How to beat Specters in Horizon Forbidden West?

In Horizon Forbidden West, one of the most difficult enemies players will face the Specter. This machine is heavily associated with futuristic Zeniths and can deal devastating damage in battle. Taking out this machine's Pulse Cannon on top of its head is a must. This will disable its ability to execute the projectile attack that can make or break a fight with the Specter.

Specter's information

Strengths and Weaknesses

Players can attack machines with different kinds of elemental attacks. Elemental attacks in the game include Fire, Shock, Frost, Plasma, Purgewater, and Acid. The Specter will be weak to damage from Acid and Plasma attacks. They are strong against damage from Fire, Shock, and Purgewater attacks.

Related: How to defeat Tideripper in Horizon Forbidden West?

Body Parts

There are a few different body parts on a Specter, but each will drop different loot and deal different amounts of damage to the machine when attacked by players. The body parts on a Specter are:

• Body
• Pulse Cannon
• Shock Unit
• Resource Repository
• Regeneration Unit
• Vector Thruster
• Plasma Unit
• Nano Plate
• Control Nexus

Loot

Machines in Horizon Forbidden West will drop different loot items, with many being specific to each kind of machine. Some can be looted from a fallen machine, while others will need to be removed (shot off with an arrow or removed with a hit from the spear) while the machine is still alive. The Specter will drop a long list of loot items:

• Sparker (Common) - Dropped from Body and Shock Unit
• Blastpaste (Rare) - Dropped from Body and Vector Thruster
• Crystal Braiding (Very Rare) - Dropped from Body and Vector Thruster
• Glowblast (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body and Vector Thruster
• Metal Shards (Common) - Dropped from Body
• Piercing Spike (Rare) - Dropped from Body, Resource Repository, and Vector Thruster
• Machine Muscle (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body
• Braided Wire (Common) - Dropped from Body, Resource Repository, and Vector Thruster
• Metal Bone (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Sturdy Hardplate (Common) - Dropped from Body, Resource Repository, and Vector Thruster
• Useable Weapon (Very Rare) - Dropped from Pulse Cannon
• Volatile Sludge (Very Rare) - Dropped from Resource Repository and Vector Thruster
• Luminous Brainstem (Very Rare) - Dropped from Resource Repository and Vector Thruster

*Loot items marked with an asterisk are exclusively dropped from the Specter machine.

Cauldron

In Horizon Forbidden West, Cauldrons allow players to override the machines within that Cauldron once they have completed it. Completing a Cauldron usually means traversing through its dungeon-like corridors and facing off against a boss at the end. The Specter is not a part of any Cauldrons and cannot be overridden.

Interested in other machine guides in Horizon Forbidden West? Check out How to defeat the Slitherfang in Horizon Forbidden West on Pro Game Guides!