Is It Easy to Get Platinum on Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Roadmap

Introduction

Welcome to the Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Guide & Roadmap. This is one perfect game for trophy hunting. Like with most open world games, the trophies in HZD are geared towards general completion. You have to complete the story, do side missions to gain optional allies, and find several types of collectibles. Luckily, you can buy in-game maps from merchants that reveal collectible locations. There are relatively few collectibles and they can be traded in for some nice in-game rewards at collectible merchants in Meridian City. One awesome piece of Gear is the Shield Weaver Outfit because it renders you invincible (absorbs all damage). Try to get it as early as possible and look for the 5 required power cells as you play through the main quests (see trophy "Got the Shield-Weaver outfit"). You are in for a real treat because Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the finest PlayStation exclusives ever and a joy to complete. The trophies are quite easy. Even the Hunting Ground Trials are very doable. If you have trouble with anything, return later when you've leveled up. After beating the story you can still free roam to mop up collectibles and side activities.

Step 1: Play Story up until Main Quest "The Looming Shadow", Collect 5 Power Cells

The first step is to play the story until to the main quest "The Looming Shadow". That's the final story quest at the very end of the game. Do not trigger it yet. This is important because of the trophy "All allies joined". To make all optional allies join the final battle you must do certain side quests (see trophy "All allies Joined"). Only after getting all optional allies should you start the last quest. In case you already completed the final mission it can be replayed as often as you want. You can definitely still get the trophy for all allies after finishing the story. Furthermore, your dialogue choices do not matter as they don't affect any allies.

While doing main quests, look out for the 5 Power Cells. Four of them are in main quest areas. You can go back at any time to get them, even after beating the story. It will save a little bit of time when you get them at the first chance. This is for the trophy "Got the Shield-Weaver outfit". The outfit you get from this makes you invincible. The sooner you get it, the better.

Pick up any collectibles you come across and feel free to take part in any and all side activities, such as Cauldrons or clearing Bandit Camps. Play the game how you want.

You can also follow this YouTube Playlist along the way: Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Guide Playlist

Step 2: Get all Optional Allies, Collectibles & Side Activities

Before triggering main quest "The Looming Shadow" go and do all 11 side quests required for "All allies joined". Your dialogue choices do not matter.

Also pick up every collectible, clear all bandit camps, and complete remaining side activities. Technically you can still do these things after the final mission because it puts you back in free roam. The final mission can also be replayed over and over again. In the best case scenario you have all trophies at this point except for the last story trophy and All allies joined.

Step 3: Finish Story

Now that you have done the side quests for all allies it's time to finish the last story mission. This should give you the remaining trophies and the platinum.

If you're still missing anything else it can be done in free roam after finishing the story.

Collectible Icons & Side Activities:

= 12 Ancient Vessel Collectibles
= 6 Bandit Camps
= 6 Banuk Figure Collectibles
= 4 Cauldrons
= 11 Corrupted Zones
= 5 Hunting Grounds (15 Trials)
= 30 Metal Flower Collectibles
= 6 Tallnecks
= 12 Vantage Datapoint Collectibles

Useful Tips, Tricks and Guides:

The Frozen Wilds DLC Trophy Guide & Roadmap
How to Become Invincible
How to Unlock Permanent Mount
How to Unlock Unlimited Fast Travel
How to Unlock Tearblaster (Secret Unique Weapon)
How to Unlock the Best Weapons
All Stranded Item Locations (Death Stranding Easter Egg)
Puzzle Solution – Main Quest: The Grave-Hoard
Puzzle Solution – Main Quest: Deep Secrets of the Earth
Undefined Signal Location – Side Quest: A Moment's Peace

Horizon Zero Dawn Trophy Guide

	All trophies obtained Obtained all Horizon Zero Dawn trophies.
Unlock all other trophies to earn platinum (DLC not required).
	Stealth killed 10 machines Performed a stealth kill on 10 machines.
First you must buy the skill "Silent Strike" from the Prowler skill tree. It costs 1 skill point. Now sneak up behind enemies and press R1 to take them out. You can also hide in tall grass and lure them to you (throw stone or use Lure Call skill). When they are close enough do the Silent Strike. This works best on weak machines with little health, e.g. watchers in the starting region.
	3 Strikes From Above Killed 3 enemies using the Strike from Above skill.
Requires the skill "Strike from Above" in the Prowler skill tree. It costs 2 skill points and you must have unlocked the Silent Strike skill. Now whenever an enemy is standing below you it will show the R1 button prompt. Press R1 to perform a drop kill. This works best on weak enemies with little health, e.g. watchers in the starting region. You can throw rocks to lure them in a position where you can drop down. Climb on a little hill, throw down a rock and wait for the enemy to get close.
	Tore off 10 components Detached 10 components from machines during combat.
Bigger machines have certain combat components on them. When you do enough damage to a component it will fall off. Press R3 to focus-scan for components and their weakness. The fastest way to get this is with Tearblast Arrows from the Sharpshot Bow (Blue or Purple). It instantly knocks off any component that you hit, no matter how much health it has and no matter how big the machine is. You can buy this bow at most merchants, e.g. in Meridian City. Now go to the spawn locations of some big machines (marked on map) and shoot off their components. There are a bunch of them at the Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds. In all likelihood this trophy will unlock naturally without trying. You'll often encounter machines with components as you play through the game and eventually you're gonna hit some components.
	10 Vulnerable machine kills Killed 10 machines weak to Fire while burning, or weak to Freeze while frozen.
This trophy is basically unmissable. At the end of the story you have to shoot lots of machines with a cannon which does fire damage. Here the trophy should come naturally. If you frequently use fire arrows or the Shadow Sling's Freeze Bombs you'll also get this. Scan an enemy by pressing R3 to see if they are vulnerable to fire or freeze. One fire arrow or freeze bomb won't suffice. When you hit them there's a circle filling up above the enemy. Once the circle is all filled up the effect will start to kick in. Then you can visually see the enemy going up in flames or getting frozen in ice. Fire does a lot of recurrent damage over a short period of time. Ice makes it so you can shatter some enemies in one hit because their entire body becomes a weak point. Weak to Fire: Sawtooth Glinthawk Corruptor Ravager Snapmaw Deathbringer Corrupted Machines Weak to Freeze: Trampler Fire Bellowback Rockbreaker
	Tore off 5 heavy weapons Detached 5 heavy weapons from machines during combat.
Some of the biggest machines, e.g. Thunderjaws have heavy weapons on their back. The thunderjaw is the best enemy to farm this, one can be found at the Furrows Hunting Grounds and it respawns each time you start a new trial. Use Tearblast Arrows from the Sharpshot Bow (Blue or Purple). It instantly knocks off any component that you hit, no matter how much health it has and no matter how big the machine is. You can buy this bow at most merchants, e.g. in Meridian City or at Hunting Grounds. Now hit the big gun above the Thunderjaw's leg with a Tearblast arrow. Repeat this 5 times.
	7 types of machine overridden Unlocked and used the overrides for 7 different types of machine.
To unlock new overrides you must complete Cauldrons (dungeons). Cauldrons get marked on the map after going near them / when climbing Tallnecks. There are only 4 of them in total, see Horizon Zero Dawn Cauldron Locations & Override Unlocks. Now use your new abilities to override 7 different types of machines by sneaking up to them and holding :triangle:. If you alert the machines they cannot be overriden.
	Headshot 30 human enemies Killed 30 human enemies by landing headshots on them.
The skill "Concentration" is highly recommended for this (Brave skill tree). It costs only 1 skill point and slows down time while aiming. Use your bow to land headshots on 30 different human enemies. You can find many of them in bandit camps. In case you've cleared all camps and missions you can find more human enemies walking on roads around the map (mostly in desert area). They show up randomly from time to time. You can also replay the final story mission – there are always a bunch of human enemies at the start of that mission. Some side missions also have large amounts of human enemies in them. Press R3 to activate the Concentration skill while aiming the bow. Headshots kill most enemy archers instantly. *The headshot counter in game stats is a bit glitchy. This can cause the trophy to unlock much later than it should. It is obtainable, just takes longer to unlock it. If it doesn't unlock after 100 headshots, reinstall the game.
	Downed 23 Grazer dummies Found and knocked over all of the Grazer training dummies in the Nora region.
See Horizon Zero Dawn All Grazer Training Dummy Locations
	First Modification Used a Weapon Coil or Outfit Weave on a modifiable weapon or outfit.
Weapon Coils and Outfit Weaves are dropped frequently by enemies and can be bought from merchants (the tougher the enemy, the higher the drop rate). In your inventory they are listed under "Modifications". Loot all killed enemies and you'll get plenty of mods. Press Touchpad and go to the crafting menu. Choose to modify a weapon or outfit and insert the modification. Please note that not all mods are compatible with every weapon. Some are tied to specific weapons only. So if you cannot modify your current weapon wait for another mod to drop or buy different weapons.
	All Acquisition machines killed Killed at least one of every type of Acquisition machine.
See trophy "All machines catalogued".
	All Recon machines killed Killed at least one of every type of Reconnaissance machine.
See trophy "All machines catalogued".
	All Combat machines killed Killed at least one of every type of Combat machine.
See trophy "All machines catalogued".
	All Transport machines killed Killed at least one of every type of Transport machine.
See trophy "All machines catalogued".
	Reached level 10 Reached player level 10.
See trophy "Reached level 50".
	Reached level 25 Reached player level 25.
See trophy "Reached level 50".
	Reached level 40 Reached player level 40.
See trophy "Reached level 50".
	Reached level 50 Reached player level 50.
To rank up you need to gain XP. You get XP by doing quests, side activities and killing machines. You'll reach level 50 very easily while going for the other trophies and completing the game. Doing all story missions brings you to level 30. Hunting Ground Trials give some very quick level ups and will push you over level 40. The remaining side quests and activities will very quickly get you to level 50. No farming required, there are more than enough XP rewards for just playing the game and completing the various tasks. Cauldrons, Bandit Camps, Climbing Tallnecks and Corrupted Zones also give lots of XP. But the quickest way by far is to get blazing sun marks in all hunting trials. Each trial gives 17,500 XP for 1 minute of work.
	All Skills learned Learned all available skills.
There are a total of 36 skills. You get skill points for each level up and from completing side activities, such as climbing tallnecks. You have more than enough skill points available. If you do lots of side tasks you can buy all skills at level 40 or so. Just reaching level 50 also provides enough skill points. Press Touchpad and head to the skills section to buy everything. They are all available from the beginning.
	First Tallneck Overridden Scaled a Tallneck and accessed its information.
See trophy "All Tallnecks Overridden".
	First Bandit Camp cleared Took back a settlement from a bandit clan.
See trophy "Cleared all the Bandit Camps".
	First Core Overridden Reached the Core of a Cauldron and accessed its information.
See trophy "All Cores Overridden".
	All Suns at one Ground Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground.
See trophy "Blazing Suns at all Grounds".
	Blazing Suns at one Ground Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground.
See trophy "Blazing Suns at all Grounds".
	First Corrupted Zone cleared Killed all the corrupted machines in a Corrupted Zone.
See trophy "All Corrupted Zones cleared".
	All Tallnecks Overridden Scaled all of the Tallnecks and accessed their information.
There are 6 Tallnecks, always marked on the map by this blue dinosaur icon. They walk in circles on a predefined path. Jump on them from up high, then climb up to the head and override them. This reveals more of the map and removes the "fog". See Horizon Zero Dawn Tallneck Locations
	Cleared all the Bandit Camps Took back all settlements from the bandit clans.
There are 6 bandit camps. They will get marked on the map with a blue skull icon when going near them / after climbing Tallnecks. You must kill all the bandits in a camp to free it. They are easy to kill with headshots. See Horizon Zero Dawn Bandit Camp Locations for a detailed screenshot guide.
	All Cores Overridden Reached the Core of every Cauldron and accessed the information within.
There are 4 Cauldrons. They are Horizon Zero Dawn's version of dungeons. They get marked on the map with a blue triangle-shaped symbol when going near them / after climbing Tallnecks. Each one of them unlocks new overrides for your spear. See Horizon Zero Dawn Cauldron Locations for a detailed screenshot guide & cauldron rewards.
	All Suns at all Grounds Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all trials at all of the Hunting Grounds.
See trophy "Blazing Suns at all Grounds".
	Blazing Suns at all Grounds Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all trials at all of the Hunting Grounds.
In Horizon Zero Dawn you can play Hunting Ground Trials to earn Blazing Sun Marks (highscore) or Half Sun Marks (mediocre score). These are little challenges to test your skills. Each hunting ground has 3 different trial challenges. They are scattered across 5 hunting ground locations for a total of 15 trials. They are marked on the map by a blue arrow icon after climbing the tallnecks. There are four trophies tied to Hunting Ground Trials, including the only gold trophy in the game for getting a blazing sun mark in all of them: Bronze – Earned at least a Half Sun mark in all three trials at one hunting ground Bronze – Earned a Blazing Sun mark in all three trials at one hunting ground Silver – Earned at least a half sun mark in all trials at all hunting grounds Gold – Earned a blazing sun mark in all trials at all hunting grounds I recommend you get the Shield-Weaver outfit first because it renders you invincible and makes some challenges easier: How to get Secret Shield Weaver Outfit Buy as many purple weapons as you can, especially the Shadow Hunter Bow and Shadow Sharpshot Bow. If you have trouble with a trial wait until the end of the game when you are level 30 or higher. At this point it will be very easy. All of these challenges are time based. The faster you are, the better you will score. The blazing sun marks are basically gold medals. It also gives you 17,500 XP per blazing sun mark which is great for quick level ups. For the trial "Ravager Control" you must learn how to override ravagers with your spear. You get this ability by completing Cauldron RHO (Cauldrons are also marked on the map with blue icons). See Hunting Ground Trials Walkthrough
	All Corrupted Zones cleared Killed all the corrupted machines in every Corrupted Zone.
There are 11 Corrupted Zones. They get marked on the map by a white circle icon after climbing the tallnecks. In these areas you must kill "corrupted machines". They are stronger than normal machines and do corruption damage. Kill all the machines in the corrupted zone to clear it. After clearing all 11 zones this trophy unlocks.
	All machines catalogued Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.
There are 26 enemy machines. The video above shows their locations and how to kill them quickly. In the notebook you can see which ones you have encountered and scanned (press Touchpad). You must scan and kill all machines for the following trophies: All machines catalogued [Bronze] All Acquisition machines killed [Bronze] All Recon machines killed [Bronze] All Combat machines killed [Bronze] All Transport machines killed [Bronze] When zooming in on the world map it shows spawn areas of the machines. Unfortunately, there's no way to see what category a machine belongs to. So you'll have to kill all as you scan them. Below is a list of all machines: Watcher – 0:05 Strider – 0:27 Grazer – 0:56 Scrapper – 1:20 Redeye Watcher – 1:48 Broadhead – 2:29 Lancehorn – 2:56 Longleg – 3:31 Trampler – 4:10 Sawtooth – 5:00 Shell-Walker – 5:29 Fire Bellowback – 6:01 Freeze Bellowback – 6:55 Charger – 7:39 Stalker – 8:08 Glinthawk – 8:41 Corruptor – 9:31 Ravager – 10:20 Snapjaw – 11:08 Rockbreaker – 11:44 Behemoth – 14:18 Thunderjaw – 15:24 Stormbird – 16:41 Deathbringer – 19:14 Tallneck – 21:51 Corrupted Machine – 23:30
	First Vantage found Found and accessed a Vantage datapoint.
See trophy "All Vantages found".
	First Metal Flower found Discovered a strange metal flower.
See trophy "All Metal Flowers found".
	First Banuk Figure found Found a wooden effigy left by a Banuk traveler.
See trophy "All Banuk Figures found".
	First Ancient Vessel found Found an ancient vessel once used by the Old Ones.
See trophy "All Ancient Vessels found".
	All Vantages found Found and accessed all of the Vantage datapoints.
There are 12 Vantage Datapoints. You can buy maps for all collectible locations from merchants. They will then be marked on the world map by a icon. See Horizon Zero Dawn Vantage Datapoint Locations
	All Metal Flowers found Found all of the Metal Flowers.
There are 30 Metal Flowers. You can buy maps for all collectible locations from merchants. They will then be marked on the world map by a icon. See Horizon Zero Dawn Metal Flower Locations
	All Banuk Figures found Found all of Arnak's figures.
There are 6 Banuk Figures. You can buy maps for all collectible locations from merchants. They will then be marked on the world map by a icon. See Horizon Zero Dawn Banuk Figure Locations
	All Ancient Vessels found Found all the Ancient Vessels.
There are 12 Ancient Vessels. You can buy maps for all collectible locations from merchants. They will then be marked on the world map by a icon. See Horizon Zero Dawn Ancient Vessel Locations
	Got the Shield-Weaver outfit Recovered an ancient technology and put it to use.
See Horizon Zero Dawn Shield Weaver Guide & Power Cell Locations.
	Followed Rost's teachings Learned to hunt and fight alongside Rost.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Defeated the Sawtooth Defeated the Sawtooth that threatened the Nora.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Triumphed in the Proving Overcame adversity and placed first in the Proving.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Fought back the corruption Destroyed the corruption inside the Nora valley.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Learned of the ancient past Learned of the ancient past at Maker's End.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Crashed the Eclipse network Infiltrated the Eclipse battle camp and crashed their network.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Discovered the truth Discovered the truth of Zero Dawn.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Broke the siege of All-Mother Defeated the invaders and went inside the sacred mountain.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Recovered a powerful weapon Explored the Mountain That Fell and recovered a powerful weapon.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	All allies joined Given Aloy's actions, all possible optional allies joined the defense.
What to do: Play up until the main quest "The Looming Shadow". This is main quest #21 and the final mission of the game (can check progress in notebook stats). Before doing the first objective of The Looming Shadow, go and do the following 11 side quests: Traitor's Bounty > Queen's Gambit A Moments Peace A Daughter's Vengeance Sun and Shadow Honor the Fallen Sunstone Rock Hunting For the Lodge > Hunter's Blind > Deadliest Game > Redmaw If any quests are unavailable it's because you haven't progressed far enough in the story. They will all be available by the time you reach "The Looming Shadow". If you run into a quest earlier feel free to complete it. Once all side quests are done, go do "The Looming Shadow" main quest. You get the objective to go to bed before the final battle. This unlocks the trophy during a cutscene when Aloy is sleeping. After completing the last mission it will put you back before the Looming Shadow quest and it can be replayed as many times as you want. So if you missed a side quest it's no problem. You can still do those after the final mission and then replay it. Names of All Allies: Aluki Elida Teb Vanesha Uthid Nakoa Janeva Petra Sona Varl Namman Erend Talanah You can go talk to all of them before the final battle. You'll get two optional objectives to visit both defense sites (Spire and Ridge). The allies can be found there. Dialogue choices do not affect this trophy. Personally, I always chose heart, so that's what I tested and confirmed to be working. The developers have since confirmed that dialogue choices do not affect the trophy. Killing Nil in side quest "Cause for Concern" does not impact the trophy. He doesn't count as an ally. The trophy unlocked for me despite killing Nil. The characters that you can kill don't count as allies.
	Ended the war machine threat Ended the threat of the ancient war machines.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Victorious with the War-Chief Found the Nora War-Chief and defeated the killers in the Ring of Metal.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Saved Meridian from its foe Helped Erend investigate Ersa's fate, and foiled a plot against Meridian.
Story-related trophy from a main quest, unmissable.
	Aided the defectors Aided the escapes of Uthid and the child king Itamen from the Shadow Carja.
This requires you to do the side quest "Traitor's Bounty" and "Queen's Gambit". Traitor's Bounty is unlocked automatically later in the story. Completing this quest automatically leads to Queen's Gambit (it's a quest line). Upon completing The Queen's Gambit the trophy unlocks. Here's the starting point:
	Hunted Redmaw with Talanah Rose through the ranks of the Hunters Lodge and helped Talanah defeat Redmaw.
This trophy is a reward for completing the quest line for the hunter's lodge. You must do the following quests (in this order): Hunting for the Lodge = triggers by talking to the keeper at any of the hunting grounds (marked with on map). It's listed under the "Errands" tab of your quest list. You must gather a bunch of materials from machines. They will all be marked on the map. Hunter's Blind = triggers automatically after Hunting for the Lodge is complete. Deadliest Game = triggers automatically after Hunter's Blind is complete. Redmaw = triggers automatically after Deadliest Game is complete. After defeating Redmaw return to the Hunter's Lodge to complete the quest. This will then unlock the trophy.