This article is about the PAYDAY 3's stealth mechanics. For original stealth mechanics from prior PAYDAY entries, see Stealth.
Social Stealth is a gameplay feature mixing various stealth mechanics from prior entries, allowing players to freely explore and complete stealth objectives without ever putting a mask on (if the opportunity allows one to do so).
Casing Mode is available on most heists. Just like the previous game, the players are unmasked in this mode.
In Casing Mode, excluding any modifiers, players may:
Freely walk around Public Areas without being detected by civilians, guards, or cameras.
Freely walk around Private Areas without being detected by civilians.
Perform interactions such as pressing buttons, opening doors, using computers, etc.
Illegal interactions are marked with a red exclamation point and will cause the player to be detected if they are being observed by employees (without specific Grifter skills), guards, or cameras
Lockpick doors and cut windows (Both are illegal interactions)
Pick up items such as keycards, money bundles, etc.
Loot, pick up or throw bags (Looting is an illegal interaction, picking up and throwing loot bags are not)
Shout out to mark civilians, guards, or cameras
Crouch and sprint
Use tools, such as microcams, ECM jammers, or motion sensors. (Guards and cameras will consider players holding out tools to be suspicious)
Be treated with less suspicion by the guards if caught, and will result in various responses depending on the area's security level.
Put on their masks
During Casing Mode, players may not:
Engage in combat
Use throwables, such as throwing knives or grenades
Jump, vault, or slide
Use human shields, intimidate anybody, or take hostages
Set out any deployables, such as medic bags
Once the player puts on their mask, Casing Mode ends and they enter Stealth proper and are now considered hostile. If the player takes damage by any means, they will mask up and leave casing mode automatically. While the player can still perform both casing and normal actions, they cannot remove their mask once put on.
Security Levels[]
Security Levels are new additions to the series, which only applies to Casing Mode. Each map is divided into three different types of levels depending on the location, with a given location's (and thus player's) security level indicated on the top of the player's screen.
Public, Private & Secure Areas[]
Each heist have three distinct areas that determine whether a player is allowed to freely roam around in or is restricted from doing so, ranging from simply being escorted out of the premises for trespassing or outright being arrested.
Public Areas - Players are not considered suspicious in these areas and will not be detected by civilians, employees, guards, or cameras.
Civilians are oblivious to illegal interactions, but employees, guards, and cameras will detect them.
Private Areas - Players are not considered suspicious in these areas by civilians, but will be detected by guards and cameras.
Employees are normally oblivious to the player, but will become alerted if an illegal interaction is observed, which will cause them to notify the nearest guard after a few moments to detain the player.
If detected by a guard, they will approach and order the player to follow them back to the closest Public Area. If Search Mode is active, they will attempt to detain the player instead. (See below for more details)
If detected by a camera, a guard will be dispatched to the area where the player was seen in order to escort them out. If the guard cannot find the player upon arrival, Search Mode will be initiated.
Secure Areas - The highest level of security; players in these areas will be detected by civilians, guards, and cameras.
If detected by an employee, they will notify the nearest guard after a few moments, who will rush over to detain the player.
If detected by a guard, they will immediately attempt to detain the player.
If detected by a camera, the nearest guard is notified and will rush over to detain the player.
If the player is not in casing mode, they will be detected by everyone regardless of what area type they are in. If detected by a guard, they will draw their firearms and open fire while cameras will immediately raise the alarm.
Guards, Civilians & Employees[]
Guards[]
Similar to PAYDAY 2, most heists are populated by GenSec security guards that patrol the map in order to deter criminal activity, including the player(s). In addition to adopting the new Security Levels protocol, guards have been upgraded with better perception and AI pathing. If a player bumps into a guard, they will turn around to face the player. Sounds such as glass breaking and electronic disturbances will cause nearby guards to investigate the source of the noise. Guards are also capable of hearing players sprinting, but will only consider the sound suspicious if they are patrolling a Secure Area. Some guards carry keycards on their belt, which can be pickpocketed by the player. Players can also place certain tools on guards, should they so choose.
As explained in the previous sections, guards follow a specific protocol for unmasked players, depending on the Security Level or actions performed.
A guard escorting a casing heister from a Private Area
Escorting
When a guard detects an unmasked player(s) in a Private Area, they will immediately order the player to stop where they are. A yellow circle appears on the ground around the player which they must stay inside to prevent further escalation.
After the guard reaches the player's location, they will ask the player(s) to follow them and be escorted out. A new circle appears around the guard, which the player(s) must continue staying inside as it moves with the guard.
Once the guard brings the player(s) into a Public Area, they will give a warning to stay out of restricted areas and the player(s) is allowed to roam around freely again.
If a players leaves the circle at any time, they will receive a warning from the guard to return to the circle. If the player(s) ignores the warning for five seconds, the guard will attempt to detain them. The timer gets reset every time the player re-enters the circle, allowing you to stall the guard if needed.
Similarly if the guard finishes their escort, but a player tries to stay in the Private Area while remaining in the circle, then they will be warned to follow them outside. Ignoring this will result in the guard attempting to detain the player.
A guard about to run to arrest a heister for committing a crime during search mode
Detaining
A guard will proceed to detain an unmasked player if:
The player was caught trespassing in a Secure Area by an employee, guard, or camera.
The player was caught trespassing in a Private Area during Search Mode.
The player ignores commands to be escorted out.
The player was caught performing an illegal interaction by an employee, guard, or camera.
A detained player is placed into handcuffs and cannot move until either another player frees them or they free themselves using the appropriate skill. A cuffed or incapped player in a solo lobby can call out for help from their AI teammates, although this will cause them to immediately mask up, shoot any enemies they see with their unsilenced weapons while running to free you, and follow you for the rest of the heist, practically guaranteeing that the heist will go loud.
After a guard has detained a player, or if the player escapes by hacking their radio to distract them (with the Glitch Protocol skill), Search Mode will be initiated to look for other criminals.
If a Civilian or Employee detects you doing an illegal interaction, they will walk over to investigate. Like they do when they discover suspicious activity in general, after a short period of time, a radio icon will appear over their heads as they attempt to alert a guard. If a guard is nearby, they will be alerted in approximately 10 seconds. If a guard isn't nearby, then the civilian will pull out their phones and alert the closest one, alerting them in approximately 20 seconds.
Players cannot hide from a guard heading over to detain them as they will always know the player's location, even if they hide far away from the area where the incident occurred. If the player attempts to avoid being detained by running away without hacking their radio, the guard will eventually pull out their firearm and shoot, or call the operator to raise the alarm.
Search Mode
Search Mode is a new mechanic that acts as an intermediary between stealth and loud, and occurs when guards suspect criminal activity in the area. It is indicated at the top of player's screen with the text "Searching..." Search Mode is initiated if certain conditions are met, such as:
If a camera detects a player trespassing a Private Area, and the guard has investigated the place where the player was caught at least twice, he will trigger Search Mode.
If the player triggers a pager after using up the available amount, regardless if it's been answered or unanswered.
If a guard discovers a suspicious object, such as a broken window or camera, a loot bag, or an unbroken Throwing Knife that has not been picked up by a masked player.
If a player flips the wrong colored switch in certain heists.
If a guard cannot locate an unmasked player that was detected by a camera in a Private Area.
If a guard's radio is hacked as a distraction while attempting to detain an unmasked player.
If an unmasked player is successfully cuffed by a guard. The only exception to this is in the Boys In Blue heist, where the guard will instead immediately try sounding the alarm upon cuffing a player.
During this phase, guards enter a heightened state where they are more alert and will pause less in between rounds. Guards will also proceed to adopt alternative patrol routes around the map. Despite this, they will not raise the alarm if they discover more suspicious activity or broken objects unless they find something that immediately alerts them, such as dead bodies.
Any unmasked players caught by guards in Private Areas during Search Mode will immediately be detained. However, Public Areas still provide safety from detection and players can use the Glitch Protocol skill to escape being detained without setting off the alarm.
Once Search Mode has been initiated, it will remain in place for the rest of the heist or until the alarm is raised.
Alerting & Disposing Guards[]
Players have the option of disposing guards by either killing them with weapons, performing a takedown, or intimidating them into surrender with the Menacing skill upon being spotted. Takedowns can only be performed on unaware guards, where the player sneaks up from behind to grab them as a human shield. The player then has the option to choke out the guard and immediately start carrying their body. If the player opts to force a guard to surrender, they must order the guard to surrender and keep their gun trained on the guard while they're in the middle of dropping their weapons and standing down, which can take around five seconds. Otherwise, they will immediately stand back up and shoot the player. After a successful surrender, the game will consider them civilians and penalize the players for killing them accordingly.
Aside from masked players, guards will become alerted and raise the alarm if they detect any of the following, regardless if Search Mode was initiated or not:
Explosions
Dead Bodies
Tied Civilians
Illegal Equipment
Once a guard has surrendered, been grabbed, or been killed by any means, their pager will sound after a few seconds. The player will then be able to answer the pager, either while the body is on the floor or is being carried.
If a guard detects a fully masked player or if an unmasked player attempts to avoid being detained without the Glitch Protocol skill, they will immediate draw their firearm and shoot to kill. If the player runs out of sight, they will proceed to call the operator to raise the alarm after a couple seconds. To prevent the alarm from being raised, players will need to dispose of an alerted guard quickly.
Once the alarm is raised, all guards will draw their weapons and start hunting down players, acting like regular loud mode enemies. However after a certain amount of time, they will surrender and are treated as civilians.
Civilians are, similar to their appearance in prior PAYDAY entries, random NPCs who roam the map. For the most part, they will totally ignore most illegal activities, such as lockpicking, trespassing into secure areas or stealing valuable loot.
A civilian who detects a fully masked player will be shocked for a few moments, and if the player doesn't intervene, will attempt to either flee from the area or press a panic button if available. Once they leave the map or press the button, the alarm will be raised.
While employees are similar to civilians, employees of a heist are able to snuff out illegal activities that civilians typically ignore. They are appropriately dressed NPCs that is expected to be found working at the heist's location, such as bank employees, maintenance workers, or bartenders.
Employees can detect the following activities:
Trespassing in a secure area
Lockpicking
Grabbing illegal loose items
Committing illegal activities (typing on keypads, using keycards)
Similar to civilians, an employee who detects a fully masked player will be shocked for a few moments, and if the player doesn't intervene, will attempt to either flee from the area or press a panic button if available. Once they leave the map or press the button, the alarm will be raised.
Radios (Pagers)[]
A returning feature from PAYDAY 2 are security guard pagers, however, they are now called radios and have been reworked to give the player a better opportunity to play around with eliminating guards.
When a radio is triggered, the player has a couple of seconds to answer the operator in order to avoid consequences.
Successfully answering a pager will reduce the amount of available radio by 1
Failing to answer a radio will reduce the amount of available pagers by 2, and a nearby guard is sent to investigate.
If the player has 1 pager remaining, the next unanswered pager will cause Search Mode to be initiated.
If the player has 0 radios remaining, the next answered/unanswered pager will cause Search Mode to be initiated.
If the player has 0 radios remaining and Search Mode is active, the next answered/unanswered pager will raise the alarm.
Players have a different amount of available pagers depending on the difficulty of the heist.
Normal & Hard - 4 available pagers
Very Hard - 3 available pagers
Overkill - 2 available pagers
The operator will only activate a killed guard's radio once and won't page them again for the rest of the heist, just like in the previous game. The only exception is if the Lead Guard was killed, in which case the operator will activate their pager endlessly around every minute or two before inevitably sounding the alarm (as each answer [or lack thereof] will reduce the number of available pagers).
Inspired by the Crime Spree modifiers in PAYDAY 2 are Security Modifiers, which alter stealth gameplay in some manner on higher difficulties. One random Security Modifier is applied on Very Hard difficulty, and two are applied on Overkill.
Cerberus Core: Hack runtimes on cameras are reset after 5 seconds.
Lead Guard: A special lead guard with endless radio spawns.
The Lead Guard is identifiable by them wearing a peaked cap and having a visible radio on their shoulder.
This guard follows a wider patrol range than a normal guard, which can change depending on the player's progress through the heist.
If a player kills a lead guard, then the lead guard's pager will periodically go off every 1-2 minutes. As such, it is strongly recommended to avoid alerting them.
Titan Cameras: All security cameras are indestructible.
AI Surveillance: The security room guard is removed, and cameras cannot be shut off from the security room.
Threat Detection: Cameras will now detect players in public and private areas as if they were masked on, raising the alarm if they detect one.
Trivia[]
Unlike PAYDAY 2's guards and civilians, they cannot detect you from behind, but a guard will turn to face a player that bumps into them.
In addition, guards in PAYDAY 3 cannot detect you while in a public area during casing mode.
This is the first time players are allowed to freely sprint during casing mode, now no longer considered a suspicious activity, and are given considerably more free rein over how stealth is completed, including completing heists in stealth entirely in casing mode.
