The War-Chief's Trail Walkthrough

This guide will show you how to complete The War-Chief's Trail, a main quest in Horizon Zero Dawn. Read on to learn the objectives, strategies, location, and rewards for The War-Chief's Trail main quest.

The War-Chief's Trail Quest Information

General Info

Quest Location

Map Location

World Location

Varl will give you this quest when he speaks to you outside the Main Embrace Gate. This occurs during the events of the A Seeker at the Gates quest.

The War-Chief's Trail Walkthrough

How to Complete

	Objectives
1	Go to the Massacre Site. The Massacre Site will be to the northeast of Mother's Crown. Start heading north from the Main Embrace Gate to arrive at the location.
2	Investigate the Battlefield. Hit R3 and start scanning the massacre site. Scan and examine one of the damaged Corrupted Watchers as well as the destroyed Corruptor.
3	Talk to the Survivor. After investigating the battlefield, a survivor from the battle will approach from where you entered the clearing. Dran, the surivor, will tell you the War-Chief's last known position.
4	Go to Sona's Last Known Location. After talking to Dran the Survivor, head back into the Devil's Thirst. The last known camp of the War-Chief will be just past the Tallneck location.
5	Investigate the Area. Investigate Sona's Camp. Scan the different items highlighted in purple. Scannable items are as follows: Arrowheads, Food Scraps, Bow, Bandages, and Campfire.
6	Follow the Tracks. Hit R3 and highlight the tracks of Sona's group. Follow its path, past 2 Corrupted Watchers, until you reach a scrapped Sawtooth.
7	Examine the Sawtooth. Approach and inspect the Sawtooth. This will trigger a cutscene that has you meet the Nora War-Chief.
8	Follow Sona. Run alongside Sona. She will lead you to the enemy dig site.
9	Kill the Cultists and Corrupted Machines. There are two ways to approach this mission. Stealth is difficult but affords more XP as most of the kills will be Aloy's. Direct Combat, on the other hand, is easier as the Nora Braves will help you out during the battle.
10	Talk to Sona. With the last of the Cultists killed, talk to Sona to trigger the investigation task.
11	Investigate the Dig Site. Hit R3 and start investigating the camp. There should be tracks of Blaze that you can highlight which leads to a Datapoint. Scan the datapoint and listen to it.
12	Talk to Sona and Varl. Tell Sona and Varl about your findings. After a brief discussion, Sona will give you the quest Revenge of the Nora.

Tips and Strategies

Override the Devil's Thirst Tallneck to Reveal the Map

To reveal a large chunk of map that you'll be exploring for this quest, go and override the Devil's Thirst Tallneck. This will allow you to see how to navigate to the Massacre Site and Sona's last known position in relative safety.

Additionally, overriding a Tallneck reveals all the machine sites and Campfires for this portion of the World Map, making it easier to hunt for resources and save points as you explore.

Tallneck: Devil's Thirst Guide

Shoot the Blaze Barrels at the Dig Site

Blaze Barrels are placed in strategic positions to deal with the Watchers and Scrappers patrolling the dig site. Use Fire Arrows to set them to explode on your unsuspecting foes.

If players opt to go the combat route or are detected prematurely, make sure to use these explosive barrels to quickly thin out the enemy camp.

Horizon Zero Dawn Quests

List of Main Quest Guides

Main Quest Guides

Frozen Wild Main Quest Guides