How to get Carja Shadow Armor early in Horizon Forbidden West
Combat in Horizon Forbidden West is a very different beast compared to the first game. Guerrilla didn’t just tweak a few numbers — they rebuilt the entire system. Machines hit harder, skills matter more, and your equipment actually decides whether a fight feels manageable or like you’re trying to wrestle a Thunderjaw with a wooden spoon.
In other words, early gear matters. A lot.
Pick the wrong setup and the Forbidden West quickly turns into a long sequence of tactical retreats, berry farming, and questioning your life choices. Pick the right one, however, and suddenly Aloy starts looking less like a wandering scavenger and more like a walking disaster for anything with gears and claws.
So if you’d rather become an early-game menace instead of a machine snack, here’s a quick guide on how to get one of the best early outfits in the game — Carja Shadow armor — and upgrade it properly.
Prefer moving pictures over long reads? The full guide is also available as a video https://youtu.be/LpSs7ZdPMNM .
Step 1 — Visit the Salvage Contractor near Barren Light
After leaving Barren Light, you’ll eventually reach a small settlement where the Oseram salvage crew operates. This is where Keruf and Larend offer contracts to collect machine parts.
Normally you’re supposed to gather those parts the hard way.
But we’re not here to donate machine components to the local recycling program.
We’re here to buy what we need and move on.
If you’ve already passed through the area earlier in the playthrough (right after the Embassy), simply return and talk to Larend.
Step 2 — Buy the Key Components
To purchase the Carja Shadow armor from the Stitcher in Plainsong, you will need one critical component:
Longleg Circulator
However, if you want to upgrade the armor immediately (which you absolutely should), it’s smart to grab several additional parts while you’re already at the salvage camp:
Clawstrider Razor Tail
2 × Longleg Wing Burners
Clawstrider Circulator
Clawstrider Primary Nerve
Trust me — write these down somewhere. You’ll need them soon.
One important detail: Longlegs do not reliably spawn early in the game, which means farming the circulator yourself is a waste of time. Buying it directly from Larend is the fastest option.
Step 3 — Hunt Snapmaws for the Missing Component
There is one part Larend doesn’t sell:
Snapmaw Sac Webbing
Luckily, Snapmaws can be found in a lake north of the Eclipse camp. For reasons known only to the AI ecosystem of the Forbidden West, these particular Snapmaws are surprisingly passive and won’t immediately try to turn Aloy into lunch.
Take them down carefully and collect the sac webbing.
Once that’s done, you should now have all the required resources.
Step 4 — Travel to Plainsong
With the components secured, fast-travel to Plainsong and locate the local Stitcher.
If you’ve already discovered the campfire nearby, this part takes only a few seconds.
The Carja Shadow outfit costs:
400 Metal Shards
1 Longleg Circulator
Considering the protection it offers, this is an absolute bargain.
Step 5 — Upgrade the Armor Immediately
Buying the armor is only half the job.
To unlock its full potential, you should upgrade it as soon as possible. The Carja Shadow armor has four upgrade levels, which require the machine parts you collected earlier.
Make sure you also have enough:
Metal Shards
Machine Cores
Sturdy Hardplates
Once upgraded, the armor unlocks several extremely useful perks:
Potent Medicine
Boosts the healing effect of medicinal berries.
Low Health Defense
Reduces incoming damage when Aloy’s health drops dangerously low.
Medicine Capacity
Increases the number of berries Aloy can carry.
And that last one is the real star here.
In intense fights, having 17 berries instead of the usual handful can easily mean the difference between surviving a bad mistake and reloading the last checkpoint.
Combine that with Survivor Valor Surge, and Aloy briefly turns into something machines should genuinely be afraid of.
Step 6 — Add Weaves
After upgrading the armor, you’ll unlock additional weave slots.
Your choice here depends on playstyle. A common early option is:
Concentration+ Weave for ranged combat
However, switching to Melee Defense Weave can make Aloy surprisingly tanky during close encounters.
With the right setup, it’s possible to reach around 44 melee defense, which is not far off from some legendary outfits.
Not bad for something you obtained early in the game.
Stress Test
The best way to confirm the build works is simple:
Find some trouble.
Bandit camps, machine herds, or random patrols all work perfectly. Once the armor is upgraded, you’ll immediately notice how much more forgiving combat becomes.
Low Health Defense kicks in when things go wrong, and the increased berry capacity keeps you alive long enough to recover.
In other words — the outfit does exactly what early-game gear should do.
It keeps Aloy alive while you’re still figuring everything else out.
Final Thoughts
Getting the Carja Shadow armor early is one of the easiest ways to smooth out the difficulty curve in Horizon Forbidden West. It’s affordable, upgradeable, and strong enough to carry you through a large portion of the early game.
If you’re looking for a fast way to boost survivability and make combat significantly more forgiving, this setup is well worth the effort.
And once Aloy is properly equipped, the Forbidden West suddenly feels a lot less hostile — and a lot more like a playground full of machines waiting to be dismantled.