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Selling artifacts is the best way to make money in STALKER 2 — and you can start farming artifacts at any point in the story. You can hunt for respawning artifacts as early as the Lesser Zone, the first region of the game, and start collecting big cash rewards. Check the bartenders at each settlement for artifact requests to increase your cash rewards even more and find the best detectors to make tracking down artifacts a breeze. Artifacts are the lifeblood of STALKER 2, and if you want to farm artifacts, you’ll need the right tools for the job.
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Get The Hilka & Bear Detector
By the middle of STALKER 2 you’ll be able to collect two detectors that make hunting artifact expeditions a whole lot easier. Here’s how to get two of the most useful.
- Bear Detector: A useful detector that shows you exactly how close you are to an artifact. Only detects at short range.
- Earned for completing A Sign of Hope side mission on Wild Island. Go to the exterior lab unit and talk to the NPC Professor Lodochka. Complete his quest through any means to earn the Bear Detector.
The Bear Detector is perfect for hunting artifacts when you know where to find them.
- Hilka Detector: A detector that works like the starting Echo Detector but with far, far greater range. This Detector is extremely useful for farming — equip it and use it to see if new artifacts have spawned in the same locations.
- This is found during The Mysterious Case side mission in the Zotan region. Talk to the Sultan on the large derelict ship settlement. You’ll travel to a tanker ship on the east side of the map. Inside the mobile lab, you’ll find the Hilka Detector on a desk right next to the quest item.
Use the Hilka Detector to spot artifacts from far away, then use the Bear Detector if you can’t find them after getting close. The Hilka Detector is extremely useful and will detector artifacts from extreme range.
How To Get Started Farming Artifacts
Many anomaly locations will spawn specific artifacts — but others will spawn completely random artifacts, and these spawns will reset after two days. Artifacts can spawn almost anywhere and can be completely randomized, so always keep your Hilka Detector out when exploring to spot one.
- Always carry less than 50kg when hunting artifacts. You want to be light so you can sprint between regions of the Zone.
- Use the Hilka Detector to spot artifacts while sprinting around the area, then switch to the Bear Detector (or better) if you can’t find the artifact easily in the search area.
- Artifacts respawn every 2 days or after every Emission event. Emissions begin after you leave the Lesser Zone.
- Check bars for artifact missions. These missions typically pay double or triple price for a random artifact. Finding the artifact can be tricky and usually randomized, so keep the quest active while farming.
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Farming can be done anywhere — and random artifacts spawn in every region. I recommend choosing a smaller region like the Lesser Zone / Cordon for your initial farming. These smaller areas have denser artifact spawns and easier threats to deal with so you can farm safely.
Beginner Artifact Farming Route
Artifact farming can be done anywhere, but one of our favorite early routes is available right at the start of the game. You can safely hit up to 7 locations outside Zalissya base in the Lesser Zone. This is a smaller region, so running to each location is much easier.
- In the Lesser Zone, start from the Pol Depot (northwest corner) — look in the four storage tanks on the east side of the depot. Then sprint east to the North Checkpoint.
- From the North Checkpoint, go further east and south to the Deaf Meadow, located east of the Radiation Hazard SIgns Storage building. Then go south to the Old Mill nearby.
- Next, go southwest to the Ribs — a strange structure south of Zalissya base. Next, go west to the Magnetic Cave near the Boiler House.
- Finally, check the Barge in the far south.
Use the Hilka Detector to spot any artifacts at these locations much, much earlier than normal. It will save you a lot of time
