Escape from Tarkov’s mechanics promote a healthy fear of losing gear. After all, if you die in a raid, you’ll lose all the Escape from Tarkov items you loot. That makes new players want to keep their good gear and play with cheap disposable equipment they don’t have to worry about.
Unfortunately, that’s a fast track to a cycle of fear that won’t let the player grow. They keep losing their items because their gear is weak, but they also use cheap equipment because they can’t extract. Here are a few tips to get over this ‘gear fear’ and grow as an Escape from Tarkov player.
#1: EFT Has Periodic Wipes
Every half a year or so (sometimes it may be 2-3 months), the servers will be reset, and all the players lose all their items and progress. That’s called a ‘wipe.’ It puts all the players back to square one.
Many new players think their good gear will come in handy later, so they keep them safe in their stash. If they keep that mindset, the wipe will arrive, and they will not use the gear at all. We get some warning about when the next reset will be, so there is an opportunity to use the item right before losing it forever.
However, it was useless when you considered the time wasted not using it way before the wipe. It’s better to use it and lose it instead of not benefiting from it at all. Improved gear will also raise your chances of successfully extracting with all your loot, so it’s worth the risk. “No risk, no reward,” as the saying goes. It’s like betting. If you bet low, your winnings will also be small. When betting high, you risk more, but you stand to get a bigger reward.
EFT may be a game of skill and tactics, but having suitable gear helps your odds. Try going all in for one of your raids and see where it takes you. It should increase your survival odds, letting you keep valuable materials and better equipment.
#2: Greet Death Like an Old Friend
Accept the fact that you’re going to die often. It’ll come for you when you’re expecting it and when you’re not; that’s a fact of the EFT cycle. A player can’t be successful in the game without dying a few hundred times.
Frequency is the key. Losing your loot four out of five times is vastly different from dying once or twice out of 5 runs. With improved gear, your odds of survival grow closer to the latter, letting you fuel your growth to a stronger, more confident player.
That means you also have to accept that you’ll lose the bet. You’ll also do the next few runs as a Scav or with cheaper equipment to recoup your losses. At least you’ve earned experience and learned tricks and strategies to use in the subsequent runs.
The point is don’t let your successes get to your head. Overconfidence makes you reckless, so temper it with the fact that death is always around the corner. Also, no matter how much of an expert you think you are, there is always someone better than you in the game. Death doesn’t discriminate–it comes whether you are an expert or a newbie.
#3: Discover How to Make It Rain Roubles
Losing your loot is never a good feeling. It’s disheartening to think of what you just lost, no matter how valuable your haul was. However, there’s an easy way to turn things around. If you know how to earn roubles, you can think, “I can earn that back in two runs,” instead of “I lost roubles.”
There are many ways to earn roubles. You just need one that works for you. With this mindset, you’re not thinking about what you lost but about playing and enjoying the game. Sometimes a shift in perspective is all it takes.
When you know how, earning back what you lost is easy. The extra roubles also give a buffer to replace some gear through the Tarkov market.
#4: Practice Makes Perfect (or as Close as You Can Get, Anyway)
When you feel like you need a confidence booster, try practicing in offline mode. You can:
- Plan possible routes to the extraction points
- Mark valuable loot spawns
- Note likely ambush spots
- Run maps multiple times, so you can familiarize yourself with them
- Practice with guns and armor combinations
Of course, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy, but offline mode provides a safer way of learning the lay of the land. In an actual raid, you’re keyed up with adrenaline, which could make you blind to specific things. You’re on guard, so you might’ve not noticed a valuable loot spawn. In the middle of a gunfight, you don’t have the luxury of looking around either.
Plus, with all the customizable settings of offline raids, you can practice fighting Scavs. As you gain more confidence in fighting them, you also learn how to fight other players. Scavs wouldn’t be much of a problem when you start running actual raids because of your practicing, and you’re equipped to fight other players, too.
#5: Enjoy the Escape from Tarkov Game
The most important thing to remember is that Escape from Tarkov is just a game. Repeated deaths can be discouraging, but when you start using better gear, your successful extractions also increase. As much as you want to save improved equipment, other players are using theirs, leaving you at a disadvantage.
The best action you can take is to use what you have right now to get even better Escape from Tarkov items. Don’t let your stuff be unused in your stash until the wipe. You’ll find the game more enjoyable and start seeing more successful raids. You’ll have more fun, and your character can grow stronger and stronger.
It comes with risks but you can’t win big if you don’t bet high. Have fun playing Escape from Tarkov!
