This Horizon Forbidden West Trick Can Instantly Kill Almost Any Enemy

In Horizon Forbidden West, you are faced with a massive variety of enemies that will force you to adapt and change your tactics on the fly. This includes your weapon, armor, and skills combinations. But perhaps with this nifty trick recently discovered by a Redditor, you don't have to stay on your toes as much.

(Photo : Guerilla Games)
Aloy and Varl

The aforementioned Redditor named slazenger7 shared a particular build for Aloy on the Forbidden West subreddit, which he claims can insta-kill almost any enemy with just a single arrow. But as per TechRadar, this is only achievable if you follow slazenger's specifications to the letter.

Here is the actual Reddit post, which has now earned 457 upvotes at the time of this writing:

In the post, the trick is called a "tactical nuke in the form of an arrow." And perhaps they're not wrong because the damage this single arrow does is absolutely insane - 39,518 damage in just a single hit. This is more than enough to insta-kill human enemies and enough to kill even Apex machines in two hits.

Slazenger claims this arrow can one-shot an Apex Ravager, as well as deal 5,900 damage to a Thunderjaw - one of the biggest and baddest machines in Guerilla Games' beautiful, post-apocalyptic open-world. Not to mention, the player says they're playing on the game's Very Hard difficulty.

The Actual Build

Here's what you exactly need to do to deal that much damage.

Get a Level 5, Legendary tier Forgefall sharpshot bow equipped with five coils: two 25% long-range damage, two 25% stealth damage, and one 25% high-ground damage.
Unlock the Ranged Master Valor Surge, Focused Shot skill, and Mounted Archer skill. Also, unlock every single skill in the game.
Get and equip the Tenakth Tactician armor for extra arrow damage.

Picking Your Spots - And Fights

One thing to note about slazenger7's build is that it doesn't give you over 39k damage every single time. You have to pick your spots and your fights to maximize your damage output.

When dealing with human enemies, you need to land a headshot every single time. And when dealing with machines, try your absolute best to go for their weak points - there's a reason Aloy's Focus illuminates those things. And as much as possible, keep using the Ranged Master Valor Surge instead of Critical Boost to further increase your overall damage ceiling.

(Photo : Guerilla Games)
This screenshot was taken while the writer was playing.

Furthermore, try not to pick a fight in the open because, in this build, Aloy has a 50% damage buff when in stealth. So for maximum power, sneak up on your enemies and use the Focused Shot to help you aim for the weak spots better. This style of fighting is perfectly illustrated in this YouTube video:

All in all, this is the best character build in Horizon Forbidden West if you want to take down your enemies as quickly as possible. They weren't kidding when they said that this was a tactical nuke in the form of an arrow.

Story posted on GameNGuide

Written by RJ Pierce