Chillin_'s guide to ultimate equipment S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

NEWLY UPDATED September 1st 2014
This guide will give you tips to have the best equipment in the zone. Will be updated every now and then to include more equipment.

Best Assualt Rifles

Assault Rifles
: AKM-74/2 This gun absolutly sucks un-upgraded, but once you have aquired all the toolkits it can be upgraded to become highly effective, and its upgrades cost less then 1000RU each. Can be equiped with a Warsaw Pact scope, and a grenade launcher. Uses 5.35x39 Warsaw Pact ammuntition


: GP-37 One of the best NATO assault rifles of the game, the GP-37 can be aquired fairly early in the game. All you have to do is kill the mercenary Black, who can be found at the scientist's bunker in Yanov before you visit the Jupiter Plant. Accurate and powerful, it is a very effective weapon. Comes with an integrated scope. Uses the 5.56x45 NATO round


: SA Avalanche I aquired this weapon from nimble's special orders. It is silenced and can be upgraded to have a ridiculous rate of fire. Has an integrated silencer. Can be equiped with a Warsaw Pact scope. Uses 9x39 mm ammunition


: Strelok's SGI-5k This assualt rifle is found after you have looted all of the Strelok faction's stashes, which their locations are stored in a crashed UAV behind the Ash Heap anomaly. Once upgraded, in my opinion this is the best assault rifle in the game. Can be equiped with a M203 grenade launcher, a silencer, and a NATO scope. Uses the 5.56x45 NATO round Also its Streloks gun so how cool is that?


: FT-200M This gun is very rare. It can first be bought from Nimble, and then eventualy elite STALKERS, Monolith, and I've even seen a couple bandits aquire them. It is an accurate gun with a built in grenade launcher and scope. Uses 5.56x45 NATO


: TRs 301 This gun has high accuracy, handling, and has a good rate of fire, but it is more likely to jam than AKs. It is a good early to mid game gun and can be fitted with a M203 grenade launcher, a silencer, and a NATO scope. Uses 5.56x45 NATO

Murdering Mutants

: Carabineer The Carabineer is a special SPAS-12 shotgun that you get from Nimble's special orders. It is semi-auto, has high damage, and its recoil is managable


: Eliminator The eliminator has a large drum magazine and can be modified to shoot fully automatic. Draw backs are slow reloads and it does not have iron sights, so you will have to purchase a NATO scope if you want to be more accurate.

: Lynx The Lynx is a modiefied SVD that you purchase from nimble. Once fully upgraded, it has a very high damage and can also be modified to have a target tracking scope, which I have found helpful against Blood-Suckers and Poltergiests.

: Predator The Predator is a modiefied Chaser shotgun that you get from Trapper after you complete his mutant hunts, it has very high damage, but suffers from a high recoil, and a low fire rate. I dislike it, but it is popular with many players.

Need something for Psuedogiants, Chimeras, and Controllers? See heavy weapons.

Heavy Weapons

: Gause Rifle This weapon does the highest damage, and has the best accuracy of any weapon. Kills Psuedogiants in 2-3 shots. Abtained after you ambush the monolith in pripyat and cant be used untill you bring the weapon's blueprints (which are found in a lab under the Iron Forrest anomaly in Zaton) to Cardon. Draw backs, low rate of fire, expensive ammo (Homemade batteries 2000RU), rare ammo (Batteries), and using it on average enemies is a waste of money. Great for killing Pseudogiants, Chimera, and Controllers


: Bulldog-6 the bulldog isnt a very practical weapon. Its heavy, the grenades are expensive, and its range is miserable for a noob-toob, but it is good for clearing large concentrations of enemies and strong mutants. I have not seen a NPC with one, nor have I found one in a loot stash, I bought mine from Owl for 27000RU


: RPG Extremely high damage, but it is very heavy, and its ammo is expensive and is also quite heavy. One can be found at the Volkhov AA complex in Jupiter by accessing a locked armory from a tunnel in the main building, while another is used by one of the merceneries in Operation One Shot, and after awhile one can be purchased from Owl. It is good for clearing large concentrations of enemies and strong mutants.

: RP-74 Machine gun with high damage and a high rate of fire. Very rare (I found a zombie in the Jupiter Quary with one) along with its ammunition. Its very heavy, good for taking on large numbers of hostiles. (Note, the below is not a zombie)

Body Armor: Helmets

: Tactical Helmet The tactical helmet has one advantage over other helmets in the game, after you have brought a calibration tool kit to Nitro, it can be upgraded to have a thermal scanner. One comes with the clear sky armor that you purchase from Nimble, while you can find one for free in a stash on top of the cement factory in yanov.

: Sphere M12 Helmet The M12 is a good helmet for damage protection and it can be upgraded to have a 3rd generation night vision device, allowing you to see in complete darkness. You aquire one for free from the army technician in Pripyat along with a Bulat Armored Suit.

Body Armor

: Exoskeleton Costs 60000RU and is almost worthless untill you purchase the sprint upgrade, but it can carry 80Kg of equipment without any upgrades (With my current level of upgrades and artifacts in the suit, I can carry up to 102Kg). Pack rats, this is the suit for you! Can be ordered from Nimble, or purchased from Owl and Haiwaiian late in the game.

: Bulat Armored Suit This body armor is very good for taking damage, but it offers poor protection from anomalies. It can be upgraded to have built in health restoration systems. You can aquire one for free from the army technician in pripyat.

: SEVA Bodysuit This is the best suit for anomaly protection, but it has poor bullet protection. A SEVA suit is required to make it to pripyat. They can be purchased from all of the weapons merchants

: Freedom Guard Bodysuit Was once my favorite before I purchased the exoskeleton, the Freedom Guard armor can only be aquired when you become allied with freedom. When you become allied with freedom, it can be found in your personal box at Yanov. It has decent anomaly protection, and bullet protection. Pardon Fedya's french.


CS-3 (Clear Sky Armor) In my opinion there isn't that much special about it, more of a collector's item. The Freedom suit mentioned above is much better. The Clear Sky armor isn't bad armor at all, its just a little expensive for what you end up with, so go with the free Army suit you get in pripyat, or the 2nd Freedom/ Duty armor you get. It will save you some money.

Chillin_'s Gear

I highly recomend my current equipment.

*Fully upgraded exoskeleton with sprint ablility and artifacts alowing it to carry 102Kg*
*Strelok's SGI-5k with a NATO low light scope, M203 grenade launcher, and a silencer*
*Lynx fully upgraded with target tracking*
*SVU-2A with silencer and night vision scope*
*Gause Rifle*
*RPG*
*Bulldog 6*
*Carabineer*
*SA Avalanche with a variety of scopes*
*Alpine pistol with burst fire upgrade*
*SEVA suit (in backpack, I only use it when im in a very dangerous anomaly)*
*Svarog Detector (Pinpoints the location of artifacts and anomalies on its screen, so you no longer need to waste your time throwing bolts. It is aquired by doing a mission for Owl)*

Bad Equipment

: Both of the double barrel shotguns are horrible weapons, if you need a shotgun get either a chaser or a spas-12. Shown below is the worst of the two double barrels, the sawed-off shotgun, which I'm seen trying to kill a pseudogiant with it below.


: AK-74u the first weapon you get in the game, it has massive recoil, and poor accuracy, first chance you get grab a regular Ak-74 or any other assualt rifle.

: Chaser The chaser is a step up from the double barrels, but it is still pretty bad. Massive recoil, poor acuracy, and a slow fire rate makes it unreliable.

: Viper-5 Good early on, but gets absolete fast do to the poor damage from the pistol ammunition it uses. If you like the gun I recomend buying the Fraiser from nimble which is a modified Viper-5 that shoots the heavier .45 ammunition and is actualy a pretty good gun with a high fire rate. Shown below is the Fraiser which I have attached a silencer to. "Baby I hear the blues a calling, so toss salads and scrambled eggs... Fraiser has left the building"

Thanks for reading

Hope this guide was helpful, thanks for reading Stalker!
If you have any questions or recomendations let me know in the comments section.

[Rylus]

I disagree with most ratings - strongly.
Going into Detail exeeds the 1000 Letters, so, just basically:

Best Guns: Streloks SIG, Eliminator, Lynx, Predator (needs 3rd Tier Upgrade Full Auto), Gauss.

Viper and AKSU: Best "Cheap Guns" in the Game when using AP-Rounds (9.19 JHP for the Viper). Low repair Cost, good against Mutants AND Humans, extreme RoF. CQC to medium Range. Good when you only carry one Gun around to keep Weight low for more Loot.

Avalance/Vintar: Utterly Crap. No Precision, no Damage, high Bullet Drop on Range, high Ammo cost. For Scoped Rifle even an AK is better.

Thunderer/SIG: No Scope, too expensive.

GP37, RPG-7, RP-74, all Snipers: Crap. High Ammo cost due rarity, enourmous Repair costs making even a "Repair to sell them" unseless.

SPAS and its "Special" Brother: Nice Guns, but do not Upgrade. Upgrades do not make that much difference. And, forget the "Special One" - it is nearly the same as the Basic SPAS.

Lynx: Only Sniper worth to mention.

[Felicia Haymaker]

Woohoo! Now I know I'm not the only one who watches older shows like that! (If you've seen a full episode of the show and have read the entire guide you'll know what I'm talking about.

[EagleShark]

This guide writer sounds like one who does not play misery.

[petruha8282]

КРУТОЫЕ ФОТО СПАСИБО

[Thor]

I'd agree, the Hunting shotgun is a very good starter weapon against mutants and bandits with little armor.
You can save a lot of money considering its low ammo price and high accuracy and damage efficiency.
But as soon as you can get your hands on your first artifacts you should upgrade to something better like an AKM.

[Neonetik]

In fact, here's a video, demonstrating how fantastic it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27k79vfreRs

Even though the video is for clear sky, all the point still apply. Well, except for the one about not being good for penetrating armour. BECAUSE THAT WAS IMPROVED FOR CALL OF PRIPYAT!

I mean,the gun is incredibly cheap, and so is the ammo, it fires those 2 shots incredibly quickly (practically both at once if you let it, and faster than most other shotguns), it's fantastically accurate, it doesn't need to be repaired too often, it's reasonably light (especially with upgrades), the damage is damn good just like other shotguns, it can kill most things with 1 or 2 well placed shots, and it just looks baller. The 2 shot limit isn't even a big deal, since you can just pop in and out of cover to fire those single, accurate, powerful shots, and reload.

These points all combine into a weapon that is not "horrible" but one of the best I'd dare to say.

[Neonetik]

Who do you think that the shotguns are bad? Heck, the hunting shotgun has the best accuracy out of all the shotguns if upgraded properly, doesn't it? Both have high damage, and shoot really quickly as well.

Yeah, the only have 2 shots, but that can still be pretty useful. Not too heavy either.

[petruha8282]

КРУТОЕ ФОТО

[Mike J]

no mention of CS-3a 2/10 guide

[Arrite]

Don't forget to mention that the cheapest price you can get the exo for is as little as 45,000 RU by having the One of Ours (I'm not sure about the Boss one) and the Weathy Client achievements. And be sure to upgrade it's durability because it wears out fast. Plus you should also note that the "RP-74" has a lower mouse sensitivity when drawn, and you cannot sprint or put those sights to some good use unless you have a mod like Complete. And it's lack of a completed front sight also disturbs me.

P.S. A good artifact combination is: 2x Bubbles, a Goldfish, and The Heart of the Oasis. They may be artifacts and not equipment, but they allow you to carry more equipment, and not have to carry around food and anti-rad injection things to loosen up space in your inventory for more ammo and weapons.