In the Rats heist in Payday 2, Contractor Hector wants you to cook up meth and provide it to a rival gang in exchange for information that will hopefully lead to his enemies who are attempting to flee.
The Rats heist is considered one of the toughest in the game. This is primarily due to the grueling first day. We’ll cut down to the chase and show you how to complete the heist and what consequences certain choices can have on other mission days.
Rats Heist Day #1 (Cook Off)
The first day of the Rats heist is probably the hardest one in Payday 2. You’ll start outside a building that belongs to Hector. It also happens to house the meth lab. Your initial objective is to get into the building and have the cooks create the meth required for the deal. However, they are soon killed by the Mendoza gang members.
Now, not only will you have to kill the gang members, but you’ll also have to fend off the incoming police while simultaneously cooking the meth yourself. After killing off the gang members, you’ll need to locate three key ingredients that will be used to cook the meth. The ingredients can be found in the following locations.
- Trunk of the truck near the back of the house
- Shed at the back of the house
- Shed near the front of the house
- Basement of the house
- First floor bathroom of the house
The ingredients are Caustic Soda, Muriatic Acid, and Hydrogen Chloride. Once you have all three items, make your way back to the house to start cooking the meth. Baine will be in your ear giving you the instructions on what ingredients to add.
Baine often misunderstands his instructions, so wait for him to correct himself and clarify the ingredients. If you use the incorrect chemical at a given time, the lab could explode, downing any player near it and setting the second story on fire.
You need to cook up at least three bags of meth for a successful Day 2 for the Rats heist in Payday 2. However, there are enough ingredients to cook up to seven bags.
The real problem, however, is the fact that you’ll have to fend off the police while cooking the meth. It is recommended that you assign a specific role to every team member to optimize the heist:
- Role 1: cook meth
- Role 2: bring the bags of meth to the getaway van
- Role 3: fend off the cops
- Role 4: cover the windows with planks
Once you’ve cooked up the amount of meth you can (remember, no less than three bags), get to the extraction van and make your escape. On higher difficulties (Pro and Overkill) as you make your escape, you’ll be ambushed by Cloakers. They hide underneath the getaway van and by the wall nearest to the van.
Be aware of them and always be prepared to face one final challenge before day two begins.
Rats Heist Day #2 (Code for Meth)
For Day 2, your group will arrive at the territory of a rival gang, The Cobras. They know the whereabouts of Mendoza – the individual Hector wants dead and how he plans to move out of Washington.
The bags of meth you cooked last night are your leverage in this situation. Should the deal go according to plan, you’ll be led to a safe with the information. However, several factors can affect the outcome, resulting in the Cobra’s burning intel. The deal will fall through if;
- You come in with less than three bags of meth
- Too many players attempt to get the information
- A player attacks a gangster
- A player attempts to push past a gangster
- A player sprints in front of the gangsters
- A player is looking down the sights of a weapon
- The gangsters ambush the players after they place the meth bags on the car
- The gangsters attack the group while they are in route to get the info
- The gangsters attack the group as they are about to get their info
- A player takes back a bag of meth once it is traded
If you feel that you can’t pull off a successful deal, you can stealthily sneak in and take the intel by yourself. If you are caught, you’ll have to gun your way through to get the intel before they destroy it.
The best strategy for going in stealthily is to use a silenced weapon while crouching and thoroughly searching all three buildings until you find the intel in the Rats Heist in Payday 2.
Once you have the intel or it is destroyed, you’ll have to return to your extraction van. If you’re feeling greedy, you can choose to take back the bags of meth for some extra cash.
Rats Heist Day #3 (Bus Stop)
Day 3 can be very simple or very hard, depending on how cash-hungry you are. Alex drops you off on a bridge where the FBI is escorting Mendoza and his gang members out of Washington.
You have to move down the bridge to the bus and kill all the members. However, the bus also has around 12 to 16 bags of cash in it. You can steal these bags and have them extracted by a second helicopter.
The big problem though is that the majority of the bags have C4 charges in them, which must be disarmed before the bags can be taken, otherwise, they’ll destroy the bus.
If you failed to acquire the intel on Day 2, then you won’t be able to disarm the bombs. If you did manage to get the intel, then your crew will need to move the bags into cover and get ready to fend off the police assault from both directions.
You’ll have to defend yourself and your bag till the extraction helicopter (for the bags) arrives. Throw in the bags, and then get ready to have yourself extracted by Alex.
At any point of the mission, you can retreat to Alex and escape, but if you did get the intel, then you should make it count.
Rats Heist Key Locations
The Gage SpecOps Pack update for Payday 2 added a new side objective to many heists including this one. Essentially, you have to locate hidden items around the map. Finding all these items unlocks a new weapon for you to use. in Day 1 and 2, you have to find a total of ten keys (five each for both days) and on Day 3, you have to find five cases during the Rats heist in Payday 2.
Day 1 – Key 1
The first key can be found on the third shelf of the shed in the front of the house.
Day 1 – Key 2
the next key is located on the second shelf of the shed in the back.
Day 1 – Key 3
Key number three is on top of the washing machine in the basement of the house.
Day 1 – Key 4
The fourth key is on top of the microwave on the house’s ground floor.
Day 1 – Key 5
the fifth and final key can be found on the window sill in the right-most room on the second floor.
Day 2 – Key 1
The first key can be found on top of the white dresser in the room with the two Cobra gang members. The room is on the third floor of the leftmost building.
Day 2 – Key 2
The second key is located in a box on the stairs of the right building. The box is next to a white, inaccessible door.
Day 2 – Key 3
Key 3 can be found on the counter of the kitchen, inside the room that’s to the right of key 2.
Day 2 – Key 4
Key 4 is found in the same room, on top of a brown dresser behind the TV
Day 2 – Key 5
The final key is located on the kitchen counter (next to the toaster) of the room that’s accessible when taking a left right after you exit the room with keys 3 and 4.
Day 3 – Case 1
The first case is found on the left side of the bridge, on the other side of the railings.
Day 3 – Case 2
The next case is found in a similar position on the right side of the bridge. You should be able to see the bus directly in front of you.
Day 3 – Case 3
After you pick up case 2, simply head in the direction of where you started to find the next case.
Day 3 – Case 4
Head straight across the bridge from where you picked up case 3 to the gap in the fence to find case 4.
Day 3 – Case 5
For the final case, simply head back a few steps to pick it up.
Rats job Achievements/Trophies list
Several Achievements/Trophies are associated with the Rats heist in Payday 2. We’ve listed them below, along with the requirements to unlock them:
| Trophy/Achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Cooking for Dummies | Complete the Rats job on normal or higher difficulty |
| Get the Rat Poison! | Complete the Rats job on hard or higher difficulty |
| Infestation | Complete the Rats job on very hard or higher difficulty |
| Science Expertise | Complete the Rats job on Overkill or higher difficulty |
| Captain Cook | Complete the Rats job on Mayhem or higher difficulty |
| Breaking Bad | Complete the Rat heist on Death Wish or higher difficulty |
| Exterminator | Complete the Rat heist on Death Sentence or higher difficulty |
| My Chemical brothers | Complete the Rat heist on Death Sentence or higher difficulty with the One Down mechanic in use |
| Caribbean Pirate | On Day 2, bring more than three bags of meth but steal |
| Cooking with Style | Successfully finish the Rats job at Overkill difficulty while your crew has General Overkill masks, Combined Tactical Vests, Vulcan Miniguns and HRL-7 Rocket Launchers equipped |
| F in Chemistry | Blow up the meth lab on Day 1 |
| Four Monkeys | Successfully finish the Rats job at Overkill difficulty while each of your crew members has a different mask from the Shotgun Pack equipped |
| Full Measure | On Day 1, secure seven bags of math without blowing up the lab |
| I Am the One Who Knocks | Cook three bags of meth on Day 1 without a single police officer entering the house |
| Short Fuse | On Day 3, escape with 7 bags and without diffusing any bombs |
