Let’s Talk About Tripwires in Tarkov

Probably one of the more controversial additions into the game, Tarkov has just added placeable tripwires attached to grenades. This was something I thought only the new boss, Partizan was going to be able to do, but it looks like BSG wants us to die in even more mysterious and convoluted ways. The feelings I experienced while watching the patch 0.15 trailer and seeing the tripwires in action gave me very similar feelings to when we first saw the different types of grenade launchers being added into the game. And while those were initially cause for concern because of how powerful explosive ordinance in a game like Tarkov can be, in reality, you might be in the same raid with a GL every thousand raids or so. It’s not common and BSG has taken steps to make sure they aren’t seen that much. They’ve even dialed it back more overtime. Which gave me a little reassurance that these things wouldn’t break the game or become the new meta. And surprisingly, they aren’t as bad as I thought. Scary for sure, knowing they just exist now, and hearing that new sound when you step over one is a recipe for pure panic, but they don’t break the game. Much to the chagrin of some, perhaps. But today, I wanted to talk about tripwires in general; how they are acquired, how to use them, how powerful they actually are, and what this means for Tarkov going forward.

First off, tripwires can’t be put on the flea market in any capacity. I’m glad that’s the case, and was honestly worried that for even just a couple days BSG might’ve left them available on the flea as an oversight. But nope, they are quest locked from Jaeger, and from there you can buy two per reset, and they cost roughly forty-thousand rubles. I'm curious if there will be other ways of obtaining them, and if they are lootable in the world, or are rewards for other quests as well. So, they’re more available than I thought they’d be. But perhaps this is more for testing purposes, and once BSG has enough data about whatever they need, they might get dialed back. But again, because of how they work, they might not need to get toned down. These kits can be placed in your special slots, as well as your secure container. Which I was not expecting considering they are used in conjunction with grenades. To be fair however, the kits by themselves don’t do anything; they need a grenade of some type to be used. All grenades work with the tripwire too, with the exception of the tall Russian smoke grenade. So that begs the question: how do you use them in raid and how powerful are they?

To use a tripwire, you need one on your person; it can be anywhere, doesn’t have to be in the special slot specifically. Press G or whatever your grenade button is to put it into your hand. After that, you press B, which was the last input I was expecting, but this attaches the grenade you’re holding to the tripwire. After that you will see a little stake in the middle of your screen. It will change from red to green meaning the surface you are looking at is appropriate for the tripwire. You left click once to set the first part, and then you can adjust how long you want the wire to be. It has a maximum distance of three meters, which is fairly long considering what this thing does. But once you have the distance you like, you press and hold mouse one to set it. After that, the trap is placed and live. Anyone can activate this wire, even you. So, you need to be really careful. Now, depending on which grenade you have attached to it, will determine how long it takes to explode. The shorter the grenade fuse, the less time someone will have to react to it. And once that wire is crossed, you will hear a very distinct high-pitched ping sound, to let you know the trap has been triggered, and potentially scoring you a free kill. Now, there are a couple ways of handling these traps should you spot it before you step over it. You can disarm it. By hand it takes eleven seconds. But if you have a multi-tool on you, which will be the first out of raid use for this item, it drastically reduces the disarm time down to only three seconds. So, if you’re not doing a quest that requires markers, cameras, or jammers, it might be worth carrying one of these around just in case. You can also disarm the trap by shooting it, but you must shoot the wire itself not the grenade attached to it. Once disarmed, the tripwire kit is destroyed but the grenade attached to it will drop on the ground for you to pick up and either throw or be used to set up your own tripwire. Tripwires also disarm themselves after not being activated for ten minutes, so they will not last the entire raid, which is good. Other than that, you just need to keep your ears open and eyes peeled for that thin wire that might be going across the ground. The worst part about these things is that they could be anywhere. Obviously, it would be weird if someone laid a trap out in the middle of Woods not next to any objective or point of interest, but the reality that someone thematically could do that is scary.

But the big question people are probably wondering is are tripwires broken, overpowered, or going to dominate the game. And honestly, I don’t think they are overpowered. A strong and scary piece of kit in the game? Absolutely. My biggest concern initially was how fast the wires exploded. From the trailer it seemed like it was going to be instant, kind of like a landmine. But after experiencing it in game, that’s not how they work, which is a good thing. If they were instant, then yes, they would be too powerful and need to be adjusted. But because they are linked to the grenades fuse timer, that feels much more appropriate. In that case, the VOG-25 is the scariest grenade to use because of its two second timer. You don’t have a ton of time to react to it and that will be what kills you most often. Other than that, tripwires are a new threat you need to always be thinking about. It adds another layer of depth to the game, where we need to look everywhere for threats. And this now includes the ground we walk on. It’s again, very similar to grenade launchers, something that can be in your raid, but will seldom come across consistently. These however, because they are more accessible, you will see more often because of that fact. I have already tried to use them on several occasions, but to no avail. I will admit, it’s kind of fun to setup these little things; it feels like you are trying to defend a space or catch someone completely off guard. Which is what I thought Partizan was going to behave like. But I’ve also come across him once and killed him. He was up at the resort on Shoreline, and he kind of just ran at me and I shot him. Nothing special. His loot wasn’t that amazing, because the only gun worth taking is if he has an AK with the grenade launcher under it. I haven’t even heard the losing karma sound you get in this game now that it has been implemented. Which is something we’ll talk about in another future video.

But I think that’s everything about tripwires you need to know. How to get them, how they work, and if they are too strong to be in the game. I don’t think they are too powerful and at the end of the day, these will primarily be used to get really cool or funny clips and highlights to share with friends and online. But D-2 in Reserve... that already scared me enough. I can only imagine how much of a death trap that will become once people get clever with tripwire placements. But that’s another story for another time. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on tripwires and if they are too strong and be sure to subscribe for more videos about all the new additions that came into Tarkov with the newest patch. I hope to see you in future ones.