Horus

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

Horus
The ultimate weapon of destruction from the Old World. Capable of devastating attacks and machine production, though its ancient systems are prone to overheating.
Size	Titan
Origin	Faro Automated Solutions
Class	Chariot
Combat
Challenge Level	60
Weakness	None
Strength	All

The FAS-BOR7 Horus, generally dubbed the Metal Devil by modern tribes, is a machine in the Horizon franchise. It is not a contemporary machine; rather it is one of three machines of the ancient Chariot line, manufactured by the robotics and technology giant Faro Automated Solutions during the mid 21st century.

History

In the Old World

A holographic schematic of a Horus in the ruins of Faro Automated Solutions.

The FAS-BOR7 Horus was designed by Faro Automated Solutions, and developed as part of their Chariot line of combat robots. Faro designed the Chariot line to operate in swarms similar to those of certain insects. Horuses were the colossal "queens" of a swarm, replicating other swarm robots as well as themselves, in numbers that invariably overwhelmed any enemy force. Additionally, they themselves were formidable combat machines, adept at tearing into and destroying huge enemy fortifications. They could consume biomass as fuel in the event of fuel line interdiction, and their network was virtually unbreakable.

The Faro Plague

A Horus approaching Los Angeles.

In 2064, a swarm owned by the Hartz-Timor Energy Combine experienced a glitch that caused it to become an independent entity, answering only to itself. The swarm began attacking company personnel, ignored shutdown codes and began replicating at an extreme rate, defaulting to biomass conversion as its fuel supply. The swarm came to be called the Faro Plague, and began relentlessly consuming all organic matter, ultimately eradicating all life. With no chance of containing or retaking 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 re-establish life after its extinction. The Faro Robot Population notes that there were around a thousand Horuses as part of the Faro Plague during the early stages, with General Herres noting that by the time of Zero Day, the Faro robots would number in the several millions.

In the New World

A derelict Horus in the Valley of the Fallen.

After Project Zero Dawn successfully deactivated the Faro robots, terraformed Earth and re-established life, the new humans produced lived primitive, tribal existences due to the purge of the APOLLO database, leaving the truth of the remains of the Faro machines unknown to them, instead becoming part of tribal legend and religious belief.

Current Status

Currently, there are twelve known Horus carcasses in the world.

1. On top of All-Mother Mountain, partially buried under snow. Its assault drills extend across the mountain, forming part of the path the Nora take during the Proving. One of its drills had penetrated the outside of ELEUTHIA-9 prior to deactivation.
2. Atop the mountains of the Longroam, with the front of the Horus penetrating the ruins of U.S. Robot Command, known in the New World as the Grave-Hoard, having taken part in the assault on the facility. This Metal Devil had a Deathbringer unit within it, which was removed by the Shadow Carja.

   

   The Horus in the Jewel, with HADES not visible.

3. Within the Jewel. HADES took refuge within this Horus' processing orb while escaping GAIA's self-destruction, with the Eclipse Base later built around it. The processing orb with HADES within was later removed and dragged to the Alight in order for HADES to use the Spire to reawaken the Faro Plague to end life on Earth, but was stopped by Aloy, purged from the processing orb and broadcasted to be contained within an unknown device by Sylens.

   

   All Horus locations in Horizon Forbidden West. The one in the Burning Shores' initial location is shown in purple, with its final location in blue.

4. On the northwestern shore of Jagged Deep. Sylens removed the processing orb from this Horus with Firegleam and an Igniter to install HADES into, building his workshop under the Horus.
5. In Cinnabar Sands. This Horus is heavily damaged, with the head partially buried in the ground, and the tentacles curving out around it, some of which are severed. A number of weathered Corruptors and Deathbringers can be found around it, along with tanks and other military weapons.
6. South of Jagged Deep, lying across a bunker accessed in the Drowned Hopes side quest.
7. In the Shining Wastes, perched across the mountains near Desert's Tear.
8. On the southern border of the Stillsands, where it forms part of the Rebel Camp at Devil's Grasp.
9. Within the Valley of the Fallen, heavily overgrown by vegetation.
10. On the Isle of Spires, lying next to the remains of the Grand Gate Bridge.
11. In the Burning Shores, originally behind the Hollywood Sign, but was reactivated by Walter Londra and taken down onto the beaches, out into the water, then back onto the beaches where it deactivated after Aloy destroyed its processing orb.
12. Atop the ruins of Devil's Anger. It appears that the Horus was destroyed in a battle that took place here.

As derelicts exposed to the elements for centuries, the serviceability of most of these Horus is dubious at best. At least three of them had still functional processing orbs, although these three have all been removed or destroyed. While HADES was within the Horus processing orb and still connected to the rest of the Horus body, it didn't seem able to invoke any functionality in the Horus body. Notably, none of the Horus units appear to activate while HADES began broadcasting the reactivation signal.

Aloy notes that a reactivation signal is needed to reboot a Horus' systems, but that a physical connection can also be used. Londra was able to reactivate a Horus through a physical connection between himself and the processing orb, allowing him to control it directly. However, likely due to its age, damage and being overgrown with vegetation, it was highly prone to overheating, eventually catching fully on fire. After Aloy destroyed the processing orb, the Horus continued moving for several seconds before coming to a stop and deactivating for good.

Appearance

The Horus is a colossal machine, dwarfing all other known machines in the Horizon franchise, and being the only Titan sized machine.

Resembling a giant lobster, sea scorpion, or similar aquatic arthropod, the Horus stands on ten legs with four long, triple-jointed legs supporting the segmented "tail" while six shorter legs support the front of the main chassis. Covered in thick, black armor plating, it has four massive tentacles at its front. Each one is as least as long as the Horus' body and is tipped with an enormous drill with a camera on the tip that can also act like a scout, designed to penetrate into heavily armored fortifications and bunkers as well as grab on to things. These tentacles also have rings of spikes at different points along the tentacle.

Abilities

Components

Note that these are just the components that appear in the machine catalogue and can be scanned with the Focus. The Horus has other weapons it can utilize that cannot be scanned or attacked.

Image:	Component:	Information:	Attributes:	Notes:
	Body		None	The main chassis of the Horus. Invulnerable to damage.
	Assault Drill		None	Seen in the stealth phase of the Horus fight. Invulnerable to damage.
	Processing Module		None	Seen in internal phase of the Horus fight. Invulnerable to damage, but couplings that attach it to the rest of the Horus can be destroyed.
	Abdominal Heat Sink		Weak Spot	Exposed in the beach phase of the fight. Must be destroyed to progress the fight.
	Side Heat Sink		Weak Spot	Initially covered by armor. Can be grappled to to expose. Must be destroyed to progress the fight.
	Tentacle Heat Sink		Weak Spot	One on each tentacle of the Horus. Exposed when the Horus pauses between attacks in the arena phase. Must be destroyed to progress the fight.
	Primary Heat Sink		Weak Spot	Exposed once all other heat sinks have been destroyed. Must be destroyed to progress the fight.
	Gun Turret		Attack Removal	Rapid-fire gun found on the side of the Horus. Is covered by armor when not in use, and can only be targeted while firing. If destroyed, will regenerate after a while.
	Bomb Turret		Attack Removal	Fire-bomb launcher found on the underside and front of the Horus. Is covered by armor when not in use, and can only be targeted while firing. If destroyed, will regenerate after a while.

Attacks

Many of the Horus's attacks are scripted and are used in different phases of the fight. The phases are as follows:

1. Stealth phase in which Aloy and Seyka must reach the cooling system.
2. Beach phase in which Aloy targets the Abdominal and Side heat sinks.
3. Arena phase in which Aloy targets the Tentacle heat sinks.
4. Arena phase in which Aloy targets the Primary heat sink.
5. Final phase in which Aloy enters the Horus and defeats Londra.

Melee Attacks

Name	Damage	Phase	Description
Drill Stab	TBA	1	TBA
Drill Sweep	TBA	1	TBA
Tentacle Slam	TBA	3	TBA
Tentacle Burrow	TBA	3	TBA
Body Slam	TBA	4	TBA

Ranged Attacks

Name	Damage	Phase	Description
Swarm Launcher	TBA	3, 4	TBA
Fire Barrage	TBA	2	TBA
EMP Blast	TBA	2	TBA
Aerial Strike	TBA	2, 3	TBA
Machine Gun Fire	TBA	3	TBA

Londra's Attacks

Name	Damage	Phase	Description
Vent	TBA	5	TBA
Shock Orbs	TBA	5	TBA
Shockwave	TBA	5	TBA

Other Components/Attacks

Siege Drills/Combat Drills/Assault Drills

Mounted on the end of immense tentacles, these powerful drills can easily tunnel into the toughest of fortifications, allowing smaller units to breach enemy defenses or allowing the Horus to reduce a structure to rubble. The drills are impervious to standard weapons damage.

The Horus' tentacles are also equipped with their own ocular receptors on the tips, allowing them to effectively see using their limbs, granting them access to see opponents from any angle. Just like other machines, the ocular lights change color depending on whether they're idle (blue), actively searching (yellow), or attacking (red).

Fabrication Bay

The Horus has a Fabrication Bay on its underside that can fabricate new Corruptors and Deathbringers to replenish a swarm's losses, as well as EMPs to be loaded onto their tentacles for later firing or throwing at enemy forces, which would trigger on impact.

The Horus fabricator can also be used to fabricate almost anything, including the Ascension.

Polyphasic Entangled Waveform Encryption

In order to prevent the Horus possibly being remotely accessed or hacked, this beyond military-grade security encryption was integrated into the Horus' operating system.

Anti-Aircraft/Close Ground Support

These large rapid fire guns cover the head and sides of the Horus, allowing it to hit targets at any direction.

Guided Airstrike Missiles

The Horus is capable of deploying large guided missiles from under hatches on top of the Horus, allowing them to damage a large area.

Close Anti-Personal Missiles/Firebombs

The Horus can fire projectiles from the front just under their eye or from behind next to its rear cooling system, allowing it to hit targets beneath it.

Laser

The Horus is capable of firing a laser from its processing orb.

Unconfirmed

Biomatter Conversion

It is unclear whether the Horus has the ability to use Biomatter Conversion, as the FAS-BOR7 Horus datapoint claims that this system is used by other Chariot line models to keep the Horus fueled, while the Banda Sea Incident datapoints describes a Horus using the system itself, making it unclear which is correct.

Gallery

See Horus/Gallery

Trivia

• Just like Corruptors and Deathbringers, the Horus's Old World name is a reference to Ancient Egypt. Horus was one of the first established Egyptian gods and one of the most important in their religion. Horus was a god over many domains, but is primarily recognized as the god of the sky and war.
• Horuses closely resemble Reapers from Mass Effect.