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"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.
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The Deathbringer, known in the Old World as the FAS-FSP5 Khopesh, is a heavyweight machine in Horizon Zero Dawn.
History[]
In the Old World[]
The Schematic of an FAS-FSP5 Khopesh.
The FAS-FSP5 Khopesh was developed as part of Faro Automated Solutions’ Chariot line of peacekeeping robots. FAS designed the Chariot line to operate in swarms similar to those of certain insects. The Khopesh was the heavy firepower unit of a swarm. A key feature was their ability to consume biomass as fuel in the event of fuel line interdiction. In addition, their OS security was considered to be virtually unbreakable.[1][2]
Khopeshes in the Faro Plague.
In 2064, a swarm owned by a corporation called the Hartz-Timor Energy Combine became independent, replicating at an alarming rate, and defaulting to biomass conversion as its fuel supply. This came to be known as the Faro Plague, and began to relentlessly consume biomass, degrading the biosphere towards collapse, which would eradicating all life. With no chance of containment or reassuming control of the swarm, Project Zero Dawn was implemented to eventually brute-force the swarm’s deactivation codes, shut the robots down, terraform the ravaged Earth and reestablish life after its extinction.
Around the year 2116-2126, GAIA was able to use MINERVA to successfully shut down the Faro Plague using several transmission arrays around the world.
In the New World[]
A dead Deathbringer in No Man's Land.
While Zero Dawn restored the planet to a habitable state, the millions of Khopeshes and other Faro Plague robots remained inactive, frozen in place all across the world, many buried and others becoming covered in plant life.
Horizon Zero Dawn[]
A Deathbringer, as depicted in the notebook in Horizon Zero Dawn.
Centuries later, after HADES was awakened by Nemesis to destroy Earth's biosphere, but after it failed to do so with the Zero Dawn terraforming system, it manipulated Sylens into forming a cult in its service, the Eclipse. HADES then had the Eclipse exhume numerous Corruptors and Deathbringers, which it reactivated to bolster the cult’s strength, as it planned to use the cult as an army to gain access to the Spire on the Alight in order to reawaken the entire Faro Plague to destroy the biosphere again. Some Deathbringers had their guns removed for Eclipse to use as personal weapons.
Aloy encountered the Eclipse at Maker's End and the Grave-Hoard working to revive Deathbringers, where she destroyed them both.[3][4]
The Eclipse were keeping several Deathbringers at their base in the Jewel. When Aloy destroyed their Focus network, HADES had the Deathbringers mercilessly fire at her, but she was able to narrowly escape.[5]
The Eclipse took some Deathbringers with them during their invasion of the Sacred Lands.[6]
A Deathbringer confronting Aloy at the Alight.
Deathbringers were the main machines used by the Eclipse to attack Meridian to allow HADES access to the Spire. Some of the Deathbringers were destroyed by Aloy and some Oseram wielding Oseram Cannons, while one dragged HADES to the Spire to begin awakening the Faro Plague, successfully awakening two more Deathbringers, one near Sunfall and the other in the Sacred Lands. The Deathbringer protecting HADES was destroyed by Aloy, Erend, Varl and Sona/Talanah in the Battle of the Alight, who purged HADES from the Spire, which deactivated all the Deathbringers again.[7]
Horizon Forbidden West[]
While some Deathbringer bodies can be found in the Forbidden West, no active Deathbringers can be found.
Appearance[]
A Deathbringer is a large and very powerful mobile weapons platform, comparable in size to the largest contemporary combat machines. Unlike Zero Dawn machines or even the other machines in the Chariot Line, Deathbringers have no resemblance to any fauna/creature or an animal of some-kind. A Deathbringer’s means of ambulation consists of six stout legs, each with a vertical piston at the end. Each leg is equipped with a stabilizer. The legs are connected radially to a circular swivel that allows the head, which is laterally wider than the span of the legs, to turn 360 degrees. The head carries several formidable weapons: a flamethrower, a grenade launcher, a gun turret, a heavy cannon turret, a swarm missile launcher and a repeater cannon turret. The head also houses heat vents, cooling rods, and the machine’s core. Tough armor plating covers the entire chassis. Two optical sensors are located centrally at the front of the head, in a vertical location, on each side of the CPU’s housing.
Behavior[]
Being an ancient war machine, a Deathbringer has no behavior other than hostility to enemy forces as defined by its master. In the case of the Faro Plague Deathbringers, enemy forces were any human forces and any machines that were not part of their swarm. In the case of Deathbringers that had been reactivated by HADES, enemy forces were any enemy of the Eclipse.
Abilities[]
While Deathbringers are incapable of any ambulation beyond short mechanical steps, their powerful array of ranged attacks compensate for this limitation. Additionally, they have a high capacity to sustain damage, comparable to the most powerful contemporary machines, and their robust armor plating prevents restraining weapons such as Ropecaster lines from gaining purchase on their chassis; thus, they cannot be tied down. Direct hits on armor plating reduces damage by 90% for projectiles and melee attacks, 70% for explosives, and 50% for fire.
Different variants of the Deathbringer encountered throughout the main quest-line carry different combinations of a total of six separate weapon systems listed below, mounted in specific locations on the Deathbringer's upper body as outlined in the table here, including heavy machine guns, missile racks, ballistic cannons, grenade launchers and flamethrowers. None of the variants come equipped with all six weaponized Components at once.
| Quest Appearance | Top Left | Top Right | Left Side | Right Side | Front | Rear |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maker's End | ― | ― | Repeater Cannon | Repeater Cannon | Flamethrower | Gun Turret |
| The Gravehoard | ― | Swarm Launcher | Flamethrower | Flamethrower | Gun Turret | ― |
| To Curse the Darkness (ver. 1) | ― | ― | Repeater Cannon | Repeater Cannon | Gun Turret | ― |
| To Curse the Darkness (ver. 2) | Swarm Launcher | Swarm Launcher | Flamethrower | Flamethrower | Gun Turret | ― |
| The Heart of the Nora | ― | ― | Repeater Cannon | Repeater Cannon | Flamethrower | ― |
| The Face of Extinction | Swarm Launcher | Swarm Launcher | Flamethrower | Flamethrower | Gun Turret | Gun Turret |
| The Face of Extinction (HADES) | Heavy Cannon Turret | Heavy Cannon Turret | Gun Turret | Gun Turret | Grenade Launcher | Gun Turret |
Weaknesses[]
Like their fellow Chariot machine, the Corruptor, centuries of burial underground have given them two significant weaknesses: They are particularly vulnerable to weapons that utilize fire, and they are prone to overheating. When they overheat, they open five Heat Vents and expose six Cooling Rods, which inflict significant damage when hit and accelerate the rate at which heat builds up by accumulating constant passive increases in Overheat severity once destroyed. Destroying a total of four Heat Vents or Cooling Rods exposes its internal Core during subsequent overheating cycles. Additionally, they expose six leg Stabilizers when overheated or during Heavy Weapon attacks. Destroying a Stabilizer temporarily incapacitates a Deathbringer, and destroying all six of them causes the machine to stagger when attempting to perform Heavy Weapon attacks. All mounted weapons can be removed or destroyed disabling its corresponding attacks entirely, including a heavy machine gun which can be picked up and wielded against the Deathbringer itself.
Attacks[]
| Attack Name | Damage Type | Primary Damage | Secondary Damage | Trigger Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Cannon Shot | Explosion | 200 | - | 20m - 100m | Targets enemy with laser guidance, then fires heavy round at enemy |
| Repeater Cannon Burst | Explosion | 40 per hit | - | 15m - 60m | Repeated cannon shot at enemy; stabilizers are exposed |
| Rocket Barrage | Explosion | 50 | - | 12m - 100m | Barrage of missiles fired at enemy; stabilizers are exposed |
| Rocket Salvo | Explosion | 50 | - | 12m - 100m | Single salvo of missiles fired at enemy |
| Swarm Missile Burst | Explosion | 100/145[8] | - | 25m - 100m | Explosive volley of 3 projectiles fired at enemy |
| Flamethrower Burst |  Fire
|
60 per second | - | 0m - 20m | Flamethrower blast over wide area at enemy |
| Grenade Launcher Shot | Fire
|
60 | 25 per second | 10m - 30m | Grenades fired at enemy |
| Foot Stomp | Melee | 200 | 160 | 9m | Stamps at enemy at close range |
| Gun Turret Burst | Projectile | 45 per hit | - | 5m - 80m | Shoots at enemy with gun turret |
Components[]
| Component | Image | Information | Weakness | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body |
|
Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems. | Fire Shock
|
 Corruption
|
| Repeater Cannon Turret | 
|
Destroying this component disables the Repeater Cannon attacks. | All | None |
| Cooling Rods | 
|
This component is exposed when the machine overheats. Destroying this component causes high damage and the machine to overheat faster. | All | None |
| Core | 
|
This component is exposed when the machine overheats. Hitting it when exposed causes massive damage. | All | None |
| Flame Thrower | 
|
Destroying this component disables the Flame Thrower attack. | All | None |
| Grenade Launcher | 
|
Destroying this component disables the Grenade Launcher attack. | All | None |
| Heat Vents | 
|
This component is exposed when the machine overheats. Destroying this component causes high damage and the machine to overheat faster. | All | None |
| Gun Turret | 
|
Hitting this component deals greater damage to the machine. This heavy machine gun can be picked up and used after it has been detached. |  Tear
|
None |
| Swarm Launcher | 
|
Destroying these components disables the Swarm Cannon attack. | All | None |
| Stabilizer | 
|
Hitting this component deals greater damage to the machine and cause the machine to fall on its side. | All | None |
| Heavy Cannon Turret | 
|
Destroying this component disables the Cannon Turret attack. | All | None |
Loot[]
Trivia[]
- The original name of the Deathbringer, "Khopesh", is a reference to an Ancient Egyptian sickle sword. This is a clear demonstration of its intended purpose as a mainstay weapons platform.
- According to the "The Bad News" cutscene there were at least 697,000 Deathbringers produced by the Faro Plague.
- The Deathbringer's design seems to be inspired by the Hunter-Killer Centurion from The Terminator film series.
- During development, Deathbringers were referred to as Warbots.[9]
- Deathbringers are one of the few machines from Horizon: Zero Dawn that did not reappear in Horizon: Forbidden West. Many inactive Deathbringers can be found throughout the Forbidden West, particularly in No Man's Land, but no active ones. Horizon Call of the Mountain also features inactive Deathbringers.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ FAS-FSP5 Khopesh (Datapoint)
- ↑ Entangled Waveforms
- ↑ Maker's End (Quest)
- ↑ The Grave-Hoard (Quest)
- ↑ To Curse the Darkness
- ↑ The Heart of the Nora
- ↑ The Face of Extinction
- ↑ The Deathbringer encountered during The Face of Extinction deals slightly higher damage with its Swarm Missle Burst.
- ↑ https://youtu.be/4FAXv2H-VUA, 6:54