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Corporations and Security Firms
Battle Encounter Assault Recon (BEAR)
Made out of former VDV, Spetznaz and other Tier One Russian operators, BEAR is a PMC based in Russia. Officially, they are a private military group but in reality they are a secret arm of Russia's covert overseas assets. Sent in after the pullout of the Russian Ground Forces from Tarkov, they are tasked to uncover any information and intelligence regarding Terra Group's involvement with illegal activities while battling USEC, rogue PMCs and roaming Scavs.
- Covert Group with Mundane Front: Well, a PMC is "mundane" when in actuality, BEAR is a front for the Russian military's covert operations on foreign soil, especially when they require Plausible Deniability.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: While BEAR is working under a covert pretext for the Russian government's indirect involvement in Tarkov, their main mission is to uncover any evidence for Terra Group's far more illegal activities that had allegedly started the civil war.
- Private Military Contractors: A Russian-based PMC,
predating real life Slavonic Corps
and Wagner PMC.
United Security (USEC)
A Western-based private security force with established offices around the globe, they are an amalgamation of two different PMCs; KerniSEC and Safe Sea. Originally hired by Terra Group to protect their assets in the Tarkov region, they are now working hard to extract or destroy any incriminating evidence of wrongdoing during the ongoing civil unrest.
- Multinational Team: The paramilitary branch of USEC is made out of operators around the western anglosphere, mostly American and British if the in-game voicebanks and The Raid webseries is anything to go by.
- Private Military Contractors: An international security firm serving Terra Group. Likely based off of one of the many PMCs that rose to prominence in the US and UK in the early 2000s, such as Blackwater.
Terra Group
VIRTUS IN SCIENTIA note
—Company Motto
An international holding company with numerous subsidiaries across the world. In Tarkov, their UK-subsidiary Terra Group Labs were unfortunately involved in a political scandal involving bribery and illegal experimentation. The resultant escalation of conflict into civil war and has forced them to hire USEC operators to hide or destroy all evidence of their illicit activities.
- Bad Boss: The Labs area features an elevator shaft filled with the dumped corpses of Terragroup scientists. These people were killed by the most unethical groups of the USEC mercenaries in order to cover up the company's criminal activities.
- Big Bad: The Tarkov branch of the company at least is very corrupt and is responsible for all of the chaos happening in the game. It is also subtly implied that many of the most dangerous bad guys in the city (such as the Scav Raiders) might still be working for them.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Seems to have a whole board of these. The bosses of TerraGroup were some of the first to flee Tarkov, knowing they would otherwise face heavy jail time once their unethical medical experiments and market manipulation got out.
- Evil, Inc.: Involved in all kinds of unethical and shady activities, including human testing of illegal combat drugs in the Tarkov Terragroup Labs.
- Karma Houdini: The higher-ups at the company seem to have largely managed to get out of Tarkov without any kind of real personal consequences for their actions so far.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Both the surviving BEAR and USEC operators have reasons to hate the company, and possibly also hold evidence of the corporation's crimes. This means that justice may still be served if they manage to escape the region.
- N.G.O. Superpower: Managed to completely destabilize a whole region in Russia simply by liberal employment of PMCs and exploiting local corruption.
- MegaCorp
- Science Is Bad: Whatever biological scientific field they were researching is bad enough for people to start a war over.
Traders
Prapor
The Logistics Officer
Name: Pavel Yegorovich Romanenko
A warrant officer in the Russian Ground Forces maintaining the logistics for the Russian blockade of Novorinsk, but also secretly supplies equipment to the PMC operatives in the region. He mainly deals in Soviet-bloc weaponry, attachments and ammunition.
- Corrupt Quartermaster: How he acquires his wares, by quietly syphoning stuff from the GRU units tasked with maintaining the blockade on Tarkov.
- Russians with Rusting Rockets: Is a active member of the GRU logistics during the Tarkov unrest.
Therapist
The Good Doctor
Name: Elvira Khabibullina
A doctor from the local hospital who works hard to assist refugees and make life easier for the trapped population of Tarkov. She mostly deals in medical supplies, containers and consumables.
- Big Good: The closest person we have to be a force of good within the Novorinsk region, as she does not seem to have any side agendas and genuinely wants to help save lives.
- Good Is Not Soft: While she comes off as one of the most benevolent Traders, working to save innocent lives from the Crapsack World that is Tarkov, she is not above sending players to kill Scavs in one of her missions. She still voices out her displeasure at giving the players such a task.
- Insistent Terminology: In the briefing for some of her quests, she will stumble over her words as she mentions caches of supplies and food, explaining she could have sold - erm, "helped" many people."Honestly, I did not expect that from you! With these plans, we could've found and sold—... Khm, sent food to civilians, but now all this wealth goes to Skier who'll just vend it all for ten times the price!"
- The Medic: She sells medical supplies to players.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Continually handing over certain quest items to Skier will have her call you out on helping a criminal instead of assisting her cause.
Fence
The Broker
Name: ???
A mysterious underground broker who has set up a common black market during the conflict. He generally buys and sells every kind of equipment or supplies players are willing to trade with.
- Black Market: He essentially runs a global market for the EFT playerbase. Players can sell anything to him at a very underwhelming rate and in return other players can buy what has been sold, but usually for exceedingly exorbitant prices. It is usually much more profitable to sell stuff to the other traders or put it up for auction in the Flea Market.
- Collector of the Strange: Fence gives out the final mission to the PMC players after they've completed the task of all the other traders: Collect and hand over a plethora of unique loot items that were based on the online handles of Tarkov streamers.
- In the Hood: His profile image has his face darkened by a hood.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Only goes by an alias, his true identity is not known to anyone.
- The Chessmaster: Has the skills and knowledge to run an entire black market all across Tarkov while also having huge control over the gangs of Scavs; all while no one has actually dealt with him face to face.
- We Buy Anything: Unlike the other traders who will only buy certain types of weapon parts, meds, barter items or equipment, Fence will buy everything (with the exception of completely useless trash; e.g. empty ammo cartons) including armor of low durability, but at the lowest possible buying price compared to the rest.
Skier
The Schemer
Name: Alexander Fyodorovich Kiselyov
A former port customs employee who had managed to scrounge connections and equipment for Tarkov's crumbling society as well as the various Scav groups in the region. He mainly deals with civilian-legal firearms, attachments and equipment.
- Arms Dealer: Fits the Gangland-runner type to a tee.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He used to be an unremarkable Customs terminal employee with a dubious criminal past. When Tarkov's social strata collapsed he quickly became a deceitful and ruthless gang leader. Now he has control over whole warehouses full of goods and spends his time running serious organized crime operations.
- King of Thieves: He has considerable influence over several Scav factions and does not hesitate to flex their power over his rivals. Not bad for a former customs port employee.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He was very quick to turn Tarkov's collapse into a golden ticket to his own criminal gang and a wealth in stolen goods. He also manipulates the player character into doing all kinds of spying and sabotage in order to further his agenda.
- Slimeball: A massive one, which leads to virtually all of the equally corrupt traders disliking him, to the point that the player might take a hit to their reputation simply for completing quests for him.
- The Chessmaster: Seems to be running many clandestine schemes in the background, often manipulating the player character and other traders into doing his bidding. It's notable that he is angered when the player works for Therapist and kills Scavs that were contaminating the civillian water supply while stockpiling clean water. Presumably these were actually some of his men and he was the one creating the whole water problem in order to profit from it.
- The Don: While seemingly not an established Mafiya man, when the city fell into chaos he quickly seized control of parts of the Customs terminal where he worked by banding together a gang of thugs. He is now essentially a crime lord who plots shady schemes to enrich himself further.
- Villainous Friendship: Seemingly has one with Peacekeeper. They do a lot of business together and seem to have a mutual respect for one another - as they're both essentially powerful criminals, this is perhaps unsurprising.
Peacekeeper
The Lawbreaker
Name: Tadeusz Pilsudski
A corrupt Polish UN officer in charge of logistics of the United Nations Tarkov peacekeeping mission (UNTAR), but frequently makes deals and transactions with Tarkov's seedy underground as well as other traders. He deals in NATO-bloc weapons, attachments, equipment and ammunition.
- Affably Evil: He's polite and professional in his dialogue to the PMC when jobs are completed for him. Yet he is also also deeply corrupt and very ruthless in his shady dealings.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Exhibits this in his dealings; he betrays the UN-allied Russian forces in Tarkov by scheming to have the UN-branded Tigr vehicles they provided stripped and their parts reclaimed for his own profit. He also asks the player to help steal sensitive technology from his ally's destroyed tanks and equipment, so he can sell them on to their political rivals.
- Foreign Cuss Word: He exclaims in his native Polish once in a while ("Kurwa!") in some of his dialogue.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Seems to prefer ruthlessly killing his enemies instead of negotiating when they encroach on his operations. In particular he sees local Scav gangs as a nuisance and frequently demands that the player character kill them in large numbers to send a message to others.
- Only in It for the Money: Seemingly does his job only if there is profit involved on the sidelines.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He's turned Tarkov's descent into a violent warzone into a lucrative opportunity for himself to make a ton of cash and political prestige.
- Poles with Poleaxes: Pilsudski is presumably part of the Polish Military's attache to the UN peacekeeping mission in Tarkov.
- Soldiers at the Rear: He does not like going into the field, so he sends the PMC players to do the dirty work for him.
- United Nations: Is part of a fictional UN-Peackeeping mission: United Nations Mission to Tarkov (UNTAR)
- Villainous Friendship: Does a lot of shady business with Skier and seems to be on good terms with him.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He's involved in murder, possible drug manufacture and the sale of all kinds of classified military equipment on the black market. In practical terms he's essentially a glorified mob boss. However, his UN political connections mean he's able to preserve a false benevolent public image, frequently adding to this by putting on token humanitarian relief efforts.
Mechanic
The Gunsmith
Name: Sergey Arsenyevich Samoylov
A reclusive engineer who takes regular contracts in weapons building and electrical engineering from PMCs and other individuals with the means to pay. He mostly deals in bartering electronics or bitcoins for modified exotic weapons or rare attachments.
- Basement-Dweller: He prefers the solitary life hidden in his workshop, either fixing guns or Bitcoin farming.
- The Engineer: He has a talent for fixing up guns as well as working with a wide array of electronic equipment, a valuable skill in a Scavenger World.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He's very intelligent and can work all kinds of technical magic in his workshop. Notably, he builds a fancy neural network for controlling his office space that responds to his voice and even his mood. This is despite being in the middle of a crumbling war zone lacking most electrical parts and amenities.
- Gun Nut: Loves to modify and build guns as his profession. He also sells unique builds of available guns such as the M4A1 "Space Trooper", AKM T-OPS and several modified Glock pistol variants.
- Non-Action Guy: He may admit that he does not go out often as well as look relatively harmless, but remember he is surrounded by a lot of guns as well as having very powerful friends whom he works with on a daily basis.
- Saying Too Much: He constantly makes reference to an anonymous sniper client named Dima...... - whoops! By the last few builds of the Gunsmith questline, he's pretty much given up on even trying to hide the name of his client since he's said it so much already.
Ragman
The Fashion Guru
Name: Abramyan Arshavir Sarkisivich
A former director of major market in Tarkov, he has managed to take over the business of moving goods and clothing around the region. He deals in clothing, vests, body armor, gear and backpacks. In addition, he is also acts as the PMC player's main contact for the Flea Market.
- Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Is pretty open about building a criminal enterprise, but given the situation Tarkov finds itself in, him building a black market and dealing with the gopniki looters that occupy his old workplace with extreme prejudice makes him downright nice in comparison to most other individuals.
Jaeger
The Hunter
Name: Kharitonov Ivan Egorovich
A local professional hunter who took to the woods during the beginning of the crisis in Tarkov. He deals in hunting rifles, shotguns, survival equipment and ammunition.
- Arbitrary Mission Restriction: Loves giving quests like these to the player. Shoot scavs...without wearing body armor! Shoot enemies...in the leg...with a bolt action rifle. From 100 meters.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Comes across as a bit out of touch with reality. He's equally at home asking the player to hunt down and kill bandits as he is asking them to venture out into a war zone to bring him a certain types of food he particularly likes the taste of.
- Crazy Survivalist: Started out the crisis by being one of these, but eventually decided that working together with decent people would be better for everyone in the long run.
- Good Samaritan: When patrolling the forests, he tries to help injured or otherwise desperate PMC operators or civillians that he finds.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Most of his equipment consists of weapons used for hunting, so he stocks a lot of shotguns in particular.
- Vigilante Man: Seems to have an intense hatred of looters, Scavs and criminals in general. Dialogue implies he patrols the Woods area, shooting Scav gang members when they stray into his territory. He is also angered when the player works with traders to loot supplies like fuel and food.
- Violation of Common Sense: Some of his quests involve killing Scavs and PMCs while suffering from dehydration, tremors, and other maladies that you will often have to inflict on yourself deliberately, probably a hint that he's not 100% right in the head.
Scavs
Scavengers
Scavengers, or Scavs were once ordinary citizens of Tarkov who got caught up in the unrest, then the civil war that has wrecked their homeland. Most of the criminal elements as well as the most desperate of civilians eventually took up banditry and advantage of the subsequent lawlessness of Tarkov. They now roam every corner of the Novorinsk region looking for valuble loot for their own purposes, but do not look upon kindly to the ever-growing PMC presence, or sometimes even each other.
- Bald of Evil: Some Scavs are seen bald.
- Disaster Scavengers: While they are indeed looters and bandits, most of them were just ordinary people trying to get by in the civil war-torn region of Tarkov.
- Enemy Chatter: They are often seen mumbling to one another as they roam around, speaking only in Russian. Once engaged, they descend into a cacophony of angry, panicked screaming and the occasional Cluster F-Bomb.
- Enemy Mine: Some extraction points require that a player Scav and PMC stand on the point together. Fence will reward both parties accordingly should they successfully extract peacefully.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Averted. apparently there are specific vocal responses from the Scavs about you violating some sort of agreement or code should the player kill a Scav without provocation. The player-Scav may defy this convention themselves and fire upon neutral AI Scavs, but doing so will turn every other Scav hostile.
- Promoted to Playable: They are playable as an alternative to the PMC character. During a Scav Run, the player is given a random set of equipment, gear and weapons with whatever they find and extract going to their main stash afterwards. In addition, the AI Scavs (with the exception of the Raiders and bosses) will be neutral to your presence, although attacking any Scav without provocation will turn all other AI Scavs in the area hostile to you.
Scav Raiders
Raiders are a mixed group of highly skilled Scavs or former military-trained personnel who have banded together and seen roaming high value areas of Tarkov in small fireteams. Their motivations or ranking structure is unknown, but the locals have learnt to keep away whenever they show up.
- Dangerous Deserter: Some of the Raiders are implied to be former PMCs who have resorted to banditry after their employers had presumably abandoned them.
- Elite Mooks: They are truly a step above regular Scavs in terms of weapons, gear and tactics. They are relentless in their assaults, perform flanking maneuvers and can intelligently flush players out from their positions.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Moreso than the regular Scavs as they always wear body vests or armored rigs.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: It's left very ambiguous what their background actually is. Given they appear in the Terragroup Labs and have expensive military equipment, it may be that they are funded by the company to kill surviving PMCs and destroy evidence of the corporation's mideeds. They also sometimes appear at the military base, another high-security location with connections to Terragroup operations.
Scav Bosses
Reshala
The Dealmaker
A Scav boss located in the Customs region and an influential figure amongst the Scavs in Tarkov. He commands a small troupe of loyal followers who escort and protect him whenever threatened by PMCs or Scav players.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Downplayed. He has only a slightly higher HP pool than a regular Scav, but his quirk is in his ability to command his underlings to attack players so as to either buy him time to escape or flank them.
- Bling-Bling-BANG!: He sometimes carries a unique gold-plated TT-33 pistol on his person.
- Corrupt Cops: Reshala's bodyguards are ex-cops, as indicated by the unique Tarkov Police jackets they wear.
- Cowardly Boss: Reshala is prone to running away as his goons engage players. He is no slouch however if you've managed to corner him, or if he suddenly decides he wants your head for intruding on his territory.
- King of Thieves: He is a leader of his troupe of heavily armed Scavs, as well as the ringleader of several Scav factions all over Tarkov.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Reshala's goons will approach Player Scavs to verbally warn them off and may even fire warning shots giving Player Scavs a chance to back off. Staying put, bumping directly to their head honcho or just shooting them will eventually switch them to full aggro mode.
Killa
The Mall Cop
A lone wolf Scav boss found usually wandering the ULTRA supermall at Interchange. Heavily armed and armored, he frequently patrols the now-abandoned mall in search of prey in this patch of the urban jungle of Tarkov. He is also occasionally seen roaming the Pinewood Hotel in Streets of Tarkov.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: His main tactic against players, as he has the armor to back it up and is very aggressive in comparison to regular Scavs. He is also extremely generous with grenades.
- Dark Is Evil: His clothes, helmet and vest are black, to emphasize his violent nature.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Was apparently a former athlete with only several criminal counts of racketeering before the conflict, but he soon became Drunk with Power in the now-lawless world of Tarkov and now spends his time with indiscriminate mass-murder at the once-vibrant mega mall.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Wears a customized painted steel helmet and body armor making him very resilient to bullets.
- Iconic Outfit: He wears an "Adik" Tracksuit underneath his Maska 1Sch helmet with faceplate, black Commando vest and customized 6B13 body armor.
- More Dakka: Mostly spawns with a RPK-16 light-machine gun with a 95-round drum magazine loaded. Even if he manages to expend the entire drum mag onto his target, he still has at least two or three more 60-round casket magazines as backup, along with a host of various frag grenades.
- Only Known By His Nickname: Unlike most of the other characters who have real names or aliases to go by, this boss is only known by the name 'Killa'.
- Shout-Out: Killa's design is based on a loose cosplay of Tachanka from Rainbow Six Siege (more of a "spiritual cosplay" than a form replica), which featured Adidas clothes, simple tactical gear (in contrast to Tachanka's actual heavy-load gear), and Adidas stripes on top of Tachanka's iconic Maska 1Sch helmet.
Shturman
The Navigator
A mysterious sniper who has taken refuge within Priozersk Natural Reserve's sawmill in Woods with his two bodyguards. They roam the nature reserve shooting at any intruders in the hopes of keeping their stash away from greedy Scavs and opportunistic PMCs.
- Cold Sniper: He has the tendency to sneak about the saw mill and take accurate shots at any players encroaching on his territory, usually with his Dragunov SVD sniper rifle.
- Dragon Hoard: His whole shtick is this; he guards a stash of random rare loot in the middle of the sawmill, but it is locked. The only way to open it is to retrieve the unique, one-time-use key which he keeps on his person at all times.
- In the Hood: Currently the only Scav to wear one.
Glukhar
The Grouse
Leader of a group of Scav Raiders occupying the Federal State Reserve Agency military base in Reserve. Strong-willed and extremely well-equipped, Glukhar and his squad are prepared to defend and eliminate anyone encroaching on their well-stocked hideout. Glukhar and his posse are also known to frequent the car dealership at Streets of Tarkov.
- BFG: Sometimes carries his signature ASh-12, a subsonic .50 calibre assault rifle. He and his goons are also prone to manning the mounted guns scattered all over Reserve.
- Dangerous Deserter: Based on their tactics, dress and Glukhar's tattoos, they are clearly military-trained. Lightkeeper confirms that by calling him an ex-Marine in one of his quests.
- Elite Mooks: Glukhar's guards are a set of coordinated Scav Raiders who are armed to the teeth and are smart enough to flush enemy players out.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: According to Lightkeeper, he and most of his crewmen are former Russian Naval Infantrymen.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Glukhar's goons will approach Player Scavs to verbally warn them off and may even fire warning shots giving Player Scavs a chance to back off. Staying put, bumping directly to their head honcho or just shooting them will eventually switch them to full aggro mode.
- Shout-Out: His skills, boisterous bruiser personality and looks bring a certain Russian Counter Strike player to mind. He quotes him a few times too.
Sanitar
The Doctor
A former employee of Terra Group who now wanders the abandoned Azure Coast Health Resort and it's surroundings in Shoreline. Due to his medical knowledge and substantial stash of homemade stimulants, he is quite popular amongst the local Scav community who will do anything to protect their valuable supplier of their potential next high.
- Ax-Crazy: Is equally likely to do a useful business deal with someone as randomly gun them down. He murders the unarmed staff Therapist sends to liaise with him, even though they are offering him a sweet deal. It's also stated that sometimes he helps people with his medical skills, and other times he simply prefers to poison people to death or otherwise perform horrible medical experiments on them.
- Bald of Evil: Sports one along with a bandage wrapped across his shiny dome.
- Combat Medic: Unique to this boss, Sanitar has a wide array of medical supplies and homemade injectors that he will use during combat to get an edge over his aggressors or heal himself back from grievous wounds.
- Cowardly Boss: Sanitar is prone to running away while his heavily armoured goons provide cover.
- Deadly Doctor: Jaeger states that he is equally happy to deliberately cripple people with his drugs and medical "treatment" as he is to help them.
- Mad Doctor: Helps or kills people, seemingly without much rhyme or reason for picking one or the other. Therapist seems to feel he has some kind of potential for good, while Jaeger thinks he is a monster that must be destroyed.
Tagilla
Hammer Time
A heavily armoured, intimidating, hulking monster of a man who lurks in the confined spaces of Factory. Armed with a sledgehammer and a really bad attitude, he stalks the catwalks and narrow hallways of the abandoned factory looking for more unfortunate trespassers to feed the insatiable appetite of his hammer.
- The Brute: Is essentially a hammer-wielding madman who is not afraid to charge towards oncoming bullets. With strong armour and high health pool, Tagilla is easily one of the most beefiest bosses seen in Tarkov.
- Back Stab: Due to wearing a welding helmet, the back of Tagilla's head is completely exposed and can be exploited by players should he have his back towards them.
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: His massive sledgehammer, of course. Getting hit with it breaks limbs and causes contusions.
- I Call It "Vera": His hammer is aptly named, "Dead Blow".
- More Dakka: Sometimes he carries an AKS-74U or RPK-16 as his primary weapon. Typically he fires it full auto with very high accuracy, arguably making him much more dangerous with this weapon than his trademark hammer.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Aside from his hammer, he seems to prefer shotguns for his primary firearm, using it only if the target is beyond reasonable reach. One of the common loadouts possible is a souped-up Saiga-12K with 20-round drum magazines.
- Tattooed Crook: Has a decently-inked body on full display outside of his barebones armour.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: His unique sledgehammer cannot be looted by players in any way or form. This may be justified for the player character, in contrast to its owner, who definitely has the physique and tenacity to wield such a bulky and heavy weapon.
Kaban
A large, imposing businessman-turned-bandit, Kaban is the top dog in Streets of Tarkov. Armed with a light machine gun and surrounded by heavily armed guards in a fortified car dealership, this titan is a tough nut to crack for any PMC looking to steal his stash and acquire his unique machine guns.
- The Brute: High health, strong body armor, and a very big gun make him one of the toughest bosses in Tarkov, and he's not alone.
- Flunky Boss: Similar to Glukhar and Reshala, Kaban is surrounded by a entourage of well-armed followers.
- Large and in Charge: Kaban is visibly the fattest character in the game and is the leader of a group of well-equipped and highly-skilled scavs and rogues.
- More Dakka: Wields the PKM, PKP, or RPK-16 light machine guns. Notably, the PKM or PKP can only be acquired by looting his corpse
- The Mafiya: Mentions his 1990's banditry ventures quite a few times. Him running a legal Lexos dealership seems to be also a reference to their larger SUV's being a favourite choice of brutish middle aged men with questionable connections.
- Shout-Out: His large build, choice of clothes and attitude are an obvious reference to Stas Baretsky's public persona.
Kollontay
Another machine gun-wielding maniac on Streets of Tarkov, Kollontay is a corrupt former MVD officer who formed a gang to perform the things he was supposed to prevent: looting and banditry. He roams the Klimov shopping mall and MVD academy, looking for players to brutalize with his machine gun or baton.
- The Brute: Imposing build, high health, big weapons, and a bad attitude are par for the course for Tarkov bosses.
- Dirty Cop: A vile and brutal State Sec officer even before the breakdown of civil order, his favorite activities were to beat people senseless and provide protection to local "businesses" such as that of his brother Kaban. Now that there's no government left in Tarkov, he's free to kill and loot as he likes.
- Flunky Boss: He is also accompanied by up to four well-equipped followers.
- Killer Cop: Goes without saying.
- Lawman Baton: If the player is too close to Kollontay, he might switch to his baton to smash your face in. Kollontary holding it out is enough to induce panic attacks and jam weapons.
- More Dakka: Like Kaban, he can be encountered with an RPD light machine gun.
The Cult
Cultists
A mysterious group whose presence is felt in the form of strange ritualistic circles and markings in several obscure locations around the Norvinsk region. Their beliefs and member count are currently unknown, but what is clear is their very hostile intentions that is equally matched by their patrons' horrifying lust for murder and blood.
As of December 2020 patch 0.12.9, the Cultists have made their way into the game proper, often appearing at night hanging around their ritual sites or stalking players for the thrill of the kill.
- Back Stab: Their preferred method of attack is to creep up to an unsuspecting player and then suddenly rush towards them just to get a quick jab at the player before retreating and repeating the process.
- Desperation Attack: As stated above, while knife stabbing is their main form of attack, they will not hesitate to pull out a gun and return fire should their position be compromised by the players.
- Devious Daggers: They have a preference for using ornately carved daggers to gut their victims from behind.
- Human Sacrifice: Several locations in Tarkov reveals evidence of the cult's presence by the fact that they love leaving bodies with pig heads stuffed over that of the corpse's. Not to mention the satanic circles and ritual markings present.
- Mystery Cult: The players have a set of missions attempting to uncover their motives, although Peacekeeper has a theory that they might be of the Apocalypse Cult variety going by the fact that Human Sacrifice is involved.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Long before their inclusion into the game, all physical evidence of their existence is enough to invoke
Nightmare Fuel to what they are like in person. Hearing sudden movement but being unable to quickly spot the intruder will put any experienced player to a state of paranoia. - Poisoned Weapons: Unique to their faction, they use daggers dipped in some kind of poison that will slowly debilitate players, unless they have an antidote on hand. Their knives can be looted from them by the PMCs with the ability for players to replicate the poisonous attributes to the weapon.
- Room Full of Crazy: "Marked Rooms" appear all over Tarkov, with strange demonic-looking writings, glyphs and ritual circles; all implied to be written in the blood of the corpses that usually lie nearby. They also usually contain rare loot such as guns, storage containers and valuable trinkets for some reason.
Lightkeeper
A mysterious figure closely linked to the Cult. Lightkeeper is based in the Lighthouse map, in the eponymous structure on a small island accessible by a single exposed bridge. In patch 12.12, anyone attempting to cross the bridge would be shot and killed by an unseen sniper. As of patch 12.13, Lightkeeper seems to have temporarily abandoned his hideout and the island is now accessible - although the Lighthouse itself is still protected by an impenetrable field of anti-personnel mines.
During the in-game events leading up the the 12.13 patch, Lightkeeper threatened the other traders in the Norvinsk reagion into shutting down their operations (except for Fence), and then successfully extorted the PMC player base to the tune of over a trillion Roubles for their return to business. Communications during the events suggest that the other traders take any threat Lightkeeper makes extremely seriously, and also imply that Lightkeeper was "not happy" with the lack of enthusiasm with which players responded to his demands for payment.
Lightkeeper is intended to join the roster of traders in a future update, as the first trader to be accessible only within a raid rather than from their stash.
Rogues
USEC Rogues
A group of Scav Raiders occupying the water treatment plant on Lighthouse. The plant used to be USEC's main base of operations in Tarkov, but with the firm's withdrawal from the region, these stranded PMCs took it over for their own purposes.
- Dangerous Deserter: Unlike Raiders, which are locals or former PMCs, they are explicitly former USEC contractors much like some players.
- Elite Mooks: Being ex-PMC's, their equipment and training puts them a cut above other AI enemies.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: While they will engage anyone they see on their patrols, they will provide a warning to USEC players first, unless they are accompanied by a BEAR.
The Goon Squad
A 3-man fireteam of boss enemies, and the leaders of the USEC Rogues. Knight
The leader of The Goon Squad, Death Knight's distinctive skull mask is the last sight many an enemy of the Rogues will ever see. Armed with a fully customised 7.62mm assault rifle, plentiful grenades and a Class 5 armoured rig. Knight will aggressivly push any target spotted by his squad alongside Big Pipe, relying on Birdeye to provide sniper cover.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Both Knight and Big Pipe will relentlessly rush down any target spotted by the squad, employing flanking maneuvers, suppressing fire and grenades.
- Dangerous Deserter: Unlike Raiders, which are locals or former PMCs, Knight is a former USEC contractor much like some players.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Averted. The Goon Squad will react to anyone other than their fellow Rogues with extreme aggression.
Big Pipe
Big Pipe is the heavy artillery of the Goon squad, providing overwhelming explosive firepower to remove stubborn threats. Although he also carries a more conventional firearm - often a shotgun or .300 Blackout carbine - the main threat Big Pipe poses to players comes from his grenade launcher. Whether he's carrying an FN40GL Mk2 single-shot launcher or his signature Milkor MGL six-shot rotary launcher, he's always brought enough boom for any encounter.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Both Knight and Big Pipe will relentlessly rush down any target spotted by the squad, employing flanking maneuvers, suppressing fire and grenades. In Big Pipe's case, sometimes the suppressing fire *is* grenades.
- Dangerous Deserter: Unlike Raiders, which are locals or former PMCs, Big Pipe is a former USEC contractor much like some players.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: his tattoos and combat pants in a pattern which is usually used by the U.S Navy hint at the past in the Navy SEALs.
- Inter-Service Rivalry: Seems to have a bit of a friendly rivalry going on with Birdeye, who may have been a Marine in the past.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Averted. The Goon Squad will react to anyone other than their fellow Rogues with extreme aggression.
Birdeye
The Goon Squad's radio man and sniper. Armed with a sniper rifle and armour-piercing ammunition, Birdeye identifies and eliminates long-range threats.
- Cold Sniper: Birdeye hangs back and hides while Knight and Birdeye force the enemy into the open. He has fast reactions, a marksman rifle, and he does not miss. If his squadmates are killed, he's quite content to stay hidden and ambush their killer later.
- Dangerous Deserter: Unlike Raiders, which are locals or former PMCs, Birdeye is a former USEC contractor much like some players.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Averted. The Goon Squad will react to anyone other than their fellow Rogues with extreme aggression.
- Shout-Out: His appearance seems to be based on a real MARSOC operator .
