Life inthe Zoneis never easy, especially if you are trying to make some money to pay for your burned-up apartment back in the Mainland.
The Price Goes Up is your first big quest outside of the Zalissiyastarter areainSTALKER 2, and it takes you to the most bandit-infested hellhole in the Zone: the Garbage.
This area’s main building is the Slag Heap, an aptly named joint ruled by a kingpin named Nestor.As you heard from Solder, this is the man behind the scanner-snatchingschemegiving you such a headache.
Finding Diode
The first step in your journey into the Garbage region is toenter the Slag Heap.
you’re able to choose your devil here: the northwestern approach is more radioactive, while the southeastern one has anomalies on the footpath.
If you come in from the southeast, you’re able to fish outa unique AKM-74S.
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Once you enter the Slag Heap, follow the long corridor in the door to the left of the bar all the way down, then turn right. Diode will be sitting behind his desk.
Despite filling in for Nestor, your new acquaintance is a technician by trade, so this is a good time to patch up your weapons and suit before hitting the road again.
Diode’s Workshop
Diode will ask you tovisit his old workshop to get a keycard. The technician had to abandon it when some bandits ambushed him, so he used a scanner to spawn anomalies and run away.
The workshop is southwest of the Slag Heap, butbe careful when approaching it as plasma anomalies explode. Do not stay still if you want to live.
While the main door is closed, you canbreak the planks down at the ventilation shaftin front of the building, and then jump.
You need to search the bandits for the keycard, but it is advisable to first make a run to turn the scanner off so you can inspect the bodies without worrying about anomalies.
Use the keycard to open the main door, and head back to the Slag Heap to give it to Diode.
Nestor’s Stash
The next step is tofind Nestor’s secret stash, where he keeps records of his shady deeds.
Leave the Slag Heap mainframe and hit up the scaffolding on the left side.
Make a stop around the second tier to loota little stashtucked away in the corner, then keep going up until you reach the collapsed crane.
Walk on the wreck until you reach the bus, then keep the cliff’s edge on your left as you go up.
Once you are near the top, turn right and walk through the blue and white bus, then head inside the cave.
This area requires some caution as it is full of acid anomalies. Make sure not to slip if you want to avoid expensive repair fees.
Once you reach the far end, hold the jump button while crouching to vault up the cave levels, then jump your way up the beams until you see a ladder leading to the surface.
Climb the large crane overseeing the Zoneand have a chat withyour old buddy Richter, then slowly crawl across the gap to reach Nestor’s stash.
Make sure youpick up the modified M860 shotgunin the stash as well, as its magazine adapter fits more rounds and gives you much faster reload times.
Be careful as you make your way down from the crane. The more obvious path right in front of it is highly radioactive and will kill you almost immediately, even if you have anti-rads with you.
If you look to the right, the more friendly traffic sign marks a safe way out.
Jump down the tunnel with another sign, then crawl out and make your way down the scaffolding to speak with Diode again.
Diverging Paths
The game offers two paths now: one is to visit the vehicle Labyrinth to the northwest, and the other is the dig site to the east of the Slag Heap.
Both paths follow the same formula: you enter the area, enemies jump you, then you blast your way out.
The Labyrinth
If you choose to go to the Labyrinth,a large group of bandits will ambush you, and a horde of rodents.
This fight feels overwhelming as you are severely outnumbered, but the area gives you plenty of cover to work your way through.
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How the hell do you get that door open? That’s the neat part: you don’t!
Keep moving, use your pistol to dispatch the rats when the bandits are trying to find out, and it will be over sooner than you think.
Once all the bandits are down,search their bodies to find clues pointing to Varan, a local bandit kingpin who hopes to replace Nestor at the Slag Heap.
You can also pick up a free artifact from the trunk with the pile of broken scanners.
The Dig Site
Picking this path gives you a single enemy instead of a gang, but it is one of the toughest mutants in the game.
The dig site is guarded by a Burer, a humanoid mutant with telekinetic abilities and a health pool large enough to make an experienced stalker cry.
The Burer can fling loose objects at you, yank your gun from your hands, hit you with a phantom punch, and shield itself from bullets temporarily.
Defeating this enemy requires a lot of patience and even more ammunition, which does not come easily this early in the game, so we recommend the Labyrinth path unless you like a challenge.
Once the Burer is down, help the wounded stalker in the cave (it’s what Tolik would have wanted), andreceive the relevant information linking Nestor’s scanner scheme to Varan.
This is a good time to stock up on ammunition and meds at the Slag Heap, as the next quest requires plenty of both.
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