Having the right weaponry is important in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and few weapons can rival the Gauss Gun in terms of sheer power. This awesome late-game weapon and its unique variant, the EM-1, are among some of the best items players can hope to come across in The Zone, but much like everything in STALKER, what seems like an easy task on paper quickly becomes much harder in practice.
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STALKER 2: Best Weapons, Ranked
As players fight their way through the Zone in Stalker 2, here are the best weapons to keep in their arsenal.
As is also common in the STALKER series, there are several ways to go about obtaining a Gauss Gun, so pick whichever method is easier for you depending on your inventory and progression throughout the game. It is recommended that you at least reach Yaniv Station before attempting to acquire a Gauss Gun.
How To Get The Gauss Gun
There are two reliable methods for acquiring the Gauss Gun, neither of which involves a trader. For the less violent option, you will need to head to the Pripyat region in the very far North of the map. Keep in mind that the area is heavily irradiated and will more than likely be populated by some strong and hostile mutants. Once in the Priprat area, head to the Prometheus Movie Theater (one of the northernmost structures in the town) and blow open the entrance with a grenade. It should be fairly obvious and easy to spot the rifle since it is presented on a well-lit wooden desk in the main destroyed seating area.
Alternatively, you can get the Gauss Gun by looting it from the bodies of fallen Monolith soldiers. These powerful and heavily armed NPCs will feature more prominently in the later missions of the game’s story, and they can usually be found patrolling in the northern regions of the map. Occasionally, a fallen Monolith soldier will drop the Gauss Gun as their primary weapon, but keep in mind that this is fairly uncommon. You will also first have to defeat said soldier, who will be armed with the Gauss Gun, and their squad – so good luck!
How To Get The EM-1 Variant
In addition to the regular Gauss Gun, there is also a powerful unique variant available called the EM-1. This weapon will only show up during the very final mission of the game, The Last Step, and will only be accessible to players going for the Strelok, Kaimanov, or Ward endings. As a result, players can only acquire this unique weapon when they have already crossed the point of no return, so the weapon itself will only be useful for another 1-2 gunfights at maximum. Nonetheless, it can be useful to know where and how to get this gun, especially for those looking to collect all the unique weapons in the game.
To get the EM-1, players will need to kill the character Scar, who will drop the item as his primary weapon. It is a shame to be unable to customize this awesome rifle further, but generally, its stats are almost identical to the regular Gauss Gun, so you are better off finding one earlier and then customizing it, rather than waiting for the final battle.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- Platform(s)
- Xbox Series X and Series S , Microsoft Windows
- Released
- 2024-00-00