Escape From Tarkov: Best Combat Skills

In Escape From Tarkov, players can deploy on raids either as a Scav or a PMC. The PMC is the main player-character and can be improved with a variety of equipment and skills. In addition to Mental, Physical and Practical skills, PMCs will also develop Combat Skills as they gain experience and level up throughout the game. Combat skills can affect a variety of gameplay elements, such as weapon handling, reliability and accuracy, as well as more weapon-specific skills, which will improve depending on each player's chosen loadout.

While some skills can be advanced by completing specific missions for Traders, the majority of skill improvement will acrue organically with an increased play time. Much like the character's overall level, each skill level can be improved up to Level 51 (Elite Level) after which certain additional bonuses will become available. Players can also improve skills by building modifications to their Hideout, with the Shooting Range modifications giving a 10% experience gain modifier to Combat skills.

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8 Sniper Rifles

A Popular Weapon Type Favourable To Many Of The Game's Open Maps

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Sniper Rifles

Proficiency with Sniper Rifles is most definitely a useful skill in Escape From Tarkov, as many players will know from experience having been taken out by a precise sniper shot just meters from an extraction zone. These long-ranged weapons are highly favored by many players, particularly on larger, more open maps such as Shoreline and Interchange.

Players can improve their Snipe Rifle skill by getting kills with this weapon on raids, as well as completing the missions Mentor, A Shooter Born In Heaven, The Tarkov Shooter Part 8 and Psycho Sniper. Missions are given out by Traders at the top of the trading screen, and can be a great way to gain income in addition to improving skills.

7 Melee

Useful Skill For All Players Regardless Of Preferred Playstyle

Melee weapons are generally used as a desperate last resort, but can also be used in order to take out unsuspecting enemies without alerting every other player on the map, as usual gunfire often does. The other advantage of having a high Melee skill is that it can be used at all times, since players will almost always enter a raid with some form of Melee weapon.

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Melee weapons can range from small daggers and bayonets, right the way up to hammers, ice picks and modern swords. While some Melee weapons may appear like junk items at first, it can be worth holding onto them as sometimes Traders are willing to swap powerful weapons for combinations of different knives.

6 Throwables

Advantageous Tactical Skill Especially For Solo Players

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Throwables

Throughout Tarkov, players will encounter a wide variety of weapons including a number of both improvised and professional explosives. Many of these throwing devices, such as flash bangs and hand grenades, can be used to great effect when clearing buildings, or when faced with groups of enemies as a solo player.

Increasing the Throwables skill will increase throw strength (distance) as well as the speed of equipping and throwing. In addition to this, the energy required to use Throwables will be reduced, until at the Elite level, no energy will be lost at all when throwing these weapons.

5 Troubleshooting

Increases Reliability And Makes Maintenance Easier For All Weapons

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Troubleshooting

Weapon maintenance is an important part of gameplay in Escape From Tarkov, and players should take every step to ensure that their weaponry is fully functional before deploying to the field. If left to deteriorate without the proper attention, guns can jam and have reliability issues which may affect accuracy and reload times.

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The Troubleshooting skill will reduce the chances of different malfunctions occurring. Malfunctions can be caused by a weapon, cartridge or magazine, and players will have to manually resolve the problem at first. At the Elite level, malfunctions will be automatically resolved by the player-character when they occur.

4 Assault Rifles

Improves The Use Of This Common Weapon Type For Most Players

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Assault Rifle

The most common weaponry players are likely to find during their time in Tarkov are different varieties of assault rifle. From both vendors and other players, whether Scav or PMC, most players will come to a match with an assault rifle either as a primary or secondary weapon.

In addition to this, the most common weapon type found among Traders are assault rifles, which can usually be acquired for relatively cheap prices. Improving the Assault Rifles combat skill will give players a bonus to reload time and switching speed, as well as reducing recoil and improving weapon ergonomics.

3 Aim Drills

Improves Accuracy And Handling While Aiming Down Sights

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Aim Drills

The Aim Drills skill will help to reduce recoil across all weapon types, as well as minimizing the effects of injury and suppression on the player's aiming ability. Players can improve this skill by landing shots on enemies while aiming down sights, so it will gradually improve over time naturally with more play-time.

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Having a high Aim Drills skill can make a big difference when facing other similarly-equipped players, particularly in close firefights when one or two bullets can make all the difference. This skill is one of many ways in which players with more experience are able to gain a slight advantage over rivals in the field.

2 Underbarrel Launchers

Increases Reload Speed Of This Useful Attachment

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Underbarrel Attachments

Perhaps one of the more under-utilized weapons in Escape From Tarkov are Underbarrel Launchers, which can be installed as weapon attachments to a large variety of Assault Rifles. In addition to being faster than equipping Throwable grenades, the damage output and speed at which the projectile is fired is greatly increased with the use of an Underbarrel Launcher.

Players can improve this skill by getting kills with weapons of this type, and improving the skill will lead to a decrease in reloading times, which is the only real drawback of using the weapon to begin with. Overall, while being more effective and faster than Throwables, Underbarrel Launchers can be expensive and difficult to replace especially for newer players.

1 Recoil Control

Reduces Recoil And Improves Handling Of All Weapons

Escape From Tarkov Combat Skills Recoil Control

One of the easiest and most effective combat skills to improve is Recoil Control. This skill affects all weapon types and improving it will help to reduce horizontal spread when firing, which can be especially useful for both automatic weapons and pistols.

Split image a PMC, boss, and scav from Escape from Tarkov

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This skill can be improved simply by firing a weapon, and can be further increased with the use of different stock attachments. Over time, this will reduce bullet spread as well as the impact of recoil on a player's handling of any given weapon.