Escape From Tarkov Scav Guide: Loot, Tips And Tricks

Escape from Tarkov provides a vast wasteland for the PMCs. However, scav factions see a goldmine filled with companionship and loot. The game provides a dramatic struggle for most players, especially new ones, trying to survive by obtaining loot, killing enemies, and completing tasks.

Once every 20-40 minutes (depending on scav karma), players can enter a raid as the Scav faction, joining arms with the AI army we typically destroy within our PMC runs. What does this mean? Players can play alongside the AI without the AI killing or fighting against them. Instead, they find themselves battling PMCs together.

You can kill scavs as a scav, although this will cause your Scav karma to drop, and other scavs will then engage you. Most PMCs don't understand the benefits you can reap from playing as a scav. You can enter a battlefield filled with AI that will protect you, loot everywhere, and get free weapons, valuables, armor, and experiences to drive your PMC life. It sounds simple, but you've got to understand what you're doing before entering a raid. Otherwise, you'll likely get slaughtered by another enemy "rouge" player-scavs or PMCs. 

Escape from Tarkov: Scav Guide - General Tips

Players in Escape from Tarkov are mostly clueless when playing as a scav, despite most amounting to thousands of hours within the game. Those who are well-educated in the art of the "rat" cough cough General Sam are ruthless in their looting and combat tactics. The art of the "rat" essentially means you hide in the mud and wait for the perfect moment to strike on enemies, steal loot and prosper off the loss of others. Mastering being a scav is just mastering timing. You must hide in the shadows, have a set looting route, and wait to strike at perfect moments when players are most vulnerable. 

When playing as a scav, we're not looking for combat. We want the loot of dead combatants that are either forgotten, lost, or decayed within the battlefields. Essentially, the scav acts as the Vulture of Escape from Tarkov. If a PMC is fighting, we watch until they die and kill the player looting them. If there are popular buildings that have already been looted, double-check them. If a group of players is nearby, remain hidden and kill them once they run past.

Here are a few things to note when being a scav: 

• Different extracts to PMCs - every map
• Spawns into raids that are ongoing (sometimes twenty minutes deep)
• Can spawn with rare items - keycards, rare loot items, money, etc 
• The weapon will always be damaged - prone to jamming 
• You can kill player-scavs who have previously killed AI scavs that the current raid
• Scav bosses will engage you depending on your scav karma and distance from them
• If you kill AI scavs, they will all engage you 
• You'll often spawn with below-average weaponry 
• You cannot complete PMC tasks as a scav 
• Your scav has his levels, skills, and progress 

These features take most players time to realize; however, thanks to this guide, you now know! Additionally, you will want a plan to begin the ultimate scav routine for farming money and loot. Please remember some maps are far better than others. For example, don't play Woods as a scav. There's nothing there but heavily kitted PMC players! 

Escape from Tarkov: Scav Looting Guide 

Escape from Tarkov Scav life is incredibly difficult compared to PMCs. Scavs require patience, knowledge, and confidence in their decisions to prosper. Therefore, scavs have to understand the appropriate plan of action for most situations as they occur. 

The image above depicts the most beneficial map of Escape from Tarkov for quick profits: Customs. This map additionally shows the Scav extracts (orange), Spawns (black), and loot barrels (blue) on the Customs map. Players will want to spawn into Customs and visit the following locations: 

• Fortress (northern warehouse building)
• Dorms (southern buildings)
• Construction (between dorms and fortress)
• As many loot buckets as possible (blue on the map)

These locations act as every point of interest for a scav on Customs to profit and make money. Due to players already being twenty minutes deep into the raid, there will most likely be dead bodies, loot, and things of interest scattered across these locations. Due to the later timing of the map, half the PMCs on the server would've already been extracted or died, meaning there is minimal risk of running into heavy threats when playing as a scav. 

Escape from Tarkov Scav: plan your route 

The bullet points listed need to be your "go-to" plan for most Customs scav runs, plotting them in a specific order with correlation to your spawn and extract. Everything must be completed with the best timekeeping and practicality. Essentially, you will want to complete the run as quickly and be as profitable as possible, so plan your route when you spawn! 

If possible, avoid other player scavs because they will likely kill you if they think you've been looting. I know this because I've seen it and done it many times. I would also recommend having a map of Customs on a second monitor or phone. After several years of playing Escape from Tarkov, the scav extracts still fade in the memory of my friends and me.

Obviously, you can play with your friends and go off-route more and more, but if you remain loyal to your original plan, you'll likely survive. The overall aim of a scav run is to obtain as much loot as possible, hide in the shadows, and provide this loot to your PMC. The scav run acts as a free "get out of jail" card for bankrupt PMCs, so don't get greedy. 

Escape from Tarkov: Best Maps for Scav Runs 

Players for the last few years have been venturing into the wrong sides of Escape from Tarkov when looking for the perfect scav run. For example, why are you playing Shoreline for a scav run? You want a map that has a lot of loot, minimal need for keys, quick escapes, and easy places to hide. You don't want: open and vast wastelands, need for keys, difficult extracts, and aggressive players.

The best maps for scav runs are:

• Reserve - great for PC components and rare items, raiders, an army of AI
• Interchange (difficult extracts) - graphic cards, weapons, rare loot, dead bodies 
• Customs - loots of loot and incredibly easy to extract, PMC bodies are regular 
• Lighthouse - an army of scavs with a diverse amount of loot 
• Streets of Tarkov - great long raids for finding rare loot (non-specific)

These maps provide trusty help to the player scav population on Escape from Tarkov, Reserve, and Interchange, especially because they are easy to hide within. Please look up "map name loot-buckets" on your search engine. You'll be able to find a map displaying all the lootable buckets similar to Customs, allowing you to surf the map, picking up loot effortlessly. Please refer to our map guides showcasing the loot locations for these maps. Remember, stay patient, scav! 

For more Escape From Tarkov news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below: