While likely the niche gameplay style in Payday titles, stealth is one of the most stimulating and exciting methods of completing any heist in the game. It’s a challenge that requires careful planning, a dedicated team, and patience. And sadly, it’s not for everyone. If your goal is to stealth any heist in Payday 3, then look no further. These tips and tricks will help you get in and get out clean!
What is Stealth Mode in Payday 3?
First and foremost, let’s go over stealth mode as a whole in Payday 3. While a vast majority of you fine bank robbers will wind up preferring loud for the thrill (or to recreate Heat), a specific niche within the community prefers to stealth every mission. It’s a rewarding challenge that, when done right, provides excellent rewards.
The stealth mode in Payday revolves around completing an entire heist without alerting security guards or police. It’s essential to remain quiet, lockpick the correct doors, shut off security systems, avoid cameras, and pickpocket the right cards and codes.
Tips and Tricks to Stealth Payday 3
To succeed at stealth in Payday 3, the following tips and tricks should give you a starting point. For the most part, successfully completing a heist totally in stealth revolves around trial and error.
Choosing the Right Skills for Stealth
First, consider the skills you select. You should optimize your build for stealth, and that means choosing the right skills, including:
- Quick Fingers: Found under the Infiltrator tree, Quick Fingers lets you pick any lock quickly with a single successful strike.
- Bagger: Another skill found under the Infiltrator tree, Bagger makes picking up loot faster and more efficient.
- Social Engineering: Found under the Grifter tree, Social Engineering ensures civilians ignore any illegal actions while unmasked.
- Open Mic: Another Grifter skill, Open Mic increases your time to respond to a guard’s radio.
- Secure Loop: A stealth skill found under the Hacker tree, Secure Loop allows you to loop camera footage so it won’t detect you.
There are, of course, many additional skills in the game designed with stealth in mind. Don’t hesitate to play around with other skills and find a stealth build that suits you.
Survey the Map
While you’re unmasked, you can take your time to explore and survey the map. Your goal is to find alternate routes of entry, escape routes, guard locations and pathing, and security systems, like cameras. The key here is patience. If you take your time and plan your route, you’ll find that getting into and out of the heist area becomes a breeze.
Hide Bodies
Unfortunately, as is common in the overall gameplay loop of Payday titles, things will occasionally go wrong. When that happens, don’t panic. Your instincts will tell you to don your mask and pull your primary to go guns blazing. Don’t! Instead, carefully and quietly respond to the guard’s radio, then hide the body. If it’s a civilian, resign yourself to paying the cleanup fee, then hide the body. The key is here: hide the body!
There are numerous backrooms and tucked-away corners where bodies fit perfectly. It’s almost like it’s by design, eh? Your goal is simply to avoid prying eyes and keep bodies away from any guard routes.
Bring Microcams
One of the most interesting gadgets you can bring in Payday 3 is the microcam. It’s a small, spy-like gadget you can deploy to keep track of guard movements. Even better is it’s totally undetectable by enemies.
To make use of the microcam, place it on high-traffic routes where you know guards pass by frequently. When a guard enters the frame, it will mark them for you.
Avoid the Lead Guard
When playing on higher difficulties, the game will throw a wrench in the works by introducing a lead guard on the map. This guard will only spawn on Overkill, which is the toughest difficulty mode in the game, thankfully. You’ll know it’s him by the baseball cap and unlimited pagers.
Unfortunately, killing the lead guard triggers alarms immediately, so avoid him like the plague. This is where the microcam comes in handy!
Choosing the Right Heist for Stealth in Payday 3
While Payday 3 features numerous heists and, for the most part, it’s entirely possible to stealth each one, there is a handful ideally suited for stealth gameplay. The most likely where you’ll succeed at stealth include:
Both of these heists involve thorough planning of guard routes and security systems, with stealth entry options available from multiple different points. The key is to, of course, get the loot and get out quietly.
