Optimal Utility Dodge Build [OUTDATED]

This guide explains how to build and play your very own dodge based build while still being able to kill ANY opponent on Deathwish and being a valuable asset to your team. Inspire, Swan Song and First Aid Kits included.

Introduction

Hello,
In the past weeks, Overkill's business practice has caused an outrage amongst its fans. I am one of those fans. The addition of microtransactions is fine with me, but the fact that you can pay to get weapon stats isn't! To top it all off, the announcement of the rewards for the Completely Overkill Pack, which were supposed to be purely cosmetic, is even more infuriating. I completely despise what Overkill has done and feel as if they have broken the game I once loved.

As such, I will no longer be updating or responding to my guides (they are out of date anyways) and will not be returning to Payday 2 until Overkill explains their recent actions.

For those of you who still play this game, keep those helmets flying ;). Have a good one fellows, and feel free to add me if you want to play other games.

-Atlantic

----
Hello, my name is Atlantic and today I am proud to present you my guide on how to play my version of a dodge build. This is a rather special dodge build made around the concept of utility, and by utility I don't mean being a support for your team. Let me explain.

I used to play an akimbo dodge build and I felt it lacking on DW because I was struggling to kill shields and dozers without using grenades. I also lacked Swan Song in my build. So I played around with my skill trees and this build was born.

It contains everything needed to easily kill any type of opponent while also having Swan Song equipped and Inspire for team play while not lacking in the areas of damage and ammo.

Note: If you do everything correctly, you should hit 7 concealment.

pd2skills link: As requested, here is a link to the guide on pd2skills.com. Sry, I wasn't able to add the secondary weapon. Link[pd2skills.com]


Other guides by Me:

• Bernetti³: Akimbo, The Right Way [Deathwish Certified]
  
  

Explaining the concept of "dodge"

What is dodging?

I like to explain what is dodge by using a real life example. If I threw a brick at you (god knows I would never do that) and that your reflexes made you jump sideways to evade the flying brick, this would be called dodging. You wouldn't of taken any damage whatsoever (in an ideal world of course) and you would still be able to fight back.

In Payday, dodging works in a similar fashion. However, Payday characters are so good at dodging that they don't need to jump sideways to dodge. Instead, the bullets hit them directly while dealing no damage to them. On impact, the bullets will make the players screen flash yellow.

Here is a gif to help you understand what doding is and when does it occur. Notice how the screen flashes yellow and my health bar/armor doesn't go down.





















Pros and Cons of Dodging

Pros:

• Possibility of taking 0 damage for extended periods of time
  
• Allows you to run very fast (spoiler: dodge players run around in... suits!)
  
• Allows you to get to areas players in armor cannot get too
  
• Allows you to have the extremely high stamina

Of course, something which allows you to be invincible does come with a few downfalls

Cons:

• Dodge is based on chance. This means that you can also go down in an instant if you aren't lucky.
  
• Some players in public games will believe that you are hacking (especially if you are using a Deathwish mask and have V-100 *atlantic cries*)
  
• While dodging, armor doesn't regenerate

Mastermind Perks

Cable Guy: I mainly upped this skill to allow me to go further up the skill tree. However, it is very useful to have multiple cable ties and to tie civilians faster.

Combat Medic: At first glance you would believe maxing out this skill would be the way to go, especially since we are running Inspire. However, if someone is running berserker (thus gaining a damage boost when under 25% health), we are going to make him miserable. Hence, we get the basic version of this skill to gain a damage boost after reviving an ally. (25% damage boost)

Endurance: Gives stamina for you and your crew. Because playing a dodge build offers high mobility and speed, we want some decent stamina to go with it.

Control Freak: Nothing special about this skill. I simply put a point in it to allow me to go higher up in the skill tree.

Painkillers: This skill reduces damage taken from allies after you have revived them. This is very useful because when allies go down, they will usually be surrounded by ennemies (or atleast in very loud misisons). Hence, this skill will help them get back to safety after getting back up on their feet. To top it all off, because we will be running Inspire, we will be reviving teammates a lot. This is a must take skill for this build.

Leadership: Stability on weapons for you and your crew. Very nice addon.

Spotter: This skill is incredibly important. First, it allows you to mark out special opponents, which boosts communication and team play. Second, special ennemies you mark will receive 15% more damage. In other words, you are your crew's damage is boosted by 15% against the ennemy you have marked. Incredible. (mark opponents with F) The aced version isn't required but can be a nice asset in certain scenarios.

Dominator: On deathwish, it happens often that one of your allies will go in custody. This skill will allow you to make a police hostage. Indeed, by spamming F at them (and probably shooting at them a few times), some fully trained policeman will kneel and put on his own cuffs. This hostage can then be traded for your teammate.

Kilmer: FIrst off note that this skill only works on rifles. Increased reaload speed can save your life/the life of a teammate on Deathwish. Plus, when we ace this skill, we can reload while running and have better accuracy while running. This skill couples wells with the insane mobility we have while playing a dodge build. Note that having this skill isn't an excuse to go running in the middle of the battlefield.

Inspire: The non-aced version isn't really all that strong. However, the aced version is simply overpowered. WIth Inspire aced, you can shout at teammates (pressing F while looking at them) and have a 75% chance of reviving them instantly. Yes, this skill can be spammed and yes, it is very strong/almost a must on deathwish.

Enforcer Perks

Transporter: A must for any build. This is basically a quality of life improvement to the game. Allows you to move faster while carrying bags and to throw them further.

Underdog: 15% damage boost while being surrounded by 3 or more ennemies. Coupled with the other %damage boosts found in this build, Underdog works wonders.

Technician Perks

As you can see, we dump no points in here. The technician tree is useless for this build.

Ghost Perks

Sprinter: Stamina and speed. Goes well with the high mobility granted by wearing suits. Aced version also gives us 25% increased dodge chance while sprinting!

Cat Burglar:Not necessary, but it's really frustrating to fall and die! I also find it natural to try and jump from a decent height when I'm running really fast.

Fast Hands: Quality of life improvement. You will handle so many bags playing this game, might aswell move them fast.

Cleaner: 5% damage boost versus special opponents. Very strong for a 1 point skill. The body bags aren't really useful, especially in loud.

Shinobi: Once again, speed. Goes well with the mobility granted by suits.

Fugitive Perks

Hidden Blade: Base version gives us melee weapon concealment, which gives us access to a wider variety of melee weapons while not affecting our dodge and crit chance. Aced version is pretty much useless in loud but we need it to go higher in the skill tree.

Thick Skin: Increases our steadiness. Good for aiming.

Run and Gun: As the name suggests, this allows us to have high mobility while shooting (and aiming). Not all that important for our build (mostly because in Deathwish you can't go around run and gunning) but it's still pretty sweet.

Duck and Cover: Now this skill is incredibly important as it adds 15% dodge chance when crouched. Must have.

Quick Fix: Base version allows you to deploy First Aid Kits faster and aced version reduces damage taken by you and your allies after healing from a First Aid Kit (20% for 10 seconds). Both are useful and have saved my life or the life of crew members in some situations.

Swan Song: This skill is the very definition of overpowered. The aced version allows us to fight for an additional 9 seconds after going down while having infinite ammo at the cost of movement speed reduction. Not only does this give us ridiculous wave/room clearing potential but it also allows us to down near our allies/do objectives which are usually hard to do (drill on Hotline Miami for example). If this doesn't sound strong to you, let me show you this gif. You will notice in the bottom right corner my health bar becomes blue with the Swan Song logo on it. This is how you recognize when you are in Swan Song mode and how long you have left before going down. You should also notice how many judge bullets I am able to fire off.




















Uppers: Allows us to place a total of 14 first aid kits when aced. First aid kits are very strong on Deathwish because they heal a player up to full health and we can carry a total of 14 of them. Note that they don't restore downs.

Low Blow: What Low Blow does is add critical hit chance as one of our damage sources. From my understanding, critical hits consist of multiplying your damage by the headshot multiplier you would usually get on that unit, no matter where you shoot. The head is the only exception to this rule, as a critical hit on the head would cause the damage to be multiplied by the (headshot multipler)². Headshot multiplers are usually around 4x (way more for bulldozers) and are reduced on DW to around 3 for most units. Acing this skill is rather useless, as you can see below.

• 5 concealment or less: +30% critical hit chance with base version (aced or non-aced doesn't allow us to go above 30%)
  
• 6-8 Concealment: +27% critical hit chance with base version

As you can see, we almost max out the skill with the base version at 3 concealment and still get a decent critical hit chance with 7 concealment with the base version.

Sneaky Bastard: Once again a must have skill for this build to work. Sneaky Bastard is one of the few places where we go get our dodge chance. It isn't really worth acing.

• 5 concealment of less: +10% dodge chance with base version (aced or non-aced doesn't allow us to go above 10% dodge)
  
• 6-8 Concealment: +9% dodge chance with base version

As you can see, it serves little to no purpose to ace this skill.

Perk deck

I like running the Rogue perk deck as it is the perk deck which offers the most dodge chance. It also gives us -80% time to swap weapons, which is pretty useful, especially when killing dozers (2 hits from judge, swap to clarion and fire in the head for an easy dozer kill). Finally, it gives us 25% chance of piercing ennemy armor, which is also very nice.

Infamy

Infamy II (place infamy point in the Mastermind/Fugitve infamous skill) is required to run this build properly. However, I did make a version of the build which doesn't require any Infamy levels. Feel free to check it out in the "Build Variations" section.

Primary Weapon

Our primary weapon will be the Clarion Rifle. It's concealment coupled with its damage makes it an extremely viable choice for this build.

When modding the Clarion Rifle, keep in mind that we don't want to increase our detection rate too much. Here are the mods which I run:

• Short Barrel
  
• Stubby Compensator
  
• Compact Laser Module
  
• G2 Grip
  
• Surgeon Sight (Note: Any Sight with similar concealment to the Surgeon Sight will work)

You may also choose to add a single/auto fire module. Note that installing either one of these modules will lock you in that firing mode. I personally switch frequently between both fire mods so I didn't install one.

I will be honest, I was scared that the Clarion RIfle wouldn't have enough ammo. However, after play testing it, I can firmly say that the Clarion Rifle has plenty of ammo, given that you use it well. Don't hold the trigger on this gun (unless killing a dozer) but rather fire in short bursts of 2-3 bullets.

Note: If you prefer using akimbo, please look at the build variation section!

Secondary Weapon

I run "The Judge Shotgun" as my secondary weapon. The Judge offers us very good concealment while having more power than any other shotgun, given that we aren't specced into enforcer.

Now, you may ask yourself, "Why a Shotgun?". Well, the answer is rather simple. A shotgun modded with HE rounds allows us to easily kill bulldozers and more importantly, shields. Think of it as one of the utility parts of the build. To top it all off, Judge + Swan Song allows you to clear a room incredibly fast.

Mods:

• HE Round
  
• Compact Laser Module

Melee Weapon

I personally use the Boxing Gloves as a melee weapon. However, I find melee weapons rather pointles. Hence, I never use them. However, the Boxing Gloves is my favorite melee weapon as I feel comfortable using them. Any other melee weapon with identical concealment as the Boxing Gloves will work (Nova's Shank, for example).

Armor

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we will be running around in a suit! The suit offfers us the most dodge chance (we hit 49% dodge chance and 64% dodge chance while crouched!) out of all the armors while giving us the best stamina and speed.

You will never have looked this fancy in the middle of a firefight.

Deployable

Our deployable will be the First Aid Kits. First Aid Kits allow other players to heal up to full health. On Deathwish, this will help your team greatly. Indeed, after being revived on Deathwish, a player finds himself with nearly no health and is prone to going down over and over again. Hence, a player who downs once on Deathwish will go down frequently afterwards until he heals from a Med Pack. First Aid Kits will let players heal up, thus saving your teams Med Packs. Why save Med Packs? Well, Med Packs regenerate downs, so it is important to use them after 2-3 downs, not before, while First Aid Kits don't regenerate downs. More importantly, a player can deploy up to 14 First Aid Kits!

Note: Don't like first aid kits? Look at the build variation section for a version with med packs!

5 concealment or less versus 6-8 concealment

Having 3 concealment doesn't offer much more than having 7 concealment and limits your choices of weapons and mods to an even smaller amount. Anyways, here are the stats for you to compare.

5 concealment or Less:

• 50% dodge chance
  
• 65% dodge change crouched
  
• 75% dodge chance while sprinting
  
• 30% critical hit chance

6-8 Concealment:

• 49% dodge chance
  
• 64% dodge chance crouched
  
• 74% dodge chance while sprinting
  
• 27% critical hit chance

As you can see, you don't lose much running 6-8 concealment instead of 5 or less.

How to play this build

As much as this build seems like a Run and Gun build, it isn't. You should always stick to cover, crouched, to have the most chance of dodging ennemy bullets. More importantly, you will always want to stick with your teammates to be able to revive them easily with Inspire/get revived by them.

You are also encouraged to use your speed and Swan Song to get to objectives such as the power boxes in Framing Frame Loud. However, before going off by your own, warn your team so that they can cover you. Communication is key.

Sometimes, after killing a massive amount of opponents or when a wave ends, you should run up to their corpses and back to retrieve some ammo. Ammo is very precious on Deathwish. DO NOT TRY THIS IF YOU CAN STILL SEE ENNEMIES OR IF YOUR TEAM NEEDS HELP! ALWAYS PUT THE TEAM BEFORE YOURSELF!

As for your First Aid Kits, you should communicate with your team and agree where to camp. Place a few (9-10) First Aid Kits near the Ammo Bags/Med Packs. If you know that you are going to move out soon, don't place more than 4-5 First Aid Kits. More Importantly, always keep 2-3 First Aid Kits on you for emergency purposes, either for you or for an ally. If you spot a low health ally who isn't near any First Aid Kits, drop him one.

If you see any special ennemy, mark them out so your team becomes aware that they are there. Here are how you should tackle the different types of special opponents:

Versus Bulldozers: Bulldozers are very easy to kill with this build. Just equip your judge, shoot at their face until the glass cracks. Once the glass is cracked/removed, switch to your Clarion Rifle and shoot at the dozer's face. He should go down very fast.

Versus Shiels: Shields also aren't a problem while using this build. You can either run up behind them and kill them with your Clarion Rifle or shoot 1-2 Judge bullets in their shield to kill them.

Versus Cloakers: One of the advantages of being fast is that you can partially out run cloakers. You won't get away, but you will have more time to fire at them before they get you. If you hear a cloaker, run and try shooting at them. Cloakers are annoying, whatever your build is. (Unless you run the counter attack skill)

Versus Tazers: If you hear a Tazer, you should equip your clarion and switch to single shot (press V) so you don't lose to much ammo. If your Clarion cannot switch to single shot (Auto Fire Module equipped), take your judge and fire at him once he gets you. There is no miracle answer to Tazers unless you are a technician. Try firing at his head/body to get him to release you. More importantly, mark him out so your team can help you.


That's sums up how to play this build. Being dodge based shouldn't affect how you play. Sticking to cover, communicating and staying with your teammates is the way to go!

Deathwish Video + Gifs

Now, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is. Here is a collection of bulldozer kills, all taken on Deathwish.


























































Finally, here is a video of me playing the build. Mission is Deathwish Hotline Miami in a public game. I am sorry for the poor quality/audio. However, the video still shows you how effective this build is on Deathwish. I am also sorry for kicking that 1 guy but he was rather new to the game and obviously didn't know how to play Deathwish. I did give him a fair shot, mind you.

Note: This video is outdated. We are filming another and hoping to get better audio quality!

Finally, I have done pretty much every single mission you can do on Deathwish Loud using this build. Here is a list of the ones I can clearly remember doing:

- Hotline Miami
- Hoxton Breakout
- Big Oil
- Framing Frame
- Election Day
- Firestarter
- Rats
- All 5 transport missions

And yes, they all ran very smoothly.

Build Variations

TO MAKE ALL OF THIS MORE CLEAR, HERE IS A LIST OF ALL THE BUILD VARIATIONS:

• Med Packs + Anti-Flashbang
  
• No DLC variant
  
• DLC-less akimbo variant
  
• No infamy variant
  
• Akimbo variant (requires DLC)

Med Packs + Anti-Flashbang: Link[pd2skills.com]



No DLC variant: (Testing in Progress, feel free to help and give me your feedback)
Note: The no DLC variation will not be as strong or have as much utility as the normal build. For instance, killing bulldozers and shields will be a lot harder without HE rounds for the Judge. You may want to check out an akimbo guide as I believe akimbo primary + pistol secondary will be stronger than the DLC-less version I am offering. I also made my own DLC-less akimbo build (scroll down a bit if you are interested). Nevertheless, if you wish to use a rifle/judge combo, here is a version that I wipped up myself.

Primary: Car-4 Rifle

Mods:

• Short Barrel
  
• Fire Breather Nozzle
  
• Aftermarket Special Handguard
  
• Ergo Grip
  
• Tactical Mag
  
• Folding Stock
  
• Exotique Receiver

Secondary: The Judge (required to join the payday 2 community to equip, don't worry it's free.)

Mods:

• 000 Buckshot

Note that even without the HE rounds, the Judge is still the best shotgun there is without any points into shotgun skills and with the 000 Buckshot it is a strong secondary weapon. If you feel like a pistol/secondary assault rifle may fit you better, feel free to try it and share the result with me.

Back on track, with this No-DLC version, you will still hit 7 concealment. Feel free to test different alternatives on different guns. Before you ask, hitting 8 concealment wouldn't really be a problem.



DLC-less Akimbo Variant: (Testing in Progress, feel free to help and give me your feedback)

As I mentionned before, I believe that running an aikimbo primary+ pistol secondary build would be stronger than a rifle/judge build for players who don't own any DLC. Here is how I would build a DLC-less akimbo build:

• Skills: Click Me![pd2skills.com]
  
• Primary: Akimbo Bernetti 9 Pistols
  
• Mods:
  • Facepunch Compensator
    
  • Micro Laser
    
  • Ergo Grip
    
  • Extended Mag (can be removed if you feel like you aren't running out of ammo often
    
  • The Elite Slide
• Secondary: Chimano Custom Pistol (If you feel more comfortable using another pistol, go for it.)
  
• Mods:
  • IPSC Compensator
    
  • Micro Laser
    
  • Ergo Grip
    
  • Long Slide

No Infamy Variant: Click me[pd2skills.com]
Because not everyone decides to go Infamous, I decided to make a build oriented towards this group of players! The only real difference is that we are running Med Packs instead of First Aid Kits. Inspire, Swan Song and all the other important components are there!


Akimbo Variant (requires DLC):

• Skills:Click Me![pd2skills.com]
  
• Primary: Akimbo Bernetti 9 Pistols
  
• Mods:
  • Flash Hider
    
  • Micro Laser
    
  • Ergo Grip
    
  • Extended Mag (can be removed if you feel like you aren't running out of ammo often
    
  • The Elite Slide
• Secondary: The Judge Shotgun
  
• Mods:
  • HE Rounds
    
  • Compact Laser Module
• Note: This build is very strong and fun. It's only real weakness is ammo and long range.

You may also want to check out my other guide for a full explanation on how to make an akimbo build! Click Me!



Have a build variation request? Feel free to add me and I'll help you build one :)

Message from the Author

I would personally like to thank your for reading my guide. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or adding me personally. If you want me to play with you to show you the build, I am fine with that aswell. Remember, the best way to evaluate a build is to take it for a test drive yourself.

I also encourage people to try and find their own unique set-up. If you find that the Clarion or the Judge doesn't suit you and that an AMCAR or a Car-4 would be better, go for it! If you think you've found a better version of the build, feel free to share it with me.

Finally, I encourage constructive criticism. This guide is far from perfect and I'm sure some of you have very good ideas on how to make it better!

I will end by wishing you good luck on the battlefield.

- Atlantic

Contributors

Goalball: I know you didn't want me to add you to this guide, but I did anyways. Thank you, Goalball, for testing this build and giving me your constructive feedback!

Updates

Januray 18 2015:

• Changed akimbo pd2skills link to a better set of skills
  
• Added an akimbo variant with DLC.

January 14 2015:

• Removed Sixth Sense explanation (leftover from old futigive skill tree)
  
• Fixed a mistake in the Perk Decks section
  
• Added a more elaborate explanation of what critical hit chance actually does.

January 13 2015:

• Changed Concealment rating categories.

January 11 2015:

• Changed branding image to remove confusion with the knockout achievement guides.
  
• Added a DLC-less build variation using rifles
  
• Added a DLC-less build variation using akimbo
  
• Added a Infamy-less build variation

January 10 2015:

• Fixed the Med Pack + Flash Bang build variation to remove the aced version of underdog as it apparently is currently bugged.
  
• Fixed the crit chance rating after being informed that 28% crit chance is impossible and that with this build players will hit 27% crit chance.
  
• Added info for the Sprinter skill in the Ghost tree
  
• Added info for %dodge chance while sprinting

January 9 2015:

• Updated the Mastermind Skill Tree based on feedback.
  
• Updated the Ghost Skill Tree based on feedback
  
• Updated the Fugitive Skill Tree based on feedback
  
• Added Med Packs build variation

[cate]

thank you! Much appreciated

[Atlantic]

Cate, good idea. Done.

[cate]

ah righto. Cheers for the fast reply and update.
Can I ask you put in the title that it is outdated, something like: ( {title} [OUTDATED] ) ?
reason being so people looking for builds via guides know what is and isn't for current day pd2

[Atlantic]

Hi cate, it used to have pictures and even videos. This guide is very outdated and not maintained.

[cate]

insane amount of text and no pictures. I would've loved much less text and pictures showing what you're talking about, like most other guides

[Atlantic]

Hi Skysen, I haven't played Payday 2 in quite a while and this guide is outdated. Sorry :v

[Skysen]

where is the akimbo BERNETTI 9 IN THE SHOP WHY

[Atlantic]

Its a really old build... sorry :V I hoesntly dont play payday 2 anymore either.

[shibal shekki]

hey man images are down for the build could we get a reupload? T.T

[Elevna]

you missed a posative of dodge:
Most, if not all the characters look amazing in the two piece suit.