Your escapades in the city of Tarkov have likely been plagued by swarms of Scavs shouting at you while pumping you full of lead.
After a while, you’ve probably gotten used to getting into fights with them, and used to how poor the loot they drop is. If you’re tired of just grabbing loot from boxes and running to locations with good loot drops, then maybe you should try hunting down some raiders instead.
Raiders are heavily geared and more tactical than your everyday scav. If you manage to take a few down, you’ll end up with a decent amount of good equipment. They’ll fight better and tend to stay in groups, so make sure that the area is clear before jumping for loot.
Finding Raiders
With the exception of the Pre-Wipe events that happen occasionally, Raiders will spawn on the maps Lab and Reserve.
Lab
Due to the requirement of an access card in order to enter the map, Labs is a high risk high reward map to raid. Instead of scavs, all enemies will be raiders.
In two sections of the map, there are locations where you can press a button to activate an extraction. Finding and pressing the button will sound an alarm, spawn raiders, and open a gate for you to use to get to an extraction point. These gates are not always available to be opened however.
The two locations are the Parking Gate, and the Hangar Gate.
In the Parking Gate area, you’ll have to head through a door and up a flight of stairs to get to the room that contains the button to open the gate itself. Finding your way up there should be simple enough.
In the Hangar Gate area, there is a flight of stairs leading up to a catwalk, on top of which lies a small metal cabin. Inside the cabin is the button to open the gate.
As soon as you press either of these buttons, you may want to vacate the room and find a defensible position, as Raiders will be spawned and will head towards the gate. Occasionally, raiders will enter from behind the previously closed gate, so be careful of standing in front of it, and if you intend to use the gate as an extraction as well.
Reserve
Unlike the Lab, Reserve doesn’t only spawn raiders as normal enemies, but you can perform certain actions to open extraction points and spawn raiders.
Near the western side of the map, next to the building marked with a White Pawn, is a small breaker room. Flipping the switch on the inside will cause an alarm to sound, and a timer for the Bunker Hermetic Door extraction to begin.
When the switch is flipped, Raiders have a chance to spawn a number of Raiders near the extraction point itself, in the vicinity of the Train Station on the eastern side of the map. The alarm is loud enough to hear from almost every area on the map, so you’ll know if someone has flipped the switch, and to then be cautious in the Train Station area.
In the underground area beneath the Pawn, Bishop, and King buildings, is another switch in a breaker room. Flipping the switch won’t unlock the D-2 extraction point until you press a separate button, but may spawn raiders in that underground area.
Raider Tactics
Unlike normal scavs, Raiders may be more aggressive, and fight smarter. They may attempt to flank, or simply rush you when you’re unprepared. They also come equipped with generally strong ammunition, so if you’re extremely unlucky you might just get dropped without a chance to fire back.
Raiders will also be well protected, so don’t expect to take one down just by spraying 9mm down a hallway, unless you get some lucky headshots. They’ll have up to Level 4 Helmets and Level 6 body armor.
To take down a group of raiders, you might prefer to stay at a distance and pick them off one by one, or hold an angle that you know they will push through in order to bottleneck them. When you do manage to take one down, make sure that his squad is also dead, otherwise you might get an unlucky shot to the back of the head.
Raider Loot
Raiders will come equipped with larger and more modern weaponry than other scavs. Here are a few of the possible weapons they’ll have at their disposal.
- Several AK Variants
- SKS
- AS VAL
- SA-58
- SR-25
- M4A1
- HK416
- DT MDR
- TX-15
- MP5
- MP7
As mentioned before, Raiders can spawn with Helmets up to armor tier 4, and body armor up to armor tier 6.
If you manage to take one down quickly or using a grenade, you might end up with some armor that has a decent durability remaining. Here are some of the pieces you can get.
- ULACH Helmet – Level 4
- ZSh-1-2M Helmet – Level 4 – Faceshield 3
- TC800 Helmet – Level 4 – Visor 2
- Slick Plate Carrier – Level 6
- Gen4 Armor (High Mobility and Assault) – Level 5
- FORT Redut-M/Defender-2 – Level 5
- Trooper Armor – Level 4
If a raider doesn’t have any body armor, they may instead have an armored carrier rig. Otherwise, they might have a decently sized rig, so here are a few of the possible pieces.
- 5.11 Tactec Plate Carrier – Level 5
- TV-110 Plate Carrier – Level 4
- M2 Armored Rig – Level 4
- AVS Platecarrier – Level 4
- Triton Chest Harness
- MPPV
- Commando Chest Harness
As for loose loot, they can have a few notable items from the Provisions and Ammunition loot tables, along with some IFAK medical kits and Labs Access Cards.
While Raiders may be somewhat more threatening than Scavs, they are definitely a more lucrative source for loot. If you’re going hunting for raiders, make sure you’re well equipped, or go with some friends.
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