Special enemies (Payday 3)

	This article is about the special enemies featured in PAYDAY 3. For the list of special enemies encountered in PAYDAY: The Heist, see Category:Special enemies.

	This article is about the special enemies featured in PAYDAY 3. For the list of special enemies encountered in PAYDAY 2, see Category:Special enemies (Payday 2).

Special Enemies are a class of enemy that have unique abilities and fulfill specific roles during or after a police assault.

They have several common mechanics that make them different from regular enemies:

• They can be highlighted even in a firefight by shouting at them.
  • Doing so will trigger a vocal response from the player character indicating the special unit type.
• They will trigger a vocal response from the player character when killed.
• They cannot be intimidated.
• Each type has a specific limit, which changes with the heist's difficulty, that regulates how many can be present in a map at any time.
• Their presence triggers special voicelines and different tactics in other law enforcers.

There are seven different types of special enemies, each having their own unique abilities:

• Bulldozer - Heavily armoured and heavily armed unit that spearheads law enforcement assaults with the ability to charge and kick heisters down.
• Cloaker - Generally waits in ambush or hides in plain sight. Capable of an instant-incapacitation leading to a sequence of beatdowns that drains health through armor via close quarters attack and incredible bursts of speed, along with acrobatic movements to dodge bullets. Can drop smoke grenades and cuff heisters.
• Nader - An area denial unit who can close off areas by throwing gas grenades that eats away health quickly or deploy flashbangs.
• Shield - Wields a shield with bullet-resistant glass window, making it (and any other troops behind the shield) impervious to frontal attacks from most weapons, but will stagger with enough damage and their heads can be exposed if their window is broken. They wield pistols and can perform a melee attack that stuns heisters.
• Sniper - Deals high damage from extreme distance, but cannot penetrate armor compared to his previous iteration. Only spawns in set positions in maps, and have a bright red laser that can give away their location.
• Techie - Spawns in a map and hides in specific spots to create gun and tactical drones designed to slow down or disrupt the coordination of the Payday gang.
• Zapper - Electrocutes heisters, making them fire uncontrollably and preventing movement. Slowly drains health and incapacitates heisters if the Zapper isn't interrupted. They can also place shock mines as traps.