Since many people tend to say the only reasonable choices on One Down are the medieval Weapons or other DLC bound weapons, which are not contained in the Game-of-the-Year Edition of Payday 2 (Which, in my opinion, everybody who wants to buy Payday 2 should buy since it is a really good deal), I try to present some One Down Builds which are all useable with ONLY the GOTY-Edition.

I will be assuming that you are at least Infamy V and got all the skillpoint requirement reductions from the infamy skill tree.

The first Build I would like to present is the Shotgun-Crit Build which got really popular after the "Gage Spec Ops"-DLC in combination with the IZHMA SHOTGUN, which we cannot use since this DLC is not part of the GOTY.

The used Perkdeck will be Rogue and the armor will obviously be the Suit.


For either Doctorbags or FAK's, depending on your team or preference.
Inspire is really strong on dodge-based builds since you dont need to place yourself into a dangerous situation while helping a downed teammate, which occurs quite often on One Down.
Stable Shot Basic for the 8 extra Stability.


Obviously Shotgun-Skills. More damage, faster Reload, even more damage after a kill.
Underdog is just basic since 15% damage reduction won't help you surviving another bullet.
Close By so that you can land a headshot while running and regenerate 5 armor using Bullseye basic, so you can take another shot on your armor after it broke. Resilience Ace because flashbangs are a pain without but if you dont need it just go with Transporter basic to stack up enough points for Bullseye.
Scavenger basic for better Ammo pickup range, nice to have.


No skills needed here.


Pretty selfexplaining. More dodge, more dodge while running, run faster, more concealment, reload while running. Shockproof Ace since tasers will ruin your day if you are unlucky.
Crits and Silencerskills will provide even more damage. Unseen Strike is just basic because it stops working if you get hit while its active so it's not worth acing it. The Professional basic because you don't really need the accuracy on shotguns.


Nine Lifes ace because 2 downs before being gray are FAR better than 1 down. Swan Song ace because if you die you can still help your team by killing everything you can see or by running to a safe spot.




As a primary weapon we got 2 choices. Either the M1014 or the RAVEN SHOTGUN. Either has Pros and Cons but you need to choose for yourself.

First we will talk about the M1014:



This shotgun has a really fast rate of fire for a shotgun, but a small magsize. You need to reload quite often due to this, but it kills super fast. Buckshot for the extra damage is quite important.

The RAVEN looks like this:


I dont use the Short barrel on the RAVEN, since it reduces the magazine, but you can do it if you want. In my opinion this shotgun is a bit weaker than the M1014 due to its low rate of fire, but it has a bigger magazine to make up for it.

As the secondary shotgun I like to use the THE JUDGE SHOTGUN with HE ammo.


This thing is AWESOME. It has high concealment, high damage, a fast reload and fires as fast as you can click. I choose to use it with HE ammo because it can kill shield units and the headplate of bulldozers quite easy. The headplates of bulldozers are a pain to destroy with buckshot or other ammotypes because of rng-elements which prevent the plate from getting any damage if you are unlucky. But 2 shots with HE and the plate is completely destroyed and you can just headshot the dozer with your primary shotgun.
Also, due to the crit on this build HE ammo can crit and deal AoE damage with a headshot multiplier. Captain winters and swat-van-turret-plates can be completely obliberated with just 5 shot from this JUDGE and some crit luck.
Furthermore: Because of the JUDGE's insane RoF you can clear a whole room once you enter Swan Song.

This build is a standart dodgebuild which features Jokerskills to improve your survivability.
With the weapons presented here you need at least 1 concealmentboost, but want to use one on both weapons(or go with other weapons).

The used Perkdeck will be Rogue and the armor will obviously be the Suit.



Inspire Ace and FAK's(which can also be replaced by doctorbags again) to improve the overall team survivability. In the Controller subtree I got every Joker-related skill except Hostage Taker because it's too expensive to take.


Pretty straigtforward. Resilience ace for flashbangs and Bullseye basic to improve your survivability by lots through armorgating.


Steady grip ace for those sweet 8 accuracy.


Pretty straightforward again, standard dodgeskills, sadly no Shockproof because not enough points to spare.
The Professional got aced für those 12 accuracy so the FALCON RIFLE gets up to 92 accuracy which is nice. Unseen Strike only got the basic version again because the skill stops working if you get hit while it is active.


Nine Lives and Swan Song for more survivability on One Down und the sweet 9 seconds after going down to obliberate everything.



As the Primary weapon I would recommend the FALCON RIFLE:


It has 80 base damage which goes up to 108 due to silencer skills, which is pretty sweet. I used a concealment-statboost on this rifle so I can use the "The bigger the better" Suppressor which reduces the concealment by 1(because Optical Illusions ace) instead of the medium suppressor, which gives me a boost of 8 accuracy. So all in all 92 Accuracy are a pretty sweet deal.

As the secondary i recomment a THE JUDGE SHOTGUN again, because of it's strong basestats and up to 31 concealment(again with concealment statboost). Once again I use HE ammo because those sweet AoE crits can deal massice amounts of damage and deal with shields pretty nice.

Here I will present a pistolbased dodge build with crit featuring the STRYK 18C pistol.
I will be using 1-2 concealment statboosts here.

You can also use other pistols if you like, but you may need to change the build for the specific pistol.

The used Perkdeck will be Rogue and the armor will obviously be the Suit.



Inspire again, because it's just too good. Again FAKs or Doctorbags, just choose yourself what you need most. Stable Shot for the 8 stability.


Just straight forward dodge things. Resilience Ace for less deadly flashbangs and Bullseye basic to make armorgating possible.


Just Steady Grip Basic here for 8 Accuracy.


In the Artful Dodger subtree we will take standard dodge skills again. Sadly no Shockproof because of the lack of points. In the Silent Killer subtree we get all silencer skills for the extrastats like the +12 Accuracy which stack with Steady Grip to a total of +20 Accuracy and the +30% damage and +8 Stability (for a +16 total with Stable Shot). Low Blow for 30% crit.


In the Revenant subtree we get Nine Lives and Swan Song Ace since those are mandatory on dodgebased One Down builds. Then we get various pistol skills. Equilibrium and Gun Nut Basic to get to the upper part of the tree. Gun Nut just Basic because we don't need the +50% RoF because of the already insane RoF the STRYK 18C has. One Handed Talent Ace so we get a plain +15 damage for the kinda weak 35 base damage of our pistol of choice and Desperado Ace for the 50% faster reloadspeed and the increased accuracy after a hit. Normally I would recommend to dont bother with Trigger Happy Basic because it just last 2 seconds, but since the STRYK 18C has its insane RoF it stacks up real fast and helps alot.



As a primary weapon we got two choices. First the GL-40:

The GL-40 is a really good weapon to deal with Shields or hordes of enemys. Since this build lacks Shield-killing aspects you may want to take it with you if your team has very few ways to deal with Shields fast or if you want to play solo.

The second choice are the AKIMBO DEAGLE PISTOLS:

Those babys are killing-machines on their own. The only real downside is the lack of ammo, so you kinda want to use them carefully. They are really good for dealing with distant enemys.

As our secondary weapon we will be using the STRYK 18C PISTOL:

With this pistol you can kill any unit on One Down absurdly fast thanks to its high Rate of Fire which is even faster than most SMGs. Also Trigger Happy stacks really fast and gives you a decent damage boost for everything that survives long enough like Bulldozer or Tazer while also improving your accuracy with Desperado. The ammo pickup is thanks to the high ammo pool also decently high.

This Build is a standard LMG build which performs as a huge support role on One Down. One version features Inspire and Doctorbags and the other Version ammobags and ammo skills.

The used Perkdeck will be Armorer and the armor will be the Combined Tactical Vest.

Why the CTV?

We will use the CTV because this build uses the aced Frenzy skill. If you play with Frenzy, the damage you take will be reduced by 25%. This means the Heavy-swat units, which normally would deal 225 damage per shot, will now deal 168.75 damage per shot.
This means in conclusion that the CTV with 181 armor will break after 2 shots but since the ICTV which has 270 armor also breaks after 2 shots, it doesn't even matter.
Thus we will be saving this 8 skillpoints für other skills.



Inspire because inspire is awesome.
If you go with the ammo-build just get basic combat medic for the extra 30% damage reduction while reviving.


Underdog basic für the 15% more damage. Iron man basic is essential so you get enough armor to tank a bullet. Shock and awe ace helps you to deal with shield units with your LMG. Die hard helps alot if you need to revive teammates and stacks with combat medic für a 65% damage reduction.
Again, if you go with the ammo build you got ammobags with bulletstorm ace for up to 15s unlimited ammo after taking ammo for you and your crew. Also fully loaded ace helps you to manage your ammo even better.


This is the essence of this build. Body expertise ace gives you headshot-damage no matter where you hit the enemy exept for bulldozers. Surefire ace lets you shoot through the body armor of Heavy Swat units and heavy impact staggers your enemys with a 25% chance which also helps alot.


Duck and cover and parkour basic because gotta go fast(saaanic).


Nine lives because One Down. Frenzy for the 25% damage reduction and the permanent effect of berserker ace, which gives you 40% more damage from the get-go. This damage boost can go up to 100% and is at ~75% after you got downed once. If you get a meleekill with bloodthirst you get a 50% reloadspeed-boost for 10s, but i wouldn't recommend trying.




As a primary every LMG would work but in my opinion the KSP Light machine gun is due to it's high ammo pool and magazine combined with the high rate of fire slightly better than the other LMGs.



As a secondary I would recommend to use the Swedish K SMG due to it's high base damage and overall good stability and accuracy. This gun can be used to deal with Bulldozers or any other high value target quicker than with the inaccurate LMG(since body expertise doesn't apply on dozers).

The purpose of this build is to bring extra supplies to the heist without giving up to much damage potential. This build will use the Combined Technical Vest (CTV) and the Armorer Perkdeck.


Obviously Inspire. You could get Quick Fix instead of Painkillers, but in my opinion quick fix will synergize better with FAKs because of the damage reduction on healing instead on revive.


Tank: Here you want to get Resiliance ace to counter flashbangs, Shock and Awe ace because basic is just to good on armor to ignore it and ace lets you knock down shields with your melee to finish them with your weapon. Bullseye basic is just there because it is the most efficient way to reach Iron Man. Iron Man is just basic, because of the aforementioned mechanic that ICTV and CTV are practically the same with Frenzy ace.
In the Ammo Specialist Subtree we get Extra Lead Ace. We want to reach it using the Portable Saw skill basic because its the most efficient way to get there and we get the possibility to bring the Saw as a secondary weapon.
Since I got one skillpoint left at the end, i put it in Underdog to get a tiny damage boost.


Here we want to reach Jack of All Trades in the most efficient way possible, so we can bring both Ammo and Doctorbags to the heist.


We want to get Duck and Cover and Parkour to gain that extra movementspeed. I chose to get Specialized Killing in the Silent Killer tree, because it is one of the best damage Improving skills that will only work with certain weapon types. Also: Its damage buff is higher than e.g. the buff from Shotgun Impact. The Professional will provide better weapon stability and a faster zoom, which is nice.


Nine Lives. Duh!
Also Frenzy and Berserker. I like to get there using this setup, because Bloodthirst has a Higher damage potential compared to Pumping Iron (especially in the beta) - but you wont be using your melee a whole lot so you may use a different setup.


The GL40

No mods needed. I would personally prefer using Incindiary rounds but, sadly, these are not Included in the GOTY.

The M308-Rifle (Or also known as The Meta-Rifle)

You want to use the The Bigger the Better Suppressor to get the most out of Specialized Killing. This Suppressor will also add Accuracy and Stability to your weapon, helping it perform better. The Gadgets you can use are the Military Laser Module or the LED Combo, both will provide a better stability and the ability to use both a laser and a flashlight (the later very handy on heists like Big Oil). Use a Sight that you like and try to use it in conjunction with the Scope Mount - this will bring the M308 Rifle to a 100 Accuracy.


The OVE9000 Saw

I Personally like to use the Fast Motor in Conjunction with the Durable blade. This will enable you to open the deposit boxes all around Washingtons Banks in a single click, thanks to Berserker and Frenzy.

The Swedish K Submachine Gun

You can Basically mod it EXACTLY like you would do for the LMG Build, but with the exception that you want to slap a Bigger the Better Suppressor onto it.

The Locomotive shotgun

You cant do much wrong with this all time favorite. Slap the two Magazine mods onto it, use the Shh! Suppressor and mod it to your likings. The loco got some ways to modify its performance. You can use Flechette to improve the range for a small damage penalty, use 000-Buckshot to buff the damage substantially or use HE-Rounds to deal with shields very effectively.

This build is a dedicated stealth build. The one thing you want to do while in this build is: Restart the Heist. Your focus is on concealment so your weapons wont do much damage. Your Armor of choice is the Two-Piece Suit and you want to bring the Burglar Perk deck. This will allow you to pick locks and answer pagers faster.


Forced Friendship basic will allow you to bring 6 cable ties, while Stockholm Syndrome will allow you to intimidate civilians with the noise you make (e.g. sawing and shooting).
Also High Value Target allows you to mark guards twice as long and also works with sensor mines. Stable Shot Ace for more accuracy while standing still, nobody likes to miss the target.


Payday is also known as "the Bag Throwing Simulator" - so Transporter Basic is nice to have. Portable Saw Ace will increase the effectiveness of the saw substantially so you can saw everything on every stealthy heist with just basic ammobags.


Jack Of All Trades - This will allow you to bring ECM and Ammo, Mines, Bodhi-Bags... whatever the heist may need you to bring.
Obviously you might want to bring drill skills on a job that is 90% waiting until the Thermal Drill (go get it!) finished the job - so aced Hardware Expert and Drill Sawgeant is a must. Kickstarter is nice to have, but i personally think that the aced version is a nice gimmick in stealth, but not that usefull overall. So its just basic.
More Firepower will allow us to bring up to 14 mines and 6 shaped charges. The Mines can be plastered around the map in sensor mode to mark enemies for you, which is very usefull on most stealth heists. The shaped charges - you know what there are for.
Steady Grip will provide a small amount of accuracy, which is nice.


With the exception of Cleaner, you want to get everything aced in shinobi, because of obvious reasons (more+longer ecm, Mark guards by standing still, better lockpicking...). Cleaner is only Basic, because you wont get any profit from acing it when carrying the body bag asset as a secondary asset: Both ace and basic (or no Cleaner at all for that matter) will provide you with one body bag case with 3 body bags in it. If you still want to ace it because you feel like you totally need 8 bodybags instead of 5 for whatever reason throw out Stable Shot Ace and Steady Grip Basic.

Artful Dodger gets the generic speed skills. Also Inner Pockets basic, which allows you to conceal your melee weapon, which will in turn lower your overall detection risk. With the exact same reasons we get Optical Illusions ace.


Nothing to see here.

You want to use weapons with the highest concealment possible. This also means, that using Concealment Boosts will be a very common theme on stealth weapons.


OVE9000 SAW

Allthough you could use the saw as a secondary weapon, I like to use it as a primary with a stealth build, since you can get a higher concealment on secondary weapons than on primaries, generally speaking. Since I like to use the noise of the saw to intimidate civilians I use the fast motor and the durable blade.


CAR-4 RIFLE

Long story short: Get every possible mod to increase the concealment.

Just about every Akimbo Pistol

Due to their high base concealment you can use nealy every akimbo pistol paired with a suppressor.

GRUBER KURZ PISTOL

This Weapon has the highest Concealment of all weapons when propperly modded: The smallest suppressor and the unique concealment boost which will provide +3 concealment will bring this pistol to 34 concealment.

THE JUDGE SHOTGUN

There are two advantages of this shotgun in stealth: First, Murkywater guards will be a lot easier to deal with once you got detected. Second, you can propell guards into corners where they can't be detected by other guards.

If you carefully choose your weapons and skills you can make viable One Down builds with just the GOTY-Edition of Payday 2.

All here stated weapons and skills are just recommendations and can be personalized up to a degree.