Who Are the Goons in Escape From Tarkov?

The Goons in Escape from Tarkov are Rogue Bosses and were added to the game via patch 0.12.12.30 by Battlestate Games. The Goons need to be killed in order to complete the Stray Dogs Quest. Players should note that the trio or the Goon squad does not stay in one location, but wander through. If they are found at one location, they will be absent from the others. The Stray Dogs quest given by trader Ivan Yegorovich Kharitonov aka Jaeger is an elimination task and gives you numerous rewards.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Goons in Escape from Tarkov and the Stray Dogs quest.

Stray Dogs quest and the Goons

Firstly, the Goons or the Rogue bosses and their specializations are as follows:

• Big Pipe - Grenade Launcher

• Birdeye - Sniper

• Knight - Assualt

This quest requires you to locate and eliminate all three members of the Goon Squad of USEC rogues. Players should note that, aside from being very hard to kill, the other difficult aspect of the quest is locating the Goon squad. The Goons do not have a fixed map or a fixed location and they roam between four separate maps:

• Customs

• Woods

• Shoreline

• Lighthouse

Note that when you are spotted by any one of the Goons, Knight and Big Pipe will both rush you instantaneously. 

Jaeger tells you when you start the quest that some new renegades are terrorizing the city and that the Goons killed the man he sent to negotiate with them. “They're not locals, all came from USEC. Long renounced from their own people too. They must be hunted down. This is our land. No more peace talks,” he adds.

The objective of the Stray Dogs quest is to locate all three Goons or the Goon Squad and eliminate them. You can find them at one of the following locations:

• Customs: At the Scav base (ZB-013 extraction) building with the numerous mounted weapons.

• Woods: At the antenna in the northwest (Scav Bunker Extraction).

• Shoreline: At the weather station on the hill in the southeast.

• Lighthouse: At the water treatment plant in the north, and at the blue chalet.

You can also track the Goon Squad or the Goons using this third-party tracker called https://goontracker.com/. According to this website, at the time of writing this article, the Goons were located at Lighthouse. 

Once you successfully finish the quest, you will receive the following rewards:

• +12,000 EXP

• Jaeger Rep +0.02

• 125,000 Roubles

• 131,250 Roubles with Intelligence center Level 1

• 143,750 Roubles with Intelligence center Level 2

• 1× SV-98 7.62x54R bolt-action sniper rifle (variant OV)

• 1× Recknagel Era-Tac 30mm ring scope mount

• 1× Schmidt & Bender PM II 1-8x24 30mm riflescope

• 2× SV-98 7.62x54R 10-round magazine

• 30× 7.62x54mm R PS gzh