Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
Tarkov How To Level Strength To Elite Level
Researching how to level strength for hideout upgrades or looking to go all the way to elite (max) level for those juicy in raid benefits? There are a number of effective ways to level your strength skill in Tarkov and those wanting to achieve the elite skill level before the end of an Escape From Tarkov reset cycle will want to start following the process below as soon as possible.
As with all physical skills levelling in Tarkov you’ll want to use the FP-100 filter absorber in your air filtering unit if unlocked in the hideout and be aware of the exhaustion mechanic which limits the progress you can make per raid. The strength wiki page provides up to date calculations specific to strength levelling as well.
What is Strength Needed For in Tarkov?
Strength is vital in the hideout upgrade path of Tarkov with level 2 required to upgrade your vents to level 3. Prior to 2021 this requirement was set at level 3 and was often a significant bottleneck to player progression and thus changed by BattleState Games. This change makes strength less of a player roadblock in hideout progress but remains a skill of focus due to the massive benefits of high level strength that are detailed below.
Benefits of Strength in Tarkov
Strength provides the following PMC benefits:
- Reduces the stamina drain when aiming down sights of weapons.
- Increases player jump height, carry weight, melee attack power, movement speed and grenade throw distance.
- Guns no longer count towards player weight limit (Elite)
- Critical melee damage chance (Elite)
While some of the above are worthless in practice (such as melee attacks) the astute Tarkov gamer will quickly see why strength is such a powerful and focused on skill. From being able to hold angles for longer aimed down the sights of your gun to being able to rush to loot spawns, flank enemies faster or simply carry out more loot these are significant in raid to raid gameplay. If you’re watching your favourite Twitch streamer (like Pestily) you’ve likely seen the dramatic effect this skill can have on your gameplay.
How to Level Strength in Tarkov
There are three broad ways to gain strength skill points in Tarkov:
- Throwing grenades
- Melee weapon hits
- Walking or sprinting while carrying more than approximately half your maximum carry weight (indicated by a yellow weight number)
While throwing grenades may seem like the easiest of these options it is often the most expensive given that grenades disappear once used and can quickly become expensive at an average cost of around $10k Roubles for the skill points you earn. Throwing grenades you find (particularly smoke or stun grenades that have less use) throughout your progress though is a good way to boost other levelling methods noted below. This can be particularly important early to quickly work towards level 2 for your vents upgrade but is not really a viable long term strategy in itself.
For melee weapon hits this is similarly not an effective long term strategy although can be cheesed with the help of a friend loading into raid with you and healing in between attacks. However, this is an extremely boring and slow way to obtain levels and not one I recommend even if you intend to go for max level strength.
This leaves walking and running with sufficient carry weight as the most practical and cost effective solution to Tarkov strength levelling. There are a number of methods employed by the community in particular that offer an effective means to become overweight at low per raid cost or a reusable investment. Note that your objective is to not become significantly overweight and instead carry just enough items for your weight number to turn yellow. Players can also use SJ6 combat stimulants to reduce the impact on your general raid experience.
Of these available options the two that I recommend due to their ease of use and Rouble investment required are:
- Filling up document cases with Technical Documentation or SAS Drives which have significant individual item weight and can sit safely in your secure container for use raid after raid. This method is more accessible to those with larger secure containers (such as Edge of Darkness players with their Gamma) and does sacrifice secure container space though. While the initial cost is significant it’s something you don’t need to think about once setup and viable throughout the entire wipe which is why it is my favourite. Additionally, the cost can be recouped once you finish levelling your strength skill by selling the SAS drives to Peacekeeper with usually only a small loss.
Alternatively you can start each raid with a stack of cheap shotgun shell ammo (such as the 12x70mm Buckshot from Jaeger in your backpack and then removing them from your backpack as you acquire loot during the raid. If you’ve ever killed a PMC and found their backpack full of shotgun shells this is why. Players can also purchase one of the heavy Tarkov armours for their backpack and drop this as required. By using a destroyed low tier armour with high weight (such as the Module-3M, MF-UNTAR, 6B23-1 or 6B13) you’ll ensure it comes back the majority of the time time through insurance and is cheap to insure. Having to remember to constantly do this though can be a bit of annoyance and why I prefer the documents case method above.
If you want to learn more about levelling skills in Tarkov visit our other guides on endurance, vitality, search, attention, health, metabolism, stress resistance and sniper rifles.
Alternatively you can start each raid with a stack of cheap 
