Maxing out your endurance skill and other physical skills in Escape from Tarkov is one of the most coveted achievements you can get in a wipe. Getting an “elite level” on your endurance skill will give you a lot of perks and an insane advantage against players who do not.
This is why Escape from Tarkov can be considered an RPG first before a first-person shooter because of these elements.
In this guide, you will learn how to increase endurance in Escape from Tarkov as fast as possible and the benefits of leveling your endurance skill up.
What is Endurance?
Endurance is a physical skill that affects your rate of exhaustion from doing actions such as running, jumping, and even holding your breath while aiming. This skill is one of the most useful ones to level up in Escape from Tarkov.
It provides a huge advantage to players who have more endurance and strength because they can reach places faster, carry more items while maintaining speed, and even reach places other players cannot.
Benefits of Increasing Endurance
Here are the benefits of increasing your Endurance skill.
- Increase stamina bar (75% on Elite Level)
- Decrease jump stamina drain (-30% on Elite Level)
- Double holding breath duration while aiming
- Better arm endurance for ADS
- No breathing sounds out of breath (Elite Level)
Let’s go over these benefits one by one.
For your overall stamina bar, you will be able to reach places faster by increasing your stamina bar. You can also do more actions during a battle, providing a significant advantage. Players can even flank from afar if they have the stamina to do so.
The main benefit, in my opinion, would be getting to places quicker at the start of the match. Imagine running Customs and spawning near the passage between rocks.
You can reach the three-story dorms a little bit slower than the ones spawning in Smuggler’s Boat, but this is significant because you can enter from the back, and they wouldn’t have the time to set up before you can get in from the back.
This goes for every map and every single spawn location. If you are ahead of the curve during a wipe, you will have an insane advantage in terms of combat and even looting.
The decrease in jump stamina drain is pretty straightforward. You will be able to jump more and use less stamina. With a longer stamina bar, you will be able to do more jumps as well.
For holding your breath, this is a bit niche but still significant. If you love sniping, this will definitely be a good skill to improve as well as the next benefit.
For your arm endurance, you will be able to lose stamina slower while holding the ADS button. This is one of the most annoying problems you will encounter in the early wipe; however, you can also increase the ergonomics of your weapon to improve your arm endurance.
Fastest Way to Level Endurance
The fastest way to level up your endurance skill is by running around and walking, but we will go more into detail on how it works and what you should do.
To raise your endurance skill, you need to be running around and walking while not overweight. If you have a lot of heavy loot, you will become overweight, and running and walking will level up your strength skill instead.
The other mechanics of leveling up endurance will involve efficiency with your sprints. At the start of the match, your first sprint will level up your endurance, and the amount is dependent on how long you sprinted.
Your next sprints will have diminishing returns with regards to increasing your endurance, so you have to make your first three sprints count. Maximize each sprint by using a full stamina bar for one whole sprint. Avoid hitting bushes or anything that might stop your sprint.
Upgrading the Air Filter Unit in your hideout will also increase your physical skill gain by an additional 40%. However, you will need to put FP-100 Filter Absorbers inside every time, and it will be an extra cost.
To further maximize efficiency, you need to use SJ6s and 3-BTG stims, which significantly increase your total stamina. You will be sprinting extremely long, so you better plan your route accordingly so that you can continue sprinting.
Grab your best keys and go for the most valuable ones to open for loot while using this strategy to increase your endurance. Places like West Wing 301, RB-ST, Dorms Marked Room, Lighthouse Marked Room, Conference Room, and other valuable loot areas will be your target destination for your stimmed runs.
You can also sprint in place by running toward obstacles if you want to maximize your full-duration sprint. Open maps may be more favored because you can sprint around a lot, but it isn’t significant.
For example, you could run around in Shoreline or Woods, but you can encounter enemies in the open area during the first few minutes of the match. It is best to have a planned route and a destination in mind for each spawn.
However, in Interchange, the mall is sometimes so close to your spawn you might not utilize your full sprint before reaching a destination. You can run in place and hug a wall while maximizing your sprint here.
These stims will help you reach areas faster, so you might as well go for the high valuable loot spawns on each map. Even if you do not have the closest spawn, you might still be the first one if you use your stims.
Examples of these scenarios would be spawning in Scav Camp in Interchange and going to Techlight or spawning near the swamp and going for the resort in Shoreline.
The best way to plan things out is to make your runs profitable. Since you are using a lot of money for stims, FP-100s, and loadouts, you will need to make it all back in some way or another. Find the fastest way to make money on a specific map and farm all the items you need for selling.
Unlocking the Gym
Unlocking the gym is a supplementary endurance and strength training method. There is a long list of requirements to unlock the gym, but on the bright side, it is unlocked through the hideout, which can use items not found in raid.
To get a more detailed way how to unlock the gym, check out our guide on where to find the sledgehammer, since getting the sledgehammer is the first step to unlocking the gym.
When you have the gym up, you can use it once every day. You’ll get a mild muscle pain debuff once you go to the gym.
You can still go to the gym if you still have the debuff. However, you’ll get a severe muscle pain debuff instead.
This debuff will take longer to cooldown, but it is perfect for those who don’t have the time to play every single day.
