STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl's setting, the most unique aspect of its gameplay. Caused by the radiation emitted throughout the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, anomalies comprise a litany of unusual events: strange weather phenomena, things appearing out of thin air, or violations of the laws of physics. They waver between funny and disturbing, but without fail, all anomalies can be deadly.

Those familiar with STALKER 2 also introduces various new anomaly types you'll need to watch out for. Thankfully, every anomaly has a solution. Here's how to deal with them.

Every Anomaly In STALKER 2 & How To Defeat/Avoid Them

Springboard

Springboards are the earliest and likely most common anomaly you'll encounter in STALKER 2. They look like shimmering spheres, usually suspended a short distance off the ground. If you walk into one, it'll push you back, cutting off a healthy chunk of HP. Springboards can either be disrupted by throwing bolts into them, or simply sidestepped.

Press Tab to open the weapon wheel and select bolts. Left-click to toss one gently, or right-click for a farther, more powerful throw.

Fruit Punch

Fruit Punch is the cutesy name given to the bright green pools of acid that appear throughout STALKER 2's map. If you walk into them, they'll deal damage for as long as you're standing there; walk out, and the damage will cease. There's no way to disrupt Fruit Punch, so just walk around it, jump over it, or heal through it.

Standing near Fruit Punch for too long may cause your radiation meter to tick up, which can become an issue over time. Make sure you have an alcoholic beverage (preferably vodka) available in your inventory - to neutralize the radiation, of course.

Whirligig & Vortex

Whirligigs and Vortexes are easily recognized - they resemble real-life dust devils, kicking up small piles of leaves in a whirlwind spiral. Step into one of them, and you'll be momentarily pinned down as the wind swirls around you. Whirligigs and Vortexes deal a fair bit of damage, and can be stopped with a bolt. Most of the time, though it's easier just to keep an eye out for them and try not to walk directly into one.

Ball Lightning

These floating orbs of pure electricity are unlike most other anomalies in that they move around, albeit along a set path. With Ball Lightning, you'll just need good timing - wait until it es by to run through its path.

Glass Shards

You'll probably hear a Glass Shards anomaly before seeing it. They appear as arrays of sharp, pointed pieces of glass hovering in the air, and make a faint but distinct ringing sound not unlike the tone you get when dragging a wet finger around the rim of a crystal glass. If you try to walk through one, you'll start bleeding, which doesn't deal much damage in the short term but can lead to a pretty major decrease in HP over time. Again, your only means of avoiding these anomalies is to sidestep them.

Burners & Comets

Burners are some of the easiest anomalies to recognize, appearing as small jets of fire poking out of the ground. When you walk up to them, they'll spurt upwards in a jet of fire. Again, just try to avoid these when you come across them.

Comets look like larger versions of Burners at first glance, but they're significantly more dangerous because the jets of fire they create will follow you like a homing missile. If one starts targeting you, pick a direction and run as fast as you can; they're pretty slow, and it should be easy enough to get out of range.

Electro

Electro anomalies work exactly like Burners, except they deal damage with electricity instead of fire. You'll just have to walk around them.

Bubbles

These anomalies appear as large clusters of floating bubbles that drift towards the player. When hit with a weapon or a bolt, a larger bubble will burst into smaller ones that deal poison damage. Keep your distance, and continue throwing bolts at them until they disappear completely.

Flashbang

Flashbangs descend on you suddenly in a blinding flash of light. You only have a few seconds to run away before they explode, dealing damage relative to your proximity to the blast. When you see one, turn in the other direction and start running.

Bulba

The Bulba anomaly manifests as a large, wavering bubble, usually hovering over a body of water. Get within your range, and it'll start sucking you inwards, dealing damage the whole way (and quite possibly dragging you through irradiated water). The only cure is to start running away from it; if you ever enter the bubble itself, you'll die instantly. However, you'll usually be able to escape before that happens - usually.

And those are all the anomalies you're most likely to see during your journey throughout the Zone. While dangerous, learning to navigate anomalies is also a necessity, as they're often located near valuable artifacts. Therefore, understanding how to recognize, identify, and deal with them is an important part of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.