The power of this build - Tear Bulldozers asunder.

So I've been on a very long hiatus and thought I'll update this guide to cater to death sentence difficulty. I remembered I stopped playing after one down difficulty and alot has changed since then. Not that payday 2 is as popular as it was but well I figured I'll still update it for new players still starting out on the game.

The hardest difficulty overkill has to offer. Well... In this difficulty alot of things can happen in a flash and most of the time you will find yourself on the ground just because 1 sneaky cop somehow was able to get behind you and gun you down. I'll say the key to playing this difficulty is, don't take unnecessary risk and always watch your back.

The pros

• High mobility,dps
  
• High DPS
  
• High Ammo count
  
• Fun
  
• Capable of tearing bulldozers asunder

The cons

• Low Health
  
• Low Armor
  
• Snipers
  
• Have to play very carefully
  
• Hard to break free from tasers due to high rof weapon

If a section is still under update and is not applicable to the current difficulty, it will indicate (UIP) beside the header

Understand this or Dodge builds will not work with you

• So what is Dodge?
  • Dodge is a *passive bonus that works similar to Armor. However, instead of absorbing the damage, Dodge negates damage completely based on RNG(Random Number Generator).
    
  • Meaning if you have a default 40 Dodge, the computer uses that value to calculate whether or not you get hit. The arithmetic calculation for Dodge is percentage based and that is the jist of Dodge. If you have a higher value, the chance of a successful Dodge increases.
    
  • Layman's term: choose a number 0 or 1, now, highlight this black text 0 , if the number you chose is the same, you dodged the bullet, else, a Bulldozer is laughing at you right now.
  
  *passive bonus - meaning that it's always there regardless of what you do, unless your default Dodge value is <= 0. You can check your Dodge value in Inventory -> Armor.
  
  Dodge Trivia by Mr Panvich - When you dodge a bullet there is a very brief period of invulnerability where you can't be hit by bullets. Think of it like this, ever had a skulldozer unloading on you and you dodged every hit? It's not because your luck was against the odds (with a high ROF weapon like the LMG, a 40% dodge chance would have you torn through and it would happen once in a lifetime), it was because you had that little invulnerability.
  
  
  
• How does it work? Detecting Dodge in action.
  Similarly to Armor, your screen flashes during Dodge. When a successful Dodge takes place, your screen flashes yellow and your Health stays the same, otherwise your Armor/Health drops. Successful Dodge can happen indefinitely if you're extremely lucky or if you're a hacker who hacked your Dodge value to 100.
  Correct me if I'm wrong but you can dodge melee as well. I had a few instances where a cop attempted to melee me and I got 0 damage.

*Gif showcase of Dodge (notice the screen flashing and Health not dropping)

• When does it happen or how do I activate it?
  When does it happen or how do I activate it? You cannot control when dodge will happen but you can increase the odds of a successful Dodge. Below are ALL of the available ways to increase your Dodge chance as of now, they are a direct influence to your Dodge value.
  
  
• So how do I play a Dodge build?
  A Dodge build is easy to play - you just need to take into account the items above that will increase your odds to Dodge and do it accordingly to ensure that you do not get hit often. However I suggest that you should stick to covers all the time if you're playing Death Wish since even if you have 65% Dodge, it doesn't mean you're invincible.
  
  
• Why should I run Dodge rather then Armor?
  It's really a personal preference sorta thing. I choose Dodge over Armor because I really hate moving slowly. This build however utilizes Dodge, so if you're an Armor guy, it might not be for you. However, you could perhaps try it with Armor and see how it works out. I also cannot say much about Armor now because I hardly use it. In fact, I didn't use it since Dodge was added to Payday 2. I wear basic ones but never a CTV or ICTV. Some reasons on why you should choose Dodge over Armor are:

The pros

• You have maximum Stamina.
  
• You have high mobility.
  
• Able to get to the mission objectives quickly.
  
• You can do some special maneuvers that cannot be done with Armor.

The cons

• No Armor, of course. it's all up to RNG.
  
• Inconsistency (You may be unlucky and Dodge doesn't trigger at all, whereas for Armor, you can have consistent Armor if you're a careful player. )

And also, when running Armor you get hit most of the time, so unless you have tanky Armor above 200 value, I suggest running dodge unless Overkill majorly buffs armor.

Infamy 5 May Be required to fully utilize the skill points



The skill revamp has introduced a numerous number of overpowered/broken skills that I feel really make Death Wish a walk in the park. The build has undergone significant changes and after much testing and consideration, I feel that the current Punisher build is fun and insanely overpowered. Remember, I am providing a summary for what I feel is the best, therefore information may prove lacking in certain parts, if you have questions feel free to ask, I will answer you.




This is your survivability skill tree

• Inspire is no longer aced. The new inspire now is Uppers Aced. If you were to go down within 5m of your First Aid Kit(Fak), the Fak would be consumed and your health would be full. Talk about overpowered, sheesh. If you are in a good team, Inspire is never needed. If you want inspire and feel that it is a must, You can drop unseen strike and optical illusions to get enough skill points for Inspire.
  
• The other skills should be self explanatory in this section. You will have 5 Skill Points remaining so you can choose if you want to Ace stable shot to have a highly accurate SMG for taking out snipers.
  
  TL;DR: Inspire currently is a highly controversial skill due to the nerf it received. In certain occations 2 teammates may be down at the same time. Therefore 8 points to ace this skill seems like a wasted investment the basic inspire is good enough.

The Bread and Butter Skill Tree

• I believe the skills here require no explanation? In case you need one, the skills here are what makes Payday 2, Payday 2.

This is where most of your damage skills are, along with skills that enhance your survivability by leaps and bounds. This section requires detailed explanation so I will do so.

• Steady Grip: Pretty self explanatory, you can choose to ace this if you did not choose stable shot, but I recommend not to since you won't be going full auto on your SMGs, you must be burst firing your SMGs and at the same time aiming for the head.
  
• Heavy Impact: Meh, seems like a useless skill.... NOT! Stagger means to disrupt an enemy from firing at you and to have them fall to the ground like a fool. This works on all specials including cloakers and tasers but not Bulldozers or Winters. This skill coupled with Dire Need from Ghost will make you invulnerable to being shot/tased or kicked. A definite must.
  
• Fire Control: 12 more accuracy while firing from the hip? Obviously why not, I can shoot a SNIPER!
  
• Lock N' Load: This skill is a beast, with this skill you will never need to worry about reloading, just let your magazine run dry, and you reload 60% faster, of course you need to kill 2 enemies but hell, isn't that easy? It's so broken.
  
• SureFire: This skill with Lock N' Load ensures unlimited up-time of your weapons.
  
• Body Experise: Holy Meganoly !@#$%. This right here is a no-brainer, aim for the heads, get extra damage. This coupled with criticals makes akimbos deadly hand cannons. This skill is so Broken as well.

The Criticals, Survivability, Augmented Damage and Dodge Skill Tree A.K.A the most important Skill Tree

Artful Dodger

• Duck and Cover: Pretty self explanatory
  
• Inner Pockets and Parkour: To unlock the upper tiers, and gain additional concealment to activate low blow and sneaky.
  
• Dire Need: This skill guarantees your ability to stagger enemies indefinitely meaning no problems with specials at all. Due to the low armor on Suit, uptime of this skill is guaranteed to exceed 50% of the time. Happy Staggering!
  
• Sneaky Bstard: Dodge

Silent Killer

• Second wind: Your Escape skill, I personally don't like it too much but it's fun.
  
• Optical illusion: More concealment to activate Low Blow and Sneaky. You can choose not to ace this to free up some points and put them somewhere, not really game changing.
  
• The other Skills shouldn't be a mystery, more damage with silenced weapons and a 70% Crit chance chance to become the ultimate handcannon.

The once popular Skill Tree AKA Akimbo

• Don't think much explanation is needed here.

Akimbo of Choice

For your primary akimbo, You have 3 Choices. All the SMGs are a viable decision, each offering different strengths and weaknesses. I've modded the 3 to their best and did a table showing which is the best weapon for your choice.



Take a look at the 3 SMGs comparison below:

Legend: Rof = Rate of Fire | Acc = Accuracy | Stab = Stability | DR = Achieved Total Detection Risk


From the above comparison, you can tell the pros and cons of each SMGs.

• The Heather being the best all round Akimbo SMG, just like the Bernetti 9, perfect for use in any mission.
  
• The Compact 5, however, deals the same damage as the Heather but has a slightly lower accuracy. It compensates for it though with the amount of ammo it has, making the Compact 5 perfect for Close Quarter Combat missions like the Bank heists/Hoxton Revenge/The Diamond where snipers are not really a problem.
  
• Krinkov has a really low ammo pool for an Akimbo but compensates for it with the insane damage it has, at a whopping 108 damage. If this weapon is used in short heists or if your teammate has ammo, it can then be seen as a better alternative to the Heather. Do not bring this weapon if your team does not have ammo bags, as management of ammo will be a problem due to the fact that 1 nipple tase will zap away 50% of your ammo ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. You can take away surefire to remove 30 rounds from your krinkov to make it 60 rounds so as to lessen the damage the taser does.

Weapon Modding

Akimbo Heather SMG:

• Barrel Ext: Bigger The Better Suppressor
  
• Boost: Accuracy
  
• Custom: Auto Fire
  
• Gadget: Compact Laser Module
  
• Stock: Unfolded Stock

Akimbo Compact-5 SMG:

• Barrel Ext: Bigger The Better Suppressor
  
• Boost: Accuracy
  
• Custom: Auto Fire
  
• Foregrip: Sehr Kurze Barrel
  
• Gadget: Compact Laser Module
  
• Magazine: Straight Magazine

Akimbo Krinkov SMG:

• Barrel Ext: Bigger the Better Suppressor
  
• Boost: Accuracy
  
• Custom: Auto Fire
  
• Foregrip: Aluminium Foregrip
  
• Gadget: Compact Laser Module
  
• Grip: AK Rubber Grip
  
• Magazine: Low Drag Magazine

Secondary Weapon of Choice

Your Secondary Weapon of choice is a weapon for stunning Dozers and Shields, the Judge. The Judge kind of overshadows the pistol crossbow now since there is no pickup penalty for special Shotgun rounds, therefore refilling your HE rounds won't be a problem anymore. If you don't have the dlc for HE Rounds you can choose the Pistol Crossbow instead.

The Judge Modding

• Ammunition: HE Round
  
• Barrel Ext: Shh!
  
• Boost: Concealment
  
• Gadget: Compact Laser Module
  
• Sight: Trigonom Sight

Melee of Choice

Any 30 Concealment Melee as your skills will give you 32 Concealment total. I recommend the Buzzer or the Electric Brass knuckles as these 2 melees can taze and stun an enemy.

Throwable of Choice

The Molotov Cocktail or Dynamite are the best Throwables in the game.
A Molotov can stall a position, preventing the cops from advancing into an area.
The Dynamite is able to stun and stagger all enemies within its radius.
Grenades and Dynamite are the same, however the difference is that Grenades will explode on impact if a cop were to shoot them, thus blowing up in your face whereas a dynamite will not.

Perdeck Of Choice

From what I've tested so far, currently 3 choices I feel work in tandem with the style of this build.
Below are the 3:

• Grinder: The HP Regen has been nerfed and currently you can only get 15% Dodge. This is still a good perkdeck however, if you are able to play carefully. Utilize cover and if your HP drops below 50%, peek and shoot enemies to recover hp.Never Rambo with Grinder, you will be down in mere seconds.
  
• Rogue: Rogue was once a meta perkdeck, but is hardly used nowadays due to Grinder and Crook. Rogue is still a good perk deck, keep in mind however, you have to play carefully and stick to cover all the tim e as you don't have HP Regen like Grinder.
  Though you do get 80% Weapon Swap speed which has saved my life countless times Pre-grinder update.With Rogue you can get up to 55% dodge and 65% while running
  
• Crook: This is probably the new meta perk deck for now. Why? Because if you add all the armor skills from the middle skill tree in Enforcer, The Light Ballistic Vest can get 30 Dodge and 130 Armor. This is so broken in my opinion and most will most likely get nerfed as you can get the best of both worlds. 130 armor is like 3/5 of ICTV which is kinda gay.

• In DW and below, he's pretty straightforward to deal with
  
• As soon as he spawns be prepared and wait for him at the place that he will camp at, for example, in Big Bank, it is the entrance.
  
• Once he is there throw 2 Molotovs and let the damage over time do its thing
  
• For DS Difficulty, it is very risky but still possible to ignite a molotov at his location due to the massive cop spawning around him. You are bound to go down if not careful.

• When Winters spawns, he will lock the assault and give a damage reduction buff to all the Cops in the map.
  
• His damage reduction applies to all enemies in the field therefore it is very important to deal with him ASAP to further avoid wasting your ammunition when it hits the maximum damage reduction cap, at 50%, making ♥♥♥♥ a whole lot harder.
  
• His Damage reduction increases by 5% every 5 seconds, take advantage of the first 5 seconds to have your team gun him down. Of course, be cautious of Black dozers and other knick knacks as they will turn the tide of battle very quickly.

TLDR: Deal with him ASAP whenever he spawns otherwise he will lock the assault and make things harder in DS.

Maintaining vigilance should be your utmost priority. The best defense is a good offense.
Strike them down before they strike you. Why? If you are exposed to Specials long enough for them to get the first strike on you, you will encounter difficulties in engaging them.

• Cloakers do what they do best - they kick.
  
• Tasers will tase you and waste your ammunition if you don't kill them fast enough. Getting tased alone is NOT good for your ammo. Why let them waste a few more rounds from your magazine when you can take him down first?
  
• You will not like shields. Why? You have no weapons capable of penetration other than Grenades that could either save your *ss or screw your team up big time. It's still better to save them 3 precious Grenades for something like escaping a major clusterf*ck or to stun Bulldozers.
  
• Bulldozers, good o' Bulldozers. With the Low Blow Skill, you will have little to no difficulty with killing one quickly. It's not widely known yet, but Low Blow Critical hits can deal A LOT of damage, especially with a high Rate of Fire weapon. Yes, this also applies to the Famas. However, we're running an Akimbo build right now, so we're not going any further with the Famas.
  
• Snipers. This is rather self-explainatory. We don't wanna waste our downs or rather, possible downs thanks to our Dodge. Remember why we have a pinpoint accuracy secondary?

Your default playstyle should be centered around constantly sticking to cover at all times and changes accordingly to what perkdeck you are running.

TL;DR - Stick to cover. Always stick to cover.

You only have default of 15 dodge. so try not to take unnecessary risk always stick to cover. Replenish your health by peaking and tapping on enemies slowly as grinder is there for you to sustain your health try not to let your health go below 50% and everything should go well.
Sicario is currently the best dodge perkdeck for a reason but requires good understanding of how to use the perkdeck and when to use the handy smoke bomb.

Please read this section before asking any questions.

• Keep in mind that you must be at least Infamy II and must have invested in the Set of the Corrupted Infamy, which grants you Skill Point cost reductions for each Tier to unlock and go further into the Skilltrees with less invested Skill Points. It is not entirely necessary to be Infamy II to get Akimbo and Inspire, but you'll have to drop the Skills in Enforcer and Ghost Skilltrees without the Infamy bonus from Set of the Corrupted.

• You have to download and install a custom modded hud called Hoxhud or the alternative PocoHud.

[P.S - Thanks for taking the time to read through this rather long and uninteresting guide. Cheers.]

• 16/05/2021:
  
  • Removed obselete Sections
    
  • Updated guide to reflect that it is currently updating

Different Build Variations from our original build

• Replica of the above build for people who doesn't want to read my ♥♥♥♥♥♥ explanations I guess.

• I've tested bernetti 9 in the new skill revamp and discovered that Trigger Happy now works with pistols. Therefore the truth is, actually, pistols are still stronger in terms of damage if Trigger Happy is aced. B9 has a default damage value of 60 and with 4 stacks of trigger happy you are dealing around 110 damage whilst having 250 Ammo in your inventory. Currently I am not including it in the guide since Akimbo Pistols are plagued with the rate of fire bug you can still try the build if you are interested. With this build i've chosen crook since it's probably the best perk deck out there currently imo.
  
  Inventory of choice: Primary: Bernetti 9 Akimbo | Secondary: Judge HE | Perkdeck: Crook | Armor: Light Ballistic Vest
  
  *Try to aim for low concealment to get some bonus from low blow, it's not really necessary but it helps to get a low concealment for some bonus critical damage to furthur augment your pistol damage.

A really Big Thank You to everyone that gave their tips, suggestions and opinions to this guide as well as correcting grammar errors for us.

• MrPanVich
  
  • Huge Thank You to MrPanvich for taking the time to read through this long guide and help us with our massive grammar errors.
    
  • Big Thank You again with the English Errors in the guide in June 2016 Really appreciate it.
• Shiori-Chan
  
  • Thank You for the additional suggestions for the Flashbang counter variant of our build.
• MasterKev
  
  • Thank You for clearing up the values of Low Blow and Sneaky Bastard with regard to whether the Skill works in a Frog Jump fashion.
• Zdann
  
  • Thanks for informing us on the Chimano Custom Magazine bug and the Leadership Nerf.
• Sprite
  
  • Thanks for sharing your Swan Song Version of the build and informing me the Flash-bang counters are the same build.