How to Destroy Anomalous Growth

As you explore the vast lands of Horizon Forbidden West, you’ll encounter some blocked paths or walls with a strange reddish growth on them. They usually contain valuables behind them but unfortunately, you can’t do anything about them early in the game. Thankfully, you’ll have the chance to clear them by simply going through with the main story.

Continue with the main quest “Death’s Door” and pursue Sylens further west. As part of this main quest's progress, you’ll get the chance to craft the special gear called the Igniter. The materials needed can be found nearby so gather them then use the workbench nearby to create the Igniter. Since this is a special gear, you don’t need to equip or unequip it manually. It becomes a permanent feature of the game.

From hereon out, you’ll be able to destroy Firegleam deposits both above ground or underwater. Since the Igniter is attached to the spear, you just need to approach the firegleam deposit until the “ignite” command appears. Press R2 to ignite the deposit and move away. There seems to be no splash damage inflicted on Aloy due to the firegleam’s explosion but be warned that nearby machines or human enemies will still hear the explosion, attracting their attention.

Outside of breaking open walls with valuables inside or create new paths as required by the story progress, the Igniter attachment won’t have any effect or use in combat. If you have encountered firegleam deposits prior to crafting the tool, the game will automatically mark their locations on the map (as long as you’ve discovered them) to make it easier to backtrack.

That’s our quick guide for destroying Firegleam in Horizon Forbidden West. For more Horizon Forbidden West content, please check out our other dedicated guide pages for the game.