While tackling the vast wilderness of her homeland in Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy will have to defend herself against 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.

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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.

10 Elite 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 much harder 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.

9 Scanner Bandits

These unique variants on the bandit only appear in the Frozen Wilds DLC, but they are also incredibly annoying. Like the similar enemies in the Arkham series, 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.

8 Bandit 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.

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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.

7 Corruptor

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.

6 Stalker

Of all the non-boss machines in Horizon, 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.

5 Behemoth

The first of the larger boss machines, Behemoths are normally found in similar convoys to Shellwalkers due to their function of transporting materials back to the Cauldrons. Unlike the Shellwalkers, however, Behemoths are much harder to come across and players may not even see one until the story mission that forces Aloy to defeat one without the help of her Focus. While the Behemoth doesn't have many weapons of its own, unlike combat class machines, it can employ an anti-gravity system that allows it to throw rocks with devastating accuracy and can easily kill Aloy if the player doesn't take the threat seriously.

4 Thunderjaw

The Thunderjaws may be the most deadly machine in all of Horizon Zero Dawn thanks in no small part to the insane number of weapons at its disposal, not including its ability to charge Aloy or use its tail for a powerful melee attack. That being said, Thunderjaws are much easier to come across than other boss machines, giving the player more opportunities to practice against them.

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The best approach to defeating a Thunderjaw is to tear off its weapons as soon as possible, removing its ranged capabilities, before either tying it down or hitting it with Freeze effects and attacking the weak spot on its side for the best damage output.

3 Stormbird

Like the Thunderjaw, the Stormbird is an incredibly powerful machine that can be very difficult to take down. Unlike the Thunderjaw, however, the Stormbird doesn't have a variety of weapons at its disposal. Instead, it uses its ability to fly (on top of a handful of ranged attacks) to really push Aloy's abilities to their breaking point. Like most flying machines, the Stormbird is weakest when tied down with the Ropecaster, so this should be the first thing players do if they are attacked by this enormous bird.

2 Death Bringer

Like the Corruptors, the Death Bringers are large, old-world machines that only appear during story missions. Unlike the Corruptors, however, Death Bringers appear even less frequently and only appear a handful of times in the story, including as the final boss of the game with a version corrupted by HADES. What makes the Death Bringers so hard to defeat is that, unlike the Corruptors, their ranged attachments can't be torn off with Tearblast arrows and need to be outright destroyed with regular attacks instead.

1 Rockbreaker

It's surprising that one of the rarest enemies in Horizon isn't the final boss in the Death Bringer or the mascot in the Thunderjaw, but the giant mole machine, the Rockbreaker. Functioning something like Molduga from Breath of the Wild, Rockbreakers can be incredibly tough to defeat thanks to their ability to tunnel underground in order to get out of reach of Aloy's weapons. Like Molduga, the best approach is to find a large rock to perch on and wait for it to emerge before hitting it with everything Aloy has.

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