Armor And Suits You Should Not Upgrade

Key Takeaways

• Upgrading the Optician Gas Mask, Debut Suit, and Aurora Gas Mask are not worth it due to low protection and costly upgrades.
• Avoid the Bandit Jacket and Armored Bandit Jacket as they offer little protection and have high upgrade costs.
• The PSZ-7 Military Body Armor and OZK Explorer’s Suit are not worth upgrading due to high costs and low effectiveness.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl offers a wide variety of protective gear to spare players from the most notorious dangers in The Zone: radiation, toxic fumes, and other dangerous anomalies. If players want to make the most out of their scarce funds, they should know which Armor and Suits are worth upgrading, and which aren’t.

With that in mind, here’s a list of all the Masks, Armor, and Suits that players shouldn’t invest their Coupons in, with special emphasis on long-term benefits and usefulness. All these have been picked from the game’s least powerful gear, taking into consideration their maximum number of upgrades, durability, artifact slots, and mod cost. Players are better off using their resources to upgrade gear that is more powerful.

7 Optician Gas Mask

There Are Better Options Not Too Far Ahead

The Optician Gas Mask is the first protective headgear that players will come across in STALKER 2. As such, it can be used until players find a more suitable one, but it isn’t the best offering. Sadly, it doesn’t offer enough chemical and radiation protection, and modding it won’t upgrade its attributes too much.

This piece of headgear is essentially a coupon sponge, since the only way to make it suitable is to spend at least 50,000 coupons on upgrading it. So, think about this as a disposable mask and pass on upgrading it. Save those coupons for a better mask.

6 Debut Suit

It’s Better Not To Waste Money On It

The Debut Suit is basically the body armor version of the aforementioned Mask, and shouldn’t be upgraded for the same reasons. It only has one artifact slot, doesn’t offer much protection, and its upgrades are subpar.

It is way too expensive to upgrade it, and since its durability is low, players will spend tons of coupons repairing it every time it breaks, which will be quite often. It’s better to save that currency for improving other protective gear. Since players get this armor in Zalissya quite early, it won’t be too long until they find something more suitable.

5 Aurora Gas Mask

A Less Than Viable Option, With Expensive Upgrades

The Aurora Gas Mask is a slightly improved Mask, but still one of the weaker options in the game. It offers way less physical protection and slightly less chemical protection than the Optician Gas Mask, but more thermal and electrical protection.

It doesn’t have any surprising upgrades either, and upgrading it to perfection takes a load of coupons. It is not worth the players’ hard-earned cash. Finally, to make things worse, it has the lowest durability of all Gas Masks in the game. It’s better think about other options.

4 Bandit Jacket

Barely A Protection Suit

The Bandit Jacket might present itself as a lightweight option for players who are tired of getting overencumbered. However, the reality is that it offers little to no protection, and no advantages other than its low weight.

Upgrading this jacket can definitely make it better, but players will need to invest at least 30 thousand coupons on it. Plus, it has only one artifact slot, and degrades at a high rate, like any makeshift armor. There’s an armored version of this protective gear, but it is barely better.

3 Armored Bandit Jacket

A Little Better Than Its No-Armored Version

The Armored Bandit Jacket looks like an improved version of the Bandit Jacket. It has the same benefits, plus a little bit extra, like Radiation protection. But that’s all it offers, and it’s not enough to warrant spending Coupons on upgrades for it.

Upgrading it is way more expensive than it should be, and it will cost nearly 65 thousand coupons to make it good enough to represent a viable option. And since players will be in the early stages of the game, this is a crippling investment that they should avoid at any cost.

2 PSZ-7 Military Body Armor

A Good Armor, But Not Good Enough To Invest Coupons

The PSZ-7 Military Body Armor is one of the best suits players can find in the early game. It boasts decent protection and three artifact slots. But it doesn’t offer much else, meaning that players are better off spending their Coupons on something better.

Improving this armor is quite expensive and unnecessary. Its non-upgraded state will suffice until players find a better armor (like the Tourist Suit or the Zircon Armor, for example). Upgrading it is not only expensive, but ineffective, as it doesn’t improve its stats too much.

1 OZK Explorer’s Suit

Better To Use And Dispose Than Waste Coupons

The OZK Explorer’s Suit is another example of a good piece of armor that is better used and disposed of when players get a better one. It won’t last for long, since it has low durability, and doesn’t offer too much protection either.

It has only two Artifact slots, and its upgrades are expensive and subpar. It is not worth the player’s coupons, especially considering that to optimize it, players will need to invest at least 40 thousand. That plus the repair costs makes it a less than viable option.