Scavs

"Amidst the chaos and lawlessness, scarcity of vital provisions and territories, the first to lift up their heads are shady characters, unembarrassed by excessive moral or ethical restraints or quick to lose them under influence of conditions. They gather into packs, living by dog-eat-dog rules, cutting each other throats over a better piece. This is how yesterday's civilians become Scavs."

- In game description Scavengers, also known as its shorter version, Scavs, are a faction in Escape from Tarkov.

Summary
Scavs are Tarkov locals who decided to walk the path of bandits. Essentially, a Scav is a side character which can deliver you an entirely different gameplay experience. Equipment, weapons, place and time of Scav spawning on location are set randomly. They can be recruited by players via the Hideout.

Factions
Lore factions:


 * "Grizzle" armed group. Real name unknown.
 * B. S. Pashutin (Boris Semyonovich) armed group. (Alias - Fiend)
 * Y. G. Zhilnov (Yaroslav Grigoryevich) group. (Alias: Yarik, Yaga)
 * B. T. Stoporenko group (alias - Lawyer). Does not have an extended description.

Gameplay factions:
 * Normal scavs (poorly armed; topic of this page)
 * Scav Raiders (medium armed)
 * Bosses and guards (well geared)

Gameplay
Scavs are both AI and player controlled characters. All maps begin with Scavs already populating them, and more will arrive in waves throughout the duration of a raid. During one of these spawn waves, player controlled Scavs will join the match. Scavs can spawn with random various pieces of equipment, and even have varying skill levels.

Scav mode
Playing as a Scav is like playing the game without rules, one where the players can experience quite different gameplay with a focus on reckless abandon. The Scav player is spawned together with AI Scavs - for example, in a locked spot on the map, in the middle of the time allocated for the raid. Scav tactics change up the overall style of raid gameplay, and in most cases, complicating the lives of BEAR and USEC players, while also fighting amongst themselves.

When you just join a raid as a scav, you are neutral with all AI scavs. That means they will not shoot or react in any way. However, if you attack a scav (Does not matter if AI or player) you become a "traitor" and all AI scavs will become hostile. Note: You won't become a traitor if you kill a player scav who attacked you first.

Upgrading the Intelligence center in your Hideout will allow you to reduce the cooldown timer for your scav mode.


 * Level 1 Intelligence center: Scav cooldown timer -15%
 * Level 3 Intelligence center: Scav cooldown timer additional -20% (-35% in total)

The most important thing about playing as Scav is that if you get killed in the raid, you will not lose anything from your main character's possessions, and if you survive, you can add whatever you looted to your stash. In other words, this is an alternative way to find and save items and to take part in combat, but without constant fear of losing everything brought into the Raid.

Your Scav character is levelled up separately from your main PMC character. The levels carry over between raids, even though the names imply different persons.

Strategy

 * Generally avoid shooting AI Scavs, as they are useful for early warning against PMCs and do not contain a lot of loot. Maps like Factory are quite friendly to Scav runs, as the local AI Scavs start out friendly.
 * Scav Raiders and Bosses will still be aggressive. Either avoid them or kill them before they see you.
 * In addition to picking up loose items, go to high traffic areas and look for PMC bodies. Players may leave the bodies behind due to time constraints, injury, or weight, allowing you to take the lion's share of the loot. Also, search for hidden gear, since group players tend to stash their friends' gear for insurance.
 * When you are short on equipment, do Scav runs whenever possible. There is no risk to speak of.

Equipment
Note that the primary weapons can have numerous mod variations and those shown below are examples.

Weapons= Scavs generally only spawn with one weapon.

Sniper Rifles
Earpieces= {| class="wikitable" !Icon !Earpiece ! ! Vanity headwear are the most common.
 * Peltor Tactical Sport headset
 * GSSh-01 active headset
 * -|Headwear=

{| class="wikitable"

Armor
!Icon !Name !Armor Class ! ! 1 ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 {|class="wikitable"
 * Tac-Kek Fast MT Helmet (non-ballistic replica)
 * PSH-97 "Djeta" helmet
 * SHPM Firefighter's helmet
 * Kolpak-1S riot helmet
 * 6B47 Ratnik-BSh Helmet
 * UNTAR helmet
 * SSh-68 helmet (1968 steel helmet)

Mount
!Icon !Name !Gear Mods ! !Armasight NVG mask {|class="wikitable"
 * Armasight N-15 Night Vision

Vanity
!Icon !Name ! !Kinda cowboy hat ! !Ushanka ear-flap cap ! !Beanie ! !Kotton beanie ! !Army cap ! !Baseball cap ! !Ded Moroz hat ! !Santa's hat ! !Police cap ! !Tactical fleece hat ! !USEC baseball cap ! !BEAR baseball cap ! !EmerCom cap ! !Pompon hat ! !Ski hat with holes for eyes
 * }
 * -|Face cover=
 * -|Face cover=

Armor
{|class="wikitable sortable" !Icon !Name !Armor Class ! ! 1 {|class="wikitable sortable"
 * Light armored Shattered mask

Vanity
!Icon !Name ! !GP-5 gasmask ! !Deadly skull mask ! !Respirator ! !Slender mask ! !Misha Mayorov's mask ! !Jason mask ! !Balaclava ! !Cold Fear Infrared balaclava ! !Ghost balaclava ! !Momex balaclava ! !Lower half-mask ! !Neoprene mask ! !Fake mustache ! !Fake white beard
 * }
 * }

It is not uncommon to spawn with a piece of level three armor.
 * -|Eyewear=
 * -|Body armor=

{| class="wikitable" !Icon !Name !Armor Class ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 4 ! ! 5 ! ! 5 {|class="wikitable sortable" ! !Pilgrim tourist backpack ! !Scav Backpack ! !LBT-8005A Day Pack backpack ! !Flyye MBSS Backpack ! !Duffle bag ! !Transformer Bag ! !VKBO army bag ! !Tactical sling bag
 * Module-3M bodyarmor
 * 6B2 armor (flora)
 * PACA Soft Armor
 * MF-UNTAR armor vest
 * Zhuk-3 Press armor
 * BNTI Kirasa-N armor
 * 6B23-1 armor (digital flora pattern)
 * 6B13 assault armor
 * BNTI Gzhel-K armor
 * FORT Defender-2 body armor
 * -|Backpacks=
 * -|Chest rigs=
 * -|Chest rigs=

Trivia

 * In Russian, Scavs are known as 'Savages' or 'Wild'.