Vortex

 anomalies appear in all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series games.

"An anomaly of presumably gravitational nature. When triggered, the tremendous power of the Vortex drags everything within the radius of 10-15 meters towards center. Victims drawn into the core have no chance of survival: their bodies are quickly constricted into a tight lump, only to be blown up in a powerful discharge of energy a moment later. The anomaly remains stationary throughout its lifetime (a week on average). Easily recognizable in daylight by the air fluctuation above, dancing leaves, fragments of dismembered corpses lying around and a distinctive dark stain in the center. Highly dangerous at night since it can be revealed only by means of a detector or by throwing metal objects into it. Forms three types of artifacts: Wrenched, Gravi and Goldfish."

- Encyclopedia description

"An anomaly of presumably gravitational nature. When triggered, the tremendous power of the Vortex drags everything within the radius of 10-15 meters towards center. Victims drawn into the core have no chance of survival: their bodies are quickly constricted into a tight lump, only to be blown up in a powerful discharge of energy a moment later. The anomaly remains stationary throughout its lifetime (a week on average). Easily recognizable in daylight by the air fluctuation above, dancing leaves, fragments of dismembered corpses lying around and a distinctive dark stain in the center. Highly dangerous at night since it can be revealed only by means of a detector or by throwing metal objects into it. Forms seven types of artifacts: "Wrenched", "Gravi", "Brown Beads", "Knot", "Chert", "Soother", and "Goldfish"."

- Encyclopedia description

Description

 * A widely occurring anomaly both difficult to spot and dangerous.

Generic anomaly

 * Spawn probability: 0.15
 * May spawn: Wrenched (40%), Gravi (20%), Ball of Twine (20%), Crescent (20%)

Weak

 * Spawn probability: 0.075
 * May spawn: Wrenched (60%), Gravi (20%), Ball of Twine (20%), Crescent (20%)

Average

 * Spawn probability: unspecified. Presumably inherits generic probability.
 * May spawn: Wrenched (30%), Gravi (40%), Ball of Twine (40%), Crescent (40%), Goldfish (10%), Soother (10%)

Strong

 * Spawn probability: unspecified. Presumably inherits generic probability. "No-art" anomalies 0.03
 * May spawn: Wrenched (20%), Gravi (20%), Ball of Twine (20%), Crescent (20%), Goldfish (40%), Soother (40%), Mama's Beads (10%)

Artifacts spawned by the Vortex are often discarded to a fairly large distance when the anomaly works again (sometimes without this). This may give the impression that the artifact that was just recorded by the detector suddenly disappeared. However, when using the "Veles" detector, you can see in which direction the point representing the artifact will move, making it easier to find the "fugitive".

Trivia

 * Note that percentages quoted from the gamefiles may not total 100% (values extracted from "zone_vortex.ltx".