Five Loot Locations for Easy, Safe Loot in Escape from Tarkov
Despite what you might think, making money in Escape from Tarkov is not all that difficult. What is difficult is learning the best, safest places to loot, and consistently extract. We’ve collected five such safe locations across four maps that are almost guaranteed to have good loot for you to collect and get a successful extraction with a full inventory.
Loot is plentiful on almost every map in Escape from Tarkov, but only a few have it in enough locations that you can safely get in, fill your pack, and get out with relative ease. And “safe,” in this context, is entirely relative. I’ve had to fight my way out of each of these locations and have sometimes died in the trying. If you do make it to each location, however, you can have some assurance that you can loot the place up unmolested.
You’ll sometimes need to be quick about it, or understand that if you get a spawn on the other side of the map, you’re unlikely to find the best stuff. Four of these five spots are worth checking whether you’re playing as your PMC or running your Scav, as the fifth is only accessible if you bring enough money into the raid as a PMC, and the route there is open.
The Train Depot on Woods
The train depot is, I think, by far the best and safest loot location in all of Tarkov. It can be chock full of top-tier ammo, expensive tool items, and you might even find a Bitcoin or two you can instantly sell for near 1,000,000 roubles.
There are three main problems with looting the train depot. The first is, you need to encounter the BTR vehicle on the map, which can be a crapshoot at the best of times. The second is you need around 12,000 roubles in your inventory to pay the driver to take you there. The third is you need two splints. You need to drop off the trains leading back onto Woods, which will always break at least one of your legs.
You should also only go to the depot when you have an eastern set of extracts, as hoofing it with a full pack of loot all the way west can be a herculean task. Don’t let those complications ever stop you from going if you need money. I’ve only had to fight my way out of the train depot once, and I’ve gone dozens of times. And if you sell everything you pick up to the traders or on the Flea, you’ll easily make 300,000 roubles at the very least.
The Military Camp in Northeastern Shoreline
My go-to Scav loot spot if Streets isn’t working (as it often doesn’t) is the military camp in the northeasternmost section of Shoreline. The loot there is plentiful, varied, and while it tends to be picked completely clean by around 10 minutes left in the match, if you get there early, there will undoubtedly be too much to carry.
Looting the camp as a PMC is also well worth your time, provided you get there early. I rarely need to fight another player there, and the nearby vehicle extract is a 100% spawn. I do think, because of its ease of access, the camp is much less safe than the train depot. With so many people laser-focused on the resort at the map’s center, at least checking to see if the camp is available is worth your time.
The Entire Northern Street on Streets of Tarkov
The southern portions of Streets are a warzone, especially the Lexos dealership and the area directly north of it. Go all the way to the northernmost street on the map, and you have not only a frankly absurd amount of filing cabinets to clear, but also the bright white apartments, the various restaurants, the northern pharmacy, and plenty of duffel bags.
If you can Scav Streets and you spawn up north, you should always make a beeline for the bank on the northern street and completely clear out the filing cabinets. If you’re a PMC, bring the TerraGroup Arsenal key for a relatively free chance at some of the best ammo in the game.
Of the three locations I’ve listed so far, Streets is the most dangerous by a wide margin. Beware the random PMC player who stays late into the round, and know that nowhere is truly safe.
The Western Medical Camp on Interchange
The 1.0 update to Tarkov brought with it a significant overhaul to Interchange, vastly increasing the amount of space on the map’s edges and to the garage under the mall. If you spawn on the west side by the large north-south road, head into the hills, and you’ll find a semi-hidden medical camp.
To reach the camp, you’ll need to cross the broken-down trains until you reach the far hill, run through the red shipping container, then turn right until you reach your destination. The place is filled with quality loot, including Intelligence Folders, LEDXes, and tons of other goodies.
Visiting the camp can be especially lucrative as a Scav if you get in a lobby where no one’s hit it. That’s a rarer occurrence than you might think, but when you’re running your Scav, the only thing you truly lose is time. I’ve run into player Scavs at this camp with backpacks filled with goodies. It almost hurt to send them back to the lobby.
Killa and Tagilla’s Hideout in the Eastern Garage on Interchange
The final spot on this list is technically both the safest and the most dangerous, depending on whether the bosses Killa and/or Tagilla spawn in it. If you’re on the southeastern side of the garage, head north until you see a collection of shipping containers walling off a suspicious area. There will be a van with an open trunk you can crouch through.
Provided the bosses aren’t there (or you kill them), you have access to a possible horde of high-tier ammo, the chance at rare loot like GPUs, Iridiums, and Tarko figurines, as well as rare industrial loot spawns. Killa and Tagilla’s hideout is the least valuable loot location listed here by loot volume, but it has probably the highest value-per-item. I’ve pulled more than 300,000 roubles from the hideout alone, not counting the mall above or the other camps.
I don’t list the camp in the eastern part of the map for a couple reasons. First, it’s too small and too readily accessible, and in my experience, you need to get there first to get out with anything worthwhile. Second, I’ve fought enemy players or seen dead ones every time I’ve gone that way.
If all you do is stick to those five loot locations and supplement your findings with items you collect on your way to them, you can expect a fairly consistent profit. As with anything in Escape from Tarkov, nothing is guaranteed, and you might need to win a few fights to extract.
