Highlights
- Playing Payday 3 solo requires patience and tactical planning due to limited stealth options and a lack of teammates to coordinate with. Observing targets and listening to objectives is key.
- Solo players should accept limitations and prioritize objectives. Not all loot can be obtained, and AI crewmates can only do so much. It's better to cut losses and escape safely if necessary.
- Utilize the feature of throwing loot bags onto AI crewmates to lighten their load. This helps keep them safe from police assaults and allows players to focus on other tasks.
Some players like to work alone, and Payday 3 does give the option to do so with its online-only servers, where players will need to create a private lobby for themselves. Although players will be joined by AI teammates, they will not interfere with stealth and can be rather useful allies during police assaults in Payday 3. That is if the player knows what they are doing.
Playing solo is not the easiest, especially in a game designed around the teamwork of 4 players. However, it’s not impossible, and it can add a layer of fun to conquer the challenging Payday 3heists as a solo player, and avoid sharing the cut of the illustrious loot found from within. Yet, these tips might be useful for solo players in Payday 3.
6 Stay Patient
The first piece of advice that may warrant some help to Payday 3 players is the concept of patience. Since there isn’t a gang of 4 clowns running around a bank or a jewelry store, stealth options can seem limited. Players can’t watch cameras and call out guards and cameras to keep everyone safe and from getting caught. This means players need to be more tactical and more patient with their actions.
The best thing to do is to simply observe. Watching targets and listening to objectives is the key to making sure things occur as smoothly as butter and in the favor of the solo player that is having to do everything all by themselves, with or without a pistol.
5 Accept Limitations
Since Payday 3 is designed around the team experience, there are some instances where it is simply not possible to get all the loot or explore every nook and cranny. For instance, the No Rest for the Wicked heist has money bags armed with dye packs, and players need to rush in to disarm all of them. Yet, this task might be harder for solo players, ensuring that at least one, or more, bags will end up contaminated and useless.
Players should accept that they can’t win every battle, and their AI crewmates may be useful, but they are not exactly going to save the day. Players really are alone in this one, so sometimes it’s best to cut losses and run for the escape, rather than risking it all for an extra bit of cash.
4 Give Loot Bags To Bot Crew
A useful addition to Payday 3 comes from the fact that players can throw loot bags onto their AI crew. Although this feature was in the other games, it comes back to an even greater effect in Payday 3. Players can throw loot bags onto their bot allies, even when said allies are in casing mode, meaning they can't use the best assault rifles.
By giving the AI crew some loot bags to carry, players are helping to lighten their load. After all, the police assaults are more aggressive in Payday 3, and they will focus on getting loot bags in a secure location away from the player, so giving loot bags to the AI crewmates means they have 3 fewer bags to worry about, especially when they can call the characters to them to make them follow or wait.
3 Plan For Stealth Or Loud
Near enough every heist in Payday 3 allows players to play their own way. With so many alternatives to play, it can be overwhelming to decide where to go and what to do first. Payday 3 gives the option between two methods: stealth or loud. Players should more often than not prepare themselves for their chosen route, and create a loadout for that specific scenario.
There’s no shame in resetting the level if things are not going the way that the player intended, so planning ahead with a stealth build or a loud build will make things far easier because players will know just what they should be expecting if things go well.
2 Pick Solo Beneficial Skills
Out of all the skills in Payday 3, there are some that benefit the solo player. Skills are designed with teamwork in mind, so many of them will help out other players and the crew. However, there are skills that are dedicated to the lone wolves out there, and players can use these skills to better save themselves in combat or to make stealth heists easier to get some great XP.
Some of these solo skills have desired effects that can make the lockpick mechanic almost instant, or allow players to run at high speeds away from the chaos. It’s always a good idea to read about the skills in Payday 3 and choose the ones that provide comfort and power.
1 Keep Hostages Safe
Since players will only be allowed to bring one piece of equipment to help them survive the police assaults, it’s best to make sure that they are stacked up on hostages. This time around, players do not need to trade hostages to get their crew out of custody, as they can actually trade hostages for some supplies.
These supplies can range from ammo to armor and health, all of which can be very useful to the solo player who needs a medic bag as badly as Dallas. By keeping hostages safe, police assaults will remain less aggressive, and players will have a good source of trading to keep themselves supplied and powerful.
Payday 3 is out now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.