Keycards are mission equipment available in PAYDAY 2. Generally distributed by GenSec, keycards can assist the player by disabling security mechanisms and opening security doors.
Keycards can be picked up and used by any player. Most of the cards are obtained within the missions normally, however some require specific assets or Pre-Planning purchases to obtain. A player can only have one keycard on them at a time, and each keycard can only be used once.
The aced version of the Chameleon skill allows players to pick up keycards while in casing mode. Without it, players will have to mask up and leave casing mode to pick up a keycard.
Appearances[]
Bank Heist[]
Each Bank Heist, regardless of variant, will have one keycard. This card will either be located on the bank manager's desk inside his office, or the manager may be carrying it himself. If the manager is carrying the card, he must either be tied down or killed in order to obtain it. The keycard can then be used to open the security room inside the bank, containing the camera monitors and one security guard.
A player with Sixth Sense aced may purchase an additional keycard during pre-planning. This card can be placed in the hallway behind the tellers or in the office area near the back.
- Note: For the variant of Bank Heist which takes place on Day 3 of Firestarter, see below.
Big Oil day 2[]
On the first day, one of the possible assets located in the clubhouse is a keycard. The card can then be used on the second day to open one of three security doors, one of which will house the computer required to progress in the heist. There is no other way to acquire this card aside from finding it on the first day.
In Crime Spree, the keycard will never appear as day 1 had not been played through.
Firestarter[]
Day 2[]
There may or may not be one keycard at the players' disposal. There is a chance a small safe will spawn inside the locked office located on the second floor, this safe will house the keycard. The card can then be used to open a secondary door inside the server room, behind which is the server itself.
Day 3[]
This is a variant of Bank Heist, and similarly will always have one keycard, either on the bank manager's desk or carried on his person at all times. However, there are two security doors, the second being into a service room on the roof which must be accessed in order to set up the drill on the vault. Like Bank Heist, a player with Sixth Sense aced may purchase an additional keycard during pre-planning, making this a non-issue. However, if the crew does not have any players with this skill, and the difficulty is set to Mayhem or higher, the players will have to open the second door with either a drill, a saw, or an ECM Jammer (with ECM Overdrive aced).
Framing Frame[]
Day 1/Art Gallery[]
A player with Sixth Sense aced may purchase the keycard during pre-planning. This will spawn a keycard inside a stall in the restroom, which can be used to open the security room containing the camera monitors and a security guard.
Day 3[]
Two keycards are located in random locations inside the flat. They can be used to open up to two of the three security doors inside the apartment. Behind one of the doors will be a computer, used to let Bain acquire incriminating evidence against the Senator in the event of the alarm going off and Plan B activating.
Opening the doors in stealth opens up a hiding spot to avoid guard patrols and/or to hide and coke/gold bags, or can be useful in case stealth is broken.
Nightclub[]
This heist has two keycards to obtain. The cards will be held by either one of the Russian mobsters guarding the club's backrooms; held by Dimitri, who can idle in several random areas; or may spawn loose in the map, such as on the beer kegs by the DJ or in the open cubicle in the men's restroom (if he is in his office he will not drop a keycard). He must be tied up or killed to obtain his keycard, while mobsters have to be neutralized. The card can then be used to open one of two or three (depending on the difficulty) security doors, behind which are the safes needed to complete the heist.
Diamond Store[]
One keycard is available. It is used to disable the alarmed glass display cases, allowing the display cases to be shattered without sounding the alarm. The card will always be held by the store manager. She must either be killed or cable tied in order to obtain it. The card can then be used with a keypad located either under the stairs, in either one of the offices upstairs, or inside the security room.
Transport: Train Heist[]
2 keycards are held by the 4 civilians, all carried by civilians. On OVERKILL and above, one of the keycard holding civilians will be replaced with a orange jumpsuit yellow hard hat civilian, who will never drop a keycard, reducing the number of keycards on OVERKILL and above to one. The keycards can be used to open any of the train doors in order to progress through the heist.
GO Bank[]
Two keycards can be found in this heist, and both need to be found to complete the heist in stealth. Places for the keycards to spawn are inside car trunks around the building, lying on the counter of the bank, or being carried by the Bank Manager or Tellers. He must be killed or cable-tied to acquire the keycard. After finding both the keycards can then be used to access the vault.
These keycards have no use if the heist goes loud.
Election Day[]
Day 1[]
A keycard asset can be purchased, which allows access to a security room that may contain the computer. In stealth, this computer can be hacked to learn the identity of the correct truck. If the heist goes loud, this computer must be hacked in order to track the truck to its final destination.
Day 2 (Plan A/B)[]
If the correct truck is tagged and the players proceed to the warehouse, three keycards will spawn in various locations around the map, and an additional keycard will be placed at spawn if the keycard asset is purchased.
Shadow Raid[]
Several keycards are available to the player. The camera operator always carries a keycard. Additional keycards are carried by a randomly patrolling mercenary, as well as the worker in the orange suit with the yellow hard hat, and on lower difficulties, one keycard will sometimes spawn in the kitchen beside the locker room. These keycards are required in order to open the vault (requiring both to be entered within 10 seconds of each other), but can also be used to open several storage cages in the small goods areas. Generally, it's not advised to open the cages due to the limited amount of keycards and the high price of the armor inside the vault unless there are multiple keycards lying around.
Big Bank[]
Up to three keycards are available to the player in this heist. One can be purchased by a player with Sixth Sense aced in pre-planning, and one is hidden in a random location somewhere in the first half of the bank. Possible spawn locations include the canteen, management corridor, and either of the two work areas. The final keycard will be hidden either on the bank manager, who is a balding male or in his safe, which is hidden behind a painting in his office in the management corridor. This safe can be exposed by shooting or meleeing the painting hanging on his wall.
In addition to opening the two security doors (the server room in the first half of the bank, the camera room in the second), the keycards can also be used to disable the lasers separating the main lobby of the bank from the vault area.
Hoxton Breakout[]
Four keycards will spawn during the second day of this heist. Spawn locations include almost every desk on the map, as well as the printers and central consoles in the main room. Keycards can be used in many instances during this heist; to lock off doors to the server room, to access the upper levels or alternatively to replace drilling on all doors. They can also be used to open the medical room (for three uses of a doctor bag) or the armory (for a large stockpile of ammo and throwables).
The Diamond[]
The crew needs to tie down or kill the civilian researchers that wander the museum to activate and get past the timelock gates that block off the north hall and the chamber of The Diamond in stealth.
In loud, the keycards become useless due to the alarm going off, so the crew forces the timelocks with hacking devices to force the timelocks instead.
The Bomb: Dockyard[]
Two keycards must be found in the dockyard to open the gate to the dock holding the Moretta (the ship containing the bomb). The keycards are always spawned on any desk with a computer and on the locker room benches. On lower difficulties, a keycard may spawn in the camera room if there is no guard inside. On higher difficulties both camera room will always have a camera operator, making the keycards never spawning in those locations.
A keycard must be inserted into the control panel of each of the two control rooms on either side of the dock.
These keycards are only used in the stealth run of the heist. They are not mission-essential in the loud run.
Car Shop[]
The manager, a balding man with a black suit, will drop a keycard upon being tied or killed required to enter his office.
If attempting to speedrun, and playing on lower difficulties, the windows to his office can be smashed instead, making his keycard useless. Beware that after smashing any glass, the point of no return will start to tick down, making this only possible on lower difficulties.
Hoxton Revenge[]
One of the possible requirements to open the panic room is to insert two keycards. Keycards are scattered around the interior of the safehouse on top of furniture.
Keycards are only used in stealth. If the alarm had been sound before the panic room is opened, the room will have to drilled open with a thermal lance (essentially the same as a thermal drill).
Meltdown[]
Several keycards may spawn in this heist, their sole use a quicker opening of the security cages, which may contain additional loot or one of the crowbars required to complete the heist.
Golden Grin Casino[]
The keycard in this heist is obtained by neutralizing a certain casino guest, and is used for opening said casino guest's hotel room so the heisters can release sleeping gas into the vent connected to the security room.
Instead of the generic keycard with the GenSec logo, the Golden Grin Casino keycard possesses its own appearance; A purple card with the casino's logo.
First World Bank[]
A large, unique keycard appears in this heist. It is dropped by the bank manager, and is used for opening the server room, either to rewire an electricity box in stealth, or to pick up the thermal drill and thermite in loud.
There are also two normal keycards in the vault hallway, used for opening the vault in stealth. They serve no purpose in loud.
Slaughterhouse[]
A keycard or two may spawn in this heist, used for closing the shutter entrances, closing off an entrance for the law enforcers.
Beneath the Mountain[]
At the beginning of the heist, there will be a yellow keycard with the Murkywater logo inside one of the Murkywater crates, used for opening the airlock inside the mountain base for proceeding.
Birth of Sky[]
One keycard spawns within the diner. It can be used to open one of the two doors in the establishment that leads to a ladder for access to the roof, which may be required if a money pallet lands on the said roof.
Murky Station[]
Four keycards spawn in a keycard holder located either within the trainyard or in the basement. They may have to be used to open the interior of a train car that is secured by keycard locks.
Boiling Point[]
A yellow keycard, similar in appearance to the one in Beneath the Mountain, spawns inside the laboratory, used as a way for opening the server room.
The Russian text on the key, "ВОЙTИ", translates to "to come in".
Flash Drive[]
In day 2, the player is required to sneak past a series of security cameras to grab a keycard on a table, necessary for accessing the security room and discovering the location of the target laptop.
The Biker Heist day 2[]
A heavily armored female biker will carry the keycard needed to open the security gate at the end of the train in Day 2. She must be killed in order for her to drop the keycard.
Panic Room[]
While obviously not actually a keycard, the keychain dropped by Chavez functions identically to keycards, and is used to open the panic room area door.
Prison Nightmare[]
Surviving a wheel spin and the events triggered by the wheel will reward the players with a keycard. The first keycard will be used to enter the prison, while subsequent keycards earned are used to either steal loot from the NecroCloaker or escape.
Diamond Heist[]
The players need to tie down or kill Ralph Garnet to get his keycard, which is necessary for opening the vault. Oddly enough he carries the same keycard as the manager in the First World Bank.
Brooklyn Bank[]
A keycard appears in the bank and can be used to open one of the shutters that block the deposit boxes.
Breakin' Feds[]
A keycard may spawn in Garrett's safe instead of the objective Box, and needs to be used on a black door in the evidence room to get the loot.
Shacklethorne Auction[]
The auctioneer's keycard is required for accessing his office to obtain the code in stealth. If the alarm goes off and the auctioneer escapes the map, the door to his office is drilled instead.
The White House[]
Players will need the keycard from the hidden safe in the Oval Office to access the PEOC (Presidental Emergency Operations Center).
The keycard will be inside a safe behind one of the paintings in the oval office. The keycard is inside a safe behind one of the paintings and the method to opening the safe differs from loud and stealth. After obtaining the keycard, head to the library and take books off the shelves to find the hidden button to the airlock which will lead to the PEOC. Put the keycard in the keycard reader to access the PEOC.
In stealth, a specific email will have to be found on one of the four laptops in the West Wing which will tell the location of the USB stick with the code to the safe. The USB can be inside drawers, fireplaces or inside potted plants. After obtaining the USB, plug it into any of the computers to display a four digit code. Enter the four digit code manually to obtain the keycard.
In loud, you will need to drill the safe instead. The drill is different to the ones normally used and is plugged into a wall socket and will never jam on its own. Murkies can still turn off the power which will need to be manually turned back on and the drill will need to be restarted. After the safe is drilled open, the keycard can be grabbed.
The barcode reads "K474RU", leetspeak for "Kataru".
Border Crossing[]
Two keycards can be found in the U.S. side. One will be on the briefing room table and the other will be in one of the two detached sheds on either side.
If there is only one player, a second keycard will spawn on the second floor of the North warehouse in Mexico.
Two keycards are required to open the basement vault of the same building which contains the Roman armor. Putting in both keycards will initiate a 1 minute countdown, after which, wandering guards will be alerted by the open vault, similar to Shadow Raid's Samurai armor vault.
Keycards can also be used to open the security cages but it is highly inadvised to do this as the Roman armor is very high value.
The basement and subsequently the vault will only spawn if blueprints were found in the U.S. side.
The Spanish text on the key, "Entré", translates to "to enter".