Budmo Walkthrough (All Stashes and Should You Steal From Them)

The Budmo quest in Stalker 2 is one of the true litmus tests on whether players act like real Stalkers or not, but not in the way you’d expect. It’s a fairly simple job with minimal combat, and it’s all about helping two guys place some drinks in three of their buddy’s stashes.

Finding stashes in Stalker 2 can be confusing, especially if the ones in question are in hard-to-reach places. The ones in Budmo can be a little tricky to get to, and if you’re trouble finding them, here are all three Budmo stash locations, their contents, and a little extra info regarding the quest givers.

All Budmo Stash Locations in Stalker 2

There are three stashes in total, and they’re fairly far apart from each other. Your job is to place a bottle of vodka in each of them. However, if you want to make more money in Stalker 2, the scummy way of doing things is often the best way to go — you can steal from these stashes, but doing so will lead to consequences later.

Budmo Concrete Block Stash

The Concrete Block stash is found inside a broken concrete pillar. Jump over the rubble until you see a hollowed-out concrete stump. Break the boards covering it, and you’ll see a bag containing the following:

• M10 Gordon SMG
• RNBW 2x Scope
• Pistol Suppressor

The M10 is in excellet condition, perfect if you like that weapon in particular. However, if you take anything from these stashes, their respective quest objectives will get crossed out as a failure.

Poisonous Hole Budmo Stash

This one is much easier to spot. Head to the toxic anomaly field north of the Concrete Block stash location, and follow the quest marker to a cave. There will be a Flesh hiding inside — take it out with a shotgun, and head inside. The bag is at the end of the tunnel, and it contains:

• A box of pistol ammo
• Optician Gas mask
• Buket S-2 SMG
• A grenade

The Buket is an SMG chambered in 9×18 ammo, which is the same ammunition used by the PTM pistol. It’s handy if you prefer using a .45 handgun like the UDP. If you’re not a fan of SMGs, then the Optician Gas Mask is the most valuable item here. If you don’t already have one, you can use this to prevent artifacts from irradiating you in Stalker 2.

Budmo Transmission Array Stash

The stash in the Transmission Array is a little hard to find. It’s on a bird’s nest in the tower. Jump on the nearby fallen tree, and you should be able to grab it from there without having to do some acrobatis on the array’s beams. This stash contains the following:

• HILKA Detector
• Flash artifact
• Moonlight artifact

Flash grants weak electric protection while emitting weak radiation. Likewise, Moonlight grants medium electric protection while giving off medium radiation. You can sell both of these items in Stalker 2 for a pretty penny, but the real treasure here is the HILKA detector. It’s much better than the one you start with, as it has a longer detection range and a number indicator that tells you how close you are to an artifact.

Speak with Panas

Once you reach the third stash location (it doesn’t matter which one, as long as it’s the third), you’ll encounter a Stalker named Panas. Talk to him, and he’ll tell you that Misha and Grisha were supposed to give him Anti-Radiation Drugs, but they sent him vodka instead. You can either give him Anti-Rads to help him live his dream as a “real” Stalker, give him more vodka, or attack him.

If you help him out, he’ll give you about 1800 Coupons for your trouble. If you kill him, you’ll get whatever’s on his body. Regardless of what you do, the third stash will be empty.

Should You Steal From The Stashes in Stalker 2 Budmo Quest?

As mentioned earlier, the scummy way of doing things is often more profitable in Stalker 2. You can either get ~1800 Coupons for putting vodka in all the stashes, or you can get the contents of two out of three stashes mentioned earlier. If you decide to steal from the stashes, keep in mind that the order in which you loot the stashes matters. The third stash you visit will be empty, and Panas will be hostile once you get there.

We highly recommend looting the Transmission Array stash first, as it’s the most valuable. Then, pick between the M10 Gordon and Buket SMG.