Max

What's up, stalker! Whatcha got?
― Max

Max (Ru. Макс) is a member of Freedom who appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. He is also mentioned in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Background

Guard from the Freedom faction. A fanatic. Very well equipped and highly dangerous. No details available.^{[non-game. 1]}

A skilled veteran of the Freedom faction, Max commands a special forces squad that is assigned by Lukash to very important missions, such as the elimination of a Duty squad that is planning to assault Freedom's HQ. Max also appears to be Lukash's second in command as the latter refers to Max as "chief".^{[quote. 1]} His reputation has earned him the moniker "legendary guardian of Freedom" across the Zone.^{[quote. 2]}

Appearances

Shadow of Chernobyl

Max can be found in the northwestern part of the Freedom base at the Army Warehouses. Should the player warn Lukash about Skull's squad and their plans to assault Freedom's HQ, he will send out Max and his team to deal with the problem. Because of his light armor and due to the fact Skull's squad makes use of armor-piercing 9x39mm ammunition, he is likely to die during the battle.

In the event he survives, he will return to the Freedom base and provide a mission to retrieve a flash drive from a nearby insane stalker. He gives a Walker P9m pistol in exchange for the job.

Related missions

Call of Pripyat

In Call of Pripyat, one can purchase a unique SVUmk-2 sniper rifle, the SVU2-A, from Nimble, who claims he bought the weapon from Max.^{[quote. 3]}

Dialogue

Quote	Condition
Come up here. Let's have a little chat.	Approaching Max
Alright, Tolik, take Baldy and Squint. Cover the right flank.	Preparing the assault on the Duty squad
Kolyan, you and your squad will try and cut behind them.	Preparing the assault on the Duty squad
Watch out, an anomaly!	On the way to the abandoned farmstead
Watch your step!
Check your guns and ammo, just in case.
Over. Silence, circle out!
Don't forget about the mines. A minepicker makes only two mistakes in life.	Approaching the swamp after taking the mission to retrieve the flash drive

Development

	This article or section is based on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl cut content and may contain inaccurate information or speculation.

In pre-release builds, he and Lukash traded appearances.
One could obtain a mission to kill Max from Voronin in the builds, but this was scrapped from the final release of the game.

	End of information based on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl cut content.

Trivia

He promises a Black Kite for the job to kill the crazy stalker, but only gives a Walker P9m instead. In the console release of the game, he gives a Black Kite as intended.
Max identifies several of his men with names in dialogue (Tolik, Baldy, Squint and Kolyan), although all of his squadmates' names are randomized in-game.
Nimble refers to him as "Mac" in dialogue when introducing the SVU2-A, although the weapon's inventory description correctly identifies him as "Max".

References

Sources

↑ stable_bio_name.xml, id=mil_Svoboda_master_Max_bio

Quotes

↑ Lukash: "Talk to Max, our chief."
↑ SVU2-A inventory description: "This weapon used to belong to Max, the legendary guardian of Freedom."
↑ Nimble: "This is an SVU2-A, a short sniper rifle with an increased rate of fire. I bought it off Mac, the legendary Freedom guard. He swore there are no others like it in the whole Zone. It's an exclusive item, at least in these parts."

[1] stable_bio_name.xml, id=mil_Svoboda_master_Max_bio

[2] Lukash: "Talk to Max, our chief."

[3] SVU2-A inventory description: "This weapon used to belong to Max, the legendary guardian of Freedom."

[4] Nimble: "This is an SVU2-A, a short sniper rifle with an increased rate of fire. I bought it off Mac, the legendary Freedom guard. He swore there are no others like it in the whole Zone. It's an exclusive item, at least in these parts."

[non-game. 1]

[quote. 1]

[quote. 2]

[quote. 3]