Overkill Software created this fantastic game where players have the liberty of making and mixing their playstyles and loadouts to have the most fun possible with Payday 2. In this game, players can build their Skills and Perk Decks for whatever they need. Moreover, they can customize their weapons with an impressive armory that allows players to pick from dozens and dozens of guns and tons of attachments to complete their favorite Payday 2 builds.
Payday 2 is a game that will always give its players stuff to do and content to enjoy! This wide variety of content can be confusing and scary for new players. One of the latest additions to this second entry of Payday is Skills and Perk Decks which can be confusing if you have never interacted with this game. In this article, we decided to cover our top 5 best builds, which include a quick overview of their weapons, Perk Deck, and Skills to help you get started with your missions.
Overview of Our Best Builds For Payday 2
Everything we picked for this list is stuff that has worked for us and, most importantly, stuff that was fun for us. ‘’What is best for you’’ can be subjective, and you, as a gamer, will discover what works better for you in your heists; hopefully, this article can guide you.
1. Stealth Build
As gamers, we all love to go guns blazing at any opportunity when playing first-person shooters, especially when we see that most irrelevant piece of text in a game saying that stealth is optional for this mission. Doing a mission Stealth in Payday 2 can be one of the most challenging but, at the same time, most fun and rewarding way of doing your missions.
Weapons We Recommend for Stealth Builds in Payday 2
- The Cavity 9mm
- CAR-4 (Must be modded)
- Akimbo Chimano Compact
- The Judge
- Claire 12G
- Bernetti 9 Pistol
This list of weapons is focused on balancing concealment and reliability, so you don’t get easily discovered by the guards, but at the same time, they won’t let you down if you have to get loud.
Recommended Perk Deck – The Burglar
The Burglar will allow you to perform actions faster and more silently.
Related Article: Is Payday 2 Split Screen?
Recommended Skills
- Stockholm Syndrome
- Forced Friendship
- Hardware Expert
- Cleaner
- Parkour
- High-Value Target
2. Stoic Build
This build is focused around the Stoic Perk Deck, which replaces your throwable with the Stoic’s Hip Flasks, reducing 75% of the upcoming damage. This Perk Deck will claim the pending damage at some point, so you must be ready and know how to retreat. A stoic build in Payday 2 will allow you to tank enemies and get close and personal with them for a limited time.
Weapons We Recommend a Stoic Build
- KSP Light Machine Gun
- The Judge
These weapons should allow you to wipe areas of enemies quickly while taking damage.
Recommended Perk Deck – Stoic
This Perk Deck will replace your throwable with a consumable called the Hip Flask.
Recommended Skills
- Combat Medic
- Quick Fix
- Uppers
- Inspired
- Forced Friendship
- Joker
- Hostage Taker
- Underdog
- Resilience
- Die Hard
- Steady Aim
- Fire Control
- Surefire
- Parkour
- Sneaky Bastard
- Optical Illusions
- Low Blow
- Duck and Cover
- Nine Lives (Aced will give one life to the player before going into custody)
- Trigger Happy
- Equilibrium
3. Payday 2 Sniper Build
Payday 2 is a game that will throw hordes and hordes of enemies that will try to kill from close distances with enemies such as the Cloaker, Taser, or the Bulldozer. This game can be extra challenging when trying to use snipers but, at the same time, gratifying when accomplished. Having a sniper build in Payday 2 shouldn’t necessarily place you at a disadvantage at close range if built right.
Weapons We Recommend for Great Sniper Builds in Payday 2
- Lebensauger .308 Sniper Rifle
- TR700 Sniper Rifle
- Desertfox Sniper Rifle
- Micro Uzi Submachine Gun
- The Judge Shotgun
- China Puff 40mm Grenade Launcher
The primary weapons on this list should allow you to kill enemies at long range, and the secondaries won´t let you down if you need to kill a horde of enemies close to you.
Recommended Perk Decks for a Sniper Build
Gambler: This Deck will allow players to increase their ammo pick-up rate, get healed with ammo packs, and slightly increase damage.
Crew Chief: This Perk Deck focuses on increasing headshot damage, stamina, and health.
Rogue: Rogue increases damage, piercing armor, and enemies targeting teammates instead of the player.
- Combat Medic
- Quick Fix
- Combat Doctor
- Uppers (Aced)
- Inspire (Aced)
- Forced Friendship (Aced)
- Joker (Aced)
- Confident (Aced)
- Partners In Crime (Aced)
- Hostage Taker (Aced)
- Stable Shot
- Marksman (Aced)
- Aggressive Reload (Aced)
- Ammo Efficiency
- Graze (Aced)
- Underdog
- Shotgun Impact (Aced)
- Far Away (Aced)
- Close By
- Overkill (Aced)
- Third Law (Aced)
- Sentry Gun Targeting Package (Aced)
- Eco Sentry (Aced)
- Engineering
- Tower Defense (Aced)
- Second Wind
- Optical Illusions
- High-Value Target (Aced)
4. Melee Build
If you want a challenge, this perk deck is for you; with a game that throws dozens and dozens of enemies at you, making melee attacks is almost a death sentence in the game. Going for melee only requires a good build and great skill and expertise in the game. Players need to be smart about when to push, when to hide, what enemies to attack at what specific moment, and when to retreat.
Related Article: Can You Play Payday 2 Crossplay on Different Platforms?
Melee Weapons We Recommend for Solid Melee Builds in Payday 2
- Stainless Steel Syringe
- Weapon Butt
- Nova Chank
- El Verdugo
- Electrical Brass Knuckles
- Pounder
Most of these melee weapons have an interruption effect on enemies, poison, or just deal significant damage.
Recommended Perk Decks for this Melee Build
Infiltrator: Players will benefit in close-quarters combat with increased stats when enemies are close.
Sociopath: This perk shares many similarities with an infiltrator, except that Sociopath benefits armor instead of health.
Yakuza: This Perk is designed for lone wolves that don’t want to rely on teammates and will assist the players when low on health
Recommended Skills
- Combat Medic
- Quick Fix
- Uppers
- Inspired
- Forced Friendship
- Joker
- Hostage Taker
- Underdog
- Counter-Strike
- Martial Arts
- Bloodthirst
- Pumping Iron
- Second Wind
- Iron Man
We highly recommend you visit our detailed guide for a Melee Build in Payday 2.
5. Leech Build
A Leech build in Payday 2, similar to the Stoic one, is designed around a unique Perk Deck. This Perk Deck will allow players to get close to enemies and benefit from them and their teammates by taking damage. This perk will also let players be highly aggressive as it will make you a tank.
The Leech Perk Deck will also replace the throwable with the Leech Ampule. Once the Leech Ampule is used, 40% of the health will be recovered, and your health will be divided into segments of 20%. Killing two enemies will restore a piece.
Weapons We Recommend for Payday 2 Leech Builds
- Akimbo Krinkov Submachine Guns
- Akimbo Goliath 12G Shotguns
- The Judge
- China Puff 40mm Grenade Launcher
These weapons should allow you to kill enemies quickly, especially when you need to kill two to restore a health segment.
Recommended Perk Deck – Leech
This Perk Deck will replace your throwable with an Ampule that can be activated to get health benefits.
Recommended Skills
- Combat Medic
- Quick Fix
- Combat Doctor (Aced)
- Inspire (Aced)
- Forced Friendship
- Joker
- Confident (Aced)
- Partners In Crime (Aced)
- Hostage Taker (Aced)
- Underdog
- Shotgun CQB
- Shotgun Impact (Aced)
- Close By (Aced)
- Overkill
- Duck And Cover
- Parkour (Aced)
- Shockproof (Aced)
- Second Wind
- Equilibrium
- Akimbo (Aced)
- Nine Lives
Honorable Mention: Anarchist Build
The Anarchist Perk Deck in Payday 2 is another great option for building your next loadout around. Payday 2 is a game that rewards those willing to take risks.
If you pick an Anarchist build in Payday 2, get ready for an adrenaline-fueled blast of fast and furious action with this aggressive loadout! It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, so it takes special care when planning your strategy. But if you’re up for some daring heists without taking too many precautions – look no further than this method designed specifically to make you succeed in record time!
If this aggressive kind of loadout sounds right for you, then check out our complete guide on the best Anarchist build in Payday 2.
Conclusion to Our Top 5 Favorite Builds for Payday 2 in 2023
These Perk Decks can be challenging but fun to use, so we picked them. Try them out, decide for yourself which one fits your playstyle better, and most importantly, have fun with them. We have other Payday 2 builds for you to check out that didn’t make our list of the Top 5! You may also want to review our Payday 2 dodge build and the best weapons in Payday 2.
Good Heist, Good Luck!
