Horizon Forbidden West Slitherfang Guide: How to Defeat and Weaknesses

Horizon Forbidden West is an action role-playing game from Guerilla Games and it's the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. Set only six months after the ending of the first game, the world is in peril again. Fortunately, Aloy is ready to do whatever it takes to keep her world alive. In this case, she needs to head into the Forbidden West to find out how to stop the red blight that is destroying the land.

On her journey, she will meet many new allies but also many new enemies. Threats can come from anywhere in the Forbidden West and there's a whole host of new machines for Aloy to fight against. One such spine-chilling machine that she will come up against is a Slitherfang and it looks like it might be one of the biggest ones in the game.

In this guide, we're going to show you their weaknesses, and how to defeat them.

Slitherfang: How to Defeat and Weaknesses

As with most of the machines in the Horizon world, the key to defeating a Slitherfang is to wear its health bar down to zero. However, the bigger the machine, the harder it can be to take down. The sheer size of the Slitherfang is a pretty clear indicator that it's going to be one of the tricker ones to fight. Also, it easily scales a tall structure in one of the trailers. When you combine its size with it possibly having the ability to climb certain objects, it's probably best to engage in ranged combat with this particular machine.

It may seem like a tricky fight, but it does look like the Slitherfang may have a few weaknesses, which will work in your favour when it comes time to face one. Here are the ones we have noticed so far.

Rear of Its Head

As the machine is slithering across the sand in the Machines of the Forbidden West trailer, you can spot a bright blue compartment/sac on the rear of its head. It seems to contain a type of liquid. We know from this PlayStation Blog Post that this machine can spit acid, which has led us to assume this sac may be where the acid is stored. If this is the case, destroying the sac may inflict a lot of damage on the machine while removing its ability to use that attack.

Tips of Its Fan-Head

When the Slitherfang rears up to attack and hisses in the machines of the west trailer, you can see the tips of its fan around its head light up. This may be a good sign that they are a weak spot. In the previous game (Horizon Zero Dawn), the weak points on the underside of a Stormbird lit up in a similar way.

Tail Section

At around 1:27 of this trailer, the Slitherfang scales a tall structure and you get a clear view of several blue components on its tail. The colouring suggests that they may be vulnerable to specific elemental attacks like Shock or Freeze. Also, they may be removable components that Aloy can collect to upgrade her gear.

Purple Face Canisters

In the Challenges of the Forbidden West trailer, Aloy can be seen battling a Slitherfang in an Arena. Just before she blows the machine into pieces, you get a brief glimpse of two large purple components/canisters situated on either side of its head. From the glimpses we have had from them so far, it's highly possible they are an extremely vulnerable part of the machine. If they are, attacking them will be a balance of high-risk and high-reward as it seems you will need to be close to the machine to land precise attacks on them.

It's important to remember that everything in this guide is speculation from the information seen in various trailers.

• More Machines: Learn more about all of the new machines in the Forbidden West.

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What Is a Slitherfang?

A Slitherfang is a large snake-like machine that can be seen in multiple official trailers for the game. The monumental machine seems to move and behave a lot like a King Cobra does. The uses its body to slither across the land and how it bares its fangs to hiss at enemies while spitting acid all adds up to one idea. It's a spine-chilling and fear-inducing machine.

We will update this page as soon as we know more about the machine in the game.

The Slitherfang seems to be only one of the many threats Aloy will face in Horizon Forbidden West. Fortunately, you're going to be able to get your hands on a variety of new weapons to help you. Check out our weapons list to learn more about the new weapons and ammunition types you can find in the game. If the story becomes too overwhelming, then maybe you'd like to hone your skills at a Hunting Ground. Take a look at our Hunting Ground guide to learn more about what they are in the Forbidden West.