Horizon Zero Dawn has a vast world to explore across multiple biomes and all different kinds of terrain. Because of this, players may need to find the best way for Aloy to make it from point A to point B in any given situation. The most common way to make traveling easier in Horizon Zero Dawn is to get some sort of mount.
There are only three types of mounts in this game, all of which are machines that will need to be overridden. While these machines are all similar in nature, they each have something that makes them unique enough to weigh which ones are better.
How To Override A Specific Mount
Aloy can gain the ability to override machines by doing the main quests through "The Womb of the Mountain." At the end of this quest, players will receive the first level of Overrides known as the PSI Overrides. Luckily, this is all that is needed to hijack the mounts in the game.
To pull it off, players must first be in the range of one of these mountable machines. However, players must avoid getting seen, so it's best to hide in a nearby bush. From there, use the whistle to catch the machine's attention. It will slowly begin to walk towards the bushes. Once it gets close enough, players will be prompted to override it.
This timing is crucial as doing it too late will cause the machine to notice the player and get aggressive. If done successfully, players will be able to have Aloy ride the mount around until either the mount dies or the player grabs a new machine to ride. These devices can also be used as an ally in combat, whether they are being ridden or not.
3 Strider
Aloy is introduced to Striders very early on in her life, so it makes sense that these are the most common of the three mountable creatures. Striders are very common throughout the open world but are most common in Meridian.
These machines are often afraid of humans, with most of the pack running away when a human shows up. The horse-like robots are very helpful early on when bouncing around from quest to quest as the machine has a good enough speed to make reaching each checkpoint feel like a breeze.
2 Broadheads
The next two machines are more likely to be very aggressive towards the player if caught, making taming them more difficult. The Broadhead's primary attack is to charge them then slash them with their big horns. The cow-like creature will travel at the same speed as the Strider. However, the Broadhead can be used rather nicely in combat.
When mounted on the machine, Aloy can get the Broadhead to charge at other machines and deal at least 35 points of damage, with impact pushing it to 150. The Broadheads are also rather common, but the desert is a common area for these machines.
1 Chargers
While Broadheads and Chargers are a similar threat when attempting to approach them, the latter are likely to deal more damage. While their charge isn't as powerful, their kicks are so deadly that they deal up to 225 hit points of damage to Aloy or other machines.
When hijacked, the ram-like robot also travels at the same speed as the other two, but combat while riding it is a lot more effective. That is because the charge while riding it causes nearly twice the amount of damage compared to riding a Broadhead. Chargers are also common in many locations but mostly found in forests.