How To Quick Swap In Escape From Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov snipers have lacked prosperity by lacking the ability to swap from rifle to pistol quickly. Fortunately, the Escape from Tarkov developers Battlestate Games have listened to the fallen snipers and attempted to soothe their suffering by implementing an alternative way to protect themselves, sidearm quick-swapping.

Within Escape from Tarkov's patch 13.5, joining alongside a wipe, players can now (finally) experience a reduced time swapping between the primary weapon and sidearm. However, this only applies to the pistol sidearm, as it wouldn't be great to have players switch from AK to M4 rapidly instead of reloading! 

Players using sniper rifles on Escape from Tarkov can benefit especially from this function, allowing them to adapt to closer-quarter situations or possible ambushes. Usually, snipers on Escape from Tarkov will use grenades or a pistol; however, few players have successfully defended themselves with these methods due to the slow and sluggish player movements.

Additionally, snipers are not that have been affected by sluggish movements. In most situations, players who run out of ammo resort to reloading instead of pulling out their sidearm, resulting in a "whole reload first" dual, often with the losing player knowing they're going to die pretty quickly. 

Escape from Tarkov: How To Quick Swap

After the release of Patch 13.5, players now finally have the ability to quick-swap to their sidearm. Any player can complete the quick swap, also known as a quick draw by other players, allowing a new approach in battle situations. Here's how to complete the action:

1. Equip your primary weapon 
2. ensure there is a sidearm in the sidearm slot 
3. Double-click the "holstered weapon hotkey" (key 1 by default)
4. Allow the animation to play out 

This seems relatively simple; however, most players will forget this feature exists until it's integrated into their brains. This feature is incredibly important to all players on Escape from Tarkov because of the situations we find ourselves within, for example, jamming weapons, running out of ammo, or simply swapping to the sidearm. 

Please remember: ensure there is already a bullet in the chamber of your holstered pistol and it isn't jammed. If you quick-swap a pistol and have to load a bullet into a chamber or unjam it, this isn't really a quick swap and will most definitely get you killed. 

Personally, I like having my quick swap button as "mouse 5" on my mouse. This enables me to keep my character moving instead of having to extend my middle finger of the "W" key to the "1" key. Doing this keeps me agile; also, the "mouse 5" button will keep me one step ahead of my enemy in the fight.

It's rather difficult trying to pin quick swapping into the brain due to the lack of players utilizing sidearms, to begin with, in Escape from Tarkov. So, practice and get the muscle memory/response, head into the hideout, and start messing around with quick swapping to understand the functionality and possibility of the function. I can imagine this addition is going to be used a lot in maps with closer quarters environments and buildings.

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