Among the challenging main quests in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, "King of the Mountain" is one of the more difficult ones. Many players encounter difficulties in this quest and don't know how to break through. Do you also feel confused and helpless in the main quest "King of the Mountain"? Don't worry, we will bring you a guide right away.

As part of the main quest, Diod, the technician at the Junk Heap, will naturally give you this quest. To get more clues about the disappearance of the Junk Heap leader, he points you to a local rival gang - Varan and his gang.

Go to the factory

Varan and his gang can be found at the factory, south of the garbage dump.

While they look like bandits, they are not hostile when you arrive, and you can safely walk in and talk to their leader.

Talk to Varan

Varan will explain that he has a member imprisoned who attacked you, and that you can "interrogate" them, but only if you do him a favor. From here, you have four choices:

Pay 20,000 vouchers

Kill the rival gang leader Shaha

Killing rival gang leader Roosevelt

Attack on Varan

Chances are you don’t have 20,000 vouchers to spend, and even if you do, we don’t recommend choosing this option.

Should you kill Shah or Roosevelt?

From a plot perspective, this choice doesn't seem to make much difference, and you can freely choose to kill Shah or Roosevelt without any consequences.

Between the two, choosing Shahar is the easier mission. You can go directly to his hideout, while going to Roosevelt requires going back to the garbage dump to get information, which takes more time, but is a similar experience.

How to kill Shaha

Shaha and his gang "The Hive" are located west of the garbage dump, marked as "The Hive" on the map. They are all hiding in the northwest corner of the area, either inside the main building or in the area outside the building.

There is an observation tower on the north side of the area that overlooks their hideout. This is a good vantage point from which to engage in combat. The enemies will be immediately hostile upon first encounter, so be prepared for a tough gunfight.

There are some anomalies in the east of the "Insect Nest" area that will erupt magma. You can check here to see if there are any special relics.

The real answer: Don't kill either.

Once you get the Personal Assistant Device from the rival gang leader, Varan will ask you to see their prisoner. Sadly, this prisoner, as well as Lieutenant Mestreyanko, the leader of the Junk Heap you were originally sent to find, are already dead.

Be sure to take the "abnormal PDA" from the corpse, which will advance the progress of the main quest and play an important role in multiple subsequent interactions.

This actually marks the end of the mission to occupy the mountain and become the king, and also heralds the beginning of the next mission.

You will be confronted by Varan, who will order his men to kill you. You can survive by hiding in rooms and slowly defeating them.

Since you'll eventually have to fight Varan, attacking him directly upon first meeting can prevent you from having to deal with Shahar or Roosevelt. Doing this is the quickest way, the only downside is that you lose out on potential loot from the bodies of rival gangs.