Tips and Tricks: Weapon Coils and Modifications [Horizon Zero Dawn]

This section provides basic information on how to Modify weapons and summarizes the recommended Weapon Modifications (Mod) for Horizon Zero Dawn.

March 9, 2017 Rin Tohsaka Horizon Zero Dawn 4

This section provides basic information on how to Modify weapons and summarizes the recommended Weapon Modifications (Mod).

Weapon Modifications

Related article: List of Bow Weapons

Aloy relies on sharpshooting with all sorts of hunting Weapons to survive against encounters with various mechanical beasts. As such, weapons need to be fastened with resources called Coils, these provide varying effects to enhance a weapon.

Modifications, or mods for short are customizing features that allow Aloy to enhance standard or elemental damage for her Ranged Bows. Keep in mind that Rarity plays a vital role in affecting Mod Slots. This means that the higher the Weapon’s Rarity the higher the amount of slots available for modification. Although the initial stage offers only basic weapons that are bereft of available slots, the Weapon Selection becomes more diverse as you progress, this provides Aloy with Weapons of higher Rarity.

This table summarizes the Modification color, Weapon Rarity and their corresponding available slots. It ranges from the basic to most complex, with Purple as the most difficult to obtain.

Color	Weapon Rarity	Mod Slots
Green	Uncommon	1
Blue	Rare	2
Purple	Very Rare	3

Coils

Exploring the vast terrain, Aloy may obtain items called Coils which may bestow additional damage or grant added elemental damage. These can be secured and fastened into weapons, enabling Aloy to harness their enhancing effects.

Note that inserting a modification on a chosen weapon during the initial stages is permanent and cannot be recalled. The higher level Tinker Skill from the Forager list must be obtained when the need to recall them arises, this might seem like a chore to obtain when starting out, thus it is recommended to decide carefully when Coiling.

Steps to Adding Weapon Modifications

Go to the Crafting Menu
Select Modify Weapons
Highlight the desired Weapon to modify
Highlight one of the “greyed out” circles, then press X
Choose which Modification to equip as desired

Modifications grant damage boost not only to Standard but also other elements such as Fire, Freeze, Shock and Tear.

Recommended Boosts

In an environment that thrives in a huge amount of attributes, it would be best to note the specific ones that could potentially threaten several machines. Fire and Tear Mods offer great coverage against most machines since machines are naturally weak to Fire, whereas Tearblast Mods deliver massive damage against most of the weak components of several machines.

It might seem quite bland but Standard damage boosts still reigns as a precious mod as it grants great chip damage to most encounters.

Mix and match boosts to desired Weapons to fit your play style. For instance, modifying one bow with Fire Mods makes it specialized against several machines; on the other hand, adjusting another bow to excel against piercing the enemy’s defenses with well-placed Tearblast arrows is equally helpful.

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