Stalker’s hazardous zones, with environmental anomalies, mutants, and dangerous factions, make survival hard. But there are enough weapons, armor, and artifacts to make the experience enjoyable.
If you are looking for an OP weapon in Stalker 2 that will destroy enemies, then the Gauss Rifle is your choice. As this is such a powerful weapon, it only makes sense that you will get it later in the game. This guide will share the drop location of the Gauss Gun, its stats, and scenarios that best suit its use.
How To Get Gauss Gun Stalker 2 (Most Powerful One Shot Weapon)
You need to unlock the Yaniv Station base to get the Gauss Gun. You go to this base for the first time during the “The Boundary” main quest. During this quest, there is a high chance that enemies may drop the weapon. The mission’s first objective is to “Get to Yaniv Station.”
Go to the Yaniv Station base and complete the dialogue with the in charge of the base. Once the dialogue is complete and you get outside, you will be in a monolith assault. One of the mission’s objectives is to “Fight off the Monolith assault.” This is when you have a high chance of getting the Gauss Gun as a drop from one of the enemies.
Tip: Quick save the game outside the Yaniv Station base radius. 150 meters away from the base should do the trick. If none of the enemies drop the weapon, you can reload the save and repeat the objective. There is a high chance that you will get the weapon on your first try, but rinse and repeat, and you will get the weapon with some luck.
Take cover behind one of the round concrete pipes and remove the enemies individually. You should soon see an enemy with the Gauss gun. Eliminate all enemies, including the one with the Gauss gun, and you can pick up the weapon.
Monolith soldiers in regions beyond Yaniv Station are also known to drop the weapon. So, if luck does not favor you and you simply cannot get the weapon to spawn, focus on eliminating all Monoloith enemies you find, and you will get the Gauss Gun. Some players on the Stalker 2 Discord have claimed to get the weapon from Monolith enemies in the Dusty Cable Tunnel in Yaniv. Monolith soldiers in the Generators Region are also known to drop the weapon.
To get the Gauss gun, try “The Boundary” main quest. If that fails, which has a very low chance, Monolith soldiers in regions beyond Yaniv will drop the weapon.
How to Use the Gauss Gun in Stalker 2
The Gauss gun has all of its stats at max except for the rate of fire, which makes sense since it’s a single-shot weapon, and the reload animation takes time. The best use of this gun is in the open, like any sniper rifle. We can see the clear superiority when we compare the gun’s stats with some of the best weapons. Currently, the Drowned Assault Rifle is considered one of the best weapons in the game, with a damage stat of 1.2; the Gauss has a damage stat of 5.
Drowned has a penetration of 1.1, and the Gauss has 4. Range and accuracy are both maxed with the Gauss.
However, its use is limited to the open, where you can see the enemies from afar. The guns and its slow rate of fire make it a bad choice when enemies are in number and close range. The only caveat of the Gauss is its rate of fire, which is the worst among most weapons in the game, but it makes up for it by having near-max stats on all other parameters.
Another problem with the weapon is the lack of ammunition. You can only use the Gauss Cartridge dropped from enemies carrying the weapon, which is in short supply.
The Gauss’s Magazine capacity is 10 by default; however, you can find mods for it in stashes in the area. One mod that we know of is the High-Capacity Gauss Magazine. With this mod equipped, the Magazne capacity increases to 20.