@JosephCeetah Awesome! Yeah I find it surprising that there really aren’t great machine hunting guides out there. That’s why I started this channel! I’m working on a video for Rockbreakers as we speak. And thank you for your sub. I appreciate it! 🙏🏼
Same here. I don't understand why there aren't in depth Machine guides that go into every aspect of the Machine, like it's theoretical purpose, behavior, locations, attacks, and combat strategies.
That is actually a pretty great strat to target directly under the Shellsnapper to get the sacs. Very nice, I will implement that in my future battles with it. Should be able to literally target it anywhere for good damage while frozen. Good strats all around here, very nice.
Actually, the Shellsnapper’s cannons hit you with damage its invulnerable shell absorbs when you hit it, the description says so. And remember that the Shellsnapper doesn’t actually have any armor when its shell is off, so impact damage will be effective even without any modifiers. If you want to resource efficient with your damage, use Hunter bows or Shredder Gauntlets instead of expensive advanced and precision arrows. If you want to be quick, you can use the critical damage valor surge with a hunter bow to hit hard, fast and cheap.
A very thorough and tactical approach with not so high end weapons - props to your patience! Good that you mentioned the shredder gauntlet, I actually prefer that, especially the high end acid one which also automatically helps you with tearing off the components. If I didn't really need the components, it's just freeze + explosive spikes to kill it quickly.
@@ArktixOfficial You're very welcome. I was looking for a patreon, but didn't find one, that's why.I just found your videos so well done and such a pleasure to watch. They got me to give the weapons I normally don't use more of a try, and yesterday I had a fight with a thunderjaw up close which was enormous fun at level 17. Got it in the third try, yay. Looking forward to new videos! Thanks for what you're doing!
@Happy Camper I'm glad you think my videos are good quality! 😄🙏 And I'm glad you find them helpful too! That's definitely my goal with my channel! And those Thunderjaws are tough, good work taking one down at level 17!
Best guy giving HFW guides in youtube for sure. All detailed and to the point. You gained a sub. And yes, these guys are extremely annoying when they go underground. Definitely among the top 5 hardest machines to beat IMO the top 5 are Shellsnaper, Stormbird, Slaughterspine, Firelcaw and Thunderjaw, in no particular order. I dunno if you have done a guide for Scorchers, those are still extremely tough to beat. We can be glad their HP is not Heavyweight class because goddamn that thing is relentless and fast and unpredictable AF. It's the only non-heavyweight machine that I really avoid fighting, ergo, scares me, and if I can get them ears without killing them? So be it... 2 Scorchers IMO are harder to beat than the machine site that has 2 Tremortusks... NGL.
Hey thanks a lot Vitor! And thanks for your sub as well. I appreciate it! I agree those are the toughest machines for sure. And Scorchers are definitely tough. I've got them on my list for the Master Machine Hunting series! Not sure exactly when I'll get to them though...
this guy is going to bash adhesive until the end of his days but it is good for two things stopping scorchers from doing their goddamn railgun - attack for lack of a better term and clowning on storm birds
Your videos are the best. I love how you show us this ideal battle but also how you show us other fights where you weren't able to dodge properly as well.
Wow thanks! I do try to make these machine hunting guides realistic for people to learn from and implement themselves. I’m glad you like them! Thanks again for your sub!
Thank god for this guide. I immediately looked for this after discovering your channel. I am glad im not the only one who felt the exact same way as you about these things
Thank you so much for dropping this guide. I kept focusing all of my arrows on the freeze cannons before the shell bolts and it was taking forever to secure the kill. I also didn’t pay any attention to the chillwater sacs on their stomachs but I most definitely will now.
Thanks for another great video! I’m a Monster Hunter fan and find focusing on enemy behavior and takedown strategy to be much more rewarding than cheesing with endgame gear. Very refreshing to see some quality content that isn’t just “Get this legendary bow and armor EARLY and kill everything in one hit! Takes only 30 hours!” You’ve earned my sub, looking forward to more!
Thank you! And I’m totally with you on your comment about people just doing super OP gear and strats! Part of my motivation for starting this channel was exactly that. Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be good quality, solid information out there. And I’m the same way, I don’t want to just see how to cheese everything with endgame gear. Thanks for your comment and sub!
Update: I did the Burning Bloom mission last night. That Knockdown Weapon Skill is my new best friend. I put the Shellsnapper on his side, then hit the freeze sacs and put him out of his misery. I originally wanted to shoot off the shell bolts, but just killed it out of spite.
@Furious Styles Nice! Yeah if I ever do an updated Shellsnapper guide I might talk about using the Knockdown Skill. Super useful for exposing their bellies!
I found these guys early and out of sheer stubbornness decided I was gonna kill it. I found acid arrows work really well also but it takes quite a few and when he burrows it'll go away, depending on how long he's underground, but when he's in the brittle state the health melts. Agility Damage is really useful in this fight also.
Crack 'em with a few drill spikes and watch them chip away at their health as you sling shots from afar, while also gaining the additional tear to any components that you might/should strike with the drill point when thrown
Huge thanks. Found a Shellsnapper at Cauldron Kappa and destroyed it in 3 shots. BTW - super-huge bug in Kappa that sees a Tideripper float / swim in the air. It looked puzzled too. 😂
Good for you! I faced an apex thunderjaw one time by coincidence. He was level 48 and i was level 36. He was attacking me like i had kidnapped one of his children. The fight lasts for 0.8 seconds 😢
Personally, I like to figure out my own ways to fight the machines in the Horizon universe. But, I’m enjoying the tips from the videos I’m binging! You’ve gained another subscriber!
Hey thanks Andrea! I appreciate your subscription and I’m glad you’re enjoying my content 😄 Figuring out your own way to do things is always the most satisfying!
This worked! I didn't have the tearblasts but I targetted the dynamo and the bolts and after about 10 minutes of dancing with the thing, 1 final Ranged Master and a precision arrow boost shot took it out. I almost lost my mind to this thing, thanks!
Thank God for this guide, I was struggling with the one for the salvage mission and after watching the vid I got it first try! I'm only playing on hard but your videos are godsends
@@ArktixOfficial so i already asked this in a different comment, but since you responded here, how big would the jump be from hard to ultra hard. I'm thinking about doing the jump after I finish my first playthrough. Should I practice on very hard first or go right in when I feel I'm ready?
Hmm depends how comfortable you are on Hard. If you feel like Hard is pretty easy, then I'd skip over VH and go straight to UH. If you find Hard challenging though, you're probably not going to have fun on Ultra Hard. Machines deal much more damage and have way more HP. Keep in mind you can't lower the difficulty once you're on Ultra Hard.
@ArktixOfficial good point, I'll prolly just finish the story and then do an very hard new game plus before trying ultra hard. Love your content btw very informative and has helped me a lot, even though it is generally intended for very hard
Thanks so much for all your videos! I've been playing zero dawn on ultra hard so I got cocky with forbidden West, only to find I know nothing anymore! Definitely going to brush up and go practice next time I play
You’re very welcome! Glad you’re finding my content helpful 😄 Yeah Forbidden West is a different animal (machine?) than Zero Dawn. I was cocky as well coming off HZD UH lol. The Shellsnappers put me in my place pretty quick…😉
@@ArktixOfficial at least one of the harder beasts was the one to humble you, I got humbled by Bellowback! I haven't even left Chainscrape yet! I've killed hundreds of those shit sacks in HzD on ultra hard, imagine my absolute heart attack in Fobbiden West. I'm back down to normal now
Thank you! for me, the biggest frustration with the shellsnapper was that every time I went back into stealth mode to heal myself mid-battle, the shellsnapper damage bar would reset, so I would have to start all over after all that hard work. This will definitely help get it damage faster, though!
Just the Braced Shot technique is such a game changer! Was able to finish one off just off of that and some explosive spikes while it was in the brittle state. Great video, really helpful.
Hey Arktix, since you are quite knowledgeable, how do you do the special focus Aloy does. Do I need a specific skill on the skill tree or do I need to do a side quest?
Apart from missing the 3 absolutely perfect opportunities to take down that last shell bolt (after dodging the leaping attack it's a super easy shot to make) this is a pretty good tutorial on these. I figured out the Precision Tearblast method before I started hunting for my first one (beyond the quest) but I use the L3 Powershots to have basically 5 powerful (and free tearblast ammo) shots at him and I use them to take down 3-4 Shellbolts right from the start. But I ALWAYS start from the back ones as he'll be facing me most of the fight so those will be harder to hit later on. I didn't need to blow up the sacs simply because detaching those 4 Shellbolts with Tearblast on L3 Powershots hits him so hard (and that's with blue weapons, although fully upgraded and coiled for Tear) he's down to
Just encountered that first Shellsnapper last night, and it ate my lunch. I eventually killed it, but it was a sloppy battle on my part. The next one I find better watch out! Another great video thanks!
@Danielle Browne Thank you! I’m glad they’ve been helpful. Other games I’m looking forward to this year are Forespoken, God Of War: Ragnarok, Hogwarts Legacy, and Starfield (off the top of my head). What games are you looking forward to?
@@ArktixOfficial everything you just listed! God of War is my all time favourite game. I’ve been a fan of Harry Potter since I was a kid (as most of us have been) so seeing the world be brought to our consoles is such a ground breaking moment!
@Danielle Browne Cool! Yeah I'm a huge Harry Potter fan so I can't wait for Hogwarts Legacy. I really hope it's good! I'll definitely be covering these games, so stay tuned! Glad you have you here on the channel 😄
I played horizon zero dawn and I’m doing the platinum and maybe the 100% in ultra hard 😅 and your machines kill tutorials have been soooo useful, thank you so much I want to play Forbidden West so bad lol, it seems very good
Again, this was worth the wait. Thanks for putting in the time, experimentation and attention to detail that will allow me to get some payback and serial kill these robot murder turtles.
@Furious Styles No problem! I hope it helps you get revenge on the robot murder turtles 🤣 I always look forward to your comments. You’re always appreciative of my work, but you also always have something funny to say as well!
@@ArktixOfficial I'm able to fight, survive and successfully kill one...49% of the time. I just want to do so without burning through all my potions and berries. I prefer your more surgical approach to simply shooting weak points and praying. Thanks
Thanks @Silverwolf ! Cool username and profile pic btw. Wolves are my favorite animal! I’m definitely going to be doing videos for Fireclaws and Slitherfangs! I have a video on elemental damage coming soon…So many videos to make!
@Silverwolf Good question. You’ll see in the video tomorrow =) But the short answer is that you typically need to apply acid multiple times to corrode armor plates off.
Shellsnappers are super annoying... great video though! I had such a hard time with them at first. I found that going for higher ground (preferably rocks) where he can't ambush you and roll over you ☠ helps a lot... and tearblast arrows are awesome
I defeated the first Shellsnapper with stealth lol Moved around A LOT so he wouldn't find me and died like 7 times trying, but the satisfaction I got after the ordeal was amazing. I had forgotten Talanah's quest drove you right into the Shellsnapper.
Thanks! Glad you like them 😄 And yeah actually I have an updated Shellsnapper video on my list of videos to make since things have changed a bit since I made this one. I plan to include the Apex variant in the new video.
These things used to drive me absolutely insane with annoyance, but now my favourite method is using knockdown arrows or drill spikes on its legs to topple it over, and then using explosive split spikes on its stomach, it deals a tonne of damage!
Helpful tip, any burrowing machines will lose track of you if you sneak while they're underground. When they come back up they'll look for you or attack where you were. Particularly helpful if you can move away and get into tall graas
One thing to note, a fully upgraded Hardweave Sharpshot bow is actually significantly stronger than the Cleaving Sharpshot bow as far as max damage goes, thanks to the 40% Long Range Damage buff. It's absolutely worth going out of your way to get the upgrade parts it needs to fully upgrade it.
Yeah the Hardweave is definitely good. I prefer the Cleaving because if the faster draw speed and access to tearblast arrows, but if you’re looking for raw damage output then I agree the Hardweave is probably the better choice.
@@ArktixOfficial Both are great & serve a purpose in a person's arsenal for sure. Hardweave for maximum initial damage or stealth sniping & Cleaving for actual active combat.
This has been extremely helpful! Keep up the great content! Also, I was wondering that since Braced Shot got nerfed, would this tactic be as powerful? Thanks.
Thanks! Glad you found this helpful 😄 It’s not quite as strong as it was before Braced Shot got nerfed, but it’s still pretty effective. I now land a drill spike on its leg to knock it down and flip it on its side. Then a focused shot to the freeze sac instead of braced shot.
These turtles... bane of my existence... let's create a mobile weapons platform that can fire in 4 directions simultaneously while also having a main ice launching attack at the same time. Oh and make the turtle snappy! Yup you heard me. It needs to quickly move its absurd mass out of the way of even the most dead center shot. Oh and it needs to know what the player is doing at all times so it can make those speedy dodges having never met the player. Also it needs a shield system and lots of health.
Thank you, this was really helpful, specially because I had to fight two shell snapper at the same time when both activated in the spawn place at the same time. Edit: the one close to rebel outpost: still sands north
La mejor arma contra esta máquina es el arco de brilloxplosivo,dos flechas de extracción arrancan la tapa del dinamo cinética que hay que reventar con las flechas precisas que para este arco son relativamente económicas,ya que solo requieres músculo y esquirlas,sirve tanto si quieres matarla rápido,como para obtener todo el loot posible si le colocas bobinas de extracción de 100 % para arco preciso. Bro te apoyo,siempre es bueno encontrar contenido de este juegazo.
When I found these for the first time after the story mission, there were 2 of them! They are in the desert, just outside a rebel base, I was still low level and the base has a few ballista's, which helped a bit with some lucky shots.
I found for early game before you have the good weapons. If you use the brace shot or an exploding spike. Aim for the area were the shell meets the body. (Undernear the shell) it will explode the shell off as well
Thanks so much for the video! I get so frustrated with this game thinking the devs didn't properly balance things, when in reality the devs intend for you to keep fighting and figure out each enemy's attack patterns and weaknesses. You have to really study machines to figure out what all their different components do, many of which drastically change how hard a fight can be, and I think it's why this game's combat is so much better than the first game's because there's far more tactics and planning involved. My main gripe is that the slide/dodge mechanic feels clunky at times. Even when I have the auto-run option on and I'm not crouching, sometimes I just don't have enough speed or haven't built up enough momentum and I end up crouching instead of sliding, which has lead to some heavy hits that I felt I should have avoided.
Most game mechanics in forbidden west are really deep and there are many approaches possible. You can directly go for the sacs (i don´t recommand Braced Shot since the nerf, Bombs and Spike Traps still works fine) OR like i do, at least remove two shell bolts, to lessen the cannon barrage. They also didn´t skip Leg day, so those are easy to hit for Knockdown.
@@ArktixOfficial Shellsnappers are definitely far easier for me now that I've figured out their attack patterns and made it number 1 priority to remove their shell clamps. Once you remove those, the fight is just making sure you dodge the ice rocks and the occasional belly flop.
Good question. Focused Shot is the stronger sharpshoot weapon technique now. Not easy to hit the chill water sacs with Focused Shot while the Shellsnapper is walking around, but use a drill spike on it's leg to trigger a knockdown and it will flip over onto it's back. Then you can easily hit the chill water sacs.
I've been meaning to watch this. I appreciate the tips and they will be utilized. I have a recommendation however. Have you tried using Drill Spikes. They take the Shellsnappers down in minutes. I'm replaying HFW on Very Hard - coming from playing on Hard initially - so I'm in the midst of the game on my second playthrough. Drill Spikes makes the fight significantly easier. ESPECIALLY when it's frozen. Also they tend to knock machines down. Try Drill Spikes on the shell parts. You'll be amazed. Also they do damage WHILE they're borrowing. That's the most important part.
Thanks for this suggestion! I play on VH as well and I did experiment with drill spikes a bit, but they didn’t seem to work very well for me against the Shellsnappers. Although…I’m not sure I was trying them while it was frozen. I’ll go back and test that out. Do you mod the spike thrower in any particular way?
@@ArktixOfficial I throw on a bunch of *Damage Over Time* mods on them. My current Drill Spikes have the *Overdraw Perk* and I've fully upgraded them as well. Your tip with blasting their belly to incase them in ice is simply genius! I then take aim, charge them to max and throw them on the shells. What's wonderful is that Drill Spikes are excellent for removing components as well as damaging wherever it lands (so imagine the damage it does on weak/removable parts). The health bar just melts away, eventually they fall off. By that point their health is half or a 1/4 in and that's from one or two Spikes. They eventually get knocked down and at that point rain down terror upon them lol. Them burrowing along with taking damage during all that. You have alot of time to then stragedtize, traps or etc.
@Travis Moncrieffe Cool! Thanks for sharing those details! I’ll definitely give that a try. I’m glad my tip on exploding the freeze sacs on their bellies helped!
@Travis Moncrieffe I also wanted to mention, I’m not sure if you’re on Discord, but I’d love to have you join mine if that’s something you’re into. We have a number of people over there that play at a high level like yourself and I think it would be really cool if we can create a place for high level players to share knowledge like this. No pressure, just wanted to let you know you’d be very welcome if you’re interested! 😄
I've noticed that they respond to thrown rocks and tearblast arrow impacts, but not exactly in the place where you hit the ground... I always go for removing the shell quarters, but the rear two pieces are held on with bolts as well... I also add tear mods to my bow for faster tear on the bolts...
I haven’t come across more shellsnapper’s since the first one but it makes sense if it’s easier, as I killed it fairly easily. Definitely hitting one of the underbelly sacs did the deed and brought it down after peppering it on focus spots with the hunter’s bow.
IF you don't care about parts or expensive ammo, and just want fast way to kill hard machine use Spike Thrower with Advanced Explosive Spike. Nice video as always!
I've been looking forward to this video! Great strategies & step-by-step walkthrough. I appreciate the fact that you used mid-level equipment but also included some advanced tips for late-game. I think Shellsnappers are extra annoying because their attacks can't be disabled as easily as other large machines, plus their ability to burrow. (somehow 🤔) For example, it's much easier to remove a Thunderjaw's Disk Launchers compared to a Shellsnapper's cannons. And I'm not sure if it's even possible to disable the ice blasts. Maybe Purgewater. I would need to do more testing but it's such a tedious process, which makes me appreciate your research even more. I totally agree that Shredders can do some great damage, especially the Ironeater Shredder that you recommended in your second mid-game equipment video. I skipped that Shredder in my first playthrough, but tried it in my current playthrough per your advice. I was surprised to see that I could immediately upgrade it to max level due to it requiring easy material that I already obtained before getting to Scalding Spear. Plus, Shellsnappers are weak to acid so the effect builds up real quick. Not only that, but the final Shredder explosion can tear off Shell Bolts without destroying them. Absolutely a weapon worth learning, despite my initial impressions of it. Boomer was right! Again, thanks for another helpful video & can't wait for the rest of this series.
Thanks @Sonny! Yeah it is a bit odd that they can burrow I agree. So I think if you can manage to explode all the freeze sacs on their underbelly then the frost blasts do become disabled, but I almost never have good opportunities throughout a fight to destroy them all. Getting any machine drenched with purgewater will disable all elemental attacks (until the drenched state wears off), but I find it takes so long to build up with Shellsnappers that it’s just not worth the effort. I slept on shredders for a while too, but yeah they’re impressively strong, and that’s a good point the Ironeater is relatively cheap to upgrade. I didn’t think about that. Thanks for your comments as always!
Thanks! And of course! I just hope I can keep up with responding as the channel grows. I like chatting with people like yourself and I’d hate to fall behind on that. I’m thinking about getting a Discord going for the channel though, so that might give people a better place for this kind of stuff…not that I don’t appreciate comments on the videos though!
For blowing up his frosts sacks I've found found throwing an explosive spike when he's leaping at you will usually instantly blow them up and deal a ton of damage
Thanks for the great video, I greatly appreciate it. But in the beginning of the video you were standing right next to the cannons you shot off and didn’t even bother to pick it up and use it?? Any reason why?? I’ve been farming shards and XP at the Thunderjaw site and usually leave one cannon for my return to drop traps and then blast it with the disc launcher then get on the rock tower and snipe the rest of the damage to kill them.
Good question! Personally, I don't like using machine weapons because they really reduce your mobility. Maybe I should practice with them more. They can certainly be effective, I just personally don't like using them much. In most cases I find they aren't very effective.
I am wondering about a few things. I vaguely remember shooting one of the incoming ice chunks out of the air by accident. Would that be a better strategy than dodging? Also when the Shellsnapper pop its head out of the ground to fire at you, is he able to rotate? If not we could try running behind him. Also it has another kind of cannon in his mouth(not the ice attacks) that fires orange blasts that you didn't mention.
@Mutantgamer Interesting. I’ve never been able to shoot the ice blasts out of the air with an arrow. If you figured out if/how you were able to do that I’d be really curious to know how. It would certainly be useful! But from my testing it’s not possible. And unfortunately, it does track you when it pops out, so you can’t easily run behind it. Plus it never stays up for very long. And yes, I suppose I didn’t mentioned the canon blast that it does. That’s a super strong attack! I don’t find it does it very often though.
The 2nd Tearblast Arrow didn't tear off the shell cus you didn't fully draw the bow on that 2nd shot. You want to ensure you get a full draw with Overdraw each time to get the max Tear damage possible.
I have a warrior bow handy just to clear the battlefield of those annoying ice spikes that litter the environment the longer the fight drags on. I do this while he's burrowed since I can't do anything anyway but run around in circles 😂
Hello fellow Horizon fans. So here are a few tips for fighting shellsnappers, including apex variants without any high end gear, weapons or valor surges: First, open with braced shot targeting its belly. If successful, instantly switch to you sustained burst with your bolt blaster. When it burrows underground, heal up, be sure to take the potion that helps with status ailments reistance and then switch to your purgewater bow, even a low end one will do and triplenock it. When it comes up, try to inflict drenched state. The most annoying attack in the Shellsnapper's arsenal is its freeze avalanches. They can inflict brittle on Aloy, making her more vulnerable to damage from the ShellSnapper. A machine in drenched state is unable to use any elementals. Interestingly enough, being drenched applies to Aloy as well. Just as important is the fact that drenched opens up every machine to all other elemental build ups no matter how high their resistance to that element is. So as soon as the Shell Snapper is drenched, I recommend going for shock damage. As soon as it is shocked, shoot underneath its belly or try to tear off its turtle shell with tear damage arrows. Another word of advice, inflicting acid damage on heavy hitter machines is a bigger deal because they have so much health so acid damage is a great way to chip away at such a large health bar while corroding armor off. Hope this helps. Peace out and happy hunting
Hi Emeka! Thanks for sharing your strategy! This is actually closer to what I do now for Shellsnappers, especially the boltblaster step. At some point I’ll probably do an updated Shellsnapper guide. I made this one fairly early on in my first playthrough and definitely had not optimized my HFW combat yet. Thanks for sharing this to give people more tips in the meantime!
Thank you so much! I’m trying to kill that shellsnapper and the two bellowbacks in the arena, and it’s EXTREMELY annoying… you have so little space and get hit super fast. I had the settings on very hard though so I’ll turn them down, lol. I was dying after a minute. And it’s also sh*t that you have to get all of them down in such a limited amount of time! Ohh and you also can’t use any valor surges! Wtf?
Last night, a rockbreakers killed me for an hour. The deaths felt so unfair. It was a apex one but still I end up kill it with the drill and sharpshots bow
Dang! Yeah Rockbreakers are tough. My HZD Rockbreaker guide is still pretty accurate for Forbidden West if you want some tips. The main thing is to hit the vent on its back.
@@ArktixOfficial no is not that. Specially the apex one. The area effect when it pops of the of the ground. Is huge. If it doesn't stun Aloy it takes health away. That's how it got me. Then When it comes out of the ground. It comes from the blindside. The deaths don't feel fair. I end uo getting it with a combination of drill spike and cleavage sharpshots bow and a lot of brace shots. Its not weak to freeze.
Ah I see. Yeah your right the AOE is huge when it jumps out. I’ll need to see if I can figure out a better way to deal with them when I do my Rockbreaker guide. I’m wondering if tagging/highlighting components would allow you to see it while it’s underground. That doesn’t work on the Shellsnapper though, so it would be strange if that worked for Rockbreakers.
@@ArktixOfficial tagging the components it helps a little, when it's about to comeout and spit fire. You can see them other than that it doesn't show. But the blindside dive is the biggest detriment. I was doinga 360 the camera , still got me.. And it has a new attack. I'll let You discover it lol
Hmm ok. Yeah to be honest the only one I’ve fought so far in Forbidden West was in a quest. I haven’t gone to fight them at their sites yet. I’ll have to see what this new attack is!
It seems like it might be better to target those rear shell bolts before he turns on you as you spent a lot of the fight trying and failing to hit them from the front. Also, what do you think of using knockdown shot to expose his belly and take out his sacs?
@Alek Searcy Good question! You can get a lot of machine muscle from ammo drums on Tremortusks and Thunderjaws. I farm Tremortusks regularly for machine muscle and other resources.
I don’t know if you didn’t include this on purpose, but when the machine burrows, if you pop a smoke bomb the machine will instantly come off the ground and in a confused state (it looks like a bug tho to be fair). Sometimes the machine won’t come out the ground immediately, but will be confused anyways when it does. I randomly discovered this against an apex variant 😂
Yes! Good point. At the time I made this guide, I don't think anyone had discovered that trick yet (I certainly hadn't). I did cover it in my advanced combat tips video more recently, but agree it seems to be a glitch. For example, it doesn't work on Rockbreakers or Burrowers.
3 powered up spears onto the shell and then a few acid arrows and it is dead.easy.i had trouble until i used the spears and beat it really fast.using the arrows at the end to knock bits off helps gather items too as the spears only do health dmg and remove the armour
Lol my first encounter with one w Talanah was actually very anti-climactic. I killed it with just a few well placed Braced Shots without it even seeing me, and it was dead within no time flat. Lol it didn't even get a chance to do anything, yet Talanah acted like she was hurt afterwards. Thought that was funny. I fully agree tho, I do think the one you face against her is weaker than the others cus it certainly took less shots than the ones in the wild do.
@@ArktixOfficial Lol nice. Yeah it wasn't even a fight for me, it never even saw me or Talanah. Just murdered it in seconds w the trusty Hardweave Sharpshot Bow. Thought it was funny that the cutscene assumes that it actually had a chance to attack her.
I just fought one last night on my way to help Zo, but had to help a salvager first. I had the longest fight ever… only because i ran out of machine muscle and branches. Had to use spike launchers, a sling, and whatever arrows were already made for my other bows.. ugh 😂
There’s a meal called Ruby sunrise it gives a buff to the roll instead of rolling three times we can use that food and roll 6 times I also believe it gives us more rolling prowess.
This is the only video I've found that actually gives useful advice on how to fight a certain type of machine. I subscribed immediately.
@JosephCeetah Awesome! Yeah I find it surprising that there really aren’t great machine hunting guides out there. That’s why I started this channel! I’m working on a video for Rockbreakers as we speak. And thank you for your sub. I appreciate it! 🙏🏼
I play on ultra hard so I need this appreciate bro
Same. Good channel. I'm just now playing and this channel has been invaluable. I've watched all the gear load out videos like 5 times each lol
Same here. I don't understand why there aren't in depth Machine guides that go into every aspect of the Machine, like it's theoretical purpose, behavior, locations, attacks, and combat strategies.
Same here
"These freaking turtles!" This single sentence is already worth the like, the guide is just icing on the cake. 😂
Lol glad you liked that 😄 I was quite frustrated with them at the time…lol
That is actually a pretty great strat to target directly under the Shellsnapper to get the sacs. Very nice, I will implement that in my future battles with it. Should be able to literally target it anywhere for good damage while frozen. Good strats all around here, very nice.
Thanks! I’m glad you found it to be a good strat. I hope you find it useful for fighting them!
Actually, the Shellsnapper’s cannons hit you with damage its invulnerable shell absorbs when you hit it, the description says so. And remember that the Shellsnapper doesn’t actually have any armor when its shell is off, so impact damage will be effective even without any modifiers. If you want to resource efficient with your damage, use Hunter bows or Shredder Gauntlets instead of expensive advanced and precision arrows. If you want to be quick, you can use the critical damage valor surge with a hunter bow to hit hard, fast and cheap.
@THE STORY OF US Good tips! Thanks for sharing them here!
Hmm, so if you don't hit it's shell, the cannons don't fire?
A very thorough and tactical approach with not so high end weapons - props to your patience!
Good that you mentioned the shredder gauntlet, I actually prefer that, especially the high end acid one which also automatically helps you with tearing off the components.
If I didn't really need the components, it's just freeze + explosive spikes to kill it quickly.
Your videos are awesome, very comprehensive and helpful! Thanks a lot!
@Happy Camper Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy my content, and thank you so much for your Super Thanks! 😄 I really appreciate it! 🙏
@@ArktixOfficial You're very welcome. I was looking for a patreon, but didn't find one, that's why.I just found your videos so well done and such a pleasure to watch. They got me to give the weapons I normally don't use more of a try, and yesterday I had a fight with a thunderjaw up close which was enormous fun at level 17. Got it in the third try, yay. Looking forward to new videos! Thanks for what you're doing!
@Happy Camper I'm glad you think my videos are good quality! 😄🙏 And I'm glad you find them helpful too! That's definitely my goal with my channel! And those Thunderjaws are tough, good work taking one down at level 17!
Best guy giving HFW guides in youtube for sure. All detailed and to the point. You gained a sub. And yes, these guys are extremely annoying when they go underground. Definitely among the top 5 hardest machines to beat IMO the top 5 are Shellsnaper, Stormbird, Slaughterspine, Firelcaw and Thunderjaw, in no particular order.
I dunno if you have done a guide for Scorchers, those are still extremely tough to beat. We can be glad their HP is not Heavyweight class because goddamn that thing is relentless and fast and unpredictable AF. It's the only non-heavyweight machine that I really avoid fighting, ergo, scares me, and if I can get them ears without killing them? So be it...
2 Scorchers IMO are harder to beat than the machine site that has 2 Tremortusks... NGL.
Hey thanks a lot Vitor! And thanks for your sub as well. I appreciate it! I agree those are the toughest machines for sure. And Scorchers are definitely tough. I've got them on my list for the Master Machine Hunting series! Not sure exactly when I'll get to them though...
@Arktix Naaahhhhh...there is no way you letting behind the freakin slitherfang and dreadwing, those things are a pain in the buttocks.
this guy is going to bash adhesive until the end of his days but it is good for two things stopping scorchers from doing their goddamn railgun - attack for lack of a better term and clowning on storm birds
Great video. So helpful. I love that you narrate along with your demo. Makes such a difference explaining what you are doing
Thank you! Glad you found this helpful!
Leaplashers are literally my nemesis so frustrating, clamberjaws are like a mortal kombat tower as they just keep coming
@Levi1990Smith Lol yeah Leaplashers and Clamberjaws are very annoying! 😂
Not as annoying as the grimhorn !
This guy gives the best guides on EVERYTHING!
Your videos are the best. I love how you show us this ideal battle but also how you show us other fights where you weren't able to dodge properly as well.
Wow thanks! I do try to make these machine hunting guides realistic for people to learn from and implement themselves. I’m glad you like them! Thanks again for your sub!
Thank god for this guide. I immediately looked for this after discovering your channel. I am glad im not the only one who felt the exact same way as you about these things
Thank you so much for dropping this guide. I kept focusing all of my arrows on the freeze cannons before the shell bolts and it was taking forever to secure the kill. I also didn’t pay any attention to the chillwater sacs on their stomachs but I most definitely will now.
No problem! Glad you found it helpful 😁
Thanks for another great video! I’m a Monster Hunter fan and find focusing on enemy behavior and takedown strategy to be much more rewarding than cheesing with endgame gear.
Very refreshing to see some quality content that isn’t just “Get this legendary bow and armor EARLY and kill everything in one hit! Takes only 30 hours!”
You’ve earned my sub, looking forward to more!
Thank you! And I’m totally with you on your comment about people just doing super OP gear and strats! Part of my motivation for starting this channel was exactly that. Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be good quality, solid information out there. And I’m the same way, I don’t want to just see how to cheese everything with endgame gear. Thanks for your comment and sub!
Youre very underrated! Good technical advice on every video!
Hey thanks! Glad you’re finding my content helpful 😄
Update: I did the Burning Bloom mission last night. That Knockdown Weapon Skill is my new best friend. I put the Shellsnapper on his side, then hit the freeze sacs and put him out of his misery. I originally wanted to shoot off the shell bolts, but just killed it out of spite.
@Furious Styles Nice! Yeah if I ever do an updated Shellsnapper guide I might talk about using the Knockdown Skill. Super useful for exposing their bellies!
I found these guys early and out of sheer stubbornness decided I was gonna kill it. I found acid arrows work really well also but it takes quite a few and when he burrows it'll go away, depending on how long he's underground, but when he's in the brittle state the health melts. Agility Damage is really useful in this fight also.
Good for you taking it on early! Shellsnappers are super frustrating, even in the late game lol.
Crack 'em with a few drill spikes and watch them chip away at their health as you sling shots from afar, while also gaining the additional tear to any components that you might/should strike with the drill point when thrown
Huge thanks. Found a Shellsnapper at Cauldron Kappa and destroyed it in 3 shots. BTW - super-huge bug in Kappa that sees a Tideripper float / swim in the air. It looked puzzled too. 😂
Nice! And that’s funny! Lol. I haven’t seen that happen myself.
I finally managed to take down my first Apex Thunderjaw last night. that was a hellofa fight😅
Nice! Yeah the Apex ones are even crazier! It’s insane when 2 spawn…
What do you get for beating apex machines?
Dude wait until you fight an apex slaughterspine, those things are damn gnarly, but the shellsnapper for somereason gives me the most hard of a time
@@starscourge_blackfyre1471 just did but I had a legendary bow almost upgraded all the way to beat it. I kept hitting it with status effects
Good for you!
I faced an apex thunderjaw one time by coincidence. He was level 48 and i was level 36. He was attacking me like i had kidnapped one of his children. The fight lasts for 0.8 seconds 😢
Personally, I like to figure out my own ways to fight the machines in the Horizon universe. But, I’m enjoying the tips from the videos I’m binging! You’ve gained another subscriber!
Hey thanks Andrea! I appreciate your subscription and I’m glad you’re enjoying my content 😄 Figuring out your own way to do things is always the most satisfying!
Used your guide yesterday on an apex variant. Best decision ever,glad to have subscribed to you😁
This worked! I didn't have the tearblasts but I targetted the dynamo and the bolts and after about 10 minutes of dancing with the thing, 1 final Ranged Master and a precision arrow boost shot took it out. I almost lost my mind to this thing, thanks!
Thanks for this!
Tried it immediately and had such a better time fighting Shellsnappers. I was really sleeping on Sharpshoot bows too much
Awesome! Glad this helped you out 😄 Yeah Sharpshot Bows are great for damage and those tear precision arrows!
Thank you!!! This is my first time through the game and this made the hardest enemy into such a chump. Love it! 🔥
Dude that first shellsnapper! I had to give up on that mission and come back later lol. Thanks man
Which quest u are doing to fight shellsnapper??
Thank God for this guide, I was struggling with the one for the salvage mission and after watching the vid I got it first try! I'm only playing on hard but your videos are godsends
Excellent! Glad to hear you found this helpful 😄
@@ArktixOfficial so i already asked this in a different comment, but since you responded here, how big would the jump be from hard to ultra hard. I'm thinking about doing the jump after I finish my first playthrough. Should I practice on very hard first or go right in when I feel I'm ready?
Hmm depends how comfortable you are on Hard. If you feel like Hard is pretty easy, then I'd skip over VH and go straight to UH. If you find Hard challenging though, you're probably not going to have fun on Ultra Hard. Machines deal much more damage and have way more HP. Keep in mind you can't lower the difficulty once you're on Ultra Hard.
@ArktixOfficial good point, I'll prolly just finish the story and then do an very hard new game plus before trying ultra hard. Love your content btw very informative and has helped me a lot, even though it is generally intended for very hard
Randomly found your channel. Love the videos man. Tips are legit. Thanks.
Hey thanks! Glad you found the channel!
Great advice! Thanks a lot for the help. These shellsnappers are a pain to gight if you don’t have a strategy! Have a great day!🍺
Totally! I’m glad you found it helpful. And thanks!
Thanks so much for all your videos! I've been playing zero dawn on ultra hard so I got cocky with forbidden West, only to find I know nothing anymore! Definitely going to brush up and go practice next time I play
You’re very welcome! Glad you’re finding my content helpful 😄 Yeah Forbidden West is a different animal (machine?) than Zero Dawn. I was cocky as well coming off HZD UH lol. The Shellsnappers put me in my place pretty quick…😉
@@ArktixOfficial at least one of the harder beasts was the one to humble you, I got humbled by Bellowback! I haven't even left Chainscrape yet! I've killed hundreds of those shit sacks in HzD on ultra hard, imagine my absolute heart attack in Fobbiden West. I'm back down to normal now
Your videos are extremely informative. Keep up the excellent content. I’m here for it!
Hey thanks! Glad you're enjoying my content and finding it helpful =D
Thank you! for me, the biggest frustration with the shellsnapper was that every time I went back into stealth mode to heal myself mid-battle, the shellsnapper damage bar would reset, so I would have to start all over after all that hard work. This will definitely help get it damage faster, though!
You're very welcome! Yes, Shellsnappers are very frustrating lol. I hope this helped you out! And thanks for your comment!
Just the Braced Shot technique is such a game changer! Was able to finish one off just off of that and some explosive spikes while it was in the brittle state.
Great video, really helpful.
Just remember, Braced Shot was nerfed so on higher difficulties it might be not enough, try spike traps instead if necessary.
It worked.
I smoked that fool pretty quick too.
Nice! 👍🏼
Great vid, not only did you breakdown the machine's behavior and tactics. You added your strategies as well. 😎
@ETERNALLY ALONE Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
Your hunting vids are very very helpful! Thank you
Hey thanks! Glad to hear you're finding them helpful 😁
Hey Arktix, since you are quite knowledgeable, how do you do the special focus Aloy does. Do I need a specific skill on the skill tree or do I need to do a side quest?
Apart from missing the 3 absolutely perfect opportunities to take down that last shell bolt (after dodging the leaping attack it's a super easy shot to make) this is a pretty good tutorial on these. I figured out the Precision Tearblast method before I started hunting for my first one (beyond the quest) but I use the L3 Powershots to have basically 5 powerful (and free tearblast ammo) shots at him and I use them to take down 3-4 Shellbolts right from the start. But I ALWAYS start from the back ones as he'll be facing me most of the fight so those will be harder to hit later on.
I didn't need to blow up the sacs simply because detaching those 4 Shellbolts with Tearblast on L3 Powershots hits him so hard (and that's with blue weapons, although fully upgraded and coiled for Tear) he's down to
Very helpful. Thanks.
No problem! Glad to hear this helped!
Perfect guide, easy to follow🎉
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Just encountered that first Shellsnapper last night, and it ate my lunch. I eventually killed it, but it was a sloppy battle on my part. The next one I find better watch out! Another great video thanks!
Thanks! I hope you find these tips helpful! Shells appears are definitely tough!
Your videos have been really helpful! Looking forward to see what other games you’ll cover :)
@Danielle Browne Thank you! I’m glad they’ve been helpful. Other games I’m looking forward to this year are Forespoken, God Of War: Ragnarok, Hogwarts Legacy, and Starfield (off the top of my head). What games are you looking forward to?
@@ArktixOfficial everything you just listed! God of War is my all time favourite game. I’ve been a fan of Harry Potter since I was a kid (as most of us have been) so seeing the world be brought to our consoles is such a ground breaking moment!
@Danielle Browne Cool! Yeah I'm a huge Harry Potter fan so I can't wait for Hogwarts Legacy. I really hope it's good! I'll definitely be covering these games, so stay tuned! Glad you have you here on the channel 😄
I played horizon zero dawn and I’m doing the platinum and maybe the 100% in ultra hard 😅 and your machines kill tutorials have been soooo useful, thank you so much
I want to play Forbidden West so bad lol, it seems very good
Again, this was worth the wait. Thanks for putting in the time, experimentation and attention to detail that will allow me to get some payback and serial kill these robot murder turtles.
@Furious Styles No problem! I hope it helps you get revenge on the robot murder turtles 🤣 I always look forward to your comments. You’re always appreciative of my work, but you also always have something funny to say as well!
@@ArktixOfficial I'm able to fight, survive and successfully kill one...49% of the time. I just want to do so without burning through all my potions and berries. I prefer your more surgical approach to simply shooting weak points and praying. Thanks
Lol yeah. I don’t like burning through all my stuff either! Hopefully my tips help you out with the Shellsnappers.
Love it.
Suggestions on next ones: FIreclaw, maybe worst in the game when trying to get sac webbing, and I think Slitherfangs are interesting
Thanks @Silverwolf ! Cool username and profile pic btw. Wolves are my favorite animal! I’m definitely going to be doing videos for Fireclaws and Slitherfangs! I have a video on elemental damage coming soon…So many videos to make!
@@ArktixOfficial Like a elemental damage video. Query on acid, if it's affects stay or do anything with multiple applications?
@Silverwolf Good question. You’ll see in the video tomorrow =) But the short answer is that you typically need to apply acid multiple times to corrode armor plates off.
Shellsnappers are super annoying... great video though! I had such a hard time with them at first. I found that going for higher ground (preferably rocks) where he can't ambush you and roll over you ☠ helps a lot... and tearblast arrows are awesome
Thanks! I hope it was helpful! Yeah they are super annoying. I still think they’re the most annoying machine even after 300+ hours lol
I defeated the first Shellsnapper with stealth lol Moved around A LOT so he wouldn't find me and died like 7 times trying, but the satisfaction I got after the ordeal was amazing. I had forgotten Talanah's quest drove you right into the Shellsnapper.
Nice! Yeah Shellsnappers are very annoying lol
Nice video! Which difficulty you used?
@nupersu Thanks! As I showed at the beginning of the live combat section, I always play on Very Hard.
I like to take off the back shell bolts first from stealth because it's easier to hit the front bolts once the fight really gets going
Good strategy!
I am IN LOVE with this game. Taking my sweet time with it, 62 hours in and loving every damn moment. (Except for From the Deep arena challenge) LOL
Love the master machine hunter guides! Any chance you are going to do Apex shell snappers?
Thanks! Glad you like them 😄 And yeah actually I have an updated Shellsnapper video on my list of videos to make since things have changed a bit since I made this one. I plan to include the Apex variant in the new video.
These things used to drive me absolutely insane with annoyance, but now my favourite method is using knockdown arrows or drill spikes on its legs to topple it over, and then using explosive split spikes on its stomach, it deals a tonne of damage!
Nice! Yeah I should do an updated hunting guide for Shellsnappers. I also flip them with drill spikes now.
Bro thank you so muchhh that really helped a lot
Helpful tip, any burrowing machines will lose track of you if you sneak while they're underground. When they come back up they'll look for you or attack where you were. Particularly helpful if you can move away and get into tall graas
One thing to note, a fully upgraded Hardweave Sharpshot bow is actually significantly stronger than the Cleaving Sharpshot bow as far as max damage goes, thanks to the 40% Long Range Damage buff. It's absolutely worth going out of your way to get the upgrade parts it needs to fully upgrade it.
Yeah the Hardweave is definitely good. I prefer the Cleaving because if the faster draw speed and access to tearblast arrows, but if you’re looking for raw damage output then I agree the Hardweave is probably the better choice.
@@ArktixOfficial Both are great & serve a purpose in a person's arsenal for sure. Hardweave for maximum initial damage or stealth sniping & Cleaving for actual active combat.
@@ArktixOfficialAlso noticed they Nerfed the Hardweave Sharpshot Bow... They dropped the Long Range buff down to 25%. Go figure.
This has been extremely helpful! Keep up the great content! Also, I was wondering that since Braced Shot got nerfed, would this tactic be as powerful? Thanks.
Thanks! Glad you found this helpful 😄 It’s not quite as strong as it was before Braced Shot got nerfed, but it’s still pretty effective. I now land a drill spike on its leg to knock it down and flip it on its side. Then a focused shot to the freeze sac instead of braced shot.
@@ArktixOfficial thank you!
These turtles... bane of my existence... let's create a mobile weapons platform that can fire in 4 directions simultaneously while also having a main ice launching attack at the same time. Oh and make the turtle snappy! Yup you heard me. It needs to quickly move its absurd mass out of the way of even the most dead center shot. Oh and it needs to know what the player is doing at all times so it can make those speedy dodges having never met the player. Also it needs a shield system and lots of health.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thank you, this was really helpful, specially because I had to fight two shell snapper at the same time when both activated in the spawn place at the same time.
Edit: the one close to rebel outpost: still sands north
Ah yes I know the one lol. Two Shellsnappers at once might just be the most annoying fight in the game lol
La mejor arma contra esta máquina es el arco de brilloxplosivo,dos flechas de extracción arrancan la tapa del dinamo cinética que hay que reventar con las flechas precisas que para este arco son relativamente económicas,ya que solo requieres músculo y esquirlas,sirve tanto si quieres matarla rápido,como para obtener todo el loot posible si le colocas bobinas de extracción de 100 % para arco preciso.
Bro te apoyo,siempre es bueno encontrar contenido de este juegazo.
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying my content 😁
When I found these for the first time after the story mission, there were 2 of them!
They are in the desert, just outside a rebel base, I was still low level and the base has a few ballista's, which helped a bit with some lucky shots.
GREAT VID, GREAT SERIES
Thanks!
I found for early game before you have the good weapons. If you use the brace shot or an exploding spike. Aim for the area were the shell meets the body. (Undernear the shell) it will explode the shell off as well
Thanks so much for the video! I get so frustrated with this game thinking the devs didn't properly balance things, when in reality the devs intend for you to keep fighting and figure out each enemy's attack patterns and weaknesses. You have to really study machines to figure out what all their different components do, many of which drastically change how hard a fight can be, and I think it's why this game's combat is so much better than the first game's because there's far more tactics and planning involved.
My main gripe is that the slide/dodge mechanic feels clunky at times. Even when I have the auto-run option on and I'm not crouching, sometimes I just don't have enough speed or haven't built up enough momentum and I end up crouching instead of sliding, which has lead to some heavy hits that I felt I should have avoided.
Most game mechanics in forbidden west are really deep and there are many approaches possible.
You can directly go for the sacs (i don´t recommand Braced Shot since the nerf, Bombs and Spike Traps still works fine) OR like i do, at least remove two shell bolts, to lessen the cannon barrage. They also didn´t skip Leg day, so those are easy to hit for Knockdown.
Glad you liked the video! I hope it helped you be a bit less frustrating. It does certainly get frustrating at times!
@@ArktixOfficial Shellsnappers are definitely far easier for me now that I've figured out their attack patterns and made it number 1 priority to remove their shell clamps. Once you remove those, the fight is just making sure you dodge the ice rocks and the occasional belly flop.
Are there any alternatives to braced shot now that it’s been nerfed as focused shot doesn’t seem to be enough to burst the chill water sacks
Good question. Focused Shot is the stronger sharpshoot weapon technique now. Not easy to hit the chill water sacs with Focused Shot while the Shellsnapper is walking around, but use a drill spike on it's leg to trigger a knockdown and it will flip over onto it's back. Then you can easily hit the chill water sacs.
@@ArktixOfficial right thank you sm
No problem!
I found that if you build up the corroding state with acid you can track its movement underground as the acid eats away at its armour.
Good tip! Yeah I've noticed that as well.
I've been meaning to watch this. I appreciate the tips and they will be utilized. I have a recommendation however. Have you tried using Drill Spikes. They take the Shellsnappers down in minutes. I'm replaying HFW on Very Hard - coming from playing on Hard initially - so I'm in the midst of the game on my second playthrough. Drill Spikes makes the fight significantly easier. ESPECIALLY when it's frozen. Also they tend to knock machines down. Try Drill Spikes on the shell parts. You'll be amazed. Also they do damage WHILE they're borrowing. That's the most important part.
Thanks for this suggestion! I play on VH as well and I did experiment with drill spikes a bit, but they didn’t seem to work very well for me against the Shellsnappers. Although…I’m not sure I was trying them while it was frozen. I’ll go back and test that out. Do you mod the spike thrower in any particular way?
@@ArktixOfficial I throw on a bunch of *Damage Over Time* mods on them. My current Drill Spikes have the *Overdraw Perk* and I've fully upgraded them as well. Your tip with blasting their belly to incase them in ice is simply genius! I then take aim, charge them to max and throw them on the shells. What's wonderful is that Drill Spikes are excellent for removing components as well as damaging wherever it lands (so imagine the damage it does on weak/removable parts). The health bar just melts away, eventually they fall off. By that point their health is half or a 1/4 in and that's from one or two Spikes. They eventually get knocked down and at that point rain down terror upon them lol. Them burrowing along with taking damage during all that. You have alot of time to then stragedtize, traps or etc.
@Travis Moncrieffe Cool! Thanks for sharing those details! I’ll definitely give that a try. I’m glad my tip on exploding the freeze sacs on their bellies helped!
@Travis Moncrieffe I also wanted to mention, I’m not sure if you’re on Discord, but I’d love to have you join mine if that’s something you’re into. We have a number of people over there that play at a high level like yourself and I think it would be really cool if we can create a place for high level players to share knowledge like this. No pressure, just wanted to let you know you’d be very welcome if you’re interested! 😄
@@ArktixOfficial it would be an honor! Link up
I've killed one of these at Thanala's mission, and BOOOOOY, This shit is tough as hell
It’s amazing how fast it is. It has so many attacks and it’s relentless. It doesn’t even give you time to get your Heath back up.
Oh man I know. I still find Shellsnappers to be the most annoying machine lol
I've noticed that they respond to thrown rocks and tearblast arrow impacts, but not exactly in the place where you hit the ground...
I always go for removing the shell quarters, but the rear two pieces are held on with bolts as well... I also add tear mods to my bow for faster tear on the bolts...
I haven’t come across more shellsnapper’s since the first one but it makes sense if it’s easier, as I killed it fairly easily. Definitely hitting one of the underbelly sacs did the deed and brought it down after peppering it on focus spots with the hunter’s bow.
Currently working on this on the hardest difficulty. It's not as easy as that looks but I'll try this technique.
Thanks this helps so much cuz whenever i fight these freaky gigantic turtles they always spam ice at me
Good to hear this helped! 🙂
IF you don't care about parts or expensive ammo, and just want fast way to kill hard machine use Spike Thrower with Advanced Explosive Spike. Nice video as always!
I've been looking forward to this video! Great strategies & step-by-step walkthrough. I appreciate the fact that you used mid-level equipment but also included some advanced tips for late-game.
I think Shellsnappers are extra annoying because their attacks can't be disabled as easily as other large machines, plus their ability to burrow. (somehow 🤔) For example, it's much easier to remove a Thunderjaw's Disk Launchers compared to a Shellsnapper's cannons. And I'm not sure if it's even possible to disable the ice blasts. Maybe Purgewater. I would need to do more testing but it's such a tedious process, which makes me appreciate your research even more.
I totally agree that Shredders can do some great damage, especially the Ironeater Shredder that you recommended in your second mid-game equipment video. I skipped that Shredder in my first playthrough, but tried it in my current playthrough per your advice. I was surprised to see that I could immediately upgrade it to max level due to it requiring easy material that I already obtained before getting to Scalding Spear. Plus, Shellsnappers are weak to acid so the effect builds up real quick. Not only that, but the final Shredder explosion can tear off Shell Bolts without destroying them. Absolutely a weapon worth learning, despite my initial impressions of it. Boomer was right!
Again, thanks for another helpful video & can't wait for the rest of this series.
Thanks @Sonny! Yeah it is a bit odd that they can burrow I agree. So I think if you can manage to explode all the freeze sacs on their underbelly then the frost blasts do become disabled, but I almost never have good opportunities throughout a fight to destroy them all. Getting any machine drenched with purgewater will disable all elemental attacks (until the drenched state wears off), but I find it takes so long to build up with Shellsnappers that it’s just not worth the effort. I slept on shredders for a while too, but yeah they’re impressively strong, and that’s a good point the Ironeater is relatively cheap to upgrade. I didn’t think about that. Thanks for your comments as always!
@@ArktixOfficial And thank you too for your replies & sharing even more advice through them.
P.S. - Congrats on 500 subs!! Well-deserved!
Thanks! And of course! I just hope I can keep up with responding as the channel grows. I like chatting with people like yourself and I’d hate to fall behind on that. I’m thinking about getting a Discord going for the channel though, so that might give people a better place for this kind of stuff…not that I don’t appreciate comments on the videos though!
thank you!
No problem!
Thanks for the tips. I hate fighting them 😤
No problem! I hope the video helps!
For blowing up his frosts sacks I've found found throwing an explosive spike when he's leaping at you will usually instantly blow them up and deal a ton of damage
Nice! Yeah that works too, just a little tricker to time it.
God I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thinks these things are the worst
I really like taking down machines with sacs, the explosion is just satisfying.
Do the Dreadwings next! Their teeth are so hard to remove!
@Jan Hanna I think Tremortusks will be next, but I'll definitely be doing Dreadwings soon!
Thanks for the great video, I greatly appreciate it.
But in the beginning of the video you were standing right next to the cannons you shot off and didn’t even bother to pick it up and use it??
Any reason why??
I’ve been farming shards and XP at the Thunderjaw site and usually leave one cannon for my return to drop traps and then blast it with the disc launcher then get on the rock tower and snipe the rest of the damage to kill them.
Good question! Personally, I don't like using machine weapons because they really reduce your mobility. Maybe I should practice with them more. They can certainly be effective, I just personally don't like using them much. In most cases I find they aren't very effective.
Nice "how to" vid. Only came across that first snapper so far, so this video will be useful.
Thanks! Hopefully it helps you deal with Shellsnappers later on!
I am wondering about a few things. I vaguely remember shooting one of the incoming ice chunks out of the air by accident. Would that be a better strategy than dodging?
Also when the Shellsnapper pop its head out of the ground to fire at you, is he able to rotate? If not we could try running behind him.
Also it has another kind of cannon in his mouth(not the ice attacks) that fires orange blasts that you didn't mention.
@Mutantgamer Interesting. I’ve never been able to shoot the ice blasts out of the air with an arrow. If you figured out if/how you were able to do that I’d be really curious to know how. It would certainly be useful! But from my testing it’s not possible. And unfortunately, it does track you when it pops out, so you can’t easily run behind it. Plus it never stays up for very long. And yes, I suppose I didn’t mentioned the canon blast that it does. That’s a super strong attack! I don’t find it does it very often though.
About the Shredder Gauntlets, I use them to hunt parts from a lot of big machines, but would it work to get the shell bolts?
Yes! They do work well for that too! Although the Shellsnappers going underground often makes it annoying 🙄
The 2nd Tearblast Arrow didn't tear off the shell cus you didn't fully draw the bow on that 2nd shot. You want to ensure you get a full draw with Overdraw each time to get the max Tear damage possible.
I have a warrior bow handy just to clear the battlefield of those annoying ice spikes that litter the environment the longer the fight drags on. I do this while he's burrowed since I can't do anything anyway but run around in circles 😂
Is the cleaving sharpshot bow available to reacquire from vendors? I sold mine and starting to think that was a bad idea
Hello fellow Horizon fans. So here are a few tips for fighting shellsnappers, including apex variants without any high end gear, weapons or valor surges:
First, open with braced shot targeting its belly. If successful, instantly switch to you sustained burst with your bolt blaster.
When it burrows underground, heal up, be sure to take the potion that helps with status ailments reistance and then switch to your purgewater bow, even a low end one will do and triplenock it.
When it comes up, try to inflict drenched state. The most annoying attack in the Shellsnapper's arsenal is its freeze avalanches. They can inflict brittle on Aloy, making her more vulnerable to damage from the ShellSnapper. A machine in drenched state is unable to use any elementals. Interestingly enough, being drenched applies to Aloy as well.
Just as important is the fact that drenched opens up every machine to all other elemental build ups no matter how high their resistance to that element is. So as soon as the Shell Snapper is drenched, I recommend going for shock damage. As soon as it is shocked, shoot underneath its belly or try to tear off its turtle shell with tear damage arrows.
Another word of advice, inflicting acid damage on heavy hitter machines is a bigger deal because they have so much health so acid damage is a great way to chip away at such a large health bar while corroding armor off.
Hope this helps. Peace out and happy hunting
Hi Emeka! Thanks for sharing your strategy! This is actually closer to what I do now for Shellsnappers, especially the boltblaster step. At some point I’ll probably do an updated Shellsnapper guide. I made this one fairly early on in my first playthrough and definitely had not optimized my HFW combat yet. Thanks for sharing this to give people more tips in the meantime!
Hey...thank you, dude!
No problem! Hope this was helpful!
Thank you so much!
I’m trying to kill that shellsnapper and the two bellowbacks in the arena, and it’s EXTREMELY annoying… you have so little space and get hit super fast.
I had the settings on very hard though so I’ll turn them down, lol. I was dying after a minute. And it’s also sh*t that you have to get all of them down in such a limited amount of time!
Ohh and you also can’t use any valor surges! Wtf?
Oh man, yeah the arena is very difficult. I hope this helped!
Last night, a rockbreakers killed me for an hour.
The deaths felt so unfair.
It was a apex one but still
I end up kill it with the drill and sharpshots bow
Dang! Yeah Rockbreakers are tough. My HZD Rockbreaker guide is still pretty accurate for Forbidden West if you want some tips. The main thing is to hit the vent on its back.
@@ArktixOfficial no is not that. Specially the apex one.
The area effect when it pops of the of the ground. Is huge. If it doesn't stun Aloy it takes health away.
That's how it got me.
Then When it comes out of the ground. It comes from the blindside.
The deaths don't feel fair.
I end uo getting it with a combination of drill spike and cleavage sharpshots bow and a lot of brace shots.
Its not weak to freeze.
Ah I see. Yeah your right the AOE is huge when it jumps out. I’ll need to see if I can figure out a better way to deal with them when I do my Rockbreaker guide. I’m wondering if tagging/highlighting components would allow you to see it while it’s underground. That doesn’t work on the Shellsnapper though, so it would be strange if that worked for Rockbreakers.
@@ArktixOfficial tagging the components it helps a little, when it's about to comeout and spit fire. You can see them other than that it doesn't show.
But the blindside dive is the biggest detriment. I was doinga 360 the camera , still got me.. And it has a new attack. I'll let You discover it lol
Hmm ok. Yeah to be honest the only one I’ve fought so far in Forbidden West was in a quest. I haven’t gone to fight them at their sites yet. I’ll have to see what this new attack is!
It seems like it might be better to target those rear shell bolts before he turns on you as you spent a lot of the fight trying and failing to hit them from the front. Also, what do you think of using knockdown shot to expose his belly and take out his sacs?
How do you keep enough resources on hand to craft that many Tearblast arrows? I find I'm always out of machine muscle
@Alek Searcy Good question! You can get a lot of machine muscle from ammo drums on Tremortusks and Thunderjaws. I farm Tremortusks regularly for machine muscle and other resources.
Can you please explain each Arrow icons and what do they mean? not the elements one the Arrow has different shape at the tip of the arrow?
Good question! Check out my damage types video:
ua-cam.com/video/esPTnc1KnmU/v-deo.html
I don’t know if you didn’t include this on purpose, but when the machine burrows, if you pop a smoke bomb the machine will instantly come off the ground and in a confused state (it looks like a bug tho to be fair).
Sometimes the machine won’t come out the ground immediately, but will be confused anyways when it does. I randomly discovered this against an apex variant 😂
Yes! Good point. At the time I made this guide, I don't think anyone had discovered that trick yet (I certainly hadn't). I did cover it in my advanced combat tips video more recently, but agree it seems to be a glitch. For example, it doesn't work on Rockbreakers or Burrowers.
3 powered up spears onto the shell and then a few acid arrows and it is dead.easy.i had trouble until i used the spears and beat it really fast.using the arrows at the end to knock bits off helps gather items too as the spears only do health dmg and remove the armour
Lol my first encounter with one w Talanah was actually very anti-climactic. I killed it with just a few well placed Braced Shots without it even seeing me, and it was dead within no time flat. Lol it didn't even get a chance to do anything, yet Talanah acted like she was hurt afterwards. Thought that was funny. I fully agree tho, I do think the one you face against her is weaker than the others cus it certainly took less shots than the ones in the wild do.
lol yeah Talanah got KO-ed in my Let’s Play as well. It was pretty funny…”Aloy…I’m down. Aloy…help me get up” lol
@@ArktixOfficial Lol nice. Yeah it wasn't even a fight for me, it never even saw me or Talanah. Just murdered it in seconds w the trusty Hardweave Sharpshot Bow. Thought it was funny that the cutscene assumes that it actually had a chance to attack her.
I just fought one last night on my way to help Zo, but had to help a salvager first. I had the longest fight ever… only because i ran out of machine muscle and branches. Had to use spike launchers, a sling, and whatever arrows were already made for my other bows.. ugh 😂
Im glad to see someone else finds this thing hard and annoying. Every time I have to do a sidequest and this thing is there I just SIGH
There’s a meal called Ruby sunrise it gives a buff to the roll instead of rolling three times we can use that food and roll 6 times I also believe it gives us more rolling prowess.