All factions in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl explained

Stalker 2 (stylized as S.T.A.L.K.E.R) is full of different factions you’ll meet throughout your time in The Zone, and we’ve got all the details about them below.

The Zone of Alienation surrounding Chornobyl is one of the most foreboding settings in any game. Stalker 2 is full of weapons to collect, and choices that will impact your ending. Factions are also a big part of the game, and you’ll meet all sorts of groups from ruthless mercenaries to strange cults.

These organizations and loose coalitions vie for control of the unique resources in the Zone as they attempt to survive, and even thrive, in the face of unimaginable misery. If you’re looking for a detailed rundown of each group, we’ve got you covered.

Which factions are in Stalker 2?

There are a total of 12 factions in Stalker 2, and we’ve got a breakdown of them all below:

Faction	Main Base	Leader
Bandits	Yanov/Zaton	Sultan/Jack/Shishak
Duty	Bar Agroprom	General Voronin
Ecologists	Lake Yantar Yanov	Prof. Sakharov Prof. Hermann
Freedom	Dark Valley Rostok	Mikluha
The Loners	Cordon Zaton Pripyat	Beard (Zaton)
Mercenaries	Unknown (rumored to be Dead City)	Various
The Military	N/A	Supreme Commander-In-Chief (The President of Ukraine)
Monolith	Pripyat Sarcophagus Monolith Control Center	C-Consciousness
Noon	Wild Island	Strider
Spark	Unknown	Scar
SIRCAA	North Perimeter	Ukrainian Government
Ward	North Perimeter	Unknown

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl factions explained

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Bandits

The Bandits are a loose group of criminals and nefarious actors who find themselves in The Zone for anything from finding rare resources to sell to hiding from the law. Though they haven’t historically been the main antagonists in any Stalker game, they are always highly aggressive secondary threats that players should regularly encounter.

Duty

Duty are a paramilitary group of Stalkers who operate within a rigid code that defines the actions of those within. Their overall goal is to destroy the Zone and protect mankind by addressing its most immediate dangers in the meantime.

Some rumors suggest that they receive government funding, and are easily one of the most powerful factions. Their attitude towards Free Stalkers varies from game to game, but they are usually somewhere between distrusting and downright aggressive.

Ecologists

The Ecologists operate under the direct instruction of the Ukrainian government, focusing on researching and understanding the anomalies within the Zone. Their main goal is to use their discoveries in new technologies for the betterment of mankind, rather than restoring the area to its former normality.

Due to their scientific mission, they don’t pose much danger to the player. That said, if they continue to research antigravity, gene modification, and teleportation as they are, they could quickly become a threat to the entirety of humanity.

Freedom

As the name suggests, Freedom is a group of primarily Free Stalkers who operate illegally within the Zone. They are anarchic in their aims, as they hope to keep the area out of the hands of government groups to maintain the relative freedom it offers.

The Loners

Often also known as Free Stalkers and Neutral Stalkers, Loners is the name given to any Stalker who doesn’t count themselves as part of a faction. Without much of an ideological purpose, these individuals scour the Zone for valuable resources, equipment, and artifacts to sell to a third party.

The player often fills this role across the Stalker series, and a lot of these individuals feature as major characters.

Mercenaries

Armed to the teeth and without much in the way of empathy, Mercenaries are a massive danger to the player while exploring the Zone. It’s not known who these private military contractors are working for, but they’re willing to cut through anyone to achieve their goals.

Highly clandestine and secretive in their operations, they are almost a myth at this point in the series. A boogeyman to scare even the most experienced Stalker into hiding.

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The Military

As is to be expected when a national crisis occurs, the government sends in the military to keep things under control. Working directly for the Ukrainian government, they work to keep people out of the Zone, and its most dangerous creatures in.

They enforce their control over the area with lethal efficiency, usually killing those they find in the course of their patrols.

Monolith

Perhaps the strangest and most mysterious faction in Stalker, the Monolith is a quasi-religious cult that attack anyone outside of the organization on sight. Their central belief is that an alien crystal that gives the group its name is waiting to be found somewhere in the Chornobyl area.

Those who frequent the Zone consider members of this group to be genuinely unstable and will never approach unless they are actively looking for a fight.

Noon

Connected to the Monolith, Noon is made up of those for whom the brainwashing of the religious cult failed.

The members of Noon all broke free from the cult at some point, and are therefore direct enemies of the Monolith faction.

Spark

Led by Scar, the protagonist of Stalker: Clear Sky, Spark is a new faction that debuted in Stalker 2.

Scar works closely with player character Skif to discuss the goings-on in the Zone, and his faction is in direct conflict with both SIRCAA and The Ward.

SIRCAA

The official scientific research arm of the Ukrainian government, SIRCAA functions similarly to the Ecologists but with a bigger budget and more extensive purview. Headed up by Doctor Dalin, the group is alleged to have engaged in cover-ups and human rights breaching experiments.

The Ward

Led by the highly experienced Colonel Alexander Korshunov, The Ward is another new faction in Stalker 2. They’re led by Colonel Korshunov and are heavily armed as they guard The Zone to keep it safe.

Can you join Factions?

While you can’t specifically join a Faction in Stalker 2, you can work with them and increase your reputation. The more jobs you do for a faction, the higher your reputation will be with that group.

It’s important to keep in mind that failing missions or killing any members of a faction will greatly lessen your reputation, however. The faction may become aggressive, or potentially increase their trading prices to price you out of certain services and resources.

Those are all the Factions you’ll meet in Stalker 2! For more on the game, check out our guides for whether you should give the Icon to Pomor or Mityay, if you should give the Ward Sensor to Richter or Captain Zotov, Lesser Zone stash locations, how to find Nestor’s Stash, and whether or not you should kill Shah or pay Varan.