Valleymeet Hunting Grounds is located southwest of Cauldron SIGMA, or directly east of the Hunter’s Gathering outpost. This Hunting Ground puts an emphasis on elemental weapons, so you’re going to want to have access to the three main ones. That means you’ll need to purchase some extra weapons for these trials. If you can track down the Carja War Bow, you will have access to the two harder to come by elements, shock and freeze. Likewise, the Carja/Shadow Sling will grant access to the same elements.

Fire Fight Trial¶

Finishing this trial in 40 seconds can prove to be troublesome, solely for two reasons. You have to damage four enemies with canister explosions by shooting the Blaze Canisters on the Striders. The reasons this is annoying is because there is a Fire Bellowback in the area and the fact that the Striders will begin running after the first explosion. Since you only need to damage enemies from canister explosions, it’s possible to finish this very quickly, but it’s a bit based on luck and the positioning of the enemies below.

Whenever you slide down the zipline on the left, there will probably be two Striders right there, so quickly use Concentration to hit one of the Blaze Canisters with a fire arrow. This explosion should hopefully hit two or three machines and it’s up to you to make up the difference by hunting down the remaining Striders. That’s mainly where the problem lies, as the Striders will run away and if you’re lucky enough, you can catch up to them (without any Bellowbacks on your tail, hopefully) to tag their canisters within the Blazing Sun time limit.

Shock Trial¶

There are two types of Bellowbacks in the game, a fire version and a freeze version, with both kinds being in the immediate area for the trials. Both kinds of Bellowbacks have their respective elemental canisters on their bellies, and your goal in this trial is to break them off after stunning them with shock damage. To make your life easier, having the Carja Sharpshot Bow here will do wonders, as you will gain access to Tearblast Arrows. These arrows’ sole purpose is to basically break off components, making is much easier than firing other kinds of arrows repeatedly, which is hard to do considering the location of the canisters.

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Shock Arrows are very effective against the Bellowbacks (left). The canisters you need to dislodge are on the bottom (right).

Also, you need to shock the Bellowbacks to stun them, and the Shock Wires are not going to cut it. The merchant right next to the Trials Keeper sells two weapons that have shock ammunition, the War Bow and the Carja/Shadow Sling. The Slings’ elemental application is stronger than the War Bow’s, so it’s better to use that. Make sure you scan the Bellowbacks before stunning them, as to make it easier to spot the canisters.

When you’re ready, accept the trial and slide down the rope, where you’ll find the Fire Bellowback pretty much in the immediate vicinity. It should only take three shots with the Carja/Shadow Sling to stun the Bellowback. The only slight complication here is if one of the Striders decides to be annoying and come to kick you while you’re aiming at the canisters. With a Tearblast Arrow, attaching it to the bottom of the Bellowback should dislodge all three canisters there. If not, quickly find the Freeze Bellowback nearby and do the same thing.

Freeze Trial¶

In order to start this trial, you need a weapon that fires ammunition that can freeze enemies. The only one available from the merchant nearby is any of the Slings, minus the Blast Sling. First and foremost, ignore the Bellowbacks and concentrate solely on the Striders, as they are easier to freeze, with one direct hit usually being enough to freeze them. All you need for this trial, other than the above Sling, is your trusty spear.

Upon accepting the trial, slide down the zipline and quickly find the Striders. Aim, shoot and hopefully freeze any Strider(s) with a shot, then while it’s frozen, quickly run up to it and deliver a heavy attack with your spear to pretty much instantly kill it. While a Silent Strike might be nice, the animation for it will waste precious time, something you will need to track down more Striders. That will be your main problem, other than Bellowback pelting you with their ranged attacks, as the Striders will most likely go of running at the first sign of trouble.