Rats | |||||||||||||||||||
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Heist Info | |||||||||||||||||||
Contractor | Hector | ||||||||||||||||||
Contract Days | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
Loud / Stealth | ✔ / ✘ | ||||||||||||||||||
Escapes | Garage Escape Overpass Escape | ||||||||||||||||||
Loot | Meth Money | ||||||||||||||||||
Base experience (XP) (day 1) | 12,000 (escape with less than 3 bags cooked) 30,000 (escape; at least 3 bags cooked) +40,000 (escape; 7 bags cooked) | ||||||||||||||||||
Experience (day 2) | 4,000 (escape with intel burned) 6,000 (escape with intel acquired) +4,000 (stealing back and securing all meth that was brought) | ||||||||||||||||||
Experience (day 3) | 2,000 (completion) +14,000 (secure all money See: [1]) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Other | |||||||||||||||||||
Internal name | alex_must_die
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Achievement(s) | | ||||||||||||||||||
v·d·e |
- "We know the Mendozas are on the run. Seems they are making a last hit on us to retaliate. Our meth lab is under attack, save the meth and save the cooks. You know how to treat the enemy. Do so."
- —Hector contacting the crew for the mission.
Rats is a three-day heist in PAYDAY 2 that is contracted through Hector. The crew is instructed to cook meth, trade it to a rival gang for information on Hector's enemies – who are fleeing Washington, D.C. – and finally eliminate those enemies.
The heist has a moderately high experience reward, especially if all seven bags of meth are cooked. Prior to the release of alternative high-experience heists, like Hoxton Breakout, it was frequently rushed in order to quickly obtain experience. For more information on speedruns, see the high-speed walkthrough section.
The first day of this heist was made available on the 13th of March 2015 as a standalone single-day heist, featuring practically infinite meth-cooking.
Day 1 (Cook Off)[]
Objectives[]
- Locate rival gangs cooks.
- Cook and load 3 bags of meth into van.
- Escape.
Assets[]
Ammo Bag | |
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Price: | $6,000 (Normal) $9,000 (Hard) $12,000 (Very Hard) $18,000 (Overkill) $30,000 (Mayhem) $42,000 (Death Wish) $54,000 (Death Sentence) |
Doctor Bag | |
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Price: | $6,000 (Normal) $9,000 (Hard) $12,000 (Very Hard) $18,000 (Overkill) $30,000 (Mayhem) $42,000 (Death Wish) $54,000 (Death Sentence) |
Floodlights | |
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Price: | $6,000 (Normal) $9,000 (Hard) $12,000 (Very Hard) $18,000 (Overkill) $30,000 (Mayhem) $42,000 (Death Wish) $54,000 (Death Sentence) |
Vantage point | |
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Price: | $7,000 (Normal) $10,500 (Hard) $14,000 (Very Hard) $21,000 (Overkill) $35,000 (Mayhem) $49,000 (Death Wish) $63,000 (Death Sentence) |
Requires the Gage Sniper Pack DLC to unlock |
Grenade Case | |
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Price: | $3,000 (Normal) $4,500 (Hard) $6,000 (Very Hard) $9,000 (Overkill) $15,000 (Mayhem) $21,000 (Death Wish) $27,000 (Death Sentence) |
Requires the Gage Weapon Pack #01 DLC to unlock |
Day 1 Blueprint (Bain's Guide) | |
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Risk Levels | |
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Gage Courier Packages | |
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Walkthrough[]
Arguably the hardest day of the heist, the group starts outside a small derelict building that belongs to Hector and houses a meth lab. The crew is instructed to enter it and have the cooks produce the meth needed for a deal. Unfortunately, the Mendoza gang members are there already, and will execute the cooks as soon as the crew enters the building. This is completely unavoidable; no matter how fast you get into the house and kill the Mendozas, the cooks are scripted to die.
With the cooks dead and the police incoming, the group is forced to cook the meth themselves. With the assistance of Bain they gather the needed chemicals and set to work in cooking the needed bags of meth while fending off the assaulting police force. Bain feeds the group instructions on which chemicals to use. The chemicals are caustic soda, muriatic acid, and hydrogen chloride, which can be found in the basement of the house, the bathroom underneath the stairs, a pickup truck parked nearby, and/or the outdoor sheds, which can be opened with a lockpick or bullets.
If the crew uses the wrong chemical, the lab will explode, setting the room it is located in on fire. Anyone caught in the blast will lose some health and may be downed if you have less than 75% health while still next to it. On Mayhem or higher, if the lab explodes, all players will be downed regardless of how far away they are from the lab. Bain may get the ingredients wrong, however, he will eventually correct himself, if the crew wait for Bain to clarify the chemical choice.
Once the crew has cooked three bags, they can take them to the nearby extraction van and escape. Be very wary of Cloakers on higher difficulties, as a few can hide underneath the car and by the wall next to the road, ambushing any unsuspecting players making a run for the escape van. The crew can stay and cook up to seven bags of meth for additional cash and better results on Day 2.
Strategy[]
General advice[]
- Once the heist starts, hurry up and find a full set of ingredients.
- Check hard-to-reach locations first for ingredients; take from outside the house first (in order: the truck on the yard, the shed behind the house, the shed near to the road out the house, the basement and the bathroom in the first floor).
- Open the sheds even if you won't take ingredients from them immediately. Remember the doors can be shot open by shooting the door knob (four shots or one with a shotgun), or you can take ingredients through the wall.
- Run the bags to the car and get more ingredients in between assaults, though most would advise all members of the group getting enough ingredients to make a bag of meth to make things a whole lot easier.
- When moving bags, watch for Cloakers. There are at least 2-3 preset hiding spots for them on the route to the van.
- Tell your teammates where they can/cannot find more ingredients.
- Enable subtitles in the options to more easily understand Bain's instructions.
- Bain tells different lines to different players. Communicate when in doubt.
- One bag requires one of each ingredient. It makes sense to have a dedicated cook for each bag, have only one person cook at a time to minimize the confusion.
- Note that if two players add the same ingredient at the same time, a glitch may occur where the same ingredient is removed from both players' inventory, preventing the team from cooking seven bags of meth due to the reduced amount of ingredients.
- When adding an ingredient, read the caption to make sure you are looking at the correct receptacle.
- Barricade windows. There are three sets of planks available.
- Stay upstairs during an assault.
- Ignore the power, especially during an assault.
- Watch the police helicopter carefully, as it does more than just circle the house and make noise;
- If it comes in low on the pickup/van side of the house, it's dropping off a Bulldozer. The Bulldozer is most often armed with a Reinfeld.
- If it hovers directly over the house, it's dropping off a pair of Yellow SWAT onto the balcony. These are fixed spawns regardless of difficulty.
- Players holding onto ingredients that leave the game (either by quitting or disconnection) or are taken into custody pass on their ingredients to remaining players; if the remaining players have no slots remaining for the ingredients, the game will give them to the host, which can result in the host having multiple of a single ingredient.
Ingredient locations[]
Search the locations in the following order (hardest to easiest):
- White pickup truck parked by the house
- Shed behind the house
- Basement of the house
- Shed in front of the house
- Bathroom in the house
Cooking[]
Each bag of meth is created with one unit of muriatic acid, caustic soda, and hydrogen chloride. If it helps avoiding confusion, the cook can wait until all three chemicals are used up before searching for more.
Bain will give instructions on how to cook throughout the heist, though is not always completely accurate. Below, the "Update #89" gives the current cooking instructions, while the instructions in the "Prior to Update #89" tab are no longer used in the heist.
NOTE: In multiplayer, the required ingredient is synchronized across all players, but the dialogue from Bain is not.
Bain's instructions were updated with the 2015 Halloween event. Instead of having set lines for the individual ingredients, Bain has numerous lines for cooking. However, unlike prior to the update, where he was really only incorrect on occasion when hydrogen chloride was required, he has a number of lines where he's incorrect, though he will correct himself shortly afterwards and state the right ingredient. He also has a multitude of non-unique correct lines for what ingredient to put in.
Quick explanation of how to get the ingredient right:[]
(For details on his sentence structure, scroll down.) Bain will give an ingredient that may or may not be the correct one. Here is a simpler way of figuring out if Bain is right:
- Wait until Bain says something that suggests he is moving on to the next ingredient. He will do this even if you don't put in the ingredient. This usually means that the ingredient he most recently mentioned is correct. For example, he may say, "We'll go with hydrogen chloride. ...I'm 97% sure. Okay, what's next... hydrogen chloride?". In this case he would be correct, since when he is wrong, he never moves on to the next ingredient without correcting himself. This method is easy and works almost 100% of the time.
Detailed explanation:[]
Bain is wrong when he says:
- Now we need... I'm going with (ingredient). Hold up!
- Uh... mhm...We'll go with (ingredient). Nope, that's not it!
- Alright, next ingredient...(ingredient)? Sorry, that wasn't right.
- Alright, let's see...We'll go with (ingredient). Strike that.
- Hold on... I'm going with (ingredient). Wait a minute!
After saying one of the wrong lines, he corrects himself, saying the right ingredient:
- It's supposed to be (ingredient)! Pour it in.
- It's supposed to be (ingredient)! That should get the process going.
- I messed up. It should'a been (ingredient). That should get it on.
- I messed up. It should'a been (ingredient). Pour it in.
- We need (ingredient)!
- That should'a been (ingredient)! ...unless I've missed something...
- ...(ingredient)?...I'm XX% sure.
- By method of elimination it has to be (ingredient). ...what's the worst that could happen, right?
- My bad. It's (ingredient). Add some.
Bain is right when he says:
- Uh, I hope I got this right... (ingredient)? ...I'm XX% sure.
- Uh. I hope I got this right... (ingredient)? You got any of that lying around?
- Uh. I hope I got this right... We'll go with (ingredient). ...I...think.
- Okay, what's next... (ingredient)? ...I'm XX% sure.
- Okay, what's next... Oh I'm going with (ingredient). ...it's a toss-up, really.
- Okay, what comes after that... We'll go with (ingredient). That should get the process going.
- Okay, what comes after that... (ingredient). That should get the process going.
- Okay, what comes after that... It's (ingredient). That should get it on.
- Uh... mhm... It's (ingredient). ...that's my very best guess.
- Uh... mhm... (ingredient). ...this website better be accurate.
- Uh... mhm... (ingredient). That should get it on.
- Uh... mhm... (ingredient)? ...IF my calculations are correct.
- Uh... mhm... (ingredient)? ...and kiss your lucky charms.
- Uh... mhm... I'm going with (ingredient). Go for it.
- Alright, next ingredient... We'll go with (ingredient). That should get the process going.
- Alright, next ingredient... We'll go with (ingredient). ...I'm XX% sure.
- Alright, let's see... (ingredient). ...I think so, at least.
- Alright, let's see... (ingredient). ...I think so, at least.
- Alright, let's see... (ingredient)? ...yeah... yeah.
- Alright, let's see... (ingredient)? ...I'm XX% sure.
- Alright, let's see... It's (ingredient). ...unless I've missed something...
- Uh, I hope I got this right... (ingredient)? You got any of that lying around?
- Uh, I hope I got this right... We'll go with (ingredient). ...for sure. Or, most likely.
- Now we need... It's (ingredient). ...that's my best guess.
- Now we need... We'll go with (ingredient). ...I'm XX% sure.
- Now we need... We'll go with (ingredient). ...what's the worst that could happen, right?
- Now we need... I'm going with (ingredient). ...these internet descriptions are iffy at best.
- Hold on... (ingredient). I'm XX% sure.
- Uh, if I read this correctly... uh... Oh I'm going with (ingredient). ...I'm XX% sure.
Wrong and right periods have a triple sentence structure. Each of the three sentences are randomly combined. The only reliable sentence that will reveal previous statement right or wrong is the last (i.e.: "...I'm 54% sure").
Correction periods have a double sentence structure. Both sentences will always reveal that the immediate information given is correct.
Examples of last sentences on false previous information:
- Hold up!
- Nope, that's not it!
- Sorry, that wasn't right.
- Strike that.
- Wait a minute!
Examples of last sentences on true previous information:
- ...I'm XX% sure.
- ...I...think.
- ...it's a toss-up, really.
- ...that's my very best guess.
- ...I think so, at least.
- ...this website better be accurate.
- ...IF my calculations are correct.
- ...and kiss your lucky charms.
- ...for sure. Or, most likely.
- ...yeah... yeah.
- ...unless I've missed something...
- ...what's the worst that could happen, right?
- ...these internet descriptions are iffy at best.
- Go for it.
- You got any of that lying around?
- That should get the process going.
- That should get it on.
Ambiguous or incorrect instructions from Bain are shown in boldface below.
Add muriatic acid if you hear:
- Acid, guys, acid. Get some and pour it in there.
- Add muriatic acid, to continue the process!
- Ah, OK... Muria, muriatic acid. Add more.
- Cooking away fine - needs more acid though.
- Hm, yeah it is not caustic soda... Yeah. It should be acid. Yep, sure that is it.
- I'm 100% it is muriatic acid now. Just add it.
- Looking at this site... Says acid is used in this step... We got muriatic, right?
- Mu... Muriatic acid - we need some more in there.
- OK, so add caustic... No, wait, add acid - muriatic acid.
Add caustic soda if you hear:
- Add caustic soda to continue the process!
- Caustic basic reaction is now added. OK you got any soda around? Add it.
- Caustic chloride. Says it is liquid form... Wait a minute... Should be soda, right?
- Caustic soda - yep, that's it. Go for it.
- I'm 100% it is some caustic soda needed here. Drop some in.
- I'm just guessing at this point... These internet descriptions are iffy.
- It needs hydrogen chloride, for sure... OK wait, soda... Yeah, caustic soda!
- Says we need club soda to get this temperature up... Sounds odd. What can you get?
- Try caustic soda....Or hydrogen... No no, wait, soda... Go for that. Yeah.
Add hydrogen chloride if you hear:
- Add hydrogen chloride to continue the process!
- Caustic chloride. Says it is some solid form... Wait a... Should be that hydrogen, right?
- Fuck me, we needed those cooks. I'm going with chloride.
- Fuck me, we needed those cooks. I'm going with hydrogen.
- Fuck me, we needed those damn cooks. I'm going with caustic soda.
- Hydrogen... Is that a gas... Can't be a solid... Says add it. You guys got a gas tank?
- I'm not 100% but I think it is hydrogen chloride now. Yep, should be.
- It needs hydrogen chloride - for sure.
- It needs hydrogen chloride, for sure... No, no wait... Yeah, OK.
- This site says something else... Chloride soda hydrogen mix. I don't know, go for it - something.
Gage Mod Courier Packages[]
Day 2 (Code for Meth)[]
Objectives[]
- Trade meth for information.
- Acquire information.
- Escape.
Assets[]
Day 2 Map (Bain's Guide) | |
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Risk Levels | |
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Gage Courier Packages | |
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Walkthrough[]
The crew enters the territory of a vicious gang called the Cobras (who are not affiliated with either Hector's cartel, nor the Mendoza's), with the bags of meth cooked from the previous day. The Cobras have obtained information on where and how the Mendoza leadership is traveling out of Washington, and the plan is for the crew to trade the meth for that information. Depending on how many bags of meth the group brought (and equally dependent on luck), the deal can either go down without a problem, or descend into a firefight. If the deal goes well, the group will be led to the info in a safe, which they can peacefully take and leave.
If the players cooked any extra bags of meth after the required three, there will spawn as many moneybags as any meth you cooked over three. This money will be present whatever variation happens, and is also present if you never even offer them any meth in the first place.
To minimize the risk of a meth bag landing in the wrong place and being impossible to retrieve without upsetting the Cobras (as it may land in the existing bags, with the 'Steal' prompt overriding the 'Pick Up' prompt), throw it straight into the back of the pickup, near the cab/rear window, rather than the middle or rear of the open bed.
Inside the apartments there are two safes, one containing the intel and one containing random loot (instant cash, bag of cash or nothing).
The deal can fail (entering loud part) in several ways and places:
- The crew arrives at the trade with insufficient meth bags.
- This may not always result in a firefight, see below for more details
- The crew arrives at the trade in the back of the gang member's truck with no meth bags.
- A player fires an unsuppressed weapon.
- A player fires a suppressed weapon too close to a gang member.
- A gang member hears an explosion, like from C4 on a safe, explosive grenades, concussion grenades, rocket/grenade launchers.
- A player throws a smoke grenade too close to a gang member.
- A gang member hears the death scream of another who was killed by a player.
- A gang member notices a dead body.
- A gang member notices a burning gang member from incendiary grenade, molotov, or grenade launchers with incendiary rounds.
- A gang member notices a bodybag or a player trades a bodybag.
- A gang member sees a broken window, or hears one being broken.
- The Cobras double cross the group.
- The police ambush the group before the trade begins.
- A player steals back a bag of meth once it is traded.
- A player activates an ECM feedback.
- A player uses a loud saw.
- A player uses a silent saw too close to a gang member.
- A player places a drill on a safe (drilling at all will result in the mission going loud).
- A gang member notices a beeping C4 on a safe.
- There is currently a glitch in the game in which the Cobras will turn hostile after opening the safe.
However, the deal won't fail if:
- A player places deployable item like tripmines, sentry guns, etc.
- A player shoots a suppressed weapon or throwing a silent throwable like shuriken, knives, etc.
- A player throws a fire bomb like incendiary grenades, molotov, or grenade launchers with incendiary rounds.
- A player places tripmines with the explosive sensor triggers a gang member's body.
- A player shoots an unsuppressed weapon, causes an explosion (C4 on a safe, explosive grenades, concussion grenades, rocket launchers, grenade launchers), throws a smoke grenade, breaks windows, activates an ECM feedback, or uses a loud saw when all Cobras are dead in a stealth part.
If the crew did not bring at least three bags, they can choose to sneak in and attempt to find the info stealthily. However, it should be noted that there is a chance the Cobras may do the trade anyway, if the crew brought less than three bags. Gang members can be killed silently as the group makes its way through the buildings (The gang members do not carry pagers).
In the rare case that the police arrive mid-deal, the Cobras will flee the area, and ignore the crew and police. This can be used to the crew's advantage, as they can take back the meth bags and locate the intel without concern of the cobras burning it. However, if a player shoots a gang member, they will open fire on the crew while they are fleeing.
If the deal goes wrong, then the crew will be instructed to quickly find the intel, which is hidden in one of possibly two safes, before a gang member burns it. The intel can be in any one of three nearby buildings, and is usually well guarded. If the crew is able to find the safe containing the intel, then it will need to be opened. At this point, the police will somehow be notified and arrive in force, attacking the crew, unless aced Nimble is used without being spotted. If the crew cooked any extra bags of meth, there will be a pile of money that can be bagged in one of the rooms. The correct safe containing the info is always in that room.
Once the crew acquires the intel or discovers that it was destroyed, they can escape to the van. However, the crew can also take back the meth bags for extra cash, regardless of whether or not the deal went smoothly. This can be a bit problematic as the gang members Mark 10s can shred through the crew's defenses fairly quickly and they are all around the place, including the rooftops. Not to mention as many as dozens of gang members will come at the crew in short order, potentially overwhelming them.
One of the safer ways to attempt stealing back the meth is by placing one or two sentry guns near the truck where the bags are, preferably one near the front and back of the truck so the guns will cover the two main areas where the Cobras will funnel in and attempt to kill the crew.
This will create a distraction that will allow the crew to easily dispatch the cobras around the area, avoid bullets as the Cobras will be more focused on taking out the sentries than the crew, and some decent suppression fire that would easily allow four human-controlled players to take all the bags and run back to the getaway van before any kind of effective resistance is mustered or the sentries run out of ammo.
The final approach to the level occurs if the crew failed to secure enough (or any) bags of meth on Day 1. With the foreknowledge that a successful deal is impossible, it is possible to rush the level violently. To prevent the intel from being burnt, it is necessary for the crew to split into two groups of duos. One pair will go left and go up the left building, while the other goes right will search the other two buildings. The two buildings to the right are connected at the higher floors by boards laid between the windows, so that pair of players can quickly search both buildings. It is highly recommended for each pair to include at least one player with a method of opening safes quickly, such as Shaped Charges or Nimble. Run up the stairs, shoot all the Cobras in your way, loot the safes, and you can escape the level without tangling with any cops.
As there is always a path guarded by only one gang member leading to the three communicating flats, it's the safest way to get close to three of the four possible locations of the intel. This is the best option playing solo to save time before the Cobras start to destroy the intel and maximizing your chances of finding it (75%).
It is rare, but not impossible, for two tall safes to spawn, either one of which may contain the intelligence. If two members of the team have shaped charges, it may be wise to have both bring them - otherwise the team faces the prospect of holding off a police assault whilst waiting on a drill (if the first blown safe does not contain the intel) or bailing out without the intel.
There is a delay inbetween the safe being opened and the intel being burnt, so it is possible to save time by waiting until one of the Cobras opens the safe, and then killing him and grabbing the intel. The animation for opening the safe involves the Cobra hitting the safe with his fist. If the Cobra is killed before the animation is finished, the safe will not open and the crew will have to open the safe with a drill or shaped charges.
Day 3 (Bus Stop)[]
Objectives[]
- Kill all of the Mendoza gang members.
- Steal as many bags of cash as possible. (Optional)
- Escape.
Assets[]
Ace Pilot | |
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Price: | $6,000 (Normal) $9,000 (Hard) $12,000 (Very Hard) $18,000 (Overkill) $30,000 (Mayhem) $42,000 (Death Wish) $54,000 (Death Sentence) |
Vantage point | |
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Price: | $7,000 (Normal) $10,500 (Hard) $14,000 (Very Hard) $21,000 (Overkill) $35,000 (Mayhem) $49,000 (Death Wish) $63,000 (Death Sentence) |
Requires the Gage Sniper Pack DLC to unlock |
Risk Levels | |
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Gage Courier Packages | |
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Day 3 Blueprint (Bain's Guide) | |
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Walkthrough[]
The final day is very straightforward, but may become difficult if the crew chooses to stay behind for the cash.
Alex the helicopter pilot drops the crew off on a bridge where the FBI are escorting Mendoza members out of Washington, D.C. The crew must travel along the bridge to the bus and kill all the gang members aboard. Once accomplished, the crew can return to Alex and escape at any point.
The bus contains 12–16 suitcases; while some may be empty, most contain money. The suitcases filled with money are usually rigged with C4 that must be immediately defused upon bagging the cash. The bombs can only be defused if the crew obtained the intel from Day 2 (it is explained that the Intel contained the defuse codes for the C4, allowing the defuse interaction to be performed). If any of the bombs explode, then the entire bus will explode, incapacitate any players in or near the bus, and destroy all the money inside. There will be ~5-6 explosions in a row with a short delay between each of them, and each explosion will also generate a blinding flash of light. Hence, it is advised that all money bags should be thrown away from the bus as soon as possible, in case of an accident occurring. If the players did not obtain the Intel on Day 2, the maximum number of money bags they can easily obtain is eight (two per player); each player should open a two suitcase, bag the money simultaneously, throw the bags out of the bus, and leave before the C4 detonates. If they're very quick, they may even be able to secure a third bag, though this is highly unlikely.
If the crew takes more bags than they can carry at once (more bags than they have players), then they should wait for the loot extraction helicopter (flown by the crew's second pilot, Bile) to arrive, because Alex's escape helicopter cannot take loot bags except those directly carried on each player's back. When the helicopter arrives, the crew can throw all of the money bags into it, but must protect the helicopter from police fire (which will force Bile to fly away early), and also be careful not to throw the bags into the water. Do not throw the bags at the railing because despite the bags' apparent size, they can fall through it. Once all the money bags are loaded into Bile's helicopter, return to the normal extraction zone under Alex's helicopter to complete the heist.
Additional Notes[]
- One of the fastest ways to deal with all of the Mendozas is to sprint up to the front of the bus and throw a grenade in through the front window. Whilst this is risky (as the Mendozas are armed with the Mark 10) the grenade will catch all of them due to the confined space. Using a grenade in this manner does not set off the C4. It is also possible to simply jump onto a car at the start and use a high-accuracy weapon (such as a sniper rifle) to kill all the gang members in the bus from afar, and run back to the escape.
- With the Ace Pilot asset, Bile will hover closer to the bridge and the bus, and may be less likely to fly away if under fire - though as long as your team is well-coordinated, the bus should be empty and the bags ready to be secured in the second chopper long before it arrives, and thus have the bags secured well before Bile is in any kind of serious danger.
- It is imperative to guard any player that is defusing the C4. Law enforcement may rush in and melee an occupied heister, either severely injuring them and shoving them away from the explosive, or even incapacitate them, very often dooming the other uncollected money stashes in the bus.
- Shields are also annoying to fight against due to the very cramped space of the bus. Having a flamethrower can remedy this.
High-speed walkthrough[]
Rats can usually be completed in less than 15 minutes, even in solo, but only on Overkill difficulty or lower, as the lab cannot be detonated on Mayhem or higher without killing the crew so that players must cook three bags of meth and cannot rush the day.
On Day 1, the crew must blow up the lab as soon as possible, so players must grab two ingredients, wait at the lab, put in the wrong ingredient, and run from the explosion. (On consoles, the crew can escape immediately and skip to Day 2.)
Adept combatants may wish to hold out where the escape vehicle will arrive, but there are several highly defensible locations at which the crew can take cover while the escape vehicle is on its way:
- The small room behind the lab, which does not catch fire. The two windows should be boarded so that no enemies can enter the room or shoot through the windows. To escape, sprint through the fire, jump over the balcony to the left onto a shed, then go directly to the escape vehicle.
- The bathroom. As of August 2014, enemies do not enter the bathroom, and it is somewhat closer to the escape.
- The basement. Typically, one player waits at the lab to add the wrong ingredient while the rest defend the basement. Inspire aced is recommended for one of the players in the basement, in case the player upstairs gets downed.
On Day 2, the crew must go loud, and either use Shaped Charges on the safe with the intel or wait for the gangsters to open the safe.
On Day 3, the crew must simply kill the gangsters inside the bus. A player with a high-accuracy Rattlesnake and high-magnification scope can accomplish this within 15 seconds while near the escape vehicle. Optionally, if the crew obtained the intel on Day 2, they may wish to hire the Ace Pilot and spend an extra few minutes to loot the bus.
Mayhem+ changes[]
- On Day 1, the wrong ingredient causes the whole map to blow up. Even if Messiah or the Leech Perk Deck is used for revival, the van will never arrive despite the mission objective saying otherwise, so the contract will have to be restarted or terminated. Players must therefore cook at least three bags of meth before waiting for the escape van to arrive.
The FBI Files[]
A number of high-ranking Mendoza cartel members were assassinated while being escorted out of the country under armed guard. These South Americans had cooperated with our field agents, and a deal had been worked out that would see their safe passage in exchange for information on the Sinaloan cartel. It is possible that this assassination was also linked to two other incidents - a meth-operation in a forest shack, and a shoot-out in a neighborhood ruled by The Cobras gang.
My Notes: Another war between the cartels. These things get bloody, fast, and, even though they’re shooting at each other, we have to practice zero tolerance. The Mendoza’s were almost in bed with the Bureau too. The failure to protect them not only means we lost a valuable contact, we’re also going to find it harder to convince any other rats in the future.
Bugs[]
Bug Description | PC | PS4/X1 | PS3/X360 |
---|---|---|---|
Day 1 - law enforcers on site may state that there are hostages on the map, despite there being none. This is probably because the cooks technically count as civilians, and their deaths are not registered due to being scripted. Their deaths also increase your chance to get an Escape sequence, even if unavoidable. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Day 2 - if the police ambush the group, Bain will announce an alarm was raised. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Achievements[]
Cooking for Dummies Complete the Rats job on the Normal difficulty or above. |
Get the Rat Poison! Complete the Rats job on the Hard difficulty or above. |
Infestation Complete the Rats job on the Very Hard difficulty or above. |
Science Expertise Complete the Rats job on the Overkill difficulty or above. |
Captain Cook Complete the Rats job on the Mayhem difficulty or above. |
Breaking Bad Complete the Rats job on the Death Wish difficulty or above. |
Exterminator Complete the Rats job on the Death Sentence difficulty. |
My Chemical Brothers Complete the Rats job on the Death Sentence difficulty with the One Down mechanic activated. |
Caribbean Pirate On day 2 of the Rat job, bring additional meth bags to the trade, but steal your payment instead. |
Cooking With Style Complete the Rats job with you and your four man crew having Combined Tactical Vests, Vulcan Miniguns, HRL-7 Rocket Launchers and General Overkill masks equipped on the OVERKILL difficulty or above. |
F in Chemistry On day 1 of the Rats job or the Cook Off job, blow up the lab. |
Four Monkeys In the Rats job, complete the heist while you and your four man crew are wearing one different "Shotgun Pack" mask each on OVERKILL difficulty or above. |
Full Measure On day 1 of the Rats job, cook and secure 7 bags worth of meth without blowing up the lab on the OVERKILL difficulty or above. |
I Am the One Who Knocks On day 1 of the Rats job, cook 3 bags worth of meth without letting any law enforcer enter the house. |
Short Fuse On day 3 of the Rats job, get away with 7 bags without defusing any bombs. |
- An "F in Chemistry" is the lowest possible grade one may receive in American and British school systems, alluding to the crew's failure to add the correct ingredient and causing the lab to explode.
- "Caribbean Pirate" is a reference to the Disney movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean.
- The achievement "I Am the One Who Knocks" is a Breaking Bad reference, being a quote from protagonist Walter White. The achievement "Full Measure" might also be a reference to the show, as an episode is existing with the same name and the supporting character Mike Ehrmantraut is having a "No more half measures" speech which has become quite popular among the fan base.
They See Me Baggin', They Hatin' On the Garage escape, get away with 8 bags. |
On Day 1, cook at least six bags of meth. Meth bags are lighter than money bags, so cooking extra meth would make the escape somewhat easier, but a lot of time is given for an escape with eight bags anyway. If you encounter the Garage escape on Day 1, then restart the heist because it cannot be encountered on Day 2, making the achievement impossible.
On Day 2, make the trade. If you traded in at least six bags of meth, then there will be three extra money bags in the room with the intel. Grab enough money bags so that you will end up with at least eight loot bags total after you steal back the meth.
If you do not encounter the Garage escape on Day 2, then restart the heist. Otherwise, bring a saw or shaped charges if possible to open doors faster. Once the escape starts, throw at least eight of the bags onto the level above, towards the corner with the staircase that leads to the surface (4 or 5 o'clock when you spawn). Run to the bags, open the door to the nearby staircase and the door at the top of the staircase, and transport the bags to the escape van.Trivia[]
- This was the longest and most complex heist included in the beta until Framing Frame succeeded it.
- The popular Day 1 speedrun tactic of "blowing the lab and run" is referenced by Bain on the first day of Hotline Miami where a similar meth lab can be found and the same kind of loot can be created, should the crew decide to destroy that one as well. However, if playing on the Mayhem difficulty or above, the explosion will simultaneously down the entire crew.
- On Day 1, when Bain informs the crew of Snipers, he can say that they are "deploying on a nearby roof", though there isn't any roof nearby and the snipers will instead deploy in the surrounding woodlands.
- When the AI behavior was improved following the Hotline Miami DLC's release, law enforcers would 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.
- Rats is featured on the splash image of the "Time of Day" heist setting community reward on the CrimeFest website[2], though said feature is not implemented in the final heist gameplay.
- The description in Bain's guide of day one of this heist is a reference to the TV series Breaking Bad, in which the protagonist produces and sells meth.
- The blue color of the meth may also be based on Breaking Bad, whose protagonist cooks blue meth.
- If the crew cooks 7 bags of meth, Bain will say "We should break bad and do this full-time!" or "Which one of you is Heisenberg, Hector wants to know." when the crew escapes, both being Breaking Bad references. The name of the achievement for this, Full Measure, is also a reference to the name of a certain episode.
- The achievement "I Am the One Who Knocks" is also a reference to Breaking Bad.
- The manner in which the crew produces meth in this map is deliberately falsified, and even presents potential hazards for the crew, both to streamline the gameplay and to prevent players from trying to cook meth in real life:
- None of the characters can be seen using protective equipment of any kind when cooking is in progress. The minimum required safety gear is a gas-proof breathing mask with adequate filtration, like those integrated into the hazmat suits of the dead cooks. The crew's ballistic face masks has open eyeholes and ports at the nose for ease of breathing during use, which is not adequate. Not wearing proper gear can result in accidental intoxication, or suffocation via the fumes generated during the cooking process.
- All of the ingredients are wrong. Caustic soda is also known as sodium hydroxide, a strong base. Muriatic acid and hydrogen chloride are identical chemicals at the molecular level, with the former being a solution of the latter. In real life, combining muriatic acid or hydrogen chloride with caustic soda yields aqueous sodium chloride (salt water).
- Additionally, most of the chemicals are erroneously represented with wrong components and/or symbols:
- The chemicals are listed as elements rather than compounds on their icons (Hydrogen Chloride is listed as Hcl rather than HCl, for example).
- Muriatic Acid is aqueous Hydrogen Chloride and would normally appear as HCl. The chemical symbol of Mu does not correspond to any known substance, be it an element or compound.
- Caustic Soda appears as the symbol for Cesium (Cs) instead of how it is represented in reality (NaOH). This was done simply for the ease of player recognition, as the initials for Caustic Soda are also CS.
- Additionally, most of the chemicals are erroneously represented with wrong components and/or symbols:
- Although Bain occasionally tells the crew to add a certain ingredient, he never gives the exact quantity to be added. This results in the crew usually dumping an entire container of acid or tank full of hydrogen chloride into the cooking vats in one go. Improper chemical ratio can cause dangerous reactions, especially under the presence of heat. It'd be due to either dumb luck or the person who left the components there knew precisely how much chemicals to put in each one. All of the above are done for the sake of gameplay simplification.
- It is also never explained why the ingredient order varies with each batch, as the resulting product is the same and the required amount of each component remains unchanged.
- The cooling/crystalizing process is absent, meaning if that bizarre concoction were to work in real life, it would produce hot meth sludge instead of the intended crystals.
- On Day 3, the docks at which Day 2 of Watchdogs takes place is visible from the bridge.
- Rats is internally referred to as "Alex Must Die!". Whether this refers to Alex the pilot or someone else is unknown.
- During the Halloween event the Witch from Left 4 Dead can be heard crying on Day 1, she is located behind one of the fences between the front shed and the truck.
- The players themselves can kill the cooks on Day 1 by shooting through the meth lab's walls with sniper rifles, though this does not accomplish anything as the civilians' deaths are scripted anyway, and killing them this way also incurs additional cleaner costs.
- According to the FBI Files, there was a shootout in a Cobras-ruled neighborhood, which means that the deal going bad in Day 2 is canonical. However, it is not known whether in the canon the crew turned on the Cobras, the Cobras turned on the crew, or the police ambushed both.
- For some reason the FBI units that are protecting the bus on Day 3 will retreat once the crew reaches the bus instead of continuing fighting the crew.
- FBI Shields have flashlights on their weapons on Day 1. This is unique since they have no flashlights on their weapons on any other heist that plays at night.
- It is the only heist with an escape that cannot be avoided via the driver asset.
References[]
- ↑ on securing bag if all 14 suitcases opened and total number of secured bags equals number of money bags found in the bus. If the players had secured 11 bags on the previous days and all suitcases contained money, the XP would be rewarded after securing 3 more bags from the bus. If the players had secured 11 bags on the previous days and less than 12 suitcases contained money, the XP cannot be awarded (the bags from the previous days cannot work because all suitcases need to be open; the money from the suitcases cannot work because, when throwing the first money bag into the helicopter, the total number of secured bags already exceeds the number of money bags found in the bus)."
- ↑ http://www.overkillsoftware.com/crimefest/
Video[]
Misc. | Safe House (Laundromat Safe House) | |
Game Modes | Crime Spree • Holdout |