The Sokol Build

[NOTE: Outdated; Will be updated ASAP] A skill build inspired by the new Sokol Character Pack DLC, using the Valkyria weapon and Grinder perk deck. Death Wish certified!

Introduction

The Sokol Character Pack was released not long ago, and with him also comes the Valkyria rifle, the Hockey Stick melee, and the Grinder perk deck. What's so special about these, you ask? Well, the Valkyria may look like just another AK-bodied assault rifle, but it's actually silenced, the only weapon in Payday 2 silenced at stock. This immediately made me think of the silenced weapon skills in the Ghost skill tree, and got me thinking... Could I make a loud skill build based around this DLC? So after coming up with a concept using the Payday 2 Skill Calculator and getting around to testing it ingame, I think it's safe to say, yes. Hell yes. As for the Grinder perk deck, I'll get to that later. And as for the hockey stick... it's a hockey stick. You know.

Requirements

• Sokol Character Pack
  
• Infamy level 4, Mastermind/Enforcer/Ghost tree bonuses
  
• Level 100
  
• At least $5,460,750 for the skills, $652,000 for the Valkyria and $43,000 for the Valkyria's Solid Stock mod
  
• The Grinder perk deck fully acquired

The Valkyria Rifle

Before we take a look at the skills, let's take a look at the reason I made this build in the first place; The Valkyria Rifle.



A beauty, ain't it? Let's take a look at its statistics.



As you can see, it's got a good amount of total ammo and a very fast rate of fire, emptying a full clip in a little over a second. It's also got a good amount of damage, good accuracy, and good stability. However, it has a zero threat rating due to it being a suppressed weapon, though not that it'll matter much. The concealment rating also doesn't matter, since this is not a stealth build after all. So it'll certainly help to modify it with the aforementioned Solid Stock, one of which is always included in the Sokol Character Pack.



The Solid Stock increases stability by +6 while decreasing concealment by -3. Once again, since concealment doesn't matter for this build, it only helps if you get this mod, especially if you have trouble with recoil.

So as you can see from the stats above, the Solid Stock mod and the skills used in this build greatly increase the damage output, accuracy, and stability. The Valkyria becomes very powerful, able to shred through a Bulldozer's faceplate and kill him with only a single clip up close, even on Death Wish. Not to mention what it will do to Cloakers and Tasers. Also, with the required skills and perk deck, you have a 60% chance to pierce armor, effectively doing away with Tans relatively easy.

Be warned though, that because of the very high fire rate you are liable to run out of ammo for it quicker than usual.

So, there's your introduction to the Valkyria out of the way. Let's move onto the skills.

Mastermind

Endurance - Aced/4 Points
150% more stamina for you, 50% more stamina for your crew. An essential skill.

Combat Medic - Aced/4 Points
After reviving a crew member you recieve a 25% damage bonus for 10 seconds, and reviving a crew member gives them 30% more health. Very helpful.

Cable Guy - Basic/1 Point
Not many maps have many civilians, but 75% faster cable tying speed shouldn't slow you down much.

Leadership - Aced/4 Points
50% weapon stability for you and your crew. Always helpful.

Painkillers - Aced/4 Points
Crew members you revive take 30% less damage for 5 seconds. Should be useful.

Dominator - Basic/1 Point
Intimidating non-special enemies into a hostage? Always useful. Not as strong as its aced variant, but you can still get the job done.

Spotter - Basic/1 Point
Special enemies take 15% more damage when you mark them, noticable by the red outline as opposed to the pink outline. Always helpful.

Combat Doctor - Aced/12 Points
Yes, this build uses Doctor Bags as its main equipment, so you should have the best for you and your crew. 2 Doctor Bags with 2 additional charges each. Only use if you have 1 or 0 downs left.

Kilmer - Basic/4 Points
25% faster assault rifle and sniper rifle reload speed, perfect for the Valkyria.

Gunslinger - Basic/4 Points
50% faster pistol reload speed, just in case if you choose to use silenced pistols as your backup weapon.

Inspire - Aced/12 Points
One of the most useful skills, if not the most useful. A 75% chance to revive crew members instantly by shouting at them from around 6 or 7 meters away. If you're just too close to them and cannot move away to shout at them, you have a 50% faster manual revive speed. Also, shouting at your teammates increases their movement speed (and reload speed) by 20% for 10 seconds.

Enforcer

Transporter - Aced/4 Points
50% faster move speed while carrying bags, and you can throw bags 50% further. An essential skill.

Die Hard - Aced/4 Points
You can use your primary weapon in bleedout, you'll need this if you want to keep using your powerful new Valkyria on the off chance you get downed. Your armor recovers 15% faster.

Stun Resistance - Aced/4 Points
Reduces the effect of flashbangs by 75%. If flashbangs annoy the crap out of you like they do for me, then you'll want this.

Technician

Nerves of Steel - Basic/1 Point
You take 50% less damage while interacting with things. Almost essential if you want to use the Grinder perk deck. Or Rogue, Crook, or Burglar.

Rifleman - Basic/1 Point
Your snap to zoom is 100% faster with assault rifles and sniper rifles. Doesn't sound very useful, but it really is. Much less time to transition to steel sights, so you can shoot enemies with better accuracy almost instantaneously.

Ghost

Cat Burglar - Aced/4 Points
You now only take armor damage if you fall from non-fatal heights. More useful than it seems, plus you don't want to lose your hard earned health from misjudging heights, do you?

Sprinter - Aced/4 Points
Faster stamina regeneration, and 25% faster sprint speed. Essential skill. Plus, a 25% better dodge chance while moving, useful if you choose the Two Piece Suit as your armor rather than the Lightweight Ballistic Vest. You'll see what I mean.

Dead Presidents - Basic/1 Point
10% more value to loose loot. Not very useful for loud heists, this skill is only used to advance up the tree.

Cleaner - Basic/1 Point
You do 5% more damage against special enemies. Why not? Also yeah, you can buy the body bag asset, not that it really matters.

Fast Hands - Aced/4 Points
75% faster loot bag pack and interaction speed. Essential skill.

SMG Specialist - Basic/1 Point
35% faster SMG reload speed, for if you want to use a silenced SMG as a backup weapon.

Martial Arts - Basic/1 Point
50% chance to knock down an enemy with a melee strike. Why not?

Shinobi - Basic/1 Point
25% faster walk speed and 10% faster crouch speed. Essential skill.

Silent Killer - Aced/12 Points
30% more damage for silenced weapons, plus a 15% chance to pierce armor with silenced weapons. Perfect for the Valkyria. And to add on to that...

The Professional - Aced/12 Points
50% more stability with silenced weapons, combined with Leadership aced is 100% stability for the Valkyria. 100% faster snap to zoom with silenced weapons, which coupled with Rifleman Basic from Technician, is 200% faster snap to zoom with the Valkyria, and other suppressed assault/sniper rifles. 50% accuracy with silenced weapons. 15% chance to pierce armor with silenced weapons, which coupled with Silent Killer aced is a 30% chance to pierce armor with silenced weapons. Perfect.

Fugitive

Thick Skin - Aced/4 Points
+10 steadiness, and +20 armor. Essential skill. Good for if you'd prefer to take the Lightweight Ballistic Vest.

Duck and Cover - Aced/4 Points
15% better chance to dodge while crouching. More enhanced dodge skills if you prefer to use the Two Piece Suit.

Run and Gun - Basic/1 Point
10% additional movement speed. Essential skill.

The Grinder Perk Deck

*Will be updated to match the recent Perk Deck Balancing update*

The Grinder perk deck is one of the main focuses of the Sokol Character Pack, and once I found out what the effects of it were, they also became one of the main focuses of this skill build. Let's have a look at its unique effects.











So basically, what this perk deck does is that whenever you damage an enemy you will start to continuously heal 5 points of health every 0.5 seconds, for 4 seconds. But, every 1 second the effect can stack, basically meaning as long as you constantly damage enemies you are able to quickly heal as much health as you need to recover.

On the downside, this effect can only work if you wear either the Two Piece Suit or the Lightweight Ballistic Vest. Sounds bad, but this effect more than makes up for your little amount of armor. Not to mention, you move faster without all that bulky armor on, and the Two Piece Suit has a 10% dodge chance, made better by Sprinter aced, and Duck and Cover aced.

Also to make up for the lack of armor, you gain 40% more health, and an extra 30% chance to pierce armor. This, combined with Silent Killer aced and The Professional aced, gives you a 60% chance to pierce armor in total with silenced weapons. As mentioned before, Tans will have no chance against you.

This perk deck is very powerful, borderline overpowered. If you use it well, you'll find yourself being downed so much less than usual, if at all. This deck, especially partnered with this skill build, is very effective on Death Wish. Any amount of health you lose can almost instantly be gained back, as long as you go in and out of cover and continuously damage enemies. Killing them is not required. But... why wouldn't you, anyway?

Alternatives

Primary Weapon
This build was primarily made for the Valkyria, which I will stick to with its devastatingly high rate of fire. But, it can also work with other suppressed assault rifles, and even suppressed sniper rifles. Though, take note that modding other primaries with suppressors will lower the base damage of those weapons, if slightly. You will still have armor piercing ability, as well as increased stability and accuracy.

Secondary Weapon
I have not stated a specific secondary weapon to use, but this build will really benefit from a suppressed SMG or pistol, due to the appropriate skills improving their reload times and statistics.

Melee Weapon
Take your pick. Might as well try out the Hockey Stick, though. It's pretty good.

Alternate Skills
If you're not too much bothered by flashbangs, you can sacrifice Stun Resistance and the aced version of Die Hard and ace Nerves of Steel, and get Sharpshooter aced.





The aced version of Nerves of Steel can allow you to aim down sight while downed, if you ever are downed that is. Sharpshooter aced improves accuracy with single shot weapons by 20% and stability with rifles by 25%. Combined with Leadership aced and The Professional aced, this gives you an extra 125% stability total with the Valkyria.

Or, instead of Nerves of Steel aced and Sharpshooter aced, you can ace Gunslinger in the Mastermind tree, provided you give up Die Hard completely. Acing Gunslinger gives pistols a flat 15 damage point bonus.

You can ace Cable Guy instead of Painkillers to get 4 more cable ties to your using, in case you feel you want to take more hostages, or just in case you need to re-tie a hostage that's been freed.

Alternate Perks
Of course, you are not limited to Grinder for this build. If you choose to use another perk deck, you will still have a 30% chance to pierce armor with silenced weapons. The Rogue deck will give you 30% increased dodge capability with the Two Piece Suit, and an extra 25% chance to pierce armor, making your chance 55% in total. Only 5% less than if you would use Grinder, just without the healing capability. Also, 80% faster weapon swapping is always nice.

Crook increases chance to dodge by 45% with ballistic vests, as an alternative to Rogue. You will have less chance to dodge than Rogue, but have more armor and 10% faster armor recovery.

Or if you would prefer stronger armor, Muscle gives you 90% more health, and the ability to spread panic with SMGs and sniper rifles.

Infliltrator gives you 20% less damage taken while up close to enemies, and boosts your melee weapon damage by 20% each time you hit an enemy, which can stack for 4 times, for 6 seconds. Hitting an enemy with a melee weapon also gives you 10% health, which cannot happen more than once every 15 seconds.

Armorer gives you 20% more armor and 20% faster armor recovery, as well as giving 10% more armor to your crew. (Crew perks do not stack, by the way.)

And there's always Crew Chief, the jack of all trades, for if you plan on taking hostages. 2% extra health and 4% extra stamina for each hostage taken, up to 10 hostages. For you, 25% more health, 10% more armor, and 50% more stamina. For your crew, 15% more health, 5% more armor, and 50% more stamina. (Again, crew perks do not stack if more than one crew member uses this perk deck.)

So, that should be all the information I have to cover. Give this build a try, it will not disappoint.

[Shino locked?]

update skill tree

[vil]

What armour should I take w/ Grinder perks?

[NightAndDayzed]

You should add a section about viable secondaries aswell, or at least secondaries that you've found synergize with the build.

[FireRedDraggon]

secondary?

[Swaghetta]

One of the best, or maybe even the best build I have ever had. I slightly modified it but nonetheless it is amazing. I highly reccomend it.

[Little Spike Dragon]

@Sgt. Hellfire; Hey, thanks for the comment! Glad you like the build. Yes, I will definately update this guide to be accurate with the updates that have passed since then... eventually, anyway.

[Louvel Hellfire]

I gotta say, even after the update, this build is still quite powerful since suppressed weapons had quite the buff. But if you want you can probably remake some of this. This build is still quite deathwish certified.

[MysteryZer0]

@Little Spike Dragon Thanks alot.
P.S I already got all infamy bonus for reducing the tear.

[Little Spike Dragon]

@SwegDoge; Sounds to me like you just need to advance up the Infamy tree. But where you are at the moment, I'd suggest using upgraded medic bags and inspire aced before toying with the silenced weapon skills.

[MysteryZer0]

so which skill should I focus to start? If i start with ghost, i can't use upgraded med bag and inspire for while and if i start with mastermind, i can't use silencer weapon for while.