Scavs

For the bosses, see Scav Bosses. For the raiders, see Scav Raiders. "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, known by their alias "Scavs", are a faction in Escape from Tarkov.

Background
At the onset of active hostilities in the city, in addition to the predictable humanitarian consequences, a special trend is observed that represents a threat for both civilians and armed forces of the conflicting parties. Due to the tense situation in the city prior to the open conflict, Tarkov has developed conditions attractive for all kinds of criminals and antisocial personalities. In addition, the development of the underworld business, especially in recent years, has encouraged the formation of a certain population stratum previously not directly associated with criminals, but, due to their moral and ethical inclinations, prone to antisocial actions in certain cases concerned with their own benefit. Thus, at this point, the formation of groups actively engaged in looting, robbery and armed attacks can be observed in Tarkov, invariably coupled with violence against the civilian population and even military staff. Recently, these groups have earned a nickname from the locals - Scavs.

The Scav groups are quite varied, have diverse ethnic, social and quantitative composition, as well as the different levels and quality of equipment and varying degrees of sustainability. By far, four of these groups the are considered to be the most stable and organized:
 * "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).

Gameplay
Scavs are both AI and player controlled characters. All locations begin with Scavs already populating them, and more will arrive in waves throughout the duration of a raid. During some 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.

AI Scavs are, for the most part, not a very large threat. They usually follow a basic patrol route of walking to a position, stopping, looking around a bit, then continuing in another direction, or just standing in place looking back and forth. This is typically a good method to determine if the Scav is AI or a player. They also occasionally stop to "loot" containers, though it seems they never actuality take anything and is most likely just to help mask Scav players better. They also tend to say voice lines in russian, seemingly at random, very often. This is also a good method to determine if a Scav is a player or not, or simply to find out if there are Scavs nearby. In combat, they are generally easy to dispatch on their own, and while more dangerous in groups they're still manageable.

They tend to be very inaccurate, most likely as a balance and to fit in with the lore, and exhibit a very basic understanding of tactics (using basic cover such as running around a building, waiting around corners or next to doorways, etc).

They don't seem to have great situational awareness, and given their tendency to stand still when patrolling stealth can be valuable when fighting scavs as you can usually get an easy one-tap headshot on at least one before the rest notice you. The size of the groups they travel in vary widely, especially given the size of the map. Typically, they're in groups of 1-3. They always stick near important areas and buildings and rarely if at all are seen traveling the map.

There are 3 different health presets Scavs can have. Health Pool One=
 * -|Health Pool Two=
 * -|Health Pool Three=

Scav game 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, the player Scav will spawn part-way through a raid in one of several set spawn points. 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 among themselves.

When you join a raid as a Scav, you are neutral with all normal AI Scavs. That means they will not shoot you or react negatively in any way. However, if you attack any Scav you become a "traitor" and all nearby AI Scavs will become hostile. You won't become a traitor if you attack or kill a player Scav who attacked you first, or was already marked as a traitor to nearby AI Scavs. Scav Raiders, as well as Scav Bosses and their followers won't bother you as long as you don't get too close to them.

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 the risk of losing everything brought into the Raid.

Your Scav character is progressing separately from your main PMC character. Level and skill progress carry over between raids, even though the character names imply different persons.

Upgrading the intelligence center in your Hideout will allow you to reduce the cooldown timer for the Scav game mode:
 * Level 1 Intelligence center: -15%
 * Level 3 Intelligence center: -20% (-35% in total)

Scav karma
Scav karma is a system that was implemented to reward cooperation between player Scavs rather than shooting each other on sight. Different actions cause different changes to your karma level. Your current karma can be found as Fence trader reputation.

Your Scav karma affects the following things:
 * Scav game mode cooldown
 * Amount of available extracts in the Scav game mode
 * The quality of your gear set in the Scav game mode
 * Car extracts fee amount
 * Scav case turnaround time in the Hideout
 * Fence's payout for items sold to him
 * The chance that AI-Scavs follow the players commands (Follow, hold position etc.)
 * With a karma level of +6, players get access to an extra sales tab on Fence that contains uninsured gear from players
 * With high levels of positive karma, AI-Scavs will support player Scavs by attacking their targets, and Scav bosses will be considered allies
 * With high levels of negative karma, AI-Scavs will attack the player on sight

Equipment
Note that the primary weapons can have numerous mod variations and those shown below are examples.
 * -|Weapons=

{|class="wikitable sortable" !Icon !Earpiece ! ! !
 * -|Earpieces=
 * Peltor Tactical Sport headset
 * GSSh-01 active headset
 * Opsmen Earmor M32 headset


 * -|Headwear=


 * -|Face cover=


 * -|Eyewear=

{|class="wikitable sortable" !Icon !Name !Armor Class ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 2 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 3 ! ! 4 ! ! 5 ! ! 5
 * -|Body armor=
 * BNTI Module-3M body armor
 * 6B2 armor (Flora)
 * PACA soft armor
 * MF-UNTAR body armor
 * BNTI Zhuk-3 press armor
 * BNTI Kirasa-N armor
 * 6B23-1 body armor (Digital Flora)
 * 6B13 assault armor
 * BNTI Gzhel-K armor
 * FORT Defender-2 body armor

{|class="wikitable sortable" ! !Pilgrim tourist backpack ! !Scav backpack ! !LBT-8005A Day Pack backpack ! !Flyye MBSS backpack ! !LK 3F Transfer tourist backpack ! !Duffle bag ! !Transformer Bag ! !VKBO army bag ! !Tactical sling bag
 * -|Backpacks=


 * -|Chest rigs=

Trivia

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