The Arena is a sort of endgame activity with a series of timed challenges for players to complete in return for rare and legendary items. The following guide will explain just how and why Aloy needs to be participating in the Arena in Horizon Forbidden West.
How to Find the Arena in Horizon Forbidden West
The Arena is located behind the Memorial Grove in the Maw of the Arena. The mainline Kulrut questline will help you reach The Arena if you haven’t found it by then. Its entrance is just right to the entrance to the Memorial Grove.
How to Unlock The Arena in Horizon Forbidden West
Completing the Kulrut questline is only the first step towards unlocking The Arena. You can come back to the Maw of the Arena at any time to talk with Kalla about opening The Arena. She will ask you to bring her bristleback tusks and a rollerback sinew to reconstruct the ballista.
To get the Bristleback tusks you need to go to the site of bristleback and break them off the machine.
To get rollerback sinew, you need to go to the south of Arena to the rollerback site. There you will encounter a giant rollerback that you can defeat for its sinew. It’s especially weak against acid.
Hence, draw your attention to the acid canister in the area and make the rollerback run through the canister for some bonus damage.
Bring both items back to Kalla to finally open the doors to The Arena.
Horizon Forbidden West Arena Challenges
There are 20 combat challenges in The Arena, categorized by their level of difficulty. Each challenge will ask you to defeat different machines within a certain amount of time. Once a challenge is successfully completed, the next challenge will be unlocked and so on until the last challenge is put to rest.
The Arena challenges are categorized the following way:
- Amateur
- Intermediate
- Skilled
- Expert
- Legendary
The Arena Amateur Challenges
| Challenge | Machines | Fee | Time | Loadout Type | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pack Hunters | • 3x Scrapper | 100 Metal Shards | 2:30 | Open | 3 Arena Medals |
| • 2x Clawstrider | |||||
| Machine Reinforcements | • 1x Longleg | 150 Metal Shards | 3:30 | Open | 5 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Ravager | |||||
| Boost Battle | • 1x Rollerback | 150 Metal Shards | 3:00 | Open | 6 Arena Medals |
| • 3x Spikesnout | |||||
| Rematch | • 1x Slitherfang | 250 Metal Shards | 5:00 | Fixed | 10 Arena Medals |
The Arena Intermediate Challenges
| Challenge | Machines | Fee | Time | Loadout Type | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fight the Elements | • 1x Acid Clawstrider | 100 Metal Shards | 1:00 | Open | 6 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Fire Clawstrider | |||||
| Cage Fight | • 2x Grimhorn | 150 Metal Shards | 1:30 | Open | 8 Arena Medals |
| Canister Chaos | • 2x Purgewater Canister Burrower | 150 Metal Shards | 2:30 | Open | 10 Arena Medals |
| • 2x Widemaw | |||||
| • 2x Acid Canister Burrower | |||||
| From the Deep | • 1x Tideripper | 250 Metal Shards | 3:30 | Fixed | 24 Arena Medals |
| • 2x Snapmaw |
The Arena Skilled Challenges
| Challenge | Machines | Fee | Time | Loadout Type | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grim Prospects | • 1x Grimhorn | 100 Metal Shards | 2:30 | Open | 9 Arena Medals |
| • 2x Ravager | |||||
| Ring of Fire | • 2x Scorcher | 150 Metal Shards | 1:20 | Open | 12 Arena Medals |
| Bellow Brawl | • 1x Shellsnapper | 150 Metal Shards | 2:00 | Open | 15 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Fire Bellowback | |||||
| • 1x Acid Bellowback | |||||
| Tremortusk Tussle | • 1x Tremortusk | 250 Metal Shards | 5:00 | Fixed | 16 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Acid Clawstrider |
The Arena Expert Challenges
| Challenge | Machines | Fee | Time | Loadout Type | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apex Drifters | • 2x Apex Skydrifter | 100 Metal Shards | 2:00 | Open | 15 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Apex Rollerback | |||||
| Death from Above | • 3x Sunwing | 150 Metal Shards | 1:30 | Open | 20 Arena Medals |
| Stormy Weather | • 1x Apex Stormbird | 150 Metal Shards | 2:30 | Open | 25 Arena Medals |
| Dreaded Encounter | • 1x Apex Dreadwing | 250 Metal Shards | 3:00 | Fixed | 40 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Apex Spikesnout |
The Arena Legendary Challenges
| Challenge | Machines | Fee | Time | Loadout Type | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shimmering Menace | • 4x Apex Stalker | 100 Metal Shards | 1:30 | Open | 32 Arena Medals |
| Ancient Corruption | • 3x Corruptor | 150 Metal Shards | 2:00 | Open | 48 Arena Medals |
| The Frozen Wilds | • 2x Apex Frostclaw | 150 Metal Shards | 2:30 | Open | 64 Arena Medals |
| Apex Predators | • 1x Apex Scorcher | 250 Metal Shards | 7:30 | Fixed | 131 Arena Medals |
| • 1x Apex Thunderjaw |
Horizon Forbidden West Arena Rewards
You will earn The Arena medals by completing every challenge. These medals can be exchanged for several rare and legendary items.
| Weapon | Medal Cost |
|---|---|
| Marshal Hunter Bow | 84 Hunting Medals |
| Warden Sharpshot Bow | 54 Hunting Medals |
| Rampart Blastling | 54 Hunting Medals |
| Glowblast Spike Thrower | 54 Hunting Medals |
| Relentless Boltblaster | 54 Hunting Medals |
| Item | Medal Cost |
|---|---|
| Death-Seeker’s Shadow Bow | 80 Arena Medals |
| Forgefall Bow | 80 Arena Medals |
| The Blast Forge Boltblaster | 80 Arena Medals |
| Nora Thunder Warrior Outfit | 54 Arena Medals |
| Tenakth Vanquisher Outfit | 54 Arena Medals |
| Carja Stalker Elite Outfit | 54 Arena Medals |
| Instant Brittle Chance +3% Coil | 16 Arena Medals |
| Instant Burning Chance +4% Coil | 16 Arena Medals |
| Instant Explosion Chance +2% Coil | 16 Arena Medals |
| Instant Plasma Blast Chance +4% Coil | 16 Arena Medals |
HFW Arena Tips
The Arena Challenges are ridiculously hard sometimes. You need to meet some pretty high requirements very quickly, but these are the only way to get Legendary Items. We recommend that you start with Hunting Challenges. These challenges will offer you purple weapons, which, when fully upgraded, will make your life much easier.
Always start any challenge you are attempting with your desired loadout selected. You cannot change your weapons when you have entered a challenge, so you might be stuck with something that’s completely useless for that challenge. Also, never worry about your ammo. Any ammo used in the challenge is refilled after the challenge, no matter whether you win or not.
Don’t be hasty; scan the arena, see what you are up against, and make sure to plan your advance. The strategy will help you win arena challenges. With the information on the layout, use it all to our benefit. Lay traps and use consumables to get wins. Don’t just go in bows ablaze, but play to the advantages you get in every challenge.
Do bring elemental weapons, like acid and electrical arrows. You need them to take out larger enemies faster. These, paired with your weapon techniques and Valor Surges, you can take out the worst machines very easily.
Don’t rely too much on cover. All the cover you get are just planks that most of the bigger machines can rip apart in a second. So the best thing for you to do is spam your Concentration ability to keep on attacking the weak points and make the best out of every shot.
Where to Spend Extra Arena Medals
If you have been playing and completing the Arena Challenges, you might have been getting a lot of Arena Medals. However, when you get all the Arena Medals and all the rewards you can get from these medals, you are still left with 33 Arena Medals.
These 33 Arena Medals have no use in the game. As of yet, you cannot buy anything from these Medals.
These might be there to help you buy everything, even if you want to skip some challenges. Or these might be here for something that the Devs will add later on in the game. As of the day, this is written, there is no known use of these extra 33 Arena Medals in the game.
