How to get the most OP armor in Horizon Zero Dawn

all horizon zero dawn power cells
(Image credit: Guerrilla)

If you're looking for Horizon Zero Dawn power cells, then you've got an immense open world filled with many hostile robotic creatures to search. Aloy will have to use everything at her disposal to defend herself, and you're going to want the best Horizon Zero Dawn armor, and some power cells, with which to do that.

Here, armor works differently to your regular RPG. Horizon Zero Dawn only has sets instead of individual pieces, and knowing which one to pick up depending on the mission or situation ahead is crucial. The problem is that they're often underwhelming, requiring the use of mods to amplify their low stats.

The Shield-Weaver set, however, is a different story. Wearing it makes Aloy almost invincible, and its by far the best in the game. The problem is that is requires several steps before you can obtain it, including finding some elusive collectibles and solving the Horizon Zero Dawn Ancient Armory code puzzle, for which I'll be walking you through step-by-step in this guide.

How to find all Horizon Zero Dawn power cells locations

To get the Shield-Weaver armor in Horizon Zero Dawn, you will need to grab power cells located in five locations. Once you've got all of them, you have to follow the quest called Ancient Armory—which requires Aloy to be at least level 25—and complete a series of puzzles.

Thankfully, you won't need to stray to much from the main path to find these areas, but it’s worth noting that you can return to all of these places in case you miss any power cells. Although, some might require you to get past a certain main mission before they'll open up again. For reference, I could revisit all of them after finishing the quest, The Mountain That Fell.

Horizon Zero Dawn Underground Bunker power cell

This area can be accessed right after you finish the prologue, which I'd recommend you do. But if you decide to take a different path, know that you can return at any time. Drop inside and follow the purple lights and you'll see a door half open. Head inside, turn left, follow that corridor, and go left once more.

Head downstairs and pry the door in front of you open. Now make your way inside until you see another set of stairs. Go up these until you see a locked door on the left—ignore that and break the ice with the melee attack on the right. The power cell is waiting on the desk.

Horizon Zero Dawn All-Mother Temple power cell

This power cell is located in a room accessed by a vents’ passage. If you’re doing the Womb of the Mountain main mission, as Aloy picks up her equipment, you’ll come across a door on the right during the long corridor—the one that has that massive wooden structure with four pillars and fishes hanging from it. While you can’t open it, instead you must use the vents just on the left side of the room. 

Crouch and follow the path. Once inside the room at the end, grab the power cell close to the candles on the floor.

Horizon Zero Dawn Maker's End power cell

Once you've reached the top floor of Maker's End, turn around to find a massive tower covered with hand holds with which you can climb to the top. This will lead you around the tower, but keep on following the path upwards. 

Once at the top, you can't miss the power cell. If you’re backtracking here after completing the mission, you will have to do the climb from scratch, so I highly recommend grabbing it during the Maker’s End main mission.

Horizon Zero Dawn The Grave-Hoard 

The fourth power cell can be found during The Grave-Hoard main mission. Start descending through the ruins and, once you get to the third floor, keep an eye on the first room to the left after the corridor. If you look at the map, it’s the circle-shaped one at the western side of the area.

You’ll face three power lines here with puzzle sequences. These are the solutions (from left to right):

  • Up, right, left, down
  • Up, up, down, up
  • Up, down, left, right

Completing these will open the path upwards and onto the main area. As soon as you enter that new room after passing through the door, grab the power cell.

Horizon Zero Dawn GAIA Prime power cell

This power cell can be found during main mission, The Mountain That Fell, once you have already entered GAIA Prime. Follow the path inside after unlocking the first door, which will take you through a couple of corridors until you exit outside. Once there, instead of following the objective marker, turn to the left side and jump towards the big field with the cave entrance.

Don’t worry about making the perfect jump, though: There are hand holds for you to get back up in case you miscalculate. Head to the cave’s entrance, follow the purple path, and head to the end of the corridor. The power cell can be picked up from the shelves on the right.

How to solve the Horizon Zero Dawn Ancient Armory code puzzle

Once you have gathered all five power cells, travel to the Ancient Armory. It's inside a location marked on your map as 'Bunker', just east from Mother’s Rise. If you have a fast travel quick, head there and go around the hills to the bunker.

Here you'll stumble upon another set of puzzles. The first you'll need to enter to unlock the door, before you enter your five power cells. The next is needed before you can pick up the armor itself. Here are the puzzle solutions in the order you'll need to input them:

  • Up, right, down, left up
  • Right, left, up, right, left

Keep in mind that once you've interacted with it, Shield-Weaver won’t appear in your inventory directly, so don't panic. Open the Treasure Boxes tab and then open the Shield-Weaver box to unlock it. It doesn’t look as cool as the one in the armory, but it will keep you well-protected. It'll protect you from damagge up to a certain point, but if the shield is close to depletion, it'll start flashing red. But since it doesn’t take long to reload, this is a seriously reliable set of threads.