Wondering how to boost the load limit in Stalker 2? Inventory management is an critical part of the Stalker series. You can see your current inventory weight in the colored bar below your inventory in Stalker 2, and if you reach any of the colored thresholds you will start overloaded by the weight of all your equipment.
When you are overloaded, your movement speed will be reduced, your stamina will deplete faster, and it will regenerate slower. If you exceed the maximum weight limit (80 kg by default), you will not be able to move until you drop some items from your inventory. This is not a good situation, but fortunately there are ways around it boost load capacityboth temporarily and permanently. Read our guide below to learn all the ways to boost carrying capacity in Stalker 2!
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How to boost the load limit in Stalker 2
There are five ways to boost the load limit in Stalker 2:
- Equip artifacts that boost your carrying capacity.
- Upgrade your armor to boost load capacity.
- Upgrade your equipment to reduce its weight.
- Equip Stalker suits with bonuses up to maximum weight.
- Use Hercules consumables to get a transient weight bonus.
In addition to these tips, you should regularly go through your inventory and throw away what you don’t need, and unload excess equipment at a trade or in a private storage unit to minimize weight. However, if you are still exceeding your weight limit, the above five tips will support you avoid overloading yourself while playing Stalker 2.
Let’s look at each of these strategies in more detail.
Equip artifacts that boost your carrying capacity
You can have up to five slots in your suit to store artifacts you find around anomalies in the Zone, and several of them provide bonuses to your load limit. These artifacts are: Sprint, Flycatcher, Stoneblood and Goldfish. All of them can be found randomly near gravitational anomalies. Sprint and Flytrap have higher weight bonuses, but they also emit more radiation, so be sure to balance them out with RF-protective artifacts like Snail and Mica.
Upgrade your armor to boost load capacity
You can upgrade your gear in Stalker 2 by talking to Tech, and some armor upgrades will boost the load limit when equipped. Not all technicians will be able to work on every piece of equipment, so you may have to visit multiple major settlements before you find one that can do the job, but it’s worth doing if you find yourself hitting your weight limit frequently during missions.
An example of such improvements is Carrying vestwhich can boost your carrying capacity by 10% (from 80kg to 88kg). These upgrades are usually quite costly, but once you get into the mid-game you’ll likely find more than enough coupons to justify the cost.
Upgrade your equipment to reduce its weight
The flip side of upgrading armor to boost load capacity is upgrade all your other equipment to reduce its weight. Most weapons and armor will have an upgrade option that will reduce their overall weight, making them much easier to carry. These upgrades are also generally cheaper than the cost of upgrading your armor for an additional load bonus, so they’re a much more accessible option early on.
Equip Stalker suits with bonuses up to maximum weight
Some Stalker suits have special bonuses that boost the load limit – and in my opinion this bonus makes them some of the most valuable suits in the game. Here are some specific suits that boost the load limit:
- Cuirass exoskeleton (Found in SKD assembly unit, cooling towers): Load capacity +8 kg
- OZK Explorer’s Suit (Found under the Sphere, Minor Zone): +8 kg load capacity
- Wanderer costume (South Marsh Journalist’s Stash): +8 kg load capacity
Use Hercules consumables to get a transient weight bonus
The final option is to operate the Hercules drug to temporarily boost your carrying limit. Don’t bother with this option just because it’s transient. Take one of these drugs and add 20 kg to your maximum weight for 10 minutes. This is a very decent boost in cargo capacity, and is enough to make traveling much easier when you’re at the end of a loot-filled trip.
The Hercules medicine can occasionally be found everywhere, especially by looking in chests and medical facilities. You can also trade with medics in larger settlements to see if they have a spare Hercules lying around.
We hope this guide has given you some options when it comes to managing your inventory and increasing your maximum load limit in Stalker 2. For more guides like this, check out our guides on how to speedy travel, how to get more ammo, how to repair equipment and how to operate screws.
