Ballistics

Ballistics are an important part of Escape from Tarkov. They play a big role in firefights and often determine the outcomes. Choosing the right weapon, ammo and gear is one of the most important parts in coming out on top of fighting.

Flight ballistics

Bullet flight is simulated realistically in Escape from Tarkov. Bullets have speed, are affected by gravity and air friction and can penetrate or ricochet when hitting objects, and even fragment when doing so. The specific flight characteristics of a bullet is determined by the ammo type, and the chance of a bullet penetrating or ricocheting off of an object is determined by the material of the object and the type of bullet. Bullets also lose both damage and penetration power as they lose speed from air friction over long distances.

Terminal ballistics

Escape from Tarkov also simulates damage to the body and body armor. Damage is dealt to a human body at the point of impact, damaging that limb or body part. Bullets are capable of penetrating walls or even limbs and hitting multiple body parts that way. Bullets can also fragment when penetrating a player's body, dealing 50% bonus damage to that limb. The damage dealt by a bullet is based only on the bullet itself, and not by the gun it was fired from. Armor protection is also simulated realistically, stopping bullets entirely instead of providing a damage reduction like in most games.

Armor and penetration

Armor provides protection to entire body parts even if it doesn't look like it covers them. You can see what parts of the body are protected when you inspect the armor. When your body is hit, if that body part that was hit (or head zone) has body armor or a helmet protecting it, the game checks to see if the bullet penetrates or doesn’t.

The penetration chance of a bullet hitting armor is calculated based on the armor’s level, the armor’s remaining durability %, and the ammo’s penetration value. The chance is then rolled to determine whether or not the bullet penetrates.

If the bullet penetrates, it deals between 0% and 40% less damage based on an algorithm that uses the bullet’s pen value and the armor’s class and durability %. There is a strong correlation between the penetration chance the penetrating round had, and the damage reduction applied to it: The higher the chance the less damage reduction, with high armor classes and high pen values of ammo having lower reductions than others. Most penetrations will be around 20% damage reduction when a bullet starts to penetrate an armor, but things like a PACA vs m995 will result in 0% reduction.

If the bullet does not penetrate, “blunt damage” is applied, which lets through a % of the base damage of the bullet to the body part hit. This % is based on the specific armor’s “blunt throughput” stat, the pen value of the ammo, and the armor’s class and remaining durability %. Blunt damage is extremely low and not a notable factor in kill speed against anything other than level 2 body armors.

Durability

Durability of armor is important, the lower the current % of durability remaining the less protection the armor offers overall. The durability % is calculated by dividing the current durability of the armor by the original maximum durability of the armor. As an example a 60/60 repaired LBT 6094A Slick Plate Carrier armor is calculated as 60/80, or 75%.

The durability damage taken from bullets is based on the penetration value of the ammo and the armor level of the armor, multiplied by the ammo’s armor damage % and the armor material’s destructibility %. The minimum durability damage armor can take from a single hit is 1, including from individual buckshot pellets. Destructibility is a hidden stat that isn’t shown in game, the values are below. A penetrating round does a little bit less durability damage to armor than a round that does not penetrate. It varies, but is usually around 10-15% less.

Material	Destructibility	Explosive Destructibility
Aramid	0.25	0.2
Combined Materials	0.5	0.4
UHMWPE	0.45	0.4
Titan	0.55	0.5
Aluminium	0.6	0.6
Steel	0.7	0.6
Ceramic	0.8	0.7
Glass	0.8	0.8

If you want to find the effective durability of different armor to compare how durable different armors are, use the following formula: EffectiveDurability = Durability ÷ Destructibility In the above example EffectiveDurability =0.75/0.6=1.25 which means it can still have more than it's maximum durability (100 hitpoints).

Hitboxes and armor protection

Hitboxes are always the same, whether you’re clad in armor or completely naked, they never change in size or shape. Armor simply provides it’s protection to specific hitboxes and head “zones”, and when those hitboxes are struck by a bullet the armor protects them. So no matter what armor you’re wearing they always provide the same area of protection to whatever body parts they say they protect on their inspection screen. So don’t be fooled by what an armor looks like, check the protection zones to see what it actually protects.

Angles and ricochets

The angle of impact has no effect on armor except for helmets, which bullets can ricochet off of. If a bullet strikes a helmet within a certain range of angles, the round has a chance to ricochet determined by how shallow the angle is as well as the ricochet chance of the helmet. The required angles and the ricochet chance is determined by the helmet and is different for each individual helmet. If a ricochet occurs it is the same as the helmet stopping the penetration as far as the penetration calculation is concerned, and blunt damage and durability damage continue as they would normally, however the health and durability damage is significantly lowered to the point that there is almost no blunt damage received and the helmet almost always takes the minimum durability damage, which is 1.

You can read an even more in-depth summary of all armor-related mechanics on NoFoodAfterMidnight's blog here.

Armor penetration tables

How to read

Effectiveness level		Average amount of bullets stopped	Explanation
0	Pointless	20+	Can't penetrate in any reasonable amount of hits
1	It's possible, but...	13 to 20	Typically doesn't penetrate at all for a large number of hits, or starts with a very low chance and barely increases
2	Magdump only	9 to 13	Has a very low or no penetration chance initially and very slowly gains chance
3	Slightly effective	5 to 9	Has a low penetration chance initially and slowly gains chance, or quickly damages armor until it penetrates
4	Effective	3 to 5	Starts with a low-medium penetration chance but quickly increases
5	Very effective	1 to 3	Penetrates a large percent of the time initially, often quickly going to >90%
6	Basically ignores	<1	Initially penetrates >80% of the time

Table

*Currently, there is a bug where the projectiles do not fragment below 20 penetration power, regardless of the specified fragmentation chance.

**Assuming all projectiles hit the target on every shot. Because each projectiles causes a minimum of 1 durability loss to armor, it becomes effective at breaking down armor and eventually penetrating.

***This has an explosion radius like grenades which does most (all) of the damage

^T Denotes Round is a Tracer

^S Denotes Round is Subsonic

								Bleed %		Armor Effectiveness against class
Caliber	Name	Damage	Penetration power	Armor damage %	Accuracy %	Recoil %	Frag. chance*	L.	H.	1	2	3	4	5	6
12x70mm	12/70 5.25mm Buckshot** S	8x37	1	15			0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	12/70 8.5 mm "Magnum" Buckshot**	8x50	2	26	-15	+115	0%	20%	10%	3	3	3	3	3	3
	12x70 6.5 mm "Express" Buckshot**	9x35	3	26	+15		0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	12x70 7mm Buckshot**	8x39	3	26			0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	12/70 Flechette** S	8x25	31	26	-10		0%			6	6	6	5	5	5
	12x70 RIP	265	0	11	+80	+35	100%	40%	20%	0	0	0	0	0	0
	12/70 HP Slug "SuperFormance"	220	2	12	+170	-15	39%	30%	30%	0	0	0	0	0	0
	12/70 Grizzly 40 Slug	190	12	48	+80	+20	12%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	12/70 HP Slug Copper Sabot Premier	206	14	46	+150	+10	38%	30%	20%	6	3	1	0	0	0
	12x70 Led slug	167	15	55	+120		20%		10%	6	4	1	0	0	0
	12/70 "Poleva-3" Slug	140	17	40	+110	-15	20%			6	5	1	0	0	0
	12/70 Dual Sabot Slug	2x85	17	65	+100	+15	10%			6	5	2	0	0	0
	12/70 FTX Custom LIte Slug	183	20	50	+135		10%			6	6	2	0	0	0
	12/70 "Poleva-6u" Slug	150	20	50	+115	-10	15%			6	6	2	0	0	0
	12x70 shell with .50 BMG bullet T	197	26	57	+90	+25	5%			6	6	5	3	1	0
	12/70 AP-20 Slug	164	37	65	+125	+50	3%			6	6	6	5	4	3
20x70mm	20/70 5.6mm Buckshot** S	8x26	1	12	-10	+10	0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	20/70 6.2mm Buckshot**	8x22	2	13			0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	20x70 7.5mm Buckshot**	8x25	3	14			0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	20/70 7.3mm Buckshot**	9x23	3	13		+15	0%			3	3	3	3	3	3
	20/70 Devastator Slug	198	5	13	+125	+30	100%			1	0	0	0	0	0
	20/70 Slug "Poleva-3"	120	14	35	+110	-15	20%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	20/70 Star Slug	154	16	42	+130	+5	10%			6	5	1	0	0	0
	20/70 Slug Poleva-6u	135	17	40	+110	-10	15%			6	5	1	0	0	0
23x75mm	23x75mm "Star"	0	0	0	0	0	20%			0	0	0	0	0	0
	23x75mm Shrapnel-25** S	8x78	10	20	+20	+10	0%			6	4	3	3	3	3
	23x75mm Shrapnel 10** S	8x87	11	20			0%			6	4	3	3	3	3
	23x75mm "Barricade"	192	39	75	-5	+25	20%			6	6	6	6	4	4
9x18mm Makarov	9x18 mm PM SP8 gzh S	67	1	2			60%	15%	10%	0	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM SP7 gzh	77	2	5			2%			0	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PSV S	69	3	5			40%	10%		0	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM 9 P gzh S	50	5	16			25%	10%		2	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PSO gzh S	54	5	13	+10		35%	10%		2	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PS gs PPO S	55	6	16			25%	15%		3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PRS gs S	58	6	16			30%	15%		3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PPe gzh S	61	7	15			35%	15%		4	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PPT gzh S T	59	8	22	-5	-7	17%	15%		5	1	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM Pst gzh S	50	12	26			20%			6	1	0	0	0	0
	9x18 PM mm RG028 gzh S	65	13	26			2%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM 9 BZT gzh S	53	18	28			17%	15%	10%	6	5	1	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PMM	58	24	33		+5	17%			6	6	4	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PBM	40	28	30		+4	16%			6	6	5	1	0	0
7.62x25mm Tokarev	7.62x25mm TT LRNPC	66	7	27	+10	-10	35%	15%	10%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT LRN	64	8	28	+5	-5	35%	15%	10%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT FMJ43	60	11	29			25%			6	1	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT AKBS	58	12	32	+15	-15	25%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT P gl	58	14	32			25%			6	3	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT PT gzh T	55	18	34	-10		17%			6	4	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT Pst gzh	50	25	36			20%			6	6	4	1	0	0
9x19mm Parabellum	9x19 mm RIP	102	2	11		+20	100%	30%	10%	0	0	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm QuakeMaker S	85	8	22	+10	+10	10%	15%	22%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm PSO gzh S	59	10	32			25%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Luger CCI	70	10	38			25%	20%	20%	6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Green Tracer T	58	14	33	-5	-6	15%			6	3	1	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Pst gzh	54	20	33			15%			6	6	2	0	0	0
	9x19 mm AP 6.3	52	30	48			5%			6	6	6	4	2	1
	9x19 mm 7N31	52	39	53	+15	+15	5%			6	6	6	5	4	3
.45 ACP	.45 RIP S	127	3	12			100%	30%	20%	1	0	0	0	0	0
	.45 ACP Hydra-Shok S	95	13	30			50%		30%	6	3	0	0	0	0
	.45 ACP Lasermatch FMJ S T	74	19	37	+5		1%			6	5	1	0	0	0
	.45 ACP FMJ S	69	23	36			1%			6	6	2	1	0	0
	.45 ACP AP S	70	36	43	-5	+7	1%			6	6	6	5	3	2
9x21mm Gyurza	9x21 mm SP12	80	15	63			35%	15%	10%	6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x21 mm SP11	65	18	44			30%	15%	10%	6	3	0	0	0	0
	9x21 mm SP10	49	35	46			20%			6	6	6	4	3	2
	9x21 mm SP13 T	63	39	47	-4	-4	20%			6	6	6	5	4	3
5.7x28mm FN	5.7x28 mm R37.F	98	8	7			100%	15%	15%	4	0	0	0	0	0
	5.7x28 mm SS198LF	74	10	15			80%			6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.7x28 mm R37.X	81	11	14			70%	10%	20%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.7x28 mm SS197SR	62	20	22			50%			6	6	2	0	0	0
	5.7x28 mm L191 T	58	33	41	-4		20%			6	6	6	3	2	2
	5.7x28 mm SB193 S	54	35	37		-20	20%			6	6	6	4	3	2
	5.7x28 mm SS190	49	37	43			20%			6	6	6	5	4	3
4.6x30mm HK	4.6x30mm Action SX	65	18	39			50%			6	5	2	0	0	0
	4.6x30mm Subsonic SX S	45	36	46	+10	-22	20%			6	6	6	5	3	2
	4.6x30mm FMJ SX	43	40	41			20%			6	6	6	6	4	3
	4.6x30mm AP SX	35	53	46		+10	10%			6	6	6	6	6	5
9x39mm	9x39 mm SP-5 S	68	38	52			20%			6	6	6	5	4	3
	9x39 mm SP-6 S	58	46	60		+10	10%			6	6	6	6	5	4
	9x39 mm 7N9 SPP S	64	50	56	+10	+20	20%			6	6	6	6	6	5
	9x39 mm 7N12 BP S	60	55	68	+10	+22	10%			6	6	6	6	6	5
.366 TKM	.366 TKM Geksa	110	14	38			45%	10%	15%	6	3	0	0	0	0
	.366 TKM FMJ	98	23	48		+10	25%			6	6	4	1	0	0
	.366 TKM EKO	73	30	40	-10	-15	20%			6	6	6	3	1	0
	.366 AP	90	42	60	-28	+35	1%			6	6	6	6	5	4
5.45x39mm	5.45x39 mm SP	68	11	34	+10	-15	45%	10%	10%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm HP	74	11	20		+5	35%	15%	15%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm PRS	60	14	28		-5	30%			6	2	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm US S	65	15	34		-25	10%			6	3	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm FMJ	54	20	30			25%			6	5	1	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm T T	57	20	38	-5	-5	16%			6	6	1	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm PS	50	25	35			40%			6	6	4	1	0	0
	5.45x39 mm PP	46	30	32			17%			6	6	6	3	2	0
	5.45x39 mm BP	48	32	41			16%			6	6	6	4	3	1
	5.45x39 mm BT T	44	37	49	-2	+3	16%			6	6	6	5	4	3
	5.45x39 mm BS	40	51	57	-3	+10	17%			6	6	6	6	6	5
	5.45x39 mm 7N39 "Igolnik"	37	62	60		+15	2%			6	6	6	6	6	6
5.56x45mm NATO	5.56x45 mm Warmage	85	3	14	+10	+10	90%	20%	20%	1	0	0	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm 55 HP	75	9	22			70%	15%	15%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm Mk 255 Mod 0	60	17	32			3%			6	4	1	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm M856 T	55	23	34	-5	-2	33%			6	6	3	1	0	0
	5.56x45 mm 55 FMJ	52	24	33	+10	-5	50%			6	6	4	1	0	0
	5.56x45 mm M855	50	30	37	-5		40%			6	6	6	3	2	0
	5.56x45 mm M856A1 T	51	37	52	-2	+4	33%			6	6	6	5	4	3
	5.56x45 mm M855A1	45	43	52	-10		34%			6	6	6	6	5	4
	5.56x45 mm M995	40	53	58		+8	32%			6	6	6	6	6	5
.300 Blackout	.300 BPZ AAC Blackout	60	28	36			30%			6	6	5	3	2	0
	.300 AAC Blackout AP	55	44	60	+5	+5	30%	15%	15%	6	6	6	6	5	4
7.62x39mm	7.62x39 mm HP	87	15	35	-5		26%	15%	15%	6	4	1	0	0	0
	7.62x39 mm US S	56	29	42	+5	-30	8%			6	6	5	3	1	0
	7.62x39 mm T45M T	62	30	46	-4	-6	12%			6	6	6	3	1	0
	7.62x39 mm PS	57	32	52			25%			6	6	6	4	3	2
	7.62x39 mm BP	58	47	63	-3	+5	12%			6	6	6	6	5	4
7.62x51mm NATO	7.62x51 mm Ultra Nosler	107	15	20	+10	-5	70%	20%	20%	6	4	0	0	0	0
	7.62x51 mm BPZ FMJ	88	31	33		-3	25%			6	6	6	2	0	0
	7.62x51 mm TPZ SP	60	36	40	-8	-5	20%			6	6	6	5	2	0
	7.62x51 mm M80	80	41	66			17%			6	6	6	6	5	4
	7.62x51 mm M62 T	79	44	75	-6	-5	14%			6	6	6	6	5	5
	7.62x51 mm M61	70	64	83	+3	+10	13%			6	6	6	6	6	6
	7.62x51 mm M993	67	70	85	+5	+8	13%			6	6	6	6	6	6
7.62x54mmR	7.62x54R T-46M T	82	41	83	-1	-5	18%			6	6	6	6	4	3
	7.62x54R LPS Gzh	81	42	78			18%			6	6	6	6	4	3
	7.62x54R 7N1 Sniper cartridge	86	45	84	+10	+8	8%			6	6	6	6	5	4
	7.62x54R 7BT1 T	78	59	87	-2	-4	8%			6	6	6	6	6	6
	7.62x54R SNB	75	62	87		+10	8%			6	6	6	6	6	6
	7.62x54R 7N37	72	70	88			8%			6	6	6	6	6	6
.338 Lapua Magnum	.338 Lapua Magnum TAC-X	196	18	55	+10	+5	50%	80%	50%	6	5	3	1	0	0
	.338 UPZ Lapua Magnum	142	32	70	-5		60%	50%	40%	6	6	6	5	4	2
	.338 Lapua Magnum FMJ	122	47	83			20%	35%	50%	6	6	6	6	5	5
	.338 Lapua Magnum AP	115	79	89		+10	13%	20%	55%	6	6	6	6	6	6
12.7x55mm STs-130	12.7x55 mm PS12A S	165	10	22	-15	-12	70%	30%	30%	6	0	0	0	0	0
	12.7x55 mm PS12 S	115	28	60	+10		30%		20%	6	6	5	2	1	0
	12.7x55 mm PS12B S	102	46	57		+15	30%			6	6	6	6	5	4
40x46 mm	40x46 mm M576**	15x160	5	95			0%			5	3	3	3	3	3
Stationary Weapons	30x29 mm VOG-30***	199	1	95			0%			0	0	0	0	0	0
	12.7x108 mm B-32	182	88	88			17%			6	6	6	6	6	6
	12.7x108 mm BZT-44M T	199	80	95			17%			6	6	6	6	6	6