The Interchange map resembles a large shopping mall and a wider complex outside of it and it connects the city’s port with its industrialized outskirts. In the middle, there is the “ULTRA” shopping center filled with dozens of small stores. It is largely characterized by interior fighting and the maze inside of the building. It is important to note here that this map is deceivingly small but in reality, it is quite large. There is tons of space in this map and quite lot of spread outside of the shopping center.

Here are some key points about this map:

• The Scav Boss named Killa resides in the 1s floor of the shopping mall. He is armed to teeth and even well equipped players will face some serious heat from him.
• Killa’s presence and availability of huge loot makes this a hotspot for squads of players and hence making this not suitable for solo riders.
• Each Raid on the Interchange lasts for 55 minutes and features 9 to 14 players and multiple NPC Scav spawns scattered around the area. 

Interchange has tons of interesting places to explore ranging from the power station to the giant shopping mall to dozens of small stores. Let us break it down for you.

Power Station

The power station used to be the source of electricity for huge mall in this map. There are several small buildings (shacks, guard buildings, and maintenance rooms) along with a big power station building. This is also one of the extraction points.

Location: North-eastern part of the map, north-east of the IDEA store. The Power Station is marked as number “3” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Inside the power station main building: Toolboxes, Fuel Conditioner spawns, and lootable Jackets.
• Inside Shacks: Toolboxes.
• Inside the Station’s office: our PC Blocks, Jackets, a File Cabinet, some loose electronics. 

The Ultra Mall

This is the main focus of this map and it has three prime locations: IDEA, OLI, and GOSHAN.

IDEA

IDEA is a cheap, assemble-it-yourself furniture store. The name is inspired by a real-life Swedish furniture store – I will let you guess it. As you would have figured already, there is a lot of hardware and industrial loot available here.

Location: Northern part of the mall, on the 1st (ground) floor, just south-west of the Power Station. IDEA is marked as number “3” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Several lootable Toolboxes and industrial items.
• Inside the storage area: electronics, and industrial items. 
• Several rare spawns (including Lion and Cat Statues).
• In the office (cubicle) area: PC Blocks, technological items, and a Duffle Bag. 

OLI

The OLI is a home improvement supply store – which, again, is inspired by two real life home improvement supply stores. The logo is inspired from one and the color scheme is inspired from the other. This place contains all building materials that are useful for a hideout.

Location: Southern part of the mall, on the 1st (ground) floor, north-west of the Emercom Checkpoint. OLI is marked as number “3” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Hoses, propane tanks, car batteries, Gas Analyzers, etc. – Pretty much all kinds of building/industrial/technical materials and equipments.
• PC Blocks in OLI’s offices.*
• 18 Cash Registers.

* Keys needed for access to some of them: Key to OLI Administrator Office [OLI Office] and Key to OLI Logistics Department Office [Log. Office]

GOSHAN

Goshan is a hypermarket inspired by a real-life chain of hypermarkets that belongs to a French multinational retail group. This is the biggest store in the Ultra super market. If you are looking for Groceries, this is where you need to go. And if you look carefully enough, you might find other valuable items as well.

Location: Western part of the “Ultra” Shopping mall, on the 1st (ground) floor (head straight from the main mall entrance). Goshan is marked as number “4” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Inside the lockers: rare item spawns, including Bitcoins, Gold chains, and Rolexes.
• Multiple Weapon Boxes scattered around the store and its warehouse. 
• 27 lootable Cash Registers.
• Multiple provision spawns on shelves, including Tushonka.

KIBA

The KIBA Weapons store is the ultimate desire for any PMC or Scav. It is stacked up with weapons, weapon attachments/mods, and other military equipment. And because of this very nature of the store, there is almost always a great competition to loot the store. There will be squad vs squad firefights almost constantly for every single raid.

🔑 Keys needed to access the store

1. Key to KIBA Outlet grate door [KIBA 2] – opens KIBA’s grate door.
2. Key to KIBA store outlet [KIBA].

Be aware: The Scav Boss Killa often patrols this general area (along the escalators).

Location:  Central part of the mall, on the 1st (ground) floor. Head straight from the main entrance, past the “Brutal” store – KIBA is the first store on the left in the right-side corridor. KIBA is marked as number “5” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Weapon Cabinet.
• Two Cash Registers and loose money.
• Two Weapon Crates. 
• Grenades in a box.
• Fully-kitted Weapon spawns (AK-74N, M4A1, Shotguns, Handguns). 
• Armors and Helmets spawns (Sphere-S helmet, IOTV Gen4 Armor, and more). 

EMERCOM

This is great place if you are looking for medical supplies. But just like many other places in this map, it does require a key. The Key to EMERCOM Medical Unit [MES] can be found on Customs – In the back of an ambulance parked outside the “new” Gas station. 

Location: On the mall’s 1st (ground) floor, by the open plaza in the mall’s northern part. If you go in through the main entrance, turn left behind the Mantis, the EMERCOM is on the left. EMERCOM is marked as number “7” on our Map. 

💰 Possible Loot

• Tons of medical supplies.
• 3 Medbags.
• A Jacket.
• A Weapon Crate.  

Extraction Points

1. Railway: Normal Extraction
2. Power plant: Requires 3000 Roubles for extraction using the car. Also, it is available for only one person per raid.
3. SCAV Camp: But it requires a friendly PMC player to make the extraction.
4. Hole in Fence: Requires removing Backpack. You can remove the backpack at the spot too.
5. EMERCOM: Normal Extraction
6. Safe Room: It requires the #11SR key

I am lost – What next?

With a map this big, this is ought to happen. Worry not, simply follow these steps:

If lost outside the mall: follow the walls or corners and move towards your exfil point.

If lost inside the mall (on any floor): follow the lights that lead you to the nearest window. Then you can simply look out and figure out where you are.

Wrapping up

Escape of Tarkov is a huge game with a steep learning curve and is relatively tougher to play. This guide is aimed at providing some insights to beginner that might help ease up the gameplay a little bit. Hope this guide