Noteworthy items

Some choices in OP-2.2 lead to better equipment. This article lists some noteworthy weapons and artifacts, and what quests to prioritize to get them. This list is highly opinionated and restricted to certain early game items to avoid the bloat; there's a ton of good weapons and armor throughout the game.
== Outfits ==
=== SKAT-15 ===
SKAT-15 is a prototype military exoskeleton that can be upgraded with various modules, and also can auto-inject drugs if you have low health. This feature can be turned on or off with a hotkey defined in the settings. With the final upgrade, has +110kg carrying weight, which puts it above the ordinary exosuits. The suit has excellent psi resistance. The upgrade modules can be found throughout the game, and have to be inserted in a specific order.
* The exoskeleton itself can be found in the stash at Yantar after completing Old documents: part 4 for Akim.
* The first upgrade is a reward for Thermal insulation.
* The second module can be received after accepting Doctor's locket.
* The third module is a reward for Sakharov's medical bag.
Upsides:
* Obtainable very early on, and has certain benefits even over the late game outfits
* Good resistances all around, especially excellent psi-resistance which is rare on basic exoskeletons
* The auto-injection system keeps your hands free, so you don't have to holster your weapon
* Auto-injection is significantly more effective than manual application (wastes much less material for greater benefit)
** When paired with enough Scientific first aid kits, makes you extremely hard to kill even on highest difficulty
** If you maximize your Chemical burn resistance with artifacts, you can ignore Mosquito and Plagued Zombie attacks, losing just a bit of durability and wasting 2-3 bandages on each attack
Downsides:
* +110kg is a mediocre carry weight bonus compared to late game suits
* Doesn't have a closed cycle breathing system, making plague a major annoyance
* Doesn't have stamina regeneration, so you'll need to waste a slot or two for stamina regen artifacts
* Weirdly enough, upgrades make HP regeneration progressively worse (not to 0, though)
* Durability and power efficiency are on the lower side
=== Cloaking exoskeleton ===
Cloaking exoskeleton can render you invisible for a short time, significantly boosting your stealth capabilities and offering new ways to complete quests. It uses the special High capacity battery (yellow) that can only be recharged in the Portable battery charger, one charge is enough for two minutes. It doesn't give any protection and you can't shoot while you're invisible (your weapons are forcibly holstered).
* Reward for Controller's brains together with the battery, you'll have to pick it up in Sarcophagus.
* Found in the stash inside the cabin of the giant excavator in Pripyat Dungeons' main dome, along with a battery. Accessible starting during the Stolen maps (from The casket and safe questline) and any other time later.
* Found in the Collector's stash Dead City.
=== Hunting trenchcoat and Sunrise ===
Those two suits eliminate the sounds of your footsteps, allowing for vastly improved stealth despite not making you invisible, especially when combined with a silent weapon such as the #Needlegun, Crossbow, or quiet ones like melee. This makes regular combat surprisingly different - half of the enemies are either confused completely or don't even see you. This will also make missions like Low-key hunting or Cat and mouse very easy.
* Hunting trenchcoat can be bought from Sidorovich for 15000 to 20000RU, but barely offers any protection.
* Armored Sunrise suit is a reward for the Controller hunt storyline, that can be finished after turning off the Brain Scorcher. This suit has protection comparable to an exoskeleton, closed loop breathing system, and a reasonable carry weight bonus. (+65kg)
Both suits, however, have very poor durability and can easily lose a few percentages after every hit. If you plan on using them for combat, be sure to stock up on body armour repair kits.
=== Grav-suit ===
Grav-suit has a huge boost to carrying weight (+220kg), at the cost of not being able to shoot (your weapons are forcibly hidden while you're wearing it). Just like exoskeletons, it uses a battery for you to be able to sprint and jump. It provides very little protection and you still need stamina regeneration artifacts to be able to haul the full load without being exhausted in a few seconds.
* After completing Jubilee gift two grav-suits spawn in the stash in the attic of the southern barrack at the Agroprom's military base. You'll need both for Unique suits, however you can keep one for yourself.
* The batteries appear on sale at Sakharov after switching off the X-16 brain during the SoC story.
At some point in mid-game, it can also be upgraded at Vasily for the additional boost in carrying weight, protection, and power efficiency, see Gravysuit upgrade.
== Grenades ==
F-1 grenades and VOG-25s are only mildly powerful, but can be obtained in bulk quantities. See Game Economy#Grenades for more info.
Napalm grenade has extreme damage, but very little range. It makes it convenient to use it indoors. It can be bought from Vityok the Raven for 6000RU after he comes to the Dump, and obtained for a Devotee's camp elimination cyclic when he comes to Cordon after escaping the X-18.
Electrica grenade and Vortex grenade are the most powerful grenades in the game, at least against mutants. It's capable of obliterating entire fields, and will come handy many times in mutant massacres. Don't waste them against single mutants - they are intended to be used against crowds. You can take any cyclic quest with the Anomalous grenade listed as the reward, and pull them out from the random pool. It also can be obtained in random stashes. The other grenades shouldn't be neglected, you'll hardly notice a difference while using them unless it's against tanky mutants. Here are also some non-random sources for those grenades:
* Fox's gun
* Anomaly photos (×2)
* Overdrive
* Flight log
* Wildlife photography (×2)
* Cat and mouse
* Find out what happened to the Alexandrych's squad (×4, although you're likely to waste just as much or more on this mission...)
* Minefield (×2)
* Collector's stash Bar 2
* Collector's stash Central Pripyat 1
* Fiend's fetch cyclic, Tier 2 - bring the Venom claw
* Mole's fetch cyclic, Tier 1 - bring a Porcupine
* Vadya Stakhanov's fetch cyclic, Tier 2 - bring a Vepr-12 "Hammer". Really nice one, hoard those shotguns if you encounter them.
* Katana's assassination cyclic, Tier 1.
== Primary guns ==
=== AN-94 "Sniper" ===
Note: this is NOT the ordinary AN-94 but a separate gun that needs to be obtained separately. When upgraded at Lanky, it becomes one of the best early (or not so early...) sniper rifles, and also the most precise gun in 5.45x39mm.
Upsides:
* Laser precise; can pop heads across the CNPP
* Huge burst fire rate with good DPS, although you would probably not waste your 5.45 like that
**has the rare 2-burst firing mode, and with its low recoil is the best weapon to utilize this to quickly double-tap targets at long range
* Near zero recoil, although still enough to be a nuisance at long ranges
* Has the UBGL option
Downsides:
* Underpowered, as it's 5.45. Needs 3 headshots for the heaviest armored enemies.
* Slow reload
* Poor hip firing accuracy
* Fixed magnification on the scope (can be somewhat mitigated by detaching the scope on the fly, press K by default)
How to obtain:
* Exchange at Sherstyuk (Agroprom) for Vodka ×15
* Reward for Sherstyuk's tier 2 cyclic Gauss cassette ×5
* Upgrade the accuracy at Lanky in the Bar, after completing Army tools for him. The upgrade takes a day, and is required (the gun is not that good without it). You can also make it more lightweight afterwards, which will take another day.
* How to obtain the PSO-3 scope:
** Blow up any Freedom sniper at Army Warehouses with a gas can to avoid reputation drop; take off the scope from his SVD.
*** If you don't want to kill neutrals, kill a Monolith veteran that has an SVD.
** Buy the scope at Adrenaline at Agroprom for 15000.
=== Mauser K-98 ===
Scoped bolt-action sniper rifle that uses 7.92mm ammo. Great in the early game.
Upsides:
* Very accurate long-range sniping rifle.
* Powerful enough in the early game, in most cases kills armored NPCs in one headshot.
* Good scope.
* Uses 7.92mm ammo that is way easier to obtain at traders than 7.62x54mm or 7.62x51mm NATO.
Downsides:
* Bolt action, slow rate of fire.
* Fixed zoom scope.
* A bit heavy for a specialized gun in the early game.
How to obtain:
* Reward for Barkeep's cyclic to eliminate a camp of bandits in Dump behind the vehicle graveyard. The cyclic is only available in the early game, after helping Fiend and before entering X-18, because after giving Barkeep the X-18 docs that camp disappears from the game. This cyclic is a bit elusive, some players reported not having it at all.
* Buy it from Bourbon for 250000RU. He comes to Central Pripyat after finishing SoC story, and by that point K-98 is not that useful anymore, compared to alternatives.
=== LR-300ML "Sniper" ===
The most precise 5.56x45mm gun in the early game.
Upsides:
* One of the very few accurate guns in 5.56mm
* Variable scope and a silencer
* Low recoil, although still a bit more than in AN-94 "Sniper"
* Great burst fire rate, although you would probably not waste your 5.56 like that
Downsides:
* Still not precise enough for really long range sniping (although such situations are rare)
* Underpowered even compared to other 5.56 and 5.45 rifles, due to the integrated silencer. For the contrast, HK MG-4 does 1.5x damage with the same ammo.
* Has no UBGL.
How to obtain:
* One can be found in a breakable box inside the bus stop on the [ mercenary checkpoint] in Army Warehouses. Beware of the huge wave of mercenaries that will attack you there. Refer to Missing expedition#Joker for details. This box is instantly deleted after Ashen's death in the Missing Expedition quest, so make sure to grab it before that.
* Another one can be looted from the sniper in Between a rock and a hard place.
* Reward in Fistful's chain.
=== FN F2000 "Executioner" ===
5.56x45mm assault rifle with a computerized target detection scope.
Upsides:
* Automatic target detection scope with variable magnification
* More powerful than most 5.56 guns
* More accurate than most assault rifles
Downsides:
* Not accurate enough to be called a sniper rifle
* Wears down relatively quickly, have your repair kits ready
* No UBGL
How to obtain:
* Can be bought for 250,000RU from Akim after Old documents: part 4.
* Final reward for Lukash's chain. (might be cheaper, depending on how you obtain fully repaired rifles)
=== Needlegun ===
Silent sniper gun. Can be upgraded for weight at Lanky.
Upsides:
* Decent damage, about 3.5x of the AN-94 "Sniper". Guaranteed to kill even heaviest armored NPCs with one headshot.
* Completely silent; the audible range is zero.
* Great accuracy; this is a true sniper rifle.
* Acceptable rate of fire, which is rare for high-powered rifles in the early game
* Lightweight ammo.
* Variable scope.
Downsides:
* Ammo is relatively expensive.
* Ammo can only be bought.
* No UBGL
How to obtain:
* Freeman's cyclic, which trades a Controller's Scalp for one Needlegun and a stash. Opens after Mercenaries' suitcase. Controller's Scalp can be obtained in the early game either from "A part of every living specie", or for the chain quests by Brom, Dan, or Chemist.
* Veteran-ranked random stashes.
* Lower level of the Labyrinth, next to the [ skeleton] in one of the corridors.
* Ammo can be bought from most vendors, but only Syak, Sidorovich, and Professor Lutsenko in Scientific Station have it cheaper than 300RU per shot.
=== M60 ===
One of the most versatile weapons in the game, with cheap ammo. It's good against practically anything, except maybe turrets, tanky mutants, and distant targets. It can (and should) be upgraded for weight at Lanky.
Upsides:
* Great damage per shot, about 3.5x of a typical 5.45/5.56mm AR. Instead of aiming at the head, you simply mow everything down, including most of the mutants and heaviest armored NPCs (which will take 3 body hits at most).
* Due to the medium fire rate, you can easily fire single rounds, unlike higher RoF full-auto weapons like MG42, conserving ammo.
* Huge magazine/box (200 rounds). You won't ever reload in a fight, or even several fights.
* Good at firing from the hip while standing still.
* Great practical DPS and weight efficiency per damage dealt, comparable to better shotguns.
* Cheap ammo at Akim if you use bulk artifact cooking.
* Ammo obtained in 200-round boxes, so a quest reward of 1 box amounts to 6+ AR magazines.
Downsides:
* Low mouse sensitivity with the M60 drawn.
* Not accurate at all, although it's somewhat mitigated by cheap ammo and the fact you don't need to aim at the head.
* Spread increases as it wears down. Have your repair kits ready.
* Bad at firing while moving. You have to stand still to fire from the hip.
* Relatively heavy compared to most primaries - 7.5kg when upgraded for weight.
* Ammunition is heavy per round as well: about 2.5x the weight of 5.56/5.45mm.
How to obtain:
* Zakhar's Tier 3 fetch cyclic for Biomass Growth ×3. One Biomass respawns in the [ controller ravine] in Darkscape, and the drop rate is 100%. This is the earliest way to have this gun.
* Reward for the Cleaner quest, accessible after the Shut down the Brain Scorcher.
* Dropped by enemies in the following early game quests: Old documents: part 4, Environmental problem, The fallen, Tyrant's PDA, Mercenaries' suitcase, Ashen encounter in Missing expedition
* Dropped by several Monolith machinegunners during the SoC finale
* The easiest source of ammo is Akim's exchange after Disc for Adrenaline. Refer to Game Economy#Machine guns for details.
* Sometimes encountered in Veteran or Master stashes.
=== SVD "Tiger" ===
Semi-automatic sniper rifle that uses the 7.92x57mm ammo. This is one of the two "medium caliber" semi-auto rifle that is rational to use (the other being Needlegun), since the ammo is much cheaper than 7.62x51mm and especially 7.62x54mm. Good weapon if you find early bolt-action .338 rifles too slow to fire.
Upsides:
* High precision
* Reliably kills less armored NPCs with one body hit
* Ammo is abundant and cheaper than most alternatives at this point
Downsides:
* Fixed magnification on the scope
* Noticeable recoil
* Small magazine
* Poor hipfiring accuracy
How to obtain:
* Reward for Fire support, which is accessible after completing Raven Eyes and Gunsmith's blueprints storyline up to the City clearing operation.
** Can also be obtained in Fenrir's lair in Limansk
* Cheapest ammo can be bought from Sidorovich, Vasily, and Syak after Data search: recipes. (170-200RU/shot, 220 rounds/day total)
=== Barrett M98B ===
The first heavy-duty sniper that can be obtained in the game. Can't do much with .338 LM FMJ, but will one-shot armored enemies with body hits when loaded with LM Partition .338. This makes it an indispensable tool for completing the Black Doctor Exoskeleton questline early.
Upsides:
* Extreme range and accuracy
* Adjustable zoom scope
* Magazine size of 10, rare for rifles of this caliber
* Reliably kills armored NPCs with one body hit when used with LM Partition .338
Downsides:
* Extremely slow rate of fire
* Very expensive ammunition, since regular .338 is not quite high enough damage to bodyshot armored targets
How to obtain:
* Complete Spirit house, which requires a Gauss gun and at least 12 gauss cassettes. Prerequisites are making your way to Central Pripyat and completing Perimeter protection for Cap.
* LM Partition .338 can be obtained from Syak at 1080RU per shot before unlocking Eastern Pripyat, and 960RU per shot at Dimak when you're able to see him there.
== Intermediate slot (Shotgun, SMG) ==
=== Winchester 1300 "Chaser" ===
One of the most balanced early shotguns, the go-to option for many in the early game.
Upsides:
* Good per-shot damage
* Good rate of fire and reasonable reloading speed
* Tight spread
* Good range
* Optional scope
Downsides:
* No detachable magazine, loading one by one
How to obtain:
* Reward for Sharpshooter
* Can also be obtained in "Hog's Stash" in Dark Valley as a Named Stash (the chance is minuscule and shouldn't be relied upon)
=== MP-153S "Murka" ===
Almost equivalent to Winchester 1300 "Chaser", but uses the .410 ammo. Has a bit higher damage and an integrated red dot sight instead of the attachable scope.
How to obtain:
* Reward for Find out what happened to the Alexandrych's squad, a quest in the Swamps that involves a huge mutant massacre and searching for the stash with this shotgun after finishing it.
=== Sayga 410 ===
Good semi-automatic shotgun that uses the .410 ammo. Along with MP-153 "Practice", leads the charts in the category of "lightweight damage dealers".
Upsides:
* Great fire rate and DPS
* Detachable magazine, so the reload is fast
* Tight spread, good range
* Accepts a scope
Downsides:
* Relatively low damage per shot
How to obtain:
* Collector's stash Sarcophagus
* Final reward for Dan's chain quests. The chain can be completed early on as all scopes he wants are obtainable from various quests, NPCs, or can be bought at merchants.
=== 9A-91 ===
The only 9x39mm assault rifle for the intermediate slot (the slot for SMGs/shotguns). It's not a sniper, but is precise enough to make aimed shots.
Upsides:
* Fits into the intermediate slot and is the most powerful "SMG" type weapon in the game.
*Can mount a PK-A scope for better accuracy.
Downsides:
* Reloading animation briefly blocks the sight.
*The iron-sights in itself are not that great.
*9x39mm is heavy, as it is a subsonic round.
How to obtain:
* Reward for Wildlife photography
=== Sayga "20" ===
Full-auto shotgun, 12 gauge. Has one of the best DPS values in the game, and at the same time the single shot damage is not too low.
Upsides:
* Almost no recoil
* Crazy DPS
* Good single shot damage
Downsides:
* Low-ish range of 56m.
* Relatively wide spread like most 12ga full auto shotguns
How to obtain:
* Reward for Treaty with the military. You need the following prerequisites to unlock this quest:
** Advance the Gunsmith's blueprints up to the City clearing operation and Artifacts for Dragunov. This is required for Photographer to appear in Undiscovered Land.
** Beat the following storylines: Shadow of Chernobyl, Missing expedition, Search for Ghost, Hunt for Fang's killers, The casket and safe, to unlock the Undiscovered Land transition in Safe cracker.
** Travel to Undiscovered Land and accept Escape from the Zone from Photographer.
== Sidearms ==
=== APS ===
Fully automatic machine pistol chambered in 9x18mm.
Upsides:
* Dishes out excellent damage against unarmored targets and mutants
* Cheap ammunition
* Best accuracy among 9x18mm guns
* Excellent durability, can go through almost a thousand rounds before reaching 95% condition
Downsides:
* Can chew through ammo if you aren't careful with how you use it
* Sights are not the best, hipfiring may offer better visibility
* Recoil can be an issue if trying to be precise
How to obtain:
* One of the stashes in Old documents: part 3
* Buy from Sidorovich for 20000 (50% chance to be in stock each day)
=== TOZ-106 "Short" ===
Short version of the TOZ-106 that has no damage, range, or accuracy loss compared to its long version. Easily acquired at the start of the game.
Upsides:
* High damage per shot ensures targets within a close range will be killed
* Excellent effective range for a shotgun in the sidearm slot, but still lower than most regular shotguns
Downsides:
* Bolt action, leading to low rate of fire and slow reload
* Small magazine (2)
* 20/76 ammunition naturally has a somewhat imprecise spread compared to other loads
*20/76 ammunition is not in any of the ammo pools (i.e., ordinary, good, cool, and rare ammo) for cyclic quests.
**Many cyclics still offer 20/76 ammunition specifically, and 75 shots can be bought per day at Sidorovich at around 160RU per shot
How to obtain:
* Buy from Sidorovich
=== Desert Eagle Mark XIX ===
The earliest hard hitting gun you can obtain.
Upsides:
* Reliably kills the hardest NPCs in one body hit, which significantly upgrades your firefights early on
* Practical range and accuracy is far better than on shotguns, so you can take armored snipers and plagued zombies down from the distance
* Scenery piercing is excellent, can easily kill enemies through trees and other obstacles
* Good at firing from the hip, as it's a pistol
Downsides:
* Ammo is expensive per round (in the same ballpark as shotgun ammo if you are buying it)
* Degrades really quick - have some repair kits ready (about 1 kit per 40 shots)
* Has large recoil.
How to obtain:
* Can be bought from Barkeep for 30000RU after X-18, or for 25000RU after disabling X-16. Not always in stock.
* Ammo can be bought from Suslov at the Swamps for 250RU/round, 60 rounds per day in stock. Note: don't waste the less powerful JHP ammo if you find it, as it (unexpectedly) costs an arm and a leg and is only available in the mid-late game; use the more powerful THV ammo which is cheaper.
== Other guns ==
=== PTRD ===
PTRD is an WWII era anti-tank rifle that is able to one-shot APCs, turrets, and helicopters, practically a must-have weapon. You can upgrade it at Lanky for weight. The only better gun is Fenrir's Cheytac M200, but it's obtained in the very late game, when you don't particularly need it.
Upsides:
* One-shots armored vehicles and turrets, and also junk creatures in Construction Site.
* Extremely accurate, and can take down a turret from across the entire location.
* Ammo is lightweight compared to RPG-7 and RPO-A, it's significantly easier to carry.
* The bullet doesn't get stopped by the foliage, unlike RPG-7 and RPO-A.
* Despite dealing seemingly mediocre nominal damage of 15, in reality it's more powerful due to the explosive damage.
Downsides:
* It's a heavy single-purpose gun, although necessary sometimes. It's good for killing things other than vehicles and turrets, but the lack of the magazine and ammo cost make this impractical.
* Doesn't have a scope, although it's not necessary - just aim down your sniper rifle, quickly switch to PTRD and shoot.
How to obtain:
* Advance the SoC storyline to unlock Central Pripyat
* Find Doctor in The rescue
* Complete Treasure hunter, Miner's book, Doctor's locket, Ray of Light, leading to Rubick's cube. The PTRD can be found in the quest stash during Rubick's cube.
== Artifacts ==
Your artifact set is everything, because all incoming damage is reduced by the artifacts before it even reaches the armor. Having 60% of bullet resistance in artifacts significantly upgrades your survivability in firefights.
Bulletproofing artifacts protect you from bullets, but are radioactive. Radiation removal artifacts remove the radiation, but drain stamina. Stamina regeneration artifacts restore stamina with no negative effects. This combo is what you need in the early game, and the easy sources are described below.
=== Bullet resistance ===
Different tiers of Beads is the most accessible and common source for bullet and explosion resistance in early game:
* Great Grandma's Beads, recipe given for Sidorovich's camp elimination cyclic at Cordon:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Bar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, ATP, and late game locations
** Random stashes from Master-ranked NPCs
** Potential trade for Personal sawed-off BM-16 at Vityok the Raven. Exchange the gun for two Controller hands at him (up to 30 times), then give him the gun back in his other exchange. You have a 1/8 chance to pull out the Great Grandma's Beads. A good strategy to obtain hands early on is to borrow the stash contents in Perimeter defence, replenishing it later during the Controller hunt.
** Potential reward (from the random Tier 2 pool) for numerous quests:
*** Desert Eagle (quest) 
*** The documents from X-10
*** The Blend's flash drive
*** Missing sergeant, if you convinced the sergeant to go back
*** Unusual package
*** Pseudohunting
* Burer's Grandma's Beads, recipe given for Protect the novices camp from the mercenaries:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Bar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, ATP, and late game locations
** Reward for Tails for the Prapor
* Burer's Great Grandma's Beads, recipe is found in a note on the lower level of the Labyrinth:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Radar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, and late game locations
** Wolf's camp elimination cyclic on CNPP-2
** Potential reward for Mercenaries' suitcase (from the random Tier 4 pool)
** Strelok's stash
=== Radiation removal ===
Different tiers of Porcupines is the most accessible way to remove the radiation in the game. Electric Porcupine is the most efficient in terms of effect/weight.
* Porcupine, recipe can be bought from Informant for 100000RU:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Bar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, ATP, and late game locations
** Random stashes from Veteran-ranked NPCs
** Informant's cyclic, fetch Colt M4A1
* Electric Porcupine, recipe can be bought from Informant for 150000RU:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Bar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, ATP, and late game locations
** Potential trade for Personal sawed-off BM-16 at Vityok the Raven. Exchange the gun for two Controller hands at him (up to 30 times), then give him the gun back in his other exchange. You have a 1/8 chance to pull out the Electric Porcupine. A good strategy to obtain hands early on is to borrow the stash contents in Perimeter defence, replenishing it later during the Controller hunt.
** Random stashes from Master-ranked NPCs
** Messer's camp elimination cyclic, tier 3 in X-10
** Sviblov's camp elimination cyclic, tier 2, controller in the boat station
** Potential reward (from the random Tier 2 pool) for numerous quests:
*** Desert Eagle (quest) 
*** The documents from X-10
*** The Blend's flash drive
*** Missing sergeant, if you convinced the sergeant to go back
*** Unusual package
*** Pseudohunting
* Snotty Porcupine, recipe is obtained for Save Messer:
** Can spawn after the blowout on all SoC locations after the Radar; also on Undiscovered Land, Swamps, and late game locations
** Reward for Computer and video radioset
** Reward for News from the messenger
** Potential reward for Mercenaries' suitcase (from the random Tier 4 pool)
** Old documents: part 3
** Strelok's stashes
** Static stash in Pripyat Dungeons
* Stone Porcupine, recipe is obtained for Crazy Stalker's flash drive:
** Devotee's camp elimination cyclic, tier 3 in CNPP-2
=== Stamina regeneration ===
Stamina regen artifacts allow you to sprint indefinitely, which means a lot in this game.
The earliest stamina regen artifacts you can get are two Sparklers and a Flash that can be found inside the [ Electra tunnel] in Cordon. Speak to Doctor for another one, Tears of the Electra.
Collector's stashes provide better source of stamina regeneration. Collector's stash Agroprom 1 provides you with a Snowball, which has +500% stamina regen, and Collector's stash Dark Valley 2 has a Bur, which is another 1000%.
The most powerful stamina regen artifact is Moss, which gives +2000% stamina regen. It should be your primary target. It can be obtained in:
* Collector's stash Central Pripyat 2
* Dan's chain, final reward. His chain is relatively easy as he only wants non-unique weapon scopes. Check the linked page and cyclic quests to see how to obtain them for as little money as possible.
* Adrenaline's one-time cyclic quest; you need the following items for it:
** SKS (buy at Swamps for 18700) or SIG SG-552 "Commando" (obtained for free during Perimeter defence)
** Sawed-off Brauning Auto 5 (buy at Swamps for 13200)
** and HK MP5K-PDW ×10, which is an abundant drop from Rookie-ranked bandits. Start collecting those early on, then repair 10 of them. You'll need 20 donor guns (Walther P99 or any other 9x19mm scrap weapons dropped by bandits will do) and Black Energy ×20 (Sakharov sells those after shutting down the brain in X-16). It can be obtained in full condition from Baldy's tier 4 assassination cyclic, however, you'll still need to source the majority of your guns through repairs.
=== Psi protection ===
Telepathic protection is hugely important as OP-2.2 has plenty of psychic enemies. The basic artifact for psi protection is Symbion. It can only be cooked, and its recipe can be obtained in X-18, in the document inside the control room.
== Melee weapons ==
There are two most frequently used melee weapons in the game: Fight gloves and Crowbar. They allow you to kill most mutants without wasting tons of ammo.
Repairing melee weapons is not worth it, see Item condition and repairs.
Fight gloves can be bought from Akim for 7500RU. They have short reach, but they one-punch most weak mutants. Various bloodsuckers, zombies, fleshes and many others drop easily to the gloves. Always have 2-3 pairs with you, as they're cheap and lightweight.
Crowbar can be bought from Suslov at the Swamps. It weighs 3.5kg and costs 60000RU, but is worth it. It has significantly longer reach and is much more powerful. When it's new, it even kills librarians in one hit. Once it degrades, it's two hits, which is still excellent. The crowbar should almost always be in stock at Suslov, however there's a bug where traders sometimes equip the items they sell, so you may not see it in stock the first time around.
== Other items ==
=== Night vision devices ===
There are three night vision devices in the game.
Standard NVD - low contrast, strong green tint, distortion on the screen. Not advised, but you'll need one anyway, for Night raids.
* Can be bought from Vityok the Raven for 40000RU. (appears in the Dump after stealing the case in Find documents of the military).
* Adrenaline's fetch cyclic, for Crawler Ridge ×4.
* Final reward for Nimble's chain quest which is available very early on.
Interference-protected NVD - average contrast, blue tint, no distortion. You will need this one regardless.
* Buy from Skinflint for 75000RU.
* Reward for Barkeep's artifact fetch cyclic (Stone Porcupine), or Sergey the Shaggy's camp elimination cyclic at CNPP-2.
* Final reward in Hog's chain quest.
Upgraded NVD - no tint or distortion, great contrast, even has some colors.
* Buy for 360000RU from Doctor after Doctor's Buddy or Data search: recipes.
* Buy for 337000RU from Bourbon (appears after The mystery of the Monolith, i.e. finishing the SoC storyline).
*Buy for 225000RU from Dimak after gaining access to Eastern Pripyat in Making the liniment.
*Final reward in Skimpy, Freebie, and Sidorovich's chain quests. 2nd tier reward in Forester's chain quest.
=== Transmutator ===
Transmutator is a handheld device that provides convenient interface for artifact cooking.
* Rewarded for Compromising materials, which is available immediately after completing Jubilee gift.
=== Personal teleporter ===
Teleporter is a device that provides convenient interface for the personal teleports you obtain throughout the game. See Fast travel#Manual teleport for details.
* Found in Kostya's stash, X-10, after finding all previous Kostya's stashes.
=== Computerized binoculars ===
BPOs Binoculars has the computerized targeting feature. It can be further upgraded at Lanky for 100000RU, so it will be able to detect turrets as well. It's the only device in the game capable to do so.
* Can be found at the [ military shelter] at CNPP-1.
* Can be bought from Doctor for 48000-49200RU (43200-44400RU after Data search: recipes)
=== Detectors ===
Dosimeter is a basic radiation detector.
* Rewarded for Night Star (quest)
Artefact detector is able to detect nearby artifacts, as well as display basic anomalies on your minimap.
* Rewarded for Sidorovich's "Debt" in case you buy the scam and pay 70000RU.
* Obtained for Sakharov's artifact fetch cyclic quest, for a Golden chunk, which can be found in the eponymous mission from Ghost: Golden chunk
Hologram's detector is able to detect nearby artifacts and display advanced anomalies on your minimap, which can't be detected by the Artefact detector. It can be obtained after exiting the early game phase:
* Complete Compromising materials.
* Complete the SoC storyline.
* Complete these quests at the Swamps: Captive scout, Unusual controller, Machine gun for Sviblov, Survival lesson, Unusual package.
* Complete the OP-2.2 quests#Missing expedition storyline.
* Complete the OP-2.2 quests#Search for Ghost storyline, and continue Ghost's quests up to the Golden chunk to obtain the CNPP-2 transition.
* Complete the first half of the "Search for the mysterious stalker" questline in Undiscovered Land, up to the Detector assembly. The Hologram's detector will be rewarded for that quest.
Isomorph detector is able to detect artifacts and loose isomorph ammunition nearby and display them on your minimap.
* Reward from Maximilian for Picture of the Monolith.
Ultra artefact detector can detect artifacts across the entire map and display them on both your minimap and PDA. 
* Given by Yuri Semetsky, who hangs around in Limansk after Wanderer. You'll need to give him your Isomorph detector, Norman's Positioner device from the late NS storyline, as well as a Red controller brain, which can only be obtained in two stash quests: Huckster's loot and Invisible stashes: Army Warehouses.
* This detector is only available before Recipe decryption quest in the Sniper questline, so make sure to get it before that point.
* As soon as Semetsky offers the detector to exchange, he becomes killable, so you can miss it accidentally.
=== Typhoon turret ===
"Typhoon" Turret is a 50kg deployable automatic turret which is only able to target mutants and has unlimited ammo. You can carry it anywhere, it has plenty of uses and is very versatile in general. It's a reward for Arnie's Test of pistols.
=== Portable battery charger ===
Portable battery charger is a device that can recharge empty batteries on the fly, using the energy of certain artifacts. It's rewarded for the Lost voltmeter quest which you can get from Winsor after unlocking Construction Site. Refer to the Game Economy#Battery recharging for the details on what it's good for.
=== GPS beacons ===
GPS beacons can track NPCs and vanilla containers on your PDA map. You can put one inside a container and have it marked with a mouseover tooltip listing the contents, so you won't lose your things accidentally. The beacon will also inform you with a message if anything gets stolen. (Rucksacks already contain a beacon by default, and don't need another one!). You can sell a beacon to an NPC and have him marked, which can be useful in escort quests like Escort Kruglov to Yantar or Rescue "Duty" member to watch the NPC you need to protect.
You can get beacons from:
* Most merchants, they sell them for about 1000RU apiece.
* Up to 9 can be taken from cats for free in Cat and mouse.
Always carry a couple beacons with you - they weigh almost nothing and can be surprisingly useful. Never put items in vanilla containers without one, you will inevitably lose your stuff! Don't feel bad about buying them in bulk, you'll need lots for chains and certain missions.