The Beginner's Guide to Stealth Mechanics [Update 67]

So now you've got a couple heists under your belt, and you are thinking to yourself "How can I complete this mission without those pesky cops getting in the way?" Well don't worry, I'm here to show you the way.

Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Stealth Mechanics.

Introduction

[Last Update: May 8, 2015. Patch 67]

So, you want to learn how to stealth missions? It might seem like a daunting task, but really it is quite simple. With a little bit of know-how and a little bit of practice, you too can become a master thief. The few minutes it takes you to read this guide will go a long way on your quest to take a heist unseen.

I firmly believe in a philosophy that the the best way to teach someone is not by rigidly telling them exactly what to do, but to give them the tools to learn and master it themselves. Only by understanding the mechanics of stealth in Payday 2, will you be able to complete a mission in secret without bashing your head against a wall in frustration. So lets get to it!

The first thing you will need is a silenced weapon obviously.

Be sure to share this guide with your friends who also want to learn the basic mechanics of stealth!

Chinese Translation courtesy of Ted.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=200879519

Please bear in mind, I am not responsible for updating the information on the foreign language translation guides, so they may contain outdated information.

Section 1: Concealment & Detection

Concealment and detection are closely related but not the same. Concealment level adjusts your detection level. High concealment means low detection level, and vice versa. For stealth purposes, generally you want to keep your detection level down. Your weapons and armor both effect this rating.





Having gear with high concealment will lower your detection rating. A detection rating of 3 is the minimum, you cannot drop below this.









Having gear with low concealment will raise your detection rating. A detection rating of 75 is the maximum, you cannot exceed this limit.





How detection level affects you:
Having a higher detection level means that you can be spotted by NPCs faster, and from further away. With a detection level of 75, you can be spotted from halfway across the map, and within a second or two. With a detection level of 3, NPCs will have to be within a few feet of you to detect you instantly, and will take a few seconds to become alerted if you are a little further away. Your detection level is also the point where your detection meter starts when someone sees you, so the lower it is, the more time you have before it fills up and you are discovered. Example, if your detection level is 10, when you are spotted by an NPC or a camera, the meter will start down in the blue, at 10. If your detection level is 75, it will start immediately in the red at 75.

Detection level has no effect on things that cannot see you.
Even with a detection level of 75, you can still sneak behind NPCs and cameras if they aren't looking. But since armed NPCs are generally unpredictable, it is not advised to sneak with a high detection level.

What should be my ideal detection level?
When stealthing a mission you want to keep your detection level as low as possible. However, the trade off for better concealment generally means sacrificing some firepower. It is entirely up to you how concealed you want to be, but as a general rule of thumb, I do not recommend having a detection level above 12 for beginners, until you get a better feel for how stealth works. More experienced players may be able to stealth comfortably up to the mid 20's in detection level.

Section 2: Civilian Behavior

Civilians are generally quite predictable. Usually they stand around and don't do much, with the occasional walker that minds his own business unless they see something suspicious.

An alerted civilian will either cower, or run and cower. (See Fig. A)


It is very important to get civilians under control when you've been spotted. Look at them and press your 'USE' button (Default is F) to instruct them to get on the ground. (See Fig. B)

Alternatively, using your melee ability on a civilian once will force them to the ground. Be warned however, meleeing a civilian a second time will kill them!


A civilian on the ground is NOT secured, they can and will get up after 30 seconds to a minute. Tie them down with a cable tie to secure them. Once tied down, they cannot get back up until they've been set free by law enforcement.





BE AWARE
An alerted civilian WILL call the police if not secured. In some cases they will run and hide to call the police (a player should ALWAYS split from the group to handle runners), or run off the play area (at which point you MUST kill them while you have the chance). If you see a civilian dialing his phone, you're still OK as long as you deal with him quickly. If you see him talking to the police on the phone, you're too late.






The Civilian's Detection
Civilians cannot detect you while in casing mode, regardless of how high your detection level is. However, civilians can detect bags, which should be kept out of sight. Civilians will become alerted upon finding a body bag. Civilians also have excellent eyesight, and will detect other civilians that have been alerted in their visible range, which can potentially chain together to alert every NPC on the map. Civilians also can detect suspicious activity by sound. Civilians can detect sound including but not limited to, gunfire, windows breaking, death, drilling, sawing, and explosions.

Moving Hostages
Civilian hostages can be moved after being cable tied by looking at them and holding the 'use' key. Be aware that hostages move rather slowly and can occasionally have some pathing issues. If you are ever in a situation where your detection tolerances are tight or somewhat questionable, you may find it to be a better solution to kill a civilian and bag the body instead of coaxing them to move.

Section 3: Security Cameras

Security cameras are static detection objects. They can see things in a roughly 70° cone in front of them. Cameras always have the same shape, and are marked by a blinking red light on the front of them. It is important to know that the placement of security cameras are random, they do not always appear in the same place looking at the same direction. DO NOT break a camera in full view of NPC guards, or else they will be alerted.





Security cameras will beep when they see you. The faster they beep, the closer you are to being detected. When a camera's beep flat-lines, its too late, the cops will be alerted.

Security cameras can detect you even when you are in casing mode, before you've put your mask on, so be aware.

Security cameras will also detect suspicious activity. That includes alerted NPC's, broken windows, dead bodies, and bags.

While cameras might take a couple seconds to identify you, they recognize suspicious activity almost IMMEDIATELY. When faced with the choice of having to shoot either a camera or a guard first, ALWAYS shoot the camera first.

In most cases, taking out the guard that mans the security camera controls, will prevent all cameras from detecting you (with exception to The Ukrainian Job, which may be a bug). Note, that not all missions with cameras are manned by a camera operator, but those cameras will still be able to spot you. Players may also use the control panel to access the cameras.

NOTE: Do not break ANY cameras on Big Oil Day 1, this will alert the police immediately. This alert is exclusive to this mission only.

The Camera Loop skill can be used to temporarily disable a camera to sneak past it undetected. Camera Looping is undetectable to guards or to the camera operator, making it a very handy skill for not attracting attention to yourselves.


The Camera Feed Asset
Before a mission starts, players may have the option to purchase the Camera Feed asset, which allows your team to tap into the security cameras.

IMPORTANT: Purchasing the Camera Feed asset DOES NOT disable cameras, it only gives you a feed into the camera system. Shifting the view of the camera, does not effect the actual camera.

If purchased, the camera feed can be accessed by this feed panel, which will be highlighted in orange.








TITAN Cameras
Titan Cameras are special security cameras that are found on the Death Wish difficulty. They cannot be broken, and can only be temporarily disabled by ECM jammers or the Camera Loop skill found in the Ghost tree; or permanently disabled by neutralizing the camera operator (when available).

Section 4: Security Guard Behavior

Security Guards are armed NPCs. Like security cameras, guards can detect you while you are in casing mode, before you put on your mask. With high concealment you can almost walk right past a guard in casing mode, but don't get too close! Guards can be picked out easily by their distictive white uniforms like the one shown in the right. Or on specific missions like Day 2 of Firestarter, Day 2 of Big Oil, and Day 3 of Framing Frame, black suits with flashlights. On the Shadow Raid heist, standard guards appear as well as the PMC Guard, which looks like a soldier (shown at the bottom of this section). On the Big Bank Heist, guards appear different as well, sometimes wearing a green jacket (also shown at the bottom of this section).

Guards typically will randomly patrol around the map, generally staying indoors, but they have been known to venture outside on occasion. Guards have excellent vision and hearing much like civilians. An alerted guard will contact police via radio.





Killing a guard will result in his pager going off. A guard will be highlighted in orange and you will hear an audible radio call when his pager goes off. This pager must be answered otherwise the cops will be alerted.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
YOUR TEAM MAY ONLY ANSWER 4 PAGERS TOTAL. Even if you have not answered any pagers, but your teammates have answered a total of 4, you cannot answer a pager without the alarm being sounded.

Do not stop answering a pager before it is complete, this will result in the cops being called. If another player picks up the pager you are answering, you may let go. A well coordinated team may actually infinitely cycle a pager by switching back and forth.

Dominating Guards
In order to non-violently neutralize guards, a perk called Dominator is required (also found in the Mastermind Tree, shown left)


Dominator allows a player to force a guard to surrender by pressing the 'USE' key. You will achieve a higher success rate in stealth with Dominator if you wait until a guard draws his weapon before you hit the 'USE' button. A dominated guard will stick his hands in the air. Pressing 'USE' a second time will force him to place his weapon on the ground. Pressing it a third time will cause him to handcuff himself. Your team may have up to 4 guards dominated at once. Dominating a guard will also result in his pager going off.

Note that guards that are handcuffed cannot be instructed to move like civilian hostages.





There are advantages to dominating guards instead of just killing them.

• First of all, it gives you another hostage in the event that stealth fails and your mission goes loud. Each hostage your team has increases the time before the police assault begins, and increases the time between assault waves.
  
• Secondly, the domination window is longer than the stealth-kill window. Guards have 30HP, and if you miss your stealth kill window, they may not go down with a single shot or strike. Guards have a chance to fire their weapons when being injured if you miss your stealth kill window. Dominating them instead if you miss your stealth kill window will allow you to dispatch them at your leisure without this unnecessary risk.
  
• Third, domination is always silent. If for some reason you do not have Shinobi Aced or Hidden Blade Aced, you can dominate a guard instead without alerting nearby NPC's to his death.
  
• Fourth, dominating a guard allows you to reposition yourself so that you have control over how a body falls. There are times like when a guard is in a doorway, you should refrain from shooting because his body will fly back through the door and possibly alert nearby NPC's or cameras that have line of sight. Dominate a guard and reposition yourself to make the body fall away from the door instead of through it, and you might just save your stealth mission.
  
  
  
  
  Watching Patrols
  After you've put your mask on, you can mark guards in your line of sight with the 'USE' key, outlining them in red. Marked guards stay highlighted for a few seconds, and this outline can be seen through walls. Spotting guards using cameras will also outline them in red. A player with the Chameleon skill in the Ghost tree may mark guards and cameras while in casing mode. Additionally, the Spotter perk in the Mastermind tree will automatically highlight guards in pre-determined areas for you when available.
  
  Note: You can actually outline any hostile NPC and cameras before the cops have been alerted, not just guards.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Luring a Security Guard
  Breaking a camera will cause a security guard to come investigate the broken camera. When you break a camera, if you see a guard touch his hand to his ear, that is the guard that will come investigate the broken camera. It is important to note that this investigation only occurs if the camera operator (when available), is not dead or captured. If guards detect broken cameras, they will alert the cops. Even if a guard is coming to investigate a camera you just broke, and they happen to come across another camera you broke on their way there, they will call the cops, so it is important to carefully select the order you take out cameras. Also, do not break two cameras at once, sometimes it will cause the same guard to check both broken cameras, and you will have only lured one guard out instead of two. Guards will also come investigate the sound of drilling (the sound also travels through walls), so if you find a safe or a door in a good isolated spot, you can try to lure nearby guards to it with the drill. Be wary however, if they see the drill, they will become alerted.
  
  Guards can also be lured by environment sounds that are triggered by players. Example, on Day 1 of Framing Frame, nearby guards will also come investigate the sound of the air dryer by the door in the bathroom if you turn them on by going under them. This works indefinitely, but requires guards to be near the bathroom to hear it. On the warehouse mission of Day 2 Election day, players may interact with the forklifts to lure nearby guards to that location. On the Shadow Raid mission, players may interact with trucks to set off the car alarm.
  
  Be Alert!
  On some missions, additional guards will spawn if your team neutralizes too many. Typically they will walk in from off-map or spawn inside an elevator. While in stealth, its best to avoid guards rather than try to dispatch all the guards, since you only have 4 pagers available to answer.
  
  

Section 5: Staple Perks

As discussed in the previous section, there are a number of perks that are staples in any stealth build. The 4 most important perks for any stealth build are as follows:



Ghost: ECM Jammer - Equipment that disables cameras and phones for a short period.



Ghost: Cleaner Aced - Gives an additional body bag for transporting corpses.



Ghost: Shinobi Aced - NPC deaths cause 95% less noise.


OR

Fugitive: Hidden Blade Aced - NPC deaths cause 95% less noise.


Getting at least one or the other, Shinobi Aced or Hidden Blade Aced is crucial. You only need to ace one of them, but both basic versions are advised.

Other perks I highly recommend for stealth, but are not per say required include, Dominator, Cable Guy Aced, Silent Drilling, Spotter Aced, Cat Burglar, Sprinter Aced, Chameleon, Lockpicking Expert Aced, Transporter Aced, Fast Hands Aced, Control Freak Aced, Camera Loop, ECM Specialist Aced, ECM Overdrive Aced, Winstone Wolfe, Sixth Sense, and Undertaker Aced.

Section 6: ECM Jammers

The ECM Jammer is a piece of equipment that when deployed will disable all cameras, cell phones, and radios while active. Without additional bonuses from other perks, it's duration is 20 seconds.

ECM Jammers can also be used to open ATM silently without additional perks.









You can increase the duration of the jammer with these 2 skills, increasing by 5 seconds each.

ECM Specialist Aced




ECM Overdrive



While the ECM Jammer is active, no NPCs may call the police. This includes guards. This does NOT however, include guard pagers. Any guard that you kill while the standard ECM is active, will still need to have his pager answered, unless a player that deployed the ECM has ECM Specialist Aced, which will delay all pagers that went off AFTER the ECM was deployed until it expires, at which point those pagers will have to be answered. Pagers that went off BEFORE the ECM was deployed will behave as normal.

Hardwired alarms can still be tripped while ECM is active. This includes panic buttons, metal detectors, laser beams, and alarmed glass. Make sure you control NPCs and don't let them hit panic buttons, and be careful of what glass you break.













If you have ECM Overdrive Aced, you may quietly open security doors that have keycard access, like the one pictured on the left. Using the ECM to open ATMs and doors does not active it's jamming ability.

Section 7: Access Cards

Access cards are used to gain access to certain locked doors, like the one shown above. Or in the case of Diamond Store, to disable to glass case alarms, like the one shown below.





If you do not have ECM Overdrive Aced, these key cards become very important, as otherwise to access security doors you will need to drill the door open to open it quietly. Access cards are typically found in two places, either on a desk or table, or carried by specific NPCs. For our primary heist missions, Bank Heist, Diamond Store, GO Bank, and The Big Bank, key cards are often carried by store managers. Below is a picture of them, the left being the bank manager, and the right being the shop manager for the diamond store. Managers behave like normal civilians, except that they will always randomly walk around inside their stores, or in some cases step right outside the door for a quick breath of fresh air.

Section 8: Gangsters

Gangsters are armed NPCs, but behave much differently than cops and guards. Gangsters generally have a hive mind. Once one gangster has been alerted to your presence, they all become alerted to your presence. In order to stealth a mission that has gangsters (namely Day 2 Rats, Day 1 Firestarter, and Hotline Miami), any time you take out a gangster, he must either be completely isolated from all other gangsters, or if there are multiple gangsters, you must take them all out at the same time. Day 1 Big Oil gangsters behave slightly differently, behaving more like guards without pagers. ECM Jammers are able to block their phones on Day 1 Big Oil (which can prevent them from calling the cops, but it won't prevent them from burning the intel) Gangsters on Nightclub also behave like guards without pagers.

Section 9: Impossible Stealth

Some missions cannot be stealthed, there is just not an option for that, so arm up heavy for the following missions.

Those missions are:

• Rats: Day 1
  
• Rats: Day 3
  
• Watchdogs: Day 1
  
• Watchdogs: Day 2
  
• Armored Transport: Harbor
  
• Armored Transport: Crossroads
  
• Armored Transport: Downtown
  
• Armored Transport: Park
  
• Armored Transport: Underpass
  
• Hotline Miami: Day 1
  
• Hotline Miami: Day 2
  
• Hoxton Breakout: Day 1
  
• Hoxton Breakout: Day 2
  
• Safehouse Nightmare (Seasonal Halloween Heist)
  
• White Xmas
  
• Bomb Heist: Forest
  
• Meltdown
  
• All Escape Missions

There are also some missions that have conditional stealth.

• Framing Frame: Day 2 (If not stealthed on day 1, day 2 usually cannot be stealthed)
  
• Big Oil: Day 2 (Can only be stealthed up to the point where the chopper lands)
  
• Rats: Day 2 (If 3 bags of meth were not made on day 1, day 2 is nearly impossible to stealth)
  
• Election Day: Day 2 Bank Heist (May only be stealthed up to the point where the C4 is used to blow a hole in the wall)
  
• Car Shop (Mission must be done in stealth, but will be forced loud during the escape sequence)

So if you were wondering why, try as you might, that you could not stealth any of those missions, its because they are impossible.

Recap: TL;DR

1) Alerted civilians will run away and call the cops. You must stop and control (or kill them) before they do. They may even hide behind stuff to make the call or in some cases run off the play area.

2) Higher concealment means lower detection level. Lower detection level means it takes longer for you to be spotted, and you must be closer to be spotted. Minimumm detection level 3. maximum is 75.

3) You CAN be spotted by armed NPCs and cameras before putting your mask on. Having higher concealment you are less suspicious to NPCs before putting your mask on.

4) Cameras might take a few seconds to detect you, but will detect suspicious activity (bodies, bags, panicked NPCs, broken windows, etc) almost immediately. ALWAYS take out a camera before you handle the NPCs in view of the camera (with exception of if an ECM Jammer is active, which disables cameras while they are active.)

5) ECM Jammers disable all cameras and calls while they are active. Civilians cannot call the police while the ECM jammer is active, and guards cannot call for help either. HOWEVER, if you kill a guard while the ECM jammer is active, his pager will still go off (with exception of if the ECM Jammer is activated by a person with the Aced ECM Specialist perk, which will delay the pager until the ECM expires)

6) Your team can ONLY answer 4 pagers total as a whole. Even if you have not answered any pagers yet, if your team has answered 4 pagers already, you cannot answer anymore without the cops being alerted.

7) Gangsters behave differently than guards. Gangsters have a hive mind, once one is alerted, all of them are alerted. To stealth a mission with gangsters, you must take out all gangsters in visible and audible range of the first person you shoot within 1 second. This requires some coordination.

8) NPCs become suspicious when they see loot bags and body bags laying around. It is important to keep these things out of sight.

9) If players stop answering a pager before it is complete, the cops will be alerted. However, it is not the act of stopping that alerts the cops, but that if the pager is incomplete. If two players are answering the same page, one player may let go, and the cops will not be alerted so long as the pager is being answered or completed successfully.

10) Breaking a camera will cause a guard to come investigate the broken camera. If he detects the broken camera he will call the cops. If you see a guard put his hand to his ear, that is the guard that will come investigate the broken camera.

11) Sticking a guard up requires a perk called Dominator. Your team may only have 4 dominated victims at one time. Remember that you still must answer his pager.

12) Hostages can be instructed to move. Keep them out of sight!





So thats pretty much it, now you've got everything you need to know about stealthing, all you need now is practice, practice, practice. Good luck heisters! If you found this guide useful or informative, give it a thumbs up so more people will read it.


Also, if you've just picked up the OVE9000 Portable Saw, be sure to read this quick start guide on operation.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213666332

[Darren]

The perk that causes 95 percent less noise is removed , check the newer guides for guide

[Sert3t]

@visuall.noise Thanks in advance if you're gonna update it

[visual.noise]

i have not played this game in a while, it may be outdated. give me some time to play this game again and get up to speed so i can update this.

[Sert3t]

I can't find the perk that causes 95 percent less noise when killing npcs
help?

[visual.noise]

only the range at which you are detected is effected. it also lowers your detection point (the hitbox for which is your head if you are a client, center mass if you are a host) lower to the ground, allowing you to hide behind objects.

[InuAres]

So if I were to run rather than crouch, theoretically, I'd be less detected, right? at the same distance anyway. Because crouching is significantly slower.

[visual.noise]

crouching decreases the distance you can be seen from, but does not change the rate of increase of being detected nor does it affect your detection level.

[InuAres]

So is there a difference between crouching and standing?

[Crizzixx]

Great guide. Thank you. As a new player trying to learn how to stealth missions, there were several key things in here I didn't know. Helped a lot.

[bukzna]

awesome