What are the best Stalker 2 mods? Surviving in The Zone can be quite an ordeal, and the difference between difficulty levels can be a huge leap. Thankfully, with Stalker 2 mods, you can tweak your playthrough exactly to your liking. Whether that's making things a bit easier on yourself or dialing up the difficulty, that's up to you.
Stalker 2 is an Stalker 2 artifacts work, here are some of the best options to tweak your next run.
Here are the best Stalker 2 mods:
- Better Physics
- Master Mode
- Skip Intros
- Customizable Unique Weapons
- Better Gunfights
- Reduced Repair Cost
- MinUI
- No Radiation From Artifacts
- Ledge Grabbing
- More Flexible Trade
- Grok's Balanced Difficulties
- No Weight
- Reasonable Weapon Degradation
- No Weapon Durability Loss
- Longer Sprinting
- Jake's Longer Days
- Reduced Melee and Jump Stamina Cost
Better Physics
Make the world of Stalker 2 even more believable by adding physics to many in-game objects. This might not sound like it would be a game-changer, but it's easy to break the feeling of immersion when you do something like walk into a bucket and it remains glued to the ground. With the Better Physics mod from DorrajD, originally created by VAXIStaa, you can add another layer of realism to the game without having a detrimental impact on the frame rate or overall gameplay.
Master Mode
The Master Mode mod takes the difficulty and turns the dial slightly beyond what we, personally, would consider fun. We don't judge, though, and if you love suffering, then why not install a mod that reduces medical spawn rates, reduces the efficacy of said medical items, and increases damage across the board – oh, and also now if a dog bites you, it snares you. So, y'know, there's that.
Skip Intros
The Skips Intros mod does exactly what it promises to do, it removes the intro screens that pop up whenever you launch Stalker 2. Of course, this isn't going to drastically change the way you play the game, but this mod will save you a decent amount of time when you're repeatedly booting up Stalker 2.
Customizable Unique Weapons
Unique weapons are some of the absolute best in the game, but what if you could make them better? With the Customizable Unique Weapons mod, you can take these uniques and make them uniquely yours, by adding and removing attachments as you see fit.
Maklane's Better Gunfights
The Maklane's Better Gunfights mod tweaks how effective NPCs are in gunfights. It's obvious fairly early on in Stalker 2 that, for some reason, any enemy with a gun also has godlike aim, and can ping you from unreasonable distances. This doesn't completely bork the enemy, but it does make gunfights feel a bit more even-sided.
Reduced Repair Cost
There isn't anything more disappointing than finding a powerful weapon in the wild, only to pick it up and find out that it's in terrible condition. Using a red condition weapon, you'll be met with constant jams, and eventually, it'll break to the point of no return. Repairing these weapons costs a ton of coupons, but with the Reduced Repair Cost mod you can alter these costs to make scavenging more reasonable.
MinUI
While trying to maintain the visual standards set by the base game, the MinUI mod from MJRamon successfully declutters the UI to provide you with the most important information at a glance. It's worth pointing out that there are some slight bugs with this mod, including transparency issues with some s, but this also occurs with the original UI.
No Radiation From Artifacts
Stalker 2 Artifacts are powerful buffs that can often mean the difference between life and death in The Zone. The downside to many of them is the horrendous radiation you're exposed to when they're equipped. With the No Radiation From Artifacts mod installed, you can use Artifacts as much as you like without getting horrendously ill.
Ledge Grabbing
The Ledge Grabbing mod allows Skif to mantle onto higher ledges. It's quite annoying that you can't climb over anything taller than a few feet, with this mod allowing you to vault fences with ease.
More Flexible Trade
The More Flexible Trade mod gives static traders and wandering stalkers a bit more range when buying the items in your inventory. You can now trade in broken items and weapons – even if the amount you get for them is minimal, half a loaf is better than no loaf at all.
Grok's Balanced Difficulties
The Grok's Balanced Difficulties mod amplifies the lethality of combat while lowering the efficacy of healing items. This is not necessarily a mod that makes things easier, but it does add that extra punch to fights you may be missing.
No Weight
The No Weight mod for ammo, nades, meds, and food reduces the weight of your essential consumables to zero. This means you can stock up for long journeys without worrying about being weighed down by an excessive number of bandages.
Reasonable Weapon Degradation
Okay, so we understand that the world of Stalker 2 is cold, terrifying, and downright miserable, but there's no need for the weapons to fall apart in the middle of combat as quickly as they do. Fortunately, Vaxis has released the Reasonable Weapon Degradation mod to stop brand-new guns from breaking within a few hours of use. This gameplay tweak will make the game easier overall, but it's slight enough that you don't have to spoil the other major aspects of the Stalker 2.
No Weapon Durability Loss
The No Weapon Durability Loss mod allows you to use your weapons (and optionally outfits) as long as you like without them degrading at all. You can change this to 50% degradation if you still want that immersive upkeep but don't want to shell out thousands of coupons every time you're back in base.
Longer Sprinting
The Longer Sprinting mod tweaks the stamina reduction caused by sprinting in game. With fast travel being a finicky ordeal at times, you're forced to traverse kilometers on foot; this mod should make those journeys go a bit faster.
Jake's Longer Days
The Jake's Longer Days mod gives you the option to slow the age of time in Stalker 2, resulting in longer days and nights. There are different lengths to choose from, so you can find the perfect balance between light and dark.
Reduced Melee and Jump Stamina Cost
The Reduced Melee and Jump Stamina Cost mod reduces the amount of stamina required to jump and melee. It can be frustrating when you come across an environmental puzzle and must wait between jumps – especially if you're encumbered – with this mod making traversal a bit smoother.
Those are the best Stalker 2 mods you can right now, but with our journey into The Zone just beginning, rest assured this list will get a lot longer over the coming years. Check out our Stalker 2 anomalies so you know what to avoid when you're out in The Zone.