All Aerial Capture locations in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
Take to the skies to find out more about the Burning Shores in the lead up to Zero Dawn.
Aerial Captures in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores are similar to the Vista Points from the main game. Aerial Captures can only be accessed by following a path while using a Flying Mount, but first you need to find the Transmitters that will activate the beginning of each path.
In Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores, Aerial Captures give you extra context for the story you've unravelled. Particularly, these Aerial Captures give greater context to what happened around the Burning Shores in the time leading up to the end of the world.
Without further ado, we're going to show you all of the Aerial Capture locations in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores and we explain the completion rewards for doing so.
On this page:
Aerial Capture West location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
The first Aerial Capture location in Horizon Forbidden West can be found on the western side of the map. We've marked its location on the map below:
However, when you get to this area, you will notice that it is being bombarded with lightning strikes and a heavy storm is surrounding it. This storm makes it nearly impossible to land on the island as the lightning will be attracted to, and hit, your mount.
To stop the storm, use your flying mount to quickly hover near or above the island and then scan the island with your Focus. Look around you until your Focus picks up a trail leading up into the sky.
Follow this trail until you get a glimpse of the malfunctioning Stormbird. It will briefly fly away from you and leave another trail for you to follow. You will need to follow this pattern a few more times until the Stormbird notices you.
Once the Stormbird does notice you, it will blast you out of the sky and back down onto the island. You will lose your flying mount here, but this doesn't matter for now as the Stormbird will come down to the island and start to attack you.
Tips for fighting the Stormbird
This Stormbird is fierce, but here are a few tips to help you defeat it quickly:
- It's weak to Acid and Plasma damage - Using any weapon or ammunition with these elemental effects will weaken the machine, making it easier to attack.
- Aim for the weak spot on its chest - When you scan the Stormbird, a weak point should be highlighted in the middle of its chest. Keep attacking this to destroy it, or use Tearblast Arrows to remove it. Removing it will stop some of its more deadly lightning-based attacks.
- Don't use Traps or Tripwires - While these traps can be useful for other machines, Stormbirds mainly attack from the sky so you'll be wasting valuable resources this way.
- Attack from a distance - If you get close to the Stormbird, it will launch a deafening sound attack that staggers Aloy and leaves her vulnerable. Also, it's a lot easier to anticipate which attack the machine will do next if you're standing further away.
- Keep moving - There's one attack where the Stormbird will fly up into the clouds and vanish. When this happens, keep moving, diving and rolling out of the way. Do not stay in one spot, otherwise the Stormbird will come crashing down onto you and crush you.
- Use that weapon - If you've finished the 'Stars in Their Eyes' main quest of the DLC, then you will have access to a weapon that will significantly damage the Stormbird, especially if it's feeling the full effects of Acid damage.
Once the Stormbird is down, the island will be safe to explore. Don't forget to loot the machine too! It's carrying some pretty useful and rare resources.
Look for the origin of the signal
Use your Focus to scan around the island and you should see a signal originating from a small building. Head to the building and open the doors. Once you are inside, the makeshift Transmitter will be on your left.
Interact with the Transmitter then go back outside.
Start the flight path
The transmitter will have activated the flight path close to the island. The quest marker (if you have the Aerial Capture: West quest tracked) will appear to show you where it is.
You will need another Flying Mount to do this, but luckily there is a Waterwing site nearby.
Once you have your Flying Mount, head to the beginning of the path. It should look like this:
Fly through the circle to begin the path and then follow it by flying as close to the path as you can. If you stray too far from the path, Aloy will let you know.
As you fly, you'll need to pass through the green Audio Points on the path that mark each section. These will automatically play as you fly, and give you an insight into the end of the world being told through another person's perspective.
Keep flying and following the path until you reach the end of it. When you're at the final circle, press R3 to trigger the Aerial Capture point.
Need some help getting through the Burning Shores DLC? Check our out main quest guides that show you how to disrupt the tower weapon, find the door code in Heaven and Earth, how to find the words of Attainment, disable the lockdown, and how to find the Armory and open the Volcano doors. If it's a side quest you're stuck on, take a look at our a Splinter Within and a Friend in the Dark walkthroughs. We also have guides that show you all aerial capture locations, plus a Cauldron THETA and Murmuring Hollow walkthrough too.
Aerial Capture Northwest location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
After the excitement of the last Aerial Capture point, this one is rather relaxed. Aerial Capture: Northwest can be found almost directly north of Fleet's end and slightly south of Heaven's Rest. It's on a smaller island, near a Widemaw site. We have marked its exact location on the map below:
The transmitter for this Aerial Capture point is hidden behind a grate near the top of the tall building on the island.
Use your Flying Mount to get around to the side of the tall building with the Grate on it. This is much easier to locate if your fully activate your Focus and scan the building to find the signal. Then, when you find it, fly close to the Grate and use the prompted control to get your Mount to rip it off.
Then, all you need to do is jump off your Mount and into the opening. The transmitter will be the only thing in this opening. Interact with it to trigger the starting point for Aerial Capture: Northwest.
Use your Flying Mount to follow the quest marker to the starting point, and follow the path as you did before to find the Aerial Capture.
Aerial Capture North location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
The transmitter for Aerial Capture: North can be found slightly east of a Devotee Camp on the northern tip of the Burning Shores. We've marked its exact location on the map below:
When you get to the area, it's hidden underneath a wooden structure near the edge of the cliff.
Interact with the transmitter to activate the starting point. Follow the quest marker to the beginning of the path, and do as you did before to find then activate the Aerial Capture.
Aerial Capture Northeast location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
Aerical Capure: Northeast's transmitter can be found slightly northeast of Fleet's End and slightly south of Aerial Capture: North. We've marked its location below:
When you get to the area we've marked on the map, use your Focus to scan the area until you see the signal. It should lead inside a ruined building where you will find the transmitter sitting on an old ledge.
As you did with the rest, activate the transmitter, use your Flying Mount to start the flightpath and follow it until you reach the Aerial Capture point.
Aerial Capture East location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
The transmitter for Aerial Capture: East can be found slightly north of Cauldron THETA. We've marked its location on the map below:
The transmitter is balancing on the edge of the remains of an old house. Walk up to it and interact with it to activate the beginning of the flight path.
As before, follow the flight path and collect the Audio Logs to reach the Aerial Capture.
Aerial Capture South location in Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores
Once you collect the previous Aerial Capture locations in this list, Aerial Capture: South will automatically appear on your map. We've marked the flight path's starting location on the map below:
All you have to do now is fly here, fly through the starting point to begin the flight path and follow it to the end to grab the final Aerial Capture.
Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores Aerial Capture rewards explained
Once you've collected all six Aerial Captures in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, you will recieve a handful of rewards including a Trophy. Here's a list of everything you can get by completing these collectibles:
- 3 Skill Points
- 3,000 XP
- Specter Mandible - Face Paint
- Sea Star - Dye Pattern
- Recovered All Aerial Captures - Bronze Trophy
Now that you've found all of those collectibles, you might be itching to venture into another side quest. If you are, take a look at our Splinter Within walkthrough. If you're stuck on one of the later parts of the main story quests, our guide on how to find the Armory and open the Volcano Doors may help.