Tarkov can be rough at times, so it’s best to do some research first. In these Tarkov Tips and Tricks, we’ll help you level up your knowledge.

---

If you want some Beginner’s tips, check out our Beginners Guide to Tarkov. The following tips and tricks don’t really fall into any of those categories but I found them rather useful in the time I spend in Tarkov.

Tarkov Tips and Tricks – The Wiki is your friend

The official Escape from Tarkov Wiki is your friend. You may have noticed by now that Escape from Tarkov isn’t exactly the most beginner-friendly game in the world. And not knowing how stuff works and kinda winging it is half of the fun. But if you ever get lost, look up the Escape from Tarkov Wiki. Be it locations for certain items, or how to solve a specific quest. Or just general information on what stuff does. And as time goes on, Escape from Tarkov will only get more complex. So try crutching on it between raids whenever you are confused.

Learn one map at first

Start out by learning one map. While you might be enticed to jump in and start questing or hunting down certain items for your stash/hideout. If you’re really new to the game, you should try to make an effort to learn the maps first. One after another, until you can navigate them without having to consult a map outside the game. For this, you can use the offline raid feature. You won’t be able to take out any loot you’ll find here. But you can also disable AI spawns and just go exploring. You should at least learn the prominent landmarks, so you can quickly locate yourself when spawning in.

Scav runs are your friend

Just do Scav runs. They are fantastic for just learning maps, and even better if you don’t want to risk anything and still make some cash. Personally, I’d recommend alternating between PMC runs and Scav runs. After you complete a raid as a Scav, they’ll usually be on a 15-minute cooldown. By doing these, you’ll get a fully kitted out character, typically with ‘meh’ gear and some loot on them, and there is no chance for you to lose anything from your stash. The only drawback is that Scavs won’t contribute to quest progression. But on the upside, most AI will ignore you.

During a Scav raid, you can often focus on quickly looting to your heart’s desire and then getting out of there. If you extract successfully, you get all the loot and you can also pick off all the Scav’s equipment as well. Some Scav’s might come with a weapon you need for a quest, or attachments, or spawn in with rare items already in their inventory. The only problem is that you’ll spawn into an ongoing raid. And your time to extract will fluctuate drastically, that comes also with the downside that most lucrative spots are probably looted already.

Night raids are good for some alone time

If you want to be left alone, I highly suggest you try out nighttime raids. Players usually tend to avoid those because it’s had to see and flashlights will basically announce your presence to everyone around. That also means that those raids tend to be a lot quieter. As everyone just scurries around to get loot and get out. Just watch out, particularly for the cult members that’ll spawn in. Those guys are well geared, have lots of health and move completely silently. They typically won’t engage unless provoked, and they only spawn in very specific locations. But as a beginner, you should probably avoid them.

Take advantage of Voice Chat to defuse a situation

Last year, Escape from Tarkov added proximity voice chat to the game. This is a rather useful tool since some extraction points will require a PMC and a player Scav to work together to extract. Especially now in the early days of a wipe, people tend to avoid conflict with other players. Everyone just wants to get their quests done, right? And since no one wants to risk their valuable gear, you might be able to negotiate a temporary truce. Maybe you’ll make a new friend.

But be warned, the guy that yell’s ‘friendly, friendly’ is usually either going to get shot first. Or is going to do the shooting. On Scav runs, you’ll probably don’t have to fear this, though. Scav’s rarely shot other Scavs because of the karma system. So it’s more likely for them to team up.

Team up with others

If you’re looking for anyone to play with, your best bet is to join up with a squad on the official Escape from Tarkov discord server. Because if you join any public groups, chances are that you’ll probably be betrayed by the end of the raid. People on the discord server are generally friendly and helpful. If you mention you’re a new player, you’ll often find no shortage of veterans who will take you under their wing.

Use the flea (auction house)

Once you reach level 15, you’ll unlock the flea market. Which enables you to sell items on the global market to other players. Since we’re currently in the early days of the wipe, you can expect prices for all kinds of items to be absolutely bananas. As long as an item has the ‘found in raid’ status, meaning you extracted with it out of a raid with the status ‘survived’. You can usually sell it on the flea market. Here you can also buy quest items, upgrade materials, weapons and so on and so on. You can also sell them. And the more you sell, the more you’ll be able to sell.

And by reading all of this, you should be at least somewhat prepared for your future ventures into Escape from Tarkov. Just don’t be afraid to go out there and get killed, it happens to the best of us. We’re going to have more guides, tips, tricks and curiosities all around Escape from Tarkov very soon here on ESTNN