{
"post": {
"title": "Best strategies to defeat Rockbreakers?",
"selftext": "I thought one was bad enough, but there’s two areas where there are two rockbreakers and one is one of my last corrupted zones no less. What works best against these guys? I’m usually the sniping type but at any range I can hit them enough to do damage they send a rain of un-dodge-able rocks at me... ",
"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/horizon/comments/7whf6k/best_strategies_to_defeat_rockbreakers/"
},
"comments": [
{
"body": "The corrupted zone has a ravager site nearby. Tear their guns off, kill them, carry the guns over to the rockbreakers. Have fun. \n\nIn general, tear their digging components off their 4 limbs so they can't hide anymore, and their bellies are explosives. Nock 3 precisions and aim low.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Freeze them first and you'll deal that much more damage. They're weak to freeze and another weak point on top will do the job nicely. "
},
{
"body": "Which components are there for digging ? The gear looking things up front I assume ? They don’t seem too vulnerable to any elements. Freeze messes them up though ",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Each limb has one, firing tear arrows at each one will strip them. ",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Yeah just fought two after making that comment. Wasted quite a few tear arrows, guess my aim sucks or they’re fast. "
}
]
},
{
"body": "The hands/ claws/ whatever, specifically, are the digging parts. "
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "I generally sneak up on them, lay traps all over the place and then fire tearblast arrows at them...they will come towards you so run away until they stop following but stay close enough that they keep trying to chuck rocks at you. While they do this you can keep firing tearblast at their legs (hit all four and they won't be able to get underground anymore) or just keep firing your strongest weapon available at them (slings are useful for this type of damage)...LOVE the suggestion of stealing a ravagers gun but the walk to the rockbreaker site would be pretty tedious...used a thunderjaws disc shooter to destroy an entire herd of tramplers and a behemoth yesterday it was a nice haul of shards for sure!"
},
{
"body": "It’s been a few months since my last playthrough, but isn’t there a high, rocky ridge in the middle of that corrupted zone with the 2 Rockbreakers? I remember having a long, drawn-out sniping battle with those 2 from on top of that mound. Just a matter of dodging projectiles, but at least they can’t get under you.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "That's what i did. I had the shield weaver outfit on so I didn't have to keep downing health potions "
}
]
},
{
"body": "Freeze them then target the claws & exhaust port with tear/damage arrows.\n\nStay at range and if they throw rocks evade *towards* the machine to dodge them.\n\nHere's me with a quick and dirty pull I just filmed that hopefully helps, I evade twice in it to show what I mean. \n\n\nhttps://youtu.be/MPR3mJWMgrg\n\n\n\n/edit - I didn't target the components as much as I should have, especially if I had a bow that had lower dps. This one carries me through these lazy body shots.\n\nI don't pierce the fuel sacs typically because, when they explode they set it on fire which removes any freeze. I find the damage I can apply to them while frozen is much higher than the explosion + fire dot, but it's an option."
},
{
"body": "I kinda figured out how to take care of one of these myself.\n\n1. Melee is suicide. Range is survival.\n2. Try to get the high ground. If you can't? Run like hell. Constantly. Even if you're aiming, keep moving.\n3. Their feet are your focus. Break all four of them and they go from terrifying monstrosities that can dig underground, to giant robotic lizards that hilariously flop around on on the surface (but their rock-shooting can still mess you up though). If you have the level 2 or 3 Sharpshot bow, which has the tear-a-blast arrow, and the Concentrate perk, this becomes a lot easier.\n4. FREEZE. No, not you, the Rock Breaker. Even if you manage to stop it from digging underground, what's standing between you and a dead Rock Breaker is its thick armour. Freeze multiplies damage and the Rock Breaker is weak to it, so Freezing it will make the fight a lot easier.\n5. If it's unable to go underground and Frozen, you'll have to balance two things: dodging the rock throwing (roll roll roll Aloy, gently out the way...) and hitting it with as much damage as possible. Hunter Bow or Blast Sling.\n\nThat's the advice for *one* Rock Breaker. Chances are this strategy (other than the Freezing) will be insanely difficult if you're going against two of these things. Oops. So... what to do if you are going against two? Well, why fight them, when they could fight each other?\n\n1. Override one of them (good luck with that). Or,\n\n2. Corrupt one of them, and make sure at least one of them is corrupted until the fight is over. Make sure your War Bow's corruption is insanely high, like 90 or higher, and get the Double Shot perk and Concentration perk (they start digging underground the moment you start shooting them, so you have to make it quick). In either scenario, one will end up dead, and the other will have really low heath! It really helps if you have an outfit with really high Stealth as well and get some distance from them, so they don't pay much attention to you shooting them.\n\nUnfortunately... that doesn't apply to the corrupted Rock Breakers though. Sorry. They can't be corrupted (by you, that is), and they can't be overridden. However, there is a strategy I used to complete the zone myself, and I think it may be worth considering. \n\nThere's a Behemoth Convoy that goes near the corrupted Rock Breakers. If you've completed Cauldron Zeta and got the highest Combat Override perk (trust me, the extra steps will be worth it), make sure the convoy is a bit behind the zone and ride and Fast Travel or ride a mount towards it, and wait for the Behemoth to get near the corrupted zone itself (there's a point where the convoy almost cuts through the zone). Then, sneak up behind it and override it. It'll take a minute, but assuming nothing saw you and you were quiet (30+ stealth outfit helps), then you should have no trouble.\n\nOnce this is done, the Behemoth will kill its escorts, and will likely draw the attention of the Rock Breakers. Once this happens, it'll do 70% of the work of taking them down for you. All you have to do is keep Freezing them and shooting with your arrows (Sling shots and explosives aren't recommended, you could hurt the Behemoth) and running around. [Soon enough, you'll have dead Rock Breakers](https://i.imgur.com/OdczHG5.jpg) and a tonne of loot. [Don't forget the thank the Behemoth though](https://imgur.com/a/3QFyY).\n\n_____\n\nHopefully this helps you kill any Rock Breakers in any scenario, including a couple of certain side quests."
},
{
"body": "There are a lot of machines around the corrupted area, snapmaws, ravagers, shellwalker convoy, I think. If you time your approach right any/all of these will attack the rockbreakers. You will still need to do some work, but if you are really lucky (and/or override a few strategic ones) the other machines will whittle the rockbreakers down for you.\n\nThere have been other threads on this forum from way back talking about how to deal with the corrupted duo. If you do a directed search on this forum you can find some more specific strategies if you get continue to be frustrated in your attempts."
},
{
"body": "You can try a stealth approach: [first area](https://youtu.be/n8nZzkn2G7c?t=23m47s), [second area](https://youtu.be/n8nZzkn2G7c?t=44m31s). I'm bad at dodging rockbreakers myself, so fighting two of them at once is not my thing either :) Corrupted zone also has behemoth patrol that engages with the rockbreakers (a bit earlier in the second link), so you can wait for them and let them soften those rockbreakes up. Or join the fun if you feel like it :)"
},
{
"body": "I’ve tried lots of different ways and I’ve found freeze then damage arrows to their flippers, tail and underbelly is the most effective way of killing them quickly."
},
{
"body": "Look for good cover that you can fall back to when they are throwing rocks. The animation before they start their barrage takes around 3-5 seconds, enough time to aim Tearblast Arrows at one of the four flippers. Once you take them all out, they can't go underground anymore, and move around a lot less, but are still capable of spitting rocks and charging towards you quickly. Blow up the two fuel sacs on their underbellies, then once the fires are out, freeze and aim for the vents."
},
{
"body": "keep your distance, take your time. Take off their digging claws with tear blast arrows, that keeps them above ground. dodge their rock throwing attack, don't even give them the option of the surprise jump from underground attack. Then I focus on the vulnerable parts on their top - looks like a heating vent or something, with precision arrows. It's not the most fun battle, but more of a war of attrition. I end up spending a lot of resources, but I survive. "
},
{
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}
]
}