Thanatos + GL Build

A build using the Thanatos sniper rifle and Compact grenade launcher.

Introduction

This is a loud build using the Thanatos .50 cal sniper rifle and Compact 40mm grenade launcher, for heists up to and including Death Sentence One Down difficulty. The Gage Sniper Pack DLC is required.

It is assumed that the player is at level 100, has unlocked all cards in the perk deck, and has all Infamy skill reductions.

The build

Thanatos: Tank Buster Barrel, any boost, LED Combo, Pro Grip, any sight
Compact: Any boost, LED combo, any sight

Honestly, you can use any weapon mods, except Suppressed Barrel on the Thanatos and special ammo on the Compact. I like having lasers and accuracy.

Weapons

Basic Overview

The Thanatos is an extremely powerful sniper rifle. With a base 3500 damage (3675 after the perk deck's Fast and Furious bonus), it is capable of killing most enemies in a single body shot, and Bulldozers with exposed faces in 1 headshot.

The Compact is a powerful grenade launcher. While it doesn't do as much damage as the Thanatos, it's still strong enough to kill lights, heavies, and Shields in 1 hit, and Tasers and Medics in 2. As it is an explosive weapon, it can damage or kill multiple enemies in one blast.

The Thanatos and Compact cover each other's weaknesses pretty well. The Thanatos can hit enemies like Snipers that are too far away for the Compact to hit, and the Compact can deal with crowds of enemies that would overwhelm the Thanatos's low rate of fire.

No Skill Points Needed

Neither the Thanatos nor Compact need skill points (other than perhaps Jack of all Trades aced for the secondary ammo bag, since their pickup is on the low side).

• Accuracy skills? Both weapons have high accuracy (the Thanatos has flawless accuracy, in fact), and the Compact is explosive, so accuracy doesn't matter.
  
• Stability skills? The Thanatos has a low rate of fire, and the Compact needs to reload after each shot. This pretty much forces you to take time off to readjust your aim after each shot anyway.
  
• Damage skills? The Thanatos already kills most enemies in one hit (to the body, no less), and the Compact isn't affected by damage-boosting skills.
  
• Sniper tree skills (Graze/Aggressive Reload/Ammo Efficiency)? You generally go for body shots instead of headshots with the Thanatos, so these won't proc.

This build takes the above property of not needing skill points to its logical conclusion. If you don't need to spend skill points making your weapons better, what do you do with them? The answer is, you get to spend them on skills like Stockholm Syndrome and Messiah; skills that would be considered frivolous on most other builds.

Not needing skill points also means this build is functional even when you're below level 100 (and by that I mean when grinding Infamy). You still need to be at least level 65, since that's when the Thanatos unlocks, but at that level, you have enough points for everything except the optional skills, i.e. Stockholm Syndrome/Feign Death/Messiah.

I would suggest unlocking skills in this order as you earn more skill points while leveling up (anything not on the list should always be taken first):

1. Jack of all Trades aced
   
2. The first convert (Joker basic + Partners in Crime aced)
   
3. The second convert (Confident aced)
   
4. Feign Death aced
   
5. Drop Feign Death down to basic, ace Messiah
   
6. Ace Feign Death again
   
7. Stockholm Syndrome aced
   
8. Joker aced

If you want to make alterations to this build, start by cutting the skills at the bottom of the list.

Tips

Hit and Run

This build enforces a "hit and run" playstyle. Compare this to, say, using a full-auto weapon: after you leave cover, you would need to stay out of cover for some time to maintain a stream of bullets from your gun to the enemies, ceasing the offense and ducking back into cover when those enemies are dead or you've taken armor damage.

With this build, it's much simpler. You leave cover, fire one shot, then immediately get back to cover. You don't hang around to fire more shots, or wait for enemies to take notice of you and shoot you. Regardless of which weapon you're using, there is nothing to be gained by staying out in the open after you've fired one shot. The Thanatos has a low rate of fire, so you have to wait 1.5s for the next round to be chambered, and the Compact only holds one round, so you have to wait 2.5s for it to reload. All of this waiting can (and should) be done while in cover, safe from enemy fire.

Compact is your Main

Despite occupying the secondary slot, you should have the Compact active most of the time. Enemies generally attack in groups, and the Compact can deal with all of them at once, whereas the Thanatos would struggle with its low rate of fire.

Remember that the Compact is for groups of weak enemies, and the Thanatos is for individual, sturdier enemies. Getting into the wrong matchup with the Compact is less punishing than with the Thanatos. If you have the Compact equipped and only one enemy shows up, you can still blast that enemy with the Compact, and your only regret would be losing a bit of ammo efficiency by not catching more enemies in the explosion. If, on the other hand, you have the Thanatos equipped and a group of enemies show up, trying to take them all on with the Thanatos is suicidal (unless they're literally in a line and the Thanatos can pierce all of them). You don't really have a better option than retreating to cover and switching to the Compact, which brings us back to the point of having the Compact out more often.

(This is part of the reason why I'm using Rogue instead of Hacker: the increased weapon swap speed is nice to have when you're frequently switching weapons based on the type and number of enemies attacking, and getting caught with a Thanatos equipped in the wrong situation can easily lead to death.)

Do Not Miss with the Thanatos

The Thanatos is very all-or-nothing. If you land a hit with it, the target is usually immediately dead due to the absurdly high damage. All is well; you've eliminated one threat. If you miss, however, that threat is alive, undamaged (so spamming interact to force surrender wouldn't work), alerted to your presence, and it's 1.5 seconds before you can fire another shot.

Missing is extremely punishing with the Thanatos, so don't miss. This can be further broken down into two parts:

Aim for Body Shots...

When dealing with the majority of enemies (street cops, gangsters, lights, heavies, Shields, Tasers, Medics, Cloakers, Snipers), they die in one hit, regardless of whether it's a head shot or not. So make things easy for yourself, and aim for their bodies instead of their heads.

...Except against Bulldozers

Bulldozers and boss enemies need to be hit in the head, so adjust your aim accordingly. The principle of not missing still holds, and here it means "take your time for the headshot". Bulldozers have an annoying habit of rotating their heads when they change targets, and this can cause your shots to miss. So make sure they've stopped moving, or are charging straight at you, before you pull the trigger.

Remember that Bulldozers, being specials, can be marked. A good tactic is to mark them, hide, ADS while in cover using their outlines to guide you, then uncrouch/sidestep from cover and fire the killing shot (or even fire through the cover you're hiding behind, if it's thin enough). This minimizes the time you're exposed to enemy fire.

(Incidentally, this is what Bullseye is for: Bulldozers. You might have pondered that question, since the Compact can't trigger Bullseye, and I just said to aim for the body against non-Bulldozer enemies. The answer is that it lets you take more time to aim at Bulldozer heads. If you end up taking one hit to your armor while aiming, you get back that one hit of armor from Bullseye after landing the headshot, so you're still safe.)

Pseudo-Bloodthirst

You know how the Bloodthirst skill lets you one-hit-kill enemies with melee? Well, this build can do something similar despite not having it. After hitting an enemy with the Electrical Brass Knuckles, switch to the Thanatos (if it's not already equipped) and shoot them. The enemy will be stunned, and you can aim for the body, so it's very easy to get the kill.

Messiah

Both weapons are well-suited for use with Messiah, though for different reasons.

With the Thanatos, it's because of its one-hit-kill nature. Just aim at an enemy, fire, and immediately press jump to get up. Make sure that there isn't a Medic nearby to heal the enemy, otherwise it won't count as a kill. If there is a Medic nearby, aim for the Medic instead.

With the Compact, it's because it's a silent weapon. Yes, for some reason, grenade launchers are treated as silent by enemies after the heist has gone loud. This means you can fire the Compact at an enemy or enemies, and if they all die, other enemies will leave you alone, and you can press jump to get up at your leisure. Note that if at least one enemy survived the grenade, the switch will be flipped and other enemies will also attack you.

Before you go down, while you're in Swan Song, you can melee enemies or shout at lights/heavies in order to give yourself a target to kill for Messiah.

Enemies

In this section, I'll go through most of the enemies you'll face, and which weapon is preferred against each.

Lights/Heavies

Preferred Weapon: Compact

These enemies form the majority of the enemy force attacking you. The Compact is preferred since they attack in groups.

If you have the Compact out and only one light/heavy attacks you, you can melee that enemy and spam the interact key to make them surrender, if you don't want to switch weapons or waste a grenade on a lone enemy. If another enemy comes along, you can then switch tactics and blast both of them with the Compact.

Shields

Preferred Weapon: Either

Their shields are not a problem for either weapon on this build. The Thanatos pierces it, and the Compact's grenade explosion goes through it.

Tasers

Preferred Weapon: Either

Try not to get tased. If you do get tased, try to turn to face the Taser. The Compact has only 1 mag size, so if you get tased and waste that round, it's purely a waiting game for a teammate to break the Taser's hold on you, or the other enemies to shoot you to death.

If you don't like some of the optional skills e.g. Stockholm Syndrome, you can shift those points over to Shockproof aced.

The Thanatos is best when dealing with a lone Taser, since it kills in 1 hit, but if the Taser is attacking with a bunch of other enemies, the Compact can damage more of them at once and leave the Taser low enough for another grenade to finish off.

Medics

Preferred Weapon: Either

Medics have the same amount of health as Tasers, just different abilities and weapon damage. If paired with Bulldozers, take out the Medic first.

2 Compact grenades can take out an entire group of lights/heavies and a Medic. The first grenade leaves two survivors (the Medic and the unit it healed), and the second finishes both of them off.

Cloakers

Preferred Weapon: Thanatos

The Compact kills Cloakers in 3 grenades. This is too slow for the amount of threat they pose, so use the Thanatos instead, which kills them in 1 body shot.

Note that Cloakers only die to 1 Thanatos body shot if you don't use the Suppressed Barrel, which inflicts a -80 damage penalty and brings its final damage to 3591, just under the Cloaker's 3600HP.

Bulldozers

Preferred Weapon: Compact first, then Thanatos

Killing Bulldozers is a two-step process. First you need to break the faceplates and visors protecting their heads, then you need to headshot them with the Thanatos. Headshotting them while their heads are still protected doesn't do extra headshot damage.

Breaking faceplates and visors is best done with the Compact. Just shoot at the Bulldozer's body and they will fall off. They fall off separately, so it will take 2 grenades: one to remove the faceplate, and another to remove the visor. The Thanatos can also break faceplates/visors, but the Compact is much better at this role since 1) it requires less aim and 2) it can break them even when hitting a Bulldozer from behind.

Once both forms of head protection have been removed, the Bulldozer's head will be visible, and it is vulnerable to headshots. One Thanatos headshot (two for Minigun Bulldozers) will kill the Bulldozer in this state.

Note that the main difficulty this build has is removing the Bulldozer's head protection. If you have a teammate with a full-auto weapon, taking down Bulldozers becomes much faster with your combined efforts. They can remove the head protection, and you can one-shot the exposed Bulldozer.

Snipers

Preferred Weapon: Thanatos

The Thanatos is preferred for its range. Sometimes Snipers spawn close enough that the Compact can reach them easily (e.g. 3rd/4th floor on Panic Room, indoors on Hoxton Breakout D2), in which case feel free to use it.

Captain Winters

Preferred Weapon: Thanatos

In previous updates, the Captain was supposed to have a clamp on the maximum amount of damage he could be dealt at once, but at the time of writing this, it isn't functional. This means that Captain can be made to retreat with just a single Thanatos headshot.

Press the interact key while looking in the Captain's direction to mark him, then headshot him through the shield. You may end up marking one of his minions instead; doesn't matter, just headshot that minion so it doesn't become a problem after the Captain leaves.

SWAT Turrets

Preferred Weapon: Thanatos

Two Thanatos shots can temporarily disable a SWAT turret: one to break the shield, another to hit the weak point. Note that this only works the first two times, as on the third time it'll come back with a lot more health. However, this isn't a big deal if you only need to shut down the turret to pass through the area safely, and have no intention of returning (e.g. on Heat Street or Hoxton Breakout D1).

Conclusion

That's the end of the guide. Thanatos + Compact is a weapon combination that is light on skill points, but nevertheless can handle any enemy the game throws at you. You can go from aggressively sweeping rooms and hallways with the Compact to sneakily one-shotting specials from cover with the Thanatos.

Thanks for reading and I hope you appreciate the Thanatos more now.

[dxdydzd]

Sorry mate, my PC can't handle playing and recording at the same time.
I have played this build on Unknown Knight's stream , though obviously the video isn't from my POV.

[skippi99r]

hello! can i see a video of this being used to complete a dsod heist? thank you! :) <3