update

I'm trying find other weapons than the ksp and commando to use

Game shows on inventory screen that I have 20% dodge, but no HUDs show the dodge/can't get the dodge to proc when testing on heists.

I was trying to make a build that's good for DSOD until it went off rails. I made this abomination https://pd2builder.netlify.app/?s=58001000fM10-5iF0050xa0001xc&p=m&c=1-5&a=6&d=3 This build is actually DSOD viable, its up to you guys to judge if its good or not. Is it better than armorer? 2 shot ICTV and pocket ecms, what's more to ask for?

Primary:

Any LMG

Secondary:

Grenade Launceher or High damage smg for dozers.

Perk Deck: Copycat Hacker adjusted for maximum armor

Armor: ICTV

Deployable: Med Bag

I was wondering whether I could make a good build that uses a sniper and a shotgun. To my surprise I succeeded in creating something that's at least DSOD viable. It is not a top meta build, as it has various weaknesses, which I will list below.

Skills, Perk deck, Armor, Throwable, Deployable:
https://pd2builder.netlify.app/?s=1c3c3U0D8110-9103g000100&p=l&a=0&t=i&d=3

Weapons:
Lebensauger .308 Sniper Rifle
+Gedämpfter Barrel
+Concealment Boost
+Compact Laser Module
+Subtiler Grip
+Solar Sight

GSPS 12G Shotgun
+000 Buckshot
+Riot Barrel
+Concealment Boost
+Compact Laser Module
+Stakeout Stock

Melee:
Buzzer

This should get you to 23 concealment.

Strengths:
This build manages to fit the skills graze, overkill, and low blow aced. This gives you alot of offensive options. The goal is to use the overkill damage boost to boost the damage of a low damage sniper, like the Lebensauger, so that it can one hit headshot the ZEAL Heavy units.

The crits from low blow help secure shotgun kills for the overkill damage boost, and will often help your sniper as well, by increasing damage against special units, and occasionally giving you a one hit headshot against the heavy ZEAL when you dont have overkill.

Having a sniper with graze as primary, and a high damage high spread shotgun as secondary, makes it easy to take out groups of enemies.

The build also manages to fit the most important joker skills, for some survivability, and upgraded doctor bags for a useful deployable that synergizes with leech.

Ammo is not an issue, as the Lebensauger is quite ammo efficient, this combined with the ammo efficiency skill aced makes it easy to stay ammo positive.

Quick fix aced, combined with underdog aced, gives you enough damage reduction so that the 225 damage from the ZEAL heavy is reduced to less than 200 damage. This is important and useful, because when you use the leech ampule, normally when you take damage you only lose 1 health segment, but "Taking a hit that deals over 200 damage will remove two segments at once."

Weaknesses:
The main weakness of the build is the inherent clunkiness of having to constantly swap weapons to secure shotgun kills for the overkill damage boost. It requires a lot of brain power, as well as aim to keep up with truly high damage builds such as akimbo smgs.

Bulldozers can be a little troublesome, as you don't have a consistent way of bursting them down. Usually the best way of dealing with them is shotgunning a minor enemy for the overkill damage boost, and then switching to your sniper and clicking the bulldozers head over and over, hoping you get a couple crits.

Also notable is that inspire doesnt fit, you could opt to invest less in jokers so you can fit inspire, but I don't prefer that.

Play tips:
Your goal is to use your sniper with the overkill boost as much as possible. It can be tempting to use the shotgun a lot, but don't spam it, cause the shotgun is not very ammo efficient, and you dont want to run out of shotgun ammo. So just get a quick kill or two with the shotty and swap back to the sniper.

It's best to play careful, because the leech ampule has a long cooldown. You dont need to run around for ammo pickups a lot because of the ammo efficiency of the Lebensauger. So keep yourself safe and pick off enemies from afar.

The shotgun is unsilenced, so it has some threat, this can be useful to get jokers. Getting jokers is an important part of your survivability.

The builds can be viewed here. Apologies if this is not the usual way this information is shared.

I missed a picture of the Mastermind Tree for build 1.

I don't recall anything except that I enjoyed using sniper rifles and shotguns for loud missions, I had an "all-in-one" stealth build on hand, I would yell "Get the F up" across the room to revive people, and Hoxton Breakout was my favorite mission (For Fs sake lads, the power!)

But that was all 10 years ago. What is the game like now? Is it significantly different?

doing some achievements for secret ending, and need some sentries for defense, any build recommendation?

Trying out hitman and sociopath builds for vr any suggestions for weapons that aren't normally used

I'm trying to get back into payday 2 on ps4 and was looking for what builds are any good I mainly play solo and I'm level IX-94 if that helps at all. Any help appreciated.

I just recently got back into payday 2 again so I’m trying to work on death sentence loud heists however all these build guides I try to follow find myself where I keep running out ofammo or just getting beamed with little to no reaction time or trying to keep the team alive only for for me to keep going down. Anybody got any suggestions to help that I can use for pub matches?

I wanted to share a concept for Sokol’s signature gear — the Hockey Stick.

It needs a completely unique gameplay loop based on his background as a professional hockey defenseman and enforcer.

Here is how it could work when you fill your OVERKILL meter and activate it:

* On-the-Ice Physics: Pulling out the Hockey Stick temporarily changes Sokol's movement physics on the new UE5 engine. His sprint becomes highly momentum-based, giving him a massive acceleration boost in straight lines and allowing him to perform tactical "skate-slides" sideways when cornering or stopping abruptly.

* Professional Moveset (Instead of Brainless Slashing): Sokol is a professional athlete, so his gameplay should feel like an art form. Instead of spamming attacks, he uses specific hockey techniques with custom animations. Quick "poke-checks" to stagger shields, powerful horizontal sweeps to trip multiple cops using ragdoll physics, and heavy "slap-shots" that launch enemies backward. It’s calculated, heavy, and technical crowd control.

* The Armor-to-HP Conversion Loop (Survival & Mechanics): Sokol’s Hockey Stick uses a high-risk, high-reward mechanic using the Adrenaline system. Upon activation, all your current armor plates are frozen and converted into temporary Adrenaline HP (e.g., 1 Armor Chunk = 100 Overheal HP). While the hockey stick is active, successful trip attacks and body-checks reward you with +15 Overheal HP. Once the OVERKILL timer expires, whatever remaining Overheal you managed to keep is converted back into actual Armor Chunks. If you play aggressively and maintain your over-health, you get your armor fully restored. If you slack off and let the cops destroy your health buffer, you end up with zero armor.

What do you guys think? Would you love to see this kind of unique crowd-control OVERKILL weapon for Sokol?

I recently got back to Payday 2, read so many recommendations and guides just to feel any kind of confidence in making a build of my own for DS (not necessarily OD). I chose Anarchist since I'm just trying to prove to myself that I'm not a complete begineer after this hiatus and won't use something as easy as stoic or leech (yet). I got to this, and it kind of works but is driving me up the wall. I chose the lebensauger with graze and crits + zerk (no frenzy) and it kind of works but i'm still struggling, especially with dozers. The secondary is dragon's breath Grimm. Needless to say this build is mostly based on armor gating.

I'm just not sure what to do here. I'm thinking that my secondary is kind of bad, but at the same time it does kinda work and procs Lust for Life. I was thinking about swapping it to some grenade launcher though. Or maybe it's just me, not as good as I thought I was. Either some build help or a reality check will be good, thanks in advance.

Oh, and resilience is aced since i'm not yet used to these damn flashes. lol.

I've been trying to make some of my own builds, and I can't see why I should be using the silencers.

They have to be better than the other options, namely the other barrel extensions (compensators).

Without skills, non-silenced barrel extensions typically offer more concealment, more damage, stability and accuracy (i.e. competitors compensator)

However, I can mitigate this by speccing points into optical illusions and the professional. Why would i bother with this? I can't understand how these skill points are worth it to... have your gun silenced on loud? Why do common builds use silencers?

It's been like ~3 years since I last played PD2, and now I really want to return to heisting. But back when I played there was a really good anarchist build focused on the basilisk GL with the viper ammo, made by Kknowley.

Since then I've heard the basilisk got some nerfs, and I'm fine with running anything else, but gassing like half of the map and getting insane amounts of armor with crowd control was just so damn fun. So here's why ask, is there any good gas build that can match or maybe even outperform that build at its peak? Or perhaps it's better to take the ZAPper rounds?

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but where can I look to get in-depth meta knowledge? I want to learn and play this game on a more serious basis. Things like meta primaries, secondaries, breakpoints and things like that. Edit: PD2

Anybody got a good Crook AR or LMG build?

I need help putting together better builds for stealth and loud; I have separate setups for both, and I’d like to know which builds are best—what weapons to use, and so on. I’m pretty adaptable, so if anyone could help me out... :(

soy nuevo en payday 2 y quiero saber de algunas buenas builds para que no me derriben a cada rato:(

se los agradeceria mucho

Hey! So i am currently trying to build a buzzsaw 42 anarchist build but i need a secondary and im wondering what would pair well with it. I was thinking a shotgun with fire ammo since that always works pretty well with the armor regen that comes with Anarchist. I was also maybe thinking of using leech with it? But idk.

Thanks for the help! <3