Stalcraft Meta Guides
Guides to STALCRAFT's game mechanics, step-by-step walkthroughs for builds and weapons, and documentation for every tool on this site.
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Step-by-step walkthroughs for the decisions most players face: a first artifact build, a weapon for your fights, and staying alive in infected areas.
Planning Your First Artifact Build, Step by Step
A step-by-step way to plan an artifact build: choose a goal, pick a container, cover infection, fill the remaining slots by role and check the result, with the mistakes that most often ruin a first build.
Last reviewed
Choosing a Weapon with the DPS Table, Recoil Table and TTK Calculator
How to shortlist STALCRAFT weapons for your playstyle: weapon roles, what time to kill and shots to kill really tell you, how range, ammunition and recoil change the ranking, and how to confirm a choice in the TTK Calculator.
Last reviewed
Infection, Purging and Healing: Staying Alive in the Zone
How infection meters, protections, purges and inner protection fit together, why frost behaves differently, and how periodic healing, health regeneration, healing effectiveness, bleeding and burning interact.
Last reviewed
Game mechanics
How the numbers behind artifacts, armor, weapons, containers and attachments actually combine, with the formulas the site's tools use.
How Artifact Stats Scale: Rarity, Level and Container
Why the same artifact shows different numbers in every build: how the rarity roll, upgrade level and container effectiveness multiply beneficial stats, why downsides follow other rules, and how additional stats unlock.
Last reviewed
Bullet Resistance, Vitality and Effective HP Explained
How bullet resistance and vitality turn into effective HP, how armor-piercing ammo and armor plates change the result, which armor stats grow with upgrades, and how to compare suits by the number that matters in a fight.
Last reviewed
Damage Falloff: How Far Each Weapon Keeps Its Damage
How STALCRAFT weapons lose damage with distance, the typical falloff ranges of each weapon family, how upgrades and ammunition change them, and how to use falloff when choosing a weapon for your fights.
Last reviewed
Containers Explained: Slots, Effectiveness and Inner Protection
How a container changes every artifact inside it: what effectiveness multiplies and what it skips, how inner protection reduces infection, how container modifiers work, and how to compare containers for your build.
Last reviewed
Weapon Attachments and Recoil: What Each Stat Changes
What vertical and horizontal recoil, spread, aim speed and the other attachment stats change, how muzzles, grips and magazines trade one stat for another, and how to pick attachments that suit a weapon's own recoil.
Last reviewed
Tool guides
What each tool on this site calculates, how to use it, how to read its results and what it does not model.
Artifact Optimizer Guide
How the Artifact Optimizer searches artifact combinations, what its goals and calculation modes measure, how infection limits and inner protection work, and how to check its results.
Last reviewed
TTK Calculator Guide
How the TTK Calculator simulates fights, how AVG TTK, AVG STK and the ∞ Fight percentage are calculated, how armor and plates are modelled, and what the simulation leaves out.
Last reviewed
Build Calculator Guide
How the Build Calculator totals a loadout, how artifact scaling, inner protection, EHP and healing are calculated, how Best Upgrade works and what the calculator does not model.
Last reviewed
Recoil Visualizer Guide
What the Recoil Visualizer draws, how the game recoil stats (first-shot multiplier, buildup and its start, horizontal range, stance) are used, which attachment stats it reads and what it does not model.
Last reviewed
Found a mistake?
If a guide disagrees with what a tool shows, or a game update has changed a mechanic, please report it.