Patch 1.1.0.0 turns on the Seasons system in Escape from Tarkov and launches the first season, Kord Breach, themed around the Black Division faction. It brings a new Seasonal Character type, global and personal modifiers, a free shared battle pass, a reworked side task structure, and sweeping economy changes that touch traders, the hideout, insurance, and more.
Quick answer: Kord Breach goes live on August 3, 2026. Create a Seasonal Character on its own servers, pick optional personal modifiers so your point balance stays at zero or higher, then progress that character to unlock seasonal rewards before the season ends. Balancing changes to the economy, traders, hideout, and insurance apply to PvP Zone, PvE Zone, and PvP Season alike.
Seasonal Characters and how progression resets
A Seasonal Character is a separate profile that lives on its own servers, fully independent from your PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters. You create and switch between characters from a dedicated selection screen that appears when you launch the client.
Seasonal progression is not permanent. It resets automatically every four to six months, tied to a major content update and the start of the next season. Anything you unlock during a season, though, carries over permanently to your account across all modes.
Global and personal modifiers
Modifiers change how a season plays. Global modifiers are fixed rules that apply to every Seasonal Character in the season. You cannot disable, swap, or hand-pick them, and each season ships with its own set. The full list is shown while you create a Seasonal Character.
Personal modifiers are your choice. They use a point system, and the math is what matters when you build a character.
| Modifier type | Effect on gameplay | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | Increases difficulty | Grants points |
| Positive | Makes elements easier | Consumes points |
Your final balance must be zero or higher to create the character. Personal modifiers are optional, so you can start with none at all. Once the character exists, view your selected modifiers on the Character screen under the Skills tab.
Seasonal rewards and the Kord Breach task line
Seasonal rewards are unique trader offers you unlock by playing a Seasonal Character. To unlock one, you meet at least one of these conditions: reach a specific PMC level, complete a specified task, or finish a task chain. After you unlock a reward, it becomes permanently available in PvP Zone, PvE Zone, and PvP Season.
The new Kord Breach task line ties into this. Completing the chain lets you earn achievements, unlock new Operational Tasks, open trade offers for highly valuable items, and unlock a trade offer for the new weapon.
Note: any Seasonal Reward still locked when the Kord Breach season ends becomes permanently unobtainable. Rewards you have already unlocked stay on your account for good, so prioritize the chains that gate the offers you want.
The free battle pass and TerraGroup documents
A free battle pass launches with Kord Breach. Its progress is shared across PvP Season, PvP Zone, and PvE Zone. To advance it, you find and submit TerraGroup documentation. Rewards unlock once the required number of documents sits in your inventory in any mode, and they then become available everywhere at once.
Documents come from three places: raids across Tarkov locations, the Kord Breach special task line, and eliminating certain Black Division operatives.
- Documents found in raids work like task items, with personal spawns for each player.
- Documents dropped by defeated Black Division operatives are shared among all players.
- Other players cannot grab documents meant for you before you do, or loot them off your PMC’s body.
- The daily amount you can find is limited, and the limit depends on the mode you pick, while progress toward it is shared across modes.
A universal document type, Classified Documents, can replace any other document when unlocking rewards. You can buy Classified Documents through the Expansion Hub if you want to move through the pass faster.
Side task rework and group-shared progress
The side task distribution system is rebuilt to be less linear. Most side tasks are now tied to a specific Trader Loyalty Level and appear in small groups of two to four per trader. To unlock the next group, you either complete several tasks at the current Loyalty Level or reach the next one.
The main rewards for these tasks are now money, experience, and trader reputation. Some side tasks still unlock as part of chains regardless of Loyalty Level, and those chains hand out especially rare trader offers or crafting recipes. Important chain rewards are now shown when you accept the first task, so you can see the payoff before committing.
For tasks that require eliminating Scavs, only regular Scavs, Sniper Scavs, and Player Scavs count now. Scav Bosses, Raiders, and Rogues no longer count toward completion.
Squads can now help with certain objectives, marked by a special icon in the task interface. Any group member can contribute, even without the task active, as long as they meet every condition themselves.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Eligible objectives | Story, Side, or Operational Tasks marked with the icon |
| Who can help | Any group member, any level or faction, even without the task |
| What the helper must do | Meet all conditions such as distance, gear, and active status effects |
| Solo-only chains | The Tarkov Shooter, The Punisher, and similar chains stay strictly solo |
Achievements: Kappa Path removed
New achievements arrive, including seasonal ones that can only be earned on a Seasonal Character. Seasonal achievements remain earnable in future seasons after a season ends.
The Kappa Path achievement can no longer be earned starting with Season 1. Instead, completing the Collector task now grants Dawn of a New Era. Players who already hold The Kappa Path keep it in their in-game profile, but it no longer shows on Steam, which lets them still reach 100% achievement completion. The Chris’s Heir achievement changes from Common to Rare.
Economy and trader rebalance
These balancing changes apply to PvP Season, PvP Zone, and PvE Zone. The headline is that buying costs more and selling pays less.
| Change | Value |
|---|---|
| Trader buy prices | Up by an average of 25% |
| Price traders pay you | Down by an average of 20% |
| Flea Market fee | Raised from 3% to 5% |
Trader Loyalty Levels no longer require a sales volume. Reputation and character level requirements were rebalanced for Prapor, Therapist, Fence, Skier, Peacekeeper, Mechanic, Ragman, and Jaeger, and reputation values for existing PvP Zone and PvE Zone characters were recalculated to match. Reputation rewards from side tasks were adjusted as well.
Trade offers shifted too. Several popular ammo types and magazines that sat at Loyalty Levels 2 and 3 dropped down one level, so they are available earlier. A handful of rounds also got cheaper.
- 5.45x39mm FMJ
- 5.56x45mm FMJ
- 7.62x39mm FMJ
- 9x19mm Green Tracer
- .45 ACP Lasermatch FMJ
Several traders got new weapon presets at Loyalty Level 1. Many offers that were locked behind tasks are now available as soon as you hit the required Loyalty Level, while some task-unlocked offers moved to different task rewards. If you had previously unlocked one of those moved offers, you lose access until you complete the new required task. Ref’s inventory now leans toward armor vests and plate carriers without plates installed, at reduced prices, and weapon mod offers were reworked across traders, levels, prices, and purchase limits.
Hideout, insurance, healing, and repair changes
The hideout is easier to build early. Construction requirements for some Level 1-3 zones were simplified, the Found in Raid requirement was removed from some construction materials in PvP Zone and PvE Zone, and some build times were cut. In exchange, many hideout areas now cost money to construct. The Workbench is no longer needed for the Weapon Build system, which is available from the start. Some task-unlocked crafting recipes moved to different task rewards, and if you had one unlocked, you lose it until you complete the new task.
Insurance applies only to PvP Zone and PvE Zone, since it is disabled in PvP Season. The table below summarizes the new options.
| Provider | Return speed | Cost and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jaeger (new) | Fastest | Most expensive; return messages expire much sooner |
| Prapor / Therapist | Much faster than before | Slightly more expensive; messages stored longer |
| Higher Loyalty Levels | — | Small discount on insurance |
Therapist post-raid healing is cheaper overall, with a small extra discount at higher Loyalty Levels. Weapon repairs cost slightly more at lower Loyalty Levels but earn a small discount at higher ones. The Medicine Case and Magazine Case are larger now, with prices and barter trades adjusted to match. Revolvers and revolver shotguns fire far more accurately in Double Action mode after a big cut to the accuracy penalty.
Tactical clothing and beginner support
Tactical clothing bought from Ragman is now permanently unlocked on your account. You no longer repurchase it after a profile reset, reaching Prestige, or creating a Seasonal Character, though the price of Ragman’s basic tactical clothing went up. The Predator Upper and Adik Tracksuit, earned through achievements, no longer need to be bought and unlock immediately.
Beginner support was expanded to spot players in real trouble. If you die in a raid while in severe financial and equipment hardship, you can receive a support message with a container holding enough gear for a fully equipped raid. This can arrive no more than once every 18 hours, and you must claim the message within 18 hours of receiving it.
EFT: Arena syncs into PvP Season
One-way progression sync now runs from EFT: Arena to PvP Season. What transfers includes PMC experience, skill and weapon mastery experience, trader reputation and unlocked trade offers, currency, GP Coins, Lega Medals, and gear crates after completing the Jack of All Trades task in Arena, plus unlocked tactical clothing. The transfer limit for currency and items in PvP Season is lower than in PvP Zone.
Tactical clothing syncs in both directions between Arena and PvP Season. One important limit: only PMC experience and trader reputation earned in Arena after the Kord Breach season begins transfer over. Previously earned progress does not. For example, an Arena character already at Level 78 before the season will not carry that level, but 10,000 PMC experience earned in Arena after the season starts will be awarded to your Seasonal Character. Item transfers and Seasonal progression sync from PvP Season back to Arena are not supported.
New systems, content, and quality-of-life
A spectator camera now activates automatically after your PMC dies, letting you watch any surviving squadmate until they die or the raid ends. You can leave it at any point to reach the raid end screen, and you can disable the auto-activation in settings.
A dedicated game mode selection screen appears at launch, and a new Customization tab lets you change your PMC’s appearance and voice, with settings saved automatically. Your player profile now shows selected personal modifiers and Kord Breach battle pass progress.
Locations gained new interactive mechanics and effects: padlocks on some doors and containers, openable elevator doors, breakable bottles, exploding fire extinguishers, and vehicles that emit smoke after being hit. Exploding gas cylinders were added to more locations with reworked explosion effects. On the optimization side, Streets of Tarkov uses a new method to calculate the playable area so fewer resources go to processing off-screen data, and Customs received additional optimization work.
New content includes the Norinco QBZ-191 5.8×42 and Howa Type 20 5.56×45 assault rifles, the HK 416A5 5.56×45 in RAL 8000, and new attachments for the PKM/PKP, AKS074U, FN SCAR, AR-15, and more. A new 5.8x42mm caliber arrives with four cartridges, alongside four streamer items and two tactical clothing sets.
| 5.8x42mm cartridge | Type |
|---|---|
| DBP191 | General-purpose |
| DBX95 | Tracer |
| DVC12 | Armor-piercing |
| DBX12 | Armor-piercing tracer |
The two new tactical clothing sets are USEC Corsair and BEAR Airborne Infantry. Experience modifiers for transitioning between locations were rebalanced, and completing story chapters now grants experience rewards.
Notable fixes
The patch corrects a number of long-standing issues across animation, AI, armor, and interface.
- Fixed missing weapon sway while aiming and an incorrect third-person animation when stopping after walking.
- Fixed missing reload animations for bots in certain cases and several incorrect USEC Rob voice lines.
- Fixed ricochet settings for gear with armor points, including vests, plate carriers, helmets, and additional armor components.
- Fixed incorrect trader reputation calculations after reaching Prestige.
- Fixed a UI freeze during the BTR Driver dialogue and an error that could occur when loading into a raid.
- Fixed the skill leveling bonus from Hall of Fame trophies and removed the requirement for the player to personally score the kill.
- Fixed multiple culling issues across locations and the distant LOD of the Lantac Dragon 5.56×45 muzzle brake.
You will know the update is applied once the game mode selection screen appears at launch and the Seasonal Character option is available from the character selection screen. From there, the season clock is what matters most: unlock the seasonal rewards you care about while Kord Breach is active, because locked ones close out for good when the season ends.
