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.

All the data displayed below is the product of NoFoodAfterMidnight. This page is aimed at spreading the knowledge he uncovered, and making it easy to understand for new players.

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, and more if those fragments continue through and hit other body parts. 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 a bullet hits an armored body part, it either stops the bullet completely or the bullet penetrates the armor and does damage to the player. If a bullet is stopped by the armor, a % of the bullet's damage is dealt to that body part, known as "blunt damage", the % is based on the armor. The penetration chance is dependent on the armor's level and remaining durability %, and the ammo's penetration value. In most scenarios bullets will either have no chance to penetrate armor or will penetrate it almost every hit. This means choosing the highest penetration ammo is extremely important for dealing with heavily armored players. Whenever armor is hit it loses durability, which lowers its ability to protect you from bullets, eventually breaking and losing all protective ability. While the angle of impact has no effect on body armor, bullets can ricochet off of helmets depending on the angle and the helmet used.

Armor stacking

You can stack up two pieces of armor if you're wearing an armored chest rig. In which case the bullet tries to penetrate the rig first, then the armor if it penetrates. However, the bullet does not lose much of its penetrating ability going through a chest rig, so chest rigs are a good and more cost effective way to protect yourself against scavs and lightly geared players who use low penetration rounds such as 12x70 Buckshot or 9x18mm Makarov, which doesn't damage your expensive pieces of armor, but aren't good against high penetration ammo.

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 intially and very slowly gains chance
3	Slightly effective	5 to 9	Has a low penetration chance intially 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 intially, often quickly going to >90%
6	Basically ignores	<1	Initially penetrates >80% of the time

*There is a bug where bullets under a certain threshold of penetration power can not fragment at all, and the actual fragmentation chance is lower than bullets' value implies due to implementation. This threshold is somewhere between 23 and 32 penetration power, and bullets that do not have the required penetration power can not fragment, leaving a lot of HP rounds with high fragmentation chance unable to fragment at all.

**Assuming all 8 pellets hitting the target on every shot. Because each pellet causes a minimum of 1 durability loss to armor, it becomes effective at breaking down armor and eventually penetrating.

						Armor Effectiveness against Class
Caliber	Name	Damage	Penetration Power	Armor Damage	Fragmentation Chance*	1	2	3	4	5	6
12x70mm	12x70 Buckshot**	8x32	3	8x26	0%	4	3	3	3	3	3
	12x70 RIP	235	0	11	100%	0	0	0	0	0	0
	12x70 Slug	165	21	65	100%	6	6	4	3	1	0
20x70mm	20x70 Buckshot**	8x20	3	8x23	0%	4	3	3	3	3	3
9x18mm Makarov	9x18 mm PM SP8 gzh	67	3	40	2%	1	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PPe gzh	58	5	23	35%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PRS gs	56	5	23	30%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PSO gzh	54	5	23	35%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PSV	62	5	29	2%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM 9 P gzh	53	5	24	25%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PS gs PPO	53	6	24	25%	4	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PPT gzh	53	6	24	17%	4	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM SP7 gzh	70	6	38	2%	4	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 PM mm RG028 gzh	51	7	26	0%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM Pst gzh	49	7	26	20%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM 9 BZT gzh	44	8	26	17%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PBM	39	8	26	16%	5	0	0	0	0	0
	9x18 mm PM PMM	59	8	26	17%	5	0	0	0	0	0
9x19mm Parabellum	9x19 mm RIP	102	2	11	100%	1	0	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Luger CCI	70	10	38	25%	5	1	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm PSO gzh	63	13	32	25%	6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Green Tracer	58	16	33	15%	6	3	1	0	0	0
	9x19 mm Pst gzh	56	18	33	15%	6	5	1	0	0	0
	9x19 mm AP 6.3	52	25	48	5%	6	6	4	2	0	0
7.62x25mm Tokarev	7.62x25mm TT LRNPC	66	5	27	35%	2	0	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT LRN	64	6	28	35%	3	0	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT FMJ43	60	8	29	25%	4	0	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT AKBS	58	9	32	25%	5	1	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT P gl	58	10	32	25%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT PT gzh	60	12	34	17%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	7.62x25mm TT Pst gzh	50	19	36	20%	6	5	1	0	0	0
9x21mm Gyurza	9x21 mm SP12	72	10	63	35%	5	2	0	0	0	0
	9x21 mm SP11	66	12	44	30%	6	2	0	0	0	0
	9x21 mm SP10	45	28	46	20%	6	6	5	3	1	0
	9x21 mm SP13	58	30	47	20%	6	6	6	3	1	0
.366 TKM	.366 TKM Geksa	77	14	38	45%	6	4	1	0	0	0
	.366 TKM FMJ	71	20	36	25%	6	6	2	0	0	0
	.366 TKM EKO	65	26	38	20%	6	6	4	2	0	0
9x39mm	9x39 mm SP-5	68	30	52	20%	6	6	6	4	2	1
	9x39 mm SP-6	58	38	60	10%	6	6	6	5	4	2
	9x39 mm 7N9 SPP	67	38	56	20%	6	6	6	5	4	2
	9x39 mm 7N12 BP	60	44	68	10%	6	6	6	6	5	4
5.45x39mm	5.45x39 mm SP	68	11	34	45%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm HP	73	11	32	35%	6	1	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm US	65	15	34	10%	6	4	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm PRS	60	14	34	30%	6	3	0	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm FMJ	54	18	44	25%	6	5	1	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm T	57	20	38	16%	6	6	1	0	0	0
	5.45x39 mm PS	50	23	47	40%	6	6	3	2	1	0
	5.45x39 mm PP	46	27	50	17%	6	6	5	3	1	0
	5.45x39 mm BP	42	32	38	16%	6	6	6	4	2	0
	5.45x39 mm BT	44	33	52	16%	6	6	6	5	3	1
	5.45x39 mm BS	40	50	57	17%	6	6	6	6	6	5
	5.45x39 mm 7N39 "Igolnik"	37	62	60	2%	6	6	6	6	6	6
5.56x45mm NATO	5.56x45 mm Warmage	83	3	26	90%	2	0	0	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm 55 HP	72	9	38	70%	5	1	0	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm Mk 255 Mod 0	60	17	32	3%	6	4	1	0	0	0
	5.56x45 mm 55 FMJ	52	24	45	50%	6	6	3	2	1	0
	5.56x45 mm M855	50	26	40	40%	6	6	4	2	1	0
	5.56x45 mm M856	55	23	38	33%	6	6	3	2	1	0
	5.56x45 mm M855A1	57	31	42	34%	6	6	6	4	2	1
	5.56x45 mm M856A1	56	34	45	33%	6	6	6	5	3	1
	5.56x45 mm M995	42	53	57	32%	6	6	6	6	6	5
7.62x39mm	7.62x39 mm HP	76	15	45	26%	6	4	1	1	0	0
	7.62x39 mm US	68	19	41	8%	6	5	1	1	0	0
	7.62x39 mm T45M	58	26	48	12%	6	6	5	2	1	0
	7.62x39 mm PS	57	33	50	25%	6	6	6	5	3	2
	7.62x39 mm BP	50	45	65	12%	6	6	6	6	5	4
7.62x51mm NATO	7.62x51 mm M80	80	45	66	17%	6	6	6	6	5	4
	7.62x51 mm M62	79	54	75	14%	6	6	6	6	6	5
	7.62x51 mm M61	70	68	83	13%	6	6	6	6	6	6
7.62x54mmR	7.62x54R LPS Gzh	81	42	78	18%	6	6	6	6	4	4
	7.62x54R 7N1 Sniper cartridge	86	45	84	8%	6	6	6	6	5	4
	7.62x54R SNB	75	62	87	8%	6	6	6	6	6	6
4.6x30mm HK	4.6x30mm Action SX	65	13	39	50%	6	2	1	0	0	0
	4.6x30mm FMJ SX	43	30	41	20%	6	6	6	3	1	1
	4.6x30mm Subsonic SX	41	34	46	20%	6	6	6	4	3	1
	4.6x30mm AP SX	35	46	46	10%	6	6	6	6	5	4