Horizon Forbidden West Greenshine Guide: Where To Find It And How To Use It

Crafting weapons, ammo, and equipment upgrades requires you to gather a lot of materials in Horizon Forbidden West, but one of the rarer and more important ones is Greenshine. This glowing green mineral is required to upgrade some of the best weapons and armor you can get in the game, taking them from “pretty good” to “absolutely excellent.” Trouble is, finding Greenshine isn’t exactly easy, and you’re going to want a lot of the rare mineral.

Finding Greenshine can be tough, but luckily, there are a few specific locations where you can reliably find some, especially late in the game. Here’s what you need to know about where to get Greenshine whenever you need some, and what you can use it to do in the game.

Where to find Greenshine

There’s a fair amount of Greenshine just lying around in the world of Horizon Forbidden West, and you’ll stumble across a reasonable stockpile just by playing the game. Be sure to keep your eyes open for glowing green crystals. Greenshine will pop up just about anywhere, but it seems especially likely to form underwater; it’s not a bad idea to dive into ponds and small lakes to take a look around, especially once you’ve cleared the “Sea of Sands” mission to go after the Poseidon subordinate function and upgraded your swimming.

You can also almost always count on Greenshine being hidden behind the vines created by metal flowers, and often behind walls marked by Firegleam. These locations will automatically be marked on your map as you find them in the world, although you won’t unlock the ability to interact with Firegleam or metal flowers until you’ve passed a certain point in the main story.

The best place to find Greenshine, though, is in Sunken Caverns. These are optional locations that don’t pop up on your map until you investigate them–until you actually go to those spots, they’ll remain question marks. Sunken Caverns are underwater caves filled with Greenshine, where there are at least a few pieces to pick up; you’ll know you’ve gotten them all when the Cavern is marked “complete.” You’ll reliably find a lot of Greenshine in these places, so it’s best to seek them out if you need some.

How to use Greenshine

Though it can be tough to come by Greenshine, the good news is that you won’t need it for everything. It seems to only be necessary for upgrading certain weapons and armor–specifically some of the best gear you’ll find. Don’t expect to have to spend Greenshine on Common (green) or Rare (blue) weapons and armor. Instead, you’ll reserve it for Very Rare (purple) or Legendary (orange) gear, the best of the best. And even then, you won’t always need Greenshine for those upgrades.

It’s a good idea to upgrade your favorite gear as best as you can, since those upgrades can be significant, adding new perks to your equipment and opening up more slots for coils and weaves. If you’re short on a component, including Greenshine, you can tap the Triangle button to create a “Job” that’ll help make scavenging that component easier. Having a Job to find Greenshine will mark it on your map, making it easier to track down, too.

For more on Sony’s huge sequel, don’t miss our tips for beginners, as well as a look at the best skills to get early, a complete guide to the mounts you can unlock in the game, a list of all Cauldron locations, and a rundown of legendary weapons and what seems like the game’s best armor. You can also read our Horizon Forbidden West review.