do. The NG+ run shouldn't be longer than 10 hours at max, if you focus on the main story.

Picture	Achievement	Description
	All trophies obtained	Obtained all Horizon Zero Dawn trophies.

Straight forward and self-explanatory.
Have fun with Horizon Zero Dawn! =)

[Hardtskjell Hostvind]

well, I played the game naturally (I have a "leave no stone unturned" personality) and ended up with 3 left: New Game+, Ultra Hard and all achievements. Before the last mission I had nothing to backtrack.

[__trap]

@moonCrocodile - you can check you have 23 from the statistics page in the menu. If you have missed any, they show up on the focus so I just jumped around the camp sites making sure I had all listed on the map. I had missed the one by the trader, rather than directly in a village.

You can check whether its an unseen one by walking into it. If you've toppled it it will fall over with out hitting it.

[MoonCrocodile]

The 23 Grazer dummies achievement isn‘t working. Any tips?

[zil]

@ironwolftamer Works for me. Corrupted machines doesn't count for this achievement. You need to kill normal version. Maybe this will help someone. There is also a list of all kills in the stats of your playthrough.

[ironwolftamer]

Also is anyone else having issues getting the combat machine kills specifically? I have multiple kills of each and went around and killed each one in the wild just to be sure but I still don't have it...

[ironwolftamer]

The machine in between the fire bellowback and charger is the ice bellowback. The only 2 flying machines are the glinthawks and thunderbird.

[Nicky]

I have a question about "All machines catalogued" what is with the "new" flying machine after fire bellowback and before the charger.
like do you have any idea where it is?

[Kuroš]

I actually always play offline, and just today, I got "First Ancient Vessel Found". However, during the same interval, I cleared my first bandit camp, but the "Took back a settlement from a bandit clan" achievement didn't unlock. Is there something going on with the game? I don't understand why one would unlock, but not the other

[RaKo]

Note to the "kill every machine type" achivment:
Corrupted or devil dosn't count

[fabio.capela]

I got the "Tore off 5 heavy weapons" by taking off a Scorcher's mine launcher, so I guess that counts too.
Of course, with the Scorcher being exclusive to the DLC, most players will have gotten the achievement way before seeing their first Scorcher.