Grasping the skills and skill tree in Payday 3 is crucial for becoming a successful criminal. Mastering this aspect allows you to unlock new abilities that can give you and your team a significant edge during your next heist. By learning how to effectively apply and modify these skills, you can tailor your approach to each job and enhance your chances for a smooth escape.
Having spent some time playing the game, I’m here to walk you through the fundamental aspects of the Payday 3 skill system. This guide will cover how to earn more points, how to research skills, and how to create a top-notch character for your crew.
How Do Payday 3 Skills and Skill Points Operate?
The skill system in Payday 3 functions like this:
- Players choose which skills to “research” from the skill tree located in the loadout menu.
- Experience earned during heists converts into “research.”
- Once fully researched, you can allocate a skill point to that skill.
- You can also remove a skill at any time and transfer that point to another skill, allowing for adjustments.
- Skill points increase as you achieve greater Infamy, which is obtained by completing challenges found in the main menu.
This system might seem a bit intricate, but the bottom line is that you should prioritize the skills that interest you the most right from the start and begin researching them (if no skills are selected, it automatically goes down the list in the order displayed).
More often than not, you’ll find yourself limited by skill points rather than the number of skills you can research. Even after reaching your maximum Infamy, you will only have 21 skill points, making it impossible to cover all skills. This means you’ll need to be strategic—whether you prefer stealth and hacking for a quieter approach or armor and weapon enhancements for an all-out assault.