Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore tactical first-person shooter renowned for its in-depth inventory and loot management. With endless guns and gear across sprawling maps, knowing what to pick up and what to leave behind is key to extracting with valuable loadouts. In this extensive guide, I'll teach you to identify the most lucrative loot so you can maximize profits during raids as both PMC and Scav.
While memorizing the value of Tarkov's thousands of items is impossible, following these general rules will lead you to valuable loot:
Prioritize military loot - Any item with “military” in the name is almost guaranteed to be worth grabbing. This includes military cables, military battery, military COFDM wireless signal transmitter, and more. They vendor for good money and are often needed for hideout upgrades.
Check safes and cash registers - Safes and cash registers contain some of the most sought-after loot in Tarkov. Hit these whenever you have keys or see them unopened for items like cash, bitcoin, roler watches, and rare barter items.
Loot food items for Jaeger - Certain food items are valuable solely due to Jaeger barters that require them in bulk. For example, herring, tarcola, and squash all sell for around 15,000 roubles each.
Grab every condensed milk - Condensed milk is essentially free money, vending to Therapist for 15,000 roubles while only taking up 1 inventory slot. You should loot every condensed milk you see.
But not all valuable loot is obvious at a glance. Let’s dive into the commonly overlooked items that you should go out of your way to grab.
Once you’ve loaded up on the obvious military loot and safe goodies, keep an eye out for these less conspicuous yet valuable items:
Red handle pliers - Needed for various weapon and hideout barters, these vendor for 17-18k each and sell for even more on the flea market depending on demand. Grab pliers whenever you find them.
Energy saving light bulbs - Also called “Lampy”, these bulbs are required for hideout upgrades and sell for 15-18k each to Therapist. Brightly glowing easy money.
Partial fuel tanks - Did another PMC beat you to that fuel spawn? Even if a metal fuel can is already open, you can sell empty ones to Therapist for a solid 35-40k roubles.
Printed circuit boards - While cheap now, these spike dramatically when needed en masse for hideout areas like the bitcoin farm. Stock up when the prices dip.
Used AFAK medical kits - No one likes a half-used first aid kit. But Therapist will still pay you ~17k for AFAKs even at low durability, so they're always worth taking.
Laser sights - The LA-5B civilian PEQ-15 laser sight sells for 50-100k roubles due to its use in Gunsmith quests.
Round frame glasses/masks - As part of armor barters from Ragman, these sell for 10-15k consistently so you should never vendor them.
5.56x45mm 855A1 ammo - One of the most common rounds, but still sells for 500-800 roubles per bullet due to mid-tier stats.
.45 ACP AP 6.3 ammo - The match grade FMJ ammo for .45 pistols sells surprisingly well at 500-700 per bullet.
9x18mm SP7 and PBM ammo - Top tier ammo for Kedr SMGs, these sell for 500-800 each making them valuable.
7.62x39mm US ammo - Rare due to trader lockout, this ammo sells for ~800 roubles per bullet if you find it in raid.
Many players either don’t check for these items or assume they aren’t worth much. But taking them over other junk can earn you hundreds of thousands of extra roubles per raid.
Now that you know what to loot, you also need to know what to leave behind. To avoid backpack bloat, don’t bother picking up:
Low end chest rigs - Aside from the armored 6B3TM-01, most basic chest rigs only sell to Ragman for 10-20k which isn’t worth a full backpack slot.
Common tools - Drills, wrenches, toolsets, and more. These were once valuable but now only sell for 10-15k unless found in raid for a quest.
Hoses and metal cutting scissors - Former hideout items that now vendor for less than 10k per 3-slot item. Let these gather dust.
Plastic folding stocks - Although needed for a couple barters, these cheap stocks only sell for around 10k each to Mechanic.
Once your bag is full, dropping these virtually worthless items to make room for more condensed milk and circuit boards will maximize your profit.
As you learn the maps and develop your loot radar, you’ll be able to instantly gauge which items are worth grabbing and which aren’t worth your time. Keep this guide in mind during your raids to help identify overlooked valuables and avoid pointless junk. Soon you’ll be extracting like a pro with backpacks full of loot worth hundreds of thousands of roubles more than the average player.