Horizon Zero Dawn: Ancient Armory

Start the Ancient Armory Quest

Starting the Horizon Zero Dawn Ancient Armory quest is pretty straightforward, and there are two ways to do it.

First, you can just head to the place where the armor is locked up. This is in a cave to the east of Mother’s Rise. When you get there and start going down into the cave, the quest will begin all by itself.

The second way to start the quest is by finding a Power Cell. These are special items you need to unlock the armor. There are 5 Power Cells hidden around the game world. As soon as you find your first one, the quest will start. You can get your first Power Cell in one of the early main missions, called The Womb of the Mountain.

Actually, I suggest you not to lose time and start collecting the Power Cells, and the quest will start automatically.

Shield-Weaver Armor Location

The final location for the Ancient Armory quest in Horizon Zero Dawn isn’t too far from where you start the game. You need to go to the Sacred Lands of the Nora. Here you’ll find an ancient bunker left by the Old Ones.

As you can see, the bunker is pretty far away from the land, and all this way, you will need to move underground. However, the entrance is hidden. So, use the map above to find the location of the entrance.

Remember that there’s no need to go there if you don’t have all the Power Cells, as there’s very little loot, and the route is quite long. 

Steps to Unlock the Quest Doors

Now, you just need to make your way through the caves, find a bunker, and solve a puzzle.

When you get to the end of the bunker, you’ll find a door that needs two Power Cells. Pop them into the slots, and you’re ready for the first part of the puzzle.

This puzzle is like a game of matching holograms to specific positions. There’s a display showing five times in military format. Think of each hologram as a clock and set them to match these times. To make it simple, the sequence from left to right is: up, right, down, left, up.

That opens the first door and takes you to a room with five more holographic locks. Here, you use your last three Power Cells. A panel shows different angles, like 90 degrees and 270 degrees.

You need to adjust these locks to match the angles. The sequence, from left to right, is: right, left, up, right, left.

And that’s it! Once you do this, you can walk right in and grab your Shield-Weaver armor.

Ancient Armory Quest Reward

So, the whole Ancient Armory thing basically leads to one reward, the Shield-Weaver armor. And it’s kinda weird, because it doesn’t feel like normal armor at all. You don’t really “tank” damage with stats. Instead, you get the energy shield that just eats the hit completely.

At first, it feels almost broken. You take a hit, nothing happens, shield flashes, and you’re like — ok, that’s it? But then it drops, and for a few seconds you’re back to being very killable. Then it recharges, and the loop continues. It’s simple, but in fights it opens you up more options than you’d expect.

Key Features of the Shield-Weaver Armor

• absorbs full damage while the shield is up
• recharges automatically after breaking
• no mod slots at all (yeah, kinda limiting)
• can struggle against fast or constant damage

It’s not some god mode, btw. If you mess up timing or get surrounded, you still die pretty fast. The shield just gives you space to mess up once… maybe twice.

Is It Worth It?

Honestly, yeah, but it changes how you play in a way I didn’t expect. I personally used it almost all the way through the late game, and at some point, I realized I stopped caring about positioning that much. You can just go in, take a hit, roll out, wait a second, go again. You can not think about health as much as before, which sounds great, but also kinda removes some tension.

Some fights that used to feel intense just become manageable. Not trivial, but definitely less stressful.