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The Whirligig is type of anomaly appearing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

Overview

A common and dangerous anomaly that snatches its victims up in the air and spins them at a breakneck speed. The exact nature of the Whirligig remains unknown. The anomaly can be recognized by a light whirlwind of dust above and by body fragments scattered in the vicinity. Victims caught on its outer rim, far enough from the maximum effect zone at the center, can escape the Whirligig with relatively minor injuries.

In game, when one is too close to the anomaly when it is triggered, the Whirligig will violently pull the victim upward, which continues to severely damage the victim until it detonates, and that is powerful enough to dismember a person's body purely by the sheer force it exerts. It is not as easily avoidable as the Vortex, and because it lifts its victims into the air, escaping once you're in the epicenter is impossible because jumping and sprinting is stopped. Even though the damage done by the Whirligig is less than that of a Vortex, the Whirligig can be considered more dangerous as it is very hard to escape, and the Vortex does have its weak spots.

The basic characteristics are easily recogniseable. When activated the Whirligig appears as a tornado or a hurricane.

Appearances

thumb|300px|A whirligig anomaly being triggered

In the first two games of the series, the Whirligig is the 'middle' of the three gravity elements, stronger then the Springboard but weaker than the Vortex. In Call of Pripyat however, the Whirligig is far more rare than either of those, and can normally instant kill even the most well protected stalker due to its long range and grievous crushing damage (for which there is no direct protection).

Whirligig anomalies are only deadly when they are pulling everything near them until their aerial detonation. Once they detonate, it is rendered harmless for split second, allowing one to pass through them if they are blocking a path for a very brief moment of safe passage before the anomaly becomes active again. Do note that with very careful and deliberate movements, you can walk to the trigger radius of a whirligig anomaly and still be outside it's vacuum radius, triggering it but not causing you to be sucked up to it, and allowing it to be inert for a split second for you to sprint past it if needed. Doing a quick save before attempting this is generally a good move to do in the event you fail to do this correctly.

Shadow of Chernobyl

Locations

This anomaly can be encountered in Cordon near the Rookie village and more to the east of the camp of the bandits in Garbage that were attacking Bes.

Artifacts

Clear Sky

Locations

A small anomaly field consisting of these anomalies can be found in Garbage near the entrance in the Dark Valley. Apart form that, they are virtually present practically everywhere except the Cordon It is also now called as a "Meat Grinder" by some stalkers.

Artifacts

Call of Pripyat

Locations

The dilapidated bridge in Zaton hosts the largest concentration of Whirligig anomalies in the game, although they are easy enough to avoid by probing one's path with bolts. More can also be seen in the caves under the Burnt Farmstead.

The whirligig is not largely present outside Zaton. The Bitumen anomaly in Yanov and the school in Pripyat are the only 2 locations where whirligigs are found outside Zaton.

Artifacts

Trivia

  • Whirligig is an object that spins or whirls. It is also the name for a medieval torture device
  • In the earlier and unpatched versions (SoC) a funny glitch may occur: an entity (stalker or mutant) trapped in this anomaly is stuck either constantly spinning in the air, or left frozen in mid-air. There is a very low chance of this happening, though.
  • One rather amusing thing to do is drag bodies into this type of anomaly and watch how anomaly spins and shreds its victims. Keep in mind that doing so will also destroy any items on destroyed bodies.
  • In Clear Sky it is worth looking for weapons and other equipment around Whirligig Anomalies, especially in Yantar. Sometimes the anomalies will snatch up NPCs, kill them and dump weapons and other equipment on the ground. The weapons and equipment can be collected as normal, but if they are collected and then dropped on the ground, they will float in the air at about 1 to 2 meters high. The Whirligig Anomalies seem to give weapons and equipment some anti-gravity properties.

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