After seeing a lot of amazing John Wick inspired Escape From Tarkov videos online, I decided to start a pistol challenge of my own. My challenge will be to see how much profit you can make by going in with only a pistol as a weapon.I challenge you to take part in this challenge and share your outcomes. This challenge is aimed at intermediate and advanced players. Beginners can always jump in, but they might not be so eager to put 1 million Roubles on the line this easily. Let’s dive into the rules of the pistol challenge.

Laying the law

The only weapon you are allowed to take into the raid is a pistol. You are allowed to use any gun you picked up after the raid has started. You have 1 million Roubles at your disposal. Note your account balance before starting the challenge. You have to complete 10 runs before the challenge ends Every dog tag you find is worth 50k extra Roubles at the end of your 10 rounds, so remember to keep those dog tags. You have to buy everything that you use. This includes medical supplies, food supplies and ammo. After every round, you can sell your spoils to the traders or to the flea market. The money made this way can be used during the challenge to buy items you need. You are only allowed to play the Customs map. You are not allowed to do hatchet runs. Scav runs are not allowed. You are only allowed to spend Roubles, no Dollars or Euros. You are allowed to insure your items. Keys are allowed. You are allowed to trade for items.

One of the most important parts to your success will be the ammo that you choose to take into each raid. I have linked the official ammo chart here for easy reference.

At the end of the ten Pistol runs you will compare your current balance with your starting balance and calculate the difference. The difference then becomes your score. After the difference is calculated count all the dog tags you collected and add 50k per dog tag to your score. Here is the formula to work out your final score:

Final Score = (Starting Balance – Ending Balance) + (50000*Number of Dog Tags)

Preparing for the challenge

I started off by organizing my stash so I can easily differentiate my newly gained items from the rest of my inventory. Once I organized my inventory, I made a note of my current balance of Roubles which is necessary at the end of the challenge to determine my score. I started my challenge when my balance was at 11 300 000 Roubles.

Escape From Tarkov starting stash – 11 300 000

Because the aim of this challenge is to have the highest amount of Roubles in your account at the end, it is crucial that you know which items are worth more than others. If you only have one slot left in your gamma container during a raid, you should know what to choose between a light bulb and 30 BP rounds.

Challenge summary round by round

Action report 1

Protection Body: Tier 3

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

There is no better start to a challenge than running into one of your childhood heroes. Yes, I ran into a guy named Rmabo. The challenge kicked off in high spirits, and I mean heck if I dropped Rmabo in the first round who could stop me? After Rmabo took the fall, I knew the battle was not over. I ran into another player who heard the gunfight, and I got shot in the face without warning.

The death of Rmabo

Action report 2

Protection Body: Tier 3

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

This round was more of a reality check than anything else. The game reminded me you don’t just extract in Escape From Tarkov, you have to earn it. Engaging players at range when you have a pistol and they don’t is not the path of the wise man.

Action report 3

Protection Body: Tier 3

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Positive

This was a powerful play, I started the round by killing a Mosin wielding player, and then snowballed with his Mosin and killed a bunch of scavs along the way. I gathered all the loot I got from the scavs, and I headed straight for the nearest extraction. I knew I had to extract to get some points on the board, thus I minimised any further player interaction.

Escape From Tarkov spoils of war

Action report 4

Protection Body: Tier 3

Head: Tier 4 Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Positive

The first military crate I looted had an AK-103 with some BP rounds. It was only 30 rounds, but I know they hit hard and can land me a solid kill. I took out my first player for the round but unfortunately he was a hatchling. I also realised I wasted my BP rounds on him. After this, I headed to the customs office to see what the vault has to offer. As I went upstairs, I noticed the door had already been unlocked, and it had been closed again on purpose. I knew this was a trap. I knew there was a rat in there waiting for me to open the door. I opened the door, and as I predicted, the battle started. One of us had to win and I baited him out to empty some of his ammo. After a couple of risky peaks, I rushed him with my pistol and I am proud to say that I was the victor. I took everything that he had and start making my way towards the nearest extraction

Action report 5

Protection Body: Tier 3

Head: Tier 3 Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

Having a boost in confidence after my previous extraction, I saw a player and my fighting spirit took the wheel. Only after I had already engaged with the player, did I realize that he had a friend and I only have a pistol. He hit me a couple of times and after taking heavy damage I decided to fall back to reset the fight. I eventually killed him, but his friend outplayed me, and that was the end of my round.

Escape From Tarkov winning the fight

Action report 6

Protection Body: Tier 2

Head: Tier 3 Gun M9A3 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

Instant Death.

Action report 7

Protection Body: Tier 2

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

This round was a bitter pill to swallow. I bested a sweaty player in battle. If I had to take a guess, I would say I looted about 400k Roubles worth of items. After I picked every pocket dry, I was focused on getting to the extraction point. Seconds after I looted everything, I got shot in the face by a yet another Mosin man. As demoralising as this was, the challenge must go on.

Action report 8

Protection Body: None

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Negative

I killed a fellow pistol player at the start of the match, and then took down three scavs. Having no protection at all comes at a price, and the price is getting killed by a scav with a shotgun.

Action report 9

Protection Body: None

Head: None Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Positive

I did not encounter any players during this round, but I took down 11 scavs during the run and secured the extraction.

Action report 10

Protection Body: None

Head: Tier 3 Gun Glock 17 Ammo AP 6.3 Extraction Positive

This round was exceptional. I guess I knew that the pressure was on as it was my last chance to get out with some good loot. I killed 3 PMC’s this round, and it started snowballing from there. I took a lucky shot at a player running away from me and as the bullet left the barrel of my gun, I knew this guy will turn around and my chance of survival will decrease significantly. This was not the case. The lucky shot hit, and I heard his character die. I looted everything he had, and boy he had a lot.

Escape From Tarkov shotgun loot

Shortly after I looted the walking trader guy, I killed two other PMC’s as I took them by surprise. At this point, I was all looted up and you can imagine how I felt, it was a combination of confidence and stress as I knew I had to get out with this loot. I scraped past the dorms, praying that I wouldn’t get spotted. I ran towards the smuggler’s boat extraction, and I have never been so glad to see a little fire burning as I was today.

Escape From Tarkov smugglers boat extraction

Players killed

Here is a list of all the enemies I killed during this quest. Every single player on this list put up a decent fight! I hope this post reaches you and thanks for playing.

Whitmasol – level 19 Rmabo – level 19 data-UK – level 22 Frost1ne – level 26 Wang2020 – Level 9 CatalpaCloud – Level 11 Alex___1 – Level 29 Tudor22 – Level 43 Rekerem – Level 32 Deccam – Level 14 -PNE- Erectus – Level 31 SrBubbles – Level 7

Conclusion

Extraction rate 40% Starting Balance 11 300 000 Ending Balance 11 833 402 Difference 533402 12 Dog tags 600 000 Final Score Difference + Dog tags Final Score 1133402

What pistol worked the best?

The pistol that made the most economic sense during the challenge

I found the best value for money to be the Glock17, which I traded at Mechanic level 2. It will cost you roughly 30k Roubles to get your hands on this Glock. Buy two WD-40’s from the flea market and trade them in to get the piece. The greatest benefit here is that this pistol is fitted with a sight, making target acquisition easier.

This was a tough challenge, and it took me about five hours to complete. I am glad I came out on top. This reminds me of the phrase, “Tarkov giveth and Tarkov taketh away”. If you decide to give this challenge a try, please post your results in the comments section.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

