Payday 2 | The Last STEALTH BUILD You'll Ever Need 

with my old setup, a video like this would take hours to render, now it only took 20 minutes unrelated but I was thinking about commissioning the artist I used for emotes again cuz the houston version of the mask is nowhere to be seen for pd3 . . .

Here we go, the end of an era

Coming back to Payday 2 in February of 2024 after having stopped playing sometime in early 2023, there have been some slight changes. This video was a great refresher on everything important for stealth. Very concise and in-depth explanations of why you chose what skills, perk decks, and weapons you use as well as reasonings for other possible choices. Thank you for the great video. This saved me a lot of time by not having to learn everything myself the hard way again.

started playing PD2 Solo now after many years and trying to complete it as far as possible. Usually I was the "stay outside in full enforcer in case things go bad" guy when playing in my group so stealth is not my forte. Therefore, when you said "not a lot of people will care about" this video, I do and I thank you for it. It was worth your time if nothing else for assisting some few randos getting through more annoying stealth heists as optimal as possible.

Addendum: Sensor mines work with HVT Aced, as enemies are marked with a deeper red. Guards marked with the Spotter asset in Assets/Preplanning don't work with HVT though. BGM at 20:49 is "Rush! Rush! Rush!!" from Yakuza 0

I've been using a bow as a primary weapon to use the arrows as diy waypoints because of the outline. Not super useful but at least it's something. You can shoot the drones on murky station and they'll carry the arrow for example, or you see something you can't/don't want to interact with yet. When doing shadow raid solo you can mark the second keycard so you can easily find it, especially when you wanna grab it through the roof

Just a little addendum, I believe it would be better to have one point in third law and two in eco sentry, giving you one extra point. This can be used for stuff like equilibrium when using the gecko pistol for stealth. It's not really relevant, but you might as well just take it. An insignificant, but a little faster draw speed

Thanks for explaining each skill in the Shinobi tree instead of just saying "ace these skills because this is the stealth tree"

I’ll miss hiding behind poles and crouch jumping 20 feet through hallways😿

Although i already ran this exact build, i viewed the whole thing to the end. I just wanna say thanks for all the help through the years, and this bad time was a good time for us all. Look forward to the pd3 content and hope its a fresh breath of air for you

I actually see a lot of utility in the fugitive tree for stealth. Beserker increases your damage the lower your health is. Also Frenzy may help you get higher beserker easily with the molotov trowable. The thing about having high damage at stealth is for 2 reasons: saws will open doors and deposit boxes with less hits and to mantain you arrest cooldown. Arrest cooldown is one of the main reasons why guards may shoot you or just stop and see an opportunity to handcuff you. When you alert a guard, if you don't one hit him when alerted or dominated you will lose your arrest cooldown and the next guard that detects you will instantly shoot at you. Guards shooting is one of the main causes for failed runs. In the end, beserker and frenzy will come pretty handy when running the yakuza perk deck, using low damage weapons with shotgun surpression like the gecko pistol, and still kill alerted guards (comes more handy in the scarface mansion gangsters and the bikers) without losing your arrest cooldown. If you want to know more about this arrest cooldown thing, just watch Marcmb's video about why damage matters at stealth.

Hey, Gen - thanks for everything. Like, seriously, it's been pleasure watching your videos. Always liked to compare my (shitty) ideas of builds with your suggestions and trying them during heists. :)

The last huh, sounds kind of saddening

Having not touched the game for a long time, this video does help me understand the copycat deck and what it does. Thanks Gen, you've always been awesome.

It might be worth mentioning that the Judge shotgun will only launch enemies correctly if you are the host of the game. Other players will see the person fly away as they should, but on the host's end, the body will just drop straight to the ground, causing a lot of confusion and possibly even make you lose the mission. For instance, if your friend (who isnt hosting the match) shoots a guard with the judge to launch them away from the camera, the guard will drop to the ground on the host's end and the body will be spotted even though the other player sees the body fly away.

This is a guide for the ages. Pd2 isnt over yet, thanks for the great guides as always general

Brilliant video! Thank you :)

thank you man i’m playing before the end. this was my childhoodish

Well made video, you really put some effort into it!

Excellent video but there is one niche thing that I thought worth mentioning. Running the base yakuza perk deck over copycat has some niche usage due to it's final tier which activates its effects at 50% hp instead of 25%. This is relevant on heists where it's impossible to throw a molotov, as it allows you to still run with the yakuza benefits

Thanks Mate, You will always be the Payday 2 Stealth specialist for me. Hope you'll continue heisting on the next Payday Game and give us good quality content :)

I just got into this game and it helped me, thanks mate

I watched the entire video. And I will say thank you for this. Even though you feel this video was "pointless" my brother, my girlfriend, and i are just starting to play Payday 2. We haven't played it before and I personally will be using this video as reference when I am playing solo.

me & my friends started playing this game just today, and this video was really helpful I think I'm among "those few people" 🆘 ty! :D

Great video dude.

When I found out about payday 2 it was not long after it came out but I was too young to play it(according to my mom) so I would just watch you play it. I got payday 2 about two years after launch on xbox and always watched you play. Now it’s been 9 or 10 years of watching. I’m 22 now, watching general mcbadass. I have a career, live on my own, and play payday daily after work. Now payday 3 is releasing, and i’m emotional thinking how much time has passed. How much time we spent together through this screen. And where i’ll be when this era of payday ends. Thanks general, here’s to many more years

fantastic video

I get that this is an all-purpose stealth setup, but your never benefiting from cleaner aced and ecm specialist basic at the same time, and since ecm specialist aced is so freakin' good, 99/100 your gonna want to drop cleaner aced and use thos skill points somewhere else.

Payday 2 aside, I followed you back in the day when you uploaded Patapon gameplay! I am glad to see you're still around.

thanks for this

Thank you I cared about this video! Was a good watch and very useful as the PD3 Servers Keep going down LOL!

My favorite weapons for stealth are Akimbo Judge as primary and micro uzi as secondary. The Akimbo Judge is pretty much the Judge, but double damage.

ill sub to see your video on stealth build in payday 3 when the game is released

Really enjoyed your older payday videos and I am excited for the new era of payday Also, what happened to Alvin? (Funklord dufus or Mr aelfwine)

You sound cheery in this video. That's nice.

Just wanted to say thank you

My personal build always have a saw in it. I take portable saw aced and zerk + frenzy to get the most damages out of the saw. on the other hand I don't take ecm overdrive at all because all doors that can be opened with an ecm can be opened with a saw. It can also be very useful if you want to save time or avoid a guard patrolling nearby, you can open a door almost instantly, while some doors take up to 10 seconds (I think) to lockpick, leaving you very vulnerable to patrols

Basic confidence can also increase marking range

Hey Gen, There probably is another Public Beta for PD3 this weekend. So if you have more time then (since you said, you did not have the time last test), you can make a proper first stealth build for that. Just an idea.

I am here after release we are still in the payday 2 era

I'm barely 10 mins in but before i forget and pass out, random addendum. High value target does work with trip mine sensor mode, and sixth sense does not activate while you are doing ANYTHING other than standing still. Interacting, switching weapons, dropping gear items, activate a throwable, all cancel the sixth sense detection timer.

Having everything aced in shinobi is often a bad idea, you can for instance afford to skip the extra bodybag case skill, the picking up stuff in casing mode, etc. This might sound like a bad idea at first but trust me, you’ll enjoy the extra points elsewhere

might try this out on breakin feds today (i was never able to finish breakin feds for context)

I always opt for not getting the pager blocking and instead getting the OVE9000 as a secondary. I've been screwed over more than once by the delayed pagers and since I mainly play stealth solo, ECM spam isn't much of an option anyway.

Kunai and the free poison Melee are the best, because even if you don't kill the enemy with one hit they get locked in the womit animation.

hope this isnt weird, but i really hope u can finally put this game to rest in ur mind. it sucks to see u feelin so washed up when i watched u as a kid like 8 years ago. your non payday content is also good ive been watchin it recently and im a fan of your channel overall, so i really hope you can get into a groove thats better for ur mood.

WOO PAYDAY 3 TIME SO CLOSE

I picked up pd3 for the p5 and i hate it (in its current state)...i went back 2 crime wave w/ all the dlc's...what a breath of fresh air after being away for 3 or 4 yrs...thanks for a kick ass video and keep grinding!!!

I’m really happy that my build is very similar because that tells me that I have a grasp of what I’m doing I made my build (except jack of all trades I didn’t know how good it is), im pretty new(about 4 months)so this is a big thing for me

looking forward to watching you play pd3 when it comes out :) great build also

I sort of just passed on copycat this whole time. Well, now I get to experiment.

I'm infamy 500 and won't tell my game hours to not feel ashamed, but it's funny to see that with experience, we all end having the same stealth build since if you manage it the good way you can get almost everything useful to do almost every heist and got minor changes to do when u need the saw

you can put one point into eco sentry and 2 into eco sentry to save 1 point

ive been watching you for years now its so weird to see an era end i hope you enjoy payday 3 although i wont because im a pissed off console player and im not gonna give overkill my money

I still play pay day 2 can this build helped me understand the game a lil better

If ur super good already, yeah copycat yakuza is spicy as hell. For beginners tho, I feel like hacker is so good solely for pocket ECMs. I have been saved so many times by using it when I accidentally get caught lackin.

"This is an end of an era as we know it." Dj drama

A few issues with the technician part of the build 1: You chose to pick up third law aced to get to jack of all trades. If instead you got it basic and picked up engineering basic you could get jack of all trades aced with 1 less point. I admit not super useful but still since we don't use sentries in this build it doesn't matter. 2: I don't know why you got kickstart. It's not a good enough skill to justify the point investment.

how many skill points do you need to get the all the skills that you shown in the vid

Just wanted to ask why do you ace Third Law instead of getting Third Law basic and Eco Sentry basic? Acing Third Law costs 4 skill points whereas the other option costs 3 meaning you get 1 extra skill point and you can still get Jack Of All Trades

I just started playing this game but better late than never I guess

Wasting 3 skill points with the build as is, 4 including the 8 accuracy. Third law aced can be replace with either T2 engineer skill and steady grip plus the professional. Allowing you to pick up skills from the brawler or ammo specialist tree. Or getting parkour or transporter aced.

never forget the judge

My brother in Christ I ain’t got the money for payday 3, thank you for this as I’ll be stuck with 2 for a while longer

Thx for the build it is my 2nd build I used and now ots my new main

What can you do to make judge pistol silent and the max stealth?

Gen I know u might not see this I just want to say I have really enjoyed this payday 2 era and ik u have been through a lot over the years but know we I've you as fans and followers 😅

17:17 - small tidbit that I was surprised wasn't mentioned, while the saw does make noise when you are using it on a door or on a surface, it makes less noise when you use the saw without hitting a surface, and you can make the noise radius a whole lot smaller for a brief moment by sawing the air just before sawing a surface. I'm not 100% certain how the mechanics of it work, but from what I've heard and seen, sawing in the air gives a sort of delay or cooldown on guards and civs to react to noises from your saw, meaning you can immediately use it on a door for a second or two before they can hear/react to the much louder sawing sound. Again I'm not certain on the mechanics, but it makes sawing a lot more quieter. Good video btw

The Gruber Kurz choice confuses me. The long barrel decreases concealment with the saw. Then again, I'm also more of a 34 concealment Bernetti 9 fan than a 34 concealment Gruber Kurz fan.

Mine doubles as a dodge build incase i muck up, so instead of burgler or hacker, i chose sicario

With copycat-yakuza vs normal yakuza, if you're not crouching, I believe normal yakuza is faster. Another contender for secondary would be the gecko, but I believe you already eluded to it when you mentioned dlc. Some of the skills allocations you used weren’t fully efficient, as there were a few skill points you could've saved here and there. All in all, good overview of stealth builds. 👍

Hello! Just want to ask a question Since I am a lonely heister, I bring AI on heists, knowing how viable the nimble addon and some concealment and running boosts, do you think it's optimal to skip nimble altogether, and invest it anywhere else? if so, where can I invest them instead?

i'll say that having cleaner aced is useless since you usually don't need 2 BB since you can buy 1, i prefer taking parkour aced for the omnidiretional sprinting

I would rather ace parkour than cleaner. Very rarely you would need double body bags, and when you do you should dedicate your whole set for that situation. With Aced Parkour you could save your arse when you bump into a corner guard. You can back off immediately and not stay, turn and sprint again.

how do you make thease thumbnais

With payday 3 coming to a close.

The basic concept is the same and I think that's the most important thing about this video. There's a lot of players who still struggle with stealth, but the base concept is that you're either fast to not be spotted, have counters for the spotting, or you're getting tricky to contort around some of the games mechanics. For as long as PD2 will last, I think it's still something viable for the playerbase. Some "newer"/less stealth prone players still think stealth is "hiding behind a wall, can't go out because there are people, camera is beeping oh-noez this s*its impossible, so then I started blasting." Something I'd find fun, Gen, would be some kind of broken build showcase. Like absolutely stupid builds of skills and weapons that exploit some kind of broken error and is more hilarious than concerning. PD2's on its way out and PD3 is getting all lubed up; you might as well showoff how broken the game is and how much one can get away with. Stealth build with the bearded ax and an LMG that ends up working some how, danger close MGL Yakuza where you some how are able to keep alive and burn enemies you run into. Really dumb builds or things like that that are the bloopers of PD2, besides the actual game of PD2.

I still play both payday 2 and 3 when I got bored of 3 I play 2 and I get bored of 2 I play 3

Can you do a loud build

Just like old times

hey, why did you ace the perk that gives you 2 body bag cases, if you are just gonna put it in your secondary, putting it back to one?

Normal yakuza can have a niche use when you can’t Molly yourself. Frenzy health isn’t low enough to activate copycat yakuza.

In engineer for jack of all trades you wasted 1 skill point for turret

As an average stealth player, i commit sudoku everytime i waiting for the drill, and i hope payday 3 bring us the best and newest drill for us, otherwise dallas will scream at bain again. 🐻 ps. still a fan of you Mr.Gen have a good day and good heist, Fellas heister.

This will get flipped on its head when the jury revolver comes out

welp, payday 2 doesnt seem like its coming to a close XD.

friendly reminder that payday 3 will have a open beta day 8 in xbox and steam

thanks so much for the video. It helps a lot! hope you keep it up you are amazing

Wish we could get copycat on console

Dude guys cleaner ace is useless if you are using body bag as 2 slot , so that points can eb used for ace smth more

The last loud build?

3:00 Why would you ace the turret and spend 3 points and not just unlock the next one for 2 ?

"My girlfriend made me choose between her and the dodge build. God I miss her"

how did he get jack of all trades without getting the one bellow it. someone please explain

Would this apply to console players as well?

Payday 2 going to be the new borderlands 2 the 3rd game exist but we will always back to 2

We are at an interesting point for Payday. The second game will be coming to a 'end'. And the third game isn't out yet. We all do know that if the fans don't like how Payday3 plays then they will come back to Payday2, even with it's faults.

by the love of God take out that sentry aced skill, use the second tier instead, and for some points left put on reload speed for the judge

What weapon is this? (2:10) Thanks

i care