How to defeat Fireclaws in Horizon Forbidden West?

Fireclaws in Horizon Forbidden West are hefty machines that can do an enormous amount of damage to players at a close distance. You need to keep your distance while fighting to stay alive in a fight. Targeting the machine's Blaze Sac will also disable any Fire effect attacks that the machine can throw at players, which can save a good amount of HP. An important thing to keep in mind when battling any machine is that it likely has weaknesses. Fireclaws are weak to Frost and Purgewater damage and players can exploit that.

Fireclaw'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 Fireclaw will be weak to damage from Frost and Purgewater attacks. They will be strong against damage from Fire attacks.

Related: How to defeat Tideripper in Horizon Forbidden West?

Body Parts

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

• Body
• Blaze Sac
• Blaze Unit
• Purgewater Canister
• Sparker

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 removes with a hit from the spear) while the machine is still alive. The Fireclaw will drop a long list of loot items:

• Metal Shards (Common) - Dropped from Body
• Blaze (Common) - Dropped from Body, Blaze Sac, and Blaze Unit
• Braided Wire (Common) - Dropped from Body
• Fireclaw Circulator* (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body
• Large Machine Core (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Fireclaw Primary Nerve* (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Volatile Sludge (Very Rare) - Dropped from Body and Blaze Unit
• Machine Muscle (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body
• Metal Bone (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Luminous Brainstem (Very Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Crystal Braiding (Very Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Sturdy Hardplate (Common) - Dropped from Body
• Fireclaw Sac Webbing* (Rare) - Dropped from Blaze Unit
• Purgewater (Uncommon) - Dropped from Purgewater Canister
• Sparker (Common) - Dropped from Sparker

*Loot items marked with an asterisk are exclusively dropped from the Fireclaw 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 Fireclaw is a part of the CHI Overrides Cauldron.

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