How weapon durability and upgrades work in STALKER 2

Your weapons are the biggest lifeline you have in STALKER 2, where every encounter can be exceptionally challenging. You can increase your chances of survival have having weapons with high durability, and with a number of upgrades on your gear.

The durability left on a weapon determines how effective it is in combat, and how much longer you can use it. Although a weapon’s durability can be repaired, knowing when to switch it out for something else is important. If you enjoy using a particular weapon, it also helps to invest in upgrades to improve it, giving you an edge against any foe you encounter while exploring the Zone. Finding these upgrades and knowing how to get them is a challenge. Here’s what you need to know about how weapon durability and upgrades work in STALKER 2.

How to repair weapon durability in STALKER 2

When viewing any weapon or gear piece in your inventory, hover over it to examine its durability value. The more you use this item and the more often you get hit or take damage in STALKER 2, the more durability it loses. Eventually, the item will break, negating its overall quality. Before an item breaks, a yellow shield icon appears next to it, indicating you might want to put the item away. If you continue to use it, though, the item turns red and you barely get any value from the item anymore.

After an item has the red shield icon, it’s time to take it to a technician. These are similar to trades in bases throughout the small towns and settlements in STALKER 2. You can find where they’re operating in a town by locating the wrench icon on your map or looking for the screwdriver and wrench symbol outside a building.

The technician can repair any item you bring them. But the lower the durability rating on the weapon or gear piece, the more costly it becomes. You should try to bring in your gear when it reaches the yellow symbol or expect to spend a lot of coupons to get an item fully repaired.

How to get weapon and armor upgrades in STALKER 2

When you want to improve an existing weapon or gear piece, speak to the technician and click any small highlights on the preview window. These open up specific upgrades the technician can work on and immediately apply to the item. These upgrades are costly, and you can see how much you need to spend before you confirm a purchase.

Thankfully, these upgrades do not require tracking down specific resources or items to present to the technician. Instead you only need to spend a certain amount of coupons before applying the upgrade. However, there are normally several upgrades on a specific part. You need to start with the more basic ones before you grab the higher-tier choices, which cost more coupons.

Many weapons or gear pieces might have multiple upgrades available for a specific slot at the end of the list, but this means you need to pick and choose the ones you want to apply. You may have to choose one over the other, where they offer certain benefits, and those might adhere to your playstyle and how you like to use the weapon in STALKER 2.

After you confirm upgrading a weapon, if you leave the technician upgrade menu, you cannot undo the choice. You have to proceed with it. However, you can undo an upgrade if you’re still in the technician menu and you have not confirmed another upgrade choice. This is the only time to remove this choice and get your coupons back. You might want to start with the smaller upgrade choices before fully upgrading a weapon, especially if the weapon or gear piece is new. You might find better ones as you continue to explore and complete missions.