Payday 2 lets you live out your criminal fantasies as you infiltrate various locations and make off with millions of dollars in cash. While heisting is fun, it can be quite difficult due to the number of mechanics and systems at play so this is where we come in. In this guide, we’ll review the seven best beginner tips for Payday 2.
From understanding how to accept contracts and view intel to understanding the right skills, this guide has it all. Without wasting any more time, let’s get into it.
7. Learn how to accept missions and view intel
To pick up different missions and heists, you’ll need to go to Crime.Net, which can be accessed either through the main menu or in the basement of the safe house on the laptop.
As you open Crime.Net and look at the city map, you’ll see many different missions/heists with different difficulty levels. The lower the difficulty level, the lesser the reward of the heist.
Initially, you’re restricted to only a few heists, but as you level up, more will appear. You can filter out heists on the map so that it shows you heists nearby/far/worldwide that are being carried out by other teams that are not full.
If you roll your cursor over the missions/heists, you’ll see whether the team is in the game lobby or already playing. Random people are shown by a blue host name, whereas friends are represented by green host names. Pro jobs are red.
Once you’ve selected your mission, you’ll be asked for a confirmation of everything, including whether you want to play with a backup AI team in case you decide to play solo.
Next, you’ll see the Intel screen. Here, you can see any pictures, blueprints, or other information that your contacts have managed to acquire and that will help you during the heist. More information can be purchased for a price, which can make the mission easier.
6. Understand Safehouses
As you start the game for the first time, a pop-up box appears inviting you to the “safe house.” This serves as a basic beginner’s tutorial for those who haven’t played the game’s prequel (Payday: The Heist).
You can skip going to the safe house and get in through the main menu. The safe house is a place where you can polish your fighting skills, especially when you buy new weapons or other gadgets.
The safe house also allows you to see the pile of your cash grow as you complete more and more robberies/heists. However, visiting the safe house is optional during any time of the game, if you decide to visit it at all that is
5. Play with friends
Payday 2 is built around co-op gameplay, with every heist allowing you to take up to three additional squad mates to help you. While you can pass every heist with bot teammates, they will most often hinder your true potential as they don’t operate as intelligently as a real player.
Unlike real players, bots cannot communicate. While your teammates can give you specific shouts, ques bots can not, leaving you to rely on yourself more than you should, as a heist is a team effort.
One of the best tips for Payday 2 is to ensure you have a squad you can play with before you embark on your heisting spree. This will not only allow you to complete heists much quicker, but it will also allow you to take advantage of the team boost, which increases the amount of XP earned from every match.
4. Play at lower difficulties and work your way up
Payday 2 offers several difficulties for heists, letting you set your challenge level. Known as Risk Levels, these are all the available difficulties in the game:
- Normal
- Hard
- Very Hard
- Overkill
- Mayhem
- Death Wish
- Death Sentence
Normal is the easiest difficulty, with Death Sentence being the hardest. As the difficulty level increases, the number of enemy spawns rises, and they become smarter, investigating more diligently and thoroughly. They also become significantly more aggressive should you get discovered.
If you’re new to the game, it’s always a good idea to complete heists on lower difficulties so you can understand how everything works. Once you’re confident and able to complete a heist at a lower difficulty, select the next difficulty and keep going until you reach Death Sentence.
3. Take your time to understand the maps
There are over 60 heists in Payday 2 and each heist provides a unique experience in terms of both objectives and map layout. Every heist can be completed in several different ways, taking the number of permutations to the thousands
One of the best tips for Payday 2 is to take your time and understand the intricacies of every map and heist. In the bank heist, for example, you can disable security cameras by acquiring the manager’s keycard, which makes the heist significantly easier.
Similarly, every map has a number of these mini objectives that you would not pick up on if you don’t take the time to learn them.
2. Invest in the right skills
Perks and skills net you several advantages in Payday 2. Whether you’re a stealth expert or go in guns blazing, investing in perks and skills will make you a better heister. There are five main skill trees in the game;
- Mastermind: The mastermind skill tree focuses on healing and providing support to your crew through passive buffs.
- Enforcer: This skill tree is all about increasing your efficiency and effectiveness with weapons and grenades.
- Technician: The technician is the backbone of any good team in Payday 2. This skill tree primarily focuses on increasing your skills as a safe, vault, and door cracker and providing support for your teammates.
- Ghost: The ghost skill tree is built around enhancing your stealthing skills.
- Fugitive: This is another support class like the Mastermind that supports other heisters.
Take your time to understand which role you’re comfortable with and invest in skills accordingly. If you like to act as the muscle of the group, there is no better skill tree than the Enforcer. However, if you want to take the stealthier route, go with the Ghost.
There is no wrong or right way to use your perk skills, but generally, you should invest in a minimum of two skill trees and dip your toes into each one so you don’t write yourself into a corner.
1. Work on your stealth
Most heists in Payday 2 require you to stay in the shadows and move slowly as you covertly set up your operations and make off with the money. This requires an expert use of stealth as the entire operation gets thrown into chaos when you’re discovered.
One of the best tips for Payday 2 is to take your time and learn enemy patterns for different heists. You’ll know how to approach different sections of different heists. At higher difficulties, enemies become better at detecting you, which further steepens the learning curve.
Understanding the map and detection rates will make you a better heister and result in you making off with lots more money than if you weren’t.
