You’ve finally done it. You reached Level 18. You’ve been grinding through the slog of early-wipe Tarkov, surviving Head,Eyes from scavs, and hoarding enough corrugated hose to build a house. Now, Peacekeeper looks you in the eye and hands you a task that feels more like a social experiment than a tactical mission. It’s called EFT Break the Deal, and if you’ve spent any time on the Tarkov subreddits, you know exactly why people lose their minds over it.
It isn't just about shooting. It’s about timing.
Tarkov is a game defined by its friction. Battlestate Games (BSG) loves to make you choose between high-tier loot and actually progressing your character. This quest is a prime example. You’re sent into the meat grinder known as Lighthouse to find a specific deal going down between the Rogues and the Russian bosses. It sounds straightforward on paper, but in practice, Lighthouse is a map that eats players alive.
What is EFT Break the Deal Actually Asking of You?
To understand the frustration, we have to look at the specifics. Peacekeeper wants proof of a meeting. Specifically, he wants you to head to the Lighthouse map and find evidence of a negotiation between the local Rogues and the "Blueberry" UN forces or the Russian bosses, depending on how you read the lore scraps. In reality, you are looking for a very specific folder located in a very specific, very dangerous room.
The quest requires you to find the Information on the Deal. This item spawns inside the water treatment plant, specifically in Building 3. If you’ve played Lighthouse, you know that Building 3 is basically the inner sanctum of the Rogue AI. They have mounted machine guns. They have uncanny aim. They will beam you from 300 meters away with an AGS grenade launcher before you even see the compound.
Honestly, the hardest part isn't finding the folder. It's getting out.
Tarkov quests often follow this "find and extract" loop, but the density of AI on Lighthouse makes this one particularly nasty. You aren't just fighting players; you're fighting a computer that doesn't feel recoil and sees through bushes. You have to navigate the northern part of the map, infiltrate the plant, grab the intel from the desk in the office area of Building 3, and then somehow reach an extraction point like Southern Road or Path to Shoreline without getting sniped by a Bush Wookie.
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Why This Quest Gatekeeps Your Progression
Peacekeeper is the gatekeeper for Western gear. If you want those M4A1 mods, the high-tier NATO ammunition like M855A1, or those crisp LBT-1961A chest rigs, you have to keep him happy. EFT Break the Deal is a bottleneck. It sits right in the middle of his quest line. If you don't finish it, your access to high-quality optics and silencers stays locked behind a wall of "Out of Stock" or exorbitant Flea Market prices.
The lore here is actually kind of interesting, if you care about that stuff. Peacekeeper is a UN official who is clearly corrupt. He’s worried that a deal between the local factions will cut him out of the loop or expose his own shady dealings. By "breaking the deal," you're effectively ensuring that the chaos in Tarkov continues in a way that benefits his wallet. It’s dark. It’s gritty. It’s Tarkov.
Most people fail this quest because they rush. They spawn near the Southern Road, run full tilt toward the Water Treatment Plant, and get picked off by a player who spawned at the construction site. Lighthouse is a "long" map. It’s a corridor. Everyone is moving in the same direction, which means you are constantly walking into someone’s back or having someone walk into yours.
Surviving the Water Treatment Plant
If you’re going to tackle EFT Break the Deal, you need a plan. Don't go in with a pistol and a dream. You need a scoped rifle. You have to clear the Rogues on the roofs of Building 1 and Building 2 before you even think about approaching Building 3. If those heavy machine guns are manned, you are a dead man walking.
Building 3 is on the far north side of the plant.
Inside, the intel is usually sitting on a desk in one of the small office rooms. It looks like a thin, nondescript folder. Once you pick it up, it goes into your quest inventory. This is key: it doesn't take up space in your actual backpack, but if you die, you lose it. You have to find it again. This is where the "Tarkov Taken" moments happen. You’ve got the intel, you’re 50 meters from the extract, and a player-scav with a TOZ shotgun hits you in the face.
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The psychological toll is real. You spend 25 minutes clearing Rogues, looting carefully, and staying quiet, only for it to end in a black screen. But that's the draw, right? The stakes are high. When you finally do extract with that folder, the hit of dopamine is stronger than any other shooter on the market.
How to Handle the Rogue AI
The Rogues are the biggest hurdle for EFT Break the Deal. They operate on a set of rules that are different from standard Scavs. If you are a USEC player, they might be "neutral" to you at first—unless you get too close or shoot at them. If you’re a BEAR? Good luck. They will engage you on sight from incredible distances.
Here is the thing: the Rogues are predictable. They sit in the same spots. They man the same guns. Experienced players use "right-hand peeks" to exploit the AI's targeting. If you show only a tiny sliver of your body from behind a wall, the AI often struggles to lock on. If you wide-swing a corner? You're going back to the stash.
- Night Raids: This is the pro tip. Rogues have significantly reduced vision range at night. If you bring a cheap pair of NVGs (like the PNV-10Ts), you can often sneak into Building 3 without the roof snipers even noticing you.
- The "Slow" Approach: Don't be the first person in the plant. Wait. Let the other PMCs in the lobby fight the Rogues. Let them soak up the bullets. Often, you can stroll in at the 15-minute mark, find the bodies of the Rogues already cleared, and grab your intel in peace.
- Weapon Choice: Bring something with high velocity. A 5.56x45mm or .308 rifle is best. You need to be able to drop a Rogue with a single headshot from distance. If you miss, they turn toward you, and then the "fun" begins.
Tactical Reality vs. Player Expectation
A lot of players complain that EFT Break the Deal is "broken" or "unfair." Usually, this is because the spawn points on Lighthouse are notoriously unbalanced. If you spawn at the very south of the map, you have to run past five or six other spawn points just to get to the Water Treatment Plant. By the time you get there, the "loot goblins" have already stripped the place bare.
But the quest doesn't care about the loot. It only cares about that folder.
Even if the plant has been picked clean, the quest item will still be there for you. It’s a static spawn for your character specifically. This means you don't have to beat everyone else to the spot—you just have to survive the journey. I’ve seen players successfully do this by hiding in a bush for the first 20 minutes of the raid, eating a MRE and drinking some juice, and then moving once the chaos has died down. It’s not the most "heroic" way to play, but in Tarkov, survival is the only metric that matters.
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The Rewards: Is It Worth the Stress?
Once you hand that folder over to Peacekeeper, you get a decent chunk of XP, some USD (which is vital for buying high-end Western gear), and a boost to your reputation. More importantly, it unlocks the next set of tasks in the chain. Peacekeeper’s quests eventually lead you toward some of the best rewards in the game, including the ability to buy the legendary M855A1 ammo directly from him once you hit Level 4 loyalty.
Without finishing EFT Break the Deal, you’re essentially playing with one hand tied behind your back once you reach the mid-to-late game. You'll be forced to rely on whatever you can scavenge or pay five times the price for on the Flea Market.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Raid
If you are stuck on this quest right now, stop bashing your head against the wall. Change your tactics.
First, go into an "Offline Raid" with AI turned on. Practice your route from the shoreline into Building 3. Learn where the Rogues stand. If you can't clear them in an offline raid where there's no pressure, you won't do it in a live raid with 11 other PMCs hunting you.
Second, check your server settings in the launcher. Sometimes selecting one or two specific servers with decent ping but lower player counts can give you a "quieter" Lighthouse raid. It's not a guarantee, but it helps.
Third, use the "V-Ex" (Vehicle Extract) if it's available. It's located near the bridge and can be a much faster way out than trekking all the way back to the southern part of the map. Just make sure you have 5,000 Roubles in your secure container.
Finally, don't do this quest solo if you can help it. Having a buddy to watch your back while you're looting the folder in Building 3 is the difference between life and death. One person suppressed the roof Rogues while the other grabs the intel. It’s a team game, even if it feels like everyone is out to get you. Grab your gear, check your mags, and get back in there. The deal isn't going to break itself.