Payday 3: Spec Ops Trophy and Achievement Guide

You might think the toughest challenge in Payday 3 is completing a heist in stealth and leaving with all the loot you can find. While typically the most difficult thing you’ll regularly do, there are greater heights to aim for. Just like the previous entry, there are trophies and achievements locked behind absurd and specific challenges. Here are our tips to get the Spec Ops trophy and achievement in Payday 3.

Payday 3: Spec Ops Trophy and Achievement Guide

• How to Unlock the Spec Ops Trophy and Achievement

Payday 3 Spec Ops Tips

• Do It Solo or in a Group
• Refresh the Seed if the QR Room is on the Bottom Floor
• Do a Pre-Run to Find the Vault Code
• Consider Bringing the Menacing Skill
• Bring Hacker Skills
• Use MicroCams
• Hack the Lead Guard’s Phone in the Bedroom

How to Unlock the Spec Ops Trophy and Achievement

To get the Spec Ops trophy and achievement, you’ll need to stealth the Touch the Sky heist on Overkill difficulty without killing a single guard. Takedowns count against you, so this will mostly be a pretty hands-off approach.

Payday 3 Spec Ops Trophy and Achievement Tips

Below, you’ll find a list of tips to help you with this trophy and achievement. Follow them, and you’ll be much better prepared to get this difficult challenge out of the way.

Do It Solo or in a Group

I highly advise finding a group to do this or doing it on your own. Trying to stealth a heist with randoms can work, but it might be difficult to convince people not to use their guns. It’s even more pronounced when going after a challenge like Spec Ops. This is arguably one of the toughest trophies/achievements in the game, and it helps to play it with fewer variables.

If you do play it with a group, make sure to designate someone to keep watch. Whether it’s through cameras, microcams, or simply pointing and marking, it will help a ton to have someone marking guards.

Refresh the Seed if the QR Room is on the Bottom Floor

The Red Keycard is inside a filing room that’s behind a locked QR code door. The best possible location for this is when it’s on the second floor next to the unusable elevator. Exit out of the heist and create a new lobby for it if it’s on the first floor. It will make this incredibly easier and less stressful.

Do a Pre-Run to Find the Touch the Sky Vault Code

One of the biggest time wasters when going after the Spec Ops trophy/achievement is finding out the vault code, so I suggest doing a pre-run just for it. Go loud if need be, and then start pulling out the books in the bedroom. One of them will open the entrance to the vault, and from here, you can brute force the code.

It might take a while, but eventually, you’ll stumble across the right one. Keep it in mind and then restart the heist to try a proper attempt. Restarting doesn’t change the RNG, so the code will be the exact same. This also makes it more likely you can open the vault before the Lead Guard walks in.

Consider Bringing the Menacing Skill

The Menacing Skill is one of our favorites in our loud builds, but it has usage in stealth. In this case, you can use it to force the camera guy to surrender and tie him up so that one player can stay in there and mark other guards through cameras.

Related: 10 Best Payday 3 Builds

Bring Hacker Skills

The cameras are the biggest issue in this heist and make getting Spec Ops even harder. That makes the Hacker skill tree absolutely crucial. At the very least, bring Secure Loop so you can take one camera out of the equation. Bringing the Aced version of the primary Hacker skill, too, so you can deal with two cameras simultaneously.

Use MicroCams

Since you can’t eliminate any guards, you must stay aware of where they are. Motion Sensors can be helpful, and I recommend someone bring them if you’re in a group. However, microcams are more permanent. For this one, I put one up high near the QR code room as it can see a lot from here. You might want to place another one on the Lead Guard that walks around to keep tabs on where they are.

Hack the Lead Guard’s Phone in the Bedroom

As mentioned earlier, the Lead Guard’s patrol route takes him to the bedroom. This is the one area where he stops by himself and makes for the perfect spot to hack his phone. Just hide in the bathroom until he passes by it and then begin the hack. You’ll now be set to head to the filing room and snag the red keycard.

That’s how to get the Spec Ops trophy and achievement in Payday 3. If you need help with other Touch the Sky achievements, check out our Insurance Policy guide. Everything else is available at our PD3 guides hub.