Horizon Forbidden West brings us a new adventure that includes new machines to conquer. These machines are fierce and even deadlier than anything you have ever faced before, so you’ll need every bit of help you can get. Thankfully, Aloy is armed with weapons and skills that can help her bring the fight to her foes and level the playing field.

Horizon Forbidden West – What are weapon techniques?

Weapon Techniques, which we can simply think of as weapon skills, are unlockables that provide your weapons with another form of attack that can deal serious damage or get you out of sticky situations. These techniques consume weapon stamina, and each weapon type has a specific technique that you can use.

You’ll find these weapon techniques spread out across the 6 skill trees, so if you want a certain technique, you’re going to have to invest some skill points to a tree that you may not necessarily have opened up yet. Choose wisely!

All of these weapon techniques are viable for use, but some are better than others, especially when you want to bring the pain to the machines.

Spoiler Alert!

It goes without saying that if you’re not into Horizon Forbidden West spoilers and want to experience the wonder by yourself, please read no further! If you want a bit of a boost to jumpstart your gameplay though, you’ve come to the right place!

Related – Horizon Forbidden West Survival Guide

Horizon Forbidden West – Best Weapon Techniques

Braced Shot (Sharpshot Bow)

Only usable on Sharpshot Bows, Braced Shot is very good if you want to deal big damage to a machine in an instant. It uses a lot of weapon stamina, and you’ll only really get to use this technique once or twice depending on how long a fight will take, so make your shots count.

You can also use Braced Shot while in stealth, and when paired with the Ranged Stealth skill, these machines won’t know what hit ’em.

Propelled Spike (Spike Thrower)

Spike Throwers are a personal favorite of ours and in Horizon Forbidden West, this weapon is really powerful in the right hands. How do you make it more powerful? Propelled Spike!

Propelled Spike is a powerful technique that can bring a machine to its knees, exploding upon impact and breaking off some components to expose weak points.

This weapon technique uses a large amount of stamina, and Spike ammo isn’t necessarily cheap to craft, so make sure your shot counts!

Ultra Shot (Boltblaster)

If you fancy yourself using a Boltblaster, then Ultra Shot will be your big damage-dealing technique.

Ultra Shot is used in pretty much the same way as Braced Shot, so just aim and fire away. It doesn’t use up as much stamina as Braced Shot, so you can use it multiple times in a fight, but just be wary because Boltblaster ammo is pretty expensive to craft.

A similar Boltblaster technique, Sustained Burst, is also good but renders you immobile, so you’ll have to be smart about how and when to use it.

Double / Triple Notch (Sharpshot / Hunter Bow)

Not really the damage-dealing technique we’re looking for, but both Double and Triple Notch can serve a different purpose.

Tearblast arrows are very expensive to craft and it really hurts the pocket if you miss your shots. If you can’t afford to craft and use them, why not go with your regular or advanced arrows instead? Double and Triple Notch can easily substitute Tearblast arrows for your part-breaking needs in Horizon Forbidden West, and it only uses a small to moderate amount of stamina, meaning you can use it multiple times in a fight.

Penetrating Rope (Ropecaster)

Horizon Zero Dawn veterans know how useful the Ropecaster is and as it makes its return in Horizon Forbidden West, fans of the weapon can rope down machines with ease and make them sitting ducks for the firing range.

There are a number of very mobile machines in the game, so your trusty Ropecaster may see some use in tough situations. There are also heavily armored machines, and this weapon technique is the perfect solution for them.

Penetrating Rope will ensure that your rope sticks, no matter what. Best part about it is that it doesn’t use up any of your ammo reserves, just stamina.

Knockdown Shot (Hunter Bow)

This is not a damage-dealing technique, but when the action gets too hot to handle, Knockdown Shot can ensure you a brief moment of reprieve by knocking down a machine.

Alternatively, you can use this to bring on the pressure to your foe, getting in a few free hits while they’re knocked down.

Special Mention – Power Shredder and Sticky Bomb

Both of these weapon techniques are quite powerful, but will require a bit more skill, unlike the others since the projectiles require some traveling distance that you’ll need to consider. There’s a real threat of missing out on shots because of this, so you’ll have to aim properly.

Horizon Forbidden West is now available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.