Raid Guide
What Does a Blue Flare Do in Tarkov
What does a blue flare do in Tarkov? Players mix it up with green extracts and red airdrops. The RSP-30 blue reactive signal cartridge calls a mortar barrage when you fire it into the sky, and it lights the ground for about 20 seconds. It does not open an extract.
The short answer
Fire the blue RSP-30 into the sky and Escape from Tarkov treats it as a mortar call plus a short light. Wiki-backed behavior: barrage on most maps, illumination for roughly 20 seconds after ignition. It does not spawn an airdrop. That is the red cartridge.
Scavs use colored signals in the world. Blue is a command flare, not a loot piñata. If you brought it for a “secret extract,” you brought the wrong color.
How to fire the RSP-30 without wasting it
Handheld RSP-30 flares are 2×1 and consume on use. Put one on a hotkey like a grenade, equip it, then left-click into open sky. Firing into a ceiling or a Factory beam wastes the shot and still paints your position.
The ZiD SP-81 signal pistol can shoot 26×75 cartridges if you own that gun. Same color rules. Same “into the sky” requirement for the mortar call. Do not hip-fire it at a PMC expecting a 40-damage miracle. It is a signal, not a sniper round.
Blue vs green vs red vs white
Color is the whole mechanic. Mix them up and you either brick a quest or call artillery on your own loot path.
Maps that skip the mortar
The blue-sky mortar does not apply on Factory or The Lab. Those maps have no barrage to call. Everywhere else, assume the strike can land on the area you marked — including you, if you stand still and admire the glow.
After ignition you get about 20 seconds of light. Night Woods and dark Interchange parking lots become readable. They also become a beacon. Expect company.
The colors people confuse
Green handheld flares are the extract tool. You fire them in marked zones to open a temporary exit. Blue does not do that. Red RSP-30 calls an airdrop crate, not mortars. White is light with no extra raid event.
If extracts are the pain point, extract markers on a cheat overlay label the real outs so you are not guessing colors under fire. Loot ESP will not save a blue flare fired for the wrong reason.
When you actually pull a blue flare
Use it to punish a camped compound or to break a hold when you already have an extract plan. Do not fire it on your own tech spawn unless you want the crate fight plus incoming shells.
Quest text sometimes wants a specific color. Read the task. Yellow shows up as a “fire after objective” signal in some chains. Blue is the mortar color. If you are farming LedX instead of calling artillery, skip the flare and run a loot filter — the tarkov cheats loop is see, loot, leave.
A full raid stack still helps here: Escape from Tarkov cheats can mark players before you light the sky, so you are not mortaring a dead hill. Check Status after patches the same way you would before any other overlay raid.
FAQ
What does a blue flare do in Tarkov, exactly?
The RSP-30 blue reactive signal cartridge calls a mortar barrage when fired into the sky on most maps, and it illuminates the area for about 20 seconds. It does not open extracts and it does not call an airdrop.
Does the blue flare work on Factory and The Lab?
The mortar call is skipped on Factory and The Lab. You can still waste the cartridge and light yourself up. Save blue flares for outdoor maps where the barrage exists.
Is the blue flare the same as the green extract flare?
No. Green is the extract signal used in marked zones. Blue is mortars plus light. Red is the airdrop color. White is light only.
Can I loot a blue flare off a dead PMC?
If it sits in the special item slot it often stays with the body rules for that slot and may not be a free pick-up. Do not plan your raid economy around stealing one mid-fight.
Should I fire a blue flare to extract?
No. Use the green extract flare in the correct zone, or just walk a normal extract. Blue will call shells and announce your position.