Level your Scav up for free gear
Tarkov is utterly relentless, but if you’re down on your luck, Scav runs are a great way to turn your fortunes around. Scavs are a secondary character that you can play as–they’re basically a local raider with randomly assigned gear and weapons. Unlike your PMC, Scavs aren’t tied to your overall progression, and if you die, you lose nothing. They also won’t activate other AI Scavs unless provoked, meaning you can move around most players without instantly drawing fire, giving you more time and space to loot.
Since Scavs are relatively risk-free, they’re a powerful tool to your Tarkov arsenal, especially if you’re close to bottoming out on PMC gear. Every successful extract returns everything your Scav was carrying to your PMC’s stash, giving you lots to use, sell, and barter.
Like your PMC, you can level up your Scav by shooting PMCs and extracting safely. By improving your Scav Karma, you’ll be rewarded with better gear, better AI interactions, and shorter Scav cooldowns–something you’ll want to do if you’re just starting out. Be warned, though: shooting other Scavs will lose you Karma and turn the whole lobby against you. It’s more enjoyable to improve your Scav standing and hunt down PMC players using proximity chat.
