Escape from Duckov - Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Escape From Duckov has sold over two million copies at the time of writing, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time with the game. However, for many ducklings just starting their raiding careers, the beginning hours might leave you cooked. It is a more casual experience, but it’s still an extraction shooter and you will be put down in seconds if you’re caught off guard. You’re in luck, though! As someone with a decent amount of hours put into the game, here are some tips and tricks to get started!

Take it slow

Stay frosty.

Starting off, you'll be pretty squishy and your starting pistol can only deal with the weakest of enemies. If you walk into the wrong area, you will get shot and lose all your stuff. If you want to make it in Duckov, be patient and take things slowly.

Walk instead of sprint. Listen for gunfire and footsteps. Check every container. Remember to reload and heal after every encounter. This is a game of attrition, not a sprint to the finish… until you need to get to extract. Make sure to check your map for the available extract points at the start of every raid.

Also, don’t ignore quests. They’re both a tutorial and a guide to unlocking and discovering important aspects of the game. Plus, a quick influx of cash and EXP isn’t bad.

Take notes

Know your maps.

You should be taking notes on general item locations, locked doors, special enemies, and secret areas to check out or avoid until later. You can put coloured markers on the map by pressing right-click after selecting the colour and icon.

Although Ground Zero is a small zone (in comparison to future locations), you should get into this habit early. Later areas are much larger with more lethal enemies, so any information or reminders could be the difference between extraction or lost items.

Bring only the necessities

Packing light will save you.

There is a lot of loot to be grabbed that can be useful to you now or later, so you better have plenty of room for all of it, while also making sure you have the supplies needed to make it to extraction. You should at least equip yourself with some chest armour, a pistol (preferably a Glick for its common ammo, quick reload, and decent accuracy), and some bullets. For consumables, I generally bring at least one healing item and two food items (I prefer Choco Milk as it's cheap and boosts your energy and hydration). Everything else you may need can be looted.

However, I should also recommend getting a pair of headphones as soon as you can. You’ll often hear enemies before you see them, so having headphones show you where they are is beneficial. Use this information to deal with the threat accordingly.

Leave keys and cash in storage until you unlock the ATM and Key Register. There is an NPC vendor in Ground Zero that only takes cash, but that should be a planned trip, not something you decide to do on impulse.

Practice your aim

And remember: switching is faster than reloading.

Despite its top-down view, guns do have vertical and horizontal recoil, which is pretty important in landing headshots (shooting when your cursor is directly on your enemy). This can be reduced or increased with certain attachments, like the grip, muzzle, and stock. Play around with attachments and see what you feel most comfortable with.

There's a gun range in the hideout. It has dummies to shoot that have different levels of armour to test your damage. Feel free to practice as you will not spend ammo while in the bunker. And remember, you have a dodge roll. Use it liberally.

Loot carefully

Do you really need all those basketballs?

There is so much useful stuff found throughout the map that you’ll want to loot at least one of each, just in case it's needed for a quest. However, you need to be selective with what you loot. All items have a weight, and carrying too much will eventually stop you from walking, only able to dodge roll around. The more loot you carry, the less speed you have. Some items are not worth the loss in mobility, especially when it comes to a firefight.

Oh, and here’s a useful thing. When looting the dead, you can check the type of ammo a duck was using by hovering your cursor over their gun. If you like the bullets, right-click and select Unload Ammo to take ammo currently loaded in their gun. An extra mag could be the difference between killing an enemy or losing all your hard-earned loot.

Pets are awesome

I still haven't found the pet button.

Your pet isn’t just a cute little companion that will accompany you on your raids. They’re actually the most important part of your inventory when looting. They’ll act as a pack mule, able to carry the heaviest item with ease as they are not affected by the encumbrance mechanic.

However, their most useful ability is to act as insurance, as whatever is put into their bag is considered safe. You might have everything but your melee weapon gone, but a raid could still end up worth it if you saved a key item (such as keys, graphics cards, expansion crates, and rare weapons).

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These tips are only here to get you started! Finding out how to Escape From Duckov will take time, effort, and experience that you’ll just have to learn on the field. I hope you find at least some of this guide somewhat useful in your raids.