Pestily reveals which Escape from Tarkov ammo stats “actually matter”

Escape from Tarkov streamer and theory guru Pestily has helping new players get their heads around Battlestate’s hardcore shooter since its shock explosion in popularity, and has now revealed which ammo stats are the best.

It’s no secret ⁠— Escape from Tarkov is one of the most complicated titles on the market. It outshines mainstream shooters like Call of Duty, and battle royale games like Fortnite and Apex Legends when it comes to loot, gear, and stats.

As a veteran of the complicated FPS, Pestily has extensive knowledge of strategies, load-outs, and which stats really matter on weapons and ammo. Now, he’s revealed “the only ammo stats that really matter” when grading your hard-earned loot.

According to the Tarkov guru, who shared his thoughts in his January 29 video titled “Ammo ⁠— Which to use in Patch v12.2?” there are only two stats that will actually affect your gameplay, and how you score kills: damage and penetration.

There are “pretty much two methods” when it comes to ammo in Escape from Tarkov, Pestily explained, and that’s selecting whether you want to take damage⁠—meaning you’ll have to aim for the legs⁠—or ‘pen’ for head and body shots.

• Read more: How to download and play Escape from Tarkov

“If you’re going for highest pen, aim for head or chest, and if you’re going for damage, aim for the legs. There’s no other way you should really be doing it,” he said, then added aiming for arms is “probably okay” if you see ‘flesh.’

He also added that, on top of the all-important damage and penetration power, the speed a bullet flies at can also have “a bit of a bearing” on firefights, but only when you’ve equipped sub-sonic rounds with the ASO and VSS guns.

“Pretty much every other stat is null and void for ammo stats,” he continued. “You don’t need to pay too much attention to the rest, except maybe ricochet chance eventually, but at the moment that’s a really busted and bugged value, so don’t pay attention to it yet.”

Pestily concluded his lesson with one last tidbit of information relating to tracer rounds, and the stat that comes in relation to them ⁠— unless you want to reenact famous battles from the Star Wars universe far, far away, keep them low.

• Read more: Shroud reveals trick to improving Escape from Tarkov skills

“If you are afraid of giving away your position, make sure you keep an eye on that,” he said, and suggested they may only have personal value. “They do look cool at night but, if you want to have a bit of a Star Wars battle.”

For mobile readers, the related segment begins at 1:35 in the video below.

If there’s going to be one player to listen to when it comes to what does and doesn’t matter in Battlestate’s hardcore shooter, it’s certainly Pestily. The Australian star has been plugging away at Tarkov since he left the army in early 2018.

• Read more: Tfue wipes out his Tarkov squad with hilarious grenade fail

Since December 29, he’s averaged well over 50,000 viewers, and was right at the epicenter of Escape from Tarkov’s explosive popularity at the beginning of the year. 

Though the game’s growth has slowed down with streaming stars like Dr Disrespect and shroud adding other titles back to their arsenals, Pestily has stuck with the game he made his name on, and shows no signs of slowing.

In fact, the Aussie gamer has even promised “15 episodes [of his EFT series] booked up to be released,” so loyal Tarkov fans will certainly have plenty of fresh Pestily content to enjoy over the next few months.