Support builds in Payday 3 are team-focused and without proper utility and kit to back you up, you are bound to become a liability than an asset.
You can complete most of the Payday 3 solo but when it comes to perfectionists and achievement hunters, the importance of a team starts to become apparent. To carry out the perfect heist, your crew needs to take on individual roles and one such role is that of a support.
You will find great damage dealers and strategists but without someone to pull the team together and fill out the gaps in utilities, the chances of success start dwindling.
Support builds are fairly flexible builds for both, defensive and offensive, playstyles where you can take the role of a healer, buffer, ammo supplier, and tank, all in one build.
So let’s get you set with the best equipment to complete your support build in Payday 3 so you can enable your crew to cash out on those big contracts.
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Payday 3 Support build weapons
Primary Weapon Slot: SA A144/ Reinfeld 880 / FIK PC9
Secondary Weapon Slot: Signature.40/ J&M Castigo.44
Overkill Weapon Slot: Macrom Mamba MGL grenade launcher
Much like Stealth builds, the weapon choice for the best support build in Payday 3 depends entirely on your preference since it is not the main focus of your kit. You can take more aggressive choices like shotguns or stay undercover with a suppressed pistol instead.
For the primary slot, we suggest the SA A144 Marksman rifle since it is arguably one of the best guns in Payday 3 thanks to its low recoil and high damage. You will need to grind the game a little till you reach Infamy Level 15 to be able to purchase it.
For the early game, you can use the default CAR-4 assault rifle instead. It improves immensely with investment and will help you even in some later heists which makes it a safer and future-proof choice.
For close-combat enthusiasts, the Reinfeld 880 shotgun is an amazing gun to grab. Not only is it available at level 2 but also makes the podium for the best shotguns Payday 3 has to offer.
If careful shots or getting up close with the enemy is not your thing, then FIK PC09 SMG has you covered. It has high precision, low recoil, decent damage, and a great fire rate with a large magazine capacity for the spray-and-pray playstyle. You will have to get up to Infamy Level 18 to buy it but we believe it is worth the wait to complete your best support build in Payday 3.
Depending on if you are a pistol or revolver person, you can either grab a reliable sidearm or go old school with a classic damage dealer.
Signature.40 pistol has decent damage, quick reload speed, and good precision making it an excellent pick to get the job done. With versatile attachments available, it can be used for both, stealth and loud builds so you use it no matter what build you are running. Since it is available by default, there is nothing better and more accessible to suggest for pistol lovers.
The J&M Castigo.44 revolver has a higher damage output than the pistol but trades reload speed and magazine capacity for it. You will be able to take out enemies fairly quickly with it as long as you make your shots count. However, since it is not available till Infamy Level 10, you will have to make do with another trusty sidearm.
We suggest grabbing the Signature.40 pistol instead of the revolver because most times you will only switch to secondary for quick takedowns. With low reload speed and firing rate, you put yourself at risk of getting caught which we believe is not worth it so having a reliable weapon by your side will come in clutch.
Since there are only two overkill weapons available in the game right now, the choice depends on your support build in Payday 3 and your playstyle.
We suggest the Macrom Mamba MGL grenade launcher because of its incredibly high AoE damage, low recoil, and good magazine capacity making it perfect for big hoards. It is also accessible since it is available to everyone from the start making it a bit more attractive option.
Best Payday 3 Support build skills
Medic: Medic (Aced), Extra Charge, Combat Medic
Manipulator: Manipulator (Aced), Silver Tongue, Menacing, Stockholm Syndrome
Tactician: Tactician, Coup De Grace, Discombobulate, Expose, Scramble
Tank: Tank (Aced)
Ammo Specialist: Ammo Specialist, Fully Loaded, Top-Up
The best support skills for your Payday 3 build depend mostly on what your team requires to maximize their utility. The skills mentioned are spread across multiple Skill Trees that we believe will fill in the gaps of your loadout.
Note that Skills can be Aced by more Skill Point investment in them but apart from some exceptions, we advise against it. This is because most skills offer enough at a basic level so leveling them up seems like a waste especially when you are working with a limited Skill Point budget.
Health is an important aspect during heists, especially when you are taking on the challenge in Loud mode. Medic forms the basis of your Support build in Payday 3 as it gives you an additional 2 charges of one of the best gadgets in-game, Medic Bags. It also lowers the revival time by 20% and when it’s Aced, you can also obtain Grit. When Grit is active, you take 40% less damage while reviving.
Under the same Skill Tree, you can pick up Extra Charge and Combat Medic. Extra Charge gives you an additional 2 charges which pairs nicely with Medic skill. Combat Medic is a quality-of-life improvement since it gives you and the revived teammate all damage immunity for 5 seconds after revival.
If you are supporting your team on the battlefield then Manipulator Skill is definitely worth picking up. Manipulator Skill at basic increases the speed of tying up and trading hostages by 50%, which in itself is a good buff.
It shines through once it’s Aced because each trade counts as an additional hostage, a two-for-one deal. It will buy you more time or equipment, which will come in pretty handy when you run into difficult fights.
You can also pair it with Silver Tongue which makes trading non-civilians i.e. employees, guards, or law enforcement count as additional hostages.
If you are downed, you cannot support your team but to not become a liability we suggest getting the Stockholm Syndrome skill. It will allow you to influence hostages or civilians within a certain range to revive you without depending on teammates.
Speaking about influence, you can also make the enemy surrender with Menacing as long as you aim at them. Once they drop their weapons, they now classified as a civilian hostage instead which means all civilian penalties will apply to them as well. If any form of damage is dealt to them during this process then it will be canceled and you can only take one hostage at a time so make it count.
Sustainability is an integral part of any support build in Payday 3 which is not complete without a little investment in Tank Skill Tree. The Tank skill will provide you with additional armor bag charges and enhance armor chunk regeneration speed by 20%. You can also get Grit when a chunk breaks if you Ace the skill.
Now that survival is out of the way, we can move on to the more offensive side of your support build in Payday 3. With Tactician, you can gain Edge when you stagger or stun an enemy which will play nicely with your flashbangs.
You may always want to grab Discombobulate with it because of the 40% damage debuff enemies receive while they are stunned or in smoke. To prolong this effect, we recommend Scramble under the same Skill Tree that adds another 20% on the clock for stun effects.
Since the stun effect is already pretty integrated into the kit, you can also leverage it to deal more damage. We think grabbing Coup de Grace for dealing 5% more damage and Expose for ignoring enemy armor of enemies affected by Stun will be a perfect fit for your best Payday 3 support build.
If your teammates are taking up arms, you can make sure that they never run out of ammo with Ammo Specialist. It adds 2 additional charges for ammo bags and increases your ammo capacity by 20%. Couple it with Fully Loaded for an additional 2 ammo bag charges which will seem like too much till you venture into higher difficulties.
Lastly, grab the Top Up skill to restock your throwables upon interaction with an ammo bag and an additional 20% ammo. This paired with Tactician skills, not only makes your Payday 3 support build more cohesive but also spreads out your utility to other parts of your kit.
Payday 3 Support build equipment
Deployable: Medic bag
Armor Lining: Standard Lining, Heavy Ballistic Lining
Throwable: Flashbang Grenade
Tool: ECM Jammer/Infrasonic Mine
The Medic bag is a must-grab for your Payday 3 support build because of how well it pairs with your kit and skills. It will help you sustain your team while getting some additional stat bonuses thanks to your Medic skills combined with it.
The choice of armor depends mostly on how much movement speed can you compromise till it gets uncomfortable for you. We suggest Standard armor lining if you are doing a mission that requires movement so you won’t have to compromise too much on your defenses. For more high-level contracts or loot defenses, the Heavy Ballistic Lining will be a better choice to opt for.
Although you can go with a more offensive option, Flashbang Grenades are very hard not to recommend because of how much utility they bring to your support build in Payday 3. They are a quick way to stun opponents which pairs perfectly with your Tactician skills for enemy debuff and personal damage boosts.
The Infrasonic Mine is a replacement for flashbangs if you end up bringing more combative throwables. Although not as effective, they can get the job done for smaller maps but require a more strategic placement in chokepoints of larger areas.
The ECM Jammer will hinder enemy communications by slowing down cameras and radios making it harder to spot and report you.
You will need to reach Infamy Level 20 to unlock it making it a little less accessible for early game players. It is stackable with your team but you will only have one use per person so make your placements count.
