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The Israel Military Industries Desert Eagle (called Black Kite in-game) is a large-caliber semi-automatic handgun appearing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Background

It was made in the U.S., but mostly manufactured by Israeli Military Industries. Although most Desert Eagles use either .50 Action Express, .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, or .357 Magnum shells, the Desert Eagles in the Zone appear to be custom made; where they can use less powerful, but more abundant .45 ACP rounds.

Overview

Featured in all games, the Black Kite is uncommon in the Zone, and found only in a few locations and sold only by a few traders in all games. It is also only uncommonly carried by faction veterans and elites, making their appearance even more sparse.

Across Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat, the Black Kite's most notable users are the Bandit leaders – such as Yoga, Jack and the other high-ranking members of the disparate Bandit clans.

It boasts the highest damage-per-shot of any handgun in the game, but suffers from a low rate of fire, magazine size, and even lower handling. It is also the heaviest pistol in all three games.

Modding

The script for the Black Kite is wpn_desert_eagle

Appearances

Shadow of Chernobyl

In Shadow of Chernobyl, the Big Ben can be first found in a box behind Gordon's corpse, near the family rifle, however it is modified to use 9x39mm bullets. A normal Black Kite can be found on his corpse, however it probably won't be in perfect condition. Depending on the game version, it also may be possible to buy one from Duty. The Desert Eagle sold by Duty presumably belonged to a Mercenary named Hog, who appeared in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Like the Big Ben, players can also fit a silencer, although this will decrease the weapon's power slightly – then again it will still have the most power of any pistol, aside from the Big Ben.

It seems that the SoC version of the Black Kite is much more powerful than in other games, since the Black Kite can kill with one headshot an enemy wearing even exoskeleton, while in CS and CoP a player can only wish to make such a kill. Additionally, the Black Kite in SoC also possesses a unique recoil kick-back that noticeably displaces the user's view per shot in a vertical manner, making accurate, follow-up shots quite challenging to do.

Clear Sky

Acquisition

The Black Kite is a more exclusive and rare weapon in Clear Sky. Some Bandits in Limansk have a Desert Eagle as a sidearm. Kostyan and Hog are known to carry one of these pistols. Alternatively, you can either join the Bandits and buy it from Tooth or do enough jobs for the Bandits and wait for the job that requires the "Modified shooter", a fully modified Desert Eagle with its initial stats boosted. One other way to get it is to kill all Bandits at their base until the base door opens, and kill their leader, Yoga, or Senka.

Characteristics

When fully upgraded for accuracy, the Black Kite has the hitting power rivaling an assault rifle, while its accuracy is second only to the Kora-919; making it the second-most accurate .45 ACP pistol in the game and second to none in terms of pistol firepower.

Unlike in Shadow of Chernobyl, the recoil of the gun is lesser in comparison as the kick-back has been removed and instead replaced with the generic, circular recoil pattern inherent of all pistols, although at the most noticeable case. However, the gun's handling is still compromised by rapid firing, making it very easy to lose aim of a distant target if firing in that manner.

Aydar, Thunderov and Grey are the only ones who can fully upgrade the Black Kite, though you will need to get 2 USB flash disks containing upgrade schematics for Aydar. Limpid and Garin can also upgrade the Black Kite but cannot install the final upgrades. A silencer cannot be attached to this weapon.

Unique variants

Call of Pripyat

Nimble can sell a Steppe Eagle, which is a unique version with higher accuracy and damage. The regular Desert Eagle is more commonplace in the game, carried by some experts from the Freedom and Monolith factions, and found in the hands of expert Bandits on occasion. Some can also be found in caches, and in the later stages can be purchased from Hawaiian. Unlike most pistols with the full three tiers of upgrades, the Desert Eagle lacks any kind of firing mode upgrade. It will only ever fire in semi-auto, however the Black Kite is the most accurate and powerful pistol in the game, aside from unique pistols.

Black Kite Stash Locations

  • Yanov – Atop the northwestern plateau behind Kopachi village near the Ash Heap anomaly beneath a tree (includes one SVUmk2, 20 sniper rounds, 50 .45 ACP rounds, medical supplies).
  • Zaton – Near the STINGRAY 2 crash site. Inside the drawer of a desk located in the building where the door for the Product 62 Testing Area is. Also has few boxes of .45 ACP rounds, vodka, bandages.

Trivia

  • According to the weapon's weight, the Black Kite appears to be based on the Desert Eagle Mark VII chambered to fire the .357 Magnum cartridge.
  • "Black Kite" and "Steppe Eagle" are the real non-scientific names for two actual raptor (bird of prey) species. Somewhat ironically, the weapon's actual name, "Desert Eagle," however, does not refer to an actual raptor species.

Gallery

Shadow of Chernobyl

Call of Pripyat

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