The Price Goes Up quest in Stalker 2 will have players exploring the central Garbage zone in hopes of tracking down Nestor, one of the bandit leaders who is supposedly behind the hit on them early on. It's a fairly lengthy mission that involves a lot of running around, and depending on where you go, you might have an easier or harder time.
In this mission, you'll be making contact with the Loners of the Slag Heap, a new town area with plenty of money making potential in Stalker 2. However, we're here for information, and to get it, we'll need to find the Slag Heap technician and work with whatever leads he can offer.
Stalker 2 Too Dark? Here are the Best Brightness Settings
Discover the best brightness settings to enhance visibility while preserving the immersive atmosphere of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
Stalker 2: Slag Heap Technician Location
You should be able to see the Slag Heap itself marked by a quest marker on your map. Enter the compound, and look for the door pictured above. Go through it and once you pass the corridor, head to the door on the right. The Slag Heap technician, Diode, will be in the room.
Like other technicians, Diode can upgrade and repair your gear in Stalker 2. More importantly, he's the guy you need to talk to in order to progress the quest. He'll tell you to go to his old workshop and look for clues about Nestor there.
Where to Find Diode's Workshop in Stalker 2
Diode's Workshop is southwest of the Slag Heap. Follow the quest marker until you reach the area pictured above. Once you approach the perimeter, balls of weird plasma will start forming and exploding in front of you. You can easily avoid them by taking a few steps back, but be careful not to step into another anomaly.
The door to the inner workshop will be locked by a locked door, and you need a keycard to open it. To get inside, look for a broken column outside the workshop. Hop inside, break the wooden planks, and drop down. Head inside until you see a hall full of anomalies. Trigger the anomalies with your bolts, and rush toward the scanner in the middle of the room. Turn it off, and the anomalies will disappear.
In this room are a couple of dead bandits. Loot them to find the workshop keycard. One of the bodies also has a flash drive containing mod schematics for the Integral A SMG. After getting the keycard, this part of the mission will be marked as complete, and you'll be asked to return to Diode.
How to Unlock Pig Farm Stash Door in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
This guide will help players unlock the door and loot the stash at STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s Pig Farm, a location in the Cordon region.
Stalker 2: The Price Goes Up - Nestor's Stash Location
After speaking with Diode, he'll give you the coordinates to Nestor's Stash. It's on the large crane on the hill next to the Slag Heap, but since the mounds of garbage on the hill are heavily irradiated, you'll have to find another way up. No amount of artifacts or radiation resistance this early in the game will save you from the angry piles of trash on this hill.
To reach Nestor's Stash, go up the scaffolding on the image above. Jump onto the fallen pillar next to the fire pit, then head up to the hill. Then, look for the white mini-bus next to some barbed wire fences. This will lead you to a cave that's pretty straightforward — enter the cave, and follow the linear path upward. You'll eventually reach the top of the hill.
Here, you'll see Richter singing and dancing on top of the broken crane arm. Approach him, and once the two of you are done talking, head to end of the crane to find Nestor's stash, which should contain a flash drive pointing you toward the Digsite and the Labyrinth.
Should You Go to the Digsite or Labyrinth?
The quest branches from here. You can go to either of these locations and encounter two different scenarios. The Digsite will have you fight against an interesting psychic mutant, while the Labyrinth will have you fighting off a swarm of mutant rats and some bandits. The latter is much harder and more taxing on resources compared to the former, but it's also more profitable.
The Digsite
Head to the marked area on your map, and look for this shed-like building to find yet another extremely dark cave. Inside it is a mutant called a Buer, which has the ability to use Telekinesis. It can block your shots with a force field and shoot at you with discarded guns from the environment. A few grenades and some buckshot to the face should get rid of the Buer quickly. Once you see it, immediately retreat to the previous tunnel until the shooting stops.
Deeper into the cave will be a wounded man named Kiddo. Heal him, and he'll tell you about a man named Varan inside a location called the Plant. Go to the Plant's location as marked on your map, and the Price Goes Up quest will end.
The Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is a small maze of wrecked vehicles northwest of the Slag Heap. As soon as you come near the maze, a large swarm of mutated rats will start attacking you. Deal with them however, and press on. What you're looking for here is a van with multiple radiation hazard signs around it — specifically, the two corpses in front of it.
As soon as you interact with one of the corpses, a gang of bandits will ambush you. Immediately dash toward cover, try your best not to die. Headshots will instantly kill these guys (depending on what weapon you're using), but if you're having trouble hitting them in the face, aim for the upper chest or neck, and fire in short bursts. The recoil should kick your weapon up to the enemy's head.
After the shootout, loot all the bodies, and return to the corpses in front of the van. One of them should have a flash drive that will once again lead you to Varan and the Plant. Before you leave, check inside the van to find some free Artifacts that you can use or sell for some quick money. From here, you can head straight to the Plant and start the follow-up quest: Deal with the Devil.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- Released
- November 20, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- GSC Game World
- Publisher(s)
- GSC Game World
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter, Open-World, Post-Apocalyptic, Survival
