Escape from Tarkov Hideout Guide

Escape from Tarkov’s Hideout turns gameplay downtime into progress. While you are not in a raid, it restores, crafts, and earns, so your next kit is cheaper and your tempo stays high. You get access to items that are scarce on the Flea, shorter Scav cooldowns, and a steady trickle of income if you plan it well. The core economy is simple: the Generator burns fuel at a flat rate when it is on, Solar Power halves that burn, and Hideout Management makes fuel and filters last longer. Here you'll know about upgrade priorities by wipe stage, fast ways to farm parts and the break-even points for your Hideout.

Hideout Basics: What the Hideout Is and Why It Matters

The Hideout in Tarkov centralizes storage, recovery, and crafting: Stash increases space; Rest Space adds passive health/energy regen; Medstation and Nutrition enable med/food crafts; Workbench enables ammo/weapon-part crafts; Water Collector and Generator keep production online; Intelligence Center reduces Scav cooldown and adds small insurance/time/fee bonuses; Bitcoin Farm provides long-term income. Upgrades unlock new crafts, lower per-raid costs, and speed quests/tasks by cutting downtime and supplying needed items on demand.

Best Early Upgrades: The First 10 Improvements You Should Prioritize

• Generator: Power gate. Batch, collect, then OFF; start long crafts first to trim runtime and level Hideout Management. Even brief menu idles add up over a week.
• Workbench: Early ammo/parts; turn cheap powders into usable/sellable rounds. Track flea spreads to decide “use vs sell” per batch.
• Medstation: Craft meds/CMS/SURV; stock extras for quests. Salewa crafts also smooth early healing budgets.
• Water Collector / Heating: Hydration/comfort; keep a spare water filter. Comfort boosts compound with Rest Space for faster resets.
• Security / Ventilation: Common prereqs; take early. They remove pathing blockers before they become painful.
• Stash upgrades: Space for barter prereqs; keep an “Upgrades” bin. More room = fewer panic sales and cleaner routing.
• Intelligence Center: Scav cooldown + routing/tempo. More Scav raids = more “free kits” feeding your base.
• Lavatory / Nutrition Unit: Cheap, consistent crafts; daily rouble/skill loop. Great while Generator is OFF or limited.
• Bitcoin Farm (when accessible): Only with steady fuel; check break-even first. Small farms feel slow unless you already run power.
• Additional pick: Workbench 2 / Medstation 2 / next Stash for control/progress. Choose based on whether you fight more, heal more, or hoard more.

Tarkov Hideout Requirements: Items You Need and Where to Find Them

Generator

The Generator requires Wires, Powercords, T‑Shaped plug, Relays (phase control relays), Capacitors, Electric motor, Power supply unit (PSU), Spark plug, Car battery, and Light bulb.

To operate the module, use an Expeditionary fuel tank or a Metal fuel tank; Fuel conditioner is not fuel and should be saved for barters or quests.

Workbench

The Workbench requires Toolset, Screwdriver set, Pliers Elite, Hand drill, Electric drill, Bolts, Nuts, Screw pack (screws), Wires, Printed circuit board (PCB), Relays, and Capacitors.

It’s an early engine for ammo and weapon-part crafts – batch your crafts to reduce Generator uptime and keep one of each tool (with extra Wires/PCBs/Capacitors) as you push Workbench levels 2–3.

Medstation

Requires Medical tools (keep 3×), Defibrillator (Resort/Labs), Ophthalmoscope (Resort rooms; late Therapist).

Build Medstation 1 and craft Salewas for “Shortage” – faster than looting, minimal fuel with batching. Craft extras to stabilize early raids and reduce Therapist spending.

Water Collector

Requires Water filter (~8h12m, removable), Corrugated hose, Silicone tube, Electric motor, Pressure gauge, Wires, Duct tape (KEK) / Insulating tape.

L1–L2 = hoses/tape/motors; L3 adds filter slots + Superwater. Keep a spare filter to swap. Sync collection with session starts so filters don’t tick while AFK.

Nutrition Unit

Sustain and food/drink crafts; feeds Booze later. Requires Electric motor, Wires, Bolts, Nuts, Duct tape (KEK) / Insulating tape, Adjustable wrench / Construction measuring tape, Silicone tube.

Passive energy/hydration and staple crafts (water/kvass/Hot Rod later). Profit/QoL: early, flip Sugar → Condensed milk to Therapist (falls off later). Batch short crafts to minimize fuel. Pair with the Water Collector for tidy resource loops.

Lavatory

Lavatory is a low-cost utility station for bandages, cloth, and container crafts and it does not require power.

Requires Corrugated hose, Duct tape (KEK), Insulating tape, Screw pack (screws), Bolts, Nuts, Toolset, Screwdriver set, and Hand drill.

Run simple crafts for steady margin and Crafting XP. Consider empty-can case crafts only when inputs are cheap. It is perfect to queue while the Generator is off.

Heating

Heating is a passive comfort module that also unlocks the Booze path.

Requires Wires, Electric motor, Phase control relay, Analog thermometer, Radiator helix, and Light bulb.

As planning guidance, pre-stash three Helixes and two Thermometers if you’re aiming for Booze; build Heating early if you value faster out-of-raid regeneration.

Ventilation

Ventilation is a cheap prerequisite for many routes (Gym/Air Filtering).

Requires Electric motor, Wires, Duct tape (KEK), Bolts, Nuts, and Screw pack (screws).

Vents upgrades do not require the Generator, so you can progress them without burning fuel; when the flea price spikes, craft extra Wires at the Workbench and keep one spare motor plus a small stack of hardware to avoid bottlenecks.

Security

Security is a gating unit for the mid-tree.

Requires Wires, Powercords, Printed circuit board (PCB), Relays, Capacitors, Pressure gauge, Light bulb, and Broken LCD.

A good rouble saver early on is converting 2× Powercords into 8× Wires at Workbench 1 to bypass flea spikes. Leveling Security ahead of time helps prevent surprise blockers.

Stash

Stash is the biggest quality-of-life upgrade.

Requires Hand drill, Electric drill, Construction measuring tape, Bolts, Nuts, Screw pack (screws), Nails, and Duct tape (KEK).

Higher tiers may also require two Electric drills plus specific trader or room prerequisites. Get a Lucky Scav Junkbox for barter overflow and farm drills on Interchange instead of overpaying mid-wipe. More space lets you hoard for two upgrades ahead, not just the next one.

Intelligence Center

A strong tempo booster: Scav cooldown is reduced by about 15% at level 1 and about 35% at level 3, you get a small bonus to quest rewards, and Scav tasks unlock.

Requires Folder with intelligence, Secure Flash drive, HDD, Damaged hard drive, RAM, CPU, Working LCD, Wires, Powercords, Printed circuit board (PCB).

Start with office PCs, then sweep static folder and flash-drive spawns such as Big Red and Crackhouse on Customs or the Lighthouse chalets, and extract. The earlier you build this module, the more free Scav raids you bank each session.

Bitcoin Farm

Late-early/mid income. Requires Graphics cards, Power supply unit (PSU), CPU, CPU fans, Wires, Powercords.

Throughput: 1 GPU ≈ 40h17m/coin; 50 GPUs ≈ 13h20m. Stops at 3 coins (5 with Elite HM); collect regularly. Build when you can field ~10+ GPUs or have sunk fuel for other crafts. Check ROI vs GPU/fuel prices. If coin price dips, pause expansion and prioritize Solar instead.

Air Filtering Unit

Air Filtering Unit grants +40% Physical skills XP while active and runs on a Filter absorber (removable).

Requires Filter absorber, Electric motor, Wires, Bolts, Nuts, and Screw pack.

Typical prereqs include Vents 3 and Generator 3 plus advanced parts such as Military power filters, Gas mask filters, and Military corrugated tubes. Treat it like a timed buff: install a filter only for long sessions – ideal on days you plan movement-heavy raids to level Strength and Endurance.

Booze Generator

Booze Generator turns purified water and sugar into moonshine (about 3h03m per bottle).

Requires Water filter (to feed Water Collector 3), Corrugated hose, Silicone tube, Electric motor, Duct tape (KEK), and Pressure gauge.

Typical construction also involves Metal spare parts, Radiator helix, a Pipe grip wrench, and Analog thermometers, and it requires Water Collector 3 and Nutrition Unit 3. Use moonshine primarily for Scav Case or sell it depending on expected value; sync the timing with the Water Collector so purified water is never the bottleneck.

Solar Power

Solar Power halves fuel burn while the Generator is on and scales with Hideout Management (effective hours increase).

Requires Military power filter, Military cable, Power supply unit (PSU), Electric motor, Wires, Printed circuit board (PCB), Phase control relay.

Build Solar when your Generator runs long hours; otherwise payback is slower. Treat it as both ROI and quality-of-life – excellent if you craft a lot.

Illumination

Mostly a gate (e.g., Shooting Range 1; later Water Collector tiers). L2: 14× Light bulb + 10× Wires (Gen 1); L3: Capacitors + Energy‑saving lamps + Wires (Gen 2, WB1).

Requires Bulbs, Wires, Powercords, Relays, Capacitors.

Woods tech crates/caches for bulbs; many stop at L2 unless required.

Rest Space

Rest Space is a passive recovery module. Level 3 adds +10 Energy. Plan around Heating and Generator gates.

Requires UV lamp, Light bulb, Duct tape (KEK), Insulating tape, Nails, Screw pack (screws), Bolts, and Nuts.

A simple route is to combine Interchange OLI hardware aisles with nearby tech shelves to pick up UV lamps and light bulbs in one loop.

Shooting Range

Shooting Range lets you test builds, recoil, and sight setups between raids without loading a map. Higher levels add targets and quality-of-life tweaks.

Requires Construction measuring tape, Nails, Screw pack (screws), Bolts, Nuts, Toolset, Adjustable wrench, and Pliers Elite.

Scarce materials: Wires (craft from Powercords when prices spike), Bolts, Screw pack (screws), Nuts, Corrugated hose, Water filter and FP-100 Filter absorber, Powercords, Graphics cards, Fuel (Expeditionary/Metal fuel tanks).

Tarkov Hideout Items List

Always keep

The items you don’t sell until key upgrades are done:

• Light bulbs + Wires: hard gate for Illumination 2 (14 bulbs, 10 wires).
• Spark plugs / Powercords / Power supply units (PSUs): early Generator gates + tech crafts.
• Folder with intelligence / Secure Flash drives: Intelligence Center requirements.
• Water filters: operate Water Collector 3; removable to pause use.
• Graphics cards (GPUs): throughput for Bitcoin Farm.
• Military power filters / Military cables / Phased array elements / Working LCDs: late-game Solar Power bottlenecks.
• Corrugated hoses / Bolts / Nuts / Screw pack (screws) / KEK tape: common mid-tree blockers across modules.

Sell now

The profitable items that won’t stop your progression:

• Extras beyond your next 2 steps (e.g., surplus wires once Illumination/Security are covered).
• Duplicate tools after immediate modules are built (extra drills, wrenches, screwdrivers).
• CPU / CPU fans / PSUs only after your Bitcoin Farm plan is funded.
• Decor/valuables not used in your current upgrade path.
• Sugar when its spread vs crafted outputs is unfavorable.
• Powercords only if you’ve already crafted the Wires needed for near-term gates.

Tarkov Hideout checklist

EFT Hideout Upgrades: ROI and Profit Paths

Fuel economy (Generator)

Fuel consumption is constant whenever the Generator is ON (it doesn’t scale with active rooms).

Full-can uptime: Expeditionary ≈ 12h38m; Metal ≈ 21h03m. Solar Power roughly halves burn; Hideout Management reduces consumption by about 0.5% per level.

Crafts continue with power OFF (they run much slower), so start crafts with power ON, then switch OFF while you play or sort stash.

Cost per hour in plain terms: take the market price of your fuel can, divide by its total hours of uptime, then apply Solar’s 0.5 modifier if you own it and reduce further by your Hideout Management level. Use this number to decide whether a long craft is worth running right now.

Best flip crafts: From early to mid

• Workbench: Convert Powercords into Wires (WB1) and either sell them when prices spike or feed them directly into Illumination/Security gates. Converting cheap gunpowder into in-demand ammo also works when the spread is healthy.
• Medstation: Craft Salewas at L1 to finish “Shortage” quickly and sell extras when medical prices are high.
• Lavatory: Run cloth/bandage/utility crafts; the station doesn’t require power, so you gain profit and Crafting XP without burning fuel.
• Nutrition Unit: Turn Sugar into Condensed milk when the Therapist buy price beats raw Sugar value.

Intelligence Center + Scav = passive gains

Scav cooldown reduction is significant: roughly −15% at IC1 and about −35% total by IC3. That translates into more free raids per session.

Intelligence Center also shortens insurance return times and adds a small rouble bonus to task payouts.

Practical loop: keep Scav on cooldown while your crafts tick, then funnel Scav loot (barter junk, FiR meds, tech) into the next upgrades on your checklist.

Bitcoin Farm: How to check payback

Throughput scales with GPUs: about 40h17m per coin at 1 GPU down to roughly 13h20m per coin at 50 GPUs. Production stops if the output stack caps, so collect regularly.

Build when you can field a meaningful stack (around 10+ GPUs) or you already keep the Generator on for long sessions with Solar and decent Hideout Management.

Quick payback math in words:

1. Coins per day = 24 divided by your current time-per-coin (in hours).
2. Net per coin = coin sale price minus the fuel you burned during that time.
3. Daily net = coins per day multiplied by net per coin.
4. Payback days = (GPUs × GPU price + build cost) divided by daily net.

If the payback window looks long for your playtime, delay expansion and invest in crafts or Solar first.

Quick schemes (early / mid)

• Fuel-OFF batching: Start Workbench/Medstation/Nutrition crafts, collect, then run with power OFF while you raid; pick up multiple completions in one sweep.
• Wires arbitrage: Farm or buy Powercords when they’re cheap, convert to Wires, then sell or stockpile for gates.
• Quest accelerators: Craft Salewas instead of chasing RNG spawns; use Scav runs to top up Found‑in‑Raid meds and tech for upcoming modules.
• No-power profit: Keep the Lavatory busy whenever you’re not actively running powered crafts.

Stable cycles

• Solar + Hideout Management as the backbone: Lock in low operating cost for everything that needs power.
• BTC + Booze + IC together: Keep Bitcoin Farm producing, craft Moonshine for Scav Case, and maintain Intelligence Center for tempo and faster insurance returns.
• Uptime discipline: Insert Water/AFU filters only for planned sessions, collect BTC before the stack caps, and recheck craft margins weekly so you can rotate to whatever is paying best.

Hideout Management Tarkov – How to Level It to Max

Hideout Management increases every module’s bonuses by 1% per level (up to +50% at Elite) and reduces fuel, water‑filter, and air‑filter consumption by 0.5% per level (up to −25% at Elite), while adding extra slots for fuel, filters, and Bitcoin coins. It levels from finishing crafts, spending resources while modules are working (fuel and filters ticking), running Scav Case, and building/upgrading modules; some quests also grant progress.

Mini checklist to reach max: Hit HM 5 early to unlock the Library. Also keep three to four stations on short crafts and start/collect with power ON and turn it OFF between raids. Use the Lavatory for no‑power progress, install Water Collector and AFU filters only during long sessions and remove them afterward. Queue at least one upgrade per play session, run Scav Case daily, and review crafts weekly. Favor shorter timers to maximize completions and steady HM XP.

Customization and QOL: Make Your Hideout Work for You

Treat Hideout customization as time management. Keep three “clean” top rows in your stash reserved for Upgrades, Crafts, and Sell, and push everything else below. Label containers clearly (Keys, Meds, Ammo 5.45, etc.), open the target case before looting so quick‑moves funnel items into the right place, and use the Sorting Table for bulk cleanups. After each raid, follow the same order of operations: drop loot into the labeled case, sweep the remainder to the Sorting Table, then file it into Upgrades, Crafts, or Sell and leave the top rows empty for the next run. Prioritize slot‑efficient cases and limit yourself to two or three ready kits if space is tight. These small habits shrink menu time, prevent selling the parts you need tomorrow, and cut fuel waste by reducing how long you sit in menus with the Generator on.

Mid - and Late-Wipe Priorities

• Fuel and uptime. Treat fuel as an operating cost. Solar Power is a quality‑of‑life upgrade if your Generator runs many hours, but its ROI depends on can prices and your playtime.
• Storage strategy. Upgrade the Stash only if you’re genuinely hoarding upgrade parts; otherwise, buy storage cases to relieve pressure more efficiently.
• Market pivots. Recheck price spreads weekly. Swap between selling fasteners and hoses versus crafting‑for‑profit depending on what pays better that week.
• Intelligence Center tempo. With IC at level 2–3, run your Scav whenever it’s off cooldown to keep a steady flow of free inputs and barter junk.
• Bitcoin Farm. Build and expand only if you can support multiple graphics cards and maintain steady fuel; small farms feel slow without that baseline.
• Scav Case EV. Pick either 95k roubles or Moonshine and track your own returns over time; switch if the market shifts.
• Late unlocks done smartly. Use the Air Filtering Unit for Physical‑skills XP only on days you expect long, movement‑heavy sessions. Build the Booze Generator after Water Collector 3 is stable, and compare Moonshine expected value against simply selling Sugar and Purified water.
• Sell vs craft rules. Hold hoses, bolts, wires, and filters to sell during upgrade rushes. Convert cheap Powercords into Wires when the spread beats selling them raw. Pause case crafts if input prices spike.
• Stay flexible. Adjust your plan as markets move and your schedule changes; avoiding a fixed, outdated route preserves roubles and momentum.

Troubleshooting: Common Pitfalls and Fixes

Following this Tarkov Hideout guide, the fastest way to steady progress is to avoid four classic mistakes.

• Fuel discipline: Many players burn all their fuel on idle; in Hideout, only switch the Generator on to start or collect crafts, then turn it off – crafts keep running without power, and the Lavatory never needs it.
• Filters and water buffer: Don’t let production or raid resets stall because you forgot consumables; keep a small reserve of Water filters plus one or two Purified water (or basic drinks) ready for session starts.
• Craft profitability: If you get stuck on unprofitable crafts, recheck spreads and pause low‑margin recipes; when the gap is good, convert Powercords into Wires at Workbench 1 instead of selling parts raw.
• Future materials: Many setbacks come from selling bottlenecks by accident; dedicate an “Upgrades” shelf or a Junkbox so you always have the items you’ll need for the next step.

Tie it all together with a simple loop: Quick pre‑raid check, start or collect crafts with power on, power off between raids, keep the Lavatory working, and run a Scav to top up barter items and FiR meds.

FAQ

What is the best early Hideout upgrade order?

Start with Security 1, then Generator 1, then Medstation 1, Nutrition Unit 1, and Workbench 1, followed by Water Collector 1 and Heating 1. Begin sessions with the power on only to start or collect crafts, then turn it off to save fuel. Add the Intelligence Center soon after if you value faster Scav timers.

Which items should I keep for Hideout upgrades instead of selling?

Keep Light bulbs and Wires for Illumination 2, Spark plugs, Powercords, and Power supply units (PSUs) for early Generator and tech gates, Water filters for Water Collector 3 (they are removable to pause use), Folder with intelligence and Secure Flash drives for the Intelligence Center, and Graphics cards for the Bitcoin Farm. Aim to hold enough for the next two upgrades before selling extras.

How do I make profit from the Hideout?

Focus on fuel economy and batching crafts: start or collect with power on, then run power off while timers tick. Early flips include Powercords to Wires at Workbench 1 and Salewa at Medstation 1 for “Shortage”; use Lavatory crafts when the Generator is off. The Intelligence Center reduces Scav cooldowns and speeds insurance returns, adding steady passive value. Build Bitcoin Farm only when you can support multiple GPUs and have stable fuel.

Do I need a “Hideout Key” or “Backup Hideout Key” for the hideout?

No. Your base is always accessible. Those keys are for specific map locations and quests, not for entering or upgrading the hideout.