Modifiers (Payday 3)

Unlike PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, which difficulties modified specific elements of a heist, PAYDAY 3 has specific modifiers that rotate and changes the heist depending on what modifiers are present in each heist.

Gameplay

Example of modifiers active on Touch The Sky (Overkill difficulty).

Modifiers in PAYDAY 3 are based on difficulties similar to PAYDAY 2's difficulty changes, where the higher the difficulty, the more changes are made to certain heists, such as how many guards are present in the map.

However, unlike PAYDAY 2, where difficulty-exclusive changes such as Titan Cameras replacing normal cameras (which means cameras can no longer be damaged) appear, in PAYDAY 3, modifiers randomly and drastically changes the playing field of a heist, be it making stealth more difficult by making cameras detect you outside of private or secure areas, or enabling cops the ability to penetrate armor.

Modifiers are only present on Very Hard and Overkill difficulties (one stealth and loud modifiers on Very Hard, two stealth and loud modifiers each on Overkill).

Types of Modifiers

Stealth

• Titan Cameras: All security cameras are indestructible.
• Lead Guard: A lead guard with endless radio spawns.
• AI Surveillance: An AI controls the cameras. There is no guards in the camera room.
• Threat Detection: Cameras now detect masked-off players in all areas and set off the alarm.
• Cerberus Core: Hack runtimes are reset after 5 seconds (require Hacker skills).

Loud

• Combat Duo: Two specials of each kind can now enter the level (e.g. two Bulldozers and two Naders will spawn every time instead of one).
• Federal Negotiator: At least one hostage needs to be traded to get out of custody.
• Crippling Tactics: Specials can remove all stacked buffs of Edge, Grit and Rush.
• Armor Piercing Rounds: 5% of enemy firearm damage is applied to your health.
• Alpha Team: Regular SWAT units is replaced with heavy SWAT.
• Tactical Flashlight: Shields come equipped with tactical lights that can blind heisters.

Note: Ever since a server maintenance that occurred around the release of the Houston Breakout DLC, the following modifiers are no longer in rotation:

• Federal Negotiator
• Armor Piercing Rounds
• Alpha Team
• AI Surveillance
• Threat Detection

Trivia

• There was a community survey asking players about their thoughts on the modifiers and what they liked and disliked about them. The results for the top 3 most liked and disliked modifiers according to PAYDAY 3 Blog Update #30 were:
  • Top 3 Most Liked
    1. Combat Duo (32.2%)
    2. Titan Cameras (24.3%)
    3. Threat Detection (10%)
  • Top 3 Most Disliked
    1. Threat Detection (24.7%)
    2. Armor Piercing Rounds (21.6%)
    3. Lead Guard (15.3%)
• Related to the survey above, the PAYDAY blog outlines the developers' surprise that Lead Guard were among the most disliked modifiers, in addition to Threat Detection having a mixed reputation.