How To Survive Combat In Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl

If you’re not exploring or conversing with NPCs in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl, you’ll probably be fighting enemy factions and mutants. Combat in the game is a pretty simple affair: shoot, don’t get got as much, heal if you do get shot. The basics are the basics for a reason. There are, however, a few things you can do to make encounters easier so you die less, no matter what you’re fighting.

Many of the tips you’ll find here might be self-evident, but there are some parts of Stalker 2’s combat loop that you can only learn with experience.

Aim For Headshots Only

Like real humans, the human enemies in Stalker 2 can take their fair share of bullets to the chest and limbs before they go down, and some can even tank a headshot or two with the right armor. Even so, you’ll end most fights quickly if you can hit your enemies in the head.

The headshot ‘meta’ is complicated by some of the most precise (or smallest) headshot hitboxes in recent memory. It feels like there is no bullet magnetism at all in Stalker 2, so if you want to actually get a headshot, you’d sure as sin actually hit.

Mutant heads are also their most vulnerable point, though as we’ll discuss, there are better and more ammo-efficient ways to deal with them. Bloodsuckers, Poltergeists, and pigs especially are easier to defeat in other ways.

Use Your Pistol For Easier Fights

The pistols in Stalker 2 are actually incredibly powerful, and if you stick with the PTM or Skif’s Pistol (the starting option), you’ll never be wanting for ammunition, as a good half of the enemy humans in the game have ammo for it in their pockets.

That’s doubly important with the overbearing weapon durability system in the game. An assault rifle or SMG is not only going to need more repairs more often because of how many rounds they can put down range, they’re also going to be more expensive to repair.

If you use your pistol as your main weapon for dealing with trash mobs like dogs, rats, and random encounters out in the wild, you can save not only your main weapons from needing frequent fixing, but you’ll save their more valuable and hard-to-come-by ammunition as well.

Keep A Shotgun Handy

Shotguns aren’t great at anything other than close range, as you might expect, but within that distance, they will delete almost anything in front of them. That makes them extra effective at fighting mutants.

Each shot from a shotgun, provided most or all of the pellets hit, deals massive damage wherever it hits, and when fighting Bloodsuckers, boars, and other large mutants that like to get too close for comfort, it only takes a few pumps of buckshot to put them down.

Shotguns also have a much better ammo economy than any other weapon in the game. If you only need to spend five or six shells to take down a Bloodsucker, or nine-to-twelve to deal with a Controller, you won’t be spending multiple magazines from your AR or SMG to accomplish the same goal.

Grenades Are Your Friend

Enemies in Stalker 2 often come in medium-to-large groups and tend to move as a unit until they notice you. Sending a grenade their way before the firefight starts is a great way to deal with at least a few of them. Even if the nade doesn’t get any kills, it will do early damage, softening up even heavily armored foes.

Grenades are also a good way to save ammo for the same reasons using a pistol does: most human enemies in the game will have a spare grenade in their pockets, meaning even if you use more than one, you’ll get at least part of your investment back.

Bear in mind that later-game enemies and especially mutants, will take multiple grenades to deal with, and mutants are especially difficult once they see you, thanks to their speed. However, even if a human tanks a nade, they’re liable to be knocked on their behind, giving you an easy, non-threatening target.

Always Have Tons Of Healing Items

It’s good practice to always have at least ten medkits and bandages on hand because fights can quickly spiral out of control for many reasons. There might be more enemies than you expected, a mutant or mutants might show up, you miss a few crucial shots and have left yourself vulnerable — you name it, it can happen.

Healing items are also on the lighter side, so even if your equipment load is low or stuck at the default, you can have large stacks of medkits, and other heals without breaking your character’s back.

Bandages also make for out-of-combat top-up tools because not only do they stop bleeding, but they heal a small amount of HP regardless of your bleed status. Medkits are best for in-combat use, as they’ll almost always heal for at least 80 percent of your health bar and some can reduce bleeding entirely.

Keep Your Gear Repaired

Weapon and armor durability are central to how effective you are in a fight. Low-durability weapons are prone to jamming at the worst possible times, and the worse their condition, the more often those jams will occur.

Armor is even more expensive to fix in both a monetary and functional sense. The lower an armor’s durability, the worse its damage mitigation across the board.

Visit a tech every time you’re in a settlement that has one to keep your gear in top shape, not only so you’re always combat capable but to reduce the overall cost of keeping everything in one piece. Even letting the yellow broken shield appear is thousands of coupons to fix, and that adds up quick.

Use The Best Ammo You Can Get

Different ammo in Stalker 2 have different stats, primarily based on their damage. The bullets you find in, say, the Lesser Zone will be less effective than what you’d find in Garbage or the Concrete Factory, and so on.

The more expensive an ammo is at a trader, the better it is to sell back to them or use in a weapon. It doesn’t matter a ton if all you’re hitting are headshots, but if your enemies have a helmet or strong mask on, that can cut down a bullet’s damage enough for them to tank the shot.

Stock up on as much ammo as you can and stash away what you aren’t currently using. When and if you decide to change your primary weapon, you’ll have a nice stock of rounds you won’t need to buy.