If you don't extract from a raid in Escape from Tarkov, your character will die, and you will lose virtually all items carried on your character and any loot acquired during the raid.
Immediate Consequences of Failing to Extract
When your character fails to reach an extraction point before the raid timer expires or dies during the raid (which is the most common reason for not extracting), several things happen:
- Loss of All Carried Items: Every item your character brought into the raid, including weapons, armor, backpacks, and consumables, will be lost.
- Loss of Acquired Loot: Any items you found and picked up during the raid, regardless of their value, will also be lost. They will not be transferred to your stash.
- Character Death: Your PMC (Private Military Company operative) will be marked as "K.I.A." (Killed In Action). This death contributes to your character's statistics, affecting your survival rate.
- Health and Status Effects: Your PMC's health will be reset, and any persistent negative status effects may need to be healed back in your Hideout, potentially incurring a cost.
The Role of Insurance
While the immediate outcome of not extracting is item loss, Escape from Tarkov offers a crucial mechanic to mitigate these losses: Insurance.
- How Insurance Works: Before entering a raid, you have the option to insure your gear with Fence or Prapor, two in-game traders. This costs a certain amount of Roubles or Euros, depending on the trader and the item's value.
- Retrieval Process: If your insured items are not taken by other players during the raid (i.e., they are left on your body or in a hidden spot after your death), they will be returned to you via in-game mail after a delay. This delay can vary, typically ranging from 12 to 36 hours.
- Eligible Items for Insurance:
- Gear Items: This includes primary weapons, sidearms, armor vests, helmets, headsets, tactical rigs, and backpacks.
- Containers: Items like a Key tool, a Documents case, or an Item case can also be insured, protecting their contents if the container itself isn't looted.
- Intel Items: Specific items such as paper maps can also be insured.
- Items Not Returned by Insurance:
- Any items that were not insured.
- Items that were looted from your body by other players or scavs.
- Items that you acquired during the raid but did not bring in (i.e., new loot unless placed inside an insured container).
| Outcome of Non-Extraction | Details |
|---|---|
| Loss of Items | All gear carried into the raid, and any new loot found, are lost from your inventory. |
| Character Death | Your PMC dies, impacting your survival rate statistic and requiring healing post-raid. |
| Insurance Benefit | Insured gear, containers (e.g., Key tool, Docs case, Item case), and intel items (e.g., paper maps) can be retrieved if not looted by other players, after a specific delay. |
Practical Considerations
To maximize your chances of gear return:
- Always Insure Valuable Gear: It's often worth the cost to insure your primary weapons, armor, and helmets, especially for longer or riskier raids.
- Consider Hiding Insured Gear: If you know you're in a losing fight or are about to die, dropping your insured items in a hard-to-find bush or obscure corner can increase the likelihood that other players won't find them, thus ensuring their return.
- Secure Containers: Items placed in your Secure Container (alpha, beta, gamma, or epsilon) are always safe and will not be lost upon death, even if not insured. This is distinct from other containers like an Item case that can be looted if not insured.
In summary, failing to extract in Escape from Tarkov results in the loss of all items and a character death, but insurance provides a valuable safety net for specific gear that isn't looted by others.
