How to complete Hot on the Trail Quest STALKER 2

The Lynx sniper Rifle is one of the best Unique Weapons players can find in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, since it has quite a decent range, penetration, and damage. Plus, it comes equipped with its own x8 Scope, and since it can be acquired quite early in the game, this makes it a great opportunity for those players who prefer a long-range approach to combat.

This guide will help players complete the requirements to obtain the Lynx in the Hot on the Trail mission, and some useful advice on how to defeat the Controller, one of the toughest enemies in the game. So, here is how to start this mission.

How To Start Hot On The Trail In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

The missions start right after players talk to Strider in the Noontide base, in Wild Island, and the leader will send us to talk to Dr. Lodoschka, which can also grant access to the A Sign of Hope secondary mission. Lodoschka will inform us about a disturbance happening in the nearby Waste Processing Station, where a group of Noontide soldiers have gone AWOL. He also wants us to recover an Inductor device stored there.

Your job is to locate and save them, if you want to get your hands on the powerful Lynx Sniper Rifle (which is the reward for this mission) then you need to make sure the soldiers come back home safely. So, head to the Waste Processing Station, which is located Northeast of the Noontide base. By using the bridge near the Pontoon Deposit, and going north, players should arrive at the right place without too much trouble.

Once near the Mission zone, they will be contacted by the Noontide soldier Jumper, who will then task them with the secondary quest “Shift Change.” Don’t worry, as this secondary objective can be completed at the same time, and will yield another extra reward.

To do that, players need to access the rooftop area where a key lies in the body of one of the fallen Noontide soldiers. To do that, they should follow the steps in the video below, as it might get a little tricky to find the correct path to the roof.

How To Beat The Controller In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

To complete Hot on the Trail and receive the Lynx Sniper as a reward, players will need first to complete the secondary objective Shift Change. To do that, access the Waste Processing Station by opening the door on the northwest building’s lower floor, and going down the ladders.

Once in the basement, follow the sewage disposal pipes until reaching another ladder that allows access to the basement of the plant. But right before going up, check the drainage on the left side to get the Buket-S2 Extended Mag and some supplies.

Then climb the ladder and follow the route (which is pretty straightforward), killing the Zombies as they pop up. Once reaching the garage area, players will face the Controller, an enemy with powerful psychic abilities.

Pay attention to the Soldier’s Body next to the White Graffiti in the wall, he holds a
Psi-Block
drug that will increase resistance to Psychic damage and Psychic radiation. Pick it up and use it before the fight with the controller.

To beat the controller, players need to aim for its head and keep shooting until it drops. The controller has high bullet damage resistance, so trying to take it down by normal means will result in Skiff being kicked to the ground. On the other hand, don’t even think about throwing a grenade at the creature. It can grab players with its telekinetic power and push them back, causing extreme damage. It also irradiates psychic energy which will damage players constantly.

To top it off, it will summon nearby zombies and also affect the player’s minds making them hallucinate. This can get really confusing since players will not be able to pay attention to the real treat, which is the psychic mutant trying to squish their brains out.

To counter this, make sure to use the Psi-Block, which will reduce the damage taken, and help a little bit with the hallucinations. And since the Controller has a bad habit of making players dizzy after he attacks, using a weapon with a Laser Sight can greatly help to aim in those situations. Once players have caused enough damage, it is time to complete A Shift Change and to recover the Inductor for the Hot on the Trail mission.

How To Complete A Shift Change And Access The Noontide Stash

Following up after defeating the Controller, Jumper will communicate with us and tell us “Help has arrived,” The only remaining thing to do in this area is to activate the Power Switch to release the door locks, which can be done in the backroom of the Garage.

Once that’s done, and assuming players are not still haunted by hallucinations, follow the path to get out of the zone. Pick up the extra Psi-blocks on the Shower and on top of the Table, because there’s a chance for them to be useful in the future.

Behind the white door right before reaching the deposit, there’s a white door, and behind it is the Inductor we’ve been looking for. Pick it up alongside any loot that’s not nailed to the floor, and let’s move forward with the next objective.

Now keep moving forward until reaching the stairs to go up, but right before that, there’s a secondary objective that lets us access the Noontide Stash. Approach the panel and use code 0505 to open the Stash.

The most noticeable loot here is the Panzercracker ammo in the Wooden box, and inside the Footlocker there’s a Note players should pick up. It will trigger another secondary objective for later. Now get out of there and go back to Jumper and his friend. But since STALKER 2 is such a complex game, there’s yet another alternative objective and a choice to make.

Should You Help Jumper And Bluish Or Let Hog Kill Them?

Once players exit the basement, they will be confronted at gunpoint by Hog, sent by Dubney to finish off the Controller and everyone affected by its mind control. To summarize things, players have two choices here:

1. Hog will let Skif leave in peace, abandoning Jumper and Bluish to their fate.
2. Siding with Jumper and killing Hog.

The first choice will simply have as a “reward” for avoiding a fight. But we suggest players take Jumper’s side since he wants to abandon the Noontide for good alongside his friend after being left for dead in the base. So, killing Hog and his two goons has yet another extra reward. Make sure to tank some bullets, so Jumper survives the encounter.

After getting out of that tricky situation, talk to Jumper and reveal that “the stash he promised was empty,” this will trigger another quest later, and unlock a new vendor named Quiet, which is located south of the Noontide base. And since triggers a chain of secondary missions with some juicy rewards, players should make sure Jumper and Bluish survive.

Where To Get Lynx Unique Sniper In STALKER 2

After completing this objective, return to the Noontide base and enter the garage door to witness a cutscene, where Faust is trying to enervate the masses against their leader, Strider. After the cutscene, Strider will approach Skiff to talk.

Simply follow up with the dialogue, and Strider will finally deliver us the prized Lynx modified SVD rifle, which has a lot of damage and range. This weapon is Unique, and after players take it out for a spin, they will notice all that work was worth it.

There’s basically nothing in the game that doesn’t die by one shot landed with this weapon, more so if we use ARPEN ammo, which is a little bit more expensive and hard to come by, but gives it that extra penetration to overcome most enemies resistances.