EFT Tutorial and Guide
THE TARKOV CENTRAL
Exploration
Once you spawn in the map, your first task is to figure out where you are. Check your map and look around in-game. If you're on Ground Zero, it shouldn’t be too hard, as you can orient yourself by observing the buildings and road layout.
Customs and Factory are also relatively easy to navigate.
The hardest map to get your bearings on is Woods, as many areas are just forest.
Check out this TTC article for some tips on navigating Woods - Map Tips: Woods
Try to memorize buildings, vegetation, terrain, and other visible elements (vehicles, rocks, signs, etc.) to help you navigate. Over time, you’ll remember specific landmarks, allowing you to instantly recognize your location and where to go when you spawn.
Once you unlock the Flea Market you can buy stims that boost your stamina and stamina regeneration. With those you can sprint more, making exploration faster. And if you use the Practice Mode you will get them back when you extract or leave the raid.
A great way to prepare for raids, learn details about maps, and get tips on how to handle different EFT scenarios is by watching videos from streamers and content creators on YouTube.
One of the best to follow is Pestily. Check for example his Ground Zero Guide.
You'll notice the link brings you to a YouTube playlist where you can find other maps guides too.
Note: YouTube has tons of videos explaining all aspects of EFT, but the information is scattered and often disorganized. That’s why I recommend following this tutorial—I’ve organized the information logically and progressively to help you learn faster and achieve good results as quickly as possible.
Compass
In one of the first quests, you’ll receive a compass, which is useful for navigating maps with few buildings or landmarks like Woods and Shoreline (but be aware, it’s currently bugged! - it doesn't open correctly so you can't see the arrow pointing to the north. You can still see the bearing number in the bottom right corner of your screen, but the north (zero) and the south (180) are swapped!)
Before that quest, though, you won’t have the compass, so you’ll have to rely on visual landmarks alone. It's harder, but when you figure it out, you won't get lost anymore.