In Payday 2, the thrill lies in pulling off the perfect heist, whether you prefer the silent, strategic approach of stealth or the adrenaline-pumping chaos of a loud assault. Optimizing your perk decks, skills, and equipment is crucial for success in either playstyle. This guide provides effective starting points for building your ideal stealth or loud heister.
Stealth: The Silent Operator Build
A stealthy approach demands precision, patience, and a build tailored for minimizing detection. Here are some suggestions for the best stealth build in Payday 2.
Perk Deck:
- Burglar: This is the gold standard for stealth. It significantly speeds up crucial actions like bag moving, lock picking, and pager answering, making it indispensable for efficient heists. (Requires the Clover Character Pack)
- Note: The Yakuza perk deck, while offering movement speed, is not recommended for stealth as the health penalties make it extremely risky.
Essential Skills:
- Forced Friendship (Basic): From the Mastermind tree, this provides extra cable ties, vital for controlling civilians.
- Transporter (Basic): From the Enforcer tree, this allows you to throw bags further, reducing the time spent exposed.
- Parkour (Basic): Increases movement and ladder climbing speed, allowing for faster navigation.
- Note: Skills such as Stockholm Syndrome, and High Value Target are other potential options in a Stealth build but are not necessarily optimal for most stealth scenarios.
Weapons:
- High-concealment weapons are paramount. The Judge shotgun with a Silent Killer Suppressor and the Cavity 9mm pistol with a low-profile suppressor are excellent choices for their stopping power and discreetness.
Throwables:
- Quiet throwables like shurikens, throwing knives, or playing cards allow for silent takedowns and distractions.
Loud: The Armored Assault
When subtlety goes out the window, a loud build ensures you can survive and thrive in the ensuing firefight.
Perk Deck:
- Anarchist: This deck converts damage into armour regeneration, providing excellent survivability in prolonged engagements.
- Sociopath: This deck focuses on aggressive play, rewarding kills with armour and health regeneration, ideal for close-quarters combat.
Essential Skills:
- Iron Man (Basic): Significantly boosts your armour, essential for absorbing heavy damage.
- Underdog (Basic): Provides a damage bonus when surrounded by enemies, a common occurrence in loud heists.
- Scavenger (Basic): Increases ammo pickup range, crucial for maintaining sustained fire.
- Body Expertise (Basic): Converts a portion of headshot damage to body shots, improving damage output.
- Surefire (Basic): Increases magazine size for LMGs, SMGs and Assault rifles.
- Steady Grip (Basic): Improves weapon accuracy, vital for controlling recoil during extended firefights.
- Parkour (Basic): Increased movement speed is important even in loud heists.
- Optical Illusions (Basic): Decreases the chance enemies target you.
- Berserker (Basic): Increases damage as your health decreases, rewarding risky plays.
Weapons:
- Loud builds prioritize high damage and ammo capacity. The RPK LMG and the SpecOps SMG are solid choices, but weapon selection is flexible. Choose what suits your playstyle and ensures you have ample ammunition.
Throwables:
- Frag grenades and HE grenades are ideal for clearing groups of enemies and creating chaos.
Payday 2 offers vast customization, allowing you to adapt these builds to your preferences. Experiment with different combinations to find what works best for you. These builds provide a good foundation for both stealth and loud playstyles. Remember, the most important aspect is having fun and mastering the art of the heist.
