Payday 3 Gold and Sharke Overkill Guide: How To Complete

The Gold & Sharke Payday 3 bank heist provides the most realistic "bank robber" experience in the entire game, having players face the harsh reality of city life alongside the fast-responding SWAT teams. If this sounds daunting, we've got you covered with a complete Payday 3 Gold and Sharke Overkill difficulty guide.

Update on 22 November 2023: We've updated our Payday 3 Gold and Sharke Overkill mission guide with the latest info. If you want to be sneaky, check out our dedicated Stealth mission guide.

Ultimately, the decision of stealth or guns blazing doesn't particularly affect how difficult this bank heist feels, with players often experiencing a tense atmosphere the entire heist.

However, it's important to note that unlocking as many doors as possible whilst maintaining concealment is more effective than equipping the mask upon spawning, simply to prevent players from having to slowly progress through the bank fighting enemies from the start of the heist. 

Payday 3 Gold and Sharke Overkill Mission Steps

When entering the bank, players must familiarize themselves with their surroundings, taking a closer look at the amount of civilians, security, cameras, and overall rooms in the building. This will help players with basic navigation if being spotted by security and masking up, allowing players to have the upper hand instead of feeling lost and disoriented. No player must mask up before having the "go-ahead" from the rest of the team. 

NOTE: Players who are accessing restricted areas are only at risk from security guards; general bank workers and civilians will not be intimidated by your presence in keycard access rooms. Cameras will additionally act as a threat, being able to determine your bad presence regardless of your keycard access or sneaky ability; stay hidden from security. 

1. Reach the bank lobby and locate all scannable QR codes within the following areas: main lobby, supply room, bathrooms, human resources, main lobby, and garage. Get players to take the QR code from the phone and head to the human resource office. This will be your first lead to locating the red keycard to access other staff locations.
2. One player must remain in the lobby and alert progressing players of any NPCs roaming the area and potentially compromising them. The progressing players must enter the human resource office and hack the PC; once hacked, it will reveal the location containing the red keycard, being either a loan officer, branch officer, or bank assistant's office. These locations are all located and sign-posted on the ground floor.
3. Access the correct office and look for the red keycard, usually located inside stacks of paper, on desks, or on the office shelves. NPCs are known to roam these locations, especially security. Cameras will be aimed at staff offices, so don't be seen lock picking.
4. Once you've got the red keycard, make your way to the big shiny gate in the main lobby. Swipe the red keycard and start heading up the stairs. You'll now be able to freely go to the second floor. All squad members must remain cautious of security, especially upstairs.
5. As soon as you go upstairs, you'll come across another gleaming gold door. Behind it lies the safe, but you'll need a code to open it. To get to that door and figure out the code, head over to the server room on the other side of the second floor. Don't worry about regular folks, but make sure to steer clear of security guards and cameras.
6. When you reach the server room, you'll get a prompt to begin hacking the computer. Start the hack, but it'll fail, and you'll need to find another PC in the IT room on the second floor. Look for signs pointing you in the right direction, as the IT room can appear in different spots. It's best if a singular player finds the room to lower the chances of detection.
7. Give the green light for the hack to continue from the IT room, then head back to the server room and finish the job. After the hack wraps up, you'll get four codes.
8. Make your way to the golden doors on the stairs and input the codes you got from the server room. Once the door swings open, you'll have access to the vault. 

Players have now completed the slow but vital steps to reach the vault, hopefully avoiding being seen by security and avoiding detection. Thankfully, it's time to change up the pace a little. 

Payday 3 Gold and Sharke Overkill: Final Steps & Escaping

Once opening the door that allows access to the main vault, players can begin executing security guards, taking hostages, and moving to the final steps of the heist. Before masking up, a single player should locate access to the roof (first left on the second floor, end of the hallway) and await for the drill pieces to be dropped in for players to break into the vault to collect the money.

1. Once unlocking the door to the vault room, send a player to the roof and await the drill to be dropped onto the bank whilst other players secure the location and take hostages. 
2. The drill and bolts will be dropped onto the bank's roof to break into the vault. Players need to bag these up and transport them to the vault door. Once dropping the bags, players need to build the drill and bolt it to the floor; this will all be prompted and shown in the heist. 
3. After building the drill, players will have to wait a total of two hundred seconds for the drill to complete and burst the vault door locks. However, the drill will malfunction several times before completion, forcing players to fix the drill. Essentially, this bank will turn into an attack-and-defend situation with the heisters defending the drill from SWAT.
4. When the drill is complete, players will have to disassemble the drill before opening the vault door. This will take a moment, and players are urged to take out their Overkill weapons whilst a singular player deals with the vault door and drill.
5. Once the vault door opens, players need to locate the server that's placed in a cabinet behind a locked gate. This requires a simple lockpick. When lock-picking the gate and accessing the server, players can extract, but make sure to grab cash, too!
6. Players should grab three bags of cash on top of the server to ensure survival on Overkill difficulty. Then, after securing the loot by signaling the getaway helicopter, players should head to the vault together and grab as much cash as possible until filling up the "steal and secure money" objective. 
7. After securing all the loot, players will be able to escape on the helicopter they've thrown all the loot inside. Please be aware of snipers, SWAT, and other enemies rushing your location.

Only three of the four players will need to be ready to extract before the mission concludes; therefore, if a teammate is lagging, don't be afraid to extract. Maximum loot isn't necessary in most scenarios of this bank; it's only a luxury to be considered if players are coping well against well-equipped enemies and have plenty of ammo and armor for themselves. 

Looking for more Payday 3 content? We've got you covered with a range of helpful guides below.