USEFUL LINKS

Find more useful information about Horizon Zero Dawn on HermitGamer.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Ancient Armory

Horizon Zero Dawn: Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Hunting Grounds

Hunting Grounds are special zones offering engaging challenges to test your skills in combat and stealth in Horizon Zero Dawn. Set in diverse landscapes, these trials push you to adapt and employ varied tactics to conquer machines.

Each trial at the Hunting Grounds has specific objectives, like defeating machines in particular ways or within a set time frame. When you complete these challenges, you earn different levels of rewards – Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

The Hunting Grounds are overseen by characters known as Keepers. They provide the details for each trial and keep a record of your achievements.

In this guide, you will find everything about Hunting Grounds, their locations, and requirements in Horizon Zero Dawn.

How do Hunting Grounds Work?

Horizon Zero Dawn features 6 distinct Hunting Grounds. Five of them can be found in Meridian, and the last one is situated in Banuk territory known as The Cut.

At Hunting Grounds, you will face various trials that test your skills in combating machines. These trials focus on:

  • Employing elemental ammunition, such as fire or freeze arrows
  • Using tools like blast wires
  • Mastering stealth techniques
  • Using the machines’ own weapons against them

Upon completing a trial, you will be awarded a mark called a sun. The rank of the sun depends on the time taken to complete the trial. Each trial has specific time limits for each sun rank, with shorter times yielding higher ranks. There are three ranks you can achieve in Hunting Grounds:

  • Blazing Sun: the top rank
  • Full Sun: the second-rank
  • Half Sun: the third rank

Not completing the trial within the time of at least a Half Sun (20 minutes) is considered a failure.

If you earn a minimum of three Half Sun marks or higher from any of the five Lodge hunting grounds, you will allowed to access the Hunting Lodge in Meridian.

Nora Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Nora Hunting Grounds Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Nora Hunting Grounds

The Nora Hunting Grounds in Horizon Zero Dawn are often the initial set of trials you’ll encounter. Managed by the Nora Keeper, these trials focus on honing your abilities in using hunting tools and making strategic use of the environment, like squashing machines with logs.

You’ll find the Nora Hunting Grounds situated just beyond the Main Embrace Gate.

Parts Alone Trial

Remove 10 Blaze canisters from Grazers without causing them to explode.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:30
  2. Full Sun: 02:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Blast Wire Trial

Kill 6 Grazers using Blast Wires from the Tripcaster.

  1. Blazing Sun: 03:00
  2. Full Sun: 06:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Logpile Trial

You need to kill 6 machines using log pile traps found in the area.

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:00
  2. Full Sun: 05:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Valleymeet Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Valleymeet Hunting Grounds Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Valleymeet Hunting Grounds

Valleymeet Hunting Grounds are located at the east of Hunter’s Gathering. They are overseen by the Valleymeet Keeper and test your skills in using elemental ammo.

These include mastering the use of fire, freeze, and shock arrows.

Shock Trial

Stun the Bellowbacks with shock attacks and shoot off 3 canisters.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:00
  2. Full Sun: 02:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Fire Fight Trial

Shoot fire arrows at the Blaze canisters of Striders and damage 4 machines with the canister detonation.

  1. Blazing Sun: 00:40
  2. Full Sun: 01:20
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Freeze Trial

Kill 5 machines while they’re frozen.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:30
  2. Full Sun: 02:30
  3. Half Sun: 20:00
Table of contents Arrow icon

Greatrun Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Greatrun Hunting Grounds Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Greatrun Hunting Grounds

Greatrun Hunting Grounds are located on the west of the Daytower.

They are managed by the Greatrun Keeper and test your stealth skills and machine tying.

Tie Down Trial

Tie down 3 Glinthawks using the Ropecaster and heat a critical strike.

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:00
  2. Full Sun: 04:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Parts Wrangling Trial

Tie down Tramplers using the Ropecaster and destroy their processor units.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:30
  2. Full Sun: 02:30
  3. Half Sun: 20:00 

Pace Trial

Loot 3 Watcher parts spread across 3 points in the arena, using stealth.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:30
  2. Full Sun: 02:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Spurflints Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Spurflints Hunting Grounds Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Spurflints Hunting Grounds

Spurflints Hunting Grounds are located on the east side of the map, in the Carja jungle. They are managed by the Spurflints Keeper and offer you some stealth trials.

Stalker Kill Trial

Find and kill 2 Stalkers from silence using your Silent Strike ability.

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:00
  2. Full Sun: 03:30
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Watch Out Trial

Find and kill 4 Watchers from silence using your Silent Strike ability.

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:00
  2. Full Sun: 03:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Sleight of Crate Trial

Loot 4 Shell-Walker Crates using stealth.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:05
  2. Full Sun: 01:30
  3. Half Sun: 20:00 

Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds

Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds are located midway between Sunfall and Free Heap. They are guided by the Sun Furrows Keeper and offer trials to test your ability to turn a machine’s weapons against others.

Thunderjaw vs. Ravager Trial

Take advantage of the Thunderjaw to kill the Ravagers. To complete this trial, you need to remove the Thunderjaw’s Disc Launchers and kill Ravagers or override the Thunderjaw to make the kills. 

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:00
  2. Full Sun: 02:30
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Ravager Control Trial

Take control of the 2 Ravagers and kill the Thunderjaw.

  1. Blazing Sun: 02:40
  2. Full Sun: 04:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Ravager vs. Machines Trial

Remove and use a Ravager Cannon to kill 2 other machines.

  1. Blazing Sun: 01:10
  2. Full Sun: 02:00
  3. Half Sun: 20:00

Snowchants Hunting Grounds

Horizon Zero Dawn Snowchants Hunting Ground Location
Horizon Zero Dawn Snowchants Hunting Grounds

Snowchants Hunting Grounds in Horizon Zero Dawn are located in the northern area of the Cut (Benuk territory).

These grounds are independent of the Hunters Lodge in Meridian and use completion times rather than marks to rank participants. A unique challenge here is the Chieftain’s Trial, reserved solely for werak chieftains.

To gain entry to Snowchants, you first had to secure the chieftain title by completing the quest For the Werak.

Control Trial

Kill a Ravager and 5 other machines in with a Stormslinger.

  1. First Place: 00:55
  2. Second Place: 01:20
  3. Third Place: 20:00

Chieftain's Trial

Kill all Machines throughout the arena’s trail.

  1. First Place: 04:30
  2. Second Place: 05:30
  3. Third Place: 20:00

Onslaught Trial

Kill waves of Machines throughout the arena’s trail.

  1. First Place: 03:30
  2. Second Place: 05:00
  3. Third Place: 20:00

Hunting Grounds Rewards

As for the rewards for completing trials, you may get several different rewards. It may be reward boxes and lodge weapons.

If you complete a Lodge trial at any rank, you will get a Sun Box of your rank with some loot. Mind that if you get the highest mark for the trial, you will get only the highest Sun Box. So, if you want to get the rewards for all the marks, you need to finish 1 trial 3 times and get every mark.

One more thing to know is that if you have all 3 Half Suns of full Suns in one Hunting Ground, you will get an additional Box. Moreover, if you get all 3 Blazing Suns, you will receive a skill point.

Lodge Weapons

You can get really strong weapons for completing all 15 trials across the 5 hunting grounds. The Lodge’s weapons keeper will award you with three special Lodge hunting weapons. They are:

  • Lodge Blast Sling for 15 Half Suns
  • Lodge Ropecaster for 15 Full Suns
  • Lodge War Bow for 15 Blazing Suns

Reward Boxes

As for the rewards for completing trials, you may get several different rewards. It may be reward boxes and lodge weapons.

If you complete a Lodge trial at any rank, you will get a Sun Box of your rank with some loot. Mind that if you get the highest mark for the trial, you will get only the highest Sun Box. So, if you want to get the rewards for all the marks, you need to finish 1 trial 3 times and get every mark.

One more thing to know is that if you have all 3 Half Suns of full Suns in one Hunting Ground, you will get an additional Box. Moreover, if you get all 3 Blazing Suns, you will receive a skill point.

Conclusion

The Hunting Grounds in Horizon Zero Dawn offer engaging and fun challenges to test your skills and get rewards.

To claim the best rewards from these hunting grounds, you need to conquer all 18 trials across the 6 grounds. As for rewards, you will get the best weapons you can find in Horizon Zero Dawn.

This includes the Lodge Blast Sling, Lodge Ropecaster, and Lodge War Bow, each known for their strength.

FAQ

  • How many hunting grounds are in Horizon Zero Dawn?

    There are 6 Hunting Grounds in Horizon Zero Dawn hunting. 5 of them are accessible through the base game, and the last one is available in the Frozen Wilds DLC.

Interested in some additional guides or help? Check out our Horizon Zero Dawn page for more useful tips and guides.

Yaroslav mokliak
Yaroslav Mokliak

CEO | Editor | Content Writer

With over 15 years of playing games and 5 years of writing articles, Yaroslav is a CEO and content creator at HermitGamer. Yaroslav regularly plays video games, creates useful guides, and writes reviews with his opinion on new and old titles. His main goal is to make HermitGamer a platform, where each gamer can find the answers.

Related Articles

Comments

To Top Back to Top
Blue Background