Payday 3: How to Get Skill Points & All Skills

While Payday 3 can often feel like an insurmountable challenge when things heat up and the cops constantly bust in, all hope is not lost. Your character can be improved to better handle any challenge through skills. While players will be constantly getting skill points for these, there is a lot to keep track of, so we have collected them all.

How to Get Skill Points in Payday 3

Simply enough, you need to play heists to earn Skill Points. Every heist (whether you succeed or fail) will award Infamy Points (XP) to increase your Infamy Level. You won’t be getting one skill point per level, though. At the current level cap of Infamy Level 150, you will end up with 21 total skill points to spend.

All Skills in Payday 3

There are 17 unique classes/sections, and each is comprised of four and six skills. This means there are tons of possible build options available depending on how you best like to crime. While many skills include a multiplayer component, they all function perfectly fine solo.

A lot of skills include the words Edge, Grit, or Rush. Those are special buffs that are defined by:

• Edge: You deal 10% extra damage.
• Grit: You take 10% less damage.
• Rush: Your movement speed is increased.

Medic

• Medic
  • Basic: Whenever you perform a takedown, gain or refresh Rush.
  • Aced: Whenever you grab a human shield, gain or refresh Grit.
• Steady Hands
  • Interacting with Medic Bags heals you for an additional 20% of your max health.
• Extra Charge
  • Medic Bags you deploy have two additional charges.
• Combat Medic
  • If you have Grit, successfully reviving your teammate will give both you and that teammate damage immunity for five seconds.
• Code Blue
  • Whenever a teammate is downed or disabled, you gain or refresh Rush. As long as you have Rush, you pick teammates up 30% faster.
• Triage
  • Interacting with a Medic Bag or First Aid Kit will consume active Edge, Grit, or Rush and heal you for an additional 15% for each. You interact 50% faster with Medic Bags and First Aid kits.
• Field Surgery
  • Interacting with any Medic Bag will restore an additional 10% of your max health and restore 1 “down.”

Ammo Specialist

• Ammo Specialist
  • Basic: Your reserve ammo capacity is increased by 20%. Ammo bags you deploy have two additional charges.
  • Aced: Whenever you pick up ammo, if your current weapon’s magazine is full, you gain Edge if you don’t have it.
• Scrounger
  • As long as you have Edge, ammo drops have a 10% chance of replenishing one of your throwables.
• Fully Loaded
  • Ammo bags you deploy have two additional charges.
• Plate Up
  • As long as you have Grit, ammo drops will instantly regenerate your current armor chunk.
• High Grain
  • After interacting with an ammo bag, you get 20% more damage for 10 seconds. This bonus does not stack with itself.
• Mag Throw
  • As long as you have Rush, any ammo drops you pick up are also given to crew members within 10 meters. This won’t trigger the Mag Throw skill of other players.
• Top Up
  • Interacting with any ammo bag will restore an additional 20% ammo and fully restock your throwables.

Mower

• Mower
  • Basic: Every 35 bullets you shoot, gain Edge.
  • Aced: Whenever you reload a weapon with an empty magazine, refresh Edge.
• Recoil Handling
  • As long as you have Edge, your weapon recoil is reduced.
• Suppressive Fire
  • As long as you have Edge, every shot from your weapon has a chance to inflict a heavy stagger.
• Ammo Funnel
  • As long as you have Edge, ammo you pick up is directly added to your equipped weapon’s magazine. If your magazine is full, it’s added to your reserves instead.
• Replenish
  • As long as you have Edge, you automatically pick up ammo dropped by enemies you have killed.
• Sprint Loaded
  • You can reload while sprinting.

Infiltrator

• Infiltrator
  • Basic: Whenever you successfully pick a lock or kill an enemy with a throwing knife, gain or refresh Rush.
  • Aced: Whenever a guard begins to detect you, gain Rush.
• Quick Fingers
  • As long as you have Rush, a successful lockpick jiggle will immediately pick the lock.
• Retriever
  • Your throwing knives won’t break on impact with the environment.
• Bagger
  • As long as you have Rush, you bag loot 50% faster.
• Blade Bouncer
  • Your throwing knives will ricochet off the environment up to two times. The throwing knife will do extra damage for each bounce.
• Frugal Thrower
  • Throwables you use have a 20% chance to be replenished after they are destroyed.

Tank

• Tank
  • Basic: Increase the regeneration speed of your armor chunks by 20%. Your armor bag has two additional charges.
  • Aced: Whenever one of your armor chunks breaks, gain or refresh Grit.
• Hardy
  • As long as you have at least one armor chunk, any flashbang, stagger, and stun effect duration you suffer is lowered by 50%.
• Extra Plates
  • Your armor bag has two additional charges.
• Armor Up
  • Interacting with any armor bag will restore an additional chunk.
• Last Man Standing
  • If damage would normally down you, you can instead consume available Grit to stay on your feet and become immune to damage for 10 seconds. After this effect has been applied, you can’t gain Grit until you heal using a Medic Bag or First Aid Kit, or until you’re downed.
• Disengage
  • Once per heist, you can free yourself from a Cloaker or Zapper, after which you can’t be disabled by them again for five seconds.

Sharpshooter

• Sharpshooter
  • Basic: Stand still for 1.5 seconds while aiming down sights or scopes and gain Edge.
  • Aced: Performing a headshot while aiming down sight will refresh your Edge.
• Collateral Control
  • If you destroy a special enemy’s weak point, like the Zapper’s battery of the Nader’s belt, the explosion will only affect enemies.
• Long Shot
  • As long as you have Edge are are aiming down sights, distance penalties do not apply to headshot multipliers.
• Precision Shot
  • When aiming down a scope, your shot will consume any Edge you have. When this happens, your shot will do extra damage based on your scope magnification.
• Cutting Shot
  • As long as you have Edge, your armor penetration is increased.
• Speed Aim
  • Increase your ADS and scope speed.

Escapist

• Escapist
  • Basic: Whenever you sprint for at least three seconds, gain Rush.
  • Aced: If you have Rush available and slide, it’s consumed, and you gain or refresh Edge.
• Balanced
  • As long as you have Rush and an enemy or effect would stagger you, instead consume Rush and ignore the stagger.
• Move & Cover
  • If you have E
  • dge available and vault or mantle, it’s consumed, and you gain or refresh Grit.
• Slide Tackle
  • If you have Grit and slide into one or more non-special enemies, you consume Grit and stagger those enemies.
• Battering Ram
  • As long as you have Edge, Grit, or Rush, you can sprint through locked doors to breach them. Only effective on doors with locks that can be picked or shot.
• Swift
  • Your base sprinting speed when masked on is increased by 10%.

Demolitionist

• Demolitionist
  • Basic: Explosions caused by your shots or throwables have their area of effect increased by 20%
  • Aced: Whenever you cause an explosion, gain or refresh Rush.
• Cooker
  • Whenever you hold a throwable for at least 1.5 seconds before throwing it, gain Grit.
• Shell Shock
  • Non-special enemies damaged by your explosions get a permanent penalty of 10% to accuracy. This effect can only be applied once.
• Blowback
  • As long as you have Rush, non-special enemies damaged by your explosions lose all armor.
• Blast Shield
  • Available Grit is consumed to negate any damage you would normally receive from explosions caused by you.
• Overcooked
  • Any throwables or weapon you use that has an explosive component will no longer run on a timer but will immediately explode on impact with the environment or an NPC.
• Extra Munitions
  • Your throwable capacity is increased by two.

Enforcer

• Enforcer
  • Basic: Whenever you kill two enemies within four seconds that are within five meters or you, you gain Grit.
  • Aced: Whenever you kill one enemy within five meters range, if you have Grit, gain Edge.
• Quick Reload
  • As long as you have both Grit and Edge, you have increased reload speed.
• Face to Face
  • As long as you have both Edge and Grit, you deal 10% extra damage to targets within five meters of you.
• Solid
  • As long as you have both Edge and Grit, you’re immune to stagger effects.
• Combat Reload
  • Whenever you reload a weapon while the magazine still has ammo, refresh Edge and Grit.
• Shock & Awe
  • Killing an enemy within eight meters of you has a chance to stagger all non-special enemies within five meters of you.

Manipulator

• Manipulator
  • Basic: You tie up and trade hostages 50% faster.
  • Aced: Whenever you trade a hostage, they count as one additional hostage.
• Overbearing
  • Your shout range for intimidating civilians is increased by 20%. Civilians stay down 50% longer after being shouted down.
• Silver Tongue
  • Trading Employees, Guards, or Law Enforcement counts as trading an additional hostage.
• Negotiator
  • Trading hostages for First Aid now yields one additional First Aid pack.
• Menacing
  • You can shout at guards, SWAT, or Heavy SWAT within five meters of you to force them to surrender. As long as you’re aiming at them, they will go down on their knees and drop their weapons. Any damage dealt to them or taking your aim off of them interrupts this process. Once fully surrendered, the SWAT obeys all the rules of a civilian, including any penalties for killing them. You can’t have more than one SWAT as a hostage at any time.
• Stockholm Syndrome
  • When you’re downed, you can shout at a tied down or covering hostage within range to try and reach you and revive you.
• Master Trader
  • Every hostage you trade between assault waves reduces the next player’s time in custody by 20 seconds; the maximum time spent in custody is capped at 10 seconds. This time reduction resets after any player has been taken into custody.

Engineer

• Engineer
  • Basic: Unlocking this skill gives you access to the Sentry Turret equipment. This turret can be equipped in the equipment slot of your loadout. The turret will shoot any non-mechanical enemies it sees until the enemies are dead or no longer within sight. As it shoots, it will build up heat until it reaches max heat. Once the sentry is at max heat, it will stop functioning. The owner of the turret can pick up the turret at any point to reset the heat to zero and redeploy it. Equipping this skill increases the max heat build-up of your turret by 20%.
  • Aced: Increase the heat build-up of your Sentry Turret by another 20%.
• AP Turret
  • Increase armor penetration of Sentry Turrets you deploy by one.
• Cooling System
  • Reduce heat build-up from damage, electrical explosions, or hack attempts by 30% for all turrets.
• Detonation
  • Whenever your turret overheats, it will cause an explosion that damages NPCs in an area.
• Spin Cycle
  • Your Sentry Turret can now rotate 360 degrees to acquire its target.
• Dual Sentries
  • You can now deploy a second Sentry Turret, but all your turrets build heat 50% faster while shooting.
• Targeted Fire
  • Your turrets will now switch targets to whichever enemy you mark manually, if it’s within line of sight. If you mark multiple enemies, it will prioritize the last one you marked.

Gunslinger

• Gunslinger
  • Basic: Whenever you switch your weapon, you gain Edge. Aiming down sights will end any Edge you have active.
  • Aced: Performing headshots with your weapon in hipfire will refresh any Edge you have.
• From the Hip
  • As long as you have Edge, your hipfire spread is decreased.
• Heavy Hipfire
  • As long as you have Edge, hipfire shots will cause heavy stagger.
• Finisher
  • If you have Edge, the last shot of your magazine will consume it to deal 200% more damage.
• Quick Draw
  • Increase your weapon swap speed.

Grifter

• Grifter
  • Basic: As long as you are masked off, if you are within one meter of a civilian or Employee, gain Rush
  • Aced: When you mask on, any civilians and Employees within 10 meters that can see you will become intimidated.
• Walk the Walk
  • As long as you’re unmasked and have Rush, cameras can’t detect you trespassing in private areas. (They will still detect you performing an illegal action.)
• Social Engineering
  • As long as you’re unmasked and have Rush, Employees will ignore you performing illegal actions.
• Open Mic
  • You answer radios 50% faster.
• Slippery
  • After getting cuffed by a guard, you can break free by lockpicking the cuffs.

Hacker

• Hacker
  • Basic: You can hack cameras to gain access to the area’s CCTV system. This functions as though you had accessed the heist’s security room. You gain one Runtime.
  • Aced: You can overload a device that already has an active Runtime. This will cause an electrical explosion that will stun anything within range and destroy the device. You gain one additional Runtime.
• Secure Loop
  • You can use one Runtime to make the security camera you’re controlling loop its footage. Cameras looping their footage cannot detect you or anything out of the ordinary. If the camera is destroyed, you regain your Runtime use. If you apply a new Runtime when you’re at max Runtimes, your oldest active one is removed.
• Appliance Breach
  • You can activate lures from a distance, as long as you have a clear line of sight.
• Routed Ping
  • You can spend a Runtime to make the hacked camera automatically mark any guards or law enforcement within its range. Targets stay marked for five seconds after leaving the camera’s view and do not count towards your maximum number of marked targets.
• Glitch Protocol
  • You can hack a guard’s radio to cause a disturbance, stopping and distracting them, pausing any action they are doing. You must have a line of sight to the guard to hack then. The guard is distracted for five seconds, after which they will go back to their previous action. If the guard was escorting a player, the guard will go back to patrolling. If the guard was about to detain a player, the guard will go into Search mode instead. Using this ability has a cooldown of 60 seconds.
• Signal Catch
  • You can answer radios remotely if you have a line of sight to the guard’s body.

Tactician

• Tactician
  • Basic: Whenever you stun or stagger an enemy, gain Edge.
  • Aced: Your flashbang and smoke grenade area of effect is increased by 20%.
• Crowd Control
  • Civilians affected by your flashbang will cower for a duration that is twice as long as if you had shouted them down. Civilians affected by your smoke grenade will stop moving unless you order them to follow you.
• Coup de Grace
  • If you have Edge, you will deal 5% more damage when you shoot a staggered or stunned enemy.
• Discombobulate
  • Enemies affected by your flashbangs suffer a 40% damage debuff for the duration of the stun and for five seconds after it wears off. Enemies affected by your smoke grenade suffer a 40% damage debuff while in the smoke, and it has a duration of five seconds after they have escaped the smoke.
• Expose
  • Shots fired by enemies affected by your flashbang will ignore armor for as long as they are stunned.
• Scramble
  • Any stun effects you apply last 20% longer.

Strategist

• Strategist
  • Basic: You can mark one additional target. Your marks last 20% longer
  • Aced: You can mark one additional target. Your marks last 20% longer.
• Combat Marking
  • As long as you have Edge, you deal an extra 10% damage against marked targets.
• Threat Assessment
  • As long as you have Grit, you take 10% less damage from any marked target.
• Misdirection
  • As long as you have Rush, any marked Cloaker or Zapper that tries to disable you will instead suffer a heavy stagger.
• Marked for Death
  • Whenever you are downed or disabled by an enemy, that enemy and up to five enemies within five meters of you are marked.

CQC Specialist

• CQC Specialist
  • Basic: Whenever you perform a takedown, gain or refresh Rush.
  • Aced: Whenever you grab a human shield, gain or refresh Grit.
• Soft Assets
  • When you shove away a SWAT you’re using as a human shield, gain extra ammo. You move 5% faster while holding a human shield.
• Groundskeeper
  • You perform takedowns 20% faster.
• Pin Puller
  • If you have Grit and shove a SWAT you held as a human shield, Grit is consumed, and the SWAT’s smoke grenade is triggered when they land. Only one grenade per SWAT can be triggered. You move 5% faster while holding a human shield.
• Savage Takedown
  • Whenever you perform a takedown, any civilian within five meters will immediately become intimidated.
• Pressure Points
  • Corpses you’ve left after performing a takedown need to be examined in detail before civilians and guards realize they are dead.
• Cover-Up
  • Taking down a guard will immediately also answer the radio.

All of the above should give you some idea of exactly what kind of criminal you want to become through Payday 3’s skills. For guides on using these skills effectively in heists, check out our links below.

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