While tackling the vast wilderness of her homeland inHorizon Zero Dawn, Aloy will have todefend herselfagainst many powerful foes — machine and man alike. The likes of Watchers and regular bandits may attack the young warrior en masse, but there are also a handful of enemies that she is far less likely to encounter, usually those that are far more deadly in battle.
Related:Story-Heavy Games To Play If You Loved Horizon: Zero Dawn
For the most part, the less likely Aloy is to see an enemy, the harder they will hit and the harder they are to defeat without some major practice, although this also means that it’s harder for Aloy and the player to get said practice due to how hard some of these enemies are to find in the world.
Updated on August 05, 2025 by Ritwik Mitra:Horizon Zero Dawnis one of the best modern action-adventure open-world games, and it’s great that this title is finally receiving the love it deserves on PC after a rough launch. With many people eagerly awaiting the advent of Horizon Forbidden West, there’s no better time to get into this amazing series and tackle the wealth of monsters that lay within. Some of these creatures are harder to find than others, and this list will expand on therarest enemies in Horizon Zero Dawn.
15Fireclaw/Frostclaw
It’s a given forHorizon Zero Dawn’s DLC monstersto make an appearance here. After all, the only places where these beasts can be encountered are in the areas present inThe Frozen Wilds.
The Fireclaw and Frostclaw are two sides of the same coin, and they are some rather savage enemies to boot. Both Bear-type machines can be pretty tough to deal with in combat at first, but players who study and understand their patterns will be able to deal with these enemies easily!
14Fire/Freeze Bellowback
The Bellowback is one of the larger machines that players can interact with in the game. While these enemies might seem imposing at first glance, players can easily take them down with a few well-placed shots and some ingenious traps.
Both the Fire and Freeze Bellowback are no slouch, but players will easily find their weak spots and hit them for massive damage. This, coupled with some well-timed dodges, will ensure that these monsters won’t disturb Aloy for too long.
13Scorcher
Another enemy only present inThe Frozen Wildsexpansion is the Scorcher. This tough and agile robot uses fire-powered attacks to decimate its opposition.
RELATED:Horizon Zero Dawn: Confusing Things About The Story, Explained
This makes it important to increase Fire resistance while using Freeze attacks. These enemies might be really swift and pack a major punch, but enough diligence will ensure that players will down these monsters for good.
12Glinthawk
There are only two enemies inHorizon Zero Dawnthat can fly.The Glinthawk is one such enemythat can haul machines away before Aloy has the chance to scrap them for parts.
This makes it important to fight these Glinthawks quickly and prevent them from doing something particularly annoying. They don’t make too many frequent appearances throughout the campaign, which makes the rare times they show up all the more special and exciting.
11Snapmaw
A machine that is clearly inspired by crocodiles, the Snapmaw is another addition to the brilliantly-designed enemies ofHorizon Zero Dawn. They’re also incredibly powerful and can destroy players while they’re busy admiring the terrifying beauty of these machines.
Players need to be on their toes and quickly hit the weakness of these enemies to stand a fighting chance. The Freeze Sac present under the jaws of these enemies is a notable weak point that players should attack at all times.
10Elite Bandits
Elite Bandits are the best of the best which, unfortunately for the player, also means that they can’t simply aim for the head and expect them to go down in one arrow. These enemies are also muchharder to fight with the spear, as they have a tendency to block certain attacks and hit back just as hard.
For the most part, the best way to tackle these enemies is to fire from a distance and pray that they don’t reach Aloy before they are defeated. Thankfully, the player is unlikely to come across an overwhelming number of them when clearing bandit camps.
9Scanner Bandits
These unique variants on the bandit only appear in theFrozen Wilds DLC, but they are also incredibly annoying. Like the similar enemies in theArkhamseries, they have scanning devices on their backs that allow them to track down where Aloy is hiding, potentially removing one of her best assets against bandits camps.
Luckily, these scanners function almost identically to the sonar on Scrappers' backs, having the same weakness to Shock damage.
8Bandit Slugger
Like the Scanner Bandits, the Bandit Slugger is only found in the Frozen Wilds DLC, but can potentially be even more dangerous to Aloy, particularly in New Game+. While the Scanner Bandit can find Aloy no matter where she is hiding, the Bandit Slugger is powerful enough to remove the entire shield on Aloy’s Shield Weaver armor in one blow, leaving her extremely vulnerable at higher difficulties.
Related:PlayStation Games Besides Horizon Zero Dawn That Need PC Ports
Like other high-level bandits, the best approach is to hit them from afar with a strong arrow and hope that they don’t catch up to her before they are defeated, as these particular bandits shouldn’t be tackled in melee combat.
7Corruptor
One of the first old-world machines that Aloy encounters, the Corruptor can be a nasty piece of work to battle due to just how nimble it is, despite its large size. Thankfully, Aloy doesn’t have to fight Corruptors all that often as they are generally tied to story missions rather than side missions and aren’t found out in the wild.
Like all old-world machines, Corruptors are weakest against Fire damage, though the cannon on its back can be removed with Tearblast arrows or the Tearblaster.
6Stalker
Of all the non-boss machines inHorizon, the Stalker might be the most annoying to battle, especially if the player is inexperienced in dealing with them. Aside from the fact that they like to hunt in packs, the fact that they can turn invisible at a moment’s notice makes them that much harder to deal with, though this is offset by the fact that players aren’t likely to see them all that often.
The first thing that needs to be done when tackling these machines is to remove their Stealth Generator, as this removes their ability to turn invisible, as well as the grenade launcher that grants them a very annoying ranged attack.
