This is the only video I've found that actually gives useful advice on how to fight a certain type of machine. I subscribed immediately.

"These freaking turtles!" This single sentence is already worth the like, the guide is just icing on the cake. 😂

That is actually a pretty great strat to target directly under the Shellsnapper to get the sacs. Very nice, I will implement that in my future battles with it. Should be able to literally target it anywhere for good damage while frozen. Good strats all around here, very nice.

Actually, the Shellsnapper’s cannons hit you with damage its invulnerable shell absorbs when you hit it, the description says so. And remember that the Shellsnapper doesn’t actually have any armor when its shell is off, so impact damage will be effective even without any modifiers. If you want to resource efficient with your damage, use Hunter bows or Shredder Gauntlets instead of expensive advanced and precision arrows. If you want to be quick, you can use the critical damage valor surge with a hunter bow to hit hard, fast and cheap.

Dude that first shellsnapper! I had to give up on that mission and come back later lol. Thanks man

A very thorough and tactical approach with not so high end weapons - props to your patience! Good that you mentioned the shredder gauntlet, I actually prefer that, especially the high end acid one which also automatically helps you with tearing off the components. If I didn't really need the components, it's just freeze + explosive spikes to kill it quickly.

Leaplashers are literally my nemesis so frustrating, clamberjaws are like a mortal kombat tower as they just keep coming

Best guy giving HFW guides in youtube for sure. All detailed and to the point. You gained a sub. And yes, these guys are extremely annoying when they go underground. Definitely among the top 5 hardest machines to beat IMO the top 5 are Shellsnaper, Stormbird, Slaughterspine, Firelcaw and Thunderjaw, in no particular order. I dunno if you have done a guide for Scorchers, those are still extremely tough to beat. We can be glad their HP is not Heavyweight class because goddamn that thing is relentless and fast and unpredictable AF. It's the only non-heavyweight machine that I really avoid fighting, ergo, scares me, and if I can get them ears without killing them? So be it... 2 Scorchers IMO are harder to beat than the machine site that has 2 Tremortusks... NGL.

I found these guys early and out of sheer stubbornness decided I was gonna kill it. I found acid arrows work really well also but it takes quite a few and when he burrows it'll go away, depending on how long he's underground, but when he's in the brittle state the health melts. Agility Damage is really useful in this fight also.

Great video. So helpful. I love that you narrate along with your demo. Makes such a difference explaining what you are doing

I finally managed to take down my first Apex Thunderjaw last night. that was a hellofa fight😅

Thanks for another great video! I’m a Monster Hunter fan and find focusing on enemy behavior and takedown strategy to be much more rewarding than cheesing with endgame gear. Very refreshing to see some quality content that isn’t just “Get this legendary bow and armor EARLY and kill everything in one hit! Takes only 30 hours!” You’ve earned my sub, looking forward to more!

Thank you so much for dropping this guide. I kept focusing all of my arrows on the freeze cannons before the shell bolts and it was taking forever to secure the kill. I also didn’t pay any attention to the chillwater sacs on their stomachs but I most definitely will now.

Huge thanks. Found a Shellsnapper at Cauldron Kappa and destroyed it in 3 shots. BTW - super-huge bug in Kappa that sees a Tideripper float / swim in the air. It looked puzzled too. 😂

Your videos are the best. I love how you show us this ideal battle but also how you show us other fights where you weren't able to dodge properly as well.

Update: I did the Burning Bloom mission last night. That Knockdown Weapon Skill is my new best friend. I put the Shellsnapper on his side, then hit the freeze sacs and put him out of his misery. I originally wanted to shoot off the shell bolts, but just killed it out of spite.

Crack 'em with a few drill spikes and watch them chip away at their health as you sling shots from afar, while also gaining the additional tear to any components that you might/should strike with the drill point when thrown

Thanks for this! Tried it immediately and had such a better time fighting Shellsnappers. I was really sleeping on Sharpshoot bows too much

This guy gives the best guides on EVERYTHING!

Personally, I like to figure out my own ways to fight the machines in the Horizon universe. But, I’m enjoying the tips from the videos I’m binging! You’ve gained another subscriber!

Youre very underrated! Good technical advice on every video!

Thank you!!! This is my first time through the game and this made the hardest enemy into such a chump. Love it! 🔥

Thank you! for me, the biggest frustration with the shellsnapper was that every time I went back into stealth mode to heal myself mid-battle, the shellsnapper damage bar would reset, so I would have to start all over after all that hard work. This will definitely help get it damage faster, though!

Thank God for this guide, I was struggling with the one for the salvage mission and after watching the vid I got it first try! I'm only playing on hard but your videos are godsends

Thanks so much for all your videos! I've been playing zero dawn on ultra hard so I got cocky with forbidden West, only to find I know nothing anymore! Definitely going to brush up and go practice next time I play

This worked! I didn't have the tearblasts but I targetted the dynamo and the bolts and after about 10 minutes of dancing with the thing, 1 final Ranged Master and a precision arrow boost shot took it out. I almost lost my mind to this thing, thanks!

Great advice! Thanks a lot for the help. These shellsnappers are a pain to gight if you don’t have a strategy! Have a great day!🍺

I played horizon zero dawn and I’m doing the platinum and maybe the 100% in ultra hard 😅 and your machines kill tutorials have been soooo useful, thank you so much I want to play Forbidden West so bad lol, it seems very good

Apart from missing the 3 absolutely perfect opportunities to take down that last shell bolt (after dodging the leaping attack it's a super easy shot to make) this is a pretty good tutorial on these. I figured out the Precision Tearblast method before I started hunting for my first one (beyond the quest) but I use the L3 Powershots to have basically 5 powerful (and free tearblast ammo) shots at him and I use them to take down 3-4 Shellbolts right from the start. But I ALWAYS start from the back ones as he'll be facing me most of the fight so those will be harder to hit later on. I didn't need to blow up the sacs simply because detaching those 4 Shellbolts with Tearblast on L3 Powershots hits him so hard (and that's with blue weapons, although fully upgraded and coiled for Tear) he's down to

Randomly found your channel. Love the videos man. Tips are legit. Thanks.

Again, this was worth the wait. Thanks for putting in the time, experimentation and attention to detail that will allow me to get some payback and serial kill these robot murder turtles.

I am IN LOVE with this game. Taking my sweet time with it, 62 hours in and loving every damn moment. (Except for From the Deep arena challenge) LOL

Shellsnappers are super annoying... great video though! I had such a hard time with them at first. I found that going for higher ground (preferably rocks) where he can't ambush you and roll over you ☠ helps a lot... and tearblast arrows are awesome

Just encountered that first Shellsnapper last night, and it ate my lunch. I eventually killed it, but it was a sloppy battle on my part. The next one I find better watch out! Another great video thanks!

Your videos are awesome, very comprehensive and helpful! Thanks a lot!

Great vid, not only did you breakdown the machine's behavior and tactics. You added your strategies as well. 😎

I defeated the first Shellsnapper with stealth lol Moved around A LOT so he wouldn't find me and died like 7 times trying, but the satisfaction I got after the ordeal was amazing. I had forgotten Talanah's quest drove you right into the Shellsnapper.

These things used to drive me absolutely insane with annoyance, but now my favourite method is using knockdown arrows or drill spikes on its legs to topple it over, and then using explosive split spikes on its stomach, it deals a tonne of damage!

Your videos are extremely informative. Keep up the excellent content. I’m here for it!

Just the Braced Shot technique is such a game changer! Was able to finish one off just off of that and some explosive spikes while it was in the brittle state. Great video, really helpful.

I like to take off the back shell bolts first from stealth because it's easier to hit the front bolts once the fight really gets going

Thank you, this was really helpful, specially because I had to fight two shell snapper at the same time when both activated in the spawn place at the same time. Edit: the one close to rebel outpost: still sands north

Thanks so much for the video! I get so frustrated with this game thinking the devs didn't properly balance things, when in reality the devs intend for you to keep fighting and figure out each enemy's attack patterns and weaknesses. You have to really study machines to figure out what all their different components do, many of which drastically change how hard a fight can be, and I think it's why this game's combat is so much better than the first game's because there's far more tactics and planning involved. My main gripe is that the slide/dodge mechanic feels clunky at times. Even when I have the auto-run option on and I'm not crouching, sometimes I just don't have enough speed or haven't built up enough momentum and I end up crouching instead of sliding, which has lead to some heavy hits that I felt I should have avoided.

Your videos have been really helpful! Looking forward to see what other games you’ll cover :)

When I found these for the first time after the story mission, there were 2 of them! They are in the desert, just outside a rebel base, I was still low level and the base has a few ballista's, which helped a bit with some lucky shots.

Your hunting vids are very very helpful! Thank you

One thing to note, a fully upgraded Hardweave Sharpshot bow is actually significantly stronger than the Cleaving Sharpshot bow as far as max damage goes, thanks to the 40% Long Range Damage buff. It's absolutely worth going out of your way to get the upgrade parts it needs to fully upgrade it.

Do the Dreadwings next! Their teeth are so hard to remove!

Helpful tip, any burrowing machines will lose track of you if you sneak while they're underground. When they come back up they'll look for you or attack where you were. Particularly helpful if you can move away and get into tall graas

Thanks this helps so much cuz whenever i fight these freaky gigantic turtles they always spam ice at me

Love it. Suggestions on next ones: FIreclaw, maybe worst in the game when trying to get sac webbing, and I think Slitherfangs are interesting

Hello fellow Horizon fans. So here are a few tips for fighting shellsnappers, including apex variants without any high end gear, weapons or valor surges: First, open with braced shot targeting its belly. If successful, instantly switch to you sustained burst with your bolt blaster. When it burrows underground, heal up, be sure to take the potion that helps with status ailments reistance and then switch to your purgewater bow, even a low end one will do and triplenock it. When it comes up, try to inflict drenched state. The most annoying attack in the Shellsnapper's arsenal is its freeze avalanches. They can inflict brittle on Aloy, making her more vulnerable to damage from the ShellSnapper. A machine in drenched state is unable to use any elementals. Interestingly enough, being drenched applies to Aloy as well. Just as important is the fact that drenched opens up every machine to all other elemental build ups no matter how high their resistance to that element is. So as soon as the Shell Snapper is drenched, I recommend going for shock damage. As soon as it is shocked, shoot underneath its belly or try to tear off its turtle shell with tear damage arrows. Another word of advice, inflicting acid damage on heavy hitter machines is a bigger deal because they have so much health so acid damage is a great way to chip away at such a large health bar while corroding armor off. Hope this helps. Peace out and happy hunting

I really like taking down machines with sacs, the explosion is just satisfying.

Perfect guide, easy to follow🎉

La mejor arma contra esta máquina es el arco de brilloxplosivo,dos flechas de extracción arrancan la tapa del dinamo cinética que hay que reventar con las flechas precisas que para este arco son relativamente económicas,ya que solo requieres músculo y esquirlas,sirve tanto si quieres matarla rápido,como para obtener todo el loot posible si le colocas bobinas de extracción de 100 % para arco preciso. Bro te apoyo,siempre es bueno encontrar contenido de este juegazo.

I've killed one of these at Thanala's mission, and BOOOOOY, This shit is tough as hell

Very helpful. Thanks.

I found for early game before you have the good weapons. If you use the brace shot or an exploding spike. Aim for the area were the shell meets the body. (Undernear the shell) it will explode the shell off as well

It worked. I smoked that fool pretty quick too.

I've noticed that they respond to thrown rocks and tearblast arrow impacts, but not exactly in the place where you hit the ground... I always go for removing the shell quarters, but the rear two pieces are held on with bolts as well... I also add tear mods to my bow for faster tear on the bolts...

Currently working on this on the hardest difficulty. It's not as easy as that looks but I'll try this technique.

I've been looking forward to this video! Great strategies & step-by-step walkthrough. I appreciate the fact that you used mid-level equipment but also included some advanced tips for late-game. I think Shellsnappers are extra annoying because their attacks can't be disabled as easily as other large machines, plus their ability to burrow. (somehow 🤔) For example, it's much easier to remove a Thunderjaw's Disk Launchers compared to a Shellsnapper's cannons. And I'm not sure if it's even possible to disable the ice blasts. Maybe Purgewater. I would need to do more testing but it's such a tedious process, which makes me appreciate your research even more. I totally agree that Shredders can do some great damage, especially the Ironeater Shredder that you recommended in your second mid-game equipment video. I skipped that Shredder in my first playthrough, but tried it in my current playthrough per your advice. I was surprised to see that I could immediately upgrade it to max level due to it requiring easy material that I already obtained before getting to Scalding Spear. Plus, Shellsnappers are weak to acid so the effect builds up real quick. Not only that, but the final Shredder explosion can tear off Shell Bolts without destroying them. Absolutely a weapon worth learning, despite my initial impressions of it. Boomer was right! Again, thanks for another helpful video & can't wait for the rest of this series.

IF you don't care about parts or expensive ammo, and just want fast way to kill hard machine use Spike Thrower with Advanced Explosive Spike. Nice video as always!

Hey Arktix, since you are quite knowledgeable, how do you do the special focus Aloy does. Do I need a specific skill on the skill tree or do I need to do a side quest?

I haven’t come across more shellsnapper’s since the first one but it makes sense if it’s easier, as I killed it fairly easily. Definitely hitting one of the underbelly sacs did the deed and brought it down after peppering it on focus spots with the hunter’s bow.

Thanks for the tips. I hate fighting them 😤

Love the master machine hunter guides! Any chance you are going to do Apex shell snappers?

It’s amazing how fast it is. It has so many attacks and it’s relentless. It doesn’t even give you time to get your Heath back up.

I've been meaning to watch this. I appreciate the tips and they will be utilized. I have a recommendation however. Have you tried using Drill Spikes. They take the Shellsnappers down in minutes. I'm replaying HFW on Very Hard - coming from playing on Hard initially - so I'm in the midst of the game on my second playthrough. Drill Spikes makes the fight significantly easier. ESPECIALLY when it's frozen. Also they tend to knock machines down. Try Drill Spikes on the shell parts. You'll be amazed. Also they do damage WHILE they're borrowing. That's the most important part.

I found that if you build up the corroding state with acid you can track its movement underground as the acid eats away at its armour.

Im glad to see someone else finds this thing hard and annoying. Every time I have to do a sidequest and this thing is there I just SIGH

Nice "how to" vid. Only came across that first snapper so far, so this video will be useful.

Bro thank you so muchhh that really helped a lot

The 2nd Tearblast Arrow didn't tear off the shell cus you didn't fully draw the bow on that 2nd shot. You want to ensure you get a full draw with Overdraw each time to get the max Tear damage possible.

For blowing up his frosts sacks I've found found throwing an explosive spike when he's leaping at you will usually instantly blow them up and deal a ton of damage

This has been extremely helpful! Keep up the great content! Also, I was wondering that since Braced Shot got nerfed, would this tactic be as powerful? Thanks.

Nice video! Which difficulty you used?

I wish they had the option to change the colours of all the parts that can be highlighted, I'm colour blind and when I try to highlight parts I can't tell the difference. Even if I am pretty much right underneath the bastard

I’m pretty sure the Braced Shot nerf in patch 1.09 killed this strategy. Tried dozens of times on Hard and Very Hard and cannot burst the frost sacs with a Braced Shot. The regular Snappers are weak(ish) to shock and Apex is weak to frost. Incapacitating with shock arrows then tear blast the bolts or knockdowns with drill spikes then bursting the sacs is probably the best strat for current patch.

These bastards are tough! Nearly made me rip my hair out last night. Definitely trying some of these tips later on today. Only useful guide I’ve seen on this as trapping the salvage contract one is basically not an option.

I have a warrior bow handy just to clear the battlefield of those annoying ice spikes that litter the environment the longer the fight drags on. I do this while he's burrowed since I can't do anything anyway but run around in circles 😂

I don’t know if you didn’t include this on purpose, but when the machine burrows, if you pop a smoke bomb the machine will instantly come off the ground and in a confused state (it looks like a bug tho to be fair). Sometimes the machine won’t come out the ground immediately, but will be confused anyways when it does. I randomly discovered this against an apex variant 😂

Thank you so much! I’m trying to kill that shellsnapper and the two bellowbacks in the arena, and it’s EXTREMELY annoying… you have so little space and get hit super fast. I had the settings on very hard though so I’ll turn them down, lol. I was dying after a minute. And it’s also sh*t that you have to get all of them down in such a limited amount of time! Ohh and you also can’t use any valor surges! Wtf?

Not gonna lie, when I came across Talanah for the first time in Forbidden West, I was surprised that Aloy knew who she was, because I didn't. Then, come to find out, you can meet her in Zero Dawn, by doing the Hunting Grounds/Lodges, which I've never really bothered with. Though, I suppose next time I play it, I could see about doing them. See if they take me to any areas I haven't been to before.

God I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thinks these things are the worst

These burrowing monsters are the bane of my existence…

Thanks for the great video, I greatly appreciate it. But in the beginning of the video you were standing right next to the cannons you shot off and didn’t even bother to pick it up and use it?? Any reason why?? I’ve been farming shards and XP at the Thunderjaw site and usually leave one cannon for my return to drop traps and then blast it with the disc launcher then get on the rock tower and snipe the rest of the damage to kill them.

Acid bath 🛀 them and hide up in the rocks where they cannot get onto you. After a couple acid baths and acid traps. It will eat up their shells pretty quickly. Just another idea.

GREAT VID, GREAT SERIES

Lol my first encounter with one w Talanah was actually very anti-climactic. I killed it with just a few well placed Braced Shots without it even seeing me, and it was dead within no time flat. Lol it didn't even get a chance to do anything, yet Talanah acted like she was hurt afterwards. Thought that was funny. I fully agree tho, I do think the one you face against her is weaker than the others cus it certainly took less shots than the ones in the wild do.

3 powered up spears onto the shell and then a few acid arrows and it is dead.easy.i had trouble until i used the spears and beat it really fast.using the arrows at the end to knock bits off helps gather items too as the spears only do health dmg and remove the armour

It seems like it might be better to target those rear shell bolts before he turns on you as you spent a lot of the fight trying and failing to hit them from the front. Also, what do you think of using knockdown shot to expose his belly and take out his sacs?

I just fought one last night on my way to help Zo, but had to help a salvager first. I had the longest fight ever… only because i ran out of machine muscle and branches. Had to use spike launchers, a sling, and whatever arrows were already made for my other bows.. ugh 😂

I am wondering about a few things. I vaguely remember shooting one of the incoming ice chunks out of the air by accident. Would that be a better strategy than dodging? Also when the Shellsnapper pop its head out of the ground to fire at you, is he able to rotate? If not we could try running behind him. Also it has another kind of cannon in his mouth(not the ice attacks) that fires orange blasts that you didn't mention.

Let’s Go ! Alright ! These guys are a pain on very hard

Hey...thank you, dude!

These turtles... bane of my existence... let's create a mobile weapons platform that can fire in 4 directions simultaneously while also having a main ice launching attack at the same time. Oh and make the turtle snappy! Yup you heard me. It needs to quickly move its absurd mass out of the way of even the most dead center shot. Oh and it needs to know what the player is doing at all times so it can make those speedy dodges having never met the player. Also it needs a shield system and lots of health.

What gets me is how fast the damn thing is for being a turtle

Lol well dang... If they are one of the toughest machines then I'm in for a cakewalk moving forward cus I never really had any trouble taking them out, including the Apex ones. I always just focused my braced shots on the cannons on it's shell, making sure not to target the shell clamps since those are valuable resources. Battle usually lasts about a minute or so. It's attacks are pretty slow & easy to avoid, aside for those insta cannons. Those are quite a bit tougher to avoid. It's also really slow when it lunges at you & is thus quite easy to anticipate.

I always went sniper and aimed for the bolts, 3 good shots, precision arrows on the delta sharpshot, dnt need valor surge, dnt need techniques. Tho I did have 2 sharpshot +100 tear coils