Tarkov's Stims are Too Strong

Tarkov’s medication system has a ton of little nuances that make it both complex and interesting at the same time. From light and heavy bleeds, to fractures and contusions, the only other game with any semblance of a robust medical system is probably DayZ. And just like DayZ, neither game really explains how their systems work. But one angle that is more specific to Tarkov, is the stimulants that have been added to the game overtime. They have become a core component of survival and assisting with movement and fighting both AI and other players. Their effects have a wide range of different pros and cons, so instead of talking about all the different stims and what they do compared to one another, I just wanted to say that stimulants in Tarkov are strong, and it’s crazy what kind of combinations people have come up with to make some insane concoctions that basically turn you into a super human. So today, I wanted to go over the stims in the game, the injector case, and just where we might see future injectors go in the future. If you enjoy this or any other video, be sure to subscribe for more.

Way back in the day, the only real stimulant technically was just morphine. A simple painkiller that lasted longer than most other PKs for that time. Now, they are still prevalent, but with the added downsides of reducing your energy and hydration. And while it doesn’t have any of the wild effects that some of the newer stimulants have to offer, having a humble morphine on you is the fastest way to get a painkiller going if you’re like me and try to avoid pre-popping painkillers as much as possible. Which we will be going over in just a couple of minutes. But, over time, BSG have added many more stims to the game, and probably the most universally loved of all is the Propital. A 4+ min long lasting painkiller that heals you for 1 HP every second. Put simply, it’s a better morphine. The same application speed but it heals you. It doesn’t last as long, but the healing benefits add up if you can avoid damage for a short length of time. And when BSG removed the PK effect from the propital, there was certainly a disturbance in the force, and lots of people were unhappy with the change. So, it was reverted. But propital is still a vital part of anyone’s kit if they have the coin to either buy them up on reset at the vendors, or to get all the components and craft them at nauseum.

The SJ6 is also another hugely popular stimulant because it allows you to run across most maps in one or two full stamina bars. And when you combine with having a higher-than-average endurance skill, you can get COD marathon grade performance across most large maps like Streets, or Shoreline. A flat +30 to your maximum stamina and +2 stamina recovery per second is simple, but extremely effective; allowing you to get to places like the resort, or major choke points on other maps before most other players and set up your ambush there without feeling any real competition. There is a reason why this stimulant is so expensive on the flea market after a couple months of a wipe. People want to go fast and get to where they need. The advantage that positioning can have in this game is immense, so it’s no surprise this is the stim that people seem to seek out the most.

Another late game staple out of all the stims in the game is the M.U.L.E, which allows for an additional 50% of your max carry weight. So, this is yet another injector that benefits from playing the game for a long period of time before using it. With a higher strength skill, you can carry even more weight on you than if you used this at level one versus when your strength is even at something like level 20. And actually, upon looking up the debuff for this stim, it’s different than what it was since I was introduced. Before, it would increase the damage you took to all your body parts by an additional (I can’t remember the exact number, but I think it was around 10%). Instead, what it does now is decrease your health regen by –0.1% every second, for a devastating 15 total minutes. So once you use this, for the next 15 in raid minutes, you will be actively losing HP and will have to keep topping up your health. Which is an interesting change. I guess it makes more sense because if you need to use this, you are heavy and walking slow, so having your health hemorrhage as you are trying to get to an extraction is more of a direct threat than potentially taking more damage. But still, this has become an important piece of Tarkov kit for those who want to go big or go home, so it makes sense to pack one of these with you just in case you come across some big boy loot. Which brings us to the inclusion of the injector case. And how disgustingly broken it was (and arguably still is).

The injector case is a cool concept for another style of container. Allowing for a stash of different stimulants to either sit in your stash, or more likely, to take with you into raid. And when it first was added to the game, it could hold a total of dramatic pause... 18 different stimulants. That shit was flat out broken. It was so gross. It was so overkill, and luckily BSG realized that sooner or later, and reduced the amount the case could hold by half. To now only carrying 9 injectors. Which, hot take here, is still too many. The combinations people have come up with, like stacking Trimadol, an SJ6, and a Melodonin for literal infinite stamina, and having potentially three stacks of that combo on you at any point is still broken as hell. And now since you can get one for competing Chemical – Part and handing it in to Therapist, that’s a solid deal. And they are still sellable on the flea market for roughly half a million rubles too, so you can always get one should have decided to go with giving that quest to someone else. The case is definitely busted, but only if you are actively using stims all the time. For the longest time I would just sell my case, but actually decided to use it last wipe, and oh yeah; if you are an avid user of any stims, even just morphine's, that case is insane. And over time we have gotten some interesting injectors, like the SJ9 which lowers your body temperature. A very niche kind of effect, but if you are going up against a thermal, I suppose this would be nice to have. But how often is that going to happen, you know?

But this does raise an interesting question: what other kinds of stimulants are going to be added to Tarkov? Now that we have gone away from *clears throat* “realism” with the injectors, I guess anything is on the table. One I could foresee being added is if they ever get around to adding radiation like out health UI has had literally since day one of this game's existence, then a stim that reduced radiation build up or slowly lowers your rad poisoning overtime would make logical sense. We can aptly call it: the “SJ3”, and maybe the color of it would look something like, this? *Show mockup or a new colored stim* Apologies if the photoshop work is rough, it’s just a mock-up. But maybe something along those lines? That would be cool. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, as you usually do with any Tarkov conversation going over the what ifs.

The altered painkiller effect is something people have been divided on since it was changed this wipe. Going from having the sharpness of your screen get cranked way up, to now having become desaturated with the edges of your screen becoming blurry is something I wasn’t expecting. I remember when they told us it was going to change, I was kind of surprised. It had been the same for so long I was unsure how it would go over. Some people like it, others despise it, and I sit somewhere in the middle. I will at least say that not having the sharpness of the game go up is so much nicer for videos, because the bitrate doesn’t go to absolute hell now which means videos retain more of their overall quality. Especially if they are ripped straight from a stream. But the edges being blurry has gotten me killed on a few occasions, which is unfortunate, but overall, I think it was for the better. Even if people have gripes with it, BSG can make minor adjustments to it, and then hopefully it will be more in line with what people want. Because the idea is cool, but the implementation was rough; but I suppose that’s the point. They don’t always want us on PKs, so making it less bearable deters people somewhat. And others just kind of tank the hit in their ability to see and work around. More power to them, I guess.

Tarkov has a lot of different stimulants, injectors, whatever you want to call them. With so many skills, and stats that can be modified, it makes sense that this mechanic would become a favorite among players, and the potential benefits of using them outweigh the cons that all these have. It certainly is interesting to see which ones get used by which players, and what circumstances force them to get used. As their complexity has gotten more intense over the years, it never hurts to keep it simple and use the ones that we all know and love. But don’t be afraid to experiment with different stim combinations to see what you can come up with. Just be careful with the Obdobolos stims, because if there is a special event going on, those might just kill you instantly. But yeah, stims are really strong in Tarkov and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon So, might as well embrace their existence and get used to keeping some on you for dire situations. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are on stims in the game, whether they are too strong, and what your favorite ones to carry with you are. And be sure to subscribe for more videos about mechanics in the game that are potentially game breaking if you know how to use them. I hope to see you in future ones.