Escape From Tarkov patch notes 0.13.5 are here, giving us an in-depth look at what to expect in the latest Tarkov wipe for the high-stakes multiplayer survival game. With the arrival of a new boss, the expansion of the Streets of Tarkov map, and lots of new weapons and equipment to be scavenged, Escape From Tarkov 13.5 has a lot to dig into.
New boss Kaban is likely to be the highlight of the latest Escape from Tarkov update for many – this heavily armored gang leader is capable of using heavy machine guns without needing to rest them, but is incredibly immobile as a result. He’s backed up by a crew of well-armed guards and nearby scavs, so you’ll have to pick your approach carefully.
Also introduced with the patch are gear presets – you can create up to 50 custom loadouts and quickly switch between them. These can be named and you’ll be able to easily track the contents and weight of each preset, along with comparing them to one another. With a number of new weapons and plenty of additional ammo types, this should help make your inventory management a lot easier.
Elsewhere in the patch is the randomization of container spawns, an option to quick-swap to your sidearm at the cost of arm stamina (this can be reduced with weapon mastery), new bot commands for scav players, and a variety of additional quality-of-life improvements. The full patch notes can be seen below.
Escape From Tarkov 13.5 patch notes – update 0.13.5 – Thursday August 10, 2023
Here are the Escape From Tarkov patch notes for August 10, 2023:
New boss – Kaban
- Added new boss Kaban. He once had a small legal business in Tarkov, but was not afraid to use criminal methods of money acquisition. After the general evacuation he remained in the city, and his gang has grown.
- His size allows him to fire various heavy machine guns without resting the gun, but at the same time Kaban cannot afford to be mobile and therefore either stays in position or moves slowly from point to point during combat. He has a large number of well-armed guards, some of whom are former military men who have organized a strong defense for him.
- The boss dwells in the area of the car repair shop on ‘Streets of Tarkov.’ The area is heavily defended, entrances are fortified with stationary machine guns and AGS, the paths are mined, and there are snipers on the roof of the car service center.
- Kaban uses a custom rig to store machine gun boxes, wears body armor under his clothes, and has unquestionable authority among his guards. Scavs nearby help the boss with defense and will engage in combat for Kaban.
New weapons and equipment
- New: SVT-40 and AVT-40 rifles
- New: AK-12 assault rifle
- New: PKM and PKP light machine guns
- New: Ryzhy’s sawed off
- PM and PB pistols have been updated
- New ammo types: .300 Blackout CBJ; 12/70 Piranha; 4.6x30mm JSP SX; 7.62x39mm FMJ; 7.62x39mm SP; 7.62x39mm PP gzh; 7.62x54mm R FMJ; 7.62x54mm R HP BT; 7.62x54mm R SP BT; 9x19mm FMJ M882.
- Added a number of new weapon modifications and equipment models.
- A new module ‘Weapon Stand’ has been added to the Hideout. The stand has 3 levels of pumping. Each level can hold a certain number of weapons (Level 1 – 108 cells, Level 2 – 132 cells, Level 3 – 182 cells.) Only weapons with all critical components can be placed on the shelves of the Weapon Stand.
Kit presets
- Added the ability to save a gear preset and quickly equip it. The player can name the preset, select the one he wants to equip, see its contents, weight, and compare it with other equipment sets.
- The screen of the selected equipment set is divided into two tabs:
- ‘Equipment’ – displays all available gear slots.
- ‘Pouches’ – displays the contents of the rigs, pockets, backpack and secured container.
- The selected equipment set is assembled from matching items in the player’s stash. If the player does not have enough items in the stash to assemble the kit, the missing items can be purchased from merchants/the flea market.
- After character creation, 15 basic sets of equipment are available to the player.
- The player can create up to 50 custom gear sets.
Random container spawn
- Containers will now spawn at random points. The number of spawn points for containers has been increased on all locations.
- Large wooden crates, some TerraGroup crates, large cash registers and file cabinets will now always spawn at their respective locations.
Sidearm quick swap
- When the holstered weapon hotkey is pressed twice (key 1 by default), the character will swap weapons quicker.
- This action consumes arm stamina, and if it is insufficient, the weapon equipped in the hands will tremble.
- Upon training weapon mastering and corresponding with the weapon type skill the amount of arm stamina consumed on quick swapping will decrease, and the speed of action will increase.
Bots
- Added routes for looting containers by scavs on the ‘Streets of Tarkov’ location.
- The barrel of the bots’ weapons oscillates up and down slightly during peaceful walking. Peaceful routes of bots now have slight deviations from a straight line between points, mimicking the player’s movement. During combat or in case of danger, bots return to ‘ready’ mode.
- Reduced reloading speed of low difficulty bots.
- Bots can no longer rotate instantly. Now, to rotate by a significant angle while prone, the bot assumes a sitting position and continues firing.
- Bots now search corpses and take weapons, rigs, backpacks, whatever contents they like from them. If a bot has a backpack and a rig, it will drop the backpack and rig next to the corpse. Contents taken by bots are not refundable by insurance.
- Bots can share an item with a player playing as a scav by calling out to them.
- Improved visibility of bots at dusk. Now it corresponds more correctly to the change of light level. Flashlight still gives better visibility at this time of day.
- Corrected spawn time when playing as a scav on all maps.
- The AI scav groups system has been improved. Now a group of scavs that will operate as a team will spawn at a certain chance. They are going to be better organized in combat and are essentially small gangs.
Bot commands
- When playing as scav, new commands to bots are available to the player. The chance that a bot will execute a command depends on its reputation with the Fence. All commands have a cooldown.
- ‘Help’ – When this command is used, all bots with a certain chance and in a significant radius will go to the player and engage in combat with the enemy on.
- ‘Spread out’ – With a certain chance the bots in the reasonable radius will take cover and spread out over the area.
- ‘Take cover’ – With a certain chance, the bot next to the player will take the nearest cover.
- ‘Quiet’ – With a certain chance, the bots in the reasonable radius will stop talking and start listening.
- ‘Stop’ – With a certain chance, the bot next to the player will stop for a short time, look at the player, and then continue moving.
- Now the command ‘Follow’ when playing as scav can be given not only with a gesture, but also with the phrase ‘Follow me’.
Quality of life
- The user interface of the trade, quests, and Ragman services screens has been redesigned.
- The player can now quickly equip or replace an item with any of the available items in the stash via a drop-down menu by clicking on character slot.
- The FPS meter no longer overlaps the raid timer.
- Double-clicking on consumables automatically uses the item. In terms of functionality, double-clicking is similar to the ‘Use’ option in the context menu of the item.
- You can turn on the tactical device or helmet-mounted lights by pressing the H key. You can switch the modes of tactical devices by pressing the CTRL + H key combination.
- The list of available mods for OpsCore helmet rails as well as 6B47 helmet has been expanded.
- When holding the 4-0 hotkeys when using the first aid kit and other medical supplies, a drop-down list of body parts to treat will now appear. When using the first aid kit, the list shows all of the character’s wounds. When using other medical items, only those body parts that can be healed with the item are shown. To activate it, you need to set the hotkey mode to ‘release.’
- Added new images to the loading screens.
- A ‘Sell Equipment’ button has been added to scav’s gear transfer screen. The player can sell all the equipment they have after extracting as a scav, including currency that Fence doesn’t normally buy.
Additional balance changes and graphical updates can be found courtesy of developer Battlestate Games via the Escape From Tarkov website.
Be sure to check in with whether we’ll ever see Escape From Tarkov on Steam, and browse more of the best battle royale games if you’re looking to prove that you’re the best around.