Horizon Forbidden West Dyes: Where To Find Blooms And How To Customize Aloy's Armor

Horizon Forbidden West is full of things to do off of the critical path, as you can see in our full breakdown of how long it takes to beat. One of the smaller but trickier details you can look out for is using dyes to change the colors of Aloy's armor sets. You'll collect a lot of armor during the game, and each one includes its own perks with the option to add more via "weaves," passive boosts that can further improve armor. But it's not all about function; fashion plays a role as well. Here's how to use dyes in Horizon Forbidden West.

Horizon Forbidden West dyes explained

You'll start collecting dyes early on in the story, and you can start using them to customize Aloy's armor once you get to a settlement named Plainsong. This is the first major settlement you'll visit after the game's extended prologue. In Plainsong, look for the dyer, a merchant selling different styles for Aloy's armor.

Each armor set has its own collection of dyes, and though some repeat in name and color scheme, unlocking a particular dye for any one armor set does not unlock the same dye for other armor sets. In short, it can take a while to unlock all of the dyes for all of Aloy's armor, but it's also likely that you won't want to--unless you really want to unlock everything in the massive world.

Horizon Forbidden West blooms

More likely, you'll have favorites you want to unlock, and for those, you'll need particular blooms, or foraged plants found across the world. Blooms are found growing on rocky cliffs all across the world. You'll often find them when climbing on rock faces, so be sure to pause and grab them on your ascent or descent. The full list of blooms includes:

• Azure bloom
• Midnight bloom
• Pale bloom
• Verdant bloom
• Crimson bloom
• Golden bloom

While researching where each of these blooms would reliably spawn, it became obvious that they all spawn all over the map. Anywhere Aloy can climb rocks, she will encounter blooms, and there appear to be no blooms restricted to any particular area. That has its benefits and its detriments, as it means you'll technically always be on the right cliffside for the bloom you're looking for, but it can feel like you're fighting randomness trying to find the exact bloom you want.

Once you have what you need, return to the dyer at Plainsong and trade your blooms (and a small bundle of Metal Shards, the world's currency) for your preferred style. There are plenty to choose from, and though these are cosmetic-only, unlike actually upgrading the armor themselves, who said you can't look good while saving the world for the second time in half a year?

For more on the huge sequel, don't miss our Horizon Forbidden West tips for beginners, and a breakdown of the best skills and Valor Surges.