How to Absorb Tarkov's In-Raid Information More Intelligently

(Intro)

There is a lot of information to digest while in Tarkov raids. Whether that is the initial spawn locations around you, to where both AI and other players might be going. Everything you see and hear in raids can have significance in terms of how to plan your next move. And while it can be tricky to understand and internalize what all the information being thrown at you means, there are some core concepts to keep in mind as you work your way through a map. Today, I wanted to share some insight and personal anecdotes of things that I keep in mind whilst in raid. Things to look out for, things to listen out for, and pretty much everything in between. It’s hard; but with time and some practice you can glean a lot more in raid, with sometimes, less.

(Audio is critical [even when it’s broken])

The most important thing to pay attention to is the audio within the raid. Every single sound you hear across the map can tell you something important. I know the audio in Tarkov is basically a meme at this point because of how awful it is but allow me to paint you a scenario: ahead of you there is an entity with an AK of some sort. But, based on the cadence of the firing, it’s too fast and spontaneous to be just a scav, so it’s most likely a player. But it’s only been forty-five seconds into the raid: did he run into another player? Or did a scav catch him by surprise? And behind you there is what sounds like a shotgun. And seeing we are on Customs, that most likely means he is doing setup, so you need to keep your distance and watch out for the either Pirahna or flecette rounds coming your way if you run into him. The audio in this game doesn’t just pick up player footsteps or scav taunts; it can provide critical information well before the threat even runs across your screen. You just need to pay attention and listen to everything, not just what is directly targeting you. And this goes for non-weapon related sounds in any given map.

Simple stuff like the hermetic door alarm on Reserve means someone is going for that extract. If you’re close enough, you can either simply take it yourself or beat them to the punch and set up an ambush. Flare sounds are something you never really needed to pay attention to either, until recently. With more maps having flare extracts than ever before, combined with red flares providing loot crates, hearing that quick pop sound followed the appropriate color, can also tell you what’s going on around you. Another example of simple audio is the sound of a character falling. The drop.mp4 sound in Tarkov is something I truly detest with every fiber of my soul. But, as much as I hate it, whenever I hear it around me, it means one of two things: either another PMC, or a player scav. No AI in the game can produce that sound, so hearing it means there is immediate danger around you, so prepare for a potential fight. But Tarkov is much more than just audio, even with it being so critical to good gameplay. Yes, the audio across the entire game is scuffed to a point where the lack of it will get you sent to your stash on more than one occasion. But, when it does work, every single sound matters. So, just remember that rustle of bushes you thought you heard is most likely something important.

(Your eyes don’t lie to you)

Your ears aren’t the only source of information you need to rely on.We’ve all done this too: you are simply walking down a road or inside of a poorly lit building and out of the corner of your eye, you feel like you saw the slightest bit of movement. But you pay it no mind and proceed, only to get mowed down moments later. It was a player, and you failed to take what your eyes noticed seriously. Seeing is just as important as hearing. Which is something I adjusted into gameplay early on. If you’re looking for someone from a distance, by keeping your screen as still as possible, you can more easily identify when someone or something is going across the screen. It’s dangerous, of course. By keeping your camera still, you are most likely not moving, which is the fastest way back to the main menu. By doing it in short burst, before taking a step or at least leaning to a side, it can help minimize the risk of being stationary and allows your eyes to digest more of the scene in front of you.

With time, you will also begin to pick up where silhouettes might be. A good example of this would be again on Customs standing on the second floor of the new construction building, if you are looking into stronghold, it’s easy to spot when someone is moving around inside or mounts the gun. But if you only happen to walk by and glance at it, you might miss that player skulking around who just spotted you. The shadows can sometimes make it difficult to see well inside, which leads to double takes before you got bopped. Another example of Customs is the old construction staircase. For years, that spot was insanely lethal because from the inside, you can look out towards crack house and get a clear picture. Whereas people trying to investigate the staircase, couldn’t see anything because it was always so dark. But with the Customs expansion in patch 0.16, that has changed; the lighting is much flatter and spotting people in that particular staircase is much easier now. It’s still useful, but not as powerful of a spot as before. D-2 on Reserve is another dangerous place where your eyes can play tricks on you. Because it’s so dark down there even with the power turned on. Regardless of your location in EFT, if you think you saw something moving out of the corner of your eyes, don’t always dismiss it as nothing. Because that’s exactly what the PMC lining up a headshot wants you to think.

(Scavs can be valuable pieces of information)

You see that sniper scav? Yeah, that one up on the building. He hasn’t spotted you and you have an easy shot on him. So, while you can definitely take him out and make your life easier, sometimes, it’s better to leave him and other scavs roaming around, alive. They can sometimes be critical pieces of information as to where other players might be lurking about. And they don’t even have to be shooting at them. Even just a scav looking in a certain direction and making aggressive taunts, can give you a hint that someone may be around the corner, or at the doorway into that building. There have been so many occasions while playing EFT where I intentionally leave a scav or two alive and just watch what they do. They aren’t just being passive and walking in circles; no, they are specifically looking at a certain building and trying to get a better angle on the inside of it. Low and behold, a player takes them out, goes to loot the body and just so happens to walk into my crosshair. Sorry bud. Any normal scav can provide this kind of information to you. Except for the bosses in the game. Unless you hear a ton of grenades going off in a certain spawn location then maybe you can assume the boss is up this raid. But regular scavs can be very valuable to you even if you don’t need them to complete a quest.

(Quest locations and wipe duration)

This one is a little easier to snuff out, but quest locations can be easy ways to figure where people might want to go. The pocket watch truck is something people will be walking up to, which means depending on when the last wipe happened, it might be a highly contested area in that particular raid. Or, if it’s later on, the something like nighttime Interchange cold be swarming with players trying to get their chumming takedowns. Again, this much more of “yeah no shit Sherlock”, but it can still be good to hear as a refresher if you are struggling with pinning down where people might want to go and anticipating their arrival in a timely manner. This one comes the most from game experience and map knowledge, so the sooner you can get those notches under your belt, the better off you will be in the long run.

(Outro)

Tarkov is a game about accumulating as much information as possible. The more info you have, the more prepared you can be and the less you will be caught with your hand in your pants. Knowledge is power, and that old adage still rains true even to this day. There are tons of game elements, mechanics, and components to always take into consideration. Whether it’s the general noise level across the map, the things you see out in the distance, the AI giving you not so subtle clues where PMCs might be skulking about. These ideas are important; and can help you make the best decisions as to how to navigate a map, and when and where to tackle other players. Tarkov has always been so much more than just having good gear, ammo, and aim. It’s about being able to think critically in situations that are not in your favor and being able to turn those circumstances around and end up victorious in the long run. So, hopefully these ideas are things you consider going forward when you jump into raids if you haven’t before. And if you already did, hopefully they were refreshers on how to digest information in Tarkov and use it to your advantage. 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 these concepts, if you have ever directly employed these to win a fight or survive a raid and be sure to subscribe for more videos about higher level concepts in EFT that can be invaluable to any player of any skill level. I hope to see you in future ones.