Escape From Tarkov Arena: Best Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Gameplay

With the release of Escape From Tarkov: Arena, players are eager to go ahead and get a head start when it comes to progression, skills and kills in this competitive first-person shooter. However, doing this is easier said than done.

Escape From Tarkov: Arena is notoriously difficult to get good at with players often needing hours on end to get grips on the mechanics of this shooter.

That is why today, we’re here to help you get started. We’re bringing you the top 8 tips and tricks for improving your gameplay in Escape From Tarkov: Arena. So without wasting any more time, let’s get to it!

Kits and Presets

Unlockable kits and their respective presets in this game are a huge part of your progression tree. While it may seem logical to pursue 1 single path. We highly recommend avoiding this.

Focusing on 1 class and tier exclusively will potentially make you end up with worse gear than you might’ve hoped for to begin with as not all high-tier kits and presets are good.

Instead, good players often make a backup plan and have alternative progression paths to create options for themselves if one kit becomes obsolete and in the most basic of terms – trash.

Identification

After spending hours grinding this game, you could potentially start killing your teammates. By accident of course.

To avoid this, press Tab to quickly identify which color you are (blue or red) so you can avoid any misunderstandings with your team.

Volume

Remember when we said this game is ultra-realistic? The volume in this game depends on which headgear or helmet you have equipped. For example, certain helmets have ear mufflers that block most sounds. 

In most situations, you will have the basic kits equipped that are just fine with the default volume settings. The logic of this is the following:

• When you have a headset, you want to turn it down.

• When you don’t have either a headset or ear mufflers, you want to turn it up only slightly.

• Finally, in case you have the highest level headset (ear mufflers included), you will want to turn it up significantly higher to be able to hear everything around you. It will make a world of difference.

Adjust the volume accordingly to be aware of your surroundings!

Stims and Supplements

Use your stims and painkillers at the very beginning of the round. Remember that the kill phase of the match lasts for only 120 seconds.

While painkillers for example last for 80 seconds. This means that for most of the kill phase, you will have certain buffs activated that will help you get kills.

Use them up as soon as the gates open! Additionally, learn what different kits (presets) offer regarding stims and painkillers. This way you can plan and prepare much better for what’s coming.

Being Overweight Will Kill You

The bottom left icon on your screen indicating weight is tremendously important. If it glows yellow, it means you carry way too much stuff with you. This in turn means you’re slower and much easier to kill than it would normally be the case.

In addition to this, being overweight makes you generate more noise when moving around the map. This will make you easier to spot and it will eventually get you killed.

Capture Points

Remember your objectives! As Tickle Me Pink explains, keeping a mental note of where your objectives are, and where You are, can make a world of difference.

For example, in Sawmill, if everyone is down below, and you are up top. Be ready to run to the objective and help your team win the round. This will dramatically impact your win rate in Escape From Tarkov: Arena.

Conversely, you can also learn all the different lines of sight to prevent the opponents from doing this to you. Preventing them from reaching the point they want to get to can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Radio

Never use the radio so everyone can hear you speak. If that wasn’t enough, the quality of the Radio is awful. You can disable this in the in-game Settings Menu.

Click the J-Key to only talk to your teammates and keep information secure from the opposing team.

Screen of Life

Do keep a note of how many friendlies and enemies are left alive. This will give you an idea of what to do and how to adjust your gameplay accordingly.

Help Your Teammates

Logical for a tactical shooter, but what most other players completely either forget about or disregard, is helping out your fellow companions. Say for instance that one teammate is flashed, help him/her get to safety.

This can be very beneficial later on in the round if you survive long enough so that your team can win the round.

Killcam

Let’s face it, nobody likes rewatching how they got annihilated in-game. However, this can make all the difference for your teammates’ survival.

By watching the replay, you will get a glimpse of how much health your opponent has left and in which direction he/she went moving. This will in turn give an idea to your fellow teammates on where to go and how to engage the target.

Playing Dead

Imagine a situation where you’re flashed. And everything is pitch black for 30 seconds. Going prone, and sidestepping left or right will make you look like you’re dead. This often confuses your opponents making them walk right beside you allowing you to quickly get up and shoot them while they’re unprepared.

Note that you must not move for this to work!

Field of View

The field of view is tremendously important in Escape From Tarkov: Arena. Mostly because it impacts your field of vision, obviously. What most players do, is set their field of view to somewhere between 59-63. This is your default setting.

However, we recommend increasing this value by 10. This is due to the reason that in Escape From Tarkov: Arena, you spend most of your time running from cover to cover. By increasing the aforementioned setting by 10, you only slightly increase your field of vision, giving you a slight edge over your opponents in gunfights.

Spray and Pray

In most games, spraying will not reward you very much. Especially in terms of aim and accuracy. However, in Escape From Tarkov: Arena, spraying is beneficial. The reason for this is that when you let go of your initial shot, the gun will kick back much more than it would if you held the trigger to spray at your opponents.

This means that while it is a habit hard to get used to, spraying will reward you and make you get more kills. In case you’re worried about ammunition, always remember that you can loot more from the bodies of your fallen teammates or opponents.

You Are Not the Main Character

Taking on 5 players at once may seem heroic. However, remember that you are not the main character in this game. 5 players vs. yourself will 99% of the time result in you dying. Be smart when taking on firefights. Eliminate your opponents 1 by 1 with surgical precision and maintain that spec-ops effectiveness.

Sprinting

Lastly, don’t sprint too much. For 2 very simple reasons. But players somehow still keep doing it so I don’t know man…I’m just an editor here, don’t listen to me…

1. Sprinting means that you cannot pull up your weapon instantaneously and shoot your opponents.
2. Sprinting makes you much easier to hear, meaning the opposing team has it much easier to prepare to take on this gunfight.

End of the Round

Bonus tip! At the very end of the round, use up all of your ammunition. This will in turn level up your weapon considerably and will help you manage your recoil skills. Think of it as last-minute practice sessions!

ALSO READ: Escape From Tarkov: Arena – Best Presets for the Assault Class