EFT - What to do at the start of the wipe?

In Escape From Tarkov, about every 6 months the developers perform a server wipe, erasing all progress on any account. This means that everybody has to start from scratch. This, however, isn’t necessarily a bad thing! It positively affects the item market, makes gunfights more exciting, and gives everyone a chance to an excellent head start, if a player knows what they should do. This article aims to do just that. We’ll guide you through the rough start of a server wipe, tell you what to do, what to avoid, and how to make some money which usually is tight in the early game.

After logging on for the first time you’ll be prompted to create your character. The selection of either a BEAR or a USEC has a very close to no impact on the actual gameplay so don’t stress it too much.

The very first thing that you should usually do at the start of a wipe is to identify everything the traders have to offer. Once you have identified all the items, you should be close to level 2. Reveal some of the items that Fence (he has random items and is not a very important trader in the early game) has to offer until you hit level 2. Then you should accept all the available quests - Debut from Prapor, Shortage from Therapist, and then, newly acquired on level 2, Gunsmith - Part 1 and Introduction from Mechanic. You should first focus on completing the Introduction mission because it gives you access to the last trader, Jaeger.

You should familiarize yourself with some of the FiR (found in raid) items you’ll need to hand-in in the later stages of the game (the list can be found on the EFT fandom). They’ll be needed to finish quests that are not yet available to you. During your playthrough keep your eyes open and try to collect and stash the necessary items.

Some of the early necessary FiR items are: 2x Can of beef stew (Large), 2x Emelya rye croutons, 5x Iskra ration pack, 3x Gas Analyser(!), 3x Salewa, 2x MR-133 Shotgun, 1x BNTI Module-3M body armor, 1x TOZ-106 20ga bolt-action shotgun. The list is very long and goes on - the items mentioned here are necessary for the first few quests in the game. Gas Analyzers are specifically important to find because shall you not find them, you’ll be stuck with the Therapist’s quest progression at one point. During the last wipe, a majority of the player base heavily criticized the developers for nerfing the drop rates of this particular quest item. If you happen to struggle with finding 3 gas analyzers, it’s possible to craft them in the Workbench level 1. This, however, takes time and uses up some of the items you could better use otherwise.

It goes without saying that you should try to haul as many items as you possibly can from the raid, and either stash them or sell them to one of the traders.

A tip: whenever you’re selling junk or any other unnecessary item, try selling them to the Therapist first. Although she’s not going to buy every item you have, she pays the most. Sell your guns and gun parts to Mechanic. Fence will buy everything you have but for a rather low price. Past level 15 you can sell most of your items for a better place on the flea market.

Make sure to keep suppressors, graphic cards, and LEDEX’es in your stash if you happen to find them. Past level 15 players pay dearly to get them. This might sound counter-intuitive, but try not to keep too many guns in your stash. They usually don’t sell for a lot and take up a lot of space in your inventory. Try to familiarize yourself with the prices and understand why certain items cost a lot. In the long run, EFT rewards the player base for their game knowledge.

The next step is to familiarize yourself with the necessary items that let you upgrade your hideout. In the long run, nothing pays off better than your hideout, your personal base that eventually is going to make money by itself, on top of providing excellent utility and providing additional resources via crafting. If you care enough about your hideout and pump resources into it, you’ll be at a great advantage over people who have neglected its importance. Try to collect items that are necessary to progress your hideout - focus on finding screws, nuts, nails, and duct tapes. Even if you have an abundance of these items - chances are others players don’t so you can take advantage of them and sell them on the flea market for good money.

Some good early game upgrades are the Medstation (50 000 rubles, a syringe, pile of meds, 2 bandages, OLOLO Multivitamins), Security (20 000 rubles, measuring tape), Generator (a spark plug, 100 000 rubles), Lavatory (2 000 rubles, a toiler paper, a toothpaste, a soap and an awl). All of these are useful and/or mandatory to further progress your hideout. Later come Vents, Heating and Water Collector. If you’re a gun nut you should also upgrade your Workbench. Aside from giving you access to multiple crafts, it allows you to make gun presets as well as gives you a better 3D preview of any gun that you have and possible slots/attachment for every gun that you own.

Before you start loading into your first raid, try not to take too much stuff with you. The whole point of this game is to haul items, and not give what you have to the vultures that only wait to peck out anything that you might have brought to the raid with you. Take only what is absolutely necessary - a gun of your choice (we’ll talk about the weapon choice soon), a spare magazine or two, some healing and armor if you can afford it. Especially in the early game, there is no need to take powerful calibers with you. A simple shotgun or a cheap SMG can get you through most of the early game if you’re being considerate and use your tools appropriately.

Make sure to use up your container space - whatever is in the container stays in there, even if your character happens to die. Any items, however, that you bring back in there will not be deemed found in raid if you end up dying.

At the beginning of every wipe people use very basic weapons. It’s very unlikely you’ll be killed from a huge distance. In fact, most of your encounters will be QCQ combat. For this reason, shotguns are especially effective in the early game. They’re cheap, the ammo is affordable. Buckshot ammo works best for this manner - 12/70 7mm buckshot should do the trick, but once you’re able to make an upgrade after building Workbench level 1, you’ll be able to craft 12/70 8.5mm Magnum buckshot, which is a superior type of buckshot ammo. Shotguns are also capable of shooting slug rounds if that’s your jam, and they’re often used because slugs are very effective in EFT. You’ll easily combat any scavs that you may encounter during your runs, and you have a good chance of killing other players. All it takes is a single pellet to the head! Some other good early game choices are: MPX, MP5, UMP. They work very good on their own, and if you want to bump their power just a little you can always slap a sight or a foregrip on them and you’re gold. If you happen to find any of them early I suggest you keep them and use them for as long as you can, which usually means use them until you die.

You should utilize scav runs as often as possible for maximum income. They spawn with the knives that you can use for the barters (mentioned below) and other items that you can quickly turn into easy profit. They occasionally also spawn with keys that are needed for quest progression and guns. You should note that the item grade your scav spawns with depends on the reputation with Fence. You can easily increase your scav reputation by taking car exfils and killing players as a scav.

NOTE: At all costs, try not to kill other scavs when playing as a scav yourself. This will cause your reputation with Fence drop, resulting in increased scav respawn, worse items, and bigger exfil prices on all maps.

Some of the traders offer good barters that you should capitalize on especially in the early game.

Prapor offers a decent level 1 barter. You can trade a propane tank for a 6B23-1 armor. It’s easy to run out of armor in the early game - all it takes is a couple of bad runs and suddenly you’re all naked and barehand. This piece of armor is nothing to write home about but is capable of enduring some shots before it lands in the trash bin and can surely save your life.

His other barter gives you a PP-19-01 in exchange for 4 T-Plugs. T-plugs are one of the most common items in the game, and the gun itself is not half bad either. It’s a fully automatic 9mm smg with a very low recoil that can very easily dominate the early game. Aim for those headshots!

Two Horse statues give you a VPO-136 VEPR-KM rifle from Skier. The gun is chambered with a powerful caliber. It’s single fire, but on the bright side, it helps you conserve some of your ammo.

Peacekeeper can barter an MP5 and a UMP for knives that you find on scavs that you kill. This is especially useful in the early game, and quite frankly, it can be used in the later stages for some 9mm action.  

Two green powders and two thermites can get you an ammo case at the Mechanic, which is extremely useful throughout the whole game.

Therapist, though not exactly offering a barter, sells a Junkbox for about 1.1 mil rubles. It’s a container with 196 slots that can stash a lot of junk that you normally find during raids. It’s highly recommended to get one, especially if you’re struggling with stash management.

The beginning of the wipe is difficult but certainly fun. It’s very easy to lose all your items if you’re being too aggressive, but also very manageable if you’re careful and know what to do. Always try to plan ahead and keep a list of all items that might prove useful. Keep in mind that you should think about the long-haul progression in Escape From Tarkov. One good raid is nice, but a steady and constant income is much better over the span of a few weeks. Try to utilize everything the game throws at you - scav runs, barters, quests, try different weapons, builds, and approaches.

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