Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

Valor Surges are one of the new mechanics in Horizon Forbidden West. Essentially, they give Aloy supercharged skills that burn a resource called Valor.

Unfortunately, Valor Surges aren’t explained very well in the game, and they’re very easy to miss if you’re just casually playing Horizon Forbidden West for the story. However, they are one of the most powerful tools in Aloy’s arsenal, so you really shouldn’t ignore them.

So I’m going to walk you through how Valor Surges work in this exhaustive guide.

How to unlock Valor Surges

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

Valor Surges can be found in Aloy’s various skill trees. Aloy has six skill trees in Forbidden West, and each one contains two Valor Surges (for a total of 12). I’ll explain all of them in great detail in the final section of this guide, so scroll down to the bottom if you want to see that.

Valor Surges are located in the center of each skill tree, and each one requires the skills around it to be unlocked before you can properly unlock the Valor Surge. For example, the Critical Boost Valor Surge (in the Warrior skill tree) requires you to first unlock the Resonator Blast, Critical Strike+, and Energized Duration skills before it can be unlocked. You’ll see lock icons surrounding the Valor Surge that let you know what the prerequisites are.

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

Once the prerequisites are met, the Valor Surge will be automatically unlocked.

How to upgrade a Valor Surge

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

After you unlock a Valor Surge, you can upgrade it to give it more powerful effects. Every Valor Surge has three levels.

  • Level 1 – Default level. Valor Surges will be Level 1 as soon as they’re unlocked.
  • Level 2 – Costs 3 skill points to upgrade.
  • Level 3 – Costs 5 additional skill points (on top of the 3 you already spent on Level 2) to upgrade.

If you want to see the effects of any Valor Surge level, you can cycle through which level is displayed by pressing triangle.

How to activate a Valor Surge

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

Before you can activate a Valor Surge, you’ll need to equip it. You can do that in your skill tree, by selecting the Valor Surge you want to equip, then hold down the square button. If a Valor Surge is equipped, there will be a “Currently Equipped” message displayed on the thumbnail animation (as shown in the image above).

Once a Valor Surge is equipped, you can activate it by holding L1 to bring up the weapon wheel, then, while still holding L1, tap R1.

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor Surge

Once a Valor Surge is active, it will slowly drain the Valor meter until emptied, at which point the Valor Surge will end.

How to increase your Valor

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor

Your Valor is tracked in a purple bar that sticks off of your combat overlay in the HUD. This overlay is generally only active when you’re in combat, but you can change that in your game settings if you want it to always be displayed. You can do this by pressing the Options button, then going to Settings, then General. You’ll need to set your HUD Visibility to Custom, then go into the Custom HUD Settings menu (which should appear beneath the HUD Visibility option). In the Player Combat section, you’ll see a section that says Weapons and Ammo. If you toggle that to Always On, it will display your combat overlay even when you’re not in combat.

You need to fill that bar to the required amount before you can use a Valor Surge. To fill it, engage machines in combat. You’ll gain Valor by knocking parts off, hitting weak spots, knocking down enemies, getting kills, and getting kills while your health is low.

Horizon Forbidden West - Valor

You don’t gain Valor by killing wildlife, but you will gain it by defeating human enemies.

Whenever you earn Valor, you’ll see a notification on the right-hand side of your screen letting you know what you did to earn it. (You will only start earning Valor after you’ve unlocked your first Valor Surge).

What do these Valor Surges actually do?

Horizon Forbidden West - Toughened Valor Surge

Here’s a complete list of all 12 Valor Surges, along with a list of their effects. I’ve also included every upgrade tier, so you can see how they increase in power across upgrades. (As I mentioned before, you can cycle through the displayed upgrade tier of any Valor Surge by pressing triangle while a Valor Surge is selected in the skill tree menu.)

Warrior

Horizon Forbidden West - Warrior Skill Tree

Critical Boost

Powered by a special mode in your Focus, gain a greater chance to land Critical Hits and increase Critical damage.

  • Level 1
    • Critical Hit Chance: +35%
    • Critical Hit Damage: +10%
    • Critical Strike Damage: +75%
  • Level 2
    • Critical Hit Chance: +45%
    • Critical Hit Damage: +25%
    • Critical Strike Damage: +100%
    • Weapon Technique Extra Critical Chance: +5%
  • Level 3
    • Critical Hit Chance: +55%
    • Critical Hit Damage: +50%
    • Critical Strike Damage: +150%
    • Weapon Technique Extra Critical Chance: +15%

Melee Might

Attack a power module to your spear to deal more damage with melee attacks for a limited time.

  • Level 1
    • Melee Damage: +100%
  • Level 2
    • Melee Damage: +200%
    • Spear Energy Buildup: +50%
  • Level 3
    • Melee Damage: +300%
    • Unlimited Spear Energy
    • Power Attacks knock down targets

Trapper

Horizon Forbidden West - Trapper Skill Tree

Elemental Fury

Bolster your resolve and increase the buildup and effects of elemental attacks while gaining a greater resistance to elemental damage.

  • Level 1
    • Elemental Buildup: +100%
    • Elemental State Duration: +50%
    • Elemental Damage Resistance: +20%
  • Level 2
    • Elemental Buildup: +150%
    • Elemental State Duration: +75%
    • Elemental Damage Resistance: +30%
  • Level 3
    • Elemental Buildup: +200%
    • Elemental State Duration: +100%
    • Elemental Damage Resistance: +40%
    • Triggering an elemental state with a direct hit causes an elemental blast.

Trap Specialist

Powered by a special mode in your Focus, increase the effects of traps and tripwires while this Valor Surge is active.

  • Level 1
    • Trap and Tripwire Damage: +50%
    • Trap and Tripwire Elemental Buildup: +25%
    • Trap and Tripwire Knockdown Power: +25%
  • Level 2
    • Trap and Tripwire Damage: +75%
    • Trap and Tripwire Elemental Buildup: +50%
    • Trap and Tripwire Knockdown Power: +50%
    • Trap Effect Radius: +60%
  • Level 3
    • Trap and Tripwire Damage: +100%
    • Trap and Tripwire Elemental Buildup: +75%
    • Trap and Tripwire Knockdown Power: +75%
    • Trap Effect Radius: +100%
    • Instantly launches a set of hovering mines around you.

Hunter

Horizon Forbidden West - Hunter Skill Tree

Ranged Master

Bolster your resolve and deal more damage with ranged weapons for a limited time.

  • Level 1
    • Ranged Weapon Damage: +30%
    • Health Recovered per Hit: 5%
  • Level 2
    • Ranged Weapon Damage: +45%
    • Heath Recovered per Hit: 7%
    • Weapon Technique Damage: +20%
    • Weapon Stamina Regen: +100%
  • Level 3
    • Ranged Weapon Damage: +60%
    • Health Recovered per Hit: 10%
    • Weapon Technique Damage: +40%
    • Weapon Stamina Regen: +200%
    • Machines killed by a ranged attack trigger a Shock explosion.

Powershots

Bolster your resolve and deal more damage for a certain number of shots with Bows, Boltblasters, Ropecasters, and Spike Throwers.

  • Level 1
    • Number of Powershots: 3
    • Ranged Damage: +150%
  • Level 2
    • Number of Powershots: 4
    • Ranged Damage: +170%
    • Concentration Return per Hit: 15%
  • Level 3
    • Number of Powershots: 5
    • Ranged Damage: +200%
    • Concentration Return per Hit: 25%
    • Instantly refills selected ammo.
    • Powershots do not use up ammo.

Survivor

Horizon Forbidden West - Survivor Skill Tree

Toughened

Consume a special potion to restore health and gain resistance to status effects.

  • Level 1
    • Health Regained Every 2 Seconds: 30
    • Melee Damage Resistance: +15%
  • Level 2
    • Heath Regained Every 2 Seconds: 50
    • Melee Damage Resistance: +25%
    • Crushed Resistance: +30%
  • Level 3
    • Health Regained Every 2 Seconds: 80
    • Melee Damage Resistance: +50%
    • Crushed Resistance: +50%
    • Blinded Resistance: 100%
    • Deafened Resistance: 100%

Overshield

Activate a special armguard based on ancient technology to gain a rechargeable, damage-absorbing energy shield. Shield also recharges when depleted if Valor is still available.

  • Level 1
    • Shield Health: 125
  • Level 2
    • Shield Health: 250
    • Deflects 10% of melee damage against the attacker.
  • Level 3
    • Shield Health: 400
    • Deflects 20% of melee damage against the attacker.
    • Shield explodes when depleted, dealing Shock damage.

Infiltrator

Horizon Forbidden West - Infiltrator Skill Tree

Stealth Stalker

Activate a cloaking device based on Stalker technology to decrease visibility to enemies. Aiming a weapon or using melee attacks temporarily deactivates the device.

Very High Visibility Reduction

  • Level 1
    • Bonus Damage vs. Unaware Targets: +50%
  • Level 2
    • Bonus Damage vs. Unaware Targets: +100%
  • Level 3
    • Bonus Damage vs. Unaware Targets: +200%
    • Stealth kills restore Valor, prolonging use.

Radial Blast

Attach an overcharged module to your spear and immediately trigger a powerful shockwave, damaging all enemies in the vacinity.

  • Level 1
    • Blast Damage: 300
    • Shock Buildup: 150
  • Level 2
    • Blast Damage: 600
    • Shock Buildup: 300
    • Damage Radius: +30%
  • Level 3
    • Blast Damage: 1,200
    • Shock Buildup: 600
    • Damage Radius: +60%
    • Damage vs. Shocked Enemies for 15 Seconds: +100%

Machine Master

Horizon Forbidden West - Machine Master Skill Tree

Part Breaker

Powered by a special mode in your Focus, deal more damage to machine components and weak spots.

  • Level 1
    • Tear vs. Components: +25%
    • Damage vs. Components: +25%
    • Damage vs. Weak Spots: +25%
  • Level 2
    • Tear vs. Components: +50%
    • Damage vs. Components: +50%
    • Damage vs. Weak Spots: +50%
    • 30% chance per hit for valuable scrap to drop.
  • Level 3
    • Tear vs. Components: +85%
    • Damage vs. Components: +85%
    • Damage vs. Weak Spots: +85%
    • 50% chance per hit for valuable scrap to drop.
    • Removing a component knocks down the target.

Chain Burst

Bolster your resolve against multiple enemies. Damage chains from one enemy to another within 15m and boosts knockdown power.

  • Level 1
    • Chain Damage: 50%
  • Level 2
    • Chain Damage: 75%
    • Knockdown Power: +50%
  • Level 3
    • Chain Damage: 100%
    • Knockdown Power: +100%
    • 50% of damage chains a second time to enemies within 5m.
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Willy
2 years ago

Stealth stalker is OP.

Last edited 2 years ago by Willy
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