The Stalker Faction Tier List | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly, EFP and GAMMA

Hey, In this video I rank all the factions from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly including both the EFP and GAMMA mod pack. Please give any feedback either live while I'm streaming or in the comments. Thank you and enjoy the video.

00:00 - Intro
00:41 - Loner
01:31 - Bandits
02:10 - Clear Sky
02:51 - Duty
03:35 - Freedom
04:09 - Mercenary
04:46 - Military
05:09 - Ecologist
05:39 - Monolith
06:14 - Renegade
06:37 - Sin
06:58 - UNISG

[velkrovx-shitposting]

When you play the living legend story line as a mercenary, you actually do become allies with the loners once you disable the brain scorcher.

[frxstbite]

The Renegade, Sin, and UNISG factions can be unlocked legitimately in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly by completing all 3 of the quest-lines in the story mode. Renegades are unlocked first after reaching the CNPP and assisting Strelok, then the Sinners next after Mortal Sin is completed and the faction is cleared out, finally the ISG is unlocked by completing Operation Afterglow and receiving any of its endings. It is a long and difficult process beating the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly story mode but personally I found these factions to be a fun and satisfying reward for finishing the game.

[vladimirvojtaml]

I'd rate Mercenaries as S tier because they can get both NATO and Warsaw pact weapons. Also main base is in the best central location of Dead City. On the map and you've got other bases as allies. Also doing the Living Legend and turning off the brain Scorcher makes you neutral to loners which is extremely useful. I recommend heading to swamps to farm a little and do a part of Clear Sky storyline for good easy start.

[purest_evil]

Playing Monolith or bandit is fun, just going to war with everybody, doing hits and making it a game of just how many enemies you kill in a day

[michelleobamagaming]

I started with Clear Sky, then I did Loner, and then Bandit. I can say, Bandit is so fun. When you're bandit, you're justified in shooting just about everyone, and your friends with some good factions like Merc and Freedom. The other thing is, you're right next to Garbage, which is the greatest and most entertaining excuse for an area. It's really just an arena where you snipe everyone. But the one of the best parts is disguises. Disguising and doing all the missions, and eventually betraying everyone felt so evil yet so rewarding.

[shadedergu]

Honestly, every complaint about ecologists you had goes away if you aren't playing gamma because trading exists and it lets you get the best gear from each faction really easily and early

In Base Anomaly they are phenomenal for that.

In Gamma though; the lack of trading indeed makes it tougher

I do also love doing a befriend everyone Ecologist run, where I max every reputation and then use disguises to befriend Bandit (but not Monolith, you have to wish for Immortality at the wish granter for that, but as of 1.5.1 you retain your faction and relations in doing so) to the point where they wont attack me anymore. It is fun to be able to stroll the zone, watch people shoot at each other, and dust off my shoulders and continue with my day as nobody messes with me; not like anyone would want to in base anomaly though since I'd be packing my selection of each faction's best gear due to being rich and the "Zone's favorite stalker".

It also does help to not have some random AI notice you and snipe you when you are busy fighting a mutant in Gamma Ironman runs; so they still have strengths in Gamma Ironman when it comes to not getting shot left and right.

That and my RPG gaming brain goes when I open the faction relations and see 3000s across the board at the end of an Ecologist run

Edit: In short; I would put Ecologist at God tier in Anomaly Basegame (and any modpack that allows trading) because an experienced Ecologist can have everyone's best firepower, meds, stalker allies, artifacts, and funding to spare.
In Gamma or any modpack without trading I would put them at F Tier for equipment but A or S for everything else cause it helps to have friends in ironman instead of enemies, yes you wont be gearing up as quickly, but your odds of having an early restart are drastically lower.
This is ignoring story mode where they are of dire importance to the story and canon of STALKER (Strelok is an Ecologist now after all, and they are receiving increased funding as the franchise continues and they see more success), don't fuck with the boys that almost every faction would protect.

[Skuttlems]

Ecologist's play style is really disrupted by the inability to buy weapons and armor in Gamma. When I played them in base anomaly I enjoyed doing artifact quests, mutant hunts, retrieving data, etc. Then I would cash in the roubles made from those to get better equipment. Without that ability they just feel really slow to progress, which is unfortunate because I like that their armors are so uniquely catered towards anomaly protection, allowing access to more dangerous anomaly fields earlier.

[unitednagger]

Recently, I played as Freedom guy and found a funny thing. You can abuse rescue missions from stalkers in Cordon. Since followers counts as member of player faction in GAMMA you can just recrute prisoner and bandits dont really mind it. Also since Cordon is very safe its pretty nice free cash grab at early game.(if we ignore that you can just take safari mission and take down bandits)

[BalborValis]

If you start as a loner I find ecologists are a good faction to join late game once you have finished the Brain Scorcher mission, and defiantly once you finish the main quest line as it makes sense story wise.

[jimmysgameclips]

Interesting = visiting all the underground areas.

You absolute madman lol. I fear just thinking about it.

Excellent video. Tempted to do a disguise run as a bandit

[ale]

i started as an ecologist and spent most of my time snagging artifacts and killing mutants in the early game. unfortunately i lacked access to decent weapons and armor during the mid game and found myself having to fight off monolith with nothing but a sawed off shotgun 💀! i EVENTUALLY got lucky and found some decent gear but DAMN!

[-redacted]

Thank you for doing this vid, i have been pretty scared of doing anythingother than loner and clear sky runs. But now i feel more confident in doing other factions. (Also, i love your proto)

[xXRealXx]

The ecologist faction doesn't deserve to be in F tier. It's better than the Renegades

[sprypry]

I disagree with F for renegades

It's practically the exact opposite of ecologists, meaning you are able to kill almost anything and can progress relatively quickly

It's definitely harder for a newcomer but it doesn't mean it's a bad faction to play as.

[bloodwriter]

I opened a fun mechanic on my UNISG run: because of everybody was hostile to me, I often use merc disguise and do quests for other factions just for the good rewards and some bonuses from stashes. When I turn off brain scorcher loners become friendlies with UNISG, but fun stuff comes later: I get to Yantar region pretending to be a clear sky dude and slept in the bunker. When I wake up I got a notification that my identity was revealed and there was “He’s a bloody spy! Shoot him lads!” Notification. I quickly draw my weapon and get ready to run away with hard fight just to notice that loners, ecologists and clear sky doesn’t attack me. Idk how much reputation you need to make faction stop attacking you on sight, but after a few cheeky manipulations and a lot of quests I was able to walk everywhere without fear. Every faction was friendly to me. Renegades, monolith and sin were still hostile, but it’s fine. When you do quests for hostile faction - you don’t get rep reduce for other hostile factions and no rep reduce for friendly factions, so it was very easy grind. Idk, maybe if you get max rep at hostile faction they will become friendlies with your whole faction?

[TheSlyFawkes]

I'm going to have to disagree with your ranking of Ecologist, to me they are the best starting factions for an Invictus run (which is one of the hardest things to do) and has been the faction I have done so on twice now; here is my reasoning:

1)Location: Being able to spawn in Yantar and have quick and easy access to Military (Agroprom) allows you to get your rep up with them fairly quickly as you can bounce between doing missions for them in Agroprom and the Military checkpoint south of Cordon; Netting you a "quick" grind to the Military Nosorog armor in Anomaly and/or good weapons. If you prefer the Merc Nosorog then you start a short journey south of Dead City (once you get Psi-Helmet); Duty isn't far either.

2)Threats: In the video you mentioned that one of the main ways to get loot in STALKER is to loot the bodies of other stalkers but in ANOMALY and its Mod packs the quality of gear you get from stalkers is greatly diminished and by the time you head more up north the amount of hostiles you encounter as an Egghead is increased as Monolith, Bandits, Sin, and lots of Zombified can be found the further north you go dropping better gear than you would be getting south. On top of this you only really have to worry about Bandits in the early game which greatly increases your odds of survival in the slower said early game.

3)Starting Loadout: Arguably some of the best starter options to pick from, even on the hardest difficulty; In GAMMA you can get a Kar98 which is fairly strong early on and ammo is common; You'll get the ability to buy scientific outfits, but never get access to amazing combat gear from leveling your Ecologist factions rep up, but that's why Military is right next door and you spend most your time and effort leveling their rep up while having the safety of being an Egghead to move around the rest of the zone.

4)The swap: Once you get further North and are fairly geared, being allied with so many factions gives you the ability to change factions between whoever you feel would benefit you most in your play through.

All in all I think you rated Ecologist fairly harshly for some pretty moot points that are easily mitigated even on the hardest difficulty.

[Teyovio]

Oh dear, that gameplay looks awesome, i just lately entered midgame in call of pripyat...

Video was good and informative, cant wait to see some more!

[Quirktart]

When i played through GAMMA I started as a loner and did all the important southern map stuff as a loner, like getting the psy helmet and going through the underground areas, then once I felt like i didn't need to travel through the southern half anymore i joined freedom and it made the northern half much more bearable.

[papabear]

as massive fan of duty i totally agree with your list, great work.

[TheWanderer]

Clear Sky is the best starter faction by a longshot: Location, supply unlocks, money, artifacts and starting gear(after that quest). Not as powerful as Duty. But can still utilize Duty later on.