Horizon Zero Dawn: The Grave-Hoard - Restore Power to the Ancient Door puzzle, Search the War Room
Complete story walkthrough plus guides, tips, and tricks for Horizon Zero Dawn.
Horizon Zero Dawn The Grave-Hoard comes straight after Maker's End. You've ascended the spire and uncovered some pretty astonishing secrets of the past in the previous mission, so now it's time to continue pulling at that thread of mystery.
If you're after help for other parts of the game, consult our complete Horizon Zero Dawn walkthrough and guide.
The Grave-Hoard
Go to the Grave-Hoard - Simple enough, follow that waypoint.
The Grave-Hoard - both location name and quest name - is an imposing place. As the name would suggest, really. More secrets, and dangers, lie within, including a fully-functional Deathbringer, no less, so stock up before entry!
New puzzles are introduced here, which can potentially be a little obtuse at first. Alongside that, you'll be facing one of your toughest enemies to date. Here's how!
Explore the Grave-Hoard - Immediately inside the old facility you'll find some ancient corpses, with datapoints there for you to listen to. Keep progressing through the chambers towards your waypoints, but be sure to look around as you go to avoid getting taken out by things like the surprise Corrupted Watcher and Cultists in the first chamber.
Restore Power to the Ancient Door puzzle
Examine the Door - a little way in, you'll find a locked door. Scan it with your Focus to see if there's a way to open it.
Restore Power to the Ancient Door - There is a way to open, but it requires you to solve a series of three puzzles involving turning holographic dials. Firstly, scan the room for these dials and their accompanying pink boxes on the walls. There are three sets - one on your current level, reached by hopping across a gap to a golden bar, and two on the level below. The dials turn green when solved.
- The one on your level is solved by turning the dials to the following positions, from left to right: Up, Down, Left, Right.
- On the bottom level, one with a broken pink box and datapoint next to it goes, from left to right: Up, Right, Left, Down.
- Finally, the second on that level goes: Up, Up, Down, Down. Climb back up the ladder nearby and through the door.
Continue exploring the Grave-Hoard - Pick up a few items from the next corridor.
Kill the Eclipse in the Armory - Further ahead is a large chamber, filled with Eclipse Cultists and a Corrupted Scrapper, too. Take them out however you like.
Continue exploring the Grave-Hoard - You'll need to jump off the jutting out steel beam, ahead, to continue, and grab onto a ledge just to your left. Climb up and follow the waypoint again.
Use the Console - In the next chamber is a big circular desk with a console, use it, scan the datapoint nearby, and move on.
Continue exploring the Grave-Hoard - Through the next set of doors you go.
Kill the Deathbringer and the Eclipse troops - The Eclipse have been waking up more machines, this time it's another Deathbringer, and fully operational. We suggest taking out the snipers round the sides of the room, like you have in similar encounters before, and then tackle the Deathbringer like you did before too.
Focus the weapons, then destabilise it, and overheat it, by shooting the guns, then glowing canisters.
Search the War-Room
Search the War-Room - Follow your waypoint through a nearby door to a War Room. Activate the console in the centre and a hologram will appear for you to watch before you leave.
Climb up the Escape Elevator - There's a ladder nearby, so head up that and you're out, greeted by a hologram of Sylens who gives you your next mission.
For more tips, explainers and advice on Horizon be sure to check out our main Horizon Zero Dawn guide and walkthrough hub, which includes advice for things like Horizon Zero Dawn's override Cauldrons and which machines they let you control, getting hold of the Golden Fast Travel Pack for unlimited fast travel, finding and unlocking the very powerful Horizon Zero Dawn Shield Weave Armour and Power Cell locations, and then for DLC players there's our main Horizon Zero Dawn Frozen Wilds walkthrough and guide, a page on how to earn Bluegleam quickly, and finally, a page on the handy A Secret Shared quest and how to upgrade your spear in Horizon Frozen Wilds.
With the Deathbringer defeated and the secrets of the ancient War Room uncovered, it's time for your next quest, and it's another branch: you can continue on to the next main-main quest, To Curse the Darkness, or seeing as you're likely not a high enough level just yet, there's a return to Erend's branch of the main story and the quest for revenge in light of his sister's death, in The Field of the Fallen. We recommend you do that first.
