Payday 3 allows players to tackle heists however they want, with a massive list of skills to choose from. There are abilities to suit every occasion and playstyle, and the hardest part is picking the best ones for you. That’s where we come in. To become a master thief, you need skills to let you slip into high-security areas unseen. You also need some backup perks for when the going gets tough. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the skill tree, let me show you the best skills to become a master thief in Payday 3.
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Best skills to become a master thief in Payday 3
All of the various skills in Payday 3 have their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to different playstyles. For people trying to go the ultimate thief route, these are without doubt the best skills you can get from my experience in the game.
Glitch Protocol
Glitch Protocol is a contender for the strongest perk in the game, regardless of playstyle. This skill lets you mess with a guard’s radio, briefly distracting them, and you can do it once per minute. Many players have declared the Hacker Tree as the most powerful in the game. Glitch Protocol is a big reason why.
Infiltrator (Aced)
With this skill, you gain RUSH whenever you pick a lock or kill an enemy with a throwing knife. This isn’t amazing, but if you put an additional skill point into Infiltrator, it becomes ‘Aced,’ The extra point gives you RUSH whenever a guard starts to detect you. RUSH increases your movement speed and allows you to dash out of the way and avoid detection more easily.
Hacker (Aced)
The Hacker Perk may not look like much, but if you combine it with Secure Loop, you can make two cameras ignore you. Depending on the map and difficulty, this is a tremendously powerful ability. The Aced version of Hacker gives you the additional Runtime for Secure Loop and is well worth the extra point.
Quick Fingers
You’ll have a steady RUSH supply if you use Infiltrator, which pairs nicely with Quick Fingers. This skill lets you immediately pick locks after a single ‘jiggle’ if you have RUSH. With Infiltrator, you’ll gain RUSH if you’re seen while lockpicking, so you’ll open high-risk doors in an instant.
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Escapist
If you’re building for RUSH, why not use a perk that enables it? Escapist gives you RUSH after 3 seconds of sprinting. While not massively impactful everywhere, the speed increase feels great and helps you quickly reposition around the maps.
Social Engineering
There are a ton of superb skills on the ‘Grifter’ tree, but the one that enables the most shenanigans is Social Engineering. With Social Engineering, you can perform illegal actions in front of employees, provided you have RUSH. You only get this bonus if you’re unmasked, but you can pull off some hilarious stunts with this skill.
Strategist (Aced)
If you’re a team player, the Aced version of Strategist is incredible, as it lets you mark two targets. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve wanted to simultaneously highlight a guard and camera. While not the most impactful skill on the list, this is a great QoL bonus if you have the points to spare.
Even if you’ve not got spare skill Points, these are worth considering for the future as they are so impactful. The Payday 3 developers have confirmed new skill trees will be added to the game in the future. If nothing tickles your fancy now, that will likely change in later updates.
