A lot of people consider Horizon Zero Dawn to be one of the very best Sony exclusives of the PS4 era. With this in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising to see many of the same features and mechanics returning for the game's 2022 sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. Unfortunately, this does include the Hunting Grounds, which were actually one of the very few divisive things about the original title.

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Although Hunting Grounds are a little easier to master this time around, they're still going to cause problems for a lot of players. For those who are really struggling, these sure-fire strategies for the Hunting Ground in The Daunt should prove to be very useful, and help Horizon Forbidden West players to come away with some fantastic rewards including Metal Shards, rare machine parts, and Skill Points.

Tear Trial

In order to complete the Tear Trial, players will simply need to shoot the Power Cells off of two Scroungers using their Hunting Bow and then pick them up from the ground. As the Power Cell is located to the rear of the enemy, stealth can be very useful here, though, with good aim and the use of Aloy's concentration (press R3 to slow down time), it is possible to knock them off while facing the enemies head-on or immediately after a well-timed dodge (press Circle just before the Scrounger pounces towards Aloy).

At the beginning of the trial, players should slide down the rope in front of them and then crouch in the patch of red grass where they land. A Scrounger will walk from right to left soon after they drop, so players should wait for it to pass and then shoot off its Power Cell. There are two more Scroungers over to the left of the area, so, after looting the first cell, players should make their way over there and repeat the process. The timer will end the moment players pick up their second Power Cell.

Shock Trial

The Shock trial is arguably the toughest of the three trials at the Hunting Ground in The Daunt as it requires fairly decent timing in order to pull off. Players will need to use the Shock Warrior Bow to shoot the Power Cell on the back of a Scrounger so that it overloads and shocks nearby enemies. The good news is that it's possible to shock multiple enemies at once here, so the trial can be completed fairly quickly with the right approach.

Players should start by sliding down the rope in front of them and then heading over to the long grass to their left. There should be three enemies beneath the hanging trap, so overloading one of the Scroungers here will cover two of the three shocks needed to complete the trial. After that, it's either a case of waiting until another pair of enemies lines up or running out into the open so that multiple enemies surround Aloy and then overloading a Scrounger cell right in the center. The resulting blast may look big, but is easy to survive if needed.

Shock and Trap Trial

The Shock and Trap trial requires players to score three environmental kills using a combination of Tripcaster shock traps and special arena hazards that are built into the Hunting Ground itself. There are two types, the first of which come in the form of large hanging platforms that can be dropped down onto enemies by shooting an arrow at the winch that connects them to the scaffolding above. The others release a number of thick logs if players shoot the archery target that's connected to the rope holding them all in place.

Though both are effective at dealing damage, it's a lot easier to score kills with the hanging platforms, as the logs tend to fall in a bit of an arc rather than straight down. Providing players set their Tripcaster traps about a meter in front of the log traps though, this shouldn't be too much of an issue. It is definitely worth attempting this with Chargers rather than Scroungers, however, as the latter have a habit of jumping over the Tripcaster traps rather than running into them.

Completion Rewards

As in Horizon Zero Dawn, completing all three of the challenges at a single Hunting Ground will provide players with some additional rewards. These are dependent on the highest tier reached for every trial, with players needing to earn full stripes on all three in order to unlock everything. Assuming this is the first Hunting Ground that players have visited, they'll also get the imaginatively named "Obtained 3 Stripes at a Hunting Ground" trophy after successfully completing their third trial.

Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.

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