Beginner's Guide to Escape from Tarkov

New to Tarkov? This guide covers insurance, raids, looting, hideout, and the flea market.

Insurance System

  • 1Insure all your gear before every raid through Prapor (cheap, slow) or Therapist (expensive, fast).
  • 2If you die and nobody extracts with your gear, insurance returns it after 24-36 hours.
  • 3Swap your insured gear for better loot found in raid -- you get both your insurance return and the upgrade.
  • 4Labs and Lighthouse Rogues do not return insured items -- they are lost permanently.
  • 5Insurance fraud is a legitimate strategy: hide your gear in bushes, pick up better loot, and extract.

PMC vs Scav Runs

  • 1PMC raids risk your gear but earn XP, complete quests, and give Found-in-Raid status to items.
  • 2Scav runs are free -- use them to learn maps and earn money with zero risk.
  • 3Scav cooldown decreases with higher Fence (Scav karma) reputation.
  • 4As a Scav, do not kill other player Scavs unless they shoot first -- it tanks your karma.
  • 5Alternate between PMC and Scav runs: do a PMC raid, then Scav while your PMC heals.

Loot Priority

  • 1Focus on value-per-slot: items worth the most per inventory slot they occupy.
  • 2Top priority items: FIR quest items, keycards, LEDX, GPUs, bitcoins, intelligence folders.
  • 3Bring a backpack and rig with maximum slot capacity for efficient looting.
  • 4Check jackets for keys, filing cabinets for intel, and PCs for tech items.
  • 5Learn the flea market prices -- some common-looking items sell for hundreds of thousands.

Hideout Setup

  • 1Prioritize upgrading the Workbench (ammo crafting) and Medstation (healing items).
  • 2Bitcoin Farm generates passive income -- start collecting GPUs early.
  • 3Scav Case sends your Scavs on missions for random loot returns.
  • 4Water Collector + Booze Generator = Moonshine for Scav Case or flea market sale.
  • 5Generator uses fuel -- only run it when crafting or using the Bitcoin Farm.

Flea Market Basics

  • 1Flea Market unlocks at level 15 -- grind quests and kills to reach it.
  • 2Only items with Found-in-Raid (FIR) status can be listed on the flea market.
  • 3Check recent prices before listing -- undercutting by 1 rouble helps sell faster.
  • 4The flea market fee increases exponentially if you list items far above their trader value.
  • 5Buy barter items from traders and sell crafted items on flea for profit.