Horizon 3 Wiki: Characters – Aloy, Companions, and Factions Guide

Aloy: The Nora Seeker Aloy returns with expanded mobility and combat options. Her base stats: 150 health, 100 stamina, and 40 base melee damage. Stamina now fuels both sliding, dodging, and special weapon techniques. ### Skill Tree Breakdown

**Trailblazer** (survival & traversal): Focuses on stamina efficiency. Max rank gives +20% mount speed and reduces fall damage by 50%.

**Hunter** (ranged combat): Unlocks triple notch at rank 4, critical hit chance bonuses (up to +15%), and new ammo types like explosive bolts.

**Machine Master** (override & taming): Separate from Cauldron progress. Nodes let you override larger machines earlier and extend control duration by 10 seconds at max rank.

**Warrior** (melee & stealth): Includes a new “Shadow Strike” chain that deals 3x damage from behind. Requires 12 skill points to fully unlock.

**Forager** (crafting & loot): Increases resource drop rates by 25% and lets you salvage machine parts without a workbench. Each branch has a capstone ability. Trailblazer’s capstone lets you fire arrows while sliding. Hunter’s capstone adds a 20% damage bonus against machines with exposed weak points.

Companion Characters You can recruit companions after completing specific quests. Each has a unique ability that activates when they’re in your party. | Companion | Role | Active Ability | Unlock Quest | |-----------|------|----------------|--------------| | Erend | Tank | Taunt: forces a machine to target him for 8 seconds | “The City of Stars” | | Zo | Healer | Healing Wave: restores 30% of Aloy’s health over 10 seconds | “The Lost Grove” | | Kotallo | Scout | Reveal: marks all machines within 150m for 20 seconds | “The Shining Wastes” | | Alva | Engineer | Repair: fixes mount health by 40% and reduces weapon jamming chance | “The Delta Connection” | Erend’s taunt is great for crowd control, but he has low ranged damage. Zo’s healing is invaluable on Very Hard difficulty, though she’s fragile. Kotallo’s reveal makes stealth approaches trivial. Alva’s repair is niche but saves resources if you rely on mounted combat. Companions gain experience only when active. Their levels cap at 30. You can equip them with one weapon and one outfit, which you find or buy during their personal quests.

Faction Leaders and Key NPCs ### Regalla’s Remnants After the events of Horizon Forbidden West, Regalla’s splinter group still operates in the Burning Shores. Their leader, Commander Yarra, offers a choice: help her suppress a rebellion or side with the rebels. Your decision locks out one set of side quests permanently. ### The Quen Delegation A new faction of Quen explorers lead by Admiral Gerrit. They have advanced diving technology and offer underwater combat training. Completing their faction quests unlocks a unique spear mod that increases underwater damage by 30%. ### The Oseram Delvers Led by Abadund, these engineers trade machine parts for rare weapon coils. Reputation with the Delvers affects prices: at max reputation, they give a 20% discount on all blue and purple weapons.

Exploration and Character Progression Aloy’s exploration abilities are tied to specific skill unlocks. The “Shieldwing” is no longer automatic—you must invest 8 points in Trailblazer to glide. The “Pullcaster” grapple now has a stamina cost of 15 per use, reduced to 5 with a mid-tier node. Overriding machines requires completing Cauldrons, but also spending skill points in Machine Master. For example, overriding a Thunderjaw needs Cauldron KAPPA completion plus 6 skill points in that tree. Without enough points, the override fails and the machine becomes hostile. **Pro tip:** Prioritize Trailblazer and Machine Master early if you want to explore the Burning Shores islands efficiently. Many ruins are only accessible via glide or climbing with reduced stamina.

Character Customization Outfits now have three mod slots (previously two). Legendary outfits like the “Nora Valiant” provide +25% stealth and +15% fire resistance. You can dye outfits, but dyes are found as loot in bandit camps—not bought. Weapon upgrades require machine parts and a new resource called “Spark Coils,” which drop from fire-based machines. The upgrade bench in Hidden Ember lets you upgrade weapons to rank 5, but each rank increases the part cost by 40%.

Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Can I change my companion mid-quest?** A: No. You select your companion before leaving a settlement. If you’re stuck, you can fast travel to a campfire and change, but it resets the quest progress to the last checkpoint. **Q: Do I need to complete all Cauldrons to override every machine?** A: Yes, each Cauldron unlocks a specific class. For example, Cauldron THETA unlocks overrides for中型 machines like Bellowbacks and Scrappers. Cauldron ETA unlocks大型 machines. There are 7 Cauldrons total. **Q: Is it worth investing in the Forager tree?** A: Only if you craft a lot of ammo. The resource increase is significant (25% more machine muscle and wire), but the capstone ability (automatically loot machines within 10m) is buggy and often misses parts. I’d skip it unless you’re on Ultra Hard and need every shard.