Should you kill the Shah or Roosevelt in Stalker 2?Here are all the outcomes to your choices in the “King Of The Hill” main quest
Here are all the outcomes to your choices in the “King Of The Hill” main quest
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/GSC Game World
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/GSC Game World
Wondering whether to kill the Shah or Roosevelt in Stalker 2’s “King Of The Hill” quest?This main quest takes place early on in the story, within Garbage - the second major region of the Zone which you explore as Skif. In it, you must gain information from a kingpin called Varan, but first he wants you to do him a favour: kill either of his rivals, the other kingpins vying for control of the region.
One way or another, you need the information that Varan has in order to progress the story. But which is the correct choice? As it turns out, you have more options than you may think. In the guide below, we’ll walk you through what happens if youkill the Shah, Roosevelt, both, or even neither- and which is the best choice for your ownStalker 2playthrough.
Should you kill the Shah or Roosevelt?
When you first speak to Varan, he appears to give you a choice between two options: either you kill the Shah, or you kill Roosevelt. Actually, there are four options you can take in the “King Of The Hill” quest:
I recommend either you kill both the Shah and Roosevelt, or you kill neither of them, and just kill Varan himself. Both these options are good for different reasons. Killing both kingpins takes the longest time, but it also gets you the most loot. Meanwhile, killing Varan is the fastest way to progress the story. What’s more:you will always end up having to kill Varanat the end of this quest no matter which choice you make, so arguably you might as well get it over with quickly.
Let’s go into a bit more detail with each of these choices below, so you can properly decide whether to kill the Shah, Roosevelt, or just Varan.
Option 1: Kill the Shah
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/GSC Game World
Return to Huron and he’ll offer you a sneaky way into the Brood’s lair if you want a sneakier and safer approach. You can choose to take it, or to just go in guns blazing - it’s entirely up to you. There’s a fair few enemies in the main Brood building, including the Shah himself, who wields a shotgun. None of them have any particularly amazing loot on them - just make sure you pick up thatPDA on the Shah’s bodyonce you’re done.
Option 2: Kill Roosevelt
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/GSC Game World
Roosevelt is chilling in his room. Whether you go in loudly or quietly, he’ll go down pretty quick - as will each of his men. Again, there’s nothing of particular interest to loot here except forRoosevelt’s PDA, which you can return to Varan.
Option 3: Kill both the Shah and Roosevelt
If you’re looking for a reason to choose one crime lord over the other, there’s not much I can offer you. They’re both not very nice people, and Garbage could probably do without either of them.
Varanwon’t give you an extra rewardfor killing both his rivals, but then he doesn’t offer you a reward anyway, only an inevitable betrayal. So if you’re inclined to do the region a favour and wipe out both kingpins, all it means for you is a bit more loot - more food,more ammo, more guns. If you’re a completionist, I’d choose this route before returning to Varan.
Option 4: Kill Varan
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/GSC Game World
Whether you decide to kill the Shah, Roosevelt, or both, returning to Varan will always end the same way. He’ll play nice, and tell you to talk to the prisoner in his cell for the information you need. Then, when you go into the cell, you’ll see that the prisoner was dead all along, andVaran will order his men to kill you too.
Because of this, there’s little reason not to simply cut out the middle man in this entire quest, and attack Varan instead of killing his rivals. If youkill Varan immediately, you can loot the key to the cell from his body, and then view the prisoner’s corpse yourself. You’ll have to either kill all his men or escape once you’ve looted the key item from the prisoner’s corpse (the “Unusual PDA”).
It’s a little harder than dealing with either the Shah or Roosevelt, simply because you start the fight in the middle of all Varan’s goons. But you have to go through this part of the quest whatever the case, so it matters little. At least this route finishes the quest as quickly as possible, eh!
That’s all there is to the question of whether to kill the Shah or Roosevelt (or Varan) in the “King Of The Hill” main quest. As with many of the smaller choices in Stalker 2, you end up more or less in the same place whatever you choose, and it’s more about personal preference in the context of the story than anything else. If you’re looking for more key tips and tricks, check out our guides onhow to fast travelandhow to repairandupgrade weapons. Alternatively, you can consult our walkthroughs of other key choices such aswhether to kill Squint, andwho to give the Ward Sensorsback in Zalissya.
