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Enemies (Payday 2)

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This is the list of Enemies in PAYDAY 2, along with detailed descriptions.

Security Guards & First Responders

Security guards patrol the heist while in stealth, and must have their pagers answered when killed or else the alarm will go off. First responders will be, as the name implies, the first on the scene, either called by security or, in a lot of cases, having been waiting to ambush the Payday gang.

Neither of them are part of the main assault force and, as such, no more will appear after they are all killed. All of them can be converted, unless they are affiliated with a gang.

Security Guard

Description
Enemy Type Security Personnel
Statistics
Health 40 (Normal)
40 (Hard)
40 (Very Hard)
40 (Overkill)
40 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name security
v·d·e
"The standard security guard, poor schmucks who just happen to get in the way of big bad robbers too often - these guys won't pose too big a threat. A quick blow to the head with your rifle should do it."
—Bain's description

The Security Guard is the weakest enemy in game with only 40 HP on all difficulties, and any armour worn by them serves no purpose. Armed with various small arms and a side-handled baton for melee, guards also have the ability to handcuff a heister for 60 seconds if they are close enough without getting aggressive (which, for a player who isn't cautious, can cause an embarrassing failure if all heisters in game are cuffed) and in quick succession.

The most common guards are the white-shirted Washington Security guards seen on various heists. They come equipped with Chimano 88s and Compact-5s.

While gang members will often guard their territory, they usually do not have pagers. Excluding these, there are still several variations of the security guard:

Cop

Description
Enemy Type Police First Responder
Statistics
Health 40 (Normal)
40 (Hard)
40 (Very Hard)
40 (Overkill)
40 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name cop
v·d·e
"The bread and butter of the police force, normal coppers have standard training and a pretty good aim, though their survivability and firepower are limited."
—Bain's description

Also known as police officers or just cops, they use either the Chimano 88 pistol, Bronco .44 revolver (as of Update #13), Reinfeld 880 shotgun, or Compact-5 submachine gun. For melee they use a police baton. They tend to arrive at the heist location about 20 to 30 seconds after an alarm is raised, and are the first responders. Like Security Guards, they always have 40 HP regardless of apparent armour.

All variants of the Metropolitan Police carry nightsticks and handcuffs, which they will absolutely employ against heisters should the chance be given.

On lower difficulty levels, street cops appear throughout the first assault wave, but are rarely present afterwards. On Overkill difficulty, they do not appear at all aside from the one or two pairs who arrive in police cars on certain heists.

Note that in heists like the Jewelry Store, Mallcrasher, Ukrainian Job and GO Bank, Metropolitan Police officers can occasionally spawn outside of the main objective. One or two of them will be a normal uniform cop, while the other one will be wearing a Kevlar vest. Two of the warehouse guards on Day 2 of Election Day (assuming the correct van was tagged or the entire database was retrieved on Day 1) will be Metropolitan Police as well. They function just like the guards when they see a criminal; the only main difference is that when they're killed, no pagers will need to be answered.

It is worth noting that due to the structure of assault sequencing, aggressively eliminating a significant quantity of first-responder police officers can greatly accelerate the arrival of the first assault wave. Players should exercise caution and, if possible, prolong a 'standoff' state as this will buy them (or their drills) more time to work in relative safety.

They also have regional variations:

Murkywater PMC

Description
Enemy Type Private Paramilitary Unit
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name murkywater
v·d·e


Not to be confused with the Murkywater faction

Murkywater PMCs, also called "Murkies" by Bain, are an enemy type stationed by Murkywater to guard their assets, introduced with the Shadow Raid heist. They possess a distinct helmet that resembles the Alpha Force mask, a heavy armored vest with tactical rigging, and the US Special Forces OCP uniform affectionately known as "Multi-Cam" with a generic pair of sage green combat boots worn by the US Air Force.

In stealth (Shadow Raid and Murky Station), they function like heavily-armored security guards, complete with pagers.

Like other enemies, Murkies can be killed by a single hit from any source if they are not yet alerted to a heister's presence during stealth, allowing them to be silently neutralized with any suppressed weapon or melee attack.

Murkies' health and headshot multiplier are identical to common Light units', which make them quite difficult to deal with if alerted on higher difficulties, considering the usually low damage output of stealth weaponry.

An alerted Murky can be dealt with risk-free of them shooting and alerting civilians and other guards by simply running away, behind two walls should suffice. The player should then place an ECM, so the guard cannot sound the alarm. When the Murky tries to call in, he can be killed with a few headshots while they are unable to retaliate.

Dominating a Murky can make it significantly easier to deal with him, as he will not be able to fire his weapon once he's cuffed, allowing players to answer his pager and then safely finish him off, before bagging his body.

While they appear on The White House, they stay at the south portico, and the heist is patrolled by a unique variant of regular security guards.

Murkies are armed with Jackal submachine guns and Eagle Heavy assault rifles that do noticeably more damage than common units' CAR-4s. Overall, Murkies fight like stronger versions of the difficulty's Light unit.

In loud heists with standard law enforcement (Meltdown, Slaughterhouse, and Birth of Sky), they only spawn at the start of the heist. In Murkywater-dominated ones (Beneath the Mountain, Henry's Rock, Hell's Island, and The White House), they will also set up ambushes at most new areas throughout the heist (though these may go unnoticed as players will probably have the visually similar Murkywater assault team hot on their heels).

While they look identical to Murkywater Heavies, they lack their tan armour and doubled health, but have better weaponry. Some mods even tackle this by changing one of the two's texture.

Introduced with the Armored Transport Heists DLC, these guards are tasked with protecting the titular transports. They wear bright red uniforms and have the same behaviour and weaponry as regular guards, but are slightly more durable. They can also appear in GO Bank, either (luckily) spawning from the start with an armoured transport, or (unluckily) being dispatched in a patrol car for an inspection. They also make a brief appearance on Slaughterhouse, appearing stunned and dazed beneath their crashed armoured transport.

Their internal name is security_gensec.

They are seen at the start of Hoxton Breakout and Green Bridge guarding prisoners and wielding Bronco .44s.

They are internally called prisonguard.

Not to be confused with the FBI Agents

Office Agents appear on Hoxton Breakout Day 2 and Breakin' Feds, where they occupy the Washington FBI Headquarters, and only have their side-arms to defend themselves, the men being armed with the Chimano 88 and the women with Bronco .44s. Despite their low health, care should be taken when dealing with them. They appear in large numbers and can easily down a heister with their suppressive fire. They also appear in Undercover, as part of the team attempting to arrest the Taxman.

The fat man is internally called fbi_boss, the women fbi_female, and the rest of the men fbi_office.

FBI Safehouse Guards are a unique variant of security which only appear on the Hoxton Revenge heist. They patrol the outside of the FBI safehouse, while the inside is guarded by the more common Secret Service-styled guards. There are more stationed in the houses nearby, and will rush in if the heist goes loud.

Due to using Murkywater's typical weapons, as well as remarkably similar uniforms, they are often mistaken for the PMC by players.

They are oddly called hoxton_breakout_guard internally.

Security Guard:

"Unarmored and very lightly armed, usually with nothing more than a Chimano, Security Guards still pose a significant threat due to their pagers. With the press of a button, a vigilant Security Guard can raise the alarm, which will bring better suited reinforcements.

My Notes: About the greatest threat they pose to the clowns is raising the alarm when they see them, ‘cos they ain’t worth wet paper in a fight. Not that that stops them trying. A lot of these guys are ex-MPD. Maybe pensioned off after being injured in the line of duty, or just gave up their badge hoping for an easier, less dangerous life."
—

Regular Cop:

"Generally, they might be lightly armed and lack armor, but our regulars shouldn’t be underestimated. They are almost always first on the scene, and fight hard to protect their city. Their kit is variable. Most carry the standard issue Chimano, but some will also pack the Reinfeld, the Compact-5 or even a Bronco.

My Notes: MPD rank-and-file. And a light breakfast for the bad guys. These units are poorly armed and armored. They might be the first responders, but being the first response doesn't mean being the best response. I can't fault their spirit. But they need to learn when to hold back, and let the heavier teams get on the scene, 'cos these guys are getting turned into ground chuck."
—

GenSec Security:

"GenSec is the biggest private security company in the world, and these red-bereted officers fill the ranks of their footsoldiers. They wear very light armor, and are most often armed with Chimanos, though a few supporting units may carry Compact-5s.

My Notes: GenSec makes a lot of money providing private security, but they ain’t spending it on these guys. They’re nothing more than drivers and baggage handlers armed with a pistol and dressed in t-shirts. They might deter bag-snatchers but they ain’t gonna do squat in a real fight. And those goddamn red berets make an inviting target for a heister."
—

Murkywater:

"Marketed as private security consultants, but they are capable of everything from simple home security to deploying regiment sized units of fully supported mercenaries. They are all highly trained and drawn from all branches of the world's’ best militaries. Very well equipped with top-grade ballistic armor and Eagle Heavy assault rifles, which is why the top corporations and even state authorities sometimes put them on the books.

My Notes: These guys...goddamn it. What the hell are heavily armed mercenaries doing in Washington? Half of ‘em ain’t even American. We got a look at some of the stiffs shipped out of that warehouse - undocumented Armenians, Germans, South Africans. From all over. Might fancy themselves as bad-ass mercs, and they got the firepower for that, but the clowns still went through ‘em like crap through a goose."
—

Chimano 88 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 1.5 1 1 1
Hard 15 10 10 10
Very Hard 20 10 10 10
Overkill-Mayhem 40 35 30 25
Death Wish-Death Sentence 65 65 65 60
Bronco .44 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 6 4 3 2
Hard 60 40 30 20
Very Hard 80 60 40 20
Overkill-Mayhem 160 100 80 60
Death Wish-Death Sentence 160 140 120 100
Compact-5 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 2 1 1 1
Hard 20 10 10 10
Very Hard 20 17.5 12.5 10
Overkill-Mayhem 45 40 30 20
Death Wish-Death Sentence 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5
Reinfeld 880 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 1.5 1 1 1
Hard 20 5 5 2
Very Hard-Mayhem 100 75 50 20
Death Wish 375 350 250 150
Death Sentence 525 490 350 210
Jackal Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 4 3.5 2.5 2
Hard-Death Sentence 20 17.5 12.5 10
Eagle Heavy Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal-Death Sentence 40 30 25 20

  • Despite using the Chimano 88 model, the pistol used is actually a Crosskill, as it uses its sound effects, magazine capacity, and is internally called c45.
  • According to their FBI File entry, a large portion of the security guards encountered in the game are former Metropolitan Police officers.
  • The Metropolitan Police officers are undoubtedly based on real-life Metropolitan Police Department officers, with certain notable differences:
    • Their choice of a Bronco .44 as their sidearm is rather atypical. In reality all police units are generally issued either the real-world equivalents of the Chimano 88 (Glock 17), the Bernetti 9 (Beretta 92FS), Signature .40 (SIG Sauer P226) and the Crosskill (Colt/Browning M1911). Only very few, typically much older, officers still carry revolvers as a primary sidearm, and even then those are primarily .38 special caliber rather than the impractically heavy .44 magnum.
    • They can occasionally be seen rappeling down from ledges like the common SWAT officers, despite not wearing the proper gear.
    • Once an alarm is tripped, or a civilian successfully calls for police help, law enforcers immediately begin arriving in force. Never in real life are police units instructed to behave this way, usually only one or two squad cars are sent to investigate the situation before calling for backup.
      • One possible explanation for this is that there is a special task force on standby waiting for a crime to occur. When the civilian calls in, the police may (somehow) know it is, for instance, the PAYDAY Gang and thus send said hypothetical task force. This is just speculation however, and doesn't explain the police response on a several loud heists.
  • It appears that nearly all MPDC police officers are at the rank of sergeant, identifiable by the three chevrons on their sleeve. The only possible exception to this is the officer who wears a Kevlar vest. His sleeve is hidden by the vest, thus his rank is unknown.
  • The Compact-5-wielding officer has shotgun shells on his vest, despite him using only an SMG. This hints at the unit originally being equipped with a Reinfeld 880 before a change in development gave them the weapon they now use.
  • Washington PD will show up on the Brooklyn 10-10 heist, despite Bain claiming it to be the NYPD.
  • The helmet worn by the Murkywater mercenaries is a hybrid of the Cyre Precision Airframe helmet with the M-TEK FAST G4 mandible protection.
    • Notably, the mandible protection of the Murky's helmet is attached by strap rather than by proper rails provided by M-TEK or Cyre Percision, showing that it is indeed a hybrid.
  • Female agents in Hoxton Breakout do not have their own vocal responses, and will instead use generic male voice clips. This can be heard when dominating or converting a female agent.
  • Male FBI agents draw their sidearms from the right while the holsters on their models are situated on their left.
  • Buluc's Mansion guards inexplicably wear the "Washington Security Service" badges also found on Golden Grin.
  • Midland Ranch guards are retextured mariachis.

Assault Units

The enemies that spawn during Assaults will depend on the difficulty, but are divided into four tiers: SWAT, FBI, Gensec, and ZEAL. The majority of this force will be made up of common enemies, which are either the Light, or the double-health Heavy variant.

American Law Enforcement

Also known as the police, DCPD, vanilla, or American faction, they will fight the Payday gang on the vast majority of heists. They are overall coordinated by Garrett's task force, except for ZEAL, who are led by the DHS.

SWAT

The local police department's Special Weapons and Tactics Team are the main assault force on the Normal and Hard difficulties, and are the weakest enemy tier.

SWAT Light

Description
Enemy Type Light Tactical Responders
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name swat
v·d·e
"A common sign of things getting heated are spotting these guys. The Special Weapons and Tactics squads are the guys who arrive at the scene when the normal cops can't handle it."
—Bain's Description of the SWAT Light
Also known simply as the "Blues", SWAT Lights are armed with either a Compact-5 or a Reinfeld 880, they will start to appear just prior to the start of the first assault wave and tend to remain the most common enemy throughout the heist. The Blue SWAT represent the first real challenge to the heisters as they employ the use of more advanced tactics such as taking cover and giving suppressing fire. They can use smoke grenades or flashbangs to cover their advance.

SWAT Heavy

Description
Enemy Type Heavy Tactical Responders
Statistics
Health 160 (Normal)
160 (Hard)
320 (Very Hard)
480 (Overkill)
960 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name heavy_swat
v·d·e
"These guys are the standard frontline heavy response unit. They're field agents with specialist training in counter-terrorism, containment and urban assault. They're well equipped and experienced, so don't under-estimate them."
—Bain's Description of the Yellow SWAT variant
Also called "Yellows", SWAT Heavies carry either the CAR-4 rifle or the Reinfeld 880. They are the only heavy unit that does not use tan armour.

Blue SWAT:

"Once the regular cops have determined that the situation is volatile enough to require specialist weapons and training, they call the SWAT, and these boys in blue are the first guys on the scene. Well-equipped with Compact-5’s or Reinfelds, they are fast and work well in groups. Bringing their firepower to bear very quickly often shuts down criminals fast.

My Notes: Yeah, they're well equipped and we've plenty of 'em, but what they're lacking is leadership - need better command. Decent team-players, for sure, but they're tactically inflexible. Their doctrine is aimed at swarming bunkered-down criminals, but that fast 'shock-and-awe' crap is suicide in the face of an experienced crew."
—

Yellow SWAT:

"These guys are the second tier in our SWAT forces. They’re all time-served veterans, enjoying better training with better armor and assault rifles.

My Notes: Made up of men who’ve put in at least two years with the regulars, and had training with better armor and assault rifles. This means they can soak more damage and pack a harder punch. They’re tough but...we lose way too many to bad decisions at a command level. Our loss rate on these guys is unacceptable - maybe look at further upgrades to weapons and armor."
—

Compact-5 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 2 1 1 1
Hard-Death Sentence 20 10 10 10
Reinfeld 880 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 1.5 1 1 1
Hard 20 5 5 2
Very Hard-Death Wish 100 25 25 10
Death Sentence 140 35 35 14
CAR-4 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 1 1 1 1
Hard 8 4 4 4
Very Hard-Death Wish 20 10 10 10
Death Sentence 60 30 30 30

  • The SWAT units are based on their real-life counterparts, however, with significant differences here and there:
    • The quick response time and vast amounts of SWAT units in the game is highly unusual, as in reality, situations warranting actual SWAT response are very infrequent, and as such these trained and equipped officers are often assigned different tasks to carry out until summoned in case of an emergency. Sending out even a remotely sizable SWAT unit is long enough to present a significant lag between the initial emergency and actual SWAT deployment on the site.[1]
      • As previously mentioned, real-life situations requiring SWAT intervention are very uncommon, thus making the excessive amounts of SWAT personnel in the game's many heists a very odd thing from a realistic standpoint. That being said, not many real-world instances of crime in progress would include semi-immortal robbers armed with self-repairing body armor, shouts that can revive incapacitated teammates and/or a multitude of weaponry capable of punching through ballistic shields, so the extra amount of firepower is somewhat justified gameplay-wise.
    • The Metropolitan PD has an Emergency Response Team, which is technically a SWAT-level unit but differs greatly from the in-game units in terms of uniforms, dispatches and directives as well as being more commonly referred to by their own designation instead of type. None of the actual ERT personnel or equipments have "SWAT" emblazoned on them, again unlike the in-game law enforcers.
    • The local FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. possesses a sizable SWAT team that can deploy quickly within the capitol, though they wear uniforms different from those in the game and are not associated with the police. A more correct representation of this division is seen in the FBI Heavy Response Units.
    • Blue SWATs have a patch on their right arm which shows a sheet with a eagle on it surrounded by two lightning bolts. It also says that the SWAT team was founded 1870 which is incorrect since most police special units were founded in the 1960's.
    • While SWAT units are trained to stay calm, in-game SWAT units will often panic or yelling something along the lines of them not being trained to handle the player crew. Various law enforcers will also often ask where their commander is, suggesting that they are poorly organized.
  • SWAT is the only tier whose shields are carried by heavy units.
  • SWATs will gain ZEAL units' radio filter on Death Sentence.
    • Before Update 240, they would also deal the same damage.

FBI

The Federal Bureau of Intervention in PAYDAY 2 have a far greater presence than in the first game, bringing in their own units to fight the Payday gang.

They are the main assault force on the Very Hard and Overkill difficulties, and are involved on all others. They are also behind the Hostage Rescue Team.

FBI Light

Description
Enemy Type Heavy Tactical Responders
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name fbi_swat
v·d·e
"These guys are the FBI's special ops. They're trained to take control over hostile situations, they execute a ruthless shoot-to-kill policy and they are faster than their heavily armed colleagues."
—Bain's description

Armed with the CAR-4 and the Reinfeld 880, the FBI Heavy Response Units are far deadlier than the standard SWAT units. They are also colloquially referred to as "Greens" due to their signature uniforms.

They can be recognized by their green uniforms, compared to SWAT's blue ones. FBI Light shotgunners wear night vision goggles attached to their helmets and have shell racks on their armor.

In certain heists it is possible for a them to deploy tear gas into a building's ventilation system. Once they have done this, visible green clouds of gas will appear, standing in that area will rapidly damage the player. It is possible to quickly run through the cloud, but the player will take significant amounts of damage, so the gas blocks off the area for practical purposes. This can be prevented on any Bank Heist by listening for Bain's verbal warning that a helicopter is landing on the roof, and killing them before they deploy the gas into a ventilation shaft.

These enemies can rarely appear in Normal and Hard heists as part of scripted sequences.

FBI Heavy

Description
Enemy Type Armored Strike Force
Statistics
Health 160 (Normal)
160 (Hard)
320 (Very Hard)
480 (Overkill)
960 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name fbi_heavy_swat
v·d·e
"These trained 'professionals' are the only ones coming close to matching the bulldozer but with one difference. They come in packs. They've trained for everything and are a force to be reckoned with."
—Bain's description

The FBI Maximum Force Responder is the first unit to be equipped with the tan armour, completely protecting them from small arms fire on all parts of their body except for the head, neck, back, and legs.

Their armour can catch unseasoned heisters by surprise. These units can also spawn on lower difficulties in pre-scripted circumstances that will come with a verbal warning from Bain. A notable instance of the latter would be the last day of Rats - there is almost always one Maximum Force Responder near the head of the convoy regardless of difficulty.

It is a good idea to treat all Maximum Force Responders as lesser Bulldozers, and as such the most effective strategy is to aim for their heads with a powerful single shot weapon, such as a M308, Bronco .44, or Deagle. It may take several headshots, but the increased power and accuracy of single-shot weapons means that less ammo will be used than if a fully automatic weapon was used. It is recommended to use a scope to assist in scoring headshots, because unlike lesser units that will still receive damage from chest hits, shots against a Heavy Unit's torso are completely wasted. Shotguns are also highly effective against them at close range, as shots to the head with even one pellet will cause full headshot damage to them.

A Mastermind with the Joker skill can persuade a them to fight against his allies. It is recommended to hit him with a melee attack or suppress him with concentrated fire before attempting to dominate him to avoid repeatedly taking return fire from him during failed conversion attempts. Another method is to shoot his legs, as he will likely survive the attacks. If he is successfully converted, he becomes a powerful ally, as the majority of gunfire from his former allies will hit his bulletproof torso instead of his vulnerable head, though enough stray shots will still eventually kill him. He makes a good "meat shield" for this reason.

Despite common misconceptions, Light units do not deal more damage than Heavy ones, as they have the same weapons handling. In Bank Heist, one Heavy SWAT unit will come with the two HRUs in the helicopter and he can also deploy tear gas in the bank's ventilation system as with the HRUs. It is advised to kill the MFR first as they try to deploy gas sooner than the HRUs do, as well as having more health and protection.

Sniper Rifles and shotguns equipped with Flechette shells or AP Slugs are capable of piercing the Maximum Force Responder's body armor and thus damaging and killing him with body shots. This will take considerably more shots than if a heister shoots at the head, however; the damage is greatly reduced without the headshot bonus. Flamethrowers and shotguns equipped with Dragon's Breath shells are capable of igniting Maximum Force Responders through their body armor, making them potent tools for killing the units without headshots. Explosives are also very effective, likely killing them outright unless they are too far from the blast, or if the player is using the Arbiter, which will instead take two to three hits on Mayhem and above.

Heavy Response Unit:

"These men are the elites within the SWAT teams. Each man has served in the regular SWAT for many years, giving them a lot of experience, and are handpicked to serve in the ‘Greens’. These teams are tough, work well together and hit hard, armed with Car-4s and Reinfelds.

My Notes: I’ve heard these men referred to as the ‘Greens’. It comes from their uniforms, rather than their experience, because these guys have been around a long time. Almost all have ten-years or more, which earns them my respect. They’re likely to become the spine of my force. They’re pretty well protected, and pack a decent punch."
—

Maximum Force Responder:

"The Maximum Force Responder is the toughest SWAT team that can be deployed. They wear the strongest armor, offering almost complete protection to the front and sides. They are also highly experienced, and well trained with assault rifles, such as the Car-4.

My Notes: These guys are the toughest team elements I can throw into a situation. They’re heavily armored - the best we can afford - and I hear there’s a rolling sweepstake to see who can dig the most slugs out of those tan vests after an operation. I think with a little creativity with purchase req’s and a review of admission protocols, I can get more of these guys on the street."
—

CAR-4 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 2 1.5 1.3 1
Hard 8 6 5 4
Very Hard-Death Wish 20 15 12.5 10
Death Sentence 60 45 37.5 30
Reinfeld 880 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 6 4.5 3 1.2
Hard 20 15 10 4
Very Hard-Death Wish 100 75 50 20
Death Sentence 140 105 70 28

  • The FBI do not usually handle offenses related to narcotics or the like, it is usually instead the job of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). They also do not dispatch any kind of armed forces in the event of bank robberies or armed assaults, it is often the job of the local police or SWAT. Real-life cases warranting FBI intervention usually have to be an end-result of a lengthy investigation (as described verbatim in the full name of the organization), and an assault randomly happening out of the blue does not present a chance to "investigate" (with brute force) at all.
    • FBI-armed divisions however, will co-operate with on-site police forces in apprehending assailants during joint operations, though again these activities do not normally extend to common bank robberies or art gallery incursions so the presence of FBI personnel in most heists remains odd.
      • However, seeing as the in-universe FBI acronym stands for Federal Bureau of Intervention, not Investigation, they likely follow directives differently from that of the real Bureau.
      • Another plausible explanation hinted by the tapes in Hoxton Revenge is that the Bureau have been working on the Payday Gang's case for a long time, and sending waves upon waves of armed personnel to the crime scene(s) can be seen as their attempts to bring down the heisters for good.
  • FBI HRUs and HRTs are both based on the real-life FBI Hostage Rescue Team (with the Heavy Response Team also based on the aforementioned FBI SWAT), with the former derived from their Hostage Rescue duties and the latter from their specialized equipment.
  • According to their FBI Files entry, all members of the Heavy Response Unit division were outstanding candidates hand-picked from regular SWAT outfits, and that the majority of them have served for at least ten years. In order to at least qualify as a recruit, a SWAT officer is required to have served at least ten years in their former regiment.
  • There are no on-site command centers or mobile command units to be seen anywhere during an assault, which is an oddity considering the fact that the game features a heavy FBI presence, who in reality are known to make substantial use of such units.
  • The Maximum Force Responders could be based on the real-life Special Reaction Teams that belong to all branches of the United States Armed Forces.
  • The helmets worn by Maximum Force Responders resembles the Russian Armed Forces' Altyn ballistic helmet.
  • The Maximum Force responders, along with the ZEAL units, are the only member of the helmet-wearing enemies whose face can be seen when his helmet is off, revealing a Caucasian man with brown eyes who wears a balaclava with a Headset.
    • The helmets worn by the Heavy Response Units are modeled after the Crye Precision "AirFrame", with all available accessories attached.

Gensec

"There's the new GenSec Elites: Hard bastards that carry shotguns, SMGs and assault rifles.
And then there's that new "dozer". He's something special, alright. You'll meet him, soon enough."
—Official description.

GenSec Industries' Fast Tactical Special Unit Task Force™[2] is contracted by the FBI for special operations, which Commissioner Garrett claims is very expensive. They also introduce their own Bulldozer variant.

They are the main assault force on the Mayhem and Death Wish difficulties.

GenSec Light

Description
Enemy Type Heavy Tactical Responders
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name city_swat
v·d·e


Known as the Gensec Elite before the introduction of the Gensec Heavy, they are a type of enemy added in the Death Wish update. While they appear similar to the green Heavy Response Units, they are a far more significant threat; GenSec's Elites possess more powerful weaponry than other standard law enforcement units. Additionally, they spawn at significantly higher rates and employ more aggressive tactics than other standard law enforcer units.

Gensec units are very accurate and carry either a modified JP36 rifle with the same camo as their uniform and a Compact Holosight - Riktpunkt Magnifier Gadget combo, an M1014 with a Tactical Stock, or a Jackal with a See More Sight.

Update 109.1 removed the shotgunner and submachine gunner variants from spawngroups (though they can still be seen in scripted sequences), and introduced a new Reinfeld wielding one, but he looks identical to the rifleman, not even using shotgunners' typical night vision goggles or shell straps.

Gensec Heavy

Description
Enemy Type Armored Strike Force
Statistics
Health 160 (Normal)
160 (Hard)
320 (Very Hard)
480 (Overkill)
960 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name city_heavy
v·d·e


Gensec Heavies are the Gensec version of the FBI MFRs, and use the same tan armour. Like the Lights, they benefit from increased health, numbers, and armaments, sporting their JP36 rifles or a Reinfeld.

GenSec Elite:

"The GenSec Elite are the best GenSec can offer. They are heavily armed and armored, and drawn from former military veterans, giving GenSec some paramilitary capability. They are occasionally contracted by police forces in extreme cases. They are equipped with the finest kit GenSec’s money can supply. Military armor keeps them in the fight, while they are armed with semi-automatic shotguns and JP36 assault rifles.

My Notes: The contracts to bring in these guys will surely take a big damn bite out of my budget but I reckon it’s worth it. What I wouldn’t give to have a couple of these teams on the books around the clock. Packing the finest GenSec armors - top-secret military-grade compound-polymer stuff even the Bureau could never afford. And they’re not just decked out well. I've seen these guys fight. Gotta be ex-special forces. I’d sure love to read their files."
—

JP36 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 60 45 37.5 30
Hard 12 9 7.5 6
Very Hard-Overkill 60 45 37.5 30
Mayhem 20 15 12.5 10
Death Wish 60 45 37.5 30
Death Sentence 100 75 62.5 50
M1014 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal-Death Sentence 100 75 50 20
Jackal Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 4 3.5 2.5 2
Hard-Death Sentence 20 17.5 12.5 10
Reinfeld 880 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 6 4.5 3 1.2
Hard 20 15 10 4
Very Hard-Death Wish 100 75 50 20
Death Sentence 140 105 70 28

  • The tactics and training of GenSec SWAT Teams suggests that most of them are former FBI responders, as well as perhaps former special operation members.
  • The company's trademarked Fast Tactical Special Unit can be abbreviated to FTSU. In other words, they are sent after heisters to Fuck Their Shit Up[3].
  • The helmets worn by the GenSec SWAT are modeled after the Crye Precision "AirFrame", with all available accessories attached.
  • Gensec has the most amount of common unit variants: a JP36 Light, an M1014 Light, a Jackal Light, a Reinfeld Light, a JP36 Heavy, and a Reinfeld Heavy.
  • Despite their purportedly massive budget, they still have to borrow shields from the FBI.

ZEAL

"It's our top secret strike force for emergencies. Last resort only."
—DHS Agent Henry Carter

The Force Z Elite Assault Legion, were sent by the Department of Homeland Surveillance during the emergency of October 2016. They are the toughest enemy tier in the game, appearing only on the Death Sentence difficulty, and feature redesigns of nearly all special enemies.

The common units' chatter is deeper pitched and filtered, as if it was heard through a radio, making it a bit harder to understand amidst the battle chaos. They are the only faction to not use shotguns.

ZEAL Light

Description
Enemy Type Heavy Tactical Responder
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name zeal_swat
v·d·e


Light units wear a dark gray uniform and only use the Compact-5.

ZEAL Heavy

Description
Enemy Type Armored Strike Force
Marksman
Statistics
Health 160 (Normal)
160 (Hard)
320 (Very Hard)
480 (Overkill)
960 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name zeal_swat_heavy
heavy_swat_sniper
v·d·e

The real threat of Death Sentence difficulty, these units' fully automatic rifles deal a blistering 225 damage per-shot at all distances, enough to down an unassuming heister in just over a second. They wear a more high tech uniform, and continue using the tan armour.

They only use the CAR-4.

A special variant known as the ZEAL Heavy Sniper or ZEAL Marskman can also spawn through Crime Spree and Holdout modifiers. They wield the Sniper's Gewehr 3 and have the damage to back it up, including its unique armour-piercing capability. While they are a considerable threat to players, they are notoriously inefficient when converted.

Zeal SWAT:

"Force Z, the Zulus, or ZEAL (Force Z Elite Assault Legion) - thus named because they are the last resort force deployed when absolutely everything else falls short. They are the top secret strike force of the Department of Homeland Surveillance. Even the FBI only found out about their existence a few days before they were deployed in Washington during the emergency of October 2016 (which ultimately failed to materialize on the scale that the DHS had envisioned). The ZEALs deploy highly efficient SWAT units, including their own tougher versions of special operatives such as Bulldozers and Cloakers.

My Notes: When the goddamn DHS starts meddling in police business, they don’t hold back, do they? I have to admit that these units do know their business. But they should be under police command. It’s not right that a dark legion of secret super soldiers should go stomping around in populated areas with complete impunity."
—

Compact-5 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 2 1 1 1
Hard 20 10 10 10
Very Hard 20 17.5 12.5 10
Overkill-Mayhem 45 40 30 20
Death Wish-Death Sentence 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5
CAR-4 Damage per Shot
Difficulty 0-5m 6-10m 11-20m 21-30m
Normal 1 1 1 1
Hard 8 4 4 4
Very Hard-Mayhem 20 15 12.5 10
Death Wish 75 75 75 75
Death Sentence 225 225 225 225

  • Due to several texture problems with the ZEAL team, many fans have speculated that they were designed by interns.
    • This was further reinforced when it was confirmed to be the case for the ZEAL Cloaker[4].
  • In real life, the Department of Homeland Security doesn't have a standing armed force, much less a black ops-tier battalion-scale detachment. The closest thing it has to armed personnel is related to Customs and Border Patrol, and they are nowhere near this well-armed. This is even more baffling considering that the PAYDAY iteration of the DHS is one of a national surveillance agency (Department of Homeland Surveillance instead of Security).
  • In Update 173, ZEAL Cloakers were disabled "due to an issue".
    • In a now-deleted Steam discussion, the lead game designer claimed they caused unfixable crashes.
      • This was especially perplexing considering they're only a cosmetic change, and function identically to regular Cloakers, which took their place.
      • Modders quickly disproved this by reenabling them with no issues.
      • Update 183 reintroduced them, seemingly fixing these crashes through a slight recolour.
  • The Taser had a gray ZEAL variant that was never used.
    • The model was used with the regular Taser's colours in Update 183.
  • ZEAL has the least amount of common unit variants: only a Light Submachine Gunner and a Heavy Rifleman.
  • Upon the introduction of the ZEAL team in Update 109.1, there was only a gray Reinfeld-wielding Dozer variant.
    • It's been speculated that there would originally have been only LMG-wielding Zealdozers to increase the difficulty. This is further reinforced by the gray ZEAL Dozer being internally identified as zeal_bulldozer, while the green and black ones are zeal_bulldozer_2 and zeal_bulldozer_3, respectively.
    • They were quickly patched to use the rest of the Dozers' weaponry, despite not having textures for the green and black variants.
  • Despite implying they'll take over the Payday case, they are seen cooperating with the FBI.
  • Green and black Zeal Dozers' armour pieces, when broken, drop the LMG variant's gray armour pieces.
    • This was never fixed, but Update 220 made all their breakable armour black, making the bug imperceptible.
  • Zeal Minigun Dozers' armour pieces, when broken, use the regular Minigun Dozers' normal maps.

Alternate Factions

On heists taking place out of the American government's reach, enemies will get a fresh coat of paint to denote their affiliation. Their armament will usually mirror regular enemies'.

Their internal names are vanilla units' with an affix.

Appearing only on the Boiling Point heist, Akan sends his own private mercenaries, complete with equivalents for every unit, except heavy Gensec units, ZEAL, and the Minigun and Medic Dozers, the last two of which will nonetheless spawn with their regular American looks.

Compact-5s are replaced with the Krinkov, CAR-4s and JP36s with the AK, Gewehr 3s with the Grom, the Cloaker's Compact-5 with the Valkyria, KSPs with the RPK, and CMPs with the Heather. The rifle change, in particular, has the unintended side effect of dealing far less damage than what is usual for Death Sentence. Medics and Medic Dozers still use their usual weapons.

Their internal affix is akan.

Appearing only on the Cursed Kill Room heist, they are zombified versions of the regular SWAT and FBI units. They all use their pre-Update 183 uniforms, presumably because they were wearing them when they died.

Their internal affix is hvh.

Murkywater replaces the police on the Beneath the Mountain, Henry's Rock, Hell's Island, White House, and Border Crossing and Crystals heists. They are all fitted with Murkywater's classic military camo.

They usually appear alongside the classic Murky guards, and the heavy unit even looks identical to them. The main assault force will not use Eagle Heavy rifles or Jackals, however. Also unlike the classic guards, Murkywater Heavies use tan armour (on Very Hard and above), and are the only heavy units to be protected from the back as well.

Murky shields will use a CMP on all difficulties.

Their internal affix is murkywater.

Seen in San Martín Bank, Breakfast in Tijuana, and Buluc's Mansion, the Policía Federal (Federal Police in English) is the Mexican National Police force. They are deployed when the typical metropolitan police cannot detain the threat. They appear to have taken inspiration from the Americans and their policing techniques and have their own combat Medics, Tasers, Bulldozers, Cloakers, Snipers, Shields as well as Turret Mounted Vans.

Their uniforms are a mix of those worn by other factions and don't have unique variants for every enemy tier. The common units, Cloaker, and Medic are FBI, ZEAL, and Murkywater re-colours respectively. Green and Black Dozers are slightly tweaked Russian Dozers.

Their internal affix is policia_federale.

  • Murkywater and Policía Federal have no Death Sentence-specific variants, and instead spawn their SWAT-tier units with increased damage.
    • Before Update 201, only FBI/Gensec-tier Policía Federal heavies spawned on the Death Sentence difficulty, while only light units used the CAR-4 with its usual 225 damage.
  • The model used for the Russian and Mexican Bulldozers' helmet appears to be a modified version of the Vlad Armor mask (similar to the Murkywater PMC's helmet being a modified version of the Alpha Force mask) with its only difference being it appearing all black and the addition of Bulldozer faceplates.
  • The color scheme of the Russian units is black and red, which makes them very easy to see against the white and light grey color scheme of the map, and thanks to the bright red, they are also easy to see in the dark portion of the underground lab. Because of these reasons, the colors are a horrible choice for the area they appear in, and the use of a camouflage pattern is essentially useless because they would stand out either way.
  • Strangely, even though Russian units are never seen in a stealth setting, stealth lines for the Russian units such as spotting a heister, calling the police, or spotting a dead body, bodybag, or lootbag were recorded and can be heard either by the extraction of the game files or by using a mod that puts Russian units into heists other than Boiling Point. When done, it does not replace the Murkywater guards or the normal DC security guards but does have Russian voicelines for said units.
  • Recon Units were disabled nearly a full year before Cursed Kill Room released, but still received a zombie version.
  • Since the zombies appear only on Cursed Kill Room and not the other event heists, it can be presumed that the US government has jurisdiction over your nightmares.
  • There are no Gensec or ZEAL zombies, presumably because Garrett doesn't have direct authority over them to sell their souls.
  • Probably due to ZEAL Dozers' misnumbering, when the Murkywater Dozers were introduced in Update 190, the green variant was identified as murkywater_bulldozer_2 and had gray armour, the black variant was murkywater_bulldozer_3 and had green armour, and the gray variant was murkywater_bulldozer_4 and had black armour.
    • Their armours were finally fixed in Update 240, nearly 5 years later.
  • Before Update 195, regular law enforcement would assault Black Ridge and Henry's Rock, with Locke even commenting on the latter that Garrett must be working very closely with Murkywater.
    • The FBI files also made reference to this, and currently say they were "clerical errors due to miscommunication between departments".
  • The Policía Federal is based on the Mexican Police force of the same name, which was officially dissolved into the National Guard in October 2019.
    • Because of this, the enemies fought in the game might be based on the Policía Federal Ministerial (Federal Ministerial Police in English).
      • The Policía Federal Ministerial in actuality, acts more like the FBI in real life, that being more investigation than actual armed conflict, but similarly to how the FBI in the PAYDAY universe as an armed force, the PFM may also have their hand in directly tackling crime.
  • Murkies and Federales use the JP36 with Gensec camouflage despite not being affiliated with them.
    • They will also use them on the Overkill difficulty instead of the CAR-4.

Unique Opponents

"The Commissar"

Description
Enemy Type Russian Mob Boss
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 500 (Normal)
1,000 (Hard)
3,000 (Very Hard)
6,000 (Overkill)
9,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
2 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
2 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name mobster_boss
v·d·e
See also: Minor characters (Payday 2)#The Commissar
"The Commissar is an inconvenience, which can no longer be tolerated. His time has come."
—The Dentist briefing the crew on the Commissar.

The Commissar is the boss of his own Russian Mafia family, operating in the DC area. He can be considered the first true non-police enemy special unit due to his stats, but cannot be marked with the shout command like regular specials.

The Commissar is armed with a KSP light machine gun (which is capable of easily shredding heisters at close range) and at least one smoke grenade, which he immediately tosses out once his panic room vault is breached. He is incredibly durable, but wears no armor and can be easily taken down with concentrated gunfire. The Commissar is not resistant to knockback or knockdown effects, it is possible to perpetually stun-lock him, by dealing high damage (causing him to flinch), using high knockback weapons or explosives, in order to prevent him from using his KSP.

Additionally, because criminal and police AIs were programmed to engage each other with the Hotline Miami update; it is also possible to whittle down or kill The Commissar by retreating and having the police fight him. This is not entirely reliable because of his high health and powerful damage output, as he will gun down regular law enforcers quickly unless confronted by multiple Shields or Bulldozers, both of which are capable of shrugging off The Commissar's attacks.

Another easy way to kill him is with the HRL-7. One shot is all it takes to kill him regardless of difficulty.

"The Informant"

Description
Enemy Type FBI Informant
Cartel Boss
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 500 (Normal)
1,000 (Hard)
3,000 (Very Hard)
6,000 (Overkill)
9,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 1 (Normal)
1 (Hard)
1 (Very Hard)
1 (Overkill)
1 (Mayhem)
1 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name hector_boss
v·d·e
"The Informant" (Armorless)

Description
Enemy Type FBI Informant
Cartel Boss
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
80 (Very Hard)
80 (Overkill)
80 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 1 (Normal)
1 (Hard)
1 (Very Hard)
1 (Overkill)
1 (Mayhem)
1 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name hector_boss_no_armor
v·d·e
Main article: Hector
"Hector is the one who is working with the Fed!? That son of a bitch thought he could play us for fools. In the end, he is the one who crushed, that dirty Colombian Rat."
—Bain's reaction after recognizing the Rat.

Encountered at the end of Hoxton Revenge, the informant is responsible for getting Hoxton caught during the time between PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, having worked with the FBI to gain protection and immunity. After the crew discovers his identity, they will need to breach the vault he is residing in and take him down.

The informant as an enemy is very much similar to The Commissar, in that he has a high amount of health and wears heavy armor (an Improved Combined Tactical Vest) with a riot gear helmet. He is armed with an IZHMA 12G, which he will wield against the crew as he sees them. Just like The Commissar, he is not resistant to knockback or knockdown effects, thus it is possible to perpetually stun-lock him, by repeatedly dealing high damage (causing him to flinch), using high knockback weapons or explosives. One shot from the HRL-7 is enough to kill him on any difficulty. The informant will not be wearing armor if the panic room is breached stealthily and instead of an IZHMA 12G he is armed with a Chimano 88 handgun.

Also unlike The Commissar, he is allied with the police, so law enforcers at the scene will not attack him.

Biker Gang Boss

Description
Enemy Type OVERKILL MC Leader
Statistics
Health 1,000 (Normal)
1,000 (Hard)
3,000 (Very Hard)
18,000 (Overkill)
30,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
2 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
2 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name biker_boss
v·d·e
"Simple. We kill them all."
—The Biker Boss when asked what to do when the clowns breach the train car she's defending.

The Biker Boss is a presumably high-ranking member of the OVERKILL MC and a unique masked enemy appearing on Day 2 of The Biker Heist. She wields a KSP and holds a keycard, which is used to unlock the cage behind her, allowing access to the BCI helmet compartment along with plenty of loot.

Similar to the Commissar, the Biker Boss AI belongs to the same faction as her subordinate bikers, so the law enforcement units on the site will engage her as well as the heisters. While she is decently well-armed and armored, the cramped spaces of the train car she is situated in effectively forms a chokepoint around her, allowing attackers to gradually funnel in and wear her down. She also does not make use of the many cover pieces in the arena and thus makes for a juicy target.

Chavez

Description
Enemy Type Local Gang Leader
Statistics
Health 1,000 (Normal)
1,000 (Hard)
3,000 (Very Hard)
6,000 (Overkill)
9,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
2 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
2 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name chavez_boss
v·d·e

Chavez reappears in the Panic Room remake, holding the keys to the panic room. Unlike in the original heist, where he would be defenseless and could even be taken hostage, he fights the heisters with his henchmen, wielding dual Chimano 88 pistols and wearing a Ballistic Vest.

Ernesto Sosa

Description
Enemy Type Sosa Cartel Boss
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 3,500 (Normal)
3,500 (Hard)
7,000 (Very Hard)
10,500 (Overkill)
21,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name drug_lord_boss
v·d·e
Ernesto Sosa (Stealth)
Description
Enemy Type Sosa Cartel Boss
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 500 (Normal)
500 (Hard)
1,000 (Very Hard)
1,500 (Overkill)
3,000 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
2 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
2 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name drug_lord_boss_stealth
v·d·e

Ernesto Sosa is the nephew of Alejandro Sosa and the assassination target of the Scarface Mansion heist. According to the FBI's top brass, Ernesto is one of the chief leading figures of the Sosa cartel in Miami, whom The Butcher also wants dead due to him sinking one of her freight ships and murdering her men.

Ernesto is located in his office that was repurposed from Tony's old one, and the room itself is situated in a fortified wing of the building that the heisters need to breach before they can take him down. Ernesto uses a Bronco .44 if he is alerted after his office is opened in stealth, and the Little Friend 7.62 if he is reached in loud.

Yufu Wang

Description
Enemy Type Golden Dagger Leader
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 5,400 (Normal)
5,400 (Hard)
10,800 (Very Hard)
16,200 (Overkill)
32,400 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 1 (Normal)
1 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
3 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
1.5 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name triad_boss
v·d·e
Yufu Wang (Stealth)
Description
Enemy Type Golden Dagger Leader
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
2 (Very Hard)
2 (Overkill)
2 (Mayhem)
2 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name triad_boss_no_armor
v·d·e

Yufu Wang is the leader of the Golden Dagger Triads and the assassination target of the Mountain Master heist. Concerned with Wang's failure to handle the Payday Gang, the other heads of the Golden Dagger hire the Payday Gang to kill Wang.

Wang is located in his penthouse, and flees to the roof to armor up and fight the Payday Gang. Wang uses a Flamethrower if the heist goes loud before his meeting room is opened in stealth.

Wang has additional modifiers:

  • He takes 50% less damage from explosives.
  • Headshots do no extra damage.
  • He is 100% immune to ECM feedback.
  • He is 100% immune to being on fire, poisoned, knocked down, concussed, or tased.
    • He will however still take 1 tick of poison damage.
  • He is 100% invulnerable to bullets from behind.

Gabriel Santiago

Description
Enemy Type SERA’s Head of Security
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 0 (Normal)
0 (Hard)
0 (Very Hard)
0 (Overkill)
0 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 0 (Normal)
0 (Hard)
0 (Very Hard)
0 (Overkill)
0 (Mayhem)
0 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name TBA
v·d·e
Gabriel Santiago (Stealth)
Description
Enemy Type SERA’s Head of Security
Assassination Target
Statistics
Health 0 (Normal)
0 (Hard)
0 (Very Hard)
0 (Overkill)
0 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 0 (Normal)
0 (Hard)
0 (Very Hard)
0 (Overkill)
0 (Mayhem)
0 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name TBA
v·d·e

Gabriel Santiago is the chief of security at SERA and brother of Esteban Santiago. With Rainey placing Gabriel in charge of protecting SERA’s last bit of funds and keeping their last rig secure, Gabriel is the final roadblock in Blaine Keegan’s plan to wipe out SERA.

Gabriel is located in the drilling tower of the rig. Once the heist goes loud, he’ll gear up. He arms himself with a KSP light machine gun and dons a prototype Murkwater suit of armor. The only way to deal damage to him is to lure him into oil pits and set the oil and him ablaze.

Gangs

Main article: Gangs & Mafias

Gangster

Description
Enemy Type Gangster
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name gangster
biker
bolivians
v·d·e

They are found on select heists. Although weak health-wise, they often pack rapid-firing or high damage weapons, thus allowing them to inflict a large amount of damage quickly. Like in the previous game, gangsters cannot be forced into submission and have to be killed.

There are currently five different factions of gangs. While they differ in appearance, they behave and function the same. As of Update #37, gangsters and police officers will now engage one another if they should ever cross paths during a heist.

Despite playing the roles of guards in certain heists, all gangsters lack pagers. However, do not make the mistake of thinking this makes heists with gangsters present easy to stealth - when spotted by one, the player has an extremely small time window to silence them, as they will open fire almost immediately, unlike most other guard-type enemies.

These factions are:

  • OVERKILL MC: A biker gang established in 2008 or 2009, appearing in Big Oil Day 1, both days of The Biker Heist and the U.S. side of Border Crossing, wielding Chimano 88 pistols and Reinfeld 880 shotguns. A gang very similar in appearance to the OVERKILL MC appears in the Santa's Workshop heist, wielding identical weaponry.
  • The Cobras: An African-American street gang who wear red clothing. They appear on Day 2 of Rats and have a chance of appearing on Day 1 of Big Oil making a drug deal with the Overkill MC. They also appear on Undercover as disguised law enforcers. They only use the Mark 10.
  • The Mendoza Cartel: A (presumably) Colombian gang who wear civilian style clothing. They appear on Day 1 and Day 3 of Rats and Day 1 of Firestarter. They use the Mark 10. Dead ones also appears on Watchdogs day 2, near the loot truck, presumably the driver who has been killed by nearby law enforcers. They also appear in Cook Off, and a similar gang named the "Honduran Cartel" appear in both days of Goat Simulator.
  • Dmitri's Russian Mafia: Russian mobsters loyal to Dmitri. From their mixed accents, Dimitri's gang appears to be a mix of American and Slavic members. They act as bouncers for the Tasteful Club during the Nightclub heist and are dressed in black leather jackets with dark blue pants, which makes them easy to mistake for civilians while in a crowd from a distance as their clothes' dark profile makes them hard to single out in the club's low lighting. They use the Mark 10. Their voice-overs are generally identical to GenSec guards and they will attempt to call the police if they become alerted. They also appear during the tutorial heist Get the Coke's first day.
  • Chavez's Gang: A gang of indeterminate origin whose members are loyal to Chavez. They only appear in Panic Room and their members almost all look like either Dmitri's bouncers, Cobras, or Mendozas due to asset re-use by Overkill. They also use the Mark 10, but Chavez himself and the gangster that the crew make a drug deal with use the Chimano 88 (Chavez uses Akimbo Chimano 88s.)
  • The Sosa Cartel: A Bolivian cartel run by Ernesto Sosa in the Caribbean, renamed from the Bolivian Cartel when Alejandro was running it. They only appear in the Scarface Mansion heist, patrolling the mansion's interior and exterior in search of intruders. The faction is marked for death by The Butcher after she'd learned they executed a number of her crew and stolen her merchandise, since they couldn't compete with her. The gang utilizes Chimano 88s, while some of the indoor guards (who are equipped with pagers) carry Reinfeld 880s and AK-47s.
  • The Coyopa Cartel: A Mexican cartel who worked with Murkywater in smuggling goods onto Hell's Island. They are guarding the Murkywater compound in Mexico and the building is the target of the Border Crossing Heist, and are centered with their boss being Buluc, which appears in the Buluc's Mansion heist as of 2020.
Russian Mobster

Description
Enemy Type Gangster
Statistics
Health 80 (Normal)
80 (Hard)
160 (Very Hard)
240 (Overkill)
480 (Mayhem/Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Headshot Multiplier 2 (Normal)
2 (Hard)
4 (Very Hard)
6 (Overkill)
4 (Mayhem)
3 (Death Wish/Death Sentence)
Other
Internal name mobster
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  • Commissar's Russian Mafia: Russian mobsters loyal to the Commissar in Hotline Miami, they carry AK.762s, Reinfeld 880 shotguns, Mark 10s, Bronco .44s, and a variety of melee weapons. Unlike Dimitri's mobsters; the Commissar's mobsters are easily identified by their flashy, all-white suits that makes them heavily stand out in both days they are featured in. They can also make jumps into the motel room and board up instantly.
  • Vlad's Hired Hands: The appear on Aftershock, protecting Vlad's transport trucks. They are friendly to players and use the Mark 10. One of these appears as a hostile enemy in the first day of the tutorial heist Get the Coke, and they appear as hostile enemies on Brooklyn 10-10 , though this is probably not canonical and just an asset re-use by Overkill.

  1. Mark 10
The Mark 10s used by the gangsters have integrated tactical light mounted near the trigger guard. These tactical lights are visually and locationally different to the Assault Light, which is mounted to the right side of the weapon.

  • Since the AI behavior was improved following the Hotline Miami DLC's release, law enforcers on the scene will engage in a shootout with Dimitri's mobsters despite them calling for police help in the first place. Law enforcers on Day 3 of Rats would also turn on and shoot at any gangsters who left the bus, contradicting their original intentions to escort them to the airport safely. Likewise, the gangsters would shoot at law enforcers from the bus. This was resolved in Patch #67.

Special Enemies

Main article: Category:Special enemies (Payday 2)

General Trivia

  • For gameplay reasons, the observed behavior of in-game law enforcers have to deviate heavily from common sense and training:
    • The police forces will assault relentlessly rather than maintaining a secure perimeter and attempting to negotiate.
      • Players can almost always escape regardless of whether an assault is going on or not. This does not happen in real life as possible escape routes are always prioritized, located and blockaded to prevent criminals from leaving (and entering) the crime scene.
        • As observed in the Counterfeit remake, three shields may appear and guard one of the sewer entrances that players must use to escape. Oddly, if they are killed long before escaping, no additional enemies will appear to replace them (though to make up for this, Bulldozers and Cloakers will jump down within the sewers to stop players.)
      • The law enforcement in PAYDAY 2 almost never consider disabling the crew's escape vehicles when given the first chance, even after it is observed the crew throws stolen/illegal valuables in it. Some exceptions include Watchdogs in which the escape driver can be killed and Cloakers tend to hide around the escape van in order to ambush heisters.
        • Spike strips could have been used to stop car chases in the game, instead of shooting the crew's escape driver. While the police may use them in Hoxton Breakout Day 1, they leave them unguarded and it only poses as a minor deterrence for the armored vehicle. Otherwise, a law enforcer would attempt to arrest the driver of a parked escape vehicle or shoot the tires.
        • Also, while the law enforcement do deploy police barricades, as seen in Meltdown and Goat Simulator, they do it rather poorly as there is always a route players can take to bypass them. As such, the police force would rather reinforce an assault instead of effectively ensuring heisters cannot escape with ease.
    • Police officers will seemingly shoot to kill (although with players going into custody when they "die", this is not necessarily true.)
      • Officers in real life are supposed to give suspect(s) a chance to surrender and/or disarm, if the suspect refuses, the officers will shoot to incapacitate; they will open fire, however, as soon as a gun is pointed at them, or the suspect refuses to disarm after a given amount of time, regardless of shooting it or not. This can be witnessed closely after detection where law enforcers will try to negotiate and take the heister down without a shot by moving up and arresting them, and only react once fired at or moving away.
        • Though on some heists like Rats/Cook Off, a police officer can be heard/seen demanding the immediate surrender of the crew and issues a final warning via loudspeaker. Even then, this would jeopardize the lives of potential hostages.
      • In Day 2 of The Biker Heist, various law enforcement can be seen executing surrendering bikers, possibly in an attempt to keep the classified BCI helmet secret. On higher difficulties, Cloakers can attack bikers while they are still fighting (Though you have to be at least 1 minute and 20 seconds into the heist while it already is a quick heist)
      • Metropolitan police officers will not use tasers, and there are instead specialized units that taze. In real life, a police officer would most likely taze the heister before applying handcuffs.
    • Player-activated surrender aside, all enemies will fight to the death if a heister is within range, without regards to their own safety or survival.
    • The number of law enforcements encountered in a heist is technically unlimited. In reality, the emergency responding units (SWAT, FBI, ESU, etc...) are very limited in number, with on-site personnel numbering in the dozens a rarity.
      • The FBI descriptions for the Blue SWAT mentions that they employ a shock-and-awe doctrine to quickly bring down criminals, which Commissioner Garrett seems to despise. Ironically, even the FBI employs the doctrine as evidenced by their overwhelming numbers on Very Hard and Overkill difficulty, ever so more ridiculous with the doctrine even used by GenSec and the Department of Homeland Surveillance, with the former being composed of ex-special forces and the latter an elite black ops force.
    • EOD units are not sanctioned to deploy during non-specific situations (although the Bulldozer is designed for direct combat in mind, rather than bomb disposal.)
    • While real life SWAT teams do make limited use of ballistic shields, they are typically only deployed when the situation would call for them, such as during breaches of buildings, rooms or other cramped environments where the shields act as area denial devices; they are also treated as part of a squad with regular operators mixed in, instead of being an individual special unit. This is completely unlike PAYDAY 2, where shields arrive and act on their own accord and can be deployed in areas where they would be of little effect (e.g, a forest or other wide open areas where the crew can outmaneuver them.)
      • In the Death Wish update trailer, one Shield officer was seen leading and protecting a small line of law enforcement officers. In-game however, Shields tend to rush at heisters recklessly even when alone.
  • For gameplay reasons, law enforcement units, especially SWAT teams, all respond alarmingly quickly to any and all emergencies, and are able to show up on the spot within mere minutes of an alarm springing and in massive numbers without any realistically clear explanation of how they managed to do so. In certain cases, their rapid response is made even more baffling as they can appear quickly out of very hard-to-reach and/or obscure locations such as upper floors or roofs of highrises (Framing Frame Day 3) and isolated areas away from civilization (Big Oil Day 2), where significant time and effort must be spent to access. In reality, emergency responders will have to be notified beforehand of the situation(s) happening for them to react that quickly.
  • Law enforcers are also completely oblivious to the safety of civilians in general, seemingly prioritizing to bring down the crew than anything else. They will continue to shoot at heisters leading hostages with reckless abandon and would not relent assaulting the crew, even if civilians are caught in their crossfire and would obviously lead to their deaths. They also will not cover the escape of hostages, and will instead leave them to their own devices to escape, nor properly restrain hostages to confirm they are civilians and to ensure they do not run from the scene (and help criminals like in Bobblehead Bob's case) until the situation is secure. Another prime example is the Taser in which electrocuting a heister, who will very often continuously fire without control, is extremely hazardous.
    • In reality, this is the complete opposite on how a police force would handle a hostage situation, as police forces would prioritize the safe extraction of all hostages first. Getting any of them killed due to their own actions would merit severe consequences for them.
    • Also, in Aftershock, they ignore the homeless civilians instead of evacuating them (unless they are tied down.)
    • Another case is The Alesso Heist in which upon going loud, the concert is not evacuated nor placed under lock-down. In fact, the concert continues to perform normally with the crowd being oblivious to armed robbers being present in the location.
    • On the Green Bridge heist and its remake, law enforcers will even free intimidated or tied down prisoners and allow them to escape the scene unattended despite them being incarcinated offenders.
  • With the advent of the AI behavior update, law enforcers can now kill civilians by accident if their shots stray. Aside from the lack of realism, this can lead to a surreal situation as the players, playing as crooks, are trying to keep the hostages alive, while the police do not appear to care for their safety.
    • In real life, most police officers would perhaps face heavy consequences, possibly even career-ending, for injuring civilians, let alone killing them.
    • Converted officers and guards will be shot and killed by their (former) comrades without hesitation or notice. In reality, the termination of compromised personnel must be authorized by a commanding officer before it is to be carried out, or the person responsible for it may be court-martialled for insubordination and murder of their colleague.
  • Before Update 240, enemies electrocuted, shot non-lethally in the head, or struck by an explosion, could have their hat (if wearing one) or helmet fly off. Being caught in an explosion was more likely to produce this result, as depending on the type of weapon used to headshot the law enforcer and the kind of enforcer himself, his headwear may remain even after he is killed.
  • With improved AI, the police force will target loot bags and try to take them away from heisters. However, instead of securing them to ensure criminals will not be able to retrieve them, they simply move the bags to a specific location on the map and may not even bother to defend them.
    • Ironically, they may even take them closer to the escape/loot drop-off point for heisters.
    • This is not the case during the Safe House Raid, where law enforcers can now take the money bags out of the map and prevent players from retrieving them.
    • Also on infinite loot heists like Cook Off, White Xmas, and Counterfeit law enforcers can take loot off the map, destroying it. This is not the case for Santa's Workshop however.

References

  1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT#Organization
  2. ↑ http://gensec.biz/corporate-security-systems/
  3. ↑ http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=FTSU
  4. ↑ https://victorpetersson.artstation.com/projects/OJLO8

Video

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PAYDAY 2
Gameplay • Heists • Skills & Perk Decks • Weapons & Equipment • DLC

Characters
Heisters Bodhi • Chains • Dallas • Duke • Houston • Jimmy • Joy • Sangres • Wolf • Clover • Dragan • Ethan • Hila • Jiro • Rust • Scarface • Sokol • Sydney • Bonnie • Hoxton • John Wick • Jacket
Contractor Bain • Hector • The Elephant • Vlad • Locke • The Butcher • The Continental • The Dentist • Jiu Feng • Shayu • Gemma McShay • Blaine Keegan
Others Aldstone • Bile • Gage • Solomon Garrett • Minor characters
Enemies
Regular Security & First Responders • SWAT • FBI • Gensec • ZEAL • Alternate Factions • Unique Opponents • Gangs
Special Bulldozer • Captain Winters • Cloaker • Medic • Shield • Sniper • SWAT Van Turret • Taser • U.S. Marshal Sharpshooter • U.S. Marshal Shield
Other Hostage Rescue Team

Mechanics
Gamemodes Career Mode • Crime Spree • Holdout • Mutators • Pro Job • Risk Level • Stealth
Leveling Experience • Infamy
Heists Assets • Doors • Environmental hazards • Keycard • Pre-Planning • Safes • Vehicles
Combat Assault Waves • Civilians • Crew AI • Fire • Poison • Police Custody • Shout
Rewards Achievements • Continental coins • Loot • Packages • Payday • Side Jobs • Trophies

In-game Graphic options • Hints • Mask Customization • Safe House • Skin Safes
Lore Companies (GenSec • Murkywater) • FBI (FBI Files) • Gangs & Mafias • The Guide of Bain • Timeline
Meta Community Events • Developers (Dennaton Games • Lion Game Lion • Overkill Software) • Mods & Tools • Secret ARG • Steam Trading Cards • Update history (Console • Pre-Update #100)

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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