Deal With The Devil Guide

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, players will have to make dozens of critical decisions that will alter how the game ends. One of the trickiest choices happens during the Deal with the Devil mission.

This guide will help players complete this mission, and will also reveal some information on the associated mission King of The Hill. This way, players know which choices they should take, and all the options they have to complete it.

How To Start Deal With The Devil

Deal with the Devil is part of the Main Missions in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, and begins right after finishing The Price Goes Up. To start, travel East of the Slag Heap to find The Plant, which is where Varan lies hidden. Varan has kidnapped Nestor, the man Skiff is looking for. If players want to have answers about who ordered the ambush that left him half dead (and without the loot, he needs to restore his life on the Mainland), they need to deal with this shady individual.

The Garbage zone is in the middle of a turf war between the two main bands: The Brood and The Commissaire. Varan is the third party who wants to impose a new rule, and for that he needs a henchman/hired gun. When the players approach The Plant, they will notice it is occupied by Varan’s goons. Now, comes the fun part: to get the information players need, you will need to pay 20000 Coupons (an excessive price) or complete a Task for Varan.

The task consists of taking down one of the two Gangsters in the zone, Roosevelt or Shah, and bringing back their PDA as proof to Varan. There are various ways to finish this mission, but we recommend you save before making a choice. This way, if you regret it, you can save scum.

Optionally, players can kill Varan right there and eliminate all his henchmen, then pick up the Garage Door Key from his body and find Nestor and the Monolithian on the lower floor. This approach is not recommended, since it will lock players out from some nice loot that they can get by raiding the Kingpin Hideouts.

How To Complete Deal With The Devil

If players decide to take Varan’s task and take down one of the two Gangsters in The Garbage, Roosevelt seems like the ideal choice. To do that, you will have to locate one particular member of the Commissaire, who knows how to enter the fortress through a secret entrance. This secondary objective also has a hidden reward.

Finding Borodulin will not be hard; the hard part is keeping him alive. As seen in the video above, you need to escort Borodulin as he fights a group of Mutant Pigs and Bayun. Thankfully, even if Borodulin ends up dying, players can loot him and his PDA, revealing the information they need.

If Borodulin dies, players can also loot a VS Vintar rifle from them, a weapon that can’t be obtained by regular means.

After this Optional Objective is complete, travel northeast of the Slag Heap, and find the Commissaire Camp where Roosevelt is hidden. Enter through the secret entrance at the back of the Shooting Range. If you want to take the “stealthy” approach and kill only Roosevelt without alerting the whole base and having to fight your way out, then that’s the way to do it.

Players can also go in through the main door, guns blazing. With this approach, it is possible to eliminate the whole gang before picking up Roosevelt’s PDA (and a free M860 Shotgun) from his body. This will also reveal the location of Roosevelt’s Stash, northeast of Slag Heap.

Kill Shah Or Return To Varan

At this point, you can do two different things. The first is to kill the remaining Kingpin. No matter who you choose to go after first, both of them will remain active objectives as long as you don’t go back to Varan. If you want to complete as much content as possible and earn some extra loot, go after the other one as well.

No matter the choice, once it is over and King of The Hill is complete, return to The Plant to meet Varan and his henchmen, and deliver one (or both) of the PDAs. The results are the same no matter what you choose. The main difference lies in leaving Shah alive, which can lead to having an extra Vendor later in the game. Since Shah is also known for trafficking weapons from the Mainland (something learned by completing No Honor Among Thieves), this could be an attractive choice for some players.

Once players deliver the requested Item, Varan will reveal that both Nestor and the man Skiff is looking for are in the basement of his lair, and deliver the Garage Door key.

Look around for a stair to descend to the Garage Level, or drop from the hole in the middle of the room. Then, approach the locked door to find the ugly truth: Both Nestor and Skiff’s target are dead. Pick up the PDA from the body, and loot the weapon in Nestor’s corpse.

Turn around and exit the Garage to discover Varan has double-crossed Skif, and doesn’t intend to let him leave alive. Too bad for him that he decided to expose his plans from a shooting distance. Players can execute their sweet revenge with ease if they’re fast enough, and then direct their attention to Varan’s gang. There will be two enemies alongside Varan aiming at the player from the hole in the roof, and two more to the side. A couple more lie waiting to snipe the player on the sidewalks behind some crates.

Outside, there are two enemies in the garage next to the entrance, and two more are behind The Plant’s northern wall. It will be relatively easy to bring them down since they’re not armored enough. A few shots from the M860 found earlier can do the trick, but players can get creative and unleash their fury on these betrayers.

Once you are done looting and collecting the spoils of war, exit The Plant to complete the mission, and start a new one: “Back to the Slag Heap.”