Frostclaw

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

Frostclaw
A huge acquisition machine that circulates cryogenic fluids for its attacks and defensive capabilities. Despite its size it is quick and deadly.
Size	Medium
Origin	HEPHAESTUS
Class	Acquisition
Override	Cauldron EPSILON
Combat
Challenge Level	30 36 (Daemonic)
Weakness	Fire
Strength	Freeze
Explosive Components	Freeze Sac (x2) Freeze Unit
Weak Points	Eyes Power Cell (x2)

The Frostclaw is a machine exclusive to The Frozen Wilds. Like its twin the Fireclaw, the Frostclaw is classed as an Acquisition Class machine and functions as such. However, it is also an extremely formidable combat-ready machine, capable of highly damaging Freeze-augmented ranged and melee attacks. It is known to be found only in the Banuk region known as The Cut.

History

Frostclaws were created by AI HEPHAESTUS at its R&D cauldron, Cauldron EPSILON, in The Cut. These machines were made superior to other machines in terms of armor and damage resistance, and are referred to as Daemonic Machines.

Frostclaws were the second of three machines unique to The Cut that the Nora huntress Aloy encountered. She first encountered a Daemonic Frostclaw in a valley along the pilgrimage route known as the Shaman’s Path. Just before entering the valley, she glimpsed the huge machine at the bottom of a gorge that she had almost fallen into. As she approached the valley, she heard its roars, then saw it proper upon entering the valley. The encounter was complicated by the presence of a Control Tower, which would repair any damage the Frostclaw sustained. She prevailed, neutralizing the Control Tower and killing the Frostclaw. 

Her second encounter with Frostclaws was far deadlier. She and the Banuk chieftain Aratak had just completed the second leg of the hunting challenge that Aloy had mounted against him for his chieftancy. In the final hunting area, they both unexpectedly found themselves up against three Daemonic Frostclaws, which had appeared and killed the hunters who had been driving in their quarry. While Aratak fought bravely, it was Aloy who virtually singlehandedly killed all three Frostclaws, earning Aratak’s respect, deference and voluntary relinquishment of his chieftaincy to her. 

Additionally, she engaged and killed two Daemonic Frostclaws as part of the Chieftain’s Trial at The Cut’s Snowchants Hunting Grounds. She engaged and killed two more alongside the Banuk fighter Inatut at the location known as the Cloud-Shear. Finally, she engaged and killed a Daemonic Frostclaw alongside Aratak and his sister, the Banuk shaman Ourea, as they mounted an expedition through the ancient Firebreak facility to Cauldron EPSILON. Within EPSILON, the three of them saw Frostclaw chassis being transported on an assembly line and engaged and killed another two in a hidden area just off the route to the cauldron’s core.

Appearance

Like the Fireclaw, the Frostclaw is somewhat ursine in appearance, movement, and locomotion. Its chassis resembles the body and has the gait of a grizzly bear. Presumably, HEPHAESTUS modeled the two huge machines after the long-extinct animal, which was native to the region during the time of the Old Ones . However, while they are extremely formidable and deadly, Frostclaws are not as large as Fireclaws, and have considerably less capacity to sustain damage. The head ends in a pointed, toothy snout with a three-mandible jaw housing a system of grinders. A pair of optical sensor arrays is located in the same position as a bear’s eyes would be. Mounted on each forelimb are a pair of gear-like wheels, whose purpose is unknown. There is an armor-protected cryogeneration unit called a Freeze Unit on its chest, and two power cells are located on its upper back. Freeze Sacs, armored storage tanks containing Chillwater are built into its chassis, similar to Freeze Bellowbacks. However, while the Freeze Bellowback’s tanks are prominently placed on its back and throat, the Frostclaw’s Freeze Sacs are seamlessly built into its shoulders, are much more damage resistant, and generally have more armor.

Abilities

Like the grizzly bear, the Fireclaw is able to adopt both a quadrupedal and bipedal stance. In either stance it employs several fast, relentless and extremely damaging Freeze-based ranged attacks and Freeze-augmented melee attacks. While their capacity to sustain damage is substantially less than that of Fireclaws, it is still formidable. Despite their huge size, Frostclaws are quite fast and agile, able to run at high speed and easily spring up high embankments. Being Freeze-based machines, they are extremely resistant to attacks from weapons that utilize Freeze. Additionally, Daemonic Frostclaws also have all of the abilities of Daemonic Machines: considerably more durable armor and damage resistance, immunity to Corruption, and they cannot be overridden.

Weaknesses

Like all Freeze-based machines, Frostclaws are particularly susceptible to attacks from weapons that utilize Fire. However, if a Burn state is inflicted on them, they are able to surround themselves with an icy aura that instantly dissipates it. Furthermore, though they are extremely resistant to Freeze, they can in fact be frozen by a sufficiently powerful Freeze explosion. This can be triggered by destroying their Freeze Sacs or their Freeze Units. Additionally, destroying the Freeze Sacs located on it's shoulders weakens the claw slash attacks and disables the Frostclaw’s ability to augment them with Freeze, and destroying the Freeze Unit located on it's chest disables the ranged terrestrial attacks. Provided both it's Freeze Sacs and Freeze Unit have been destroyed, a permanent frozen state will be inflicted on the Frostclaw. Their power cells can be overloaded via strikes from Shock Arrows, triggering an electrical explosion that stuns them. Indeed, this is the only way to electrically stun a Daemonic Frostclaw, given its innate high resistance to Shock damage.

Attacks

Quadruped Stance

Name	Damage Type	Primary Damage	Secondary Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Ice Spikes	Melee/ Freeze	125 each	25 Freeze per second	15m - 50m	Brings impaling ice spikes up out of the ground at enemy
Back Slash	Melee/ Freeze	150/75	25 Freeze per second	1m - 15m (front) 3m -15m (back)	Backhanded claw slash
Fury Slash	Melee/ Freeze	200/100	-	3m - 18m	Series of three forward claw slashes
Lunge Dive	Melee/ Freeze	200/100	-	3m - 18m	Charging forward dive at enemy
Back Crush	Melee	200	50 Explosion	8m - 11m	Charging backward dive at enemy
Lunge Slash	Melee/ Freeze	200/100	-	8m - 14m	Short-range rising claw slash

Biped Stance

Name	Damage Type	Primary Damage	Secondary Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Hail Storm	Freeze	145 per second	-	10m - 20m	Spews hailstones from Freeze Unit at enemy
Frost Blast	Freeze Melee	200/100	-	0m - 8m	Defensive radial cryo-blast
Grinder Scrape	Melee Freeze	125/75	-	15m - 50m	Scrapes chunks of solidified dirt and rock at enemy
Claw Slash	Freeze Melee	150/75	-	2m - 8m (front) 3m - 6m (back)	Up to 6 ice-augmented claw slashes
Frost Dive	Melee	200 Explosion	50 Melee	10m - 25m (front) 7m - 17m (back)	Charging backward dive accompanied by emerging ice spikes from ground
Frost Crush	Freeze Melee	200/100	-	6m - 13m	Bear-hug against Freeze Unit

Both Stances

Name	Damage Type	Primary Damage	Secondary Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Frost Slam	Melee	200	-	0m - 5m	Defensively brings up ice spikes from ground in radial pattern
Ice Storm	Freeze	50 per second	-	-	Desperation defensive attack (employed upon sustaining 30% and 75% damage); cryo- aura around chassis damages enemy on contact

Components

Component:	Image:	Information:	Weakness:	Strength:
Body		Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems	Fire	Freeze
Freeze Sac		Destruction triggers a Freeze explosion, inflicts temporary Freeze state and disables Freeze-augmentation of claw attacks	All	None
Freeze unit		Destruction triggers a Freeze explosion, inflicts a temporary Freeze state and disables all Freeze-based attacks other than claws	All	None
Power Cell		Sparker can be looted from this component. Shooting this component with Shock Arrows will trigger an explosion, electrifying anything in its radius.	Tear Shock	None

Loot

Sparker

1

Metal Shards

1

Wire

1

Machine Core - Medium

50

Luminous Braiding

30

Frostclaw Lens

26

Frostclaw Heart

52

Chillwater

4

Echo Shell

15

Trivia

• The Frostclaw also bears a resemblance to the cryptid known as the Yeti or Abominable Snowman, claimed to have been seen in the modern-day Himalayan mountains.
• During The Frozen Wilds development, Frostclaws were referred to as CryoBears.

Gallery

A Daemonic Frostclaw

References

Machines
Horizon Zero Dawn
Acquisition Class	Broadhead - Charger - Fireclaw - Frostclaw - Glinthawk - Grazer - Lancehorn - Rockbreaker - Scrapper - Snapmaw - Strider - Trampler
Chariot Class	Corruptor - Deathbringer - Metal Devil
Combat Class	Ravager - Sawtooth - Scorcher - Stalker - Stormbird - Thunderjaw
Communication Class	Tallneck
Recon Class	Longleg - Watcher (Redeye Watcher)
Transport Class	Behemoth - Bellowback - Shell-Walker
Unknown Class	Control Tower
Horizon Forbidden West
Acquisition Class	Bilegut - Bristleback - Clamberjaw - Fanghorn - Plowhorn - Scrounger - Spikesnout - Stingspawn - Sunwing - Tideripper - Waterwing - Widemaw
Combat Class	Clawstrider - Dreadwing - Grimhorn - Shellsnapper - Slaughterspine - Slitherfang - Specter - Specter Prime - Tremortusk
Recon Class	Burrower - Skydrifter
Transport Class	Leaplasher - Rollerback
Unknown Class	Defense Drone