Do Budget Kits Still Exist in Tarkov?

(Intro)

When it comes to building a kit in EFT, making sure you have the most bang for your buck is an important concept instilled into every Tarkov player. The old adage of: “it matters not what your gun looks like, but what leaves it” is still true to this day. And one concept people still ask questions about, which is a good thing, is how to build an effective kit for as cheap as possible. Budget kits are a core component to Tarkov; allowing players of any skill or account level a fighting chance against those who may have more resources at their disposal. Nothing hurts more than dumping an entire magazine into an enemy and having them turn around and send you back to your stash. And while budget kits are still important to this day in EFT, over the years, with how much the price of items has gone up, and the availability of many others has gone down, it’s become harder and harder to nail down effective budget kits, that don’t break the bank because everything in the game is so much more expensive. So today, let’s go over an example of a budget kit, what makes them so effective and fun to use, how they are a dying breed in EFT, and if they are still viable in 2025.

(The origins of the budget kit for myself)

Budget kits have been in the game since the earliest days. I mean, back then, using anything other than a hatchet was considered a budget kit. There wasn’t a ton of options way back when, but I first learned about the concept of budget kits from an OG in the community, DeadlySlob. His video about budget and efficiency kits, truly gave me the tools needed to build upon that foundation. And I still use the lessons learned in that video even five years later. So big shoutout to him. The ADAR with the prism scope is still one of my absolute favorite weapons to run in the game, no matter how long the wipe has been going on for. I’m sure there are earlier versions of this concept being put into practice by other creators and players, but I still watch that video to remind myself of those principles. It's a great place to start if you are unsure what you should be bringing with you into raids, and how you might be able to save some rubles while still being just as effective as someone running the best gear on offer. Granted, all the numbers, and some of the items aren’t as easily obtainable so it’s certainly a little outdated. So, let’s try and get as close to his budget kit as we can using the vendors as much as possible. With the main goal being to try and stay below spending two-hundred thousand rubles with everything included.

(Building a budget kit in 2025)

The first thing he brings up is protection, so armor and a helmet. Well, we still have the 6B5 as an option, but now it’s from Prapor level two and it costs just a tiny but more, at fifty-five thousand rubles, from fifty-three. So, harder to get access too, but pretty much the same price. The helmet choice, the SSH-68 is still from Ragman level one, but it now costs much more; at twenty-nine thousand rubles versus the eighteen it used to cost. While it still has the high ricochet chance, the biggest issue that has changed over the years is that no headset is wearable with this helmet. And after all the changes they’ve made to audio, that’s pretty much a death sentence.

Moving to medication, he proposes you run a car med kit, two AI-2's and a pack of painkillers, because it’s cheaper than a single IFAK. Which is still true; combined those meds from Therapist cost thirty-three and a half thousand rubles. Where a single IFAK from her costs forty-three thousand rubles, when back in the day it only cost seventeen thousand, which is insane to think about. Here’s the problem: we now have to deal with heavy bleeds, and none of those heals can fix a heavy bleed. So, if we add two Esmarch's for a heavy bleeds, we are now looking at a total cost of just over forty-two thousand rubles. Still cheaper than an IFAK, but barely.

He then goes on to discuss weapons, and this is where you can really get creative with how you save your money. There are more options now for weapons than ever before, but even some cheaper alternatives have gotten expensive after they were added into the game. So, for simplicities sake, let’s go with a base ADAR and prism scope combo, just like he did. An ADAR from Skier level one costs forty-five thousand rubles, but he does suggest grabbing one off the flea market if possible. They are usually cheaper there and as the writing of this video, it currently costs as low as twenty-five thousand rubles with almost full durability, which is very cheap all things considered. Using that price, combined with the prism scope costing twenty-one thousand rubles from it’s cheaper eighteen thousand back in the day, we have our base weapon. Now we need magazines and ammo. Three twenty-round mags from Peacekeeper costs eleven thousand rubles, which leaves the ammo. Even just M855, which has thirty-one penetration, is only available at level three Peacekeeper for two dollars a round. Getting sixty rounds to fill the mags costs thirteen thousand rubles. So not only is it more expensive than years prior, but our access to the good ammo has also been significantly reduced.

After all of that, if we do the math and combine the cost of this entire kit, it comes out to roughly one-hundred and ninety-six thousand rubles. Which technically, is within the budget of two hundred thousand, but not by much. And this isn’t even considering the fact that some items are harder to get now, and you are using M855 for ammo, versus M995 that Deadly showcased in the build. Even still, this is very expensive for a budget kit. And yes, while you can certainly look for other items on the flea market to maybe save some rubles in other places, the goal was to get as much from the traders as possible. There are other options too if you’re looking for budget. Other level three armors that are available, different weapons and builds associated with them; this kit is only one example, but it ticks all the boxes of what an actual Tarkov kit looks like. There are very few compromises with this kit; the major two being headphones and a backpack. So yes, technically you can build kits for under two-hundred thousand rubles, but this number is harder to stay under than it was five years ago. Which begs a simple question: why?

(Inflation in EFT over the years)

Over the years, the cost of items in the game has only gone up. The flea market being one of the major contributors to this problem. With everyone available at your fingertips, there was very little reason to go out and search for what you are looking for. Instead of wasting money on kits and dying over and over again, why not just buy it from the flea market. What makes this worse is that many items' people want, are actually cheaper on the flea than buying them from the vendors. A simple example is the NT-4 suppressor. It has always been cheaper on the flea than from Peacekeeper. Maybe this shouldn’t the case; maybe the traders should have better prices to try and compete with players on the flea. And correct me if I’m wrong, but at one point they tried to do that, and it didn’t work. But still, items have only gotten more expensive over the years, in pretty much every facet. Is it a good thing? Depends on who you ask. Having powerful items highly sought after by players being harder to get is obviously a good thing. But do the basic supplies that new and even intermediate players rely on to stay afloat need to cost as much as they do? There is an argument for both sides. And one that also needs to be considered is the hideout. BSG wants you to engage with the hideout. Like, a lot. When you have most of your modules maxed out, you can do quite a lot of crafting items you will use in your day-to-day experiences in the game. But to get there now, especially with fond in raid requirements for the modules, it just more work on top of more work.

(Making money is easy [usually])

Another reason for items being so expensive is that money is relatively easy to obtain, if you are looking for it. With so many new items being added into the game, there is always something worth of value. A single scav run, if you know what to look out for and with a dose of luck, can yield hundreds of thousands of rubles. And even if you don’t find any treasure loot or anything that screams big rubles, simply filling your rig and backpack the brim with stuff and then selling it all can still get you a solid amount of money. And if you are really down bad, doing only scav runs for a day can get you out of the hole with relatively consistent success. Not to mention, with the addition of Arena existing, that entire game can be used as a funnel to build up a big bank account and then sending pretty much all of it straight to EFT. Meaning money is almost a non-issue at this point. But you have to be willing to do the hard and boring stuff to get to a position where money is plentiful. Otherwise, if you just run PMC raids and constantly lose, you will see your ruble count fall quickly. And be left with not much but an empty stash, and snuffed survival streak.

(Outro)

Is it possible to run budget kits in 2025? Absolutely. Are they as cheap as they once year many moons ago? No, not anymore sadly. And, depending on who you ask, that is either a good or bad thing. Running budget kits and then building them up off what you find in raid is some of the best ways to play the game. It’s essentially rags to riches, and that play style has always been fun and a way to reinvest back into your current kit without breaking the bank, The inflation kind of goes both ways; everything might be more expensive to buy and run, but most items in the game sell for more than they ever have before. I mean bitcoins in-game at one point were selling for over a million rubles, which even just one of those can pay for two or three kits depending on what you’re looking to run. It’s a game about give and take. Another adage for Tarkov; no matter how much it gives; the game will always take when it wants to. Regardless of if you want it to or not. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on budget kits as a concept, what your favorite cheap weapons to run are and be sure to subscribe for more reflections on the past that make the game feel so much worse than it might actually be. I hope to see you in future ones.