Learn how you can play with your friends in Escape From Tarkov

Playing with friends in Escape From Tarkov is something that can really help make your experience more enjoyable, especially if you're just starting out. While you could argue that Escape From Tarkov is best-enjoyed solo, the benefits of playing with a squad are frankly undeniable. Read our rundown below to learn how.

How to play with friends

In order to play with friends in Escape From Tarkov, you need to all be at the 'Looking For Group' stage of the pre-raid preparation screens. You'll know when you're at this screen as you will see your PMC on the left, and then a box on the right with a list of players who are looking for a group.

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In order to invite any of your friends to play with you, all you need to do is either type their name in the 'Find username' box, or click on their name in the 'Looking For Group' box if you have them added as a friend already.

You do need to make sure that you all have the same map and time selected, as you won't be able to group up otherwise. Once you've found your friend, all you need to do is right click on their name and invite them to your group.

There are currently no restrictions on who you can group up with either, so it doesn't matter if you're level 46 and your friend is level one, or if you're a USEC and your friend is a BEAR. You do need to be careful about dropping items for your friends though, as there are certain items that are destroyed if they are dropped in a raid. 

You can also group up with randoms, either by searching for a name in the box, or joining one of the players who are displayed as looking for a group. You will need to be careful though, as Escape From Tarkov has friendly fire on, and some people might be evil enough to kill you on spawn and steal your loot.

You won't need to worry about communication though, as Escape From Tarkov has VOIP as an option, and there are also contextual in-game voice commands that can help in a pinch too.

How to send a friend request in Escape From Tarkov

Figuring out how to send a friend request in Escape From Tarkov can be quite tricky, in part at least due to the fact that the game runs through its own launcher. Because of this, you will need to do any friend-adding or Tarkov-adjacent social activities in-game, but it is thankfully easy once you know where to look.

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Follow these easy steps in order to add a friend in Escape From Tarkov:

• Open up Escape From Tarkov and click on the 'Messenger' button in the bottom right of the screen
• When the Messenger box pops up, hit the 'Friends' button in the top right
• A 'Friends List' box will pop up, with a text box at the top
• Enter the name of anyone you wish to add in this text box and find the correct person, as identified by the number next to their name, which corresponds to their level
• Right-click on the name you wish to add, and select 'Send Friend Request'

Whoever you're sending a friend request to can accept or deny the request from the 'Friends List' screen, in the 'Pending Requests' section.

You need to be friends with someone in order to message them, so you might occasionally receive a friend request from someone whom you have killed in a raid, wanting to know more information about their demise.

Can you play Offline with Friends?

Thanks to the recent Escape From Tarkov patch 12.12.30, you can now play offline with your friends. The one biggest catch is that you must all have the Escape From Tarkov Edge of Darkness edition of the game, as Battlestate Games have stated that this is a necessity as to not overwhelm the servers.

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All you need to do is get to the 'Practice Game Mode' screen in the pre-raid preparation, select 'Enable practice mode for this raid', and then make sure to tick the 'Co-op mode' box below. Then, you can choose all of the normal offline mode settings, and also the option to 'Start as group', which will mean that everyone spawns in the same place.

Then, once you hit next it will take you to the same 'Looking For Group' screen as a normal raid would, where you can invite whoever you want. The limit on the number of players you're allowed in an offline raid directly correlates with the max number of PMCs on any given map, which is usually around ten.