EFT Tutorial and Guide
THE TARKOV CENTRAL
Basic Loadout
When you’re level 1 and just starting to play EFT, the best thing to do is hop into Practice Mode and try out everything available in your stash. This way, you’ll learn the mechanics and also understand the differences and options you have.
In the previous chapters, we discussed what you might need during a raid, but only experience and practice will help you figure out what you actually need, based on your playstyle and what you want to accomplish in each raid.
Just remember that unexpected events are always around the corner. For example, you might decide not to bring food and water because you’re planning a short raid. However, if you’re forced to take a detour or wait because there are enemies nearby, your plans could change.
Another tendency EFT has to completely alter your plans is making you find a rare or highly valuable item. A raid you planned to be quick and low-stakes—where you might have entered with minimal gear just to explore—can suddenly become a desperate fight for survival because you want to extract with that juicy loot.
Bring Your Best Kit
A common piece of advice for new players is to always enter raids with the best gear you have available (armor, weapons, and ammo). This maximizes your firepower and protection, giving you the best chances of surviving and successfully extracting.
While the theory behind this advice is sound, I don’t think it’s always the best possible advice, especially for an inexperienced player.
First of all, at the beginning, your resources are limited, so you need to save them.
Second, at the start, survival isn’t determined so much by your gear as by your inexperience. In my opinion, it’s far more likely for a new player to die because of a mistake they make than because of a lack of gear like armor or weapons.
Additionally, the higher the stakes, the greater the Gear Fear, which leads to more tension and nervousness. These emotions can cause hesitation due to the fear of being seen or heard, and in general, they increase the likelihood of making mistakes (If you want to learn tricks to reduce Gear Fear, tension, and nervousness, click on the link above).
In my opinion, especially at the beginning, it’s better to find your own “comfort zone” based on what you have and can afford at any given time—something you’re willing to risk without too much fear of losing it.
It’s also worth noting that even with the worst kit, it’s possible to take down enemies with far superior gear. That’s the beauty of Escape from Tarkov.
So, "Bring your Best Kit"? Sure, but only once you have some experience, and even then, avoid falling into Gear Fear.
Scav Kits
I found out that a great way to accumulate experience in raid, gain knowledge and confidence, while also avoiding Gear Fear, is running Scav kits. They are free and easy to acquire:
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Have normal a Scav run trying to loot and survive. When you get back to your hideout, transfer the Scav kit to your PMC. Repair the weapon and armor. If it has no armor you can decide to buy a cheap one or go without. Add some consumabels in needed (healing, ammo, etc.). Hop in a raid.
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Same as point 1, but you do a Scav run specifically to retrieve the kit. Just enter a raid as a Scav and run to the nearest extract. Factory is the best map to do this because it's small with a lof of options for extract.
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Loot dead Scavs during your raids as a Scav or PMC.
You clearly need to check for the weapon durability. If it's too low it doesn't make much sense to repair it. But even if it's bad it's still a free kit you're using to learn.
Keep in mind that weapons can malfunction. Set the right keybinds for inspecting your weapon and fix it in case it happens by checking the article about Keybinds.