Blooodsuckers have way too much health.

[Tamaster]

I played the original stalker trilogy like 4 times over, vanilla modded whatever on Master difficulty.

Stalker 2 is great but the balance is sometimes not so good.

On the highest difficulty a Bloodsucker tanks 10+ buckshot at point blank and 2-shots you with stagger. The only way to deal with them is to go on some higher place they cant reach and keep shooting them which isn't easy and leads to a ton of wasted ammo.

For nothing in return since you can't even loot them like you could in the older stalker games.

This is not good. All the other enemies are fine but this one is just too spongy.

[GRU-Vy]

I just got to the garbage and have killed about 5 bloodsuckers. Alot of wasted ammo on them. Killed one poltergeist and i think that took even more ammo including 4 grenades.

[Heinz Pepperoni]

All enemies in general are too damage-spongy at veteran. I shot a bandit point-blank with a mint condition TOZ twice and he shrugged it off like it was nothing.

[TomasaurusREKT]

Hey I just defeated those 5 in Zaton underground or wherever it was. Just bring grenades lol. There's mods out there to adjust it any way.

[Buck Squatterton]

Even on Rookie a bloodsucker can take at least 6 direct hits with the shotgun. This is a big complaint with players on the discord; I think the team will adjust their health. There's also already a mod to adjust their health if you want to go that route.

[RattyRyan]

It's a nightmare to be sure. Once you are able, try the Rhino revolver, it packs a punch and does quite well against mutants. Until you get it however, and particularly until you get better than a double barrel shotgun, then you will suffer.

[Vengorin]

Originally posted by Tamaster:

I played the original stalker trilogy like 4 times over, vanilla modded whatever on Master difficulty.

Stalker 2 is great but the balance is sometimes not so good.

On the highest difficulty a Bloodsucker tanks 10+ buckshot at point blank and 2-shots you with stagger. The only way to deal with them is to go on some higher place they cant reach and keep shooting them which isn't easy and leads to a ton of wasted ammo.

For nothing in return since you can't even loot them like you could in the older stalker games.

This is not good. All the other enemies are fine but this one is just too spongy.

True but no matter how much i try i cant seem to spend all my shotgun ammo .... takes like 2-3 seconds to kill a bloodsucker when you spam 8 shotgun shells into its head.

[Tamaster]

Originally posted by Vengorin:

Originally posted by Tamaster:

I played the original stalker trilogy like 4 times over, vanilla modded whatever on Master difficulty.

Stalker 2 is great but the balance is sometimes not so good.

On the highest difficulty a Bloodsucker tanks 10+ buckshot at point blank and 2-shots you with stagger. The only way to deal with them is to go on some higher place they cant reach and keep shooting them which isn't easy and leads to a ton of wasted ammo.

For nothing in return since you can't even loot them like you could in the older stalker games.

This is not good. All the other enemies are fine but this one is just too spongy.

True but no matter how much i try i cant seem to spend all my shotgun ammo .... takes like 2-3 seconds to kill a bloodsucker when you spam 8 shotgun shells into its head.

I dont have a semi auto shotgun, yet. I have a pump one so thats not gonna happen for now.

[Maiskolben]

Bloodsuckers run away if they get damaged. So you need to wait and move a little backwards and then shoot (normal shotgun works) when they are close.

Relode as soon as they turn away. I need around 6-10 shells. Still don't like to fight them if not needed.

[ChieF BEEF QueeF]

fighting mutants feels so pointless because you get absolutely nothing in return

[RattyRyan]

Originally posted by ChieF BEEF QueeF:

fighting mutants feels so pointless because you get absolutely nothing in return

Pirate software had a clip about this kind of mob design.

Enemies need to dip into 2 of 3 characteristics: Speed, Power, Health. If you have 2 out of 3, that's a good mob design, with an exploitable weakness. When they have all 3, that's not an enemy you're supposed to fight, it's supposed to be avoided.

In stalker 2, having no loot from mutants makes it even clearer that you're not supposed to fight them. The only problem with this is that the game is clearly not designed with this in mind. In Stalker you were always supposed to be prepared to fight mutants or suffer, but here you just suffer no matter what.

[Optive]

Originally posted by Tamaster:

I played the original stalker trilogy like 4 times over, vanilla modded whatever on Master difficulty.

Stalker 2 is great but the balance is sometimes not so good.

On the highest difficulty a Bloodsucker tanks 10+ buckshot at point blank and 2-shots you with stagger. The only way to deal with them is to go on some higher place they cant reach and keep shooting them which isn't easy and leads to a ton of wasted ammo.

For nothing in return since you can't even loot them like you could in the older stalker games.

This is not good. All the other enemies are fine but this one is just too spongy.

Bloodsuckers etc have balance issues for sure, but for now, simply keep distance when encounter them. You will not survive by advancing or standing still, instead back away and dodge left or right right before their attack, and you will take them down with less difficulty. Also, make sure to use the correct ammo for them.

[Skarik]

there is already a mod for bloodsucker health fix

[RattyRyan]

Originally posted by Optive:

Bloodsuckers etc have balance issues for sure, but for now, simply keep distance when encounter them. You will not survive by advancing or standing still, instead back away and dodge left or right right before their attack, and you will take them down with less difficulty. Also, make sure to use the correct ammo for them.

That goes for a lot of mutants, and if you can find high ground, on a box or truck, you can just shoot them from safety. I've found cheesing the AI of Chimeras and Giants is the only way to actually deal with them since they take at least 8 full mags from most guns to kill and it's really tiring having to dodge them and heal while reloading.

[Morbid]

Originally posted by TomasaurusREKT:

Hey I just defeated those 5 in Zaton underground or wherever it was. Just bring grenades lol. There's mods out there to adjust it any way.

Mods are cool and all but we shouldn't need to rely on them to have a good experience.

[decizion]

Elite mutants are just a nuisance to waste ammunition. If at least they dropped some exclusive loot but nope. Just a waste of time and ammo. Not sure who play tested the game and didn’t notice they were way too tanky.