Few games are as difficult as Escape From Tarkov. The game is unforgiving, unintuitive, and lacks anything resembling a tutorial, opting to let the player figure everything out for themselves. The in-game trades have a multitude of tasks for players to complete, ranging from collection tasks to kill tasks and everything in between. Once a player has mastered the game and completed every task available (with a few exceptions) they are rewarded with the coveted Kappa container.
One thing a player trying to get the Kappa for the first time will notice is that some quests are much harder than others. Completing them will take dedication and clever strategies at times. Here are the most difficult tasks in Escape From Tarkov and how to complete them.
10 Huntsman Path - Controller
Huntsman Path - Controller, is a Jaegar task that requires a player to kill 2 PMC's while they are blinded by a flashbang. What makes this task difficult is that flashbang grenades are fairly easy to avoid and you can only bring in so many to use during a raid. Trying to complete this task passively is a huge mistake. There are two fast methods to finishing it.
First, load into a factory raid with a rig full of flashbang grenades and try to rush down spawns as fast as you can or run up to the office area. The factory is ideal for this quest because it is a small map with easy to learn and rush spawn points and one high traffic area (the offices). The second and preferred method is to load into Factory with a KS-23M with the first round being a flash round and the other two being regular shells. The KS-23M flash rounds are nearly impossible to dodge and should make for quick quest completion.
9 Insomnia
Insomnia is a Prapor task that requires 30 PMC kills at night (between 22 and 05). The difficulty here is the sheer number of kills required and the fact that night raids tend to be more difficult. You have less visibility and may run into highly geared Cultists that are tough to take down. The easiest and riskiest way to finish this one is to load into nighttime Factory and bring some sort of night-vision. Factory is the only map that has set, unmoving time, so every kill you get will count towards the quest.
Factory can be a meat grinder and become very costly, very quickly if you aren't careful. If finances are a concern, nighttime Shoreline or Interchange might be better. Both maps have high earnings potential and consolidated hotspots to find PvP action (The Shoreline Resort, and the Interchange tech stores and in front of KIBA).
8 The Punisher Part 4
The Punisher questline given by Prapor has many difficult steps. but part 4 is the most difficult. The hard part of this quest is getting 10 PMC kills while wearing a Scav Vest on Shoreline. Scav Vests limit the number of mags you can bring into a raid and finding players on Shoreline can be difficult.
The resort will be the area with the most traffic and competition. If you are trying to get your kills here the most effective method will be to bring your automatic weapon of choice with good ammo. Since space rig space is a priority, bringing at least one 60 round mag and a 30 round backup with a stack of ammo in your secure container is the minimum. Alternatively, a shotgun with AP-20 or buckshot is a cheap, effective alternative, just be wary of highly geared players.
7 Setup
Setup is a Skier task with some odd requirements. You must get 10 PMC kills on Customs with a 12 gauge shotgun while wearing a Scav Vest and Ushanka. The Ushanka will make you very visible to other players and can lead to fights breaking out well beyond shotgun range. Custom's long sightlines make it tricky to pick fights on your terms.
The Dorms are your friends here. They provide close quarter combat in a high traffic area. The downside of Dorms is that you are likely to run into players who are highly geared. If they have face shields, standard buckshot will be rendered useless, so spending the extra money on AP-20 will make your life much easier. Alternatively, the Customs expansion zone has plenty of angles where a shotgun can shine but is more open and vulnerable.
6 The Tarkov Shooter Part 8
Another difficult Jaegar task, The Tarkov Shooter Part 8 tasks the player with killing 3 PMC's with a bolt-action rifle on Woods in a single raid. With the new Woods expansion, players are more spread out around the map and are no longer forced to pass through the Sawmill chokepoint. Still, the Sawmill is your best bet. The angle with the best vision is up on the mountain overlooking the Sawmill. Be sure to stay mobile up there as you are a sitting duck.
This quest is a combination of luck, skill, and patience. Getting a kill off spawn would be ideal, but not guaranteed. Sniping in Tarkov is difficult and requires practice to get good at doing. If you stay patient and scope out the high traffic areas around the Sawmill, you will succeed sooner than later.
5 Delivery From The Past
The most difficult early game task, Delivery From The Past is the source of frustration for many new players and remains one of the more stressful ones for veterans. The quest takes place over two maps, in two of the most dangerous areas, and one death resets all the progress. First, players must pick up a secure case from the Customs Office (the big red building with the locked door. This area is a PvP hotspot early on in the game, so your best bet is to hope you spawn on the opposite side of the map and can sneak in towards the end of the raid.
The second part requires you to plant the case at a location in Factory, right next to the main extract and office hotspot. Depending on your spawn, you should either rush the objective as fast as you can or hide and wait for about 5 minutes. After about 5 minutes, most players have either died or extracted, leaving you only Scavs to worry about. Once the objective is planted you are mostly safe, only having to survive a Factory raid eventually, so don't worry if you die after planting it.
4 Collector
As many quests have their requirements lowered, Collector always becomes more and more difficult. The final quest for the Kappa, Collector requires you to find numerous, fairly rare items in-raid. The best strategy is to check the list frequently and keep any item you find that is on it. While this will take up huge amounts of space, it will save you time in the end. For items you're struggling to find, the Scav Case in your hideout can be of great help.
Scavs are also a great source of many of the more difficult to find items. Load into a Factory raid with good gear and lots of ammo and farm Scavs until you absolutely have to leave. No other map has the Scav density of Factory making it ideal for tilting RNG in your favor.
3 Bullshit
A quest befitting of its name, this task requires you to find a specific flash drive on Customs, planting it, a roller watch, and an SV-98 inside the Dorms, and finally extracting. All without killing a Scav. Killing one Scav at any point from start to extract results in a failure and the quest must be restarted. The easiest method is to bring a friend along to kill Scavs for you, but assuming that is not possible, running night raids will make it easier.
Bring a suppressed weapon to deal with players and tons of flashbangs to deal with Scavs. With their reduced vision at night, you can avoid many Scavs outside. Using flashbangs to blind Scavs inside Dorms can give you time to get past them and plant the items. Remember to not kill any Scavs on the way to extract or you will have to do it all over again.
2 Shooter Born In Heaven
The ultimate sniping challenge, Shooter Born In Heaven requires three headshot kills at 100m or more on Woods, Reserve, Shoreline, and Customs. For Woods, sniping from the mountain overlooking Sawmill will help you find targets. Looking for other players sniping will make the shots easier to hit. Scope out the rock formations surrounding the Sawmill for stationary targets. For Reserve, running up to Dome and sniping from there gives you a great overview of the map, especially the rooftops. Alternatively, sniping people who are at Dome makes for an easy stationary target.
For Shoreline, running onto the roof of the resort and sniping people leaving can be effective. The lighthouse at the end of the pier is a great spot earlier on in the raid to get people around the gas station. Finally, for Customs sniping from the skeleton building in the expansion towards Dorms can be effective. The hill overlooking the gas station can be good, but getting the distances right can be a challenge. If you spawn near the bridge, sniping people crossing to the other side is a tough shot but very a very consistent opportunity.
1 The Guide
The most difficult and stress-inducing task in the game, The Guide, given by Peacekeeper. requires players to survive every map in the game consecutively. That means that you cannot die once and run-throughs do not count as surviving. Starting with Factory is the best since it is a PvP heavy map where you are more likely to die. Just try to kill a couple of Scavs and run out. After that, you should do Labs due to the high entry fee. This can be the most difficult map due to players coming in geared and generally being very skilled, and all Scavs being replaced by Raiders, which are Scavs with better gear and AI. Your best play is to run straight towards an extract (play a few offline raids first to get a feel for the map) and stay around it until you can kill a raider or two. Make sure to loot them for more experience to meet the minimum requirement for survival status. Once you've done that, leave ASAP.
The rest of the order is personal preference but the strategy remains the same. Avoid PvP and high traffic areas. Kill a few Scavs (or wait 10 minutes) and extract. Play as safe as you possibly can and you'll complete the task.