The Eternal Challenge of the Solo Player in Tarkov

Depending on how many people you decide to run with in Tarkov, your results are going to be significantly different. A 5-man squad, stomping around the maps of Tarkov can be a dominating presence no matter where you go, but that comes with its positive and negative aspects. On the flipside, running Tarkov by yourself can also create interesting problems that need to be solved, while also delivering a comprehensive challenge to those who wish to take it on. No matter how you decide to load into a raid, we have all, at one point, played this game solo. And no matter how good you are at the game, playing by yourself will always be a challenge. An exciting, and interesting one. But a challenge, nonetheless.

Squad size in Tarkov has a whole array of reasons to be careful with how many people you take in with you. More doesn’t always mean better. Especially if you and a bunch of friends are new to the game. If you all hop in together, you can certainly have a great time. But when it comes down to brass tax, and shit hits the fan, chaos will quickly ensue. And those who are well adjusted to the harshness of Tarkov, can quickly overwhelm an entire squad, completely by themselves. Because when you are solo, there is only one rule you must follow: if it moves, you can kill it. It’s simple, and it’s one of the main reasons I enjoy solo so much when I play the game. Not having to worry about any teammates allows me to play not only at my own pace, but much looser when a fight does begin. If I was to take on that big squad, I may not take out every member, but there would be enough confusion and chaos going on from their end that I could take advantage of that. Which is probably the number one squad killer in a lot of games, but especially Tarkov, is bad communication. When a fight breaks out, people are talking over one another, people don’t know where each other are; it gets messy quickly. Which can lead to the worst-case scenario, teamkilling. It happens so often with squads of more than I’d say three.

Duos is a very comfortable environment because if the two of you talk and just keep tabs on one another through simple callouts, duos can be deadly in Tarkov. Not only that, but you also get your gear back more consistently because there’s a chance your teammate can toss your gear if they survive. Even as a solo, a good duo squad is difficult to squish out and neutralize. Holding multiple angles, can tag each other in if one takes damage or needs to hit a reload. Having a buddy in fights makes all the difference sometimes. However, I still enjoy the challenge of solo Tarkov so much; playing with friends is always a good time even if you get stomped multiple times in a row. But every choice, every decision you make when you are by yourself means that much more, because there isn’t anyone that can seize up the situation.

Tasks are of course another point of contention for solo play, because planting markers, hiding objectives; all that stuff is even more stressful than it already is because no one is there to watch your back. You hope you get lucky with your timing, and no one runs up on you trying to get some tasks done. Tasks like Delivery from the Past are also notorious for being challenging by yourself, but there are plenty of others that are on the same level. Honestly, anything that revolves around the resort on Shoreline, or the mall on Interchange, has always been sticking points for myself personally. Obviously, everyone has their demon in this game when it comes to tasks. And I never usually get deep into the Streets or Lighthouse tasks, but I have seen them, and they can also be brutal to do yourself. This is where having any number of people with you is beneficial. They watch the door, or hold an angle while you place a jammer, or fix a broken board. Even just one person can make such a huge difference for tasks. Especially considering these days, you can't drop keys for your friends anymore, unless the key was found in that raid. So, having people around you who are either ahead or behind in their tasks can benefit everyone involved. When you’re by yourself that luxury doesn’t really exist. The only nice part about keys is you can sell them back for money when you no longer need them. But comparing the two, friends with keys are much better than alone.

As mentioned briefly before, insurance is another sticky point for solo players. When you die and you’re by yourself, if you weren’t somewhere hot and contested, with lots of other bodies to pick loot from, you can pretty much consider your gear gone. Unless you get lucky and they maybe can’t find your body, or if a scav kills you in an unorthodox location, your stuff might see the light of day and return to you. Otherwise, death as a solo usually means goodbye gear. So, it always hurts when you do die by yourself while wearing a nice kit. This one of the reasons why people insurance fraud their stuff should they even get a single kill. This way, there is a more constant stream of gear going into raids and coming back from insurance. So, depending on how your in-game economy is going, you won’t ever have to worry about having an empty stash with nothing to use. Meanwhile, a three, four, or even five-man squad can usually hide their buddies gear with relative ease. Not all the time, of course, but it’s much more reliable than if you were to be in the same situation but alone.

Solo isn’t all bad, though. I’ve said this before many times, but I really enjoy solo Tarkov. The challenge of tackling every adversary by yourself, trying to make the best decisions possible (or not if you just want to shoot someone over in dorms), fighting bosses by yourself with how insane their aim and AI can be sometimes. Most of the time, my solo raids usually end in some semblance of failure. But when we’re this late into the game, it’s okay. I have the funds to keep going, luckily. The losses only really hurt when we have to start over. And since that is now on the horizon, we will soon have to begin once more. And all these problem points for a solo player will creep up and show themselves over and over again. But, knowing this wipe cycle in August might be one of the shortest ones we’ve had in years, I’m not too worried about it honestly. I plan to just do my best with what I got and see where it takes me. And I encourage everyone else to do the same. Whether you’re a solo player as well, or only enjoy the game with other folks, just do your best and enjoy yourself. You’ll find the most success with Tarkov when you aren’t getting upset over all the little things. There are big plans for this game coming up, so we should try and be excited for them, even though we all know this game still has a long way to go. But what are your thoughts on solo play in Tarkov? What about playing with friends? Thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Please leave your thoughts down in the comment section and subscribe for more videos about the many ways we all try to enjoy this game. I hope to see you in future ones.