Many of Payday 3’s coolest weapons and equipment are locked behind your Account Level. Your level and money will steadily increase through normal gameplay, but there are a couple of ways to speed up the process. In many ways, achieving a higher level makes Payday 3’s tougher content easier as you can access better gear. If you want to get to that point pronto, let me show you how to level up fast in Payday 3.
Related: What are the Achievements for Payday 3
How to level up fast in Payday 3
Your Account Level is tied to Infamy, which you can increase in multiple ways. The most impactful is tackling Challenges, and it seems this is by design as there is an eye-watering amount of them to complete.
Challenges
The ‘Challenges’ tab on the main menu is a great page to check out for easy Infamy. Many of these challenges will be out of your reach when you start, but tasks like “Slide x distance” and “Defeat 10 Shields” should be easy. Browse the Combat pages for anything you can quickly complete. For every Challenge that specifies “Kills with x weapon,” there’s one like “Deploy a medic bag,” so there’s something for everyone.
There’s an overwhelming amount of challenges in Payday 3, but they all encourage you to use varied equipment. There are tasks for every weapon in the game, so experiment and reap those early rewards. The Heists section has some pretty obnoxious jobs, like “Beat Dirty Ice 60 times.” Still, you’ll likely complete a few of these by accident while learning the maps.
The Challenge menu is a little cluttered and has over 100 pages of tasks, but I recommend browsing after a few heists. Work through these at your own pace and go for the ones you’ve already started through regular gameplay.
Unfortunately, the locked tasks can’t be completed retroactively, and any progress you make before they are unlocked doesn’t count. This won’t hurt the average player, but you may miss out if you’re a Payday savant and take on the hard stuff early.
Complete your Heists
Failing a Heist doesn’t just mean you lose out on money. You lose out on Infamy, too. In the online environment, you’re completely at the mercy of your teammates, so don’t sweat a few failed heists. A heist that goes bad, but you still survive is more productive than going down in a blaze of glory. If your teammates are really bugging you, you can play with bots; check out our guide to learn how.
Payday 3 is heavily skewed toward Challenges. Although I could recommend playing on higher difficulties for better payouts, Challenges are the way to go.
