Escape From Tarkov: 8 Tips To Get Ahead Early-Wipe

Escape From Tarkov is a hardcore PvPvE extraction FPS with light RPG elements. It couples realistic gunplay and health mechanics with immersive environments to create a tense and compelling gaming experience. Escape From Tarkov currently operates under wipe cycles, meaning the progress of every player is wiped alongside the release of each large patch.

Early-wipe in Escape From Tarkov is considered the most compelling time to play. This is due to the scarcity of high-end gear that results in longer gun-fights and means players value their gear more. Despite this, early-wipe can be a difficult time to play Escape From Tarkov, especially as a new player. Many experienced players will quickly progress and gain a gear advantage over those with less experience. It is important that players learn to progress efficiently in early-wipe, in order to not fall behind.

8 Know Your Tasks

From Salewas To Beef Stew

Tasks are the backbone of Escape From Tarkov, and offer the best way to get familiar with the game. Task progression is also required to gain levels and unlock trader levels, resulting in better gear. Players will likely have to use external websites to progress many tasks, as the game does not give much detail.

Players must know what tasks are upcoming and what items they may need. For example, some quests require items that can be obtained at any point. It is in players’ best interest to ensure they know about these items and can obtain them early. This will mean they do not get locked behind needing items for tasks. This speeds up progression and allows players to avoid the common sticking points.

7 Know Flea Market Values

Invest Early In Order To Win Big

At level 15, players unlock the Flea Market, an auction house in which they can buy and sell many items. Prices fluctuate based on supply and demand, as the economy is player-led. Knowledge of how to use the Flea Market early-wipe can result in massive profit as the wipe goes on.

Price fluctuations allow players to prepare themselves for massive monetary returns by holding onto items until the price increases. Sugar is a great example of this, as it will be of very little value early wipe, so players have a couple of options to make money. They could hold onto collected sugar early-wipe and then sell it later into the wipe, or buy up a lot of sugar while it is cheap and make moonshine with it late into the wipe for incredible profit.

6 Avoid PvP

Understanding The Art Of Retreating

PvP plays a huge role in the gameplay loop of Escape From Tarkov and is often the element that draws players to the game. Few games emulate the adrenaline rush and risk of PvP that Escape From Tarkov has.

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PvP encounters are compelling and fun to get involved in, but if players are strictly interested in progress early-wipe, then avoiding PvP is often the best option. For a start, not many early tasks require PvP, and players don’t tend to have gear worth taking. In addition, PvP encounters can actively hinder progress and interrupt the flow of early-wipe task progression. If players can avoid PvP or retreat from gunfights, they will see their success and thus, their progression rate, increase massively.

5 Learn The Flow Of Maps

Don’t Get Caught Out Of Position

The maps in Escape From Tarkov are compelling, often covering massive amounts of space and packed full of detail. This detail and intricacy, however, only serves to increase confusion for newer players. One integral element of map knowledge is understanding where general player movement occurs and where players will be at different stages in the wipe.

For example, early on in the wipe, Customs will be packed full of players attempting to quest. Customs is laid out in such a way that there are essentially three lanes, with players spawning on the exact opposite side at which they must extract. This creates a situation in which players from either side of the map are walking towards each other, attempting to grab quest items on the way. In this situation, night raids will mitigate the risk of running into players, as will being the first or last to any given task location. Every map has this general flow, with players who spawn in one area tending to take a specific route to extract. Knowledge of this allows players to mitigate risk, or potentially intercept enemy player movement.

4 Learn Item Priority

What To Grab And What Not To Grab

A crucial but often under-discussed element of Escape From Tarkov is inventory management. The ability for a player to be efficient with the space in their stash is one part of this, but in-raid inventory management is far more crucial. Learning rough item prices and item priority will increase efficiency in raids and allow for a smoother experience, both when it comes to making money and ensuring players spend less time looting.

Players must ascertain what is worth picking up in a raid, and what should take priority. For example, task and hideout items should take priority over all items unless they are common. Then, if the goal is to make money early-wipe, players should consider certain factors. For example, consider how much value a given item is per slot. If players pick up a PSU that takes up 4 slots, but it is only worth 40k, then they’d be better off picking up 4 individual items that have a higher value. Weight can also factor into decision-making. For example, a tank battery may be lucrative, but it heavily movement and will make extracting from that raid far more difficult.

3 Don’t Neglect The Hideout

Start Renovating Early On

The hideout is an important aspect of Escape From Tarkov, allowing players to craft all sorts of items and level up their skills, among many other things. It can be a hefty investment. However, the earlier players build and upgrade hideout modules, the more return they will see on that investment.

Modules like the lavatory and workbench allow players to craft quest items, whereas rushing the booze generator or Bitcoin farm can make players heaps of money. Even if players do not have the level requirements to build the latter two modules, stocking up on sugar and GPU’s early-wipe whilst they are cheap, will allow players to get massive profit on their production.

2 Learn To Play Solo

Players Are More Efficient When Alone

Escape From Tarkov often intimidates players due to its hardcore nature and indiscriminate lobbies, pitting solo players against teams of up to 5 enemy players. Whilst the prospect of lacking man-power is intimidating, learning to play Escape From Tarkov as a solo player can improve a player’s ability.

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If solo, players will be forced to learn game sense and positioning, which will increase their skills. Large squads often have messy and disorganized comms, allowing solo players to out-position and confuse them, ultimately winning engagements. A large benefit of solo play is the ability to move far more efficiently and quietly, especially when coupled with night raids. Players’ survival rate will likely increase due to their lower profile and quieter movement, allowing them to avoid gunfights and stick to quieter areas of the map.

1 Switch Things Up

If It Isn’t Working, Try Something New

The tasks in Escape From Tarkov are designed to take players to multiple maps and give them a series of objectives to tackle. Players can find themselves frustrated if they keep failing a task on a certain map, especially if they feel as though their progression is locked behind a given task.

It is important for players to note that, whilst a task may be blocking progression, sometimes changing the map or tackling a new task will allow them to regain some money and their composure. For example, if the Woods map is causing players some issues, then switching to Factory would be a complete change of pace. Escape From Tarkov is a difficult game that prides itself upon creating annoying situations for players. Early-wipe, when fast progression is so important, players may feel this more than ever, thus emphasizing the importance of changing the map or task if things aren’t going well. This way, players will find themselves remaining committed to their progression rather than giving up.