By
Axel Bosso,SirFatCat,Samuel Heaney,+39 more
updated
Character skills are key for improving your character in Escape from Tarkov. They will change how your PMC moves, deal damage, how much stamina they use, and several other bonuses. If you want to have a few bits of help while going out in a Raid, you should definitely pay attention to them.
This IGN guide will tell you everything you should know about character skills, including how many there are and how you can raise them. Check the quick links below:
- How Character Skills Work
- The Complete Character Skill List
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How Character Skills Work
If you go to the tab “Skill” on your Character menu, you’ll notice there are dozens of icons and bars. These are your character skills, and they are part of a useful feature in the game.
Character skills are basically perks and stats bonuses that work all the time once you have at least reached Level 1 with any of them. They are passive boosts, meaning that you don’t have to activate them in any way in order to use their bonuses.
Some kills will affect specifically how fast you can move, how effective the items you consume are, or how you will use different types of weapons. There are dozens and dozens of skills that will improve your character as you level them up.
To do so, you need to do certain actions while playing the game (more about this in the next section). They can be done by both Scav and PMC characters, but keep in mind that most will be easier to do with your main character. For example, landing shots on an enemy can get hard when playing as a Scav as you’re not supposed to shoot any other Scav — and PMCs will have far stronger gear than you.
You’ll receive a notification on the bottom right corner of the screen when you’ve leveled up a skill. However, you can check the progress of all of them in the aforementioned tab (Character -> Skill).
Please note that all of your skill levels will be restarted when the next wipe takes place. To know more about this, please check our guide.
The Complete Character Skill List
There are six categories of skills in total in Escape from Tarkov: Health, Mental, Combat, Practical, Special USEC, and Special BEAR. However, you’ll see only five of them depending on the character faction you chose when you started playing.
Below, you can find a table with all of the skills available in the game, including what they do and what you need to do in order to increase their level.
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Beware that some skills do appear in the game but are not available at the moment. This list will tell you which ones can’t be used yet.
| Name | Type | What It Does | How to Level Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endurance | Physical | It increases your total stamina and how much you can hold your breath while also decreasing how much time you need to recover your breath and the stamina spent by jumping. | You need to walk and sprint without carrying too much weight on your equipment (your weight icon should be green). |
| Health | Physical | It decreases your chance of fractures, your energy consumption, and your dehydration rate. | Gaining one point of experience in other related skills (Vitality, Endurance, and Strength) will give you 0.5 points here. Also, you can boost two levels right away by completing the Therapist’s quest An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away. |
| Immunity | Physical | The effects of painkillers are longer and you have reduced negative effects from water, food, and stimulants. Also, it decreases the action force of poison. | You have to use stimulants and provisions and survive their negative effects (like lower stress resistance, energy recovery, etc.). The longer the effect remains, the better. |
| Metabolism | Physical | It reduces how long negative effects from consumables and poison last. Also, the positive effects of food and drink are boosted. | You need to restore your hydration and energy levels by consuming food and drinks. Also, the quest The Survivalist Path - Junkie from Jaeger will increase your skill by two levels. |
| Strength | Physical | It increases how much weight you can carry, how fast you move and sprint, your jump height, your melee strike power, and your throwing distance. It also decreases the amount of stamina you use while aiming. | For this one, use melee and throwable weapons. Also, walking and sprinting while your weight icon is yellow or red will give you points, too. |
| Vitality | Physical | It will reduce the chance to get the bleeding status, while also decreasing the chance to die because of a blacked-out limb. | Face the danger: receive damage and get bleeding to level this skill up. Plus, completing one of Jaeger's quests, Ambulance, will give you one whole level. |
| Stress Resistance | Physical | It decreases the tremor oscillation and the chance of getting pain shock. | You have to be low on health (it will pay you by the number of seconds) or have the pain debuff. You can also complete any of the following quests, which will increase you one whole level: The Survivalist Path - Cold Blooded, The Survivalist Path - Wounded Beast, Psycho Sniper. The last one is from the Mechanic, the rest from Jaeger. |
| Attention | Mental | You’ll loot and examine faster. | This one is leveled up by looting the many different objects that contain loot in the game. |
| Charisma | Mental | The prices from the Traders are lowered. | Each point of experience that you earn in other specific skills (Intellect, Perception, and Attention) will give you 0.5 points here. |
| Intellect | Mental | You’ll examine items faster. Also, the quality of your weapons repair will be better, and the costs of it will be lower. | You have to examine items (both in Raid or on the Traders menu) or craft them in your Hideout. Plus, you can increase two levels at once by finishing one of the Mechanic tasks: Psycho Sniper. |
| Memory | Mental | It will take longer for you to lose your skills. | Earning five experience points in any of the Physical and Practical skills will give you 0.4 points on this one. |
| Perception | Mental | Your hearing distances and how far you can detect loot will be increased. | You need to find and pick up loot. Please note that you have to do both things, meaning that you have to put the item in your inventory. However, you can do it and then return it to where it was, so you don’t carry anything you don’t want. Plus, completing the quests The Survivalist Path - Eagle-Owl and The Survivalist Path - Tough Guy by Jaeger, or the task Psycho Sniper by the Mechanic will give you extra experience points. |
| Aim Drills | Combat | You’ll aim faster and more quietly. | If your shots land on someone while aiming at them with your right click, you’ll get 0.2 points per shot. |
| Troubleshooting | Combat | Your troubleshooting will be faster. | You have to clear weapons malfunctions. |
| Assault Rifles | Combat | This skill will improve how you use assault rifles and assault carbines. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with assault rifles or assault carbines. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Designated Marksman Rifles | Combat | This skill will improve how you use designated marksman rifles. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with designated marksman rifles. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Throwables | Combat | You will spend less energy throwing grenades while also gaining throw strength. | Just use throwable weapons. Also, the quest Capturing Outposts from Prapor will give you extra experience points. |
| Heavy Machine Guns | Combat | This skill will improve how you use heavy machine guns. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with heavy machine guns. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Rocket Launchers | Combat | This skill will improve how you use rocket launchers. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with rocket launchers. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Light Machine Guns | Combat | This skill will improve how you use light machine guns. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with machine guns. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Melee | Combat | This skill will improve how you use melee weapons. It will how fast you switch weapons. | Cut soldiers with sharp weapons. |
| Pistols | Combat | This skill will improve how you use pistols. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with pistols. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Recoil Control | Combat | It will improve your recoil with every weapon by reducing it. | You just have to shoot with any gun you’re using. |
| Revolvers | Combat | This skill will improve how you use revolvers. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with revolvers. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. |
| Shotguns | Combat | This skill will improve how you use shotguns. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with shotguns. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. Plus, completing the quest Night Sweep from Skier will give you two extra levels. |
| Submachine guns | Combat | This skill will improve how you use submachine guns. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | You need to shoot soldiers with submachine guns. Reloading this type of weapon will also count. Plus, completing the quest Night Sweep from Skier will give you two extra levels. |
| Sniper Rifles | Combat | This skill will improve how you use sniper rifles. It will reduce your recoil, increase how fast you reload, switch weapons, and improve its ergonomics. | This one has an extra step. Apart from shooting soldiers with this type of gun or reloading it, you can also unload its chamber to get experience points. Regarding quests that give extra points as rewards, there are three: A Shooter Born in Heaven (the Mechanic), Mentor (Peacekeeper), and The Tarkov Shooter - Part 8 (Jaeger). |
| Underbarrel Launchers | Combat | This skill will improve how you use underbarrel launchers. | Just use this attachment to damage enemies. |
| Advanced Modding | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Auctions | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Barter | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| First Aid | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Weapon Modding | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Clean Operations | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Covert Movement | Practical | You’ll make less noise when walking on different surfaces and using your weapons and equipment. Also, your covert movement will be faster. | You have to walk using less than a quarter of your movement speed bar. You can check the speaker icon: if it doesn’t create any bar while moving, you’re doing good. |
| Field Medicine | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Free Trading | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Heavy Vests | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Light Vests | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Lockpicking | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Night Ops | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Prone Movement | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Search | Practical | You’ll search faster. | Just search corpses and loot containers. |
| Shadow Connections | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Silent Ops | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Sniping | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Surgery | Practical | Your HP penalty for performing a surgery will be decreased while the speed of doing it will be increased. | You need to use a CMS or a Surv12 three times in the same raid on a limb that has black status. Also, you can complete the quest The Survivalist Path - Combat Medic from Jaeger to level up two whole levels. |
| Task Performance | Practical | Not currently available. | - |
| Weapon Maintenance | Practical | Your guns won’t gain as much wear (a stat) when shooting or repairing them. | To level up this one, you have to repair weapons with a kit when not in a Raid. |
| Mag Drills | Practical | This one increases how fast you load and unload ammo and how quickly you load magazines, check them, and with how much precision. | While in Raid, you need to check how many bullets you have left in your weapon or load and unload your magazines. |
| Crafting | Practical | It will decrease how much time you need to craft items and for your cyclic productions. (Bitcoin farm not included). | For this one you have to craft items in the Hideout, but please note that you can’t craft the same recipe twice on the same module. |
| Hideout management | Practical | You will consume fewer water filters, air, and fuel while also getting more bonuses from Hideout modules. (Solar Power doesn’t count). | Upgrade existing modules on your Hideout or craft items there. |
| USEC AR Systems | Special USEC | Not currently available. | - |
| USEC Deep Weapon Modding | Special USEC | Not currently available. | - |
| USEC Negotiations | Special USEC | Not currently available. | - |
| USEC Long Range Optics | Special USEC | Not currently available. | - |
| USEC Tactics | Special USEC | Not currently available. | - |
| BEAR AK Systems | Special BEAR | Not currently available. | - |
| BEAR Assault Operations | Special BEAR | Not currently available. | - |
| BEAR Authority | Special BEAR | Not currently available. | - |
| BEAR Heavy Caliber | Special BEAR | Not currently available. | - |
| BEAR Raw Power | Special BEAR | Not currently available. | - |
Looking for more tips and guides for your time with Escape from Tarkov? Please check the following pages:
- Beginner's Guide: Basics and Features
- Scav Guide
- Combat Guide and Tips
Up Next: Best Settings
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Top Guide Sections
- Beginner's Guide: Basics and Features
- Scav Guide
- Combat Guide and Tips
- Loot Guide
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