Payday 3’s Dirty Ice Heist has you robbing a jewelry store via two possible methods. One of which has you going loud at the front or quietly stealing things at the back before anyone becomes wiser. It can only take one simple mistake to ruin everything, so be sure to make a game plan accordingly.
In this guide, we’ll show you the best way to beat the Payday 3 Dirty Ice heist.
Payday 3: Dirty Ice Heist Full Walkthrough
The best way to do this mission is by going in quiet. Make sure you have a gun with a silencer before starting the Dirty Ice heist. You can customize your gun with one via the Main Menu. The cheapest one you can get for your secondary is around $10,000, which is cheap compared to what you’ll earn.
Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of Payday 3’s Dirty Ice heist:
- Step 1: Enter via the back alleyway
- Step 2: Scan the phones
- Step 3: Steal the blue keycard from the guard downstairs
- Step 4: Picklock the Manager’s Office
- Step 5: Figure out how to get the passcode from the computer
- Step 6: Take one of the civilians hostage and tie them up in the Manager’s Office
- Step 7: Go downstairs and enter the passcode
- Step 8: Use blue keycard to access the Security room
- Step 9: Take out the guard
- Step 10: Get inside the room across
- Step 11: Disable the alarm
- Step 12: Pick up the red keycard
- Step 13: Open the vault and take pictures
- Step 14: Go back to the Manager’s Office
- Step 15: Take the hostage and shove them on the button
- Step 16: Use the red keycard on the vault across the hallway
- Step 16: Open the case and take the jewel
- Step 17: Use the QR scanner to get inside VIP showroom
- Step 18: Picklock the cases and take the jewelry
- Step 19: Call the manager from the phone in her room
- Step 20: Take the manager hostage and shove into the scanner
- Step 21: Throw the jewels into the scanner
- Step 22: Escape with the jewels
- Optional: Rob the Store
When you do everything correctly, the Dirty Ice heist will take a little over 30 minutes to complete. The only reason it takes as long as it does is because cleaning the jewels you steal will take some time.
Due to how Payday 3 randomizes certain aspects about the game, there’s no way to be sure where everything is going to be. So we made this guide the way it is that you’ll be able to complete it despite the randomization.
Enter via the Back
From our experience, the doors from the front are usually locked so the back alley is the best way to enter. Of course it’s being guarded by two security guards. One from below the stairs and one from behind the fence. You can picklock the fence when the guard isn’t looking or head downstairs to the left.
You can also choose to put on your mask and use the blowtorch to open the window and jump inside. However once you put on the mask, you won’t be able to put it back down and civilians will be alerted.
Scan the Phones
Scan the phones you encounter for a QR code. This QR code is important for getting you into the VIP showroom earlier on. There are three places you can find a phone to scan:
- Back alley on the box in front of the fence
- Manager’s room on the couch
- In the bathroom on the sink
Steal the Blue Keycard
The blue keycard can be stolen by pickpocketing it off a guard. From our gameplay it’s usually the guard from the bottom of the stairs to the left. Quietly sneak up behind him and then press the interact button while looking at the keycard. If this is the guard from below, we recommend taking him out somewhere quiet because he may frequently patrol the hallways.
This is the blue keycard you need to get inside the Security Room later on. For now, get inside the building. If you do take out the guard, don’t forget to interact with the radio.
Picklock Manager’s Office
The Manager’s Office is to the left of the hallway and it’s usually locked. There’s also a civilian patrolling the hallway and possible a camera nearby. You can shoot the camera if you have a silenced pistol and take the civilian hostage.
Once the coast is clear, picklock the manager’s office and shove the civilian inside. Don’t forget to tie their hands.
Passcode From Computer
The passcode you need to enter the basement can be found in different places each time. It can be in the lounge drawn on the whiteboard or it could be the ID number of the employee of the month. You’ll have to look for which one the email on the computer states it’s in. You can cycle through the emails by constantly interacting with the computer. This passcode is randomized per matchmaking though will remain the same if you vote to restart the game.
By this point, you may have already put on your mask. If the passcode is on the front, you may have some trouble getting it because of the civilians. You’ll have to get a friend to check out the code for you or lucky guess it with the UV light you automatically turn on. Or if you’re able to, you can try to gamble by sticking one of the passing civilians with a hidden camera.
Enter Passcode Downstairs
Go downstairs and enter the passcode. You could either enter from the back or just go directly below. It’s preferred that you just go down from the main building as this immediately gets you to where the Security Room is. Be careful because there is a guard patrolling the area around.
Open Security Room
Using the blue keycard you got, open the security room. There is a guard inside. Take them out and this will disable the cameras from detecting you. Don’t forget to interact with the radio so the alarm doesn’t go off.
Get Inside the Room Across
Carefully sneak to the room on the other end of the basement. Picklock the door open and get inside without the guard spotting you. Inside this room there is a safe, the switch to disable the alarm above, and a red keycard. Turn off the switch and pick up the red keycard.
Open the safe. You’ll have to turn the dial until it starts to vibrate and then slowly keep turning in that direction until it’s green. Hold that position until you hear a click and then repeat to the other side. Once the safe is open, you’ll be contacted to take pictures of it.
Get the Jewel Behind the Vault
Now head back upstairs and go to the Manager’s Room where you kept the hostage. Take them as a human body shield and then shove them on the table where the button is. Quickly run across to where the vault is and interact with the keycard reader when it becomes available.
You need the red keycard which we picked up earlier and a civilian to press the button simultaneously. This will unlock the vault. Go back and tie the hostage first to ensure they don’t escape and then open the vault to retrieve the jewel inside. You’ll have to blowtorch a circle to grab it. Safely store it somewhere where you can get to it.
Open the VIP Showroom
Use the QR code we got from the phones we scanned on Step 2. This will open the vault’s location where you’ll see jewelry behind display cases. Since we’ve already disabled the alarm downstairs, you can go ahead and picklock them open.
Don’t forget to pick up the other jewels on the manikins and display cases as well for a bonus. Once you’ve picked up the jewels, throw them on the floor for now instead of escaping via the van. For now look at the Jewelry Workshop room across the other side of the room. You’ll be contacted about how you need the manager to get it open.
Call the Manager
Go back to the manager’s office and then use the phone to contact her about the photos you took in the basement safe. After a moment, she’ll move out of the front room and into the VIP showroom. Grab her as a body shield and then shove her into the retina scan to unlock the room.
Throw the Jewels into the Scanner
After the room opens, make sure to tie the manager’s hands so she doesn’t run for help. Take the bags you got from the VIP showroom and then shove them into the scanner. This will take some time as the scanner will carefully list off which ones you can sell. Once the scanner is finished scanning one of them, pick them up and throw them to the ground. It should be noted that you can’t scan the jewel you got from the vault in the hallway only the ones in the showroom and the front of the store.
What I like to do here is throw a bag outside the window outside the back alley for later so I can quickly grab them. Be careful as the guard patrolling the back fence can see it and alert everyone. If you want to play it safe, you could take out the guard if you still have some radios before the alert goes off. Or you could just throw it beneath the stairs.
Escape with the Jewels
After the scanner is finished with all of them, it’s time to head out and throw the bags into the van which spawns at the back. Before you do, secure the civilian that’s in the way behind the boxes and tie their hands so they don’t escape and alert the police. If you haven’t taken out the guard behind the fence, it can take a bit of patience.
Throw the jewelry one by one into the van and then escape if you want to. However you can go for a bigger haul if you’re willing to abandoned stealth.
(Optional) Rob the Store
Taking the jewels in the VIP showroom and the vault isn’t enough to secure all of the loot. That’s because there are still jewels at the front of the store. Here’s where stealth isn’t going to help because there are plenty of civilians and guards up front.
What you need to do here is to secure all the civilians by telling them to get down and ensuring the guard doesn’t alert for backup. This is really better off if you’re playing with friends. At this point, you’re probably all out of radio calls so taking out a guard will alert the area unless you spared the one patrolling behind the fence.
We tried to do this one without alerting the police but even with the guard secured a civilian would always escape to alert the cops eventually. This is most likely because of the glass windows and the civilians standing outside who can see in.
Grab as many of the jewels as you can and make an escape. If you want an even bigger haul, throw them back into the scanner in the Jewelry Workshop. You’ll have to signal the helicopter from the roof across where the bathroom is and wait until it arrives. Fight off the cops while throwing the jewels into the specified area before escaping and you’re done.
