Tarkov Nerfed Suppressors Again and It's For the Better

(Intro)

Suppressors in Tarkov have always been extremely powerful to use. The ability to keep yourself quiet while navigating around any map, on top of generally giving you the most recoil reduction possible, was a double whammy that had become quite a problem for many years. There was almost never a reason to run a weapon loud unless you simply either wanted to or didn’t have a suppressor available to use. Granted, most of them can be purchased on the flea market, making that second point rather moot, but there are some people out there who just like loud weapons, and I can’t blame them. However, with the most recent update to Tarkov, the developers continued their approach to trying and balance suppressors, so they are not just the answer to every problem any weapon might have. And to be brutally honest, these changes have been a long time coming; suppressors have been too good for too long, and it’s nice to finally see some reigning in of their overall power. So, let’s go over the general history of these attachments in Tarkov and why they were so powerful, the notes and what has changed, see some examples of the changes in the game, and have a conversation about whether or not these changes were healthy for game. The short answer: yes. Yes, they were very much healthy for the game.

(Tarkov’s history with suppressors)

The history of suppressors in this game is fairly straight forward. They have always been viable options for both keeping you off the grid as well as providing balanced recoil reduction for your weapons. And while there weren’t as many options in the game years ago, as more available suppressors were added, the slow but steady power creep of them became quite apparent. Higher levels of recoil reduction with a larger increase in ergonomics penalties. But to be honest, ergonomics has been a difficult stat in Tarkov to try and get right. Sure, you aim slower the less ergo you have, but when every weapon aims at the same speed after sprinting regardless of the weapon’s ergo, it doesn’t really matter. It seems like they are trying to tackle this with making weapons have massive amounts of sway depending on their weight and ergonomics, but the animation they have shown for early versions of this concept look atrocious, so we’ll have to wait and see what they do. Either way, recoil being such a vital stat for so long meant that suppressors were just the single answer to the problem. No muzzle break or compensator could come close to the combined stats of two attachments working together. Because under most circumstances, a lot of suppressors require a muzzle attachment in order to be fitted onto a weapon. And that muzzle device usually had its own recoil reduction stat. Which meant on something like an M4, you are using two attachments and getting twice as much recoil reduction than if you just used a normal chunky muzzle break or compensator. The saker, the waffle, the PRS; these are three different suppressors for three different calibers, and they all require an additional muzzle device to work. Providing that quietness we all want when playing the game, but also making sure our weapons are as much of a laser beam as possible. And it never should have been that way to begin with. The benefits of having a quieter weapon are so powerful in Tarkov, that you should basically get no recoil reduction from them. Maybe increased muzzle velocity and distance but not recoil. And no, I don’t care if that’s how they work in real life; in a video game, powerful tools, equipment and attachments need to have downsides. And suppressors in Tarkov basically didn’t besides their price and availability. What compounded this even further was the fact that there was always a singular best suppressor for most calibers. It wasn’t like you had a whole host of options at your disposal, so you at least had some variety, and it came down to a matter of which one aesthetically you liked the most or which one was most easily accessible. It was sadly, one answer to the problem, which made the problem feel worse than it actually was. However, some major steps have been taken by the developers to try and create some alternative options that are just as enticing but might not give you everything you were used to for so long in a single attachment.

(Patch 1.0.4.5)

Patch 1.0.4.5 was phase two in their efforts to try and create some extra autonomy with both build variety as well as not having suppressors be the single answer to every problem. Because now, many suppressors can’t compete with the recoil reduction of normal muzzle breaks or even flash hiders. In fact, some don’t even give recoil reduction at all anymore. Which means that options for muzzle devices that can only go loud are much more enticing if you only care about having the lowest recoil possible on a weapon. And this practice is generally for assault rifles. Because sub machine guns already have very low stats to begin with. Recoil doesn’t matter with something like a bolt-action rifle and marksman rifles have always handled pretty well even with higher-than-average recoil stats. The weapons that really stand to feel the impacts of these changes are guns that use 5.56, 5.45, and both 7.62 calibers. If you don’t go out of your way to use the options with better recoil reduction, you will most likely feel the worse recoil now. Which is why having to make a choice is so important: do you sacrifice the ability to be quieter around the map in the case you get caught by surprise and need to spray someone down, being less accurate? Or, do you gamble with worse recoil but play from ranges where you can easily use single fire to take out a PMC? In general, I don’t think these recoil changes will be enough to deter most players from just always running the quiet options. Being suppressed in this game is again, so powerful that if it means ten to fifteen more flat recoil, most players are willing to pay that price. But what this update also did was remove recoil reduction from hand guards; meaning that stat is now mainly comprised from two locations on a weapon: the muzzle device and the butt stock. There are other places like lower and upper received too, but things like the M4 quad rail being best in slot is gone. Again, this I like because it emphasizes the freedom you now have with building guns more for form over strictly function. Does this again hurt players that just want to use the best in slot all the time? Yes, but hey, at least now you can make your weapon stand out from everyone else’s. And in a game where there are so many options and permutations of potential weapon builds, the more chances we get to express ourselves through customization, the better. But ultimately, the biggest question around these changes are they healthy for the game, and do they have enough impact to actually make players change their build habits?

(Are these changes better for the game?)

The short answer is yes; these changes are better for the game. Again, suppressors were too dominant for too long. Solving every problem a player might have when it came to building a weapon. At least now, with certain calibers and specific weapons, there is a little more room to figure out exactly what you’re looking to get out of a rifle. I still don’t think these changes are impactful enough to sway people off suppressors altogether. It might get them to run some louder weapons, but when the flea still exists, even if they are more expensive now than ever before, people have the rubles to pay the cost to be quiet. The only way you get people to forgo suppressors on most weapons is to limit how and where people get them. Found in raid only makes the most logical sense, and even increasing their spawn rates drastically to compensate would probably be enough. And having a few generic suppressors that don’t give any recoil reduction on high trader barters would probably be the last nail in the coffin needed to get rid of the suppressor meta. But until then, it’s still around; they are still very strong, but you will most likely just use them for different purposes. Bolt-actions are still the biggest winners because the less harsh penalties to ergo combined with most bolt action chassis getting their base stats buffed means this weapon type can be comfortably run quiet with most configurations. And since sniping is one of my favorite ways of playing Tarkov even to this day, anything to make them more… I don’t want to say competitive because they never were in the first place, but comfortable to use, I will take it.

(Outro)

Tarkov has always had a suppressor problem. Hell, even years ago, we discussed this very problem with how persistent and consistent they were across all fronts. And for the first time, we are seeing real and meaningful changes to how they work and in theory, should be seeing less of them across the board. Granted, players, especially Tarkov players, are quite stubborn and like their routine; so, I don’t see people just quitting these attachments anytime soon. We would need to see changes to supply and demand before that dream ever becomes a reality. But these changes even made their way over to Arena, and in that ecosystem, people barely run them. The recoil benefits from chunky muzzle breaks, and compensators are too valuable with how many fights you get into in a single arena match. And my hope is that eventually we see that mentality trickle over into Tarkov proper. All we have to do now is attack ergonomics as an entire mechanic with some thoughtful and meaningful changes, and we will definitely see some heavy meta changes in the future. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on these changes to suppressors, if your like or dislike them, if you think they went too far or not far enough and be sure to subscribe for more videos about rather substantial changes to a game that has had its meta defined for almost its entire life. I hope to see you in future ones.