Every Extraction Type in Tarkov: Paid, Flare, Co-op, Code-Word, and More

Choose an exit you can actually use

A full backpack is only useful if you bring it home. In Escape from Tarkov, reaching an extraction marker is the start of the final check: the exit must accept your character, be available in that raid, and have every required condition satisfied.

The most reliable extraction plan has two destinations. Your preferred exit fits the route you want to run; your fallback still works if the car has left, a flare fails, or the underground approach is occupied. Choose both near the start of the raid. Discovering that your only planned exit requires equipment you do not have is much harder to fix with a broken leg and three minutes remaining.

This guide explains extraction mechanisms and the decisions they create. Use the comparison table to identify an exit type, then read its activation procedure before building a route around it. The map examples help distinguish similar names, but your own extraction list and the exact interaction prompt determine whether you can leave.

Reviewed on September 17, 2026 for Patch 1.1.5.0. Requirements below draw on the linked map and item references; they are not a claim of fresh in-game testing. Prices, event rules, and mode differences need particular care. Where references disagree, the guide explains what to verify instead of presenting an old value as a guaranteed fare.

Read the extraction list before reading the map

With the default controls, double-tap O to display the extraction list. Check your keybindings if that does nothing. A map shows possible exits across multiple situations; the raid list tells you which destinations apply to your current character. PMC and Scav access differ, and spawn position can affect the exits you receive. A teammate's list is useful information, but you should still read your own.

Question marks indicate an exit whose availability needs checking. They do not supply a countdown and do not guarantee that an exit will open later. Map references may describe an extraction as always available while separately listing a key, equipment restriction, or switch. Read both parts: reliable availability does not remove the activation requirement.

Treat lights, smoke, doors, vehicles, and interface messages as evidence about that particular mechanism. A colored name alone is insufficient to diagnose every extract. Once you reach the correct zone, look for your personal extraction countdown and any unmet requirement. If neither appears, stop and confirm the exact location before moving farther toward a boundary.

Similar names are a common trap. On Customs, the PMC Old Gas Station exit is in the basement, while Old Gas Station Gate is a separate Scav exit. On Reserve, Bunker Hermetic Door and Depot Hermetic Door have different conditions. Read the full name aloud when navigating with a squad; abbreviations are convenient only after everyone knows which door they mean.

Extraction types at a glance

These categories describe the condition that can stop you leaving. They can overlap: a helicopter may need both a flare and payment, while a bunker may need power and a key. When checking an unfamiliar exit, work through the whole requirement rather than stopping after the first item you recognize.

The right choice depends on what you are carrying and where you already are. A nearby conditional exit with every requirement satisfied can be a better option than a distant ordinary one. Conversely, a shortcut loses its value if activating it sends you back through a contested building.

Ordinary exits and exits that only sometimes open

Ordinary exits are the foundation of a beginner's route. Examples include Nakatani Basement Stairs on Ground Zero and Railway Exfil on Interchange. When eligible, you do not need to arrange a special payment or activation chain. You still need to find the actual trigger area and survive until the countdown completes.

Learn the final approach as carefully as the larger landmark. Knowing which building contains an exit does not tell you which staircase reaches it. In practice raids, approach from more than one direction and note the last piece of cover before the extraction zone. That gives you a recognizable destination when visibility is poor or a fight forces a detour.

Other exits are conditional even though they require no item from you. Woods' ZB-016 and Customs' Old Gas Station use existing green signals to show that they are open. Those signals are environmental indicators. Firing your own green flare beside a closed bunker does not substitute for its availability condition. Player-fired flare extracts have a designated signal area and a separate procedure.

Check uncertain exits while there is still time to leave. If an optional stop lies directly along your route, inspecting it can save a long walk. If it needs a major detour, decide beforehand how much time you will spend on that gamble. A fallback is only useful while you can still reach it.

Mode matters too. The current Customs references mark RUAF Roadblock as PvE-only. An older video can show a recognizable location with access rules that no longer match your raid. Match the mode and current extraction list before copying a route.

Vehicle extracts: payment, seats, and departure

Vehicle extractions, usually labeled V-Ex, let eligible PMCs pay to leave at a waiting vehicle. They are single departures: once the car goes, it is no longer a fallback for that raid. Some vehicles may be absent from the start. Check the vehicle itself before routing the entire squad toward it.

Each passenger must carry and pay their own fare. Money in your stash cannot cover an in-raid interaction, and one player's payment does not purchase the whole vehicle. Scav karma affects the quoted cost. Avoid budgeting around a universal 5,000-rouble figure: current references disagree, and Tarkov.help lists 20,000 roubles for several vehicle exits. Carry a buffer and read your own payment prompt.

After paying, verify that your interaction succeeded and track the displayed departure countdown. Use nearby cover while waiting, but be inside the valid extraction area when departure completes. Do not spend the last seconds looting a body or sorting bags. The departure timer is a deadline for every passenger, not an invitation to begin walking back to the car.

Count seats before payment. A five-person squad cannot all leave through a four-seat vehicle, and available capacity may already be reduced by other players. Decide whether to use another exit or split deliberately while both groups still have a workable route. Never leave that decision to the final countdown.

Stay on the playable side of the vehicle. Several car exits sit near border-sniper zones; walking beyond the car is not a way to get closer to extraction. For reputation planning beyond the immediate escape, see /guides/scav-karma-guide.

Green flare extracts: signal first, cross second

Flare extracts include Klimov Street on Streets, Mira Ave on Ground Zero, Railroad Passage on Customs, Power Line Passage on Woods, and Path to River on Interchange. They require a green signal fired into the sky from the designated signal area. Carrying a flare, firing another color, or launching a green flare somewhere nearby does not satisfy the requirement.

The supported options in the map references are the handheld RSP-30 green flare and a 26x75mm green cartridge fired from a compatible signal pistol. The handheld flare does not need a pistol. A loose pistol cartridge does. Check both the color and the item type before deploying, then keep the equipment accessible for the final approach.

The signal area and extraction area are separate. Enter the signal area, wait for its notification, and fire upward into unobstructed sky. The flare must reach sufficient height. Shooting horizontally or into an overhead obstruction can waste it. Wait for the successful activation message before entering the exposed exit corridor; a visible green projectile alone is weaker evidence than the game's confirmation.

The documented flare routes allow one successful signal to cover a group formed in the lobby. That does not mean every unrelated player can safely follow someone else's flare. Keep your group together, confirm activation, and stay inside the intended route. Customs' Railroad Passage specifically requires staying on the tracks to avoid sniper fire.

Ground Zero's Mira Ave has a documented flare spawn on the Scav corpse against the yellow bus. It is a useful recovery option, but another player may already have looted it. If the flare is missing or activation fails, use the backup you chose earlier instead of testing the sniper boundary with valuable quest items.

Co-op exits require a PMC and a Scav

A cooperative extraction requires both a PMC and a Scav in the zone at the same time. Two PMCs from opposing factions do not qualify; USEC and BEAR are both PMCs. Likewise, two Scavs do not meet the requirement. An exit usable separately by both character types is a shared exit, which is different from one explicitly marked Co-Op.

In PvP, arranging cooperation with a player Scav is usually the practical route. Use VOIP from cover and propose the specific exit. Keep the exchange simple: identify your character type, name the destination, and agree on movement. Avoid surprising the other player by sprinting directly into their position or aiming at their face while asking for trust.

Cooperation remains a social risk. Do not drop your weapon or valuable equipment just because someone asks, and do not abandon a viable conventional route to spend the remainder of a raid searching for a stranger. If a suitable partner appears while you are already nearby, the co-op exit can be convenient. It is a weak default plan when you have no partner.

On arrival, both sides should check that the countdown starts and remain in the zone until extraction. Playing a co-op PvE session with a friend does not itself satisfy the PMC-plus-Scav condition. AI behavior also makes these exits unsuitable as a beginner's guaranteed PvE escape route.

Keyed doors: opening the route is only one condition

A keyed extraction places a locked door between you and the exit zone. Factory's Cellars and Med Tent Gate use the Factory emergency exit key. The key opens access; extraction happens after you enter the correct area beyond the door. When preparing a kit, check that a limited-use key still has a use remaining.

Keys differ from personal fares or climbing equipment because an unlocked door can provide a route for other eligible players. Your squad does not necessarily need one copy per person to pass through the same door. Assign a key carrier, confirm they are still alive and with the group, and avoid separating from them when the route depends on their key.

Customs' ZB-013 adds another condition. It needs the power lever in warehouse four at the crane yard activated, then the Factory emergency exit key for the door in the Scav base basement. Arriving with only the key can still leave you unable to extract. Plan the power stop before the basement approach, and do not confuse ZB-013 with ZB-1011 or the intel-gated Smugglers' Bunker at ZB-1012.

An already-open door saves an interaction, but says nothing about who is waiting beyond it. Pause to inspect the entrance and the room instead of treating an unlocked extract as cleared ground. If you must retreat, keep enough room behind the squad to move without trapping each other in the doorway.

Powered exits: Reserve D-2 and Interchange Saferoom

Reserve's D-2 requires power from the lever in the command area of the underground bunker system, followed by the wall button beside the extraction's sliding door. These are separate interactions at separate points. Learn the route between them before relying on D-2 with little time left. The power activation can also bring Raiders into the bunker area.

The tactical cost of D-2 is the approach. Underground turns, doors, and narrow passages limit what you can see and where you can retreat. Move through them deliberately, keep squad spacing, and listen before opening another sightline. If the route is being held, the presence of working power is no reason to keep feeding equipment into the same angle. Compare the remaining time with your alternative exit.

Interchange's Saferoom Exfil is a longer sequence: switch on power at the power station, flush the urinal in Burger Spot to reveal the reader, swipe the Object #11SR keycard, then reach the saferoom in parking section C and close its door from inside. The card opens the route remotely; it does not extract you from the restaurant.

The saferoom is single-use and other PMCs can use it after you open it. Once the card has been swiped, unnecessary shopping gives somebody else time to take the room. Before pressing the interior close button, physically count every teammate inside. This extract accepts PMCs; Scavs should not enter expecting the same result, because closing the door can trap them.

For any multi-step exit, identify the activation point, the travel route, and the final interaction as three separate landmarks. Practice all three. Memorizing only the extract icon leaves the most time-consuming part of the mechanism unresolved.

Climbing exits and equipment restrictions

Reserve's Cliff Descent, Lighthouse's Mountain Pass, and Shoreline's Climber's Trail require a Red Rebel ice pick, Paracord, and no armor vest equipped. Prepare the equipment before loading in and check it again after changing your kit. Every player using the route must meet the requirement; your teammate's climbing equipment does not cover your character.

The vest restriction concerns the body-armor slot. An armored tactical rig occupies a different slot and can be used for these climbing exits. If you wear a separate armor vest, you can move it into your backpack when there is enough space. You do not have to abandon it on the ground. Keep protection on during the approach, make the inventory change from cover near the exit, and then verify the countdown.

Paracord is not consumed by the extraction. Treat it as reusable route equipment when deciding what to carry. The useful question is whether access to that exit improves the maps you actually play. Buying a Red Rebel does not help if you still cannot navigate to the climbing zone or keep arriving there without the cord.

No-backpack exits apply a different restriction. Reserve's Sewer Manhole and The Lab's Ventilation Shaft require an empty backpack slot. Moving a few items out of the bag does not satisfy that condition while you still wear it. Before discarding the bag, transfer the items you most need into space you will keep, then inspect the backpack's remaining contents.

These exits can turn a failed loot run into a successful quest run. If the choice is between abandoning replaceable loot and losing a difficult objective, prioritize the objective. Make that trade from cover. Sorting every attachment by sale value while standing beside a visible manhole gives the decision a much higher cost.

Secret exits use specific extraction intel

Secret exits use named documents or notes rather than a universal pass. Finding the right item can open an alternative route during the raid. Read the complete item name: a code word for another location, a general map item, or a similarly named key is not interchangeable with the listed extraction intel.

The item references explicitly mark code-word notes and minefield maps as items that cannot be taken out of a raid. Do not plan to collect one, store it, and pack it for an ordinary future deployment like a Factory key. Begin with a route that works without secret intel, then reconsider your destination if you find a matching item during the run.

At the exit, follow its interaction prompt and retain the required intel until the game accepts it. In a squad, check each player's eligibility rather than assuming one person's note opens every teammate's extraction. If one person cannot meet the condition, decide on a shared alternative while there is still time to reach it.

Minefield maps are access items for particular exits, not protection against the map's other mines. Follow the designated approach. On Reserve, Exit to Woods is an extraction requiring its minefield map; Transit to Woods is a different destination that continues into another raid. The shared place name does not make their outcomes equivalent.

Trains and timed activation windows

Train extraction is tied to departure. Reaching the station or boarding an early train does not immediately end your raid. You need to be inside the valid train area when it leaves. Read the event as it happens and keep enough time to board without a last-second sprint through an exposed entrance.

The community map references list Reserve's armored train arriving with 16 to 12 minutes remaining and Lighthouse's with 20 to 15 minutes remaining. Both are listed as stopping for seven minutes. These figures refer to the raid countdown, not time since you personally arrived at the station. Audio cues include two horns on arrival, one about a minute before departure, and two as the doors close.

Use those timings to plan an approach, not to justify leaving the game unattended. A firefight can delay boarding, and another player can already be inside the carriage. Inspect your entry route and choose a position that leaves you room to react. If you are outside when departure is imminent, assess whether another extraction remains reachable instead of assuming the train will wait.

Reserve's Bunker Hermetic Door uses a manually opened window. Its lever is in the shack west of white pawn; activation provides four minutes and sounds a siren. Arrange your route before pulling it. If you arrive after the window ends, you need a fresh activation or another exit. The alarm also advertises activity around that route, so spending half the window looting defeats the purpose of opening it.

For a squad, start timed interactions when the slowest member is ready. Finish essential healing and bag management first, identify the person operating the mechanism, and agree on where everyone will regroup. A timer begun while half the squad is still searching containers creates avoidable separation.

The Lab: pair each extract with its activation point

The Lab concentrates several extraction mechanisms in a compact, vertically connected space. Elevators need their corresponding power restored, while Hangar Gate and Parking Gate have their own control points and availability conditions. Learn a complete activation-and-exit pair rather than memorizing a collection of elevator doors.

For example, Cargo Elevator power is in basement room G1, Medical Block Elevator power is in G6, and Main Elevator power is opposite R4. Switching on one does not mean every elevator has been prepared. Keep the room labels on your map visible until you can connect the power room and final elevator without retracing your path.

Sewage Conduit offers another sequence: operate the drainage switch in basement room B1, allow roughly 80 seconds for the water to fall, then use the extraction side of the room. That delay belongs in your escape budget. Ventilation Shaft instead offers the no-backpack option, which may be worth taking when staying to protect a bag would jeopardize the entire run.

Extraction switches can trigger Raider spawns, and many activations are announced over the facility speakers. Prepare for movement after operating a control. Pick nearby cover and a route to the exit before the activation, then listen for changes rather than staring at the switch. See /guides/the-lab-guide for the larger route and entry preparation.

Special departures on Icebreaker and in the Labyrinth

Icebreaker's helicopter combines a signal with a paid departure. You need a valid green flare launch from the signal area and euros for each passenger. Calling the aircraft does not waive the fare. Check every player's money before committing to the trip, and preserve enough time to reach the landing area, signal, and board.

Do not rely on the old 2,400-euro figure. Reporting on an August 6, 2026 change documented an increase to 4,000 euros; verify the current requirement before entry and use the actual payment prompt as the final check. Patch 1.1.5.0 also changed entry preparation to a single-use Sudak-tudak marine repair kit. Entry and extraction are separate requirements, so satisfying one does not prepare the other.

The Labyrinth has two distinct departures. Ariadne's Path requires the Ariadne symbol key, while The Way Up becomes available after 15 minutes of raid time have elapsed. A player who reaches The Way Up early has found the right location before its opening time. Plan where to wait and how to return instead of remaining exposed in the doorway.

On destinations with limited alternatives, the exit condition belongs in the pre-raid checklist. Standard maps often give you another direction to try; a specialized destination can punish missing preparation much more severely. Review /guides/endgame-maps-unlock before choosing the entry route and keep the departure requirements alongside the entry items.

Transit continues the journey instead of banking your kit

A transit transfers your character into another location. It does not return you to the stash like an ordinary extraction. That makes it useful for a planned chain of objectives, but potentially costly when your real goal is to secure the loot already in your backpack.

Read the interaction before accepting it, especially where transit and extraction areas are close together. Ground Zero's Streets transit is near Mira Ave, and several Customs transits sit beside familiar extraction landmarks. Seeing a recognized building or road does not tell you which action you are about to take.

Before choosing transit as an escape option, identify a usable exit on the destination map and consider the additional fighting and travel you are accepting. A route that escapes immediate pressure can still leave you carrying valuable items through a much longer session. Treat that as a deliberate change of plan.

For tasking, distinguish an instruction to use a transit from one to survive a location or use a named extraction. Check the actual objective rather than expecting every departure to satisfy the same wording. The route network and its access requirements are covered in /guides/transit-system-guide.

Extraction, Survived status, and Run Through

Successfully leaving and receiving Survived status are related but different checks. You can extract quickly and receive Run Through. The documented general threshold is at least 200 experience from combat and looting, or at least seven minutes in the raid. Do not count the post-raid survival multiplier or unrelated experience categories as proof that you met the combat-and-looting threshold.

This matters for objectives that explicitly require survival and for the found-in-raid status of items you collected. If you are taking an early exit with something that needs that status, verify the requirement before leaving. When unsure about your qualifying experience, allowing the time threshold to pass from a defensible position is easier to judge than estimating every experience award.

That does not make waiting the right choice in every situation. If you are badly wounded, out of medical supplies, or under pressure, extracting with Run Through can still preserve equipment that would otherwise be lost. Make the decision based on the objective you are protecting, not on a rule that every raid must end with the same label.

Keep the raid countdown separate from the extraction countdown. Arriving near an exit before the raid timer expires is insufficient if activation and extraction still need time. Leave room for the final wait, an incorrect turn, and a brief interruption. The displayed result after leaving is the confirmation of how the raid ended.

Build a fallback that fails for a different reason

Choose your fallback by asking what could invalidate the preferred route. If the first exit needs a car to remain, a second vehicle-based assumption is fragile. If your preferred route depends on a green flare you have not yet found, another flare exit does not solve the missing-item problem. A useful backup changes the condition as well as the destination.

For a Ground Zero quest run, you might plan an ordinary assigned exit while keeping Mira Ave as an option if you have the correct flare and know the signal zone. If you discover the nearby flare corpse has been looted, the quest run can continue toward the original destination. Nothing about the plan requires a stranger to have left a critical item behind.

On Reserve, a PMC without climbing equipment should decide how they will operate D-2 or Bunker Hermetic Door before filling a large backpack. Sewer Manhole can preserve the run if they accept the backpack restriction. That is an explicit trade: a route for keeping the bag and an emergency route for keeping the character's more important items and progress.

For an Interchange squad planning Saferoom, agree which ordinary exits each player can use if the room has already been taken. Check that agreement before the card swipe. Sending five players toward a four-seat car only replaces one failed plan with another.

Set a leave-by time using your current condition. Add the travel time you expect while loaded, the activation or departure delay, and a buffer for healing or a detour. Recalculate after a major fight or a heavy pickup. A route timed while healthy and lightly equipped is a poor estimate for the same journey with damaged legs and an overloaded bag.

During the final approach, stop taking optional fights and leave enough stamina for the last exposed crossing. Check likely observation points, move between cover, and stay alert through the countdown. Start inventory transfers before entering the exit zone whenever possible; the final seconds are better spent watching the approach than comparing loot.

Troubleshoot an extract that will not start

When no timer appears, diagnose the missing condition from cover. Repeatedly running deeper into a border area is especially dangerous at flare and vehicle exits. Start with character eligibility and the exact zone, then inspect the mechanism. If fixing it would consume the time needed for your backup, leave immediately.

Use the order below to separate a navigation problem from an activation problem. A teammate extracting successfully confirms their conditions were met; it does not prove that you paid, removed your backpack, or brought your own required equipment.

Practice the exit before depending on it

Pick one map and learn a small set of complete routes before trying to memorize every exit in Tarkov. Use practice mode where available to walk from an interior landmark to an ordinary extraction, then repeat with a mechanism you expect to use. A useful rehearsal includes the activation point and the exact countdown zone, not just a screenshot of the destination.

In the next live raid, make extraction the objective. Carry a modest kit, complete a short route, and leave once you have checked the conditions you came to learn. Record the point where navigation became uncertain. Fixing that one turn is more valuable than adding another unpracticed destination to your list.

Before each deployment, run through the checklist below. Once it becomes routine, extraction stops being an improvised search at the end of the raid and becomes part of the route you chose at the beginning.