Since its release, Starbreeze Studios’ Payday 3 has undergone a significant overhaul in its progression system compared to its predecessor, Payday 2. The gameplay mechanics have evolved with weapon XP, Skill XP, and Infamy Points. This guide dives deep into the intricacies of these mechanisms and the ways to maximize your in-game progression.
1. The New Progression System
- Levels up weapons and unlocks weapon mods.
- Unlock new skills for you to equip using Skill Points.
- Elevates your Infamy level, unlocking new weapons, cosmetics, and Skill Points. This is crucial for those who want top-tier weapons.
2. Methods to Gain XP and Boost Infamy
- Opting for a stealth approach in heists grants more XP. For instance, completing the ‘Dirty Ice’ mission in stealth mode yields double the XP compared to its loud counterpart.
- Payday 3 offers four difficulty settings: Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Overkill. To optimize XP gains, choose higher difficulty settings, but be wary of the challenges they bring.
- While replaying heists is lucrative, they don’t provide Infamy Points. Players must achieve the Heist and Combat Challenges in the Challenge Book to accumulate these. These vary from specific heist goals to combat feats, like defeating a set number of Dozers.
3. Unlocking Skills
Unlike Payday 2, the new game has replaced Skill Trees with Skill Lines, offering more flexibility in crafting builds. To unlock skills:
- Begin by researching a Skill Line. When the starter Skill of the line becomes available, assign a Skill Point to activate it.
- Once the starter Skill is activated with a Skill Point, every Skill XP you earn contributes towards unlocking other Skills in that line.
- The game offers only 21 Skill Points. Hence, players need to decide which skills to activate judiciously. However, the game provides a free respec option, allowing flexibility in skill choices based on scenarios.
