How To Level Up Fast In Escape From Tarkov: Best XP Farming Tips

Leveling up fast in Escape from Tarkov is no walk in the park, most players spend their lives soullessly completing quests in hopes of liberation from their low rank. Regrettably, tasks are not always the way forward, where they have their benefits, tasks can take away hours at a time and only reward players with 10-20k XP. 

There are more methods to level up fast within Escape from Tarkov that will be covered in this article. Please be aware that you're going to need money, leveling up doesn't come at a cheap expense whether you're completing tasks or running general raids. Ideally, you're going to want to be comfortable within your playing style and risk-taking; risk equals reward in the lands of Tarkov. 

Credit must be given where it is due, Tarkov content creator Pestily is responsible for shedding light on a lot of ranking-up methods within Escape from Tarkov, guiding me personally to high levels, and thus influencing this guide. 

Factory XP Runs 

Escape from Tarkov's factory map is excellent for a lot of reasons, whether you're farming Tagilla or loot, the map often provides what you are seeking. In this case, we're seeking XP and to find it we don't have to go very far. 

With this method you're going to want to combat as many players and scavs, aiming to be the last alive. Essentially, you're going to want to become your own "scav boss" except as a PMC, punishing and destroying all PMCs, Scavs, player scavs, and possibly the boss Tagilla. The moment you spawn, attempt to kill all enemy players and then farm scavs for as long as possible, this will raise your XP to astronomical heights. Once you begin to fear death or run out of ammo, head for the extracts and receive your XP.

Here is what you need for the raid 

• The weapon you're comfortable with (preferably an assault rifle)
• Sidearm
• Several magazines for both weapons 
• Level five armor and above 
• Altyn helmet or similar 
• Grenades 
• Small Backpack (don't want to weigh too much)
• Medical supplies 

If successful and you survive the raid, you'll mostly receive above 20-30k XP and an abundance of spare weapons from dead enemies, financially aiding you through future runs. The XP received will depend on how many enemies you manage to kill, the items you've looted, and whether or not you killed Tagilla. Additionally, you're going to want to aim to leave the raid within the final five minutes, taking you only fifteen minutes to complete the raid and giving you (roughly) 1,333XP per minute of your time. 

The Lab XP Runs 

If you obtain slightly more money to fund the XP campaign, The Labs map will be the place for you. Similar to the Factory method you're going to repeat the process but with some minor changes.

• Heavy and expensive loadout - good ammunition and lots of it
• Level 6 armor - thorax and stomach protection 
• Bulletproof helmet - Alytn 
• Silencer on weapons 
• Map knowledge 

Instead of killing players (PMCs) you can solely focus on raiders, due to each raider kill providing a substantial amount of XP. However, it's incredibly difficult to avoid players the entire raid considering the nature of The Lab. Most players are going to want to engage you, therefore it might be best to hunt raiders in a defensive position in a location like the Hangar or the Parking Gate where raiders can spawn once activating the extracts.

Ideally, you're going to want to sprint to either Hangar or Parking Gate and open them, this will spawn immediate raiders for you to kill. Ensure you are aware of your surroundings, take out the raiders and move along. Play like a rat until there's gunfire, slowly taking out players and raiders until you feel satisfied. With time, you can extract once you feel you've taken out over ten players/raiders, this will have given you above 20k XP already. If you desire to reach the 70k XP mark, you're going to want to kill as many entities as possible, dominate the map and extract in the last moments of the raid.

YouTuber Pestily actively participates in The Lab XP runs and has obtained well over 70k XP within a singular run, of course, this is an upgrade compared to Factory but it comes at a larger cost. Having to purchase the 200K entry keycard and purchasing high-level gear to compete against the enemies.

Check out the Factory to Labs comparison just below: 

As you can see the Labs is far more beneficial XP-wise, but contrary to Factory, Labs costs more than double to participate within. Within Labs, extracts are much harder to locate and reach whereas Factory is incredibly easy, therefore securing XP is much harder within The Lab. Personally, I'd run The Labs due to overall XP rates, but it really comes down to general preference and weighing up the above. 

Lots of XP (Quests)

Regardless of what you might experience, quests provide the most reliable source of XP, think of quests as a job you somewhat hate, you don't want to do it but you know it pays the bills. It's important to familiarize yourself with the most beneficial quests in order to obtain the higher XP rewards, such as Mechanic's effortless "Gunsmith" tasks. 

Gunsmith tasks require you to complete a series of custom gun builds matching the criteria Mechanic's requests and in exchange offer you great rewards and high XP. Thankfully, there are over 22 gunsmith tasks, therefore if you haven't completed them yet, I urge you to now. 

To save time, don't complete unnecessary "limited time" tasks that traders provide you, they are often low rewards and take up too much time. You're far better off sticking to the main tasks provided by the merchants and completing them accordingly. 

Tasks provided by Mechanic, Peacekeeper, and Skeir often offer the highest XP rewards. With the use of the Tarkov Wiki and YouTube, tasks are rather easy to complete. Once you become bored, hop back into a The Lab or Factory raid and start murdering everything with a pulse!

For more Escape From Tarkov news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or take a look at some of our Guides & Tutorials just below: