There are numerous consumable items and gear pieces to find in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. From Medkits and Cossack Vodka, to dozens of weaponry, you're bound to find all sorts of loot rewarding. Sadly, you'll also encounter some problems if you want to lug around all the rewards you've earned due to encumbrance. Here's our guide on how to increase carry weight in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
How to increase carry weight in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
In Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, your character, Skif, is limited to just 80 kilograms (kg) of items by default. As you get closer to this limit, you'll notice some detrimental effects to your stamina:
- Sprinting, jumping, and performing melee hits with a knife cost more stamina if you're heavily encumbered.
- Stamina regeneration is significantly slower.
- Going past the maximum carry weight limit causes your character to be over-encumbered. You won't be able to move at all.
These can definitely hinder exploration, especially if you can't run around as often as you'd like. As such, it's imperative to find ways to increase carry weight in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
Armors with carry weight bonus
In some cases, you might stumble upon suits that offer not just better protection and resistances, but also a boost to carry weight. For instance, we discovered a Wanderer Suit that has +8 kg. maximum weight and a Bulwark Exosuit with +12 kg. maximum weight.
Hercules pills
One of the most reliable methods of increasing carry weight in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the Hercules. These pills might are rare and invaluable. Consuming a Hercules pill boosts your maximum carry weight by 20 kilograms for 300 seconds (five minutes). With this, you should be able to move around well past encumbrance.
Artifacts with bonus weight
While roaming around the Exclusion Zone, you might come across artifacts that have unique properties. While the majority grant buffs to different resistance types--i.e. bleeding, thermal, psionic, etc.--there are a few that increase your maximum carry weight. One example is the Flaw artifact, which has the following traits:
- Found in thermal anomalies.
- Increases bleeding resistance (weak) and maximum carry weight (+3 kg).
- Decreases radiation resistance (medium).
Upgrades to lower the weight of gear pieces
Lastly, it bears mentioning that you can also lower the weight of items that you have equipped. Simply chat with technician NPCs in bases and check the upgrades panel. If you click on certain parts of your weapons or armors, you might see options like "Lightweight Materials" or "Milled Parts Replaced with Stamped Parts." These upgrades cost coupons, though they decrease the overall weight of the weapon or armor by a small amount.
In any case, that does it for our guide on how to increase carry weight in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. While you're exploring the Zone, you might as well check our fast travel guide, artifact farming guide, and Journalist Stashes guide.
