Horizon Forbidden West has arrived, opening up the Tenakth tribe’s territory to the west for Aloy to explore on her quest to save the world all over again. With this being an action RPG, players can level up Aloy, making her more powerful and earning her skill points to unlock different abilities in combat like Weapon Techniques and Valor Surges. In this Horizon Forbidden West leveling guide, we’ll be running you through how to level up fast and what the max level cap is, so you know what you’re aiming for to 100% the game and earn the Platinum trophy.

Leveling Up Fast in Horizon Forbidden West

What the Max Level Cap Is

The max level cap in Horizon Forbidden West is currently level 50.

  • Complete Main Story Quests The main story quests in Horizon Forbidden West offer up huge amounts of XP for completing them. This is the best way to quickly level up. Take on Side Quests There are a ton of different NPCs looking for help across the entirety of the Forbidden West. Any new side quest you can take on is marked on your map and HUD with a green ‘!’. The higher the level requirement, the more XP they’ll reward you with for completing the quest. Don’t Shy Away from Fighting Machines The open world of Horizon Forbidden West is teeming with machines just waiting to take on Aloy in a tussle. While some of the toughest machines can wipe you out easily, they’ll earn you thousands of experience points for taking down just one of them. Complete Arena & Hunting Ground Challenges Partly related to the previous point, Arena and Hunting Ground challenges task you with taking down machines with different requirements, or within a time limit. They’ll earn you other rewards for completing, but they can make defeating machines a little less repetitive than simply fighting them in the open world. Cauldrons & Relic Ruins Pretty much any open-world activity you do will reward you with experience in one way or another. Two of the best activities you can complete to help you level up quickly are Cauldrons and Relic Ruins. The former nets you a chunk of XP for finding the core of the Cauldron and often have a tough machine to take down as part of the mission, while the latter are fun traversal and environmental puzzles that serve as a nice change of pace from the usual machine-fighting gameplay.

The main story quests in Horizon Forbidden West offer up huge amounts of XP for completing them. This is the best way to quickly level up.

There are a ton of different NPCs looking for help across the entirety of the Forbidden West. Any new side quest you can take on is marked on your map and HUD with a green ‘!’. The higher the level requirement, the more XP they’ll reward you with for completing the quest.

The open world of Horizon Forbidden West is teeming with machines just waiting to take on Aloy in a tussle. While some of the toughest machines can wipe you out easily, they’ll earn you thousands of experience points for taking down just one of them.

Partly related to the previous point, Arena and Hunting Ground challenges task you with taking down machines with different requirements, or within a time limit. They’ll earn you other rewards for completing, but they can make defeating machines a little less repetitive than simply fighting them in the open world.

Pretty much any open-world activity you do will reward you with experience in one way or another. Two of the best activities you can complete to help you level up quickly are Cauldrons and Relic Ruins. The former nets you a chunk of XP for finding the core of the Cauldron and often have a tough machine to take down as part of the mission, while the latter are fun traversal and environmental puzzles that serve as a nice change of pace from the usual machine-fighting gameplay.

Upon hitting the max level cap, you’ll unlock the silver trophy ‘Reached player level 50.’ At the time of writing, it’s not possible to level up any further past this.

That’s everything you need to know about Horizon Forbidden West leveling. For more tips and tricks, head over to our wiki or see more of our coverage below.

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