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"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.
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The Watcher is a Recon Class machine in Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Call of the Mountain, and The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes.
The Watcher makes cutscene/hologram-only appearances in Horizon Forbidden West.
History[]
As a recon machine, Watchers patrol on a constant lookout for perceived threats, sometimes acting as escorts for Transport Class machines.
Watchers in the wilds.
While it's unknown when Watchers were first released, they became became especially commonplace in the Sacred Lands, the Valleymeet, near Blazon Arch, and rarely in the Clan Lands.
The Derangement[]
At the advent of the Derangement, almost all machines started becoming increasingly aggressive towards humans, including the Watchers. By the time of Aloy reaching adulthood, Watchers attack humans on sight.
Horizon Zero Dawn[]
A Watcher as depicted in the notebook in Horizon Zero Dawn.
At six years old, Aloy's guardian Rost showed Watchers to her as part of teaching her how to avoid and ambush machines. She put this knowledge to good use, enhanced by the abilities of the Focus she had acquired, when she negotiated a path through a pack of them as they patrolled around a Strider herd to rescue Teb.[1]
As she grew up, Watchers were one of Aloy's main targets for practicing fighting machines.[1]
Watchers are a popular machine used by several Hunting Grounds in their trials.[2][3][4][5]
Upon gaining access to the PSI overrides by looting a Corruptor for its override module, Aloy became able to override Watchers.[6]
With the spreading of corruption, some Watchers in the Valleymeet became corrupted. They were subsequently destroyed by Aloy under the request of Marea.[7]
A Corruptor, along with some corrupted Watchers and Scrappers, were attacking Daytower from the east side, prompting the Carja to close the border. These machines were destroyed by Aloy as she approached.[7]
A Watcher at the Banuk Encampment.
A group of Watchers, Scrappers, and Ravagers at the Banuk Encampment were made non-aggressive by a signal emitted by component of GAIA Prime nearby. However, when the component stopped functioning, the machines returned to their hostile behavior and attacked the Banuk. Before Aloy could return to help, the Banuk destroyed the Watchers.[8]
The Carja criminal Ranaman used a machine lure to call a Ravager and two Watchers to his father’s estate to kill his father and sister Daradi so that he could inherit the estate as the only surviving family member. His father managed to lock Daradi in the larder to save her life before being cut down by the Ravager’s cannon; it also killed all of the guards. Under Ranaman's request, Aloy killed the Ravager and Watchers.
Some Watchers were kept chained down at Dervahl's camp along with other machines. Upon noticing Aloy, Erend and their Oseram allies coming into the camp, the Oseram in the camp freed the machines to help them fight the intruders, although they simply attacked all humans present. The Oseram at the camp and their machines were eventually killed by the intruders.[9]
Aloy encountered Watchers while infiltrating Cauldrons SIGMA,[10] RHO,[11] XI[12] and ZETA.[13]
Corrupted Watchers were among the machines used by the Eclipse, using them as guards at their camps[14] while exploring Maker's End[15] and the Grave-Hoard,[16] and while invading the Sacred Lands.[17] Some others were used by the Shadow Carja to chase down Vanasha as she was helping Prince Itamen and his mother Nasadi defect back to the Carja, but they was destroyed by her and Aloy.
Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds[]
Daemonic Watchers were among the machines Aloy, Aratak and Ourea destroyed during their expedition into Cauldron EPSILON.[18][19]
Horizon Call of the Mountain[]
Ryas, along with Hami and Kavad, encountered some Watchers along the river on their way to Dawn's Grasp. Ryas would later encounter Watchers at a mine nearby the Sunspear and at Mother's Tears and Day's End.
Horizon Forbidden West[]
Watchers briefly appeared as Aloy was making her way to the Far Zenith Launch Facility.[20]
Aloy passed some Watchers travelling with a Thunderjaw west of Sunfall on her way to the Daunt.[21]
A hologram from when Aloy was fighting a Watcher while training for the Proving was brought up by GAIA while scanning Aloy's Focus.[22]
The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes[]
While Aloy never encountered any Watchers in the Daunt or further west, Milduf and Pentalla encountered one in the Runner's Wild, acting as a scout for a convoy of Bristlebacks, Behemoths and Leaplashers. Pentalla successfully destroyed it before it alerted the rest of the convoy.[23]
Appearance[]
The Watcher resembles a small theropod dinosaur, possibly an alvarezsauroid due to their reduced forelimbs. Its chassis length is slightly greater than the height of an average adult human. Its most distinctive feature is its disproportionately large head which houses a highly sensitive ocular sensor array, all mounted on a long, flexible neck composed of synthetic muscle that allows for a wide field of vision. The Watcher's body primarily connects the neck and a flexible tail of similar design. An offset hip bearing is attached on either side of the body, each leading into a thin springboard leg. The head, body, and hips are covered with white armor plating.
Behavior[]
Watchers are primarily deployed in groups around herds of small terraforming machines, such as Striders, Grazers and Lancehorns. Each Watcher patrols a circuitous path around the herd, stopping at intervals to crane its neck vertically to its full length and optically scan the area. This allows the herd to work without having to stop and look out for threats. They also act as escorts for transport machines, such as Shell-Walkers.
If a Watcher detects and identifies a threat, it loudly sounds a warning, causing the herd to either flee or turn aggressive. Frequently, Watchers are deployed in tandem with a combat machine, such as a Sawtooth, which will immediately converge on the alerting Watcher’s position as a primary threat response. Even in the absence of a combat machine or if not protecting a herd, Watchers will immediately and aggressively attack threats upon identification. Furthermore, their loud alert call summons any nearby, more dangerous machines, quickly escalating a battle.[24]
Abilities[]
Aside from their ability to detect and alert other machines to threats, Watchers utilize their numbers to flank and attack an enemy. Their basic attack is a melee in which they jump and throw themselves at the threat; their momentum can cause significant injury to any human they employ this attack against. They will also use their tails in a bludgeoning attack at close range. Additionally, they also employ a stun attack in which they emit an extremely bright flash from their optical sensor array, which blinds and disorients humans. This can be avoided by using the Shadow Stalwart armor. They are also capable of firing concussive energy projectiles.[25]
Weaknesses[]
Watchers are unarguably the weakest known machines. Despite their aggressiveness in confronting a perceived threat, they are not designed for combat. Their melee attacks are clumsy, easily avoidable and leave them highly vulnerable to counter-attacks. Their capacity to sustain damage is minimal. Indeed, they are easily struck down by a strong melee attack from an upgraded spear, and like all small machines, they can be ambushed and killed with a single Silent Strike or killed in battle with a single Critical Hit after sustaining previous damage. Burn states inflict enough damage to kill them before dissipating. However a pack of Watchers can cause difficulty for a hunter in combat against a larger, more aggressive machine, as their attacks become a significant distraction.
A Watcher’s optical sensor array or “eye” is its sole tactical weakness, and its size and position make it a highly vulnerable target as the Watcher charges forward. A single strike on it from a high-powered ranged weapon such as a Sharpshot Bow inflicts catastrophic damage, killing the Watcher immediately. A great way to approach them without being blinded is by equiping the Shadow Stalwart outfit.
Attacks[]
| Name | Damage Type | Primary Damage | Trigger Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blinding Stun Flash | Blinding | 0 | 6m - 11m | Temporarily blinds and disorients human enemy with bright flash of light; ineffective against enemy machines |
| Energy Blast | Explosion | 40 | 0m - 55m | Fires concussive energy projectile at enemy. Tends to only use if it cannot close to melee range |
| Head Strike | Melee | 75 | 4m - 9m | Jumps at enemy using head as bludgeon; opportunity for immediate counter-attack from enemy should it miss |
| Jumping Smash | Melee | 75 | 6m - 11m | Jumps at enemy using body as bludgeon; opportunity for immediate counter-attack from enemy should it miss |
| Tail Strike | Melee | 85 | 2.5m - 6m | Short-range spinning bludgeon attack with tail |
Components[]
| Image: | Component: | Information: | Weakness: | Strength: |
|
Body | Hard outer casing to protect synthetic muscle and operational systems. | None | None |
 |
Eye | Hitting this component deals greater damage to the machine. | All | None |
Loot[]
Trivia[]
- Watchers are the first machines that Aloy encounters through her training with Rost as a child (thus Watches are the first machine the player encounters in gameplay).[1]
- During development, Watchers were referred to as Scouts.[26]
- While standard Watchers are seen in the opening of Horizon Forbidden West, as well as in a hologram,[27] only the Redeye variant is ever seen in gameplay.
- However, Watchers and an Apex Watcher variant exist within the game files and can be spawned in the game world through a mod (PC only).
- The Watcher cameos as a 'bot in Astro Bot, labelled "Security Scouter." Its description reads "Has its eye on you."
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lessons of the Wild
- ↑ Nora Hunting Grounds
- ↑ Spurflints Hunting Grounds
- ↑ Sun Furrows Hunting Grounds
- ↑ Snowchants Hunting Grounds
- ↑ The Womb of the Mountain
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Seeker at the Gates
- ↑ A Moment's Peace
- ↑ Into the Borderlands
- ↑ Cauldron SIGMA
- ↑ Cauldron RHO
- ↑ Cauldron XI
- ↑ Cauldron ZETA
- ↑ Revenge of the Nora
- ↑ Maker's End (Quest)
- ↑ The Grave-Hoard (Quest)
- ↑ The Heart of the Nora
- ↑ Firebreak (Quest)
- ↑ The Forge of Winter
- ↑ Reach For The Stars
- ↑ The Point of the Lance
- ↑ The Eye of the Earth
- ↑ Page 50 of The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes.
- ↑ Horizon Zero Dawn Collector's Edition Guide, page 132
- ↑ Horizon Zero Dawn Collector's Edition Guide, page 135
- ↑ https://youtu.be/4FAXv2H-VUA, 7:45
- ↑ The Eye of the Earth