Stormbird

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

Stormbird
Highly maneuverable flying machine with a wide array of Shock based air-to-ground attacks.
Size	Large
Weight	Heavyweight
Origin	GAIA (original) HEPHAESTUS (current)
Class	Combat (current) Unknown (original)
Override	Cauldron ZETA (HZD) Cauldron KAPPA (HFW)
Machine Sites	4 (HZD; 2 units encoutered outside sites) 1 (HFW; 3 units encountered outside sites; 1 unmarked site)
Combat
Challenge Level	27 (HZD) 30 (HFW) 40 (Corrupted) 46 (Apex)
HP	5000 7500 (Corrupted and Apex)
Weakness	None (HZD) Acid (HFW) Plasma (HFW)
Strength	Shock Fire (HFW)
Explosive Components	Lightning Gun/Storm Cannon
Weak Points	Eyes Engine/Wing Thruster (x6) Blaze Canister (x2, HZD) Freeze Canister (x2) Purgewater Canister (x2, HFW) Acid Canister (x2, Apex) Glowblast Canister (x2, Apex)

"Twice the size of a Glinthawk, and crackling with lightning. Won't be easy to take down."

―Aloy, upon sighting a Stormbird

The Stormbird is a Combat Class machine in Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West and Horizon Call of the Mountain.

History

Development

Elisabet Sobeck presenting a conceptual image of a Stormbird.

The Stormbirds were one of the first designs created by the artificial intelligence GAIA as one of the Zero Dawn terraforming machines, designed to work under AETHER to help with atmosphere restoration.

A hologram of an early Stormbird was used during Elisabet's presentation of Project Zero Dawn, showing how the HEPHAESTUS and AETHER sub-functions worked.

Pre-Derangement

Being such an early design, Stormbirds were likely among the first machines to be deployed to help restore the biosphere for DEMETER and ARTEMIS to later release plant and animal life.

At this stage, like all Zero Dawn machines, Stormbirds were docile and skittish, tending to flee from humans as they would often hunt machines for parts and resources. Stormbirds became commonplace across the eastern Sundom, north of the Sundom border, the Daunt, Plainsong, the Clan Lands, the Isle of Spires, and the Burning Shores. They are known to not be found in the Cut.

Zo mentioned that she was terrified of Stormbirds as a child, and that thunder still unnerves her.

The Derangement

At the advent of the Derangement, almost all machines started becoming increasingly aggressive towards humans, including the Stormbirds. By the time of Aloy reaching adulthood, Stormbirds had been modified by HEPHAESTUS from their original purpose into a Combat Class machine, now aggressive to humans on sight.

Horizon Zero Dawn/Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

A Stormbird in flight.

While Aloy was asking Talanah to sponsor her as her Thrush, Talanah told Aloy how she took down two Stormbirds.

After sponsoring Aloy as her Thrush, Talanah had her hunt a Stormbird and Thunderjaw to collect their trophies, which she successfully did.

Stormbird Blood was among the blood Brin requested Aloy get for him, prompting her to destroy a Stormbird to get the blood.

When Aloy infiltrated Cauldron ZETA and overrode its core, she gained access to the information needed to override Stormbird.

While making her way to Dervahl's Workshop, she found the area being patrolled by a Stormbird, lured there by three lures. In order to safely search the workshop, she destroyed the Stormbird.

While making her way up the Bitter Climb to the ruins of GAIA Prime, Aloy was confronted by a Stormbird, which she either destroyed or escaped from.

Varga fighting a Stormbird.

In order to get a Stormbird Talon to improve the Stormslinger, Aloy and Varga took down a Stormbird to get one.

A corrupted Stormbird was among the machines used by the Eclipse to attack Meridian to allow HADES access to the Spire. It was destroyed by Aloy and some Oseram wielding Oseram Cannons.

Sometime between Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West

While the circumstances of how are unknown, Aloy somehow lost the ability to override Stormbirds, as well as most other machines.

Horizon Forbidden West

Shortly before Aloy arrived in the Daunt, Tolland Cleanbroker shot down a Stormbird, which crashed into a Carja watch tower near Chainscrape. The Order of Twilight took the Stormbird's crash as an omen, with their Sun-Priest Savohar going up to receive a vision while the rest of the Order prevented anyone from going up to get the salvage. Tolland began harassing the Order, but when Aloy stepped in, his men backed down as they didn't want to cross the Savior of Meridian, forcing Tolland to also back down. Aloy gave Lokasha the Pristine Stormbird Heart she salvaged, telling them to go to Chainscrape and find Petra.

A new model of Stormbird, the Apex Stormbird, was released into the wilds from Repair-Bay TAU, and was among those machine attacking Plainsong and the Utaru.

The Arena at the Memorial Grove use Apex Stormbirds in their battles.

After colliding with a Stormbird, Morlund's Floating Orb with Morlund and Aloy onboard crashed into a group of Scrappers and Longlegs. With Morlund trapped, Aloy had to protect him from all the machines. They found the remains of the orb that couldn't be replaced under the Stormbird, which they took down to retrieve the burner safely.

While Aloy was installing the reboot code into Ti in Cinnabar Sands, she was interrupted by a Stormbird, which had earlier killed some Utaru paying respects to Ti. After destroying the Stormbird, Aloy installed the code and let Zo know about the Utaru who had died.

As Aloy and Yarra/Drakka were fighting a Thunderjaw that was hunting down a child, a Stormbird joined the Thunderjaw in fighting the Nora and the Desert Clan Commander. Despite their efforts, the two machines were defeated.

When Aloy infiltrated Cauldron KAPPA and overrode its core, she regained access to the information needed to override Stormbirds.

Kettah and Serivva were debating whether Ferikka being carried off by a Stormbird counted as being the first to fly on the Wings of the Ten. After Aloy retrieved Ferikka's armor and took down the Stormbird, she sided with Serivva that Ferikka deserved the honor.

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

Aloy encountered a malfunctioning Apex Stormbird creating a thunderstorm in the Burning Shores.

Appearance

Stormbirds are raptorial in appearance. Indeed, while machines generally resemble some form of pre-Zero Day animal life, the Stormbird's appearance does so more than many other known machines. Its resemblance to a bird of prey is unmistakable, with raptorial wings, tail, head and beak, armor plating that resembles feathers, and taloned feet. It has two optical sensor arrays positioned in the same place as the eyes of an eagle or falcon. Above each shoulder is an armored Chillwater canister. Each wing is equipped with three feather-shaped jet engines. The wings are equipped with winglets, enhancing their aerodynamic efficiency. An armored Blaze canister is positioned above each hip. Each of the four toes on each foot is equipped with a talon. In the center of the chest is an armored electrical energy projectile weapon known as a lighting gun, with which it can fire powerful blasts of electrical energy, similar to a Shell-Walker.

Behavior

Stormbirds are solitary; at no time have they ever been seen to congregate. They circle high overhead at their respective sites, almost never landing except to attack a perceived enemy. Stormbird sites are scattered throughout the Carja Sundom, from The Jewel to the mountains far north of Meridian. They are mainly found in the arid regions north and northeast of Meridian. Though they have never been seen active in The Cut, the chassis of one, long destroyed and heavily encrusted with Bluegleam, is at the end of the pilgrimage route known as the Shaman’s Path.

Abilities

Stormbirds employ powerful electric attacks from the air, such as carpet bombing with electrical energy projectiles, and equally powerful melee attacks on the ground using their beaks, talons, and tails. Additionally, they employ their wings as weapons by using them to generate damaging wind gusts, and to execute air-to-ground melee attacks. They can also use their weight to crush an enemy that moves directly beneath them while airborne. They possess no elemental weaknesses, and are resistant to Shock damage.

Weaknesses

Removal of all six jet engines on a Stormbird’s wings disables their air-to-ground and carpet bombing attacks. Destroying the lightning gun disables a Stormbird’s electrical energy attacks and enhancements, dealing Shock damage to the machine. Strikes on its Blaze and Chillwater canisters with the corresponding elemental ammunition cause corresponding elemental explosions and respectively induce Burn and Freeze states.

Attacks

Horizon Zero Dawn

Ground Attacks

Attack Name	Damage Type	Primary Damage	Secondary Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Jumping Claw Smash	Melee	180	-	15m - 31m	Jumps at enemy and slashes with talons
Beak Smash	Melee/ Shock	130/50	50	8m - 24m	Pecks at enemy repeatedly
Take Off	Melee	150	-	N/A	Ground-to-air transition; accompanying wind gust causes damage
Tail Lash	Melee/ Shock	250/50		14m - 22m	Electrically charged swipe with tail
Thunder Rush	Shock	360	-	15m - 40m	Charges at enemy, surrounded by damaging electrical field
Screech Blast	Sonic	-	-	0m - 20m	Screech generates sonic blast that temporarily incapacitates enemy; ineffective against enemy machines
Hurricane Blast	Melee	150	-	10m - 25m	Flap of wings generates damaging wind gust

Aerial Attacks

Attack Name	Damage Type	Primary Damage	Secondary Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Thunder Clash	Melee/ Shock	250/200	-	0m - 150m	Soars then plummets with high speed at enemy; radiates an electric charge when it hits
Quick Land	Shock	220	-	0m - 8m	Crushes enemy directly beneath it with sudden vertical landing
Shock Blast	Shock	150	20 per second	15m - 100m	Charges lightning gun then fires Shock blast at enemy’s anticipated position
Shock Burst	Shock	175	-	15m - 60m	Charges lightning gun then fires a 3 small Shock blasts at enemy’s anticipated position; blasts leave residual Shock effect on ground
Thunder Bomb Run	Shock	250	20 per second	0m - 100m	Carpet bombs enemy with Shock blasts

Horizon Forbidden West

Name	Windup Time	Stance	Damage	Damage Area	Trigger Range	Description
Storm Cannon Blaster	Medium	Flying	317 120 builup	20/s 20/s buildup	15m - 115m	Charges up Storm Cannon and fires a single Shock orb that creates a large Shock explosion and residual Shock damage areas on impact. Attack disabled when Drenched or Slowed.
Storm Cannon Shots	Medium	Flying	176 71 buildup	-	15m - 75m	Uses Storm Cannon to fire a series of 3 Shock orbs in quick succession that creates a small Shock explosion on impact. Attack disabled when Drenched or Slowed.
Carpet Bomb	Long	Flying	317 159 builup	-	0m - 100m	Flies in straight trajectory while dropping 8 Shock bombs in quick succession. Each bomb creates a large Shock explosion and residual Shock damage areas on impact. Attack disabled when Drenched or Slowed.
Wing Flap	Short	Grounded Flying	176 Ranged	-	10m - 30m	Spreads wings and flaps to generate a large wind blast. Attack disabled while flying when Slowed.
Beak Bite	Short	Grounded	176 Ranged 352	-	8m - 32m	Slams ground with beak in a pecking motion, creating a Shock explosion on impact. Can follow up with up to 2 more pecks if it misses. Shock damage disabled when Drenched.
Claw Slash	Short	Grounded	352 Melee	-	15m - 46m	Leaps at target while slashing with its talons. Can repeat multiple times if it misses.
Thunder Walk	Medium	Grounded	417 159 buildup	-	15m - 55m	Generates bubble of electrical energy around it and walks towards target. Attack disabled when Drenched.
Quick Land	Very Short	Flying	264 Melee	-	0m - 8m	Smashes ground with both feet and creates a spherical Shock blast on impact. Shock damage disabled when Drenched.
Tail Swipe	Long	Grounded	208.5 Melee 208.5 159 buildup Crushed 50	-	14m - 36m	Extends tail and whips in a 270o horizontal arc. Shock damage disabled when Drenched.
Thunder Dive	Very Long	Flying	224 Melee 225 120 buildup Crushed 50	-	0m - 150m	Soars to a high altitude, then dive bombs target and smashes into the ground, creating a large Shock explosion on impact. Shock damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed.

Components

Horizon Zero Dawn

Image:	Component:	Information:	Weakness:	Strength:
	Body	Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems.	None	Shock
	Blaze Canister	Blaze storage canister. Shooting elemental canisters with elemental ammo triggers an explosion that will damage everything nearby. Shoot off this component to collect the resource inside.	Fire Tear	None
	Engine	Destroying this component disables the dive melee attack.	Tear	None
	Freeze Canister	Chillwater can be looted from this canister. Shooting this canister with a Freeze arrow will trigger an explosion Freezing anything in the area.	Freeze Tear	None
	Lightning Gun	Destroying this component disables the ranged Shock attacks. It also stuns the machine for a very brief period of time.	Tear	None

Horizon Forbidden West

Name	Variant	Image	Description	Attributes
Body	All		Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems.	None
Wing Thrusters	All		Wing thrusters used to gain additional speed. Detach or destroy all thrusters to disable its dive melee attack.	Detachable Ability Removal Contains Valuable Resources Destroyed When Killed
Chillwater Canister	Standard		Chillwater storage. Tear off to collect this resource or shoot with a Frost Arrow to detonate.	Chain Reaction Detachable Contains Valuable Resources Destroyed When Killed
Acid Canister	Apex		Metalbite storage. Tear off to collect this resource or shoot with an Acid Arrow to detonate.	Chain Reaction Detachable Contains Valuable Resources Destroyed When Killed
Storm Cannon	All		A powerful lightning generator. Detach or destroy to disable its ranged Shock attacks.	Detachable Attack Removal Destroyed When Killed Key Upgrade Resource
Purgewater Canister	Standard		Purgewater storage. Tear off to collect this resource or shoot with a Purgewater Arrow to detonate.	Chain Reaction Detachable Contains Valuable Resources Destroyed When Killed
Glowblast Canister	Apex		Glowblast storage. Tear off to collect this resource or shoot with a Plasma Arrow to detonate.	Chain Reaction Detachable Contains Valuable Resources Destroyed When Killed

Loot

Horizon Zero Dawn

Blaze

4

Chillwater

4

Metal Shards

1

Echo Shell

15

Crystal Braiding

50

Stormbird Heart

164

Stormbird Lens

82

Machine Core - Large

100

Horizon Forbidden West

• Stormbird
• Apex Stormbird

Body

• Sparker (100%)
• Crystal Braiding (100%)
• Metal Shards (100%)
• Large Machine Core (70%)
• Stormbird Circulator (69%)
• Stormbird Primary Nerve (62%)
• Volatile Sludge (51%)
• Machine Muscle (45%)
• Braided Wire (32%)
• Luminous Brainstem (29%)
• Metal Bone (28%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (15%)

Wing Thruster

• Blastpaste (68%)
• Crystal Braiding (68%)
• Braided Wire (40%)
• Large Machine Core (24%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (20%)
• Stormbird Primary Nerve (7%)

Chillwater Canister

• Chillwater (100%)

Storm Cannon

• Stormbird Storm Cannon (100%)

Purgewater Canister

• Purgewater (100%)

Body

• Metal Shards (100%)
• Crystal Braiding (100%)
• Sparker (100%)
• Apex Stormbird Heart (100%)
• Luminous Brainstem (100%)
• Stormbird Circulator (69%)
• Large Machine Core (69%)
• Stormbird Primary Nerve (63%)
• Piercing Spike (50%)
• Volatile Sludge (49%)
• Machine Muscle (46%)
• Braided Wire (30%)
• Metal Bone (28%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (16%)

Wing Thruster

• Blastpaste (67%)
• Crystal Braiding (67%)
• Braided Wire (40%)
• Large Machine Core (23%)
• Sturdy Hardplate (21%)
• Stormbird Primary Nerve (7%)

Acid Canister

• Metalbite (100%)

Storm Cannon

• Stormbird Storm Cannon (100%)

Glowblast Canister

• Glowblast (100%)

Variants

Variant	Weak Vs.	Strong Vs.
Stormbird	Acid Plasma	Fire Shock
Apex Stormbird	Acid Plasma	Fire Frost Shock

Gallery

A Stormbird in Horizon Forbidden West.

Concept Art

Early concept art of a Stormbird by Miguel Angel Martinez.

Concept art of a Stormbird atop a defeated Thunderjaw by Miguel Angel Martinez.

Art of a Stormbird by Ilya Golitsyn, used as the cover of the Limited Edition of The Art of Horizon Zero Dawn

Videos

Horizon Zero Dawn - The Machines Stormbird PS4

Trivia

• Stormbirds bear a resemblance to thunderbirds, a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. They are considered supernatural beings of great power and strength. However, Stormbirds could more likely designed after the Haast's Eagle, an extinct species of gigantic aquiline bird that once served as the apex predator of prehistoric New Zealand.
• A Stormbird can be fought before gaining entrance to the GAIA Prime facility. If, however, the player heads to this area before the intended time in the story, the cutscene showing the Stormbird's arrival will play, and the machine can be engaged then and there. The Stormbird will stay destroyed and will not need to be fought again later.

  

  A Stormbird on the cover of Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds.

• Despite not living in the Cut, a Stormbird can be seen in the region on the cover art of Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds.
• A Stormbird's flight altitude is at least three times higher than that of a Glinthawk.
• A Stormbird's optical sensor arrays are the same as the Trampler's.
• Studies have shown that lightning creates nitrogen oxidants, which can aid in purifying of the atmosphere. With the amount of artificial lightning a Stormbird can produce, it is likely that they were pivotal in bringing Earth’s ravaged atmosphere back into balance.
• Stormbirds will never land naturally, meaning the only way to open up an opportunity to override on is by tying it down with a ropecaster.
• During development, the Stormbird was referred to as the Thunderhawk.
• In Zero Dawn, despite the official guide stating that the Shock Burst attack deals Shock damage, it cannot be mitigated by Shock resistance. Additionally, the Shock Blast attack deals less damage as listed.
• According to Special Item descriptions in Acquired Taste, Stormbird blood is "pale" and "sparkly".