Payday 2 – Five Tips for a Successful Heist

Payday 2 – Five Tips for a Successful Heist

Mar 18, 2015Alessio CalaGuides & Cheats0

With the recent sale of up to 80% off of Payday 2 on steam, there’s no doubt that this great offer has brought in many new players to the Payday series. In Payday, those who plow through alone wind up becoming a liability if they are taken down, the key is working together as a solid team. Here are five tips for those of you looking to find or form a crew and succeed in even the most insanely difficult of heists.

1. Communication.

Communication is essential when cooperating with a crew, if you don’t, you might end up misunderstanding, unable to warn your team about the fuzz or even being left behind. If you have a headset, use it, it might make the difference and you might end up making new friends that can potentially evolve into a tight knit crew of professionals. Alternatively, the text chat feature is equally as useful. You can also request a teammate follow you by looking at them and pressing ‘F’. These features are good for conveying information: A timer on the drill, the location of a guard, the plan, all these little heads up touches of info are really useful to know when the heat is on and the pressure is applied… communicate.

2. Vary your Loudouts.

I know you’ve been saving up for that awesome assault rifle and you really want to give it a run for your money, but what is everybody else taking on the job? Always check the ‘Crew Setup’ menu before readying up to see if there is a variety of equipment and range of weapons being brought in. If you’re hitting a small jewellery store, not everybody needs a large assault rifle, get a guy to bring a shotgun for the close range firepower and threat aspect. If your crew are packing extra ammo bags, be the guy to bring a doctor bag. Whether your approach is Stealth/Loud is also a huge decision factor. If you’re taking the stealthy approach, take a lighter vest for concealment and a weapon that is equipped with a suppressor. If a teammate owns a saw, bring it, it can drastically cut down your time in and out which is always a great help. Discuss with the team, plan accordingly and proceed.

3. Know your Role.

Few scores ever go smoothly, especially when you and your crew aren’t clear on who’s doing what. If you want to know you can count on a person to do something, assign everybody a job to do. There are a mix of roles a crew member can take and the more familiar you are with doing it, the more your team can count on you. Example: Person A takes the drill, stays close to it, guards it, bags the money. Person B deals with crowd control, moving the hostages, making sure everybody is intimidated and nobody tries to escape or be a hero. Person C can deal with entry/exit points, guarding the back door, keeping an eye out to see if cops try to flank and breach an entry point (always great to check the map to overlook how many there are). Finally, Person D protects covers the crew, eyes on the streets while the others transports the bags, checks perimeters and keeps everybody safe and together. These are just a few examples of roles to distribute to evenly spread out the team’s work and keep everybody alive, try it out and see how well you can cooperate.

4. Know your Entry/Exit points.

As The Dentist says, “Planning is everything.” I’ve brought it up here in many points due to the reoccurring experience of having an impatient player type, “Go.” or “Start.” in the chat. That’s usually the same short tempered player who blames you for the failure of the mission that they couldn’t be bothered to prepare for in the first place. It’s as simple as looking over the map layout, study it, learn it, it might come in handy. If you initially planned to go out the front but a pack of SWAT teams are storming in, knowing that there’s that side fire escape could make all the difference.

5. Do not hesitate. Not for a second.

You either go in full-heartedly or you don’t do it at all. Pulling off a successful heist takes experience, knowledge and commitment. Once you’ve identified a threat, eliminate it, do not give the target time to get one over on you, they won’t hesitate, neither should you. You don’t let anything stand in your way. Your life is more valuable than your potential score, you take what you can and get out of there. When I play Payday 2, I occasionally hear the voice of De Niro’s character Neil McCauley, a famous quote from the movie Heat.

“Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.”

It essentially reminds me that if things get too intense, leave the rest behind, don’t get greedy, it’s not worth the potential failure of the operation. If a teammate is down in the next room, go help right away, if its crowded, take cover, call for backup and do whatever it takes to get them back on their feet. Do not hesitate, and most importantly, have fun!