Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Guide to Components, Resources, & Crafting

Crafting is a very important part of the Horizon Zero Dawn experience. The game does an excellent job of streamlining the crafting process, and it’s impossible to succeed in your quests unless you craft some things along the way. 

If you’ve read our beginner’s guide for Horizon, you already know that you should be collecting basically everything you come across. Loot every fallen enemy, hunt game when you’re able, and take time to pick up resources scattered across the world.

This guide is going to take things one step further and tell you how to craft any and every item in the game. I’ll start with a few general crafting tips, then give you the rundown on every in-game craftable item and what you need to make it. 

Tips for Crafting in Horizon Zero Dawn

Hunt, Gather, Repeat

This tip is so essential to succeeding in the wilds that I’m going to reiterate it. The only way to craft often and craft well is to have as many resources as possible on hand to work with. 

As such, you’ll want to loot everything you bring down during your quests. Things can get pretty hectic in the throes of a hunt, but make sure you’re taking time after the last body has fallen to pick up anything you can. What you can’t craft with, you can likely trade to a merchant in exchange for essential items you can’t make yourself. 

You should also get into the habit of hunting often. Wild game drops all sorts of meats, hides, and other resources that are essential for trading with merchants or upgrading your inventory space.

Don’t Bother with Non-Medicinal Plants

There’s one exception to the “collect everything” rule — non-medicinal plants. Scattered across the game world is a mix of medicinal plants that refill your health reserve and miscellaneous plants that are used to make potions. 

Don’t pay much mind to the second type. Medicinal plants are a much higher priority, and you need to have as many as you can at basically all times. But the other plant types are far less useful. They can be turned into resistance potions, but generally speaking, you won’t be using those very much — and both the plants and potions will simply waste precious inventory space. 

Note: This does NOT apply to Ridge-Wood. Always collect Ridge-Wood when you see it.

Upgrade as Often as Possible

If you’re collecting this many resources, you definitely need to be using them. Check your weapon wheel and crafting menu often to make sure that you’re topped off on arrows, traps, and any other ammo you may need. 

You should also visit merchants as often as possible to sell off all that trophy loot that’s only good for getting shards and wasting inventory space.

Invest in Pack Upgrades

The first several upgrades for your resource pack, potion/trap pack, and ammo pack are relatively cheap. And you should invest in them pretty early so that you have more space to work with when you’re hauling in real loot. I would advise investing in ammo upgrades first, then expanding your resource inventory.

Don’t Fork Over All Your Shards

That Shadow Armor might make it easier for you to deal with Stormbirds, but don’t give a merchant the last of your shards and saunter away. You need to remember that shards aren’t just currency, they’re an essential part of crafting. 

If you don’t have any metal shards, you can’t make things like arrows. And if you can’t make arrows, you can’t really do much of anything. I suppose you could try to sweet-talk that Watcher into letting you pass, but it’s probably best you just put its eye out. 

How to Craft Every Type of Ammo and Trap in Horizon Zero Dawn

This handy table breaks down every craftable item in the game, and gives you the list of items that you need to make it. We’ll be updating this list with new ammo and traps as we come across them in game!

Where to Get Every Component in Horizon Zero Dawn

Now that you know how to craft the items you need, you probably need to know where those components are found. This table will show you how to get the drops you need.  

That’s it for my guide on crafting ammo and traps in Horizon Zero Dawn! Hopefully, this helps you out there in the unforgiving wilds. Stay tuned for more guides, or check out some of our other tips: 

• Horizon Zero Dawn Beginner’s Guide
• Horizon Zero Dawn: Handling and Other Weapon Stats Explained
• Horizon Zero Dawn: Armor Stats and What They Mean
• How to Upgrade Your Spear in Horizon Zero Dawn
• Horizon Zero Dawn: How to Farm 10,000 Shards Per Hour
• Horizon Zero Dawn: How to Farm Purple (Very Rare) Mods