There’s a lot of small things that people either don’t realize, or just forget to practice in EFT. These don’t have to be very complicated, but sometimes they slip the minds of even some pretty experienced players. Here are a few tips and tricks that can help you out regardless of which map you might prefer.
OUR TOP ESCAPE FROM TARKOV TIPS
1. Loose ammo
You don’t have to limit yourself to carrying extra magazines, this consumes a lot of inventory space and costs money. Carrying loose ammo allows you to repack a magazine in-raid, and while it takes more time can save you a lot of expense and offer more space both in your normal inventory and in your secure container.
2. Multitasking
Loose ammo means you have to spend time repacking magazines, but you can actually reduce a lot of that time by doing it while you heal. If you start a healing animation, you can open your inventory and start repacking while the animation plays in the background.
3. Insurance
Insurance allows you to recover your items so long as they haven’t been extracted by the end of a round. Insurance costs a fraction of what it would take to replace your gear, and understanding how it works will help minimize your losses. Insurance works so long as an item hasn’t been extracted, meaning that an insured backpack will return to you even if you drop it in a bush before leaving(or dying), so long as nobody else extracts with it. A trick that can help reduce your losses (or increase your earnings) is to drop insured gear in a hiding place when you expect you might be in immediate risk of dying, or to make room for other non-insured gear. Although, remember that only insured items will be returned, uninsured loot won’t be returned when the bag is.
4. Grenades
Use them! grenades can seem like a decent bundle of cash early game, but in reality they are only about as valuable as many common trading items. Grenades are most valuable when used to win a fight or end it before it even begins. It’s best to hop into a few offline games and get comfortable with how they handle and bounce off terrain.
5. Blind Fire
Blind firing is extremely helpful, and is especially effective at punishing aggressive enemies in buildings. Not only can you blind fire a normal weapon around cover, you can actually blind fire with grenades as well to perform an extremely defensive throw that will only expose your arm and only for a moment.
6. Know your weapons
It’s important to understand more than how grenades handle, all of the weapons and their various modifications have detailed interactions. Sometimes a weapon can seem overly sluggish, and suddenly very snappy, depending on how you decided to perform an action, and your point of aim compared to where your bullets land can change based on the type of ammunition and barrel you’re using. Taking a few minutes to play with your gear in the comfort of an offline game can really make the difference when the stress is on.
7. Headsets
While the audio systems in Tarkov are far from flawless, sound is still one of the most powerful tools available to you. Not only is it recommended that you only play with headphones, but it is also highly recommended that you use the in-game active headsets as often as possible. Active headsets (both in-game and in real life) are devices that muffle noises above a certain volume and amplify quieter sounds. This often translates into loud sound impulses like gunshots and grenades being reduced while the sounds of footsteps and inventory interactions are amplified. These headsets are super useful for nailing down the direction and location of an enemy.
8. Looting attachments
Weapons are a very alluring form of loot, but more often than not a cheap AK isn’t worth the massive amount of inventory space it takes up. It’s also worth remembering that often the attachments on a weapon can be worth much more per space than the entirety of the gun. You can remove most attachments by inspecting a weapon in your inventory and examining all the components of it.
9. Scav Spawns
Scavs, the AI controlled enemies you’ll encounter in the world, spawn in waves on most maps and only in specific areas. Learning where these Scav spawns are located can help you avoid unnecessary risks.
10. Not every fight
Not every fight is really worth the risk of dying. Often, you’ll see enemy players on the horizon or hear someone stopping around in a building and forget that your inventory is already filled to the brim. When you’re loaded down, not only is it less likely that your opponent will have any valuable loot compared to what you’re already carrying, but the added weight will actually reduce your mobility and increase stamina consumption.
11. You make sound
A simple concept I know, but one you might find yourself forgetting quite often. Not only do some surfaces, like wooden floors, carry sound a lot further than you’d expect, but even the subtle sound of checking your magazine during a quiet break in a fight could be enough to give you away.
12. Take your time
Most maps have a very generous amount of time for each raid, and rushing often leaves you exposed with no stamina. Walking and crouching reduce the sound you make, and taking those extra few seconds to line up your shot can save you a lot of lost encounters.
13. Painkillers
Painkillers provide temporary but immediate relief from any ongoing negative effects you might be suffering from a broken arm or leg. They may not last very long, but two minutes can be plenty of time to make your way to an extraction. Using painkillers just before getting into a fight will also prevent your aim from getting trashed by a bullet to the arm.
14. Ammo Matters
Good quality ammo is often more impactful than a quality gun. If you’re trying to budget your builds you might want to consider taking more effective ammo over making your gun 10% more ergonomic. (higher penetration bullets for chest shots, and high flesh damage in SMGs and shotguns when going for the legs)
15. Saving Space
A neat trick to know is that certain weapon parts (especially AK foregrips and gas tube assemblies) can mount a considerable number of attachments without actually changing the space they take up in your inventory. If you’re looting players or just finding a lot of optics/grips/lights you can save a lot of space by mounting them to a foreguard that only takes up one space in your inventory.
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