Scav Raiders

"A shady group of armed people who, according to rumors, consist of former PMC operators and local residents. They possess great combat and tactical skills."

- In game description

 are a faction of Scavs in Escape from Tarkov.

Behavior
Scav raiders are advanced Scavs that are considerably stronger and more tactical than everyday Scavs. They fight in groups, often patrolling the Lab, and Reserve in small squads of three/four members. Raiders employ multiple different weapons and tactics, not afraid to flank, rush, and pin down intruding PMCs. Extreme discretion is required when facing Raiders, as unprepared players will often be shot down almost instantly. Raiders often say voice lines while patrolling or fighting and are easily distinguished from Scavs when speaking English. Scav Raiders start out neutral to other Scavs (including player Scavs), but will get irritated and shout warnings when they get too close. If the warning is ignored, they will open fire. If some other Scav has alerted a raider, it becomes hostile to all other non-raider Scavs; it is safer to always assume that they are hostile.

Scav Bosses followers have a similar logic, with the exception that the boss gets angry without a warning.

Strategy
Because Raiders are able to have Class 5 and 6 Body Armor and Tactical Rigs it is best to bring high penetration ammo, if you can't bring high penetration ammo then it is better to aim for the head, or more specifically the face, as the Eyes and Jaws hitboxes will be protected by at most Class 3 face shields however other head hitboxes won't have any armor class higher than 4. Also peeking the same angle twice is highly discouraged as Raiders will watch an angle if you peek it once so it is best to regularly change your position. It is also best to engage Raiders in close range or in enclosed spaces as there is more cover and it is much easier to land headshots in close range, however you always need to have a place to retreat to as Raiders are able to use grenades so being inside of a room with no way out except towards the Raiders is a death sentence. It is also useful to use grenades for your own advantage, grenades are very useful at displacing the Raiders and forcing them to leave any cover they may have which will put them out in the open where they can be dispatched. If attempting to fight Raiders as a Scav on Reserve most of your fights will be in the open area in between Rook/Train Station and the K Buildings as most of the time the ones in the tunnels beneath the helicopter will already have been killed. If engaging outside of Rook Raiders will usually attempt to find cover once being shot instead of instantly shooting back however dont use this as an excuse to run straight towards them and just shoot them. They usually only run to cover if you are far enough away, within a short range they will often just shoot you on the spot. Because of this behavior what you should do next depends on your weapon. If you have a sniper such as a Mosin Rifle, SV-98, or other Bolt Action Rifle it is best to take position on top of Rook/Train Station and shoot them from there and simply wait for them to peek you because after enough time they will often come out of cover if they reach it especially if they are agro'ed on another scav. If you have a shotgun it is best to shoot them from mid range and next to cover such as inside Rook/Train Station or K Buildings to force them to push you, then just aim for the face, if you get lucky you might even head eyes one of the raiders as you try and lure them. If you have an Assault Rifle either push towards them and get close and aim for face or use the shotgun's strategy. If attempting to fight raiders in the tunnels then having a Bolt Action is very bad but Shotguns are very useful, try to engage them in the main area and then rotate using the side tunnels to flank and get closer and dont try and kill more than one at a time, if it seems like a room has 2 raiders in it, go kill the 3rd raider, take his grenades, and throw a few in there and cover the exit you are at, aim head level.

Equipment
Weapons= Note that raiders rarely have armors above class 4
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Trivia
Scav Raiders only have a nickname, which most of them are the names of carnivorous animals in Russian. Below is a list of the different nicknames they can have: