HFW Ultimate Arena Guide | Ultra Hard — Level 13: Apex Drifters

For the full desktop guide to completing the Horizon Forbidden West Arena, please visit https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypant... If you are on a mobile device, instead visit: https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypant... — For this fight, I advise tying everything down—it's just too hectic to try to deal with enemies that are flying all over the place. Even a level 1 Elite Ropecaster will lock down the Skydrifters with a single rope. Of course, you'll want to tie down the Rollerback as well. Use smoke bombs to help land your ropes. Trust me. Once the enemies are detained, you can use traps (Elite Acid) or Spike Traps (you can freeze them first as desired) to make quick work of the birds. If you have a good sharpshot bow, you can freeze and then use Focused Shots, too. Or a boltblaster with Sustained Burst works well—the options are pretty wide for how to kill the Skydrifters. Then turn your attention to the Rollerback. This enemy is pretty beefy, and very squirrely. I start by using Elite Purgewater traps to deal a big chunk of damage. Place them next to it while it is tied down and set them off by shooting them (or using the splash damage from an explosive attack). Then you have the choice to re-rope or to be a bit more adventurous. When the Rollerback takes a lot of damage, its armor falls off. It then does an animation to re-summon the armor—this is the perfect opportunity to set more traps without wasting time roping it down again. If the Rollerback doesn't do the armor animation, you can also just use a smoke bomb for cover while you set the traps. By luring the Rollerback into a second set of Elite Traps—and using a few Spike Traps, explosive bombs, or other high-damage attacks along the way—you should be able to bring it down well within the time limit. Tip: If you have a hard time hitting aerial enemies, it can be HUGELY helpful to wait for the Skydrifters to land before entering the fight.