Consumables

Consumables are a feature in PAYDAY 3 that serves as heist pickups, either spawning in random locations of a set heist, bonus from trading hostages, or dropping upon eliminating a special enemy.

Gameplay

Consumables are designed to help players survive a heist, either it be healing them or repairing their damaged armor. They are essentially smaller versions of the Medic Bag and the Armor Bag, though with the caveat of being far more limited in how much it refills a player's health or armor bar. can be distinguished between two types:

1. First Aid Kits (FAKs) - heals player upon use (can gain Adrenaline)
2. Armor Repair Kits (ARKs) - repairs damage taken by armor chunks in full as long as it is not destroyed

Both resources can be picked up and be safely kept in a player's inventory, though FAKs and ARKs cannot occupy the same inventory space, thus players should carefully consider picking up which resource. A minimum of 2 Consumables can be carried, with the maximum capacity being 7.

Obtaining resources

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Ordinarily, consumables can spawn naturally in heists, usually located inside of green first aid boxes (FAK) or in lockers (ARK). Natural spawns of consumables are limited, and new ones can only be spawned through trading hostages or eliminating special units.

Trading hostages during a Control phase of a heist will guarantee one FAK or ARK, with each alternating for every hostage traded. The amount traded can be increased through the use of skills in the Puppet Master Subtree in the Professional Tree, such as Trade Broker and Magnetic Charm. Resulting a possible maximum of a single civilian hostage counting as 23 hostages, or a law enforcement hostage counting as 24 hostages.

Theoretically, an infinite amount of consumables can spawn, as long as there is a steady supply of hostages (primarily maintained through Scare Tactics, a skill that allows light or heavy SWAT units to be taken hostage). Heists such as Rock The Cradle and First World Bank have large groups of civilians, allowing heisters to trade in dozens of hostages in exchange for large swathes of FAKs and ARKs. This method stops working once a heist reaches a Final Assault phase, which locks out any opportunity to trade in hostages as Control phases will no longer happen.

Outside of hostage trading, consumables can also spawn by killing two special units: Bulldozers and Techies. These two will always drop an ARK upon death. However, unlike trading hostages with the necessary skills, both special units will only drop one ARK upon death, limiting the amount of consumables that can be obtained.

Trivia

• Upon PAYDAY 3's launch, FAKs were the only consumable that could be obtained from trading hostages.
• Until Houston Breakout's release, consumables could not be picked up.

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