Most guides will tell you, step by step, how to get a level done in 30 seconds, sure... but most of them simply do not cover actual gameplay. And this can be felt oftentimes when the best case scenario is missed, cue the entire team leaving or screwing up because they weren't prepared for this

PAYDAY 2 may be a tad silly and unrealistic at times, but it tries to stay serious. Screwing up a heist is common and accepted, but screwing up everything because one person decided to not listen at all is outrageous. You don't want to be that person...

And still, the points you need to watch out for are so simple. There are some important gamerules for stealth, assaults, civilian control, escapes... everything you can imagine, you can keep it under control if you know what to do... so learn about those and do it !

Preparing you heist is an important step for multiple reasons, outside of the loadout you usually run :

• Wearing combat gear will get in trouble during stealth segments, wearing light gear is an horrible choice if the alarm sounds (especially team-wide). Discuss your tactics and assume that the alarm will go off either way (if you need to sneak perk in the Ghost tree to keep your combat gear either way)
  
• ECM Jammers are only useful for stealth and if perked up fully. Ammo and medkits are always useful but may fall short during escape segments, tripmines need a good position, sentries need some cover and C4/Saws are only used to create some shortcuts lockpicks will slowly peak through. Choose wisely
  
• A silenced weapon is a must on stealth-centered missions like Framing Frame (unless you really do have some parkour and melee skills). During an assault it will quickly fall short as an entire maganize will not even scratch heavier units
  
• You should if possible get a quick idea of your team's loadout. Bringing 4 Saws is bad for example as you'll miss on some serious firepower
  
• On harder missions, do consider some assets. They may make stealth easier or help you when the cops arrive

Get all of that checked up and discuss tactics with your team quickly (or at least give them away). Sneaking in can't be improvised, and running in guns blazing can easily surprise people that were rounding the building to lockpick. Note that perfect stealth should never be relied upon, but every objective that you can complete without the cops plumbing lead into you is free health, ammo and less heat (and who knows, maybe you can get the entire mission rolling in stealth)

Finally, if you aren't familiar with the heist be careful. You should generally boot up the heist once or twice in Singleplayer to get a feel on it, and then complete it with all the associated bonuses on 4-man co-op

Again, stealthing can't be improvised. Most people underestimate the power of a 4-man team when it comes to stealthing a level, especially if a perked Ghost is ready to carry their team through most of the hurt. However as one may imagine, having four people sneak means you have four times more chances of screwing up, so watch for those :

• Cameras can easily ruin all of your work. Do not in any case do anything suspicious in front of one (killing someone, staying in front of it too long, shooting weapons, etc...) and look for a way to supress them or dodge them (kill all the guards and then shoot down the cameras or infiltrate the Security and kill/tie the guard there)
  
• If a guard spots you we will raise his gun and look for an opportunity to shoot it (alerting most of the level). Either shoot him with a silenced weapon, take the risk and melee him, use your indimidation if you don't already have one hostage or simply take cover and headcap him while he tries to use his radio to report
  
• As indicated above, you have multiple ways of shutting down a guard. Dominator (Mastermind) will allow you to get one to cuff himself down by shouting him down (it will however make him visible for the rest of the level and be the only guard hostage allowed). You can also shoot one with a silenced weapon a few times or melee him twice
  
• Any dead guard will promptly generate a pager. It can be answered two times (and two more times by any player with the Smooth Talker skill, don't answer any pager beyond the second if you don't have it, so please don't take on the guards) and will otherwise raise an alarm if left unchecked or failed. Pick it up and don't let it go until it manually lets you go. This is extremely important as forgetting to answer a pager or killing too much guards to answer it safely is one of the main reasons for stealth failure
  
• You can lure guards to you in multiple ways. If a camera is nearby you can move under it and use a jump and melee combo to disable it. It will force a guard to check it and then get any further guard that sees it alerted, so ensure that you've got the situation under control. Some items can also attract them (like the hand-driers in the Framing Frame Day 1 Bathroom) and the guards will otherwise patrol on regular and exploitable routes. You can also bag a guard with the respective Ghost skill to remove all evidence of the guard's death (it can however only be done once the pager is clear and the guard will still be counted as dead)
  
• Casing Mode will allow you to move around undetected by anyone but Guards, Police and Cameras. Bumping into a guard will get you detected instantly but you should otherwise seek for mission objectives or stalk a guard into a vulnerable position before putting your mask on
  
• Civilians are far less dangerous than Guards but can still alert the police if they are left unchecked or allowed to run out of the level. Ensure that all exits are blocked and then tie down all civilians that may directly interfere (or keep them locked by shouting them down, do not kill any unless they slip away and start to flee). Make sure that any civilians in reach of the Panic Buttons are dealt with in priority (they will not hesitate to raise the alarm right in front of you, even though you'll likely pump lead right through their thick skull to reward them). Civilians do not however alert anyone if they scream, as long as you control them immediately
  
• Be careful of what you do when stealthing. Accesing or activating some items, picking up stuff, answering pagers or lockipicking doors and gear is stealthy and will only lock you in place until you are done. Breaking up glass, breaking a camera, shooting a silenced weapon, setting up and running a drill, using the OVE9000SAW, killing someone and breaking any kind of item will generate sound both locally, on the nearby walls and in the room itself, so be careful and considerate (some perks may mitigate this, but do not ever consider any of those stealthy and be ready for a local guard or civilian alert and watch out for active cameras)
  
• There are two alert gradients. Guard, cameras and (out of casing mode) civilians that see you will first trigger a question mark, if they get to see you long enough or see something suspicious they'll trigger an exclamation mark and get ready for trouble. If they fill up the spotting bar or confirm their suspicious sight (body, broken camera, moved object, etc...) they will immediately alert nearby agents and civilians and look for the shortest way to the alarm
  
• The ECM Jammer will short out cameras for a short moment and delay both pagers and alarms (guard and civilians, not panic buttons) until it breaks. If upgraded it may be used multiple times, will stay longer, act in a wider range (it otherwise only works for about 3-4 meters) and will allow you to bypass magnetic card doors and ATMs
  
• You can spot guards to keep track of them for a short time while leaving (even through walls), just shout in their direction while they are not alerted or watch them on the CCTV cameras

Stealth is hard, so make sure that you have all of this checked up and don't slip !

Minimizing civilian casualties and maximizing hostages is often overlooked and can seriously help you. Completely ignoring civilians and even shooting them will get you in trouble quickly and turn a Normal mission in a huge snore-fest. Be careful !

• Shouting civilians down should be your first priority if stealth fails. Civilians will immediately attempt to leave once they hear the alarm, so having one or two people double as "aggresion walls" will maximise the number of hostages you can attain, especially on civilian-heavy maps like Bank Heist, Jewelry Store and Nightclub
  
• Shouting to a civilian while they are close enough will first stop them, then force them to cower, and finally force them on the ground. Any further shouts will force them to stay put on the ground or apply Mastermind mindsets, if you can not tie them try to move a tad away from them
  
• You get 2 cable ties by default and 5-6 with the Cable Guy Mastermind perk (must buy if you want to sneak or work cleanly). Even with a fully-unperked team you should have 8 hostages availible, and with a full-perked team about 21-25 hostages (you can easily intimidate a guard to increase the count). If you somehow have still more civilians or if other team members are busy, tie the volatile ones and keep the other shouted down and in sight and call your team to help
  
• Tied civilians are completely under your control, untied civilians will be easily intimidated but will not count as hostages and will try to flee if they either get a window where all the players are away or get escorted by cops. Be careful as untied civilians may try to run away during a firefight, funneling into nearby doorways and cop groups, possibly causing collateral damage
  
• Civilians deaths will be paid heavily. You will get a setback from 2k to 8k $ depending on difficulty and will largely increase the aggresivity and punch of the cop forces (expect tasers, shields, snipers and medium FBI units even on Normal if you are completely careless). Snipers are particularly affected by civilian deaths, causing you to be locked down by at least 3 of them if you just murder everyone
  
• In reverse, hostages will weaken the cops and distract them terribly. Having a few hostages will force them to seek them with cop units or "Hostage Rescue Units" (FBI agents or regular cops) that have a buff with cable-tie cutting and otherwise miserable health. Having a hostage count in the double-digits will delay the first assault by several minutes and force the cops to flank through the back and sides to minimize the risk of getting the civilians in the line of fire. Heavy hostage counts will also force the police to circle the builing and only send a few punch squads in when they feel secure, along with cutting on their manpower (instead of swarming in dozens if the building is cleared)
  
• Checking the hostages every so often in maps like Jewelry Store and Bank Heist is a good idea, as it will minimize the risk of FBI units suceeding at evacuating civilians. Don't forget to consider barricading windows with planks on compatible maps, or even setting turrets in hostage-heavy rooms that are out of the way (just off the ground if possible for obvious reasons)
  
• The Dominator skill will allow you to surrender one guard in stealth, and during an assault can allow you to surrender hurt and isolated cops (the lighter and more damaged the better, wait until their animations finish if you can take another hit, acing it or purchasing other Mastermind skills will allow you to increase the efficiency of the skill and even turn them on your side)
  
• During a firefight, hold your fire and be careful, all weapons have lots of spray when fired from the hip, largely enough to hit the floor a few meters from you in fact. Melee hits can also glitch from time to time and force you to smithe a nearby tied-down civilian, so move in a better position (not over the civie) or just shoot whatever you were meeleing

As soon as the alarm is raised you will have to face your good old neighbour cops, dressed in uniform or with light kelvar vests. They aren't particularly nasty, but can still pack a punch (especially shotgun units). Here's a few tips to minimize unneeded losses :

• Don't play the hero. You're better off camping inside the building you're working in rather than running outside and trying to shoot the cops off. The only exception is if you have the situation under control and some police cars are directly next to you, in which case you should shoot every cop you can see from cover and move outside quickly to clean up
  
• Regular cops will try to lock you down, but will rarely play the heroes unless they can find hostages (which they prioritize over all else). They have just above the health of a guard and can easily be killed with one headshot or a few bullets
  
• Consider having 2 people working on the objective, one person patrolling and keeping the hostages under control and the last person fighting the cops off. Note that you should assist with all your manpower if an assault approaches (keeping someone near the objective can help however, as drills and hacks may jam or be stopped by the cops, money, paintings and servers will not bag themselves and cases with need tons of time to be opened)
  
• After the first assault the "Light Cop" time with turn into hiatuses of roughly one minute (may vary based on civilian and cop casualties or hostages, and possibly the time spent since the alarm along with the assault itself). All heavy units will retreat and regroup outside (they become an easy picking), FBI units will try to free civilians and some more SWAT squads will try to jam objectives, secure rooms and pick off lone players
  
• If you have the guts to do so you may pick up the ammo kits the cops will loiter on the ground when dying. You can easily get a full refill from a full raiding group and as such save up some ammo
  
• After the first assault wave you should avoid going outside at all costs (unless you want to kill cops waiting outside the walls, in which case it should be quick and precise) until you need to escape
  
• Hiatuses are the best moment to evacuate the bags and objectives, cop presence will be minimal and unorganised and the only real threat will be caused by snipers and loose assault teams

These times won't last forever though, as eventually the cops will regroup and push through...

Here we are, the most painful part of this heist, hope you brought ammo and good guns, or you'll hurt badly while listening to all this sweet electro...

• Audio cues will allow you to predict police assaults a few dozens of seconds before they happen. Most of them show a cut in the music, followed by some sort of stress key. Once the music drops, the assault wave starts. Try to clear up as the cops will start spawning immediately
  
• Aggresive units matching the current difficulty will start to spawn, along with specials -also- matching the difficulty. It goes from SWAT teams with possible tasers and shields to army-geared FBI units with shields, tasers and Bulldozers
  
• The first goal of these assault teams is to secure the civilians, cut off rooms and block your objectives. They will then proceed to try and kill you. This is important, do your best to keep the civilians tied down and make sure that they don't jam the drill themselves
  
• Expect the SWAT teams to make copious use of both smoke grenades and flashbangs. They'll take a few hits (headshots work much better) and generally have sub-machine guns and shotguns. Higher level tan FBI units will take an entire magazine of small calibers and a few headshots to kill
  
• Special units should be marked and picked off as soon as possible, a shield is a nightmare in close quarter situations, tasers can get nasty and snipers can pick off players who lost their armor to small arms fire
  
• If you see one or two SWAT or FBI units take headshots, otherwise empty your magazine in any group that may come to you (just try and be considerate still). Reload often and keep full cover at hand along with a medkit and ammo bags
  
• Shotgun units can be extremely nasty at close range (especially if your shield was already chipped away), automatic units can chip away your armor and confuse you easily. Stay sharp
  
• Stay in an easily-defendable chokepoint during assaults (don't forget that cops can rain down from the ceilling, balconies or windows though), if the cops cut down your objectives and you don't have the force to push through just hold it off until you can restart them, you will lose more time if you get downed while rushing it
  
• Don't attempt to extract the objectives or bags during assault waves unless your team is in good standing, the way is mostly clear and you can carry all the bags at once. It can be particularly hard to escape if one or two players get downed in the middle of the firing line
  
• Cops may carry away your loot bags if they get a secured hold on them, and as such you'll generally be forced to camp where your loot bags are held, place them correctly and don't hesitate to shoot cops strolling away with them to force them to drop it down
  
• There are two main tactics to hold off during assault waves : Secure the entrances (windows, ceiling, doors) or hold it off in a chokepoint (room, hallway, basement). Both have advantages and drawbacks (securing entrances allows some cops to slip in and puts the objectives in danger, and is also more costly ammo-wise and health-wise, camping it out allows the cops to extract the civilians and can reduce your tactical advantage)

Once the assault wave stops and your objectives are under check, you should hopefully be able to finally escape

This game would be relatively easy if all you had to do to win was popping heads and sitting in cover, but sadly the Washington PD had some quick armory upgrades. Presenting the special forces !

• You can spot and call out any special unit at any time by shouting them, do it if they aren't focused on you !
  
• Snipers are likely the first unit you'll ever meet. They spawn outside of the maps on distant rooftops and carry a high-powered sniper rifle with an obvious laser sight. They may take some time to zero in on you (especially if you use cover or dodge their laser) but one shoot with ravage your armor and another one will take out a significant chunk of your health. Don't underestimate them and try to headcap them with a high-powered and perked rifle if possible (Technician perks, especially accuracy and zoom-related ones. The M308 Rifle stands out especially with a sight and the Jaeger mod)
  
• Shields tend to be the only special unit that spawns on lower difficulties. Their shield is bullet-proof and still allows them to sneak in an automatic pistol or an SMG on harder difficulties. Try to circle them and unload in their heads to get rid of them, just be mindful of any cops that may be using them as cover. Their armor also upgrades with difficulty
  
• Tasers will significantly increase the heat as they spawn in groups (around 2-3) and can stun players at range. Stunned players will lose control and unload their current magazine, generally wasting ammo and doing minimal damage (if you are lucky and keen you may headcap the taser with a powerful weapon). If left unchecked stunned players will be downed in short order albeit they will not incur any obvious damage before it happens unless other cops shoot them
  
• What may finally be the worst nightmare of any robber team, the Bulldozer. He will spawn from Hard onwards with chances of coming multiple times by wave and even twice at once as difficulty increases. He wields a pump-action shotgun and wears a -mostly- bulletproof armor. Try to aim for his visor to break it off (after which he takes one or two headshots to down) and otherwise stay clear of his shotgun as one point-blank shoot will ruin your armor and a second one will down you
  
• Specials should be your priority if you can pick them off safely, as they can easily ruin you if they infiltrate your camping spot or sneak up on you. Otherwise funnel them carefully, pick off any cops that may have followed them and deal with them (Sandwich Shields, get one person tased and then headcap the taser and confuse the Bulldozer while you unload automatics in his visor, and only his visor as the rest of his head is bullet-proof)

These will be the nastiest cops you'll meet during your robberies, for sure...

Most people think that escaping is basically running back and forth to the extract, delivering the loot bags before throwing themselves in and getting comfy. It can be, but if you didn't stealth it through you'll "just" have to deal with the entire cop force of the Washington PD

• If you did stealth it through, then congratulations, you got this whole guide set and you're more than ready to get your ultimate reward. Carefully slip the loot bags through the back entrance(s) and move to the van, one bag at a time (set the bags close to the "risky parts" such as streets or untouched zones to make it quicker). Move while crouching to ensure that the civies will not see you too soon, and if a random civie sees you while walking down the street, shout him down, tie him and wrap it up quickly. You'll hopefully get the maximum loot and also get to dodge the escape sequence completely (along with, obviously, avoiding the whole cop assault which can hurt on higher difficulties)
  
• Some heists allow you to escape directly with the loot bags if you can avoid the alarm, make sure to do that if possible. Note that "avoiding the alarm" can simply mean rushing in, tying everyone down, disabling the cameras if present and securing the guards (aka shooting or intimidating them and taking care of the pager). Try it on Singleplayer (give yourself the luxury of shooting any civie you can't tie to reproduce a well-organized tying party)
  
• As indicated earlier, you should not escape during an assault wave unless your crew will easily chew through. You'll regret it otherwise
  
• If you have more than 4 bags, carry them carefully from room to room until they are as close to the van as you can peacefully get them. Then get 2 players running back and forth loading the bags and 2 other players applying suppresive fire and otherwise killing the cops
  
• Suppresive fire is a must, and you should have stocked on ammo and health before leaving if possible. Just fire your weapons in 3-round bursts towards the police groups to minimize the amount of hits you take. Don't forget to deal with any special units separately (especially Snipers or Bulldozers)
  
• If you have the Transporter perk, try to lob some bags upstairs or across fences (be careful to avoid wasting time). You move far more faster without a bag, and it'll decrease the amount of hits you'll have to take
  
• Be mindful around helicopters, position yourself as close to the helicopter as you can manage and try to lob in the middle. The bag will have less chances of bumping off and falling off
  
• Chances are the cops will rush the bags if you leave them in the street. Don't let them carry them off too far
  
• Don't delay the escape, as the cops will still spawn even if your team is safely in the van, and the van will wait for you all the way. You can make everything fail if you delay the escape enough to get your team downed (the escape zones generally have little cover and are close to spawning sites)

Once you're done, you may get to see the escape sequence which plays exactly the same (just with a time limit, and it will never happen after a stealth run). So stay sharp, the XP and money will rain once you get all these bags through

There you go, you're out and rolling. You'll be promptly rewarded with a good sum of XP and spendable cash, and maybe a weapon mod or mask. Stay sharp, you haven't quite cleared out Washington D.C. In fact you're only starting

If I were you, I'd hook up quickly with the harder multiple-days job, maybe switch to higher difficulties once you get a grasp

There's always something to do in good old Washington D.C ! And tons of banks to rob !