Escape From Tarkov “Boreas” Quest Guide

A complete route through Boreas, including its choice-dependent objectives, Icebreaker access and final hand-ins.

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Boreas is a long story chapter with branching objectives before its Icebreaker finale. Your progress in Falling Skies and the BTR Driver questline changes what you must do, so check those branches before packing. The later ship objectives also call for several specific keycards, an explosive charge and a gas torch.

Requirements and objectives

To begin, obtain a Paradigm Shipping poster or check the distress signal through the radio system at the Hideout’s Intelligence Center level 3. The opening objectives then ask you to investigate the TerraGroup and Paradigm Shipping connection, find and repair equipment beneath the cellular tower on Woods, report back to Mechanic, retrieve the Paradigm Shipping documentation and tell Mechanic about Boreas.

After that, arrange transport through Prapor, then ask the BTR Driver about an alternative. The tasks that follow depend on your progress in Falling Skies, The Price of Independence and Choose Your Friends Wisely. The chapter then takes you to the Icebreaker, through its locked areas and into a final set of collection, combat and evacuation objectives.

Equipment and hand-in items

Item	Amount and requirement	Important detail
Toolset	1	Used to repair the Woods equipment. It is removed from your inventory when used.
Paradigm Shipping directive	1, found in raid	Pick it up at the Lighthouse freight yard.
AMG-10 hydraulic fluid (quest item)	1, found in raid	The barter item named AMG-10 hydraulic fluid does not count.
Military power filters	3, found in raid, if you kept the Armored case in Falling Skies	Only required on that branch.
Yellow signal flare	1, if you have not completed Falling Skies	Use an RSP-30 reactive signal cartridge (Yellow), or a 26x75mm flare cartridge (Yellow) with a ZiD SP-81 signal pistol.
7.62x54mm R BT gzh	200, if you completed Choose Your Friends Wisely	Found-in-raid status is not required.
Skier’s docs	1, found in raid, if you completed Choose Your Friends Wisely	They must be burned at a fire barrel on Customs.
Sudak-Tudak marine repair kit	1, for boarding the hovercraft	The collection objective is optional, but boarding may still require the kit. Carry one and check the boarding prompt.
Green signal flare and Euros	For evacuation from the Icebreaker	Budget at least 2,500 Euros rather than 2,400, and confirm the current fare before boarding.
SZ-1 explosive charge (Icebreaker)	1	Used to break the chained door. Asking Mechanic and Prapor about explosives unlocks its purchase from Prapor at loyalty level 1.
Local network hacking device	1, stashed item	Mechanic sends one through in-game mail. A previous placement for Blue Fire auto-completes this objective.
BBQ-S43 gas torch	1	Used to thaw the hatch on the bridge roof.
Icebreaker engine-room keycard and Compartment C-1 keycard	One of each for the corresponding doors	Finding the cards is marked optional, but bring them for access to the corresponding rooms.
Ultralink satellite communication modules	3, found in raid	Hand over to Mechanic.
Memento Server RAM Modules	4, found in raid	Hand over to Mechanic.
IBX Gigachad cryptographic processors	2, found in raid	Hand over to Mechanic.

The final BTR Driver hand-ins require five respirators, two class 5 or higher ballistic plates compatible with the Kirasa-N body armor, and one BNTI Kirasa-N body armor. The respirators can be any one of these listed types: Respirator, Gentex Ops-Core SOTR respirator, GP-5 gas mask, GP-7 gas mask or Avon M53A1 gas mask. Found-in-raid status is not required for these hand-ins, the plates or the armor.

How to complete Boreas

Investigate the distress signal and shipping documents

Northwestern Woods map highlighting the cellular-tower bunker west of the northern ponds and south of the river. — Woods cellular-tower bunker northwest of the northern ponds. Repair the equipment inside the bunker with a Toolset.

Northern Lighthouse freight-yard map highlighting the long warehouse west of the railway sidings and north of water treatment. — The shipping directive is inside the narrow warehouse on the west side of Lighthouse’s northern freight yard, between the coastal road and the rail sidings.

Ask traders about the connection between TerraGroup and Paradigm Shipping, including asking Mechanic where the distress signal came from.
On Woods, find the equipment at the Scav bunker beneath the cellular tower and repair it with a Toolset.
Report to Mechanic. Find the Paradigm Shipping directive in the warehouse at the freight yard in northern Lighthouse, then tell Mechanic about Boreas.
Ask Prapor to arrange transport to the Icebreaker, then ask the BTR Driver about an alternative.

Complete the Falling Skies branch

Reserve map showing three basement fluid alternatives, three helicopter alternatives and the separate western Woods transit. — Reserve has six alternative quest-fluid sites: three in Black Bishop’s basement storage and three at the helicopter. Find one quest AMG-10 fluid. The western Woods transit with a yellow flare applies only to the incomplete Falling Skies branch.

Your Falling Skies progress	Boreas objectives
You gave Prapor the Armored case	Hand over one found-in-raid AMG-10 hydraulic fluid (quest item).
You kept the Armored case	Hand over three found-in-raid Military power filters and one found-in-raid AMG-10 hydraulic fluid (quest item).
You have not completed Falling Skies	Eliminate 30 targets on Reserve, launch a yellow flare at the Woods transit on Reserve, then hand over one found-in-raid AMG-10 hydraulic fluid (quest item).

For the flare objective, fire the yellow signal into the sky while standing at the Woods transit on Reserve. The objective will not complete if the flare fails to reach the required height. The handheld RSP-30 yellow flare is one option. The other is a 26x75mm yellow flare cartridge fired from a ZiD SP-81 signal pistol.

The quest-specific AMG-10 fluid has multiple listed spawns on Reserve. Check the shelves and a pallet in the northern storage area of the Black Bishop basement, or search the helicopter at the parade ground, including its open wooden crate and the space beneath its ladder. Another listed spawn is beside the forklift behind that helicopter. Do not substitute the ordinary AMG-10 barter item.

Follow the BTR Driver branch

Customs industrial-district map highlighting the reports ditch between Fort and Crack House above the boiler building. — Skier’s reports are in the ditch between Fort and Crack House. Burn the recovered reports at a Customs burning barrel; Fort is one possible location, not a mandatory second pickup.

Separate Interchange and Shoreline panels highlighting the western forest camp and northeastern farm smuggler territories. — Alternative smuggler territories for the BTR Driver branch: the southwestern Interchange camp west of the railway and the northeastern Shoreline farm near Smuggler’s Path. The rings identify territory vicinities, not measured combat boundaries.

If you completed The Price of Independence, return to the Hideout. Leave the raid by extracting or dying. Then return to the BTR Driver.
If you completed Choose Your Friends Wisely, hand over 200 rounds of 7.62x54mm R BT gzh, retrieve Skier’s found-in-raid reports from the ditch between the Scav base and laboratory on Customs, and burn them at any Customs fire barrel. The closest listed barrel is in the Scav base’s middle living quarters. Then eliminate 15 targets at the smugglers’ territories on Shoreline or Interchange and report back to the BTR Driver.
If you have completed neither quest, eliminate 10 targets at the smugglers’ territories on Shoreline or Interchange, then report to the BTR Driver.

When a branch applies, complete its objectives before telling Mechanic that you have found transport to the Icebreaker.

Board the hovercraft and reach the Icebreaker

Shoreline coastal map marking hovercraft boarding beside the pier buildings, east of the stream crossing and southeast of the gas station. — Shoreline hovercraft boarding vicinity beside the central pier buildings, southeast of the gas station and east of the stream crossing. This is not the Terminal transit or the outer lighthouse.

Lighthouse coast map marking hovercraft boarding at the northern piers, with the village stream north and main road east. — Lighthouse hovercraft boarding-area locator at the shore end of the northern pier complex, south of the village crossing.

The smuggler hovercraft is at the piers on Shoreline and Lighthouse. Carry a Sudak-Tudak marine repair kit for boarding, even though collecting it is marked optional in the objectives, and check the boarding prompt before relying on access without one. For evacuation from the Icebreaker, pack a green signal flare and budget at least 2,500 Euros rather than 2,400. Confirm the current fare before boarding.

Separate Icebreaker deck panels showing the Level 1 intercom entrance beside the curved stairs and the Level 0 Changing Room beside Central Control. — The scientist's intercom entrance is on Level 1 beside the curved stairs. The keycard-access panel outlines the Level 0 Changing Room beside Central Control; it does not pin the reader's exact wall position.

Once on the ship, use the intercom at the lower Level 1 entrance beside the curved stairs to check whether any crew members survived. The Icebreaker engine-room keycard is in the center medical room on level 1 beside an engineer’s body. Check several possible positions on or next to the body.

Take the card to the locked door on Level 0 beside the Changing Room and Central Control. Continue through the ship and take the stairs to level 1 to find the engine-room doors. Unseal them and go downstairs to level -2. Black Division operatives emerge from doors on the catwalks when you reach roughly halfway through the engine room.

Separate Icebreaker deck maps showing the Level 1 engine-room access area and the Level -2 engine chamber. — Level 1 engine-room access area and the separate Level -2 engine chamber. These panels use different scales and do not map the keycard reader or scientist intercom.

Open the chained door and enter the superstructure

Labs first-level map highlighting the device-stashing area at the western side of Servers near Testing. — Stash the Local network hacking device at the western edge of the first-level server room, beside the small blue-framed access area and southeast of Testing. This stage completes automatically if already finished through Blue Fire.

To reach the damaged, chained door, go toward the extraction zone, descend two levels, turn around the helipad, travel to the side of the ship and climb to level 3. Watch for Black Division groups on and beneath the helipad. Reaching the door and trying to open it leads to the explosive requirement. Bring the engine-room keycard for the engine-room door, even though finding it is marked optional in the objectives.

Ask Mechanic and Prapor about explosives, then obtain the SZ-1 charge from Prapor. Return to the chained door on the roof of the engine room and place the charge to break the chain. The next area is the crew quarters. The Wedge squad is there, and a teargas grenade is set as a tripwire trap at the entrance.

After entering the superstructure, go to level 5, leave the quarters and take the stairs to the code-locked door. Ask the scientist at the Level 1 scientist intercom how to open it, then ask Mechanic for help finding the second part of the code. Plant the Local network hacking device in the server room on the first floor of The Lab, then return to Mechanic. The device is a stashed item, and a placement already completed for Blue Fire auto-completes this step.

Reach the bridge and search Compartment C-1

Separate Icebreaker deck maps highlighting the level 3 chained door and level 7 Compartment C-1. — The chained door is on level 3; Compartment C-1 is on level 7. These are separate deck panels, not a route between floors. The captain is on level 9 and the bridge-roof hatch is on level 10.

Return to the Icebreaker. The code for the locked doors is 3-1-2-2-2-0. It remains the same each raid and works for the doors in the zone that lead outside. Compartment C-1 is on level 7 beside the exit to the exterior. Bring its keycard for entry, even though finding the card is marked optional in the objectives. It is on a body on level 9.

Reach the upper decks and continue upstairs to the bridge. The hatch on the bridge roof is frozen and must be thawed with a BBQ-S43 gas torch. The listed torch spawns are in the level 3 kitchen where The Wedge appears, on a countertop beside lockers, inside a green crate on a countertop, or inside a wooden crate on a serving trolley.

Reaching the captain’s body on level 9 of the bridge completes the rescue objective. In Compartment C-1, collect all three found-in-raid hard drives: one on the shelves to the left on entry, one on the PC blocks beneath the desk near the workstation, and one on the servers on the floor. Hand all three to Mechanic for decoding. Their handover unlocks A Wedge Between Us, Fresh Stock, Oil Change and War Never Changes, but completing those quests is not required to continue Boreas.

Complete the final Icebreaker and evacuation tasks

Hand Mechanic three found-in-raid Ultralink satellite communication modules, four found-in-raid Memento Server RAM Modules and two found-in-raid IBX Gigachad cryptographic processors.
Read the Icebreaker archive data through the handbook after receiving it in your messages.
Tell the scientist about the captain’s death using the Level 1 scientist intercom. Ask the BTR Driver whether he can help evacuate the scientist.
Complete Hangover to fulfil the objective to assist the smugglers in their conflict against the Rogues, then return to the BTR Driver.
Eliminate 20 targets on the Icebreaker. Hand the BTR Driver five eligible respirators, two compatible class 5 or higher plates and one Kirasa-N body armor.
Tell the scientist at the intercom that the evacuation is ready, then ask the BTR Driver how the rescue went. The final conversation can be made with the driver on Woods or Streets of Tarkov.

Rewards

160,000 EXP
One Compartment C-3 keycard

Earlier milestones also unlock the SZ-1 charge purchase from Prapor and award the Icebreaker archive data after the required component hand-ins.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore and realistic online first-person action RPG/Simulator with MMO features and story-driven walkthrough.

Genre Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Tactical
Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows)
Perspective First person
Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
Release November 15, 2025
Publisher Battlestate Games