Stalker 2: Should you give the icon to Pomor or Mityay?
Will Pomor or Mityay give you the best rewards in "The Poppy Field" quest?
Wondering whether to give the religious icon in Stalker 2 to Pomor or Mityay? As soon as you enter Zalissya in Stalker 2, there's a good chance you'll stumble upon "The Poppy Field" side-quest. Speak to Mityay in Warlock's bar, and he'll ask you to bring back a religious icon of his from a root cellar in the dangerous sleep-inducing Poppy Field.
But as you approach the Poppy Field, a man named Pomor will speak to you. He will offer to exchange the religious icon for a special weapon. Which gives rise to the question: should you give the icon to Pomor or Mityay? Which path offers the best rewards? Read on to find out!
Should you give the icon to Pomor or Mityay?
There are two ways of deciding whether to give the icon to Pomor or Mityay in "The Poppy Field" quest. The first is by looking at the material rewards, and the second is by thinking about the moral consequences of your actions.
If you give the icon to Pomor, then he will give you a unique weapon: the Unknown Stalker's AR416. The good news is that it's a decent rifle that can see you into the mid-game. Strong at any range, decent accuracy. The downside is that it's nearly broken, and you'll need to spend a fair bit of money (around 7000 coupons) repairing it before it'll be of any use to you.
After you've repaired the Unknown Stalker's AR416, you can either keep it for yourself or sell it. If you sell it, you're looking at a price of around 8000 coupons. But bearing in mind that it costs around 7000 coupons to repair in the first place, your total profit will end up very similar to if you'd just given the icon to Mityay in the first place.
If you give the icon to Mityay back in Zalissya, then he'll reward you with 1000 coupons. So your choice is either to get a bit of money, or to lose a bit of money repairing a new, fairly decent early-to-mid-game weapon.
Morally, the obvious choice is to give the icon back to Mityay. The religious icon clearly means a lot to him, whereas Pomor is simply in the business of selling items and has no claim or ties to the icon himself. If you return to Mityay having sold the icon to Pomor, then Mityay will be disgusted with you, but no other consequences will come of it.
There is one other option: you can sell the icon to Pomor, and then tell Mityay that you tried to get the icon but couldn't. This is represented by the dialogue choice: "It's in the Poppy Field". If you choose this path, then you still don't receive any reward from Mityay, but rather than being disgusted with you, Mityay will resolve to go into the Poppy Field himself (and likely die trying). This is probably the most morally heinous option of all, but hey, you do you, Stalker.
So what's the best choice?
All in all, we recommend giving the icon to Mityay. You get a bit of money, and while the Unknown Stalker's AR416 is decent early on, it costs a lot to repair, and you'll soon find better weapons anyway. We'd recommend only giving the icon to Pomor if you're intent on collecting as many unique weapons as possible during your Stalker 2 playthrough - or if you're already swimming in coupons and have no moral compass!
That wraps up this quick guide on whether to give the religious icon to Pomor or Mityay in Stalker 2's "The Poppy Field" side quest. For more early-game tips and advice, check out our guides on how to fast travel, how to increase carry weight limit, whether to kill Squint, and who to give the Ward Sensors to.