Tarkov's Spawns are Really Rough.

The most important part of any Tarkov raid is when you first load in. Those initial 30 seconds are vital to the potential success of your overall raiding experience. It’s a mad dash to the important parts of the map, and everyone is ready for war. But what makes this so problematic, are the spawns across most of the maps in the game. Each one has their own set of problems, and the map with the worst spawns is definitely up for debate. It would depend on who you ask and the maps they not only spend the most time playing, but whichever ones make them feel the most comfortable. As a mainly Customs player after I hit max traders, I enjoy the map the most, but I don’t think it has the worst spawns. So, I thought today it would be fun to go over some of the maps with notoriously awful spawns and why it’s the case. So, if you enjoy the video, be sure to subscribe for more, and let’s start with the first map, Interchange.

Interchange is a little more obvious with why the spawns are so atrocious. There is only one main point of attraction for the map, which is of course the mall. And if you look at the blueprints for Interchange, the entire thing is just a big square. And everyone spawns around the edge of it. So, it’s no surprise that people will quickly spot another player, but simply looking to their left and right. Now, some of the spawns are a little more tucked into the corners, making so you have to run a few feet before seeing another player, but with a ranged optic in hand, it still doesn’t take long before you have someone in your sights. Not to mention while being outside, there isn’t a ton of cover for you should you see rounds start to fly over your head. In the front there is the main street where all the scavs spawn, the little gazzebo to duck behind, and that’s about it. The entire time you are running into the mall, you have your butt clenched hoping you can get either directly into the mall, or at the very least in the parking garage, into the darkness, where you can be shrouded in darkness. And on the adjacent sides of the front facing part of the mall, you have a single road with basically no cover besides spots to duck into the garage, and on the opposite side, you have the boarder of the map, with some foliage but no solid cover. So, you better hope no one spots you making your way to Emercom with Killas helmet in your backpack as you panic trying to get his kill quest done for Jeager. But again, the layout of the map is simple, so while it has bad spawns, there are worse in the game. And especially on the next map up to the chopping block.

Shoreline sucks. It really does. I have my moments where I genuinely enjoy the map, how large it is, but most of the time, it is just a running simulator with tons of dead space in between the handful of points of interest. And being the now second largest map in the game, losing that accolade to the newly expanded Streets of Tarkov, Shoreline can be problematic for players depending on what they need to do and where they spawn. I’m not sure about other maps, but I don’t think there are more “god spawns” in the game than on Shoreline. If you get any of the spawns behind the resort, you are almost forced to go there out of obligation because Nikita himself blessed you with this opportunity. Or you can get the middle finger from him and spawn by tunnel extract and feel the pain of having to run for over 5 minutes to get to the resort, only to die on your approach on the sides or directly in the front. And if you start on the road to Customs, if you are right at the extract, there will be someone down the road closer to the railway exit, so you can quickly bump into someone if you aren’t careful and have your raid ended before it even began. But honestly, the resort rush is what makes Shoreline such a pain. So many times, for so many years, I run up to the resort whether it’s the front or back, and then instantly get into a fight with someone else who had the same idea. And this is usually in the first 30-45 seconds of the raid. Which can be as long as 50 minutes on Shoreline. And while not going to the resort is the immediate response you probably thought, while that is certainly true, unfortunately there aren’t many other places to explore on the map. The weather station is an option, but with other players most likely having better spawns and the rouges being there, it can be just as swift of a death. The pier but then you lock yourself into a one-way street of getting in and out, and not knowing if the boat is open 6 years later sucks too. Shoreline is rough, we can all agree with that. However, there is a map with even worse spawns that make running it an actual nightmare.

Lighthouse has, dare I say, the worst spawns in all Tarkov. And there isn’t anything that can be done about them. This map's problem simply comes from the initial design of the map; the fundamental core of the shape. A giant rectangle with spawns adorned on the east and west parts of the map. Some of the spawns are on the south side as well, but there’s only one or two that are technically south. They are mainly east and west. And of course, there can’t be any on the north side because that’s where the rouge camp is; and giving players immediate access to the camp would be too powerful (even though there is a spawn that is almost on top of the camp, but I digress). I mean just look at this. You have people to your immediate left and right, as well as in front of you across the way. And the ones on the coast get extra screwed because you will bump into players in a matter of seconds if they are close enough with high endurance. Again, this map is brutal to play off the spawn, and even if you go slow and try to take your time, people can ambush you way faster than you might be anticipating. And the fact that there are only 12 spawns on the entire map, I didn’t know that until looking it up. That’s wild. For how large the map looks when you walk around it, versus on a map where it is considerably smaller, I figured there would be more than that.

Player count is also something that should be considered for this. The more players on a map, the more chaotic the start of each raid will end up being. Which makes sense; more people means more opportunities for players to collide with one another. And the harder time the game has at separating people as much as possible. And remember, not everyone is running solo. Some raids might indeed have mostly solos, and some might have three 5-man squads. So, there are other factors that go into good or bad spawns, but for a game like Tarkov with how small the maps are, with how fast people can move around, I get it. They still suck, but I get it.

Spawns in Tarkov have only gotten worse overtime because more people have begun playing the game. Years ago, when it was a little more niche, there might have been some raids with half full lobbies, and there was a semblance of solace in that. It’s fun to not see a single PMC and just lay waste to scavs, get some quests done and get out. And that particular experience is harder to engage with Tarkov today. But sadly, the spawns aren’t doing us any favors, so maybe in the future they will get adjusted. Especially if BSG wants even more PMCs on maps right at the start. I can only imagine the nightmare that will come from that. But what are your thoughts on the spawns in Tarkov? Thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Leave your thoughts down below and subscribe for more videos about the initial dash in the game that can sometimes get you instantly killed. I hope to see you in future ones.