There is more to just remaining quiet and using silenced weapons when it comes to creating the best stealth build in Payday 3. You need to have the right set of stealth skills that complement each other for various bonuses.
While some of the starting heists are a bit easy to complete in stealth, the latter heists are probably going to give you trouble. Knowing how to build the best Payday 3 stealth loadout with weapons, skills, and equipment will give you a definite advantage.
Take note that the entire point of a stealth build is to remain unseen and undetected. You will look for ways to sneak past guards and security cameras and always try to avoid any form of confrontation.
With that in mind, weapons are not going to play a huge role, but silenced weapons are always great for stealth. The main thing that you will want to know though is the skills.
Best Payday 3 Stealth Build Loadout
Primary Weapon Slot: Car-4 with either the Scope or the Silencer attachment.
Secondary Weapon Slot: Signature 40 with either Obelisk or Snub Silencer.
Overkill Weapon Slot: HET-5 Red Fox Sniper.
Infiltrator: Infiltrator (Aced), Quick Fingers, Bagger.
Grifter: Grifter, Walk the Walk, Social Engineering, Open Mic.
Escapist: Escapist, Battering Ram.
Hacker: Hacker, Secure Loop, Glitch Protocol.
Deployable: Armor Bag.
Armor Lining: Standard Lining.
Throwable: Throwing Knife.
Tool: Motion Sensor/ECM Jammer.
Best stealth weapons in Payday 3
For our stealth build, we are going to be picking the Car-4 which is hailed as one of the best weapons in Payday 3. It works great with silencers like the Piped or the Cylindric. You can also make do with the Beveled Silencer if you’re a low-level player (level 6). Note that you would need to take down a few heists in Loud to level up this weapon and get the silencer.
Additionally, you can also use scopes on your weapon to scope out distant areas or to look at small details throughout the heist.
Unlike the Car-4 though, the Signature 40 pistol comes with a Silencer from the start i.e. without a level requirement. Not only that, the Signature 40 is also lightweight and insanely accurate, granting you decent mobility on your heists.
This increased mobility lets you move around the bank much quicker, easily avoiding guards and cameras. You’ll also be using this weapon when you grab hostages, so decent accuracy compensates adequately for the drop in damage in this case.
There are only two Overkill weapons you can find in Payday 3 – a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher. Though neither of these are stealth weapons, the HET-5 Red Fox Sniper is a better option to choose in this build.
This is because the scope that comes with this Sniper can be very useful in taking out snipers or picking out small details in inaccessible areas from afar.
You won’t really need a grenade launcher because it is too loud, and you’ll be able to take down most of the enemies with your primary and secondary weapons unless you’re in Overkill difficulty.
Best stealth skills in Payday 3
Something important to note here is that pretty much every skill here uses the Rush passive which is an excellent passive to have in any build.
Though each of these skill trees is helpful in Stealth, only a few selected skills in these trees can be considered the best stealth skills in Payday 3. Moreover, we will also be making one of the skills Aced to get the bonus.
Investing a second skill point in the first skill of any of the Skill Trees will make that skill an Aced Skill. In this Payday 3 Stealth Build, we will be Acing the Infiltrator Skill. Though you could Ace the rest of the skills too, it’s useless because they don’t provide a bonus effective in the stealth department.
The best part about these skills though, is that each one of the skills synergizes brilliantly with the others. The Infiltrator skill, for example, allows you to gain Rush when you kill an enemy with a throwing knife or pick a lock.
The Aced Infiltrator Skill goes a notch up and grants you Rush each time a guard begins to detect you. This Rush is very useful because you can use it to quickly escape the guard.
This skill goes well with the next skill in the line called Quick Fingers as this skill lets you pick a lock open with only a single, perfectly timed lockpick jiggle while Rush is active. The last skill of this tree, the Bagger skill, helps you move around your loot a lot quicker while Rush is active, aiding greatly in escape.
The base Grifter skill helps you greatly in casing mode by granting you Rush whenever you are within 1 meter of a civilian while unmasked. This is a great addition to this best Payday 3 Stealth build because you’ll mostly be walking around unmasked.
The Walk the Walk is an astounding skill to use as it does not allow cameras to detect you while you are unmasked and in a Rush state. This will help you greatly in your overall stealth.
The Social Engineering skill is another great addition because it makes the bank employees ignore any illegal activities you do in front of them while you are unmasked and in the Rush state.
Since we already have plenty of skills to grant you Rush, you’re pretty much free to do whatever you want with this skill equipped as long as there isn’t a guard around.
The Open Mic skill lets you answer significantly quicker than before, which is excellent if you need to kill a guard to progress through the heist and don’t have any spare radios on you.
As for the Escapist tree, the base skill grants you Rush after you sprint for three consecutive seconds. This is perhaps the simplest way you can achieve Rush, and it goes along well with the Quick Fingers skill as well.
The Battering Ram is a great skill that lets you break through locked doors with fair ease while your buff is activated. This will help you greatly whenever you’re having trouble getting around defenses or escaping altogether.
The last skill tree contributes to making this the best Payday 3 Stealth build because it’s concerned with hacking – which you need to do a lot in a heist.
The base skill, Hacker, allows you to hack cameras and use them to scope out the bank, letting you identify any potential threats or bonus equipment. The Secure Loop skill adds on by allowing you to loop footage on a particular camera, making it completely unable to spot you.
Lastly, the Glitch Protocol skill is one of the best skills you can have if you want to get out of a troubling situation. This skill allows you to hack the radio of a particular guard, distracting them from what they were doing for a few seconds.
This also works if the guard has caught you and is trying to detain you, but you do need to have the guard in your line of sight to hack his radio.
Best stealth equipment in Payday 3
Starting with simple Throwables, the Throwing Knife would be the best thing to have on you if you’re planning to go through the heist in Stealth mode.
This is especially true if you don’t have a silenced weapon on you. Since you usually don’t have to kill many guards in Stealth, a simple headshot with a Throwing Knife would do the trick.
Though if you do have a silenced weapon on you, the Throwing Knife can still be very useful in cases where you are caught mid-reload. Moreover, this is the only silent throwable in Payday 3, so it’s best to pick this one.
As for the Deployables, it’s best to have a little bit of extra armor with the Armor Bag on you if you manage to get caught and make the bank an all-out warzone.
This is especially useful with this Payday 3 Stealth build because you’re going to choose Standard Armor Lining as well. It is a great choice for this build because, in a normal stealth heist, you won’t need to have heavy armor on you. If you ever do manage to get caught, then that’s where you use the Armor Bag.
Moreover, the Standard Armor Lining also provides you with better mobility, which is always a great thing to have if you want to move around the bank all stealthy-like.
The Motion Sensor is a simple tool that marks a huge number of enemies within a three-meter radius of it. This is a useful tool if you want to scope out an area or avoid any surprises.
The ECM Jammer is a great alternative Tool that grants you some extra time to answer a radio. Moreover, it also increases the time a camera takes to report you. This is a great tool to use if you’re planning to take down a couple of guards or leave cameras unattended.
