Beginner's Guide: Basics and Features - Escape From Tarkov Guide - IGN (2024)

Playing Escape from Tarkov can be a frightening and nerve-breaking experience for new players. The high level of realism and the myriad of systems in the game present a pretty steep learning curve that doesn’t welcome everyone.

Hopefully, IGN’s Beginner’s Guide will bring you everything you need to know when starting Escape from Tarkov. Here you’ll find explainers of the most important mechanics and features in the game:

• Tarkov's General Gameplay Loop
• The Basics of Healing
• Eating and Drinking
• Money
• Insurance and Recovering Equipment
• Looting
• Hideout
• Recommended Equipment
• Quests

Tarkov's General Gameplay Loop

Escape from Tarkov is an FPS with RPG elements. You’ll fight alone or with friends against other players and bots inside big maps during Raids, the game’s main mode. Basically, you’ll have to survive on the stage you previously selected and get to one of your possible extraction points before the time runs out.

This might sound simple on paper, but it gets complicated when anyone can kill you with a headshot made by any type of weapon if you’re not using a helmet — and it depends on the type of helmet, too! Even more when your health doesn’t regenerate without specific items, there are tons of different items to loot and put in your limited inventory, and there’s also a wild variety of weapons to learn.

However, one of the most important aspects of playing Escape from Tarkov is the following: In a way, it works like most roguelikes/roguelites. You’ll lose all your equipment when you die. Yes, you can lose all your inventory by just using it, going into raids, and dying.

The items in your Special Slots and your Alpha pouch won’t be lost.

Fortunately, you can play both with your main character, called PMC, and with another one that spawns with random equipment every time you use them (this is called Scav). Scavs are a type of character that is generally used for loot, so you’ll have more chances of re-stocking your stash with them.

The general idea of the game is that you participate in Raids playing as a Scav, trying to loot as much as possible, earning money by selling items and completing quests with traders, so you can start creating a strong stash for your PMC. This way, you’ll have more chances of surviving as your main character, though you’ll need a good amount of hours to start getting the hang of it.

The Basics of Healing

When you are hit in this game, you won’t regenerate over time like most modern FPS. In fact, Escape from Tarkov features a complex health system with different possible outcomes.

Your limbs will be divided in a graph that you can check in the “Health” tab. Here you’ll be told your overall status, and if a part of your body has been damaged. However, you won’t only lose health points if you get hit, but you’ll also be able to get negative effects.

For example, a shot in any of your arms can create a small or a big cut, which you should take care of with bandages or you will die of blood loss. A miscalculated fall can break your legs and alter the way you move — a painkiller might be a quick but temporary solution for this.

You should always pay attention to what all the types of healing items do, and when you should use them. Something that you should keep in mind is that when a part of your body becomes black (in the graph, with zero health points), it means that you have to use a surgery kit (for example, a CMS) before you can start to recover your health.

You'll have free healing after completing a Raid during your first five levels or 30 Raids.

Eating and Drinking

Your main character has two important stats that you should always keep an eye on: hydration and energy. If these stats reach zero, you’ll start to behave in a very limited way, moving weakly and losing your sight from time to time. You can even die on the field if you remain in this state for a long time.

To avoid this, you should plan to have (at least) a bottle of water and some food (like an Iskra ration) in your equipment. This won’t be necessary if you plan in doing fast extractions but beware of standing on the battlefield for a long time. This system also doesn’t let you go in Raids with your PMC very often as your stats won’t regenerate right away — you need to leave your character for some time or feed him with the items in your stash.

Money

Money is essential in this game because it will let you buy stronger and better equipment from the Traders or other players. To get money, you should complete quests and sell items that you think you won’t use or aren’t important.

A piece of good advice is to sell weapons that have seen better days (their icon will get red when they start losing usability), but first you should disassemble their parts and sell them separately. Also, always try to save the ammo by unloading the magazines. They are more important than the weapon itself.

Please keep in mind that there are three in-game currencies (Roubles, Dollars, Euros) and not all of them work with any Trader.

Insurance and Recovering Equipment

Normally, your equipment will be lost when you die in a Raid. However, there’s a chance to save it. This comes with one of Escape from Tarkov’s mechanics, insurance.

Basically, before deploying in a level, you have the chance to speak with a Trader (Prapor or the Therapist) and ask them to insure anything you have equipped. Each object will have a price of its own, and the NPCs will take at least 12 hours to get back your stuff.

You’ll also have a deadline to ask for your rescued equipment or it will be lost forever.

Nevertheless, there’s a catch. The insurance can fail if another player steals your equipment. Something that you can do to prevent this is to hide it when you think you’re about to die — though this isn’t a common scenario.

You can also save your things by playing with friends and asking them to get your stuff, survive the Raid, and then drop it in your next Raid. However, they will need to have enough space and have a bit of luck in combat.

Looting

The art of looting valuable items fast should be one of your main interests while playing Escape from Tarkov. The items you find will be useful for healing, creating better loadouts, building modules in your construction, selling to NPCs, and earning money, among other things.

For more information on how to loot and get better at it, please check our Loot Guide.

Hideout

This is a personal base exclusive to your character that will help you make better progress in the game. By building modules in your Hideout, you’ll get exclusive bonuses like increased regeneration rates, a bigger stash, and the possibility to repair weapons, armor, and much more.

On the other hand, finding the items and reaching the Loyalty Levels needed is a hard and grinding activity that will take you time. However, the rewards will be worth it.

If you want to know more about how this feature works and how to construct any module, please visit our Hideout Guide.

Recommended Equipment

When playing as a PMC, you need to equip your character before jumping into a Raid. There are multiple ways to do this and you’ll find what’s more adequate to your playstyle with time, but there are a few general tips that could be of use in your first Raids.

For starters, using a good quality earpiece makes a huge difference in how you’ll react to your environment. Also, try not to go out without a bulletproof chest and a helmet: your chances of surviving will decrease significantly without these pieces of equipment.
Traders

There are eight Traders in the game that are willing to buy (some) of your stuff, sell specific items, and also give you quests. They are essential for your economy in the game and can be useful for getting better gear.

For more information, please check our Trading Guide.

Quests

After a few Raids, you might notice that leveling up your character can take some time. The amount of experience points that you win varies according to how much time you spent on the map, and how well you perform in terms of kills and loot, but it hardly gives you much EXP overall.

This is where quests come into action. By speaking with the Traders, you’ll be able to accept tasks (when they are available) and they will give you experience points, apart from other possible rewards like money, weapons, and items.

To know the types of quests available and how to complete them, please visit our Quest Guide.

Are you looking for even more tips to learn how to play Escape from Tarkov? Please visit our Combat Guide and Tips page.