The Zone is full of hazards in STALKER 2, with many threats in the open-world survival shooter capable of ending your life in just a few short moments. Some of the dangers you’ll encounter include groups of armed and armored NPC stalkers as well as lethal pockets of strange supernatural phenomena called anomalies, but perhaps the deadliest of them all are mutants — beasts that roam The Zone and frequently hunt stalkers, each other, and anything else they come across.
There are 16 different types of mutants in STALKER 2, including former humans transformed into monsters by radiation and psi-waves, wild animals that have elevated strength and resilience thanks to mysterious mutations, and other horrific creatures thought to be a combination of the two. Dealing with many of them can be very difficult, but with the right equipment and strategies, you’ll eventually take them down.
Speaking as someone who’s been playing the STALKER games for years and has put over 70 hours into a STALKER 2 playthrough, I have plenty of experience fighting all of the sequel’s mutants and can offer lots of helpful tips, tricks, and information that will make defeating them an easier process. You’ll find all of those in the guide below, complete with dedicated sections for each mutant that go over recommended weapons, tactics, and more.
STALKER 2: How to kill rats
I’m not sure if The Zone’s rats are actually mutated or not, but I’m including them in this guide regardless. Groups of them can be encountered very early in STALKER 2, and while they’re not even a threat individually, rat swarms will surround and bite you to death quickly if you don’t take care of them from a distance.
Given that there are always dozens of them when they’re encountered, killing them with bullets is a waste of your ammo. Instead, when you see them (or hear a bunch of chittering that signals they’re coming), climb on top of nearby objects like crates or pipes and throw a grenade into the middle of the swarm. The explosive will kill all or most of them instantly; if stragglers remain, toss another grenade for good measure.
STALKER 2: How to kill rodents
Another type of early game low-threat mutant are rodents, which are essentially oversized rats that hop around on two legs. Though sometimes encountered alone or in very small groups, you’ll usually run into them in large packs of 6-10. They attack by aggressively hopping towards you before leaping into the air and attempting to bite and scratch you.
Due to their low health, I’ve found that the best way to deal with rodents is to shoot them with a pistol when they go for you. They die in one shot regardless of what gun you’re using, so using expensive rifle or shotgun rounds is a waste against them.
Note that you can climb onto props to avoid being swarmed by rodents, but they’ll quickly scamper away and hide when you do this. Therefore, I only recommend using this tactic if you need a safe moment to heal or reload; if you get off your perch, the rodents will come out again and run directly at you, making them easy to hit.
STALKER 2: How to kill blind dogs
Like rodents, blind dogs — canine mutants that look similar to regular dogs — will attempt to rush you in packs and bite you, only retreating to their own cover if you’re on a piece of high ground they can’t reach. What makes them more dangerous, though, is their speed; blind dogs can close the distance in seconds, so running away from them isn’t a viable tactic. They’ll also encircle you if several of them manage to get close enough, which makes dealing with them much harder.
Keep an ear out for blind dogs, as they’ll frequently bark and snarl at you before committing to their charge; this is effectively an early warning sign. Once you know where they’re coming from, backpedal while firing at them with a pistol, SMG, or rifle. Pump-action or magazine-fed shotguns work well too, but double barrels like the Boomstick and TOZ-34 don’t since they require a lengthy reload after just two shots. Beyond that, though, your choice of weapon isn’t terribly important since dogs have low health.
If the worst happens and you get surrounded by a pack of dogs, the best thing you can do is pick a direction and sprint in it to get out of the encirclement. You can then turn around to pick the mutants off as they give chase, or potentially even bait them into running into anomalies (there’s an achievement for doing this).
STALKER 2: How to kill fleshes
Fleshes are horrifically mutated pigs that make distinct high-pitched warbly sounds, and are essentially a tankier version of blind dogs with more health but less speed. They typically move in groups of 3-5, and visually, you can easily identify them by looking for the insect-like legs that they use to slash and stab.
The tactics used against blind dogs apply here, though something to be aware of is that fleshes can use a fast leap attack that covers a surprising amount of ground. You can dodge it by quickly sprinting to the left or right, though generally you should just try and keep fleshes at a good distance as you fight them.
STALKER 2: How to kill boars
The Zone’s mutant boars look very similar to regular wild swine, with a large stature and thick gray-brown fur. They’re more aggressive than blind dogs or fleshes and attack in groups of 4-6, often charging you directly; try to sprint laterally and jump out of the way, because if you don’t, you’ll be knocked to the ground. You’ll be left defenseless against follow-up attacks from other nearby boar as you stand back up, so dodging incoming charges is crucial.
All firearms work well enough on boars, but a quality pump-action or mag-fed shotgun is your best option — something that holds true for the rest of the melee-focused mutants on the list as well. I would only use a pistol if you don’t have ammo for anything else, as most handguns in the game don’t have the stopping power to effectively combat boar.
The mutant’s main weakness is that it lacks leaping maneuvers of any kind, so even standing on short objects in the environment is enough to get out of their reach. They’ll run for cover when you do this like other mutants do, but it’s still a tactic worth considering since you’ll be able to safely reload or heal up.
STALKER 2: How to kill bloodsuckers (invisible enemy)
Bloodsuckers — tall, vaguely humanoid mutants with tentacled faces and the power to turn invisible — have always been one of the most dangerous mutants in STALKER, and they’re tougher than ever in STALKER 2 due to their high HP pool, strong damage-per-hit, and extremely fast movement speed. Bloodsuckers hunt by cloaking and then rapidly circling their prey for several seconds before rushing and clawing at them, coming out of invisibility. They will continue their flurry of attacks until damaged, at which point they’ll cloak again and repeat this pattern. Sometimes, bloodsuckers may also leap and slam against you when charging you, knocking you down the same way boars can. Periodically, it’s also likely they’ll perform a deafening roar to disorient your aim, though the fact they have to stand still while doing this means you can generally get back on target before they reach you afterwards.
Due to how stealthy, tanky, and lethal they are, fights against bloodsuckers require patience, good timing, and a keen eye. The best way to kill them is to constantly follow their movements by looking for the shimmer of their invisibility cloak (light makes this easier, so use your flashlight if you’re fighting a bloodsucker at night), then open fire on them with a good shotgun when they charge directly at you. Two or three quick blasts from a semi-automatic, high penetration shotgun like the Saiga-12 can ward off the assault entirely and force the beast to retreat to its circling pattern, but with slower pump actions, you’ll likely need to sprint and jump to the side to avoid being hit.
Like many other mutants, bloodsuckers can’t reach you when you’re on high ground, so look for nearby props to jump on or ladders to climb if you need a moment of respite to heal or reload. The bloodsucker will either hide from you or endlessly circle you when you do this; if you notice it doing the latter, you can heavily damage or even kill the mutant without risk as long as you have good aim.
STALKER 2: How to kill poltergeists
Poltergeists are one of the strangest mutants in STALKER, and also one of the more annoying ones, too. They look like a bizarre legless humanoid in their true form, but while alive, they appear as a ball of electricity that quickly zips around the environment. Poltergeists attack by telekinetically levitating small props near you like boxes, barrels, and even handheld tools before hurling them at you. If the object collides with you, it does heavy damage that appears to ignore protection from your armor completely.
Get as close to the poltergeist as you can, trying your best to watch out for nearby floating props and to either run in a zig zag pattern or sprint-jump to the side when you hear the “whoosh” sound of the object being thrown. Once you’re near the mutant, shoot the ball of electricity it appears as with a rifle or shotgun, either breaking down or moving around the small wall of rocks it occasionally throws up to try and protect itself. Note that damage falloff makes killing poltergeists incredibly difficult from afar, so close-range combat is the best option here.
Another thing to know is that there’s a fiery variant of the poltergeist that’s orange instead of blue and attacks by creating temporary fire anomalies near your position. This version of the creature was harder to deal with than the normal one in the original STALKER trilogy, but it’s arguably easier in STALKER 2 since it has less health.
STALKER 2: How to kill zombies
Zombies are former stalkers that have become mindless husks of their former selves due to the effects of psi-radiation. Though they’re still intelligent enough to load and fire their weapons, all other higher brain functions have been replaced with violent animal instinct. They tend to shamble around in groups of varying sizes and can often be heard mumbling incoherently. Generally, you’ll find them in areas close to sources of psi-radiation, though you can also run into them near controller mutants since they can produce psi-waves.
Zombies are less accurate and far more predictable than regular stalkers, as they’ll always take the shortest possible path in order to get to you. However, they’re impossible to kill unless you headshot them; they’ll go down to bodyshots or explosives, but will eventually get back up and continue attacking.
Luckily, their slow and predictable nature makes lining up headshots easy, so find some good cover and pick them off one by one. The last thing you want to do is engage a group of zombies in an open field where they can all shoot you at once, making it exceptionally difficult for you to aim.
STALKER 2: How to kill controllers
One of the most iconic mutants in STALKER is the controller, a bald humanoid mutant with jeans and bandage wraps across their chest. The controller is one of the few mutants with a ranged attack, as if it’s aggroed to you and you’re in its line of sight, it will perform a yanking motion and “pull” your mind out of your body, assaulting it with psi-waves. This doesn’t deal damage to you directly, but it will severely disorient you and affect you with a large amount of psi-radiation.
Psi-radiation also builds up passively when you’re near a controller, which causes you to hallucinate strange sound effects, ghastly versions of mutants that attack you, and even hostile stalkers that open fire. None of these things are real, but they do real damage to you and your armor, incentivizing you to kill the controller as quickly as possible.
The best way to deal with controllers is to take psi-block consumables if you have any to limit the effects of its psi-radiation, then go for headshots with a rifle or shotgun while using cover to break line of sight when the mutant tries to retaliate. This lets you avoid the controller’s “grab attack” without too much trouble, making the fight far easier than it would be in an open space. Lobbing grenades at the controller’s position is also an effective strategy, as it’s quite slow.
STALKER 2: How to kill burers
Burers — short, stocky, and hooded humanoid mutants with heavy footsteps — are similar to poltergeists in that they occasionally pick up objects close to you with telekinesis and throw them at you, though this is only one of their tricks. They’re also capable of levitating nearby guns and making them shoot at you, and can even yank your weapons out of your hands if you’re in their line of sight for too long. Additionally, they can throw up an impenetrable energy shield after taking a sizable chunk of damage, and the only way to hurt them again is to wait until it wears off.
Line of sight is key with burers, as they don’t actually go for any of their attacks if they can’t see you. Therefore, try to kite them around large props like trucks or piles of barrels, peeking out to go for headshots as they lumber around corners after you only to duck back into cover as they put their shields up. Wait for the sound of the shield to cease, then rinse and repeat until they’re dead. I also recommend picking up weapons strewn about in the environment so the burer can’t use them to shoot you.
If kiting a burer around something isn’t an option, the next best thing is to tightly hug a sizable piece of cover and just peek shoot them when they’re vulnerable. High-powered sniper rifles make this tactic extremely effective, though be careful to pick the weapon up immediately if the burer manages to pull it out of your hands. If you don’t, it’ll soon levitate the weapon and make it shoot you, likely resulting in a brutal death.
STALKER 2: How to kill snorks
Snorks are monstrous human mutants identifiable by their half-pulled off gas masks and instinct to move around on all fours, and are thought to be what remains of the first soldiers sent into The Zone many years ago. Though it’s possible to run into individual snorks, they usually stick together in packs of 4-5 and attack by dexterously leaping at their target, clawing and kicking them for heavy damage.
Snorks are something of a glass cannon, as while their strikes are deadly, they also don’t have a ton of health and go down quickly if hit with bursts of rifle fire or a couple shotgun blasts. However, they’re quite nimble in combat and will make attempts to dodge your shots as they rush you, which can make taking them out difficult.
I’ve found that the best way to deal with snorks is to hit them with rifle or shotgun fire as they jump at you, then sprint away for several seconds before turning around to open fire on them again as they give chase. Keep doing this until the mutants are dead, making sure to do lateral sprint-jumps to dodge attacks as necessary.
STALKER 2: How to kill psy-dogs
Psy-dogs are mutated wolves that are essentially an upgraded version of blind dogs, with the key difference between them being the psy-dog’s ability to create roughly a dozen illusory clones of itself. These only take one round from any weapon to dispel, but they’re capable of dealing damage to you and waste your ammo.
The frustrating thing about psy-dogs is that there’s not really a way to tell which one is the real mutant beyond simply shooting them to find out, and once you do know, the creature often creates a new batch of clones in just a few seconds. Therefore, the best thing to do against a psy-dog is to simply sprint away or towards nearby stalkers that can help you; fighting them alone just isn’t worth the hassle.
If you have to take one down, try and rush it with a shotgun once you’ve figured out which one attacking you is real. It’s not terribly tanky so it should go down in a couple shots; note that if you watch it closely while you’re doing this, you may be able to see it roaring into the air as it makes more clones, helping you to stay on target.
STALKER 2: How to kill cats (bayun)
The first of STALKER 2’s new mutants you’re likely to encounter are cats (also called “bayun”), which are pretty cunning compared to the other beasts on this list. They attack much like a blind dog or psy-dog would, though they do significantly more damage per hit and seem to severely damage armor durability, too. What makes them unique, though, is that they’ll often draw you into their indoors hiding spots by mimicking the sounds of a stalker calling for help before attempting to pounce.
There are several times in the game where a stalker is actually calling you over, so I wouldn’t immediately assume cries for help are a trap. Still, approach with caution and your best shotgun out, and be ready to sprint to a nearby open space if you are attacked. Having a lot of room to work with makes dodging the cat’s swipes easier and forces it to charge directly at you, helping you to line up shots.
STALKER 2: How to kill mutated deer
The other new mutant in STALKER 2 is the mutated deer, which is exceedingly rare and quite tough to bring down, too. It looks just like a normal deer or elk, though is far more aggressive and will actively hunt you down if it sees you.
The deer primarily fights by summoning and mind controlling other mutants like rodents, blind dogs, fleshes, and boars, forcing them all to rush you. It will also occasionally charge at you itself in an effort to knock you down like a boar can, and has a disorienting screech attack similar to a bloodsucker’s as well.
Your first instinct might be to deal with the smaller mutants first to thin out the herd, but doing this is a mistake since the deer will just summon more to its side. Instead, focus all of your attention on the deer, getting near it and unloading with a shotgun while doing your best to sprint and jump away from its thralls. It’s fairly resilient, but even so, it shouldn’t take a terribly long to slay it if you’re going for close-range shotgun headshots.
STALKER 2: How to kill chimera
Chimera are one of The Zone’s two apex predators, and are arguably the hardest mutant to kill in all of STALKER 2. This very rare and bizarre twin-headed amalgamation of man and lion combines incredible durability with lethal mobility and strength, making them extremely risky to fight. If you have the option, the best thing to do is run away, though you won’t have the speed and stamina to successfully do so unless you’ve got a light (green) carry weight. Try and zig zag when you sprint, or otherwise it might catch you with a pounce.
If you can’t retreat, fight the chimera as if it were an extremely lethal snork — after all, that’s pretty much how it works. Like snorks, it often leaps at you and will make an effort to dodge side-to-side as it charges. One difference in the chimera’s behavior, though, is that it will make an effort to leap to where you’re going rather than to where you are; therefore, move like you’re going in one direction, then rush to another once the beast commits to its leap.
Something worth noting is that you might be able to get the chimera stuck if you climb to high ground or retreat into a space it’s not capable of fitting in. If you’re lucky, it will simply stand there and let you unload all your ammo into its two heads. It may also retreat to hide when this happens, though, preventing you from exploiting your position.
Without question, using the best shotgun you have is the play here, with slugs or expanding rounds dealing the best damage to the extremely tanky chimera and its thick hide. Hitting it with an RPG does huge damage, too, though you’ll only have the space to pull a shot with one off if you see the chimera from a good distance away and catch it unawares (this is unlikely).
STALKER 2: How to kill pseudogiants
Psuedogiants — colossal heavily mutated humans with stubby arms but extremely powerful legs and feet — are on par with chimera in terms of overall danger, and are equally rare as well. These hulking beasts have the most health and armor out of any mutant in STALKER 2, and have a nasty set of moves that makes fighting them a nearly insurmountable challenge.
Its primary method of attacking is charging directly at you quickly, and if you’re not able to get out of the way in time, it’ll deal heavy damage and knock you over before following up with crushing stomps; this is almost guaranteed to kill you. It may also perform leaps and heavy stomps that create a shockwave capable of knocking you over, too, which can only be avoided if you’re behind thick line of sight-breaking cover. Finally, the psuedogiant even borrows the ability to fling objects at you telekinetically from poltergeists and burers when it roars, and does so instantaneously.
Similar to chimera, running for your life is probably your best option if you can. If you can’t, do your best to kite the psuedogiant around large pieces of cover, blasting it with your shotgun while avoiding its charges and healing yourself each time a prop is smashed into you. RPG shots deal excellent damage to the beast if you can get one off before it rushes towards you, and this should be easy to hit since unlike the chimera, it makes no effort to bob and weave. Another strong weapon to use against psuedogiants is the PKP machine gun or a variant of it, especially if you’re able to get on high ground where the mutant can’t easily damage you.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has arrived on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, and is one of this year’s best Xbox games and best PC games. It has a $59.99 MSRP, but notably, you can get it for a discount at CDKeys right now. You can also play it through Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
