TLDR on the basic “cheese” technique at the bottom
A lot of folks despise this quest, and for good reason: due to bugs, cheaters, or just bad luck you can lose nearly an hour’s worth of tedious work in seconds, and 200k if you tried labs first. I was intimidated by the guide for a while, especially because a couple of weeks ago I helped my buddy finish this quest and it took us maybe 25 attempts over three days – millions of rubles and dozens of hours. Absolute torture. However, over that period we got this quest down to a science that enabled me to finish it on my first attempt yesterday. Let’s get into it.
What you will need:
A friend
A notepad/timer (to write down spawn times in case you late spawn)
A red rebel (just do the effin jaeger barter – you absolutely need the paracord extract options on reserve and woods imo)
Mindset: Mindset is half of the challenge of this quest. Those that have attempted know exactly what I mean. Every map you survive increases your heartrate loading into the next map by five points because you know that the closer you are to the end, one unlucky incident will toss your investment down the drain.
Managing mindset:
- I suggest only attempting twice per play session max. This way when you are loading in you can have the mindset of “We are just trying this for fun, I’m probably going to die in the next one, and we will just do a fun raid after this.”
- Have at least 5 million rubles in your bankroll, so losing in labs and some equipment attempting doesn’t feel as bad.
- Follow the checklists below. One reason this quest can be so frustrating is forgetting a tiny thing which is easy to do because this quest is so stressful. Forgetting to bring money for a car extract, forgetting to restart the quest before labs, etc all super sucks. It might seem annoying, but follow the checklists before every map.
The basic technique:
This is why you need a friend. They might fix this in the future, but currently, if you headshot a PMC, even if it is one on your team and friendly fire (can melee headshot) you will get enough experience to not get a “Run through”.
Thus, the fundamental “cheese” way to do this quest is to do it with a friend. Both of you go geared, but the quester doesn’t bring a backpack, and the friend brings a large backpack that can fit all of their stuff. You both spawn in, carefully proceed towards extract (your friend taking point probably so you can just run if you encounter a fight you can’t win). Once you arrive at the extract, the quester guards while the buddy packs away all their stuff into their backpack. The quester then headshots the buddy, immediately puts on the backpack with all of the stuff, and extracts then brings the backpack back into the next raid. You don’t need to kill your friend if the quester kills two scavs on the way to extract, or if the path to extract takes long enough it becomes easier just to wait in a bush for a couple minutes for the ten minute timer. If you wait, however, beware! Make sure to write down your spawn time (if you late spawned) and add a 30 second to 60-second buffer before you extract because weird server timing glitches do happen. If you get a run through you won’t have to restart the entire quest, but you will have to do the map again, and the chance you will get fucked/unlucky increases every raid.
Checklists/Map Order.
Some people think doing all the other maps first and labs last is the best because you don’t lose the cost of the keycard if you die on another map after playing labs. However, with the cheating problem on labs right now, dying in labs is very likely, and I value my time versus 200k rubles. So I did Labs first, and then proceeded from most difficult to easiest maps.
LABS Checklist:
- Quest started
- Gear good enough to win a fight
- Enough map knowledge to know how to extract from labs
- Luck
This begins with starting the quest and then doing a geared labs run for fun. Go into labs with your friend. Once you kill a raider or PMC, or loot one high value room, you can think about extracting and continuing with the guide. In terms of managing mindset, I think with the state of labs right now its important to approach labs with enough money to just have some fun, and not desperately trying to survive for the guide. The idea is if you survive, cool, attempting the quest is just a cherry on top. If you die, all good might as well spend your mid-end wipe money on some labs anyway.
On my attempt, we killed a couple of raiders and ended up using the medical block elevator because someone had activated it, but my buddy mostly used the ventilation or sewer extracts when he did it because it is slightly less spicy in those areas, although raiders still spawn down there for sure.
RESERVE Checklist:
- Paracord/Red Rebel/ Tactec
- Good gear/no backpack
Proceed to Queen from extract carefully and with gear, then once at extract do the buddy loads up his backpack, you kill him, put on his backpack, and extract. Bunker hermetic and D2 are still super hot extracts right now. You could do sewer manhole depending on spawn because you don’t have a backpack.
WOODS Checklist
- Paracord/Red Rebel/ Tactec
- Good gear/no backpack/
- $$ for Car Extract
- SJ6 Stim in case you have to run
- ZB key
Getting the paracord maps out of the way, woods is next. Sometimes you get a spawn that is so spicy the best plan is to hide in a bush for the first five minutes and let the other PMC’s that spawned next to you fight it out. Follow the edge of the map with your buddy. I recommend a faceshield so you don’t get buckshot by a scav.
FACTORY Checklist
- Factory exit key
- Tanky gear/no backpack
Factory is short which is nice, but some spawns run the risk of spawning next to a PMC who is trying to kill you for a quest. I did a gen4 assault and a Wendy exfil on this once because I didn’t want to get sprayed down with kedr. We ended up getting the worst spawn and almost did get P90’d – that’s why you bring a friend.
CUSTOMS Checklist
- Factory exit key
- SJ6 stim
- $$ for car extract
- Pvp gear
Customs is kind of hard because I always seem to run into other players in Customs no matter what I do. Fortunately, the addition of the new area has lessened this a bit.
SHORELINE Checklist
- SJ6 Stim
The addition of sanitar and the fact that it is mid-late wipe has made shoreline quite a bit easier – very few people are crossing at substation or gas station these days. Pop your stim and run with your buddy. I DO NOT recommend rock passage, the resort PvP has gotten way more intense and fun, and as a result, rock passage is generally spicy as hell throughout the raid.
INTERCHANGE
- $$ for car extract at power
- No backpack
- NIGHTTIME
Holy shit you’ve almost made it. Don’t worry, you are probably going to die on this last one and uninstall Tarkov. It’s okay, I get it, honestly.
For Interchange it’s important to run it at night, because at this point in the wipe people are trying to finish SBiH/camping emercom during the day. It can be good to camp bushes in the beginning, because most of the Chad squads running night Interchange PvP are going to want to hit power/ get into the mall ASAP.
TLDR: If you headshot your squadmate, you get enough experience to prevent run-through. So progress through each map towards extract with your buddy for safety without a backpack. Then once you reach extract, your buddy can fill up their backpack with their gear, you can kill them, put on their backpack, and extract before ten minutes and not get run through.
