'Escape From Tarkov': How To Level Up Character Skills

There is a myriad of passive skills some players, especially newer ones, tend to overlook when playing “Escape From Tarkov.”

Some may argue that these skills aren’t as important as actually developing a feel for how the game is played, but they still offer tangible benefits that become more apparent as players progress through a wipe.

The game is vague regarding how skills work, so here’s a short overview of what they do and how to improve them.

Leveling Skills

Skills such as Endurance, Strength, Metabolism and Perception offer tiny bonuses to relative stats like carry capacity, energy consumption and stamina. They will mostly be unnoticeable at the very early stages of the game, but they will become more relevant later.

Instead of placing points into them like in other RPG games, skills in “Escape From Tarkov” are improved by performing actions. Here are a few skills and the things players can do to gain XP for them:

• Metabolism: Eat food, drink water
• Endurance: Move while not overweight
• Vitality: Take damage
• Perception: Loot items
• Intellect: Craft items, examine loot

In general, actions related to skill will increase the player’s affinity with them. This also applies to weapon mastery and other combat-related skills.

Skill Fatigue

“Escape From Tarkov” has a Skill Fatigue system, which limits the number of skill points a player can earn per raid. This is also referred to as Skill Exhaustion.

Essentially, the system keeps players from maxing out their skills in a single raid. It works by allowing only a specific amount of earnable skill points for each category. Once these points are drained, players will not be able to earn any more for five minutes.

The only way to work around the Skill Fatigue system is by leveling up Stress Resistance, which is done by receiving the Pain debuff or by being low on health for extended periods. Stress Resistance will increase the maximum number of earnable points per skill before fatigue sets in.

Players can gain additional XP per raid by waiting out the five-minute fatigue timer. While exhausted, players should avoid performing actions that would otherwise give them XP since this will reset the timer.