- "Its wings look like it can catch the sunlight. Probably a fast flier, too."
- ―Aloy, spotting a Sunwing
The Sunwing is a machine in Horizon Forbidden West. As an Acquisition class machine, its job is to locate perches at high altitudes and roost there, absorbing as much solar energy as possible during the course of the day.
Appearance[]
The Sunwing resembles a pterosaur in form, with a retractable fin used for plasma attacks located on its head, mimicking the distinctive crest of these long extinct creatures. Its arms hold the majority of its defensive/acquisition equipment, with two shields situated at the bend in their joints and a thin conductive-mesh knitted to the body and the arms, acting both as wings and solar collection panels. It possesses a resource canister in its chest for storing collected materials and two Sparkers on its hips which, presumably, store collected solar energy. It also possesses a small tail, with a white tip and two small solar collection weaves.
Behavior[]
Sunwings possess photovoltaic wings which they use to collect and store energy. They can be found patrolling the skies of the Forbidden West, frequently hovering at great heights or roosting on tall mountain peaks to absorb as much solar energy as possible. Sunwings are particularly fast and agile in the air.[1][2]
Outside of combat, Sunwings will scavenge machine carcasses and scavenger scrap piles using their plasma to convert into Processed Metal Blocks. During their scavenging, they will deploy shields to protect their body.
Sunwings usually congregate in groups.
Abilities[]
The Sunwing is able to use Plasma attacks from its fin, and it can raise the defensive shields on its shoulders to protect itself from head-on attacks. It is a fast flyer and capable of striking quickly from the air. However, it needs to recharge every so often after attacking, which it can only do by aligning its solar wings to the sun.
After Cauldron GEMINI, Aloy can override and ride on a Sunwing; the ability to override is available immediately in New Game+ however Sunwings cannot be summoned until after Aloy begins encountering them again after unlocking The Base and overrides one, though she can still utilize them much earlier in the game than a first-time playthough. It is its own individual mount, meaning a ground based mount can be used without losing the Sunwing. When overriden, a Sunwing is also able to pick up a Horus' EMP and drop it on enemies. If the overridden Sunwing is flying close enough, a grapple point becomes available, allowing Aloy to quickly mount the machine from the ground.
Weaknesses[]
Sunwings are weak to Purgewater, and inflicting the Drenched state will hamper most of their attacks if not outright disable them.
An overridden Sunwing while flying can still take damage from other enemies and lacks the ability to fight back. Also, unless properly landed (i.e., Aloy dismounts from the air), the Sunwing will follow her in the air. One benefit of this is they can distract enemies, but at the cost of losing Aloy's stealth and they will take damage from ranged attacks. Other than allowing its destruction the only way to stop this is for Aloy to remount the Sunwing and properly land it out of range of the enemies.
Aloy cannot land an overridden Sunwing inside a settlement (some of the later-encountered settlements have dedicated landing perches nearby).
Attacks[]
| Name | Windup Time | Stance | Damage | Damage Area | Trigger Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burst Defender | Short/Medium | Grounded/Perched |  50/hit
|
- | 15m - 61m | Enters a fortified stance with wings outstretched and Shield Casters activated, then fires bursts of plasma.
Attack disabled when Drenched. |
| Air Burst | Short/Medium | Flying | 50/hit
|
- | 20m - 54m | Hovers and strafes around target while firing plasma in bursts.
Attack disabled when Drenched. |
| Power Fling | Short | Flying | 143 Ranged
|
- | 17m - 62m | Shoots a plasma beam into the ground, then rips out a chunk of plasma-infused boulder with its talons before throwing at target. Generates a plasma explosion on impact.
Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. |
| Aerial Plasma Sweep | Short | Flying |
|
10/s
|
6m - 32m | Backflips in the air and cleaves the ground with a beam of plasma. Generates a trail of plasma that shortly detonates.
Attack disabled when Drenched. |
| Ground Breaker | Short | Grounded |
|
10/s
|
15m - 30m | Lunges forward, plowing its beak into the ground. Generates shockwave and a trail of plasma that shortly detonates.
Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed. |
| Crashing Tear | Medium/Long | Flying |
|
10/s
|
0m - 80m | Gains altitude and swoops towards target, slamming the ground with its beak. Generates a trail of plasma that shortly detonates.
Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed. |
| Wing Swipe | Very Short | Grounded | 200 Melee | - | 2m - 19m | Hops towards target and swipes with a wing. Follows up with another swipe if the first misses. |
| Ascending Burster | Very Short | Grounded |
|
15/s
|
0m - 10m | Takes off vertically, generating a wind blast that knocks nearby targets back while simultaneously firing a plasma beam beneath it.
Plasma damage disabled when Drenched. Attack disabled when Slowed. |
Components[]
| Name | Image | Description | Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems. | None | |
| Plasma Fin | Plasma power source that only extends during certain attacks. Destroy to cause a Plasma explosion and remove Plasma from all abilities. |
| |
| Shield Caster | An energy projector that generates a defensive shield to protect the machine's delicate wings. Detach or destroy both to disable. |
| |
| Resource Container | Storage container for valuable resources. Tear off to collect its components. |
| |
| Sparker | Shock storage. Tear off to collect this resource or shoot with a Shock Arrow to detonate. |
|
Loot[]
Body
- Metal Shards (100%)
- Glowblast (100%)
- Crystal Braiding (100%)
- Braided Wire (74%)
- Sunwing Circulator (50%)
- Sturdy Hardplate (30%)
- Medium Machine Core (26%)
- Sunwing Primary Nerve (35%)
- Volatile Sludge (15%)
- Metal Bone (11%)
Plasma Fin
- Braided Wire (67%)
- Crystal Braiding (51%)
- Sturdy Hardplate (34%)
Shield Caster
- Sunwing Shield Caster (100%)
Resource Container
- Braided Wire (89%)
- Sturdy Hardplate (56%)
- Blastpaste (26%)
- Medium Machine Core (25%)
- Sunwing Primary Nerve (15%)
Sparker
- Sparker (100%)
Trivia[]
- Sunwings were the second Acquisition-class machine to be named in Horizon Forbidden West.
- Mathijs de Jonge, the director for Horizon Forbidden West, described flying as the most difficult feature to implement in the game[3].
- While Apex Sunwings have never been encountered, an Apex Sunwing Heart can be found in certain chests.
- Sunwings are large enough to accommodate two passengers. The only other character that rides on Aloy's Sunwing is Seyka.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Horizon Forbidden West - Guerrilla Talks
- ↑ Meet the Machines - Sunwing
- ↑ Horizon Forbidden West Strategy Guide, p. 644
| Machines | |
|---|---|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | |
| Acquisition Class | Broadhead - Charger - Fireclaw - Frostclaw - Glinthawk - Grazer - Lancehorn - Rockbreaker - Scrapper - Snapmaw - Strider - Trampler |
| Chariot Class | Corruptor - Deathbringer - Metal Devil |
| Combat Class | Ravager - Sawtooth - Scorcher - Stalker - Stormbird - Thunderjaw |
| Communication Class | Tallneck |
| Recon Class | Longleg - Watcher (Redeye Watcher) |
| Transport Class | Behemoth - Bellowback - Shell-Walker |
| Unknown Class | Control Tower |
| Horizon Forbidden West | |
| Acquisition Class | Bilegut - Bristleback - Clamberjaw - Fanghorn - Plowhorn - Scrounger - Spikesnout - Stingspawn - Sunwing - Tideripper - Waterwing - Widemaw |
| Combat Class | Clawstrider - Dreadwing - Grimhorn - Shellsnapper - Slaughterspine - Slitherfang - Specter - Specter Prime - Tremortusk |
| Recon Class | Burrower - Skydrifter |
| Transport Class | Leaplasher - Rollerback |
| Unknown Class | Defense Drone |