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v·d·e
White Xmas
Heist Info
Contractor Vlad
Contract Days 1
Loud / Stealth ✔ / ✘
Loot Pure cocaine
Almir's Toast
Base experience (XP) 8,000 (completion)
+2,000 (per secured bag)
Other
Internal name pines (job/level)
san (unique instances)
Achievement(s) Complete the White Xmas job on the Normal difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Mrs. Claus” mask. Complete the White Xmas job on the Hard difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Strinch” mask. Complete the White Xmas job on the Very Hard difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Krampus” mask. Complete the White Xmas job on the OVERKILL difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Mechanical Santa” mask. Complete the White Xmas job on the Death Wish difficulty or above. In the White Xmas job, complete the heist on the Death Wish difficulty or above while each crew member wear a different “2014 Xmas” mask each. Unlocks the “Almir’s Beard” mask. Secure the rare Almir’s Toast.
Complete the White Xmas job on the Mayhem difficulty or above. Complete the White Xmas job on the Death Sentence difficulty with the One Down mechanic activated.
v·d·e
"My brother-in-law crashed his plane in the woods. Get him back here."
—Vlad offering the heist.

White Xmas is a loud-only heist in PAYDAY 2, released on December 4, 2014, in Update #48.

The crew has been contracted by Vlad to reclaim his shipment of Colombian cocaine as the plane transporting it was crashed by his drunk Bosnian-Norwegian brother-in-law. The crew must escort Vlad's brother-in-law to safety to prevent interrogation by the police to find out if he is connected to Vlad, while taking any valuables (and toast) they can find.

Objectives[]

  1. Locate the crash site
  2. Escort the pilot to the lumber yard
  3. Wake the pilot up when he passes out
  4. Signal the helicopter with a flare
  5. Escort the pilot to the helicopter
  6. Wake the pilot up when he passes out
  7. Signal the escape helicopter with another flare
    1. (Optional) Find Xmas presents and secure loot
  8. Escape

Assets[]

Asset-Risk-Level
Risk Level


Asset gage assignment
Gage Courier Packages



Walkthrough[]

Approaching the crash site, players have to push the pilot into moving by shouting. Rising only when encouraged, he moves at the speed of a tied hostage and will head for the lumber mill on his own; however, he will occasionally pause to catch his breath, drink from a bottle, vomit, or collapse and require further interaction before he will move again. Since he always takes the same path from the crash site to the mill, he will always collapse twice: once at the nearby train car, and once near the flare location.

With the pilot resting in the mill, players must light a flare and wait approximately 90 seconds for the helicopter to arrive. Throughout the heist, the pilot's dropped payload will occasionally fall from the trees it landed in, prompting loot to randomly spawn around the map. Though loot is entirely optional, most falling presents will contain pure cocaine, which can mean a sizeable payout if players endure.

Once the helicopter arrives at one of four spawns, players must shout at the pilot to send him to the helicopter; again, he will head to the chopper himself, but will need prompting whenever he falls. Once the pilot is on board, the helicopter will extract him, and players must then light another flare at the lumber yard and wait for the next chopper.

Once the next chopper appears, players must load any loot they wish to take, and board the chopper to complete the heist. It should be noted that, if players don't board the chopper, it will leave after a short period of time regardless of how many bags are loaded; once it leaves, players must light another flare and wait for it for its return to leave or load it again.

The chopper can be summoned an infinite amount of times, and presents will continue to fall till the 1200 limit.

Strategy[]

  • Try using the lumber mill as a staging base. You are required to go there to light the flare each time, and it has zip-lines to all helicopter locations. On higher difficulties, it is advisable to use the lumber mill to load loot rather than trying to move bags through heavy enemy fire.
  • Try to move in groups of 2. Spreading out covers more ground to look for presents, especially on Very Hard and upwards it might get very frustrating getting to a downed teammate with that many cops around, constantly spawning, and very little line of sight due to the dense vegetation.
  • Keep an eye out, as only the presents that spawn after the pilot is safe have a yellow outline, but there are many more spread throughout the map.
  • Try to stay up and alive. Only the first wave will end (time depends on difficulty), the second wave will be endless. By carefully managing supplies, maximizing damage output, and carefully balancing perks and loadouts, players can hold out as long as possible. Unless you're playing on a lower difficulty, entering custody once the second wave starts means you're out for good.
    • However, due to a glitch, if Captain Winters appears in the map, and is defeated in the 2nd Assault Wave, it will end, permitting hostage trades, and normal assault waves will follow. Use this to your advantage if you plan on opening presents for an extended period of time.
    • Stockholm Syndrome can be very useful on this map because of it.
  • Assuming players aren't playing with an "all or nothing" attitude, it's vital to keep track of team status and accepting when to cut your losses and leave. Granted, it's frustrating to leave loot behind or leave before finding Almir's Toast, but leaving early can be the difference between a sizeable cash and XP reward or absolutely nothing with everyone dead. This is especially true for Mayhem and above, as the huge loot value comes with a heavy hostile count and numerous snipers.
  • Be very aware of the presence of Cloakers, especially so in this map. Their camouflaged uniforms can blend in with the foliage and, as their tell-tale feedback sound is replaced with a low-volume jingle, locating them can be more difficult than usual.
  • Players with Shaped Charges can blow the doors off of the train cars near the crashed plane. The train car near the ledge where the players start contains a First Aid cabinet, similar to the one found on Hoxton Breakout, while the train car near the zipline contains an ammo bag.

Variations[]

  • The helicopter can arrive at 4 different locations each time the flare is used. Bain will announce the location shortly before the helicopter arrives.
  • Since the distance differs between helicopter spawns, the pilot will take 4 different paths to the escape and, by extension, require walking a differing amount of times.
  • On Very Hard and higher difficulties, a squadron of Black Bulldozers will spawn every thirty minutes, with the said timer starting when the first player drops into the map. The Dozer team will consist of 2 on Very Hard, 4 on Overkill, and 6 on Mayhem+.

Xmas Presents[]

Christmas 2014

The White Xmas title card.

  • 40 Xmas presents spawn in different locations at the start of the heist, with 0 to 3 presents per location. Pure Cocaine has a spawn limit, after which the said boxes will be empty, and the limit is determined by the map difficulty:
    • 14 bags can spawn on Normal difficulty.
    • 16 bags can spawn on Hard, Very Hard and Overkill difficulties.
    • 18 bags can spawn on Mayhem and above difficulties.
  • Xmas presents will drop in 13 set locations, and have one of several randomized items inside. Every time a present spawns in the map, the possible contents are:
    • Pure Cocaine (70% chance).
    • A basic doctor bag (2% chance).
    • A basic ammo bag (2% chance).
    • Almir's Toast (1% chance).
    • Either loose loot or trash. (~25% total chance).

Once a present is opened, there is a 6 minute cooldown time before another can spawn at that location. The drop chance for the Xmas presents also decrease over time, but will continue to fall indefinitely (i.e. they will never stop falling from the sky) until 1200 packages are reached.

Time Drop Rate
0-20 mins 100%
20-30 mins 50%
30-40 mins 40%
40-50 mins 30%
50+ mins 20%

Helicopter Locations[]

The names in quotations are what Bain will call them just before they arrive.

The FBI Files[]

Late on 12/24/2014 a small civilian aircraft suddenly radioed a mayday. As there was no flight path submitted, and it must have been flying very low to have not registered on ATC radar, SWAT teams were dispatched to investigate. What they found was the Payday team attempting to extricate a disoriented pilot from the scene. Later it was revealed that the plane was rented by a fake company, and that the black box recorded a collision with an unknown flying object

My Notes: If the Payday gang were there, there must have been something in with that cargo. Based on the low-level flight, my guess is that it was a smuggling run - cocaine, perhaps guns. Security at these small local airfields needs tightening.

Achievements[]

Vlad’s Little Helpers Vlad’s Little Helpers
Complete the White Xmas job on the Normal difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Mrs. Claus” mask.
Stealing Christmas Stealing Christmas
Complete the White Xmas job on the Hard difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Strinch” mask.
Cancelling Santa’s Christmas Cancelling Santa’s Christmas
Complete the White Xmas job on the Very Hard difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Krampus” mask.
Claustrophobia Claustrophobia
Complete the White Xmas job on the OVERKILL difficulty or above. Unlocks the “Mechanical Santa” mask.
Like Turkeys Voting for an Early Christmas Like Turkeys Voting for an Early Christmas
Complete the White Xmas job on the Death Wish difficulty or above.
Riders On the Snowstorm Riders On the Snowstorm
In the White Xmas job, complete the heist on the Death Wish difficulty or above while each crew member wear a different “2014 Xmas” mask each. Unlocks the “Almir’s Beard” mask.
Impossible, It Can't Be. Is It? Impossible, It Can't Be. Is It?
In the White Xmas job, secure the rare Almir’s Toast.

The following appeared on November 27, 2014. They were replaced on December 3, 2014, one day before the release of the White Xmas heist.

Achievement locked I'm Dreaming
Achievement locked Of a White
Achievement locked Christmas
Achievement locked Just Like
Achievement locked The Ones
Achievement locked I Used
Achievement locked To Know

His Beard Was as White as Coke His Beard Was as White as Coke
Complete the White Xmas job on the Mayhem difficulty or above.
Drunk Flying Drunk Flying
Complete the White Xmas job on the Death Sentence difficulty.
Winky ;)
Complete the White Xmas job on the Death Sentence difficulty with the One Down mechanic activated.
What's in the Box? What's in the Box?
On the White Xmas job open 40 packages before escaping on the OVERKILL difficulty or above.

Heist Trivia[]

  • White Xmas is the first heist where the crew gets actively supported during the heist itself by the contractor (with the exception of heists given by Bain directly). However, Vlad will only inform the players that a present has been dropped (which Bain also does) or that he will reward the players greatly if they manage it to secure loot. He will also directly contact the crew if the pilot is found or his safety is assured by getting him into the helicopter.
  • Almir's Toast is a giant piece of toast (with cheese on top) found randomly inside Christmas presents. It's transported in a green heavy duffel bag and has to be secured in the chopper in order for the achievement to be completed.
    • Almir's Toast is a reference to Almir Listo, the lead producer of PAYDAY 2 and a reference to Overkill's running gag of placing half-eaten cheese toast sandwiches as useless "junk loot" in safes. He also voices and portrays the drunk pilot.
    • It is possible, if obviously unlikely, to obtain multiple copies of Almir's Toast at once.
  • When throwing the cocaine, be careful not to throw it into the rotors of the helicopter, as doing so will destroy the bag.
Santa Cloaker

The Cloaker wearing a Santa Hat.

  • Cloakers in this heist will wear Santa hats.
    • The whistling noise when they charge is also replaced with the sound of jingle bells. This can be a problem, as the jingling is relatively quiet and hard to notice in a loud firefight.
  • This map is very good for those looking to acquire achievements, particularly all from the Gage Sniper Pack;
    • The law enforcers rappeling from their choppers go down slowly enough for the player to pick them off without much effort, thus making the Death From Below Nagant achievement more trivial than it usually is.
    • The chasm and open space allows for easy 40m shots (Far, Far Away).
    • Many snipers will spawn in relatively close locations (Taste of Their Own Medicine,  I'm not a Crook Commando 553 achievement, or the Clay Pigeon Shooting Shotgun achievement).
    • There are ziplines to go around (Didn't See That Coming Did You? and Last Action Villain) even if they go quite fast.
    • The tree over the chasm allows multiple kill shots easily (Double and Triple Kill).
    • Lastly, the sheer amount of opposition encountered during this map's neverending assault waves also presents an opportunity for one to unlock the They Drew First Blood, Not Me achievement.
  • Xmascoke

    Coke package detail, notice the signatures.

    Originally, the present drop rate would decrease to 0% after three hours, forcing players to either escape or hold out until failure. This was changed with the Diamond Heist update, where the rate now simply plateaus at 20%, making White Xmas the first heist with (hypothetically) infinite loot.
  • The cocaine packages in the presents are signed "Chavez".
    • Oddly enough Chavez own heist Panic Room features regular cocaine rather than the pure cocaine of this heist.
  • When the players go to wake up the pilot, Vlad mentions he's watched "pilots do the Donetsk Run on four times as much booze", referring to Star Wars: Episode IV where Han Solo claims to have "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs", along with the city of Donetsk in Ukraine, or the oblast in which it is located.
  • There is a radio inside the shack on the lumber yard which is playing various A Merry Payday Christmas soundtracks.
    • The device can be destroyed by gunfire if the player wishes to stop the songs from playing.

Video[]


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