ever since my helmet bounced a 7.62 BP from a cultist who had a violet card in his backpack i've been reminded of just how damn good helmets can be

Obviously, ricochet is so OP. Them Ulachs and the TC-2002 for nvgs have saved me endless times.

This was very well edited, tested, and informative to watch! Thank you :)

I've bounced damn good SKS shots off of helmets against a PMC a couple of times, but each of these moments made me realize how important a proper helmet is, no matter what

great content and this definitely opens my interpretation of armor especially towards the end of wipe. thanks for the hard work dude keep it up!

I'm a experienced PC shooter gamer. For Tarkov this wipe is my second wipe, level 38 now. Never wore a single helmet of the wipe. Sold every single one of them. 61% win rate. Around 40-50k each helmet, it's easy money. I just prefer to use the extra cash elsewhere. Never bring one with you... but always get out with one... there a free spot on your head for it. :)

just started playing tarkov and have been loving it, anyway you are extremely underrated and deserve more than 3k subs, keep up the great work.

Ricochet chance is higher depending on angle i think this could've been tested here. There's a bunch of conflicting information on it but i believe it's in the wiki to

This wipe it does feel like I’ve had a lot more helmet ricochets save me than usual so that’s why I wear them, they’re not very expensive and can basically grant you a second life more times than you’d realize, especially cuz most gunfights aren’t gonna be as simple as aiming straight on the head like in these tests

Thanks for the guide bro really useful

this is one of the best put together helmet videos iv seen. take my sub good man!!

This is so sick, love it!!!!!

I've had too many close calls where my helmet saved me to ignore. Several times I hadn't realized I got shot in the head until I saw my gear/health screens. Same goes for Condors (Balistic glasses)

I've had a M80 ricochet off my SSH and I've never looked back since and paired with prapor 15k headset with a paca and you're golden

wonderful video idea and execution on the idea

Thanks for taking the time and doing it right!

it also very much depends on the angle, if you shoot them straight dead on, its just absorbing the shot as armor does vs deflecting because you shot it at a less aggressive angle

As a player with 4k hours in the game, I've sold all my ulach because they slightly reduce game audio which is a bit annoying because enemies hear you before you hear them. Secondly, I only play labs, so meta rounds punch through lvl 4 and you're relying on ricochet chance which is basically the same as wearing a pens helmet or a tk fast mt. That being said, I have enough money to afford slaap plates (just mount them on a tk fast mt for the least ergo penalty) which are lvl 5 and eat m855a1, m995, m62 and some 7.62 bp. Especially when you get into a headpeek fight or a straight fight, having your vulnerable head hitbox basically halved is insane. If you can afford the bastion with the slaap then you can eat several 7.62x39 bp and a burst of 556, it's op.

Hey man! Really love these videos, it's got some useful information. I also really appreciate the thorough testing. If I can offer some quick feedback: I'm watching these with headphones on, and there is a lot of "mouth sound" in the audio. It's the natural sound that's made when a person talks, but when it comes in like this when watching with headphones it feels a bit like you're talking very close to my ear (kinda the same effect as "ASMR" but probably not intended, haha). Maybe I am a little extra sensitive to this from having worked as a sound engineer, but it is a tad distracting. You can usually fix this easily by just recording a few more inches away from the mic. Not a deal breaker by any means, but I think if you did that it would be the "chef's kiss"👌for future videos. Thanks for making this awesome content! I've subscribed. 😄

Awesome video man I wondered this for a while now. I’ve actually started running around helmetless feels liberating haha

helmets can be good early wipe or when farming raiders, usually the ammo used is low pen and the helmet can take it. late wipe I usually just wear hats for the drip, or the fast MT replica or shattered mask for ricochet chance (had the fake MT bounce a 7.62 m62 round once before)

genuinely love the Vulkan this wipe bro saves my life so much.

I think it will be based of your personal luck! Whenever I’m pvping I bounce bullets like crazy but the scavs always get me so I think it’s really just a personal choice! If you bring a helmet you can always change it out for a better one to sell.

thnx for this vid!!!

Although we've probably got a video of it somewhere already.. Are you interested in doing an armour video as well? This was super informative..When i get back into tarkov, i'm wearing helmets! thank you!

Only time I remember a helmet saving me from losing a fight (not included times when it stopped a round, but I still died after anyway) was once When my blue helmet ricochet a m80 on factory

I usually sell anything that isn’t a shattered mask, ulach or altyn. I don’t buy helmets, but I never go without one cause I always have them laying around.

Personally I love headgear. I've had rounds bounce off my helmet multiple times so far this wipe(0.13), a lot more than I would have expected

Thank you. I will continue to use the SSH to increase my chances of survival against particularly spicy scavs.

They've saved me a few times but I stopped running them as frankly it's rare so it's guaranteed money for unlikely benefit - better spent on a gun imo. From my own observations the Ssh does come in clutch sometimes when ive got a dead on headshot, I was actually expecting it to bounce 7.62 PS given how often I've had that happen when shooting someone in the nog. What I never go without is a face covering so my glowing-ass face hotbox doesn't get me shot. The faces are so visible it's crazy.

The issue I always see with armor/helmet effectiveness tests in Tarkov is that the overall scope of the testing is, while practical practical, limitingly narrow. For example, while an Altyn will almost always save you from a headshot, the test fails to factor in other possible outcomes, like getting leg meta'd, or dying from center-mass body shots. In those instances, your helmet contributed nothing to your survivability, and it just ends up as a sunk cost. However if you run kits that are expensive enough, or on average gather a certain amount of raw loot value in a raid, a helmet saving your life even once could potentially result in you saving more than what those helmets cost even in the raids where they ended up doing nothing. For example, if a helmet saves me in 1/10 raids, and the helmet costs 10K, then as long as my kit and/or loot averages out at over 100K my helmet will eventually pay itself back. Actually calculating this out would require more than just testing, but an actual colossal amount of raw data across a huge spectrum of players that realistically only BSG will ever have access to. While I could just say "Most helmets won't save me, they're mostly not worth bringing" I can't help but feel dissatisfied at that answer as a player who loves cost-effectiveness.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the angle getting hit at matters, regardless in many counter sniping scenarios where we are 100+ meters apart helmets have saved me many times also getting shot from behind, just yesterday I got up behind a guy with an ssh as a player scav and it simply didn’t penetrate and my poor revolver shotgun didn’t stand a chance but primarily it saves you getting dinged from far away One thing to keep in mind also is that sometimes a helmet will save you without you noticing or dying to follow up shots

I've had 60 pen rounds bounce off the dinky little replica tac kek around 7-8 during my second wipe, that thin is stupidly good for a cheap price

your mic so so bass-y and its massaging my head Thank you

thankyou for taking the time to do all these tests, it has concluded for me that i should never wear a helmet, scav never headshot me. and i run sks. or aks. level 4-5 helmets are more expensive then insurance which i dont pay.

Great info! Nothing under ULACH from now on for me!! Also call me Test B.

They've saved my life probably 5-6 times this wipe. More useful for scav protection than chad pmc protection 👍

Hey Jonny! What microphone do you use? :) Nice and interesting video, liked it

Ulach for sure saved me from many 7.62 ak rounds many times

My thing with the ssh is the richochet chance, I don’t expect any helmet I wear that’s tied 4 or under to stop a single round from a player. The ssh is 20k and I’ve had it bounce M61 on two separate occasions so good enough for me.

One major thing I took away from this video was that It’s ridiculous that the 7.62 aks and .308 guns have less recoil than the 5.45 aka and .556 guns 😢

tyvm

ive had the tier 1 tank helmet bounce shots more than other helmets lol

great video !! but every time i go labs i use an altyn and it saved me a lot of times, and im not talking in the early game.

I've been saved by tier 3+ helmets only like 10 times and almost always on reserve. the fast mt replica bout 30ish times from scavs and what not in 1700 hours and for 12-15k its def worth it when im stash running and a cheeki scav in a bush i cant see at night time lights me up while i have 1mil~ worth of loot in my backpack. Not to mention it takes nvg's, racc, cheap eye visor. BUT, the condors on the other hand. those bad boys are nasty. ate 3 7.62 BP's in 1 fight and they went down to 17.3/25. Condors are never something I go out of my way to buy or level ragman for but it saves from some Ridiculously high pen ammo, its either divine intervention or its something to do with how their hitbox is modelled since the instance I just talked about was a head on fight and ricochet depends on -Tier-X-Chance- and the angle of being shot. In this vid all helmets are being shot straight on and some of the worse bullets were 1 tapping whereas they mostly save from side top of head and behind the head shots.

I've never bought a helmet past week 3 of the wipe, I use what I find in raid (Nvg raids are an exception, I'll buy the lvl1 tac kek)

I mostly wear them for the ricochet chance /nvgs

Since acident where my teammate mistook me for enemy and unloaded 20 rounds (don't remember caliber it was either 5.45 BP or 7.62 BP/pst) I'm always brining one. Thx to EXFIL I survived on slighter of health with black head.

good job

Oh we’ve reached this point of the wipe

I've been playing tarkov for 3 years now? Maybe 4, and I can honestly say that I usually only run the bowl helmet or the ulach. I can't tell you how many times that green bowl has saved my life. If I'm running super thick for fun though, altyns and Rhys are fun big boy helmets but not practical

the vulkan is insane

It depends on time of wipe. Early i go to tier 4 helmet as fast as i can. Past 3 Weeks when everyone can pen class 4 consistently i downgrade to the replica. High riccocent low penaltys. Or no helmet depending on map.

I play pretty slow so im often an easy shot when im sneaking. Ive had a moment where took a head hit and the second round passed through my chest and hit the wall in front of me, giving me enough time to realise where im getting shot from and get to cover. Maybe later in wipe i might end up just using the ssh or the 6b23 for scavs and high ricochet but helmets work for my playstyle. Maybe not worth it for chads that take fights with 50/50 peeks of who gets (head,eyes) first, but im on the rat lyfe.

I have survived way too many headshots because of helmets in the past as well as my enemies. An enemy survived a headshot on an ulach from BT 7.62x54R

given that this ignores ricochet chance, i would probably still run something like the SSH if i want potential ricochets + scav protection, but given how rare it is for them to not hit you in the eyes, i usually go without a helmet unless i’m using T4

havent worn helmets on a few wipes mostly for the faster movement speeds on the majority of my raids. i will use the heavy trooper or the team wendy for swag points to flex on friends but thats about it. seems to work for me. same feeling with heavy movement penalty armor. i dont like slowing down my reaction times and it works for me. most of my deaths are head eyes anyways so i gave up on helmets early. happy hunting.

I love helmets and typically i use to use headphones + helmets but ever since i've just been getting my shit rocked my shotgun scavs or no-life streamers i kinda started using the ZSH and loving it, but on woods i'll typically choose a lighter kit with no helmet and just a beanie or mask to help me blend in and it works for me because of my slower play style. All in all: Helmets are worth it and get headphones if you can, i personally just dont use them unless i loot them anymore.

Slap plates underrated. I tanked M995, BP, M62,M61 and a bunch of shitty rounds of course

Kolpack is good against heavy rain noise.

I've shot a few heads wearing helmets, they all went down after one or two shots anyways, especially late game it doesn't really matter unless it's a Vulcan every raid

One important factor to look into- low tier helmets are not the best line of defense against rifles but kolpak with faceshield combined with tarbank armor is the cheapest solution for dealing with shotgun users as they let you survive buckshot at distance above 10 meters There is even cheaper solution called skill/movement/positioning but its not always guaranteed atleast from my end ;)

The lshz-2dtm is so slept on😢

I've been with the game for 4 wipes at this point and what usually do is maybe use penis helmets the first month or so, but after that people are running enough pen that it's worthless really, so I either run a thermal facemask with a black usec cap or the lvl 1 armor skull mask because it has a high ricochet chance and covers the whole face, so it doesn't matter if they're shooting m61 or m995, the ricochet chance has saved me more than helmets have, spend 20k on the lvl 1 mask or 30-60k on a helmet just to get sprayed and that 1 bullet hits your face. In the end I half the reason I run the mask is style, but if I feel even cheaper I'll just run that thermal mask and cap, perhaps some protective goggles to complete to look and honestly, not having any of the negative impact stats from helmets such as slower turn speed, noise reduction (looking at you ulach) and lower ergo really does make you feel very flexible and can especially help with those fast flicks. But that's also because of my playstyle, I was always the one that tries to go around hotspots and kill the people as they are in their "traveling to / from" mindset, for example when my boys would go into dorms, I'd stay outside in the woods and watch / listen the perimeter, they'd play chad inside and I'd pick off some random scavs and maybe a pmc or 2 trying to go around dorms or going to construction via the road, 95% of the time I was the one first engaging and they were dead before they'd fire back.

to answer the question without even watching the video is a YES. All High Ricochet helms are recommended.

The vulkan is crazy strong dang.

I have not worn a helmet all wipe so far. Whenever I get one it’s usually as a scav and I sell it.

Helmets have saved my life and the lives of my friends (in game) on many occasions. I love all the people that say they're worthless and don't wear them, easy kills.

You need to test all the helmets with all tipe of ammo and simulate by different weapons

I agree with previous comments about the angle of the shot affecting the ricochet chance. Also you did not consider range. At short distance, helmets can be penetrated easily. On longer ranges, bullet loses velocity and at 200m a 7.62 might be the same as 9mm at 25m distance.

@jonnyboosock what sight is that at 15:50?

Yes, a untar helmet bounced my m855a1. YES

good video

you should always have a ssh or a 6b47 just from killing scavs just pick one up in raid and its not like you cant get either of these for less then 15k sometimes on flea

I'm kinda sad the Kolpak didnt survive one riccocet once, cause, one time I've bounced a 7.61x54 LPS amd won the fight due to it

Shattered mask 10/10 would buy again.

early to mid game tier 4 helmets are legit op..

Considering ricochet and the very very minor debuffs helmets like the BSh and ULACH provide there is just no reason to not grab one. Like you pay 30k for a BSh and your good against scavs and have a none zero chance to bounce stupid stuff and survive. Then when you can get a ULACH you can both bounce stuff and actually have semi consistent protection against most bullets so why not pay the 70k for that chance? Its basically like buying insurance, pay a little extra before a raid and you get a chance to keep your stuff

I always use a helmet and 60% of the times they save my run from an insta death in the head, and i don't use face shields, i get killed mostly for a thorax shot or get fired at will

Only thing that remotly matter is cover+ricochet, unless you use t5+ helmets/masks once ur past first month of wipe due to lots of the aggresive players has already reached 855a1 or 762 bp by that point which pens level 4 and below like nothing. Like personal favorite is a bastion slap with condors for a lvl 6 head protection+ medium ricochet for head eyes while still being able to wear headphones

you should have tested the gray mask faceshield. ;) saved my life most of the time from the front like a champ.

Interesting I haven't played seriously in several wipes and tended to skip the helmet or just go penis helmet or broken mask but I know some changes were made in recent wipes and they seem much stronger. Some of these helmets look ridiculously strong. I'm not sure any of them should really be stopping something more than twice that's bigger than 9mm and class should just come down to how big of a bullet they can stop. With the prevalence of the UMP early this wipe I can see why helmets appeared more effective this wipe. I also know M856A1and M855A1 were somewhat falling out of the meta recently in part due to the availably of 7.62 BP but also do struggles getting one taps on headshots. I wasn't expecting such a large difference between the two rounds though.

I always run helmets at the start of wipe since everyone doesn't have good ammo, late wipe I just run a boss cap for the drip every one using heavy hitters anyway so kinda pointless for helmets

The biggest flaw with this test is that at a direct 90 degree shot on every helmet, Rico chance means nothing, and it's entirely up to the armor class of the helmet. What needs to be tested are the angles off of 90 that are the real factor for which rounds will bounce.

YES

Someone has blacked my head with a ssh with 5.56 and I got out before adrenaline wore off

i startet playing shattered-mask only and it feels way better.. kinda ^^

good vid yeah algorithm comment wooo

I feel like we need more armored masks that would be more fun

Ricochet chance alone makes them worth using if you can spare. If I had a nickle for everytime a shattered mask tanked a round for me.

ulach best helm in game and only helm ill run. Saved me way more than any other helm does.

The Ushanka is the best helmet obviously

Really the only helmet you should be running are ones with a visor or the level 3 Ratnik. Level 4 helmets are kinda excessive

Why no exfil testing :(((((

when headeyes head jaw and super zoom scopes are a thing you dont need a helmet

I ate a round from Gluhar in the head today in Labs during the event. No, it didn’t hit my helmet. I have no idea how I survived.

in My personal experience I already survived 2 M62 shots with the replica fast MT

i used to run without helmet alot , until my SSH (wore it just for cosmetic) give me headache after bouncing 2 M61 shots (i know what bullet shot at me since i died right after with 1 thorax shot) , now i always bring my trusty SSH , it is about 20k roubles, it's not that expensive (and it always comback from insurance =D )

The profanity from the AI's as they are tormented by headshots = priceless 😂

NOW THATS A LOT OF TESTS!