The Sea of Sands isthe 11th Main Story Quest inHorizon Forbidden West (HZFW).This walkthrough will guide you through allobjectives of the The Sea of Sands main mission.
Starting Location:TheBase
Quest Giver:GAIA (automatically triggered upon completing Cradle of Echoes)
QuestLevel:Level 22
Requirement:having completed Cradle of Echoes
Reward:+12000 XP, +2 Skill Points
Mission Info:In pursuit of POSEIDON, one of GAIA’s lost subordinate functions, Aloy must journey through a vast desert to reach the ruins of Las Vegas.
Objectives:
- Go to POSEIDON’s Coordinates
- Search the Ruins for a Way Underground
- Investigate the Flooded Ruin
- Gather the Machine Parts – Go to the Machine Herd
- Gather the Machine Parts – Search for Tracks
- Gather the Machine Parts – Follow the Tracks – Kill the Machine Herd (Optional)
- Gather the Machine Parts – Follow the Tracks
- Gather the Machine Parts – Kill the Machine Herd
- Recover the Compressed Air Capsule
- Return to Morlund
- Craft the Diving Mask
- Find POSEIDON
- Find the Red Light
- Investigate the Red Light
- Drain the City – Find the Primary Pump Node
- Drain the City – Activate the Primary Pump Node
- Drain the City – Find the Secondary Pump Node
- Drain the City – Activate the Secondary Pump Node
- Drain the City – Return to the Sunken City
- Drain the City – Find the Pump Maintenance Station
- Drain the City – Find an Entrance to the Pump Maintenance Station
- Drain the City – Activate the Emergency Purge
- Find POSEIDON
- Kill the Tideripper
- Find POSEIDON – Talk to Morlund and His Crew (Optional)
- Recover POSEIDON
- Return to the Elevator Shaft
- Climb to the Surface
- Exit the Ruin
- Return to the Base
- Deliver POSEIDON to GAIA
Starting Location: TheBase
Go to POSEIDON’s Coordinates
Leave the Base and start heading south for the ruins of Las Vegas. You could potentially run intothe StillsandsTallneck on your way to the south.It’s worth overriding it to defog more of themap.
Search the Ruins for a Way Underground
Once at the location, you need to find a way to access the ruins underground over a vast investigation area. The access area is shown in the map and in-game screenshots below. Once you approach it, the game will trigger the next objective.
Investigate the Flooded Ruin
Enter the flooded pagoda usingthe ladder and enter thecamp.
Gather the Machine Parts – Go to the Machine Herd
Exit the camp and head further south to the Machine Herd to recover the parts you need.
Gather the Machine Parts –Search for Tracks
Activate your Focus to highlight the tracks ( 
) in the middle of the ruined arena.
Gather the Machine Parts –Follow the Tracks – Kill the Machines (Optional)
Now, while in Focus view, highlight the tracks, exit back out of the Focus view and start following them. At the end of the tracks, you’ll come across a herd made up of different machines: Purgewater Canister Burrowers and a Frost Glinthawk. If you want, you can ignore them, but we suggest defeating them for materials.
Gather the Machine Parts –Follow the Tracks
After ignoring or getting rid of the machines, reactivate your Focus to re-highlight the tracks and follow them from around the ruins. They will be shown by purple triangles and head for the location shown below.
Gather the Machine Parts –Kill the Machine Herd
You’ll soon encounter a new herd made of different machines: Longlegs, Lealpashers, and FrostBellowbacks. This time you have to kill the machines. Identify their weaknesses and plan accordingly. Once you’ve gathered what you need you can return to the camp to recover the second part, the Compressed Air Capsule.
Recover the Compressed Air Capsule
At the camp,enter the water shaft and dive down halfway through it to acquire the Compressed Air Capsule. You need to be quick, it’s far down and you’ll run out of breath if you take too long.
Return to Morlund
Now swim back up and return to Morlund to tell him you’ve got the parts.
Craft the Diving Mask
Approach the workbench by Morlund to start crafting the Diving Mask, a special breathing apparatus that enables diving to extreme depths and without having to resurface for oxygen.
Find POSEIDON
With our new breather, let’s go search for POSEIDON. Dive down into the water where yougotthe Compressed Air Capsule. Keep swimming through the open doors. There’s only one way forward here. You dive down with 
and up with 
and can speed up by pressing 
. Eventually, you’ll come across a Tideripper machine (don’t forget to scan it) in a massive dome-like area. From the door you came in, the left side has too strong a current for Aloy, so we need to head for the right side. POSEIDON is below the giant hole in the ground, but before being able to access it we need to remove the current and especially get rid of the Tideripper.
Findthe Red Light
As you swim your way to the right side of the dome, head for the red light.
Investigate the Red Light
Approach the red light and pull the switch to drain the water.
However, something has gonewrong and we first need to fix the pump nodes.
Drain the City – Find the Primary Pump Node
Swim back up and around and keep heading to the waypoints while hiding from the next few machines, specifically a Snapmaw (don’t forget to scan it).
Enter the pipe and keep swimming down until you reach a room where you can swim back to surface.
Instead of doing so, stay underwater and go left from the way you came in, then resurface to spot a ladder to climb.
Drain the City – Activatethe Primary Pump Node
Now run back around to access the valve and open it.
Drain the City – Return to the Sunken City
Make your way back to the sunken city now. We need to go for the second node.
Drain the City – Find the Secondary Pump Node
Once you’re back in the sunken city, follow the waypoint that leads to the second node, againtry to avoid the enemy machines.
Drain the City – Activatethe Secondary Pump Node
At the end of the path, swim back to the surface and make your way to the valve by means of the yellow ladder.
This valve won’t budge though and has to be loosened. There’s some Firegleam on the rusty bridge that you can destroy (beware, it explodes), making it then possible to budge the valve.
Drain the City– Return to the Sunken City
Now make your way back to the sunken city and head for the Pump Maintenance Station.
Drain the City–Find the Pump Maintenance Station
Follow the waypoints to get to the general area of the Pump Maintenance Station.
Drain the City–Find an Entrance to thePump Maintenance Station
The entrance to the Pump Maintenance Station is located between some rubble next to the Pump Staton tower. The in-gamescreenshot below shows the exact location to its entrance.
From there swim down and open the doors. Keep swimming along the main path through the doors until you reach a third and finaldoor to open.
Drain the City–Activate the Emergency Purge
From here, swim up to reach the console panel and activate the holo projector that will drain the place.
Find POSEIDON
Now we can resume our search for POSEIDON. Backtrackto the dome area and follow the waypoints.
Kill the Tideripper
The Tideripper is a giant dragon-like machine. Its weaknesses are Shock and Frost Damage, so prioritize these elements against it. It also has a weak spot near the front fins and halfway through its body. You can scan the machine at the beginning of the fight to find a highlight the weak points.
Find POSEIDON – Talk to Morlund and His Crew (Optional)
Feel free to talk to Morlund and his crew if you’d like, or immediately head for POSEIDON. Open the door and continue on until you access a server room. At the end of it is POSEIDON.
RecoverPOSEIDON
Simply insert GAIA Kernel into POSEIDON to recover it.
Return to the Elevator Shaft
Make your way back to the area where you fought the Tideripper and use theyellow ladder to quickly go up.
Then, access the building and go to the second floor to find a ladder that leads you further up.
In the next area, run back around to the elevator shaft.
Climb to the Surface
Activate the elevator to return to the surface.
Exit the Ruin
Finally, exit the ruin.
Return to the Base
Time to return to the Base and give POSEIDON to GAIA. You can use the campfire to fast travel back immediately.
Deliver POSEIDON to GAIA
Return to GAIA’s room to add POSEIDON to her matrix.
This finishes The Sea of SandsMain Quest inHorizon Forbidden West.
Forall other Side Quests and MainQuests, check out the completeHorizon Forbidden WestWalkthrough.
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FAQs
Can you miss anything in Horizon Forbidden West? ›
For those who don't mind a few more details of what awaits near the end of Horizon Forbidden West, the machines that make the trophy missable are called Specter and Specter Prime. Many players may have already encountered Specters once, while Aloy was retrieving the backup of GAIA.
What is the hardest mission in Horizon Forbidden West? ›The Wings Of The Ten. With one main objective, the penultimate quest in the game is an all-out battle to the death between Aloy and Regalla, the hardest boss to beat in Forbidden West.
How do you climb out of the water in The Sea of Sands? ›In order to find a way out of the water, swim beneath the surface one final time and look for the single Medicinal Berry bush that's located in the area. Beside this bush, you'll find a ladder you can climb up to reach the platform above.
What is the secret code in Horizon Forbidden West? ›The two six-digit codes needed to unlock the doors during the Forbidden Legacy Side Quest are as follows: First Locked Door Code - 102023. Second Locked Door Code - 402625.
Can you romance anyone in Horizon Forbidden West? ›While Aloy encounters dozens of characters throughout Horizon Forbidden West, there are unfortunately no romance options in the game. There is no way to build affinity with any characters and become romantically involved with them, and there are no love scenes at all.
Should you spare Regalla? ›Without giving too much away, those who don't want to miss out on a cool scene near the end of the game should choose to spare Regalla. On the other hand, players who'd prefer to receive a unique Sharpshot Bow should choose to kill her.
What is the strongest outfit in Horizon Forbidden West? ›The Oseram Artificer set is easily the most difficult of Horizon Forbidden West's Legendary armor sets to obtain, but it's arguably the pick of the bunch. With huge boosts to Resonator damage and attack power, it can turn Aloy into the ultimate melee machine.
Do you get anything for beating Horizon Forbidden West on very hard? ›In short, no, Horizon Forbidden West does not have a difficulty trophy. This means that you will not get anything special for playing the game at a higher level (other than bragging rights, and to be honest those are kind of worth it in themselves, right?)
What is the strongest monster in Horizon Forbidden West? ›The mighty Thunderjaw returns in Horizon Forbidden West, and this beast is every bit as lethal and unpredictable as it was back in Horizon Zero Dawn. This machine comes fully loaded with forward-mounted laser guns near its face and an artillery-style disc launcher mounted on its back.
How do you finish the secret of the sands? ›Simply hurl the Axe at the Twilight Stone, and it will reflect at all the parasites. Following the destruction of all the parasites inside the hive, players now need to get to the surface to open the way for the Hafgufa to get out and complete the Secret Of The Sands Favor.
How do you get the secret in the sands? ›
You can only unlock the Secret of the Sands after the end of the story mission Groa's Secret and a new path in Alfheim is opened thanks to clashing elves. Follow Atreus down into the desert and don't forget to grab the treasure map on the ground shortly after you walk through the hole.
What is the 7 digit code for Horizon Forbidden West Base? ›Door Code for Relic Ruins: Isle of Spires: Level 9 code: 2109 / Level 7 Code – 109 / Ruins main gate code: 2109109.
How long is Horizon Forbidden West? ›Depending on personal play style, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores's main story is expected to last between 5 and 10 hours. Again, this can change drastically depending on things like difficulty, deaths (or lack thereof), and many other variables.
What is the relic code in Horizon? ›The Hidden Ember Relic Ruin Code for the door you'll soon find is: 739135.
Is Aloy LGBTQ? ›Guerilla has to cement one of the choices made at Burning Shore's conclusion into the established canon. Even if you turn down your romantic interest, Aloy's queer identity is still confirmed with no room for doubt.
Is AVAD in love with Aloy? ›In a subsequent conversation with Aloy, Avad spoke of his feelings for Ersa and his grief over her death. In his grief, he became attracted to Aloy on the rebound, finding her to be much like Ersa.
Does Tilda betray Aloy? ›Tilda's Relationship with Aloy
Once Aloy's plans to stop the Far Zenith start to unfold, Tilda betrays the companions she's been with for eons.
The Oseram Artificer serves as the best armor in Horizon Forbidden West, and comes complete with a range of perks to buff your Power Attack, Resonator-related abilities, and Valor Surge.
What is the best early weapon in Forbidden West? ›What are the best early game weapons in Horizon Forbidden West? Hunter Bow: Yep, the starting bow. If you make a concerted effort to upgrade this to its maximum level as soon as you can, it will be a solid weapon until about halfway through the game.
Is there a legendary Spear in Forbidden West? ›Aloy's Spear is Forbidden West's first Weapon and you'll have it in your inventory from the start of your tutorial mission, Reach for the Stars.
What is the highest damage weapon in Forbidden West? ›
Ancestor's Return (Shredder Gauntlet)
The boomerang-like ranged weapon deals massive amounts of Acid and Shock damage to a myriad of enemies, as well as packs five additional coil slots to customize and upgrade, making it the most powerful Legendary weapon in the whole of Horizon Forbidden West.
1 Nora Sentinel
While it doesn't have the same healing properties, the increased resistances as well as the buffs to Aloy's concentration and stamina makes this set a great one to use while attacking either machine or human enemies.
When focusing on the main objectives, Horizon Forbidden West is about 29 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 88 Hours to obtain 100% completion.
How many endings are there in Horizon Forbidden West? ›Why Horizon Forbidden West Only Has One Ending. In regards to why Horizon Forbidden West won't have multiple endings, McCaw describes the game's ending as “very strong and impactful.” This serves to reassure players that a single ending will be enough, and a lack of multiple endings won't be noticeable.
How easy is it to get platinum horizon in Forbidden West? ›Compared to most other modern video games, unlocking the Platinum trophy in Horizon Forbidden West is actually a relatively simple task. Most of the trophies will unlock naturally as players make their way through the game, while others require only partial completion rather than 100%.
Is there a secret armor in Horizon Forbidden West? ›To get the Horizon Forbidden West power armor, all you need to do is drop enough XP points into the Survivor skill tree. Rather than a separate piece of kit you have to find, the Horizon power armor now lives among your unlockable skills as the second Survivor Valor Surge you can access.
Is there a secret cauldron in Horizon Forbidden West? ›Cauldron Iota (Level 22)
Cauldron Iota is one of the best in the game as it contains a secret Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck. So it's a fun change from the usual activities, and ticks off two objectives as you'll be able to override the Tallneck once it's released.
Secret of the sands is a very straightforward Favor where you aim to rescue the pained creature trapped in the hive matter under the cave. Kratos and Atreus fight the Dark Elves to make their way through the Hive Bulb cave to reach the pained creature and free it.
What is a juicy nokken? ›Currently, the three most convincing theories (via Reddit) are that a “Juicy Nokken” is another word for skinny dipping, a sexual act involving water (and possibly a Nokken), or Brok's nickname for his reproductive organ.
Do you lose everything in New Game Plus Horizon Forbidden West? ›All of your Weapons, Outfits, Coils and Weaves, Tools, Ammo, Resources and Strike Pieces are retained (including everything in your Stash). Any upgrades made to the starting Hunter Bow are reset, in order for you to progress the To The Brink quest by upgrading it.
Is there a point of no return in Horizon Forbidden West? ›
The point of no return in Forbidden West happens in the final mission of the main questline “Singularity.” After preparing for the final confrontation with the Far Zenith, the objective changes to “Call Your Companions at the Campfire.” Upon doing so, the game will display a message saying that the player is entering ...
Is there multiple endings for Horizon Forbidden West? ›He confirmed the players shouldn't expect multiple endings from the title. "Let's be clear: Forbidden West will have a single ending, very strong and impactful, but some nuances may change depending on the characters you have given space and attention to," McCaw said.
How to get the most powerful armor in Horizon Forbidden West? ›Outside of quest rewards, the best armor in Horizon Forbidden West is found at the Arena near the throne of the Tenakth chief in the Memorial Grove. You will have to work to get it, and the weapons there are just as worthy of your medals, but they are extremely powerful.
Will there be a 3rd Horizon game? ›The upcoming Horizon Forbidden West DLC, Burning Shores, will take Aloy on a new journey but is unlikely to set up the franchise's third installment.
What happens when you get all black boxes in Horizon Forbidden West? ›There's only one of each item available, with each costing one Black Box. If players trade in all 12 Black Boxes, they'll also receive the Wings of the Ten Legendary Blastling, which is one of the best weapons in Horizon Forbidden West.
What is the best armor in Horizon Forbidden West New Game Plus? ›The Oseram Artificer set is easily the most difficult of Horizon Forbidden West's Legendary armor sets to obtain, but it's arguably the pick of the bunch. With huge boosts to Resonator damage and attack power, it can turn Aloy into the ultimate melee machine.
What is the missable loot in Horizon Forbidden West? ›Horizon Forbidden West has a missable Silver trophy called All Machine Types Scanned. As the name suggests, Horizon Forbidden West players need to scan every single machine type in the game in order to unlock it.
What should I not sell in Horizon Forbidden West? ›What items should you keep? Despite being listed in the 'valuables to sell' tab, you should not sell: Any item with 'Heart' in the name – these can be used to upgrade weapons and armour.
What happens if you fight nil in Horizon? ›Deciding to kill Nil does not affect the secret trophy "All allies joined"; you can still obtain it without him. If Aloy chooses not to kill Nil, then he will join Meridian's defenses during The Looming Shadow and The Face of Extinction.
What is the hardest enemy in Horizon Zero Dawn? ›- 8 Scorcher.
- 7 Frostclaw.
- 6 Fireclaw.
- 5 Stormbird.
- 4 Rockbreaker.
- 3 Hades.
- 2 Thunderjaw.
- 1 Deathbringer.
Is Tilda dead in Forbidden West? ›
The game's conclusion saw her encased in Specter Prime to abduct Aloy, who seemingly killed her. While Tilda's death in Forbidden West may work for the game's end, it would be intriguing to see her return for the third entry in the series.