How to defeat Snapmaws in Horizon Forbidden West?

In Horizon Forbidden West, the Snapmaw machine will rely heavily on melee and close-range attacks and will have the ability to do Frost elemental damage if players get hit. A great tactic for facing off against these machines is to target their Purgewater Canisters on top of their necks. If these are shot with Purgewater Arrows, they will explode and deal massive damage to the Snapmaw. Taking out the machine's Chillwater Sac will also be helpful as it will disable their ability to do Frost damage in battle.

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

Related: How to defeat Tideripper in Horizon Forbidden West?

Body Parts

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

• Body
• Chillwater Sac
• Purgewater Canister
• Dispersal Tank
• Resource Container

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 Snapmaw will drop a long list of loot items:

• Purgewater (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body, Purgewater Canister, and Resource Container
• Metal Shards (Common) - Dropped from Body
• Piercing Spike (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Machine Muscle (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body
• Snapmaw Circulator* (Uncommon) - Dropped from Body
• Medium Machine Core (Rare) - Dropped from Body and Resource Container
• Braided Wire (Common) - Dropped from Body, Dispersal Tank, and Resource Container
• Snapmaw Primary Nerve* (Rare) - Dropped from Body and Dispersal Tank
• Sturdy Hardplate (Common) - Dropped from Body, Dispersal Tank, and Resource Container
• Metal Bone (Rare) - Dropped from Body
• Snapmaw Sac Webbings* (Rare) - Dropped from Chillwater Sac
• Chillwater (Uncommon) - Dropped from Chillwater Sac and Resource Container
• Blastpaste (Rare) - Dropped from Dispersal Tank

*Loot items marked with an asterisk are exclusively dropped from the Snapmaw 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 Snapmaw is a part of the IOTA 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!