The robotic T-rex Thunderjaw in Horizon Zero Dawn is among the deadliest and most challenging monsters the players will have to face in the post-apocalyptic open world. Hopefully, this Horizon Zero Dawn guide should help players survive Thunderjaws with relative ease.
For more help on Horizon Zero Dawn, read out our Enemies Guide, Best Weapons Guide, and Weapon Mods Guide.
Horizon Zero Dawn Thunderjaw
Thanks to its size, Thunderjaw in HZD is also armed with various weapons including fire and ice elemental attacks, a high-powered disc launch and a missile launcher.
Alongside these ranged attacks, it can also use a dash attack to close the gap between the player and hit them with its massive tail.
Despite such deadly weaponry, Thunderjaw is no glass-cannon and instead has very thick armor plating a massive health pool making it truly robotic version of the deadly T-rex.
Thankfully, some of its abilities can also be its downfall as the disc launchers on its back can be torn down by the player and then used as weapons to take the Thunderjaw down.
You can also use the tripcaster after rolling out of the way of the Thunderjaw’s charge attack. We recommend going with the purple shadow tripcaster for maximum damage.
Keep your distance, set a trap and stand behind it to lure the Thunderjaw into it. Set multiple Tripcaster traps to deal even more explosive damage.
When it comes to Aloy’s own weapons, Tearblast Arrows are pretty effective to take down the robot’s armor plating. With the right perk, players can fire three of these arrows at the same time and deal considerable damage.
A couple of Tearblast Arrow volleys and the Thunderjaw should be ripe for an easy kill. Once a decent amount of armor plating has been removed, players can start targeting its weak spot which is bright yellow heart. Hardpoint arrows can be very useful here once armor plating has been removed.
Throughout the fight, players should be aware of their surroundings and keep an eye out of blue lasers that indicate where the Thunderjaw will fire its missiles.
To avoid having to deal with this constant danger, it is a good idea to target the missile launchers first and use them against the robot.
Another key thing to keep in mind during this fight is to never stop moving. If players stay in one place for too long, either the missiles will track them down when they move again or the Thunderjaw will just charge and use its tail or stomp attacks to deal a lot of damage.
Whenever players dodge one of its attacks, they should quickly try to follow it up with multiple arrows in rapid succession since a single Tearblast won’t really do much good.
