This guide was created with a new player in mind and was kept to a bare minimum of spoilers possible.

My builds are not absolute "this is how you should do it" and more of a working framework presented that can't go wrong if you follow them.

The guide is out on Neoseeker.
https://www.neoseeker.com/atom-rpg-trudograd/walkthrough

Stats:

Strength = 6. No more, no less. More on that later.
Endurance = 8. You can get away with 6 of even 4 with drug use for hard fights, but I wouldn't advise it as it will make your early-game needlessly hard and random encounters more dangerous.
Dexterity = Always 10
Intellect = Preferably 10 for faster power gain. In the long run 8 will be enough if you want more Attention and Luck or would prefer Morphine Doctor.
Attention = 6 will get you most checks you would care about. 7 will get most everything.
Personality = 1
Luck = Spare

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.
Technophobe. For Int 10 characters. All tinkering you really have to do can be done with 2 Ciggys and a Magnifying Glass. Max technology you will need is 80 + a toolbox for a combined 100. Effectively you pay a level for 2 Stats. Not too bad.
Lone Wolf. If you plan not using companions, it's free. Not using companions will make your game a lot harder, though. Would not recommend for new players.
Morphine Doctor. 1 Stat for free more or less. You will have to be careful early-game cause food will be your sole source of healing as you can't risk getting addicted at the time. Late-game addiction doesn't matter as 1k for Apomorphine is nothing by then and you will get addicted no matter what with the amount of stims you'll use for hard fights.

My picks are Glutton and Technophobe.

The rest have more drawbacks, than benefits, imo.

Skills go into Automatic Firearms if you kill bandits in the 1st encounter(hard to do, but doable) or Speech to 50, Barter to 50(Will bleed into lvl2)

Stats:

Strength = 5. Will be enough for automatic firearms to get you started.
Endurance = 8. You can get away with 6 or 4 and rely on drugs for hard fights, but survival is better, imo.
Dexterity = Always 10.
Intellect = 8. We had to cut corners somewhere - you will have enough for everything you need as we didn't pick any -skill Distinctions.
Attention = 6. no spare points for more.
Personality = 2. +2 from sex appeal. +2 from joints +4 from perfumes(2 types for females).
Luck = 3

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.

Sex Appeal. Not many females you need to charm in the game. You won't miss much. On the upside you get 2 stats and 15 skills for free. Worth it.
OR
Lucky One. If you want a universal charismatic build and an extra stat. Take Weapon Ability to negate the malus.
OR
Technophobe. Less severe Skill drain and no need to spend Abilities on AR's. 1 less stat. Another option if you want to be able to charm everyone under the sun.
Starting Skills:
Speech to 50, Barter to 35

Happy middle-ground between Personality and Combat. Balanced stats(eventually).
Buy all perfumes you come across. Female ones pretty much never drop from enemies.

Stats:

Strength = 5. Will be enough for automatic firearms to get you started.
Endurance = 6. We will get around to fixing it later.
Dexterity = Always 10.
Intellect = 10.
Attention = 6. no spare points for more.
Personality = 6. Max we'd need. With Joints and Perfumes we get it to 10 when needed.
Luck = 1

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.

Unlucky Optimist. Won't have points to invest into luck anyway. We will be using heavy Machine guns late - crits won't matter as such.
OR
Lucky One. Will force you to take 1st AR Ability to fix the malus and will take some grinding to fix the skills. Take instead of unlucky optimist and go for 6/6/10/8/6/6/4. Additional stats: Fish and 1st serum into End, last serum into luck. That will bring you to 7 luck with clowns nose. Not too shabby for a male character.

Starting Skills:
Speech to 50, Barter to 50(will bleed into lvl2)

Stats:

Strength = 3. Enough for Percussion Revolver+. You will get around fixing it soon enough.
Endurance = 8. You can get away with 6 of even 4 with drug use for hard fights, but I wouldn't advise it as it will make your early-game needlessly hard and random encounters more dangerous.
Dexterity = Always 10
Intellect = 8
Attention = 6 We are already short on stats.
Personality = combined 4 if female. 6 if male.
Luck = Spare

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.
Sex Appeal 2 Stats and 15 skill-points if female.
Child Prodigy Good way to fix stats on a male character if you are willing to grind more.
Lucky One We do go for Pistol Abilities and that fixes the malus. Not that many Skills are useful to us, so it's not that much of a deal. You will get around fixing the skills sooner or later. Good pick for males and females that go for universal charisma.

My choice:
Glutton and Sex Appeal for female.
Glutton and Lucky One for male/universal. You might need excessive loading to craft Percussion Revolver+, but it's easily doable with a Magnifying glass and 2 Ciggys.

Skills:
50 Speechcraft
50 Barter
Pistols and SMG to 199 in tandem with speech(to 115).
Throwing late-game for grenades. Optional.

Abilities:
Gunslinger
Duelist
Fast Hand
Armor of God
Swindler
Shieldbarer
Think Like the Enemy

Armor:
STSH-81 Helmet
Kaydan's Armor

If/when you get all mandatory Abilities you can go for praetorian and switch to 6B2 vest and Altyn/Face of Death(Altyn is pretty much impossible to find).

You do want companions for this one. If anything, they will help carry your stuff around. Also Even AP 9mm bullets are just 49%, so you want people with heavier weaponry in tow.

With 1.8 changes requires 7+ talents to work/be worth it. That means either a ton of grind or playing on normal and below. Although you can grab shield master and skip pistol abilities apart from the 1st one(to negate Lucky one penalty)

Stats:

Strength = 5. We will add some later. And with combat stims it will max out when we need it.
Endurance = 8. HP is even more important for us
Dexterity = Always 10
Intellect = 8. Can go with 10 if you plan to abuse respec potion.
Attention = 6. For throwing and checks
Personality = 1. no spare points for this one.
Luck = 5*
*can go with luck 3 and int 10 and respec around level 20 when you passed all important Int checks and maxed all skills you want to clear out the bunkers/endgame with 10 luck for better crits. or you can stay in default build and respec one of companions into something a lot more useful.

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.
Black Belt. 5 Evasion will hopefully allow us to live a tad longer. Less crits against us, at the very least. Also Saves us some much needed levels.

Gear:
Some glove or knuckleduster appropriate for your level. Boom Glove late.
Frying Pan - You will be wearing this in off-hand most of the time in early-game for free DR
Grenades for big encounters. You won't survive trying to poke enemies to death 1 by 1.
Crossbow. For occasional sniping. Bolts are heavy, so it won't become your primary weapon.

Kaydan's Armor
STSH-81 Helmet
Hockey mask - City of Dead bunker.
Shield
Switch to Altyn/6B2 when/if you get praetorian
Note that 6B2 is better than anything till you get to kayden armor. Do not go to the dead city without 6B2 and STSH.

Abilities:
As usual, but add Shield master before Praetorian.
If you play on easy/normal you can grab adrenaline rush as well.

Bonus stats: Fish into Str, Serums into Luck.

Martial arts 199
Stealth 160-ish if solo. Nothing if not.
Lock Picking 30
Throwing Weapons 199 - get this and craft your heavy crossbow first. You do not need to level Martial arts for it to be effective till late in the game.
Barter 50
The rest is up to you.

Stats:

Strength = 6. Good enough.
Endurance = 6.
Dexterity = Always 10
Intellect = 11. More on that below
Attention = 6+1fish
Personality = 1
Luck = 4 +1 idol+1clown's nose+serum.

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free. Food is plentiful at every stage of the game, so it has no drawbacks.

Technophobe. No significant drawbacks.
or
Lone Wolf. Because if we will abuse the game, might as well go solo

Skills: Pistols and SMG 199. Stealth 199(if solo). Speech 120+, lock picking 30.

Now about int: perfect start is to leave all that int at 3, beeline up from Otradnoye, grab extra 25 unarmed from mutant, Invest remaining points, craft quality knuckle form junk laying around and you are set for a good portion of the game regardless of what you do.

Respec to whatever you fancy at 18+.

Abilities are: Gobseck and Fast Learning. Rest are relatively free. You can go all out for effective learning and bookworm, but I just don't feel you need that hassle.

DO NOT fight slavers in this build. You will die horribly. You should have enough speech to just bypass them.

Introduction
This will be a longer one. Buckle up.
First of all, I recommend doing this from respec build as it will be pita to play otherwise. Second, it's pretty much female only build as we will need those extra stats.

Stats:

Strength = 6. +1 from training.
Endurance = 8. +2 from hospital/condensed milk.
Dexterity = 9. Beeline to tatoo competition after you respec.
Intellect = 8. Enough for checks and you will still get decent points for levelups.
Attention = 7. For checks and accuracy.
Personality = 1. 7 with consumables.
Luck = 10

Distinctions:
Glutton. 2 Stats for free.
Lone Wolf. for obvious reasons.

Essential Gear:
6B2/Combat Armor
Altyn/Hedgehog Helmet
Backpack(for hot-swapping if overloaded)
BZT-75 (skip time in Peregon till caravans sell it. That's your only reasonable option.)
Stechkin with AP bullets(hoard 9mm AP up to this point and have some regulars in your backpack for rats and such)
Dragunov SR

Endgame clear weapons: Modded Scorpion+VER

Boring part. Grab your knuckle and punch KRZ bandits ad nauseam. Then shoot them. Use hospital buff forever. Visit all stalkers as they sell painkillers and BSF. Amass good chunk of cash, buy all the gear you need, etc. grab all skillpoints.

Fun Part. Respec:
Rifles 199
Pistols 184 (+15 from looters base,199 if you already got it. Although it's kinda spooky in a non-combat build.
Stealth 199
Speech 105
First Aid 50-100
Survival 60-100
Tech 80
Lock Picking 29(+1 from Dex bump)
Throwing spare

Abilities:
Armor of God
Swindler
Shieldbearer
Think Like the Enemy
Praetorian
Shield Master

General strategy: shoot with your rifle, swap and shoot your pistol. Always end your round on pistol(or at least try to). Travel with shield+pistol too - you don't want some guy shooting your face off by accident.

Bursts from Stechkin can be devastating. Don't underestimate them.

Similar build is possible with Minimi and Scorpion, but it's nowhere as good of a synergy.

This is why it took me so long. Was grinding this guy from scratch as a proof of concept. Thing is literally immortal. Have fun there.

Strength

• Carry weight. Self-evidently good.
  
• Melee damage. Unimportant. It adds max damage, not +all damage, so it's just 0.5 average damage per 1 point gained.
  
• Intimidation. Can sometimes be used in dialogues. Either way, not important as it can be buffed with booze or solved with speech in 99% cases. 9 is the most I've seen.
  
• HP. Not nearly as much as End gives, but every bit helps.
  
• Weapon Requirements. Now this is the actual reason every character wants some. 8 is maximum requirement for endgame rifles and machine guns, so that's what we aim for.

Conclusion: 6 base+1 helmet+1 training is perfect for any character. Or 6 base+1 training and Altyn. Either way you need 6Str.

Endurance

• HP. One can never have enough. HP is the thing that lets you survive a machine gun burst to the face. there is no getting around it. Also your companions are dumb and don't use stimpacks enough. Tanking with MC is the only option.
  
• Resistances. Negligible. You will take 2 RAD-0 for radiation and wear a 100% gas mask when needed.

Conclusion: 8+2 from condensed milk+1from onion(for story fights that you have time to prepare for)

Dexterity

• Action Points. One can never have too many of those.
  
• Dodge. Less crits will be made against us. Not amazing, but is good to have.
  
• Sometimes is used in dialogues. Most importantly it sometimes allows us to take 1st action for the upcoming fights.

Conclusion: 10 Dex for 10 ap. Best stat in the game. Technically, there is +1 dex food but it lasts only 30m, so it's not sustainable.

Intellect

• Skill Points. The faster you max out your main skills the better. it's not the matter of getting there eventually. It's the matter of getting there as fast as possible.
  
• Dialogue options. Very frequently used. Max check is 8, I believe.

Conclusion: I would advise investing no less than 8 here. Should be considered a combat stat as it allows for a faster power gain and surviving early-game is probably the hardest part anyway.

Attention

• Helps you shoot better. Not sure how much it affects accuracy or if it's a flavor text.
  
• Allows us to spot things in dialogues with actual tangible benefits.
  
• Affects sequence. By itself sequence is not the most important stat. Still might be the difference between surviving alpha strike and not.

Conclusion: 6 allows us to do most important things in the game. 7 is good. Don't think 8 is used anywhere important.

Personality

• Used in dialogues
  
• Some people will flat out refuse to talk to you if you are not personable enough.

Conclusion: Not really important. Males can boost it by 4 and females by 6 with consumbales. Most people who refuse to talk to you would reward you with 30 exp or something measly like that. Quest NPC's generally don't care about it. There are a few quests that require 6 Per though, so either play female or cough up a point in Per. Charismatic Characters want 4 as a female and 6 as a male.

Luck

• Affects loot.
  
• Affects caravan frequency.
  
• Affects Critical Chance.
  
• Affects number of suicide bombers in cultist encounters.
  
• Sometimes is used in dialogues for amusing effects.
  
• Probably affects more than that even. Maybe less crit chance against you?

Conclusion: Despite impressive list of things affected is not really important as it affects pretty much everything but by a small margin. Small enough to be ignored if needed. Caravans can be fixed by barter and survival, crits happen often enough with just high weapon skill, talk your way out of cultist encounters and you won't meet any bombers, dialogues have other solutions than luck, etc. That being said, when all other combat stats are maxed out those small bonuses are what's left up for grabs. Can be buffed to 11 with booze and clowns nose for golden fish; other applications of alcohol luck boosting are highly suspect. Imo either a dump stat or put spare stats here.

Golden Fish
+1 any. Can be found with high luck in any pond. Use spider brains or Weird Doll(corn+mushroom+nails). Luck can be ramped from 1 to 11 with booze. Save-scum till you get it would be the easiest thing to do. It will save your sanity. Even with luck 11 can take in the ballpark of 30m to get. Can be real pita on Survival. if you invested into luck a bit at the beginning can be fished at level 1, pretty much.

Serum
+1 any. Can be found in Roaring Forest. Take 2 ropes with you. Is guarded by a rather strong enemy. Come with some decent weapon.

Roaring Forest Idol
+1 Luck. Place 3 meat in the circle.

Serum 2
+1 any. Can be found inside a cube. Will need 6 Personality to talk the guy into showing the cube to you. So you need 2+2 Joints+2 Perfumes if male or 1+2 Joints+3 perfumes if female.
You would also need 6 per to spot the buttons. if your per was destroyed by joints - just wait 6h for it to go away. Once he agreed to show you the cube, you don't need to pass the check again.
You need 5000R to get there(with speech check passed) and 1500 to get back.
Instead of investing 100-ish points into pickpocketing that is useless literally everywhere else, Reportedly, it's possible at 75, but in my tests I wasn't so lucky.
I say do all quests there and just murder everyone for the key. Bring 30 Diesel with you so you can get back. Alternatively, you can craft a metric ton of ciggys and use them on said NPC till he dies so you don't aggro the whole area.

Tatoo
+1 Dex. Looter's base. I was able to complete it with 10 dex, 8 att, and 8 int. (+1 dex from food, +1 att from miner's hat)

Training
+1 Str or Dex. In your personal bunker after repairs are done. Not permanent per se, but lasts forever, so might as well be counted as such. Train for 4 consecutive days on 80kg for a 40 day buff. Bump your Str with booze if needed. Pretty sure duration is renewed if you train at a later date, so hit the gym if you are passing by.

Full Combat Build:
All into Luck if Female(will have to fish with luck 10 or you won't be able to put the point there or start with Str 5 or End 7). 1 into Per if male(before the Serum2).

Female Charismatic Build:
Golden Fish into Str. Serums into Luck.

Male/Universal Charismatic Build:
1 into Str, 2 into Endurance.

Charismatic Gunslinger:
Golden Fish into Str, Serums into luck.

• +5 Survival from an Old man(corn quest giver) in Otradnoye. Need 50 Speech and 6 Att.
  
• +5 Automatic Firearms. Bald guy guarding 2nd gates(small ones) at the factory. Will teach you when you solve his predicament.
  
• +15 Automatic Firearms. When you first visit weapon trader in KRZ. Need 6 Att.
  
• +10 Melee Weapons. from a guy in white in the 1st part of KRZ if your melee is low. helpful early.
  
• +5 Automatic Firearms. From Weapon trader in KRZ. Need 7 Per.
  
• +5 Barter/+5 Pistols/+5 Melee/+5 Survival from a guy in peregon.
  
• +First Aid +Survival +Speech from book store in KRZ(lower the higher is your skill). He gets the Books in his stock when you hit 5. // Seems like book rewards are a lot higher now. maybe int dependent?
  
• The safe in the back of the bookstore in KRZ contains two magazines "Youth and Technology" ... each gives +5 Technology
  
• +10 Rifles or +10 Barter. Girl in the "Safe Journey" farm. Need 70 Rifles or 8 Per. Tell her the truth and then invite to Red Fighter. When there she will teach you.
  
• +5 Technology(lower the higher is your skill). Book on a skeleton in bunker 317 1st floor.
  
• +10 Pistols and SMG. Old guard one the boat in Peregon. Need 8 Per.
  
• +5 Pistols and SMG. Young lady in a hat with a pistol in KRZ. Need 8 Per.
  
• +10 Survival. Hunter in Foglevka. Need 6 Per.
  
• +25 unarmed from mutant in Border fortress. Need int 3- to talk to him.
  
• +15 Pistols and SMG. Looter's base. From a guy you deliver a message to. Need high skill and to beat him.
  
• +5 to Melee for playing with Sveta Earwig in the catacombs. +11 if you lose, Soviet Knife if you win.

Will add more if I remember something.

Martial Arts.
New top dog of melee. This over Melee Weapons any time.

Melee Weapons.
Useless, compared to Martial arts.

Pistols and SMG.
Suffers from low armor penetration. Can be used with shields and are awesome 2nd weapon for most anyone because of that.

Rifles and Shotguns.
Good Stuff. Damage and versatility. Just make sure to have a pistol on swap.

Automatic Firearms.
Has a tool for every occasion. The downside is it doesn't synergize too well with pistols and shields are way too good in the meta to pass up. Scorpion+Minimi is not bad, but lacks long-range options.

Throwing Weapons.
Rare and hard to use. They do nothing that heavy machine gun does not. Crossbows do tear things up, though. Pretty much a black belt ranged option, although a bit of it is useful for grenades to most anyone.

Speechcraft.
Most used skill in the game. Everyone should have around 115 of it before gear/consumables.

Barter
Nice to have, but is not mandatory. a minimum of 50 is advised. 100 if you have nothing to spend on. In reality money stops being a problem once you get your weapons covered, and that happens soon enough. Reportedly affects Caravan contents.

Gambling.
Idk what it's for. There is no gambling-exclusive content afaik and I didn't find direct effect from leveling it. At best it's some money you don't really need.

Survival.
Increases healing from food and opens some encounters. Reportedly affects Caravan frequency somehow. Good to have, but is not a priority by any means.

First Aid.
Another good to have skill that you CBA to level. Your companions will cover you in rare skill checks, if you have em. If not - no crucial content is hidden behind the skill. Lowers the chance to get addicted so still decent to get 100-ish points in it once you have nothing better to invest in.

Stealth.
Must have for solo. Level it to 160+. With companions they must have the same level of stealth you have for it to be useful. Around 80 will let you steal most everything. That might help early.

Lock Picking.
If you follow Factory quest line you will get +30 to lockpicking item. +20 lockpicks or a crowbar before that. No major investments needed for everything you need to be opened(just to 30). Do factory quest line(get +30 lock-picks) before death tunnel.

Pickpocket.
Another skill with no critical application. Only quest you would need it for can be solved by force. Theoretically can be used to rob caravans blind with no consequences, but why bother if money is the least of your problems rather fast? If you decide to level it - you need around 130 to have a decent chance at stealing a key in the city of dead and it should be enough for caravans as well.

Technology
Exp for vending machines and content are locked behind this one. 80+toolbox before tunnel of death.

In order of importance.
Speechcraft
to 115(do not rush it too much. level it in tandem with weapon skill)

Barter
to 50

Chosen Weapon Skill
to 199(counting free points)

Technology
to 80*

Lock Picking
to 30*

*Can be skipped, but you will miss some content.

Might as well be non-existent. Everyone must have Think like The Enemy and Praetorian while you are at it cause evasion helps against crits. The game is balanced around it. If you play on expert it's pretty much all you get. From that we can arrive to a Regretful conclusion: It actually would be better if there was no ability tree as it limits the build variations instead of facilitating them. Ergo, Automatic Firearms and Rifles work perfectly fine with no Ability investments; pistols are balanced around you investing at least 3 ability points there(ideally 7-8), melee is balanced around 7-8 points invested. See the problem yet?

There is a case to be made to take Master of dodging after you've finished with armor tree for more evasion and as a result, less crits from your enemies. Then you can move to Adrenaline rush as it will trigger in hard fights allowing you to have 12AP(14 with drugs).

With the 1.8 changes armor tree became longer, so you will need to grind harder, but it's still worth rushing Think like The Enemy no matter what as it's that much higher on a power curve than anything else. It also means build diversity became even smaller as everyone needs to invest 4-6 Ability points there.

Rank S
Glutton.
+2 Stats with no strings attached. Food is never ever a problem.

Rank A
Sex appeal.
+2 Stats and 15 Skills for female characters. Awful for males. There are not many female NPC's we'd care to charm with Personality and virtually all traders are male.

Technophobe.
+2 Stats at -60 skills. Might seem harsh, but with decent Intelligence you will get around fixing those soon enough. Everything you would care to tinker can be done with a magnifying glass, 2 ciggys, and some patience reloading. Barring that still would cost you 1-2 levels to fix for a 10 int character. A decent proposition.

Unlucky Optimist
+2 Stats for anyone dumping luck. Dumping anything is not something I like to do with no good reason, but it's there as an option.

Lucky One.
A metric ton of stats. Forces you to take Weapon Ability to fix the malus. Very good, but most builds want to go for Armor instead.

Rank B
Black Belt.
Default pick for Melee Characters. Given you won't be able to raise Weapon skills above 179 is not advised for any sort of character looking to use ranged weaponry outside of throwing.

Child Prodigy.
+3 Stats at the cost of slower leveling. It's up to you if you value your time or a bit of a power boost for your character more. I prefer the former. Use in tandem with Lone Wolf if at all as companions further reduce your exp gain.

Lone Wolf.
Good bonuses at the cost of using companions. Companions rob you of exp, but might make the game bit easier. If you plan on going solo this is a no-brainer.

Morphine Doctor.
+1 Stat with not so harsh penalties. That being said, addiction is hard to deal with in early-game, so you will have to resort to healing yourself with food only for the first half of the game. Not as bad as it might seem, but sure is annoying.


Rank C
Anabolics Fan.
+1 Stat and some carry weight. Not too bad, but reduced evasion means you will be critted more often. -Resistances don't matter much with good Endurance, that most characters aim for anyways.

Cursed Sniper.
For snipers, surprising no one. Will need Idol and clown's nose to try for Golden Fish if you value your sanity. Pairs well with Unlucky Optimist. Even rifles have burst late-game. That -10% accuracy will bite you in the rear one day. Mark my words. Also sequence kinda hurts.

Shooting Gallery Fan.
Some ranged skills for 1 stat. You can take Lucky One and fix it with this for a net bonus of 3 stats per 2 Dispositions. Not awful, but not great either. Glutton+Technophobe do the job better.

Rank D
Diplomat.
Lucky One, except bad. Not nearly enough benefits to consider using it, but it's there.

Cannibal.
-2 Per for 15 skills. -3 if we count serum. Literally awful. Food is never a problem in this game. Even characters dumping Per should know better than taking this one. Still won't harm you that bad as to cripple your character.

Rank F
Ascetic.
-1 Stat -7kg carry weight for 10 skills. Now we are in a category that actually harms you. We are not ever short on food.

Sick Dealer
+1 Stat but negative carry weight and sequence. If sequence is possible to live with carry weight is a no-go.

Hobby Engineer.
Remember we were talking trading 60 skills for 2 stats is a good deal? well this one trades 2 stats for 40 skills. 20 of which we don't need. Yikes.

Circus Education.
-20 carry weight this time around. Can it be worse? Yes, it can! It also cuts your sequence.

Leader.
A special brand of terrible. Actively penalizes you for having companions. Hands down, the worst one yet.

Streetwise
Book on the shelf in Mayors office, Otradnoye. You can read it from the shelf without stealing it.

Entomologist
From a fisherman in Otradnoye in exchange for a bottle of vodka.

Ghostly protection
Restore the shield for a guy in the bar, located at the boat in KRZ.
Pieces of shield locations:
1 in Otradnoye under the stone. Need 8 Str. 1 in Mysterious cave(dead center of the map on the right side of mountain range). 1 in Thug fortress down the road from Red fighter. 1 in Drunken lair on the table.

Combine 4 pieces and glue to fix.

Gear:

+Speechraft hats.
Nice to have one just to save on perfumes. can go up to +15 for army hats. Easy +10 hat along with good backpacks can be gained from murdering scavengers near bunker 317.

Miner Hard Hat.
For +1 Att in the dark. Real good for doing tatoos and stuff.

Toolbox.
+20 Tech. Easiest bought from a guy you save from Factory.

Clown nose.
+1 Luck -1 Per. Pretty much +1 Luck as long as you don't forget to take it off for Per checks. I usually balance the Skills with it in mind so I don't have to take it off for trades. Given for Perfomance at the circus location(crashed plane)

Gas Mask
+100% toxic resistance -1 attention. Rarely sold by caravans. Keep an eye out. Not mandatory to do every quest in the game, but is nice to have.

Magnifying Glass
+3 Tinkering. Not much of a bonus, but it sure doesn't hurt to keep around.

+Pick Locks Items
Crowbar, Lockpicks and a special item During Factory quest-line.

Consumables:
General notice.
All consumables stack up to 2 times with themselves. consumables with different names stack indefinitely.

Condensed milk.
+1 End for 12h. Frequent drop by teen levels. Use extensively.

Meldonium
+2 End for 12h. Could allow us to go with 4/6 End, but is not common enough for that and is kinda costly. Unless you are willing to time-skip to stock up on those I would not recommend. Also withdrawal effects can and will catch you in bad position. Generally is more pain that it's worth imo.

Onion.
+1End -1Per for 30m. Short duration makes it hard to use. Still useful to bump your End to 11 for hard fights if you have time to prepare.

Perfumes.
+1Per, +10 Speech. 1 type for males(but really common drop). 2 types for females(but harder to find - always buy them from caravans). Secretary in KRZ hospital sells female ones occasionally. Buy those too.

Joint
+1 Per With harsh penalties. Your go-to for passing Per checks as they are easy to come by. Weed+Toilet paper to craft.

Rad-0
+50% Radiation Resistance for 24. Take 2 of those in irradiated areas.

Aprophenum.
For when you just found out the area is irradiated.

Ciggy.
Use when tinkering. Allows you to never invest into that skill. Especially with save-loads. Common drop so I never had the need to craft those.

BSF-12.
+1 AP, +2 Str. Can be hard to come by. Rare. Use for real hard encounters.

Painkillers.
+HP, +Damage Resistance, +Damage Threshold. Uncommon, but are not too hard to find come late teens.

Antidote.
Keep some on you in case you get poisoned badly.

Apomorphine.
If you start using stims and other drugs you will inevitably get addicted. It will help you with that. Use it when you get "withdrawal" debuff.

Cucumber Brine.
Same as above, but for alcoholism. Really heavy so don't keep it on yourself.

Booze.
For passing Str checks and fishing for golden fish.

Healing Items.
Medkits for large chunk healing keep 3-4 on you. Kesparamid for healing scratches on your companions keep stock of 30. Stimpacks for healing in fights once Super stims are abundant enough switch to those. Heal yourself with food mostly.

Chest:

Combat Armor
New top armor. Better than 6B2 in every way, but not by much.

6B2 Armored Vest
For everyone.

Kayden's Armor
For rare cases when you can't afford Praetorian. Decent armor values with just -1 Evasion malus. Located in city of dead hanging on a cross outside the stalkers base.

Helmet:
STSH-81
For companions and characters that didn't pick up Praetorian. Decent armor values with low penalty of -2.

Altyn
For companions/characters with Praetorian Ability. Rare like a unicorn. Armor vendor in KRZ might sell it. If you are either lucky or are willing to save-scum him for hours. Alternatively you can get it from a guard near dog fights in Peregon. You never know, guy might get asthma suddenly.

Face of Death Helm
For yourself(usually). +1 Str and decent enough armor values. Will likely want Praetorian to use. Can Be Looted During a Quest to hunt some bad people(not to spoil too much). Quest can be gained from an old man in KRZ. 2nd building to the left from the gates. Warning: the quest involves some rough fights. Top tier body armor and some serviceable weaponry is highly advised.

Hedgehog Helm
Marginally better than Altyn, but less damage absorption in practice.

Frying Pan.
Free Damage Resistance for companions.

Soviet Army Knife.
Good for killing rats early. Also good for encounter farming due to +5 Sequence that will allow you to always go 2nd.

Taiga Machete.
Same as above, more or less, but is harder to find.

Lenin's Wrath.
Quest reward from a guy with a chainsaw in KRZ square. Good damage, but it suffers from all the same Melee uselessness. 6AP per hit are a nail in the coffin.

Sabre.
It's ok. Not nearly good enough compared to boom glove.

Svinchatcka.
crafting component. Crafted from metal+Brick/Sharpening stone

Quality knuckleduster.
Best early h2h weapon. Rare drop from bandits. 2Ap per hit. Can be crafted: Svinchatcka+Brick+Metal

Claw knuckleduster.
Another contender for your first h2h weapon. 3ap, but ok-ish damage. Can be crafted with 2x Brass knuckles+metal+2x nails

Knife Knuckleduster.
It would be decent if there was no competition. Pretty much on par with machete, but with lower Armor piercing. Meh, Crafted: Claw knuckleduster+metal+any non-combat knife+toolbox

Weighed Glove.
Crafting component, pretty much. can be crafted, but easier picked from bandits.

Spiked glove.
Crafting component. Can be used, but there are better options. Craft: 2x Rabbit skins+Weighed glove+nails+rope/wire

Battle gauntlet
1AP cheaper than machete with machete damage and also knockdowns are better than panic. From Slavers at level 10+. Craft:2x Spiked glove+2x rabbit skins+metal+toolbox

Boom glove
Shoots 9mm rounds on impact. AP 9mm rounds have 49% armor piercing, which is on par with other melee weapons with an ability added. +15% crit. +10% stun. Best melee weapon in the game no questions asked. Dropped by slavers at level 15+. Crafted: any makarov pistol+3x Battle gauntlet+2x wires+toolbox.

Zip Gun
Metal+Log/Club+Wires/Rope Pretty much a crafting component.

Custom Revolver
Zip Gun+Metal+Nails+Electrical tape Another crafting component.

Percussion Revolver
Custom Revolver+Metal+2 Empty tin+Electrical tape Almost there, but still meh.

Percussion Revolver+
Percussion Revolver+Metal+2 Electrical tape+Toolbox First real gun in the game. Good damage. If only it didn't require 3 Abilities to work properly... But still even with jam chance it's one of the best early weapons and is perfectly capable to carry you into mid-game. Can be used even late for 2 AP aimed shots. Otherwise Stechkin outclasses it.

PPS-43
Best .30 weapon that is not a Percussion revolver. A definite must have for a pistol user for a decent burst weapon and better ammo economy.

M-712
PPS-43 for poor. Expensive single shots make it a burst only weapon, but it's cheap and that makes it ok for early game. Not a bad option if you spec Alex into pistols.

Stechkin automatic pistol
Best pistol in the game. Can be bought from vendors. Decent damage at a reasonable AP. Can do 2 4 round bursts per turn.

Scorpion
Burst only weapon that can do a lot with a pistol talent at close range. Kinda inaccurate, so it limits usability.

APK
Slightly better Stechkin, but at 1 AP more it's not going to be used by anyone.

Automatic Rifles:
HK-33.
Best early-to-mid-game weapon imo. Good damage, common ammo. 4AP per shot 6AP per burst.

AKS74U.
Low damage burst weapon. Would be usable early if ammo economy wasn't a concern at the time. My verdict is meh.

M-16
Poor man's HK-33. Price is the best thing about this one.

AKMS.
Beastly damage. 5AP single shots, 7AP for a burst. Mix and match as you please. Awesome pick for companions; MC can do better. Common ammo.

AK-47.
Happy middle between AKMS and AKS74U. Has a bit of a stun chance and 5 bullet burst. The latter might become a problem with companions due to ammo economy,

Vintorez.
4AP bursts. 4AP aimed. Rare and expensive ammo. Best pick to accompany a heavy machine gun.
You can get it early if you kill a guy in Roaring Forest.

AC "Val"
Doesn't pair well with MG's. Dethroned AKS74U as the best burst AR in the game. Rare and expensive ammo balances it out as it's not sustainable to use this one.

Heavy Machine Guns:
RPK-74.
Low Damage, but 5 AP bursts. Pretty much a bit souped up version of AKS74U. It's ok, but nothing to write home about.

Fn Minimi.
Best MG in the game, imo. Just 7 str needed, long bursts, good damage. 2 bursts with drugs.
Most reliable way to get it is from a quest gang in the city of dead(random spawns). Go in, look at the enemies and see if they have it. Reload if needed. Warning: the fight can be hard. Go in with top armor and good weaponry. 2 painkillers for safety.

PK machine gun.
Insane damage. Rare ammo and it uses it fast. 8 str needed. Pretty much an endgame cleaner, but Minimi does room clears just as fine, so I usually don't bother.

Rifles with no optics.
SKS.
6AP aimed shot. Bad past early-game. Only mentioned cause one of your companions comes with it.

AVS-36
A good pick for companions that don't invest into rifle Ability tree. Rare ammo kinda hurts. Good damage, accurate bursts, and versatility make it one of the best rifles in the game.

IZ 58
Just don't give your companions buckshot. Alpha strike weapon. 6AP burst makes it worth it.

KS-23
Actually good shotgun. Low armor penetration limits usability late.

Rifles with optical sights.
SKS with optical sights.
Good early rifle for MC as you can make 2 aimed shots from it. Uses common ammo

Mosin-Nagant
Should've been an early-game sniper, if it used 7.62x39. 7.62x54 are expensive and of a limited supply. Better skip straight to endgame rifles.

R700-M
Best companion sniper rifle. Beastly damage with Eagle Eye taken.

Dragunov sniper rifle.
Now is the best MC sniper rifle barring VER. 5AP aimed shots and good damage.

PTRD
Ok as a fight opener. I generally avoid it in favor of other weapons due to heavy ammo and chunkiness and it no longer has aimed shot at all. VER is better in every way possible.

VER.
Best rifle in the game. Period. This is why MC might consider investing into rifles as a 2nd weapon group late-game. Ammo can only be made by your guy in the bunker.

Game is much easier when you use them... If you are new to the game, that is. Companions rob you of exp(20% for the first one, and 10% for every other, combat exp only), invalidate stealth(which is super-op solo) and tend to rush in and either die themselves or get you killed. Not a problem if you can load, not so much for survival.

Quick guide to get them all asap:
At level 3 visit KRZ and grab Fidel at the Bar. Take Zhuk quest near the local traders. Persuade the cryptocurrency guys to part with the money with Str then tell Zhuk you have none. You will need that 1k shortly. Enter KRZ and pay that 1k to the guard.

Go to local hospital and talk to a guy on the bed. Take a quest from a Book store owner.

Move to Red Fighter. Kill some book burners on the way. it will net you some armor and cash. They are farmable with decent armor and are always melee. it is prudent to farm them a bit and maybe craft Fidel and yourself percussion revolver+.

Kill all spooders in Red Fighter and you've got yourself Hexogen.

After bunker repairs, training room, and workshop done(1st 2 steps are doable yourself) you will have Alexander visit. You will need 6Per for him to join.

Dog Joins through event. You need the owner to die for it to join. grab the collar from his corpse and the dog will join. Need 35 Survival for event to trigger.

There is also a secret companion, that is rather... unique. It's possible to beat the game with her in tow but it sure is not for new players, so I won't touch that subject.

Joins Level 3. Has just enough AP and Str to use Sniper rifles. That's about it. Best thing about him is he is easy to find early and he's easy to make use of.

Max rifles and switch to 100 First Aid help you with checks. Probably Stealth after.

Good candidate for Kayden's Armor as he would like getting Eagle Eye asap.

Joins Level 8. Good stats as far as companions go. I'd advise leveling Automatic Firearms on him. Give him HK-33 and he will be a happy panda. For secondary skills Survival and Stealth should work well enough. You can swap Survival for Technology and skip it on MC. Or just go Stealth so you get a stealthy team faster.

Has 80 pistols from the start, so it's better to give his rifle to Fidel and give the percussion revolver+ you've made to clear spooders to him till you get a spare HK. AKMS is a solid option as well to diversify ammo usage.

Good stats. Joins level 13 with pretty much no skills. Has his Abilities allocated to be a melee fighter. I say it's not the way to go. Level Pistols or Rifles on him instead. After the Pistol buff it's probably a better pick.

Melee companions is just a bad idea in general. They won't use a billion stims per round like you can and will just rush the enemy and likely die. Should you make him so - give him Lenin's Wrath.

He does ok with any gun that has appropriate AP usage once you gained a few levels on him. Probably will never have enough skills to level stealth so to use him or not is highly debatable.

Literally useless. You can drag him along for the first few levels with a command to stay near you so he doesn't run away and die. Best used to "guard" you base.

Main problem with the mutt is dog armor sucks. Even the lowliest of enemies will deal damage to him so he will soak both medkits and meat.

Doesn't invoke Lone Wolf Penalties, so there's that.

• Once you open your inventory in combat(4AP) you can use unlimited number of drugs and reload all your weapons for it.
  
• Aimed shots are affected by accuracy. Crit chance for those is Accuracy/10(9max)+bonus for targeted spot(10 head/torso, 15 eyes. Less against armor)
  
• If you shoot an enemy before they spot you - you get 1st turn. If the enemy spots you - they will get the 1st turn no matter your Sequence. What that means is Sequence is not as valuable as it could've been.
  
• Every robbed caravan lowers the chance of meeting one by 1%. I would not advise doing that as you have more loot than traders to sell it to. Just trade your trash for the things you need.
  
• Traders restock at a regular intervals. KRZ weapon dealer - every 3 days, for example. You can save and skip time until you get him restock. See if he has what you need and reload if not.
  
• If you Alt-F4 on survival the progress is not saved. Use it if you want to cheat.
  
• Car is in Old Scrapyard. Take the quest from a guy with a chainsaw in KRZ. Kill the mutants.
  
• Buy and store all Scrap metal, Waste Paper and Gunpowder. You will thank me later.
  
• When you finish book burners quest - choose a book as a reward. Eat a mushroom in Otradnoye and read it inside the stone circle. See what happens.
  
• You can give food to your companions if you place it in hand slot and click it and then on your companion.
  
• Evasion unlike what the name suggests doesn't help you evade. Enemies have more accuracy than that. What it actually does is being subtracted from enemy accuracy effectively cutting their critical chances.
  
• Morlocks are very armored everywhere but their eyes. Use aimed shots.
  
• You can unload guns in traders inventory with right-click. That's a lot of ammo you might be missing.
  
• Medical trader in KRZ can be used to convert heavy or too expensive items into much more convenient chems.
  
• Healing at a doctor in KRZ for 100 will give you +1 Str +1 End buff for 60-70h. Stacks 2 times.
  
• There is only one respec potion in the game. Choose wisely who to use it on and when to use it.

Decided to make English version first instead of Russian one cause there is a distinct lack of English resources on the game. I hope it helps somebody. Corrections and suggestions are welcome.