STALKER 2 Mutants: How to Fight Each One

The fast pack hunters

Blind Dog / Pseudodog — circles and lunges. Shotgun, pistol, or short automatic bursts; keep backing toward open ground. Pseudodogs create confusing duplicates: do not dump ammo on the fake, watch movement and hit the real body when it commits.
Flesh — bulky herd mutant that charges when threatened. Keep distance, sidestep the charge, finish with buckshot or rifle fire.
Boar — direct charger with high impact damage. Strafe at the last moment and shoot after it misses; avoid tight brush.
Snork — leaps to close gaps. Track the jump, dodge sideways, punish the landing with a shotgun.

Bloodsucker — cloaked ambusher that appears briefly before striking. Listen for the low breathing and water-splash audio; stand near a solid obstacle so it can only come at you from one side; when it decloaks within a few meters to bite, side-step and fire 12-gauge slugs or 9×39 AP into the exposed mouth. Keep bandages ready — its hits cause bleeding. (Some guides cite a specific mouth weakpoint multiplier; treat that as a single-source estimate, not confirmed GSC data.)
Chimera — apex predator that circles at speed and launches long pounces. Never fight it in open terrain; sprint 90 degrees perpendicular to its jump vector as it leaves the ground, then turn and unload armor-piercing fire into the secondary head. Climb or use hard cover.

Controller — attacks through telepathic pulses that disorient from range. The moment you hear the piercing ringing, break line of sight behind concrete or a ridge to abort the charge, then push aggressively and kill it before the mental pressure stacks. A PSZ-9d helmet and a Nightstar artifact help; psi-blocker tablets before underground labs are common practice.
Burer — small humanoid that shields itself and telekinetically throws your gear or objects. Wait out its shield, use cover, and shoot during openings. If it steals your weapon, recover it fast — losing firepower is the real danger.
Poltergeist — invisible, throws objects and elemental attacks. Locate the distortion, stay mobile, and shoot the visible core when it exposes.
Psy-dog — illusion-based canine swarm. Stay calm, avoid wasting ammo, focus the actual attacker.

Pseudogiant — massive tank with shockwave attacks and huge health. Keep maximum distance, use explosives and armor-piercing fire, and exploit terrain. Avoid entirely if under-equipped.
Bayun — rare cat-like mimic that ambushes. Do not chase blindly; hold a defensible position and react to movement or sound.
Rat Swarm — clustered low-angle pressure. Grenades, automatic fire, or reposition before they surround your feet. The broader rule: shotguns for anything that rushes you, rifles for mutants you can safely kite at mid range, grenades for swarms or slow heavies, and hard cover against psychic enemies. Pair this with the right weapon for the job and the survival habits that keep you alive between fights.