Metal Shards are some of the most invaluable materials you can farm in Horizon Forbidden West. Used to buy from merchants, craft upgrades, and even make ammo, it’s vital that players maintain a healthy stockpile of them, especially in the late game, when upgrades and ammo increase in cost.
This guide will showcase the best ways to farm Metal Shards in order to help players brave the new world that Horizon Forbidden West has to offer.
Hunting Machines
Arguably the best way to farm Metal Shards is by taking down many of the various machines which litter the open world. All the machines offer their own unique challenges which scale in difficulty as Aloy ventures further west; they also all drop varying amounts of Metal Shards upon their destruction, with the most dangerous machines providing the best loot.
Depending on where players are in the story, how high their level is and how far they have traveled, they may consider taking on a Thunderjaw – a difficult fight, to be sure, but not one without reward. To get machines to spawn, simply head to their sites on the map, and once defeated, they will respawn immediately once players have left the area and returned.
Other high yield machines include Slaughterspines and Shellsnappers, but even if players aren’t equipped to take on these high-level beasts yet, they can always tackle herds of weaker machines instead. However, it’s important to keep in mind how many Metal Shards Aloy is expending when crafting ammo to take the machines down.
Clearing Blocked Paths
When approaching the many question marks that litter the map, players can come across Metal Flowers and red crystals called Firegleam that they may not be able to interact with. On the map, the question marks will change to an icon signaling a ‘Blocked Path’. Only once they have completed the main quests ‘Death’s Door’ and ‘Seeds of the Past,’ which comes a little later, will they have the ability to clear these paths and find their secrets.
While behind some lie collectibles and important items for completing puzzles, behind others the player can find ancient safes and chests containing valuable loot that they can sell to merchants for Metal Shards. Thankfully, Aloy’s inventory can be sorted using the Options button on the PS5’s DualSense, allowing players to easily find items that aren’t used in crafting to safely sell to merchants.
Completing Missions And Gathering Collectables
Lastly, and most obviously, Metal Shards are very easily accumulated by finishing missions and picking up collectibles in the open world. Nearly every mission offers some monetary rewards, as do the Hunting Grounds, Gauntlet Runs, and Salvage Contracts that Aloy can find all over the map.
Moreover, collectibles like Black Boxes and Signal Lenses can be traded in at specialty merchants for Shards in The Memorial Grove and Barren Light, respectively.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.