The Most Important Item Added into Tarkov

(Intro)

There has been a plethora of important items that have been introduced into Tarkov that fundamentally changed how we engage with the game. From weapon meta shifts to new equipment and utility, new items being introduced into the game create new opportunities to both play and experience the game. And no other item has been more critical in the longevity and success of this game than the surgical kits; items that allow players to fix their zeroed-out limbs so they can continue in the raid or stay lethal in a fight. For many years, if any of your characters’ limbs hit zero health, there was no way to recover that damage and depending on which body part it was, you’d most likely need to leave the raid immediately. But having items that can remedy this problem, a whole new dimension of the game was opened up; allowing people to stay to the bitter end of a raid, constantly getting into fights, and being able to create a story you can really share with people, is what makes these items so essential in Tarkov. So, let’s go over surgical kits in the game, how critical their role has been since they were introduced, what the game was like before them, and how they ended up being so vital and popular that the developer felt the need to tone them down somewhat with the full release of the game. It may not be a flashy piece of equipment, but none of us going into a raid without a surgical kit on us.

(Tarkov before surgical kits)

To recap, surgical kits were added with patch 0.12 which was released on October 27th, 2019. Which feels like so long ago. But with Reserve came the addition of being able to repair almost all body parts with a kit. It takes anywhere from fifteen to twenty seconds with no levels in the surgery skill and brings back body parts to one health. Which can then be healed again, but with the caveat of having their maximum health reduced with each repair. Even still, this single mechanic being added into the game fundamentally changed how raids can be played out. Because before, if you lost any body part, the raid was pretty much over. Especially if it was a leg or your stomach. Having your food and water drain constantly and not being able to run or even walk to extraction made raids excruciatingly more difficult than they already were. And even going further back, for a long time there weren’t even healing animations. You would just press the button, and you would either heal or pop a painkiller instantly; which people thought would ruin the game by slowing those actions down with their own animations. Of course, that didn’t happen, and once again while people were excited at the prospect of being able to heal body parts, the animations had players worried because you were so vulnerable during the process. And that was the point; you are fixing a body part. That process should take time and if someone is keenly aware of their surroundings and hears you putting yourself back together, they should have the opportunity to ambush you. And again, because there were no healing animations for a while, people when they got into fights would just mash their heal button as they take damage to try and mitigate just enough to win the fight. Because engagements were generally much longer back then as well. People were way harder to take out and there were less lethal ammunitions in the game. But if you lost a limb for any reason, your priority was to leave that raid as soon as possible. Especially if it was your head or thorax, because even to this day, those two body parts cannot be healed even with a surgical kit should their health drop to zero. The game was a much different beast back then. And while it certainly is for the better with all these new additions and changes, part of me misses some of the old Jank and oddities that came with early alpha and beta Tarkov. But the impact these two items had across the game is still felt even after all these years.

(The immediate shakeup of the game after)

Adding something so pivotal to the game immediately changed the direction of how players interacted with Tarkov while in raids. Because now, if you lose a limb early into the raid or after a prolonged fight, you can find a place to lay low for a little while and patch yourself up. Literally. It takes time to fix body parts, and that means being hasty about it and doing it immediately after an encounter can be more problematic than slowing down and going quiet for some time. Now, with the addition of surgical kits, more decisions need to be made. When and where is the best spot to fix yourself? Do you have enough uses left on it to fix all your problems? Because the fact they have a finite amount of uses on them means that sometimes if you forget to equip a brand new one, you might be in a situation where you have three body parts to heal, but only two uses left. Which I can attest to; those moments are brutal because now you have to choose which parts matter the most to you personally. For me, the stomach is a non-negotiable part to fix. Because constantly having to worry about finding food and water on top of your character constantly making pain noises is something I’d rather not risk when trying to play slower or be quiet in certain scenarios. But that’s where having a survival twelve kit on you versus the normal CMS kit is better because for years it had fifteen uses on it. Quite a ton to be honest. It was nice because if you played with friends, you could realistically carry only one or two and pass it around to whoever needed it. It’s also why with the full release of the game; there were some changes made to both kits and how effective they can be in terms of how long they last.

(How their nerf at launch was so impactful)

The biggest change to both kits after launch was their reduction to how many times each kit can be used. The smaller CMS kit went down from five uses to only three. Which means generally tougher choices with which body part to fix and when to fix them. Because theoretically, you could go through and entire kit in a single raid. Unlikely these days with how much easier it is to land lethal damage on someone, but you never know for sure. And the survival twelve kit went down from fifteen uses all the way to nine. Still, that is quite a large number of opportunities to fix your body, but running one with friends is going to be much harder to keep up with. By yourself, not much changes, so it kind of makes sense to just run the bigger kit. But now you have to wait an additional five seconds of healing before you can move. And if you need to cancel the fixing animation, it’s way longer than the smaller CMS. Which most likely means you’ll be dead before you can even get your gun up. It depends on the circumstance; both have their reasons to be used and their pros and cons. More so now than when they were first introduced, and I think that’s a good thing. As annoying as it probably was to see the surgical kits get reduced uses, at the very least we can now put them in our extra special slots, so our secure containers can be a little less cluttered. The overall utility of these items cannot be understated; there are a lot of unique and interesting additions to this game. But I struggle to find one that has had more direct impact and positive impact across the game like the surgical kits. No matter which one you prefer or choose to take with you, being able to keep yourself topped up and always ready for whatever comes next, you can’t put a price on that. So make sure you have a fresh kit ready to go the next time you’re about to enter a raid. It might just save your life.

(Outro)

Surgical kits were one of the best additions to Tarkov in the game’s history. The ability to patch yourself up should you have certain zeroed out limbs means you can stick around for much longer and gamble more quests, more fights and more loot before leaving. It always sucked feeling like you had to leave a raid because the first scav you came across before they were added took out two body parts, essentially making that raid null and void. It was an annoying experience that thankfully was addressed rather quickly in the grand scheme of things, and honestly done almost perfectly. I can’t think of anything I would want to change regarding the kits. There is an inherit risk when using them, they get you back up and running and their uses even after their launch nerf feel fair for the most part. I don’t want to imagine what Tarkov would be like without them, because the game would most likely be just more boring. It’s the equivalent of battle royale games adding the ability to bring back your teammates when they die. Who wants to get offed at the first drop spot and then watch their friends play out the whole round? No one does, which is why it basically became mandatory for your game to have a way to revive friends. And it’s for the better. Just like surgical kits. It's Tarkov’s best addition to come to the game. And it’s not even close. 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 surgical kits in Tarkov, if they are one of the best additions and be sure to subscribe for more videos about subtle and simple mechanics being added that have a massive and profoundly positive impact across the entire game. I hope to see you in future ones.