This is the guide on how to create the “Mafioso” build for PAYDAY 2. This is my own creation, though there will surely be very similar builds out there. It’s a loud, concealment/dodge-based build, designed with high combat effectiveness and survivability in mind, capable of dispatching every enemy in the game, including bulldozers, with relative ease. The SWAT Van Turret enemy doesn't count, as it’s just better to avoid it. It can also be described as a “Fugiforcer build”. I find that “Mafioso” is kind of overpowered for Overkill and really optimal for Death Wish, as long as you stay true to your enforcer role. If you’re interested in learning more, keep reading for in-depth information and tips.

• You should be level 5-100, with all infamy tiers that decrease point requirements on every skill tree (Technician and Mastermind infamy tiers are not super necessary). Bare minimum would be level 100 pre-infamy, but you will not be able to get all the skills included with the build. Infamy level 3 or 4 is enough I believe.



• You need to have the Rogue Perk Deck fully unlocked, this is a must.


• The weapon mods that will be listed shortly are actually important to have, as this dodge build is based in concealed weapons. Fortunately, you only need 7 or 8 mods.

• You need to join the PAYDAY 2 Community group on Steam to be able to use the Chicago Typewriter SMG.

• Mosconi 12G: A powerful shotgun with massive damage but low magazine capacity. I decided to use it, because of the stopping power, the gameplay style that it has, high concealment when modded, and it combines aesthetically with the Chicago Typewriter to create the “mafioso” look. I did not choose the Joceline because it does not have better concealment. You want to mod it with the Road Warrior Barrel and the Gangsta Special Stock, simply because you get up to 27 concealment value, which is great considering the 193 damage number that this gun has.




• Chicago Typewriter SMG: It might not be the most powerful smg in the game, but it does not require DLC, it has a magazine of 50, 188 ammo pool with Fully Loaded, good rate of fire, very decent damage, relatively fast reload, nice concealment and how could you not be called a “mafioso” when you sport one of these babies? You will need to use the Stubby Barrel, Fire Breather Nozzle, Discrete Foregrip, Discrete Grip and the QD Sling Stock. You can also add a sight that does not increase the detection risk in more than one point, like the Professional’s Choice Sight. This is because the iron sight of the smg is atrocious, but fortunately, the stats of Low Blow and Sneaky Bstrd. will not change if you either have 9 or 10 detection risk.




• Melee: Any melee weapon will suffice in this case, as long as it has a base concealment of 30. But I'll be using the Brass Knucles, to finish the mobster look.



• Armor: The Two-Piece Suit is going to provide us with great mobility and increased dodge chance.

-Endurance Aced: for mobility

-Leadership Aced: because we’ll be using an SMG that is modded for concealment and thus it loses quite a bit of stability. With this skill, we decrease recoil to acceptable levels.

-Dominator Basic: a must have skill to try to get your teammates out of custody.

-Spotter Basic: because the 15% damage bonus against specials is very handy when killing tasers and bulldozers in Death Wish, due to their massive amounts of health.



-Transporter Aced: for bag moving, buy it without second thought.

-Stun Resistance Aced: because when you have an offensive role on the team, you really don’t want to be blind for more than 2 seconds and, in Death Wish, the amount of flashbangs that are thrown is ludicrous.

-Shotgun Impact Aced: with the Mosconi 12G, you will have a whopping 193 damage score.

-Shotgun CQB Basic: when you use the Mosconi, a fast reload is quite necessary due to low magazine capacity.

-Fully Loaded Basic: pretty self explanatory, more ammo = more kills if you place your shots right. I believe that the Aced version is not that useful, because both the Mosconi and the Chicago have decent ammo pickup with Walk in Closet (Perk Deck bonus).

-The next skills were bought as fillers to get to the higher tiers: Die Hard Aced, Underdog Aced, Tough Guy Basic and Pumping Iron Basic. Die Hard and Underdog are useful to some degree.



-Nerves of Steel Basic: I had some leftover points so I bought this skill because it’s really good for general use (drills, doors, saving teammates, etc.) and it is a decent, very low cost substitute for Inspire Aced, because we had no reason to put more points into mastermind, aside from fillers to get to that skill (we don’t use pistols, medbags, assault rifles, or convert police officers).



-Sprinter Aced: incredibly useful for a low tier skill, because of the movement speed and also, you can get up to 68% dodge chance when sprinting.

-Cat Burglar Aced: the Basic version is really useful for not dying when you fall two steps down the stairs, and although the Aced version is not necessary, I needed more points to unlock the forth tier of ghost skills.

-Fast Hands Aced: bag moving again, super useful.

-SMG Specialist Aced: the only skill in the game that affects SMGs directly, high rate of fire and fast reload for the win.

-Shinobi Basic: also for unlocking the forth tier skills, but it actually is very nice to have it, since you will be crouching most of the time for increased dodge and cover. More crouch/walking speed is also good for bag moving when you can’t sprint.

-Nine Lives Basic: since I put a decent quantity of points in Ghost, might as well pick up this one, an extra down when you fulfill the role of the enforcer can increase your survivability and will pair well with Swan Song in Fugitive.



-Hidden Blade Aced: increased concealment for melee weapons is welcome, but also, it gives you a bare minimum to help during a stealthable part of a heist (like Firestarter Day 3, after you went loud on Day 1 and 2).

-Thick Skin Basic: filler skill.

-Run and Gun Aced: the basic version is what I wanted (10% increased movement speed), but I also needed filler points and the rest of the low tier skills in Fugitive are not that appealing

-Duck and Cover Aced: glorious skill for survivability, do not skip this one (58% dodge when crouching).

-Quick Fix Aced: since we are getting 14 minimeds, we might as well have them upgraded (you can put them down twice as fast, which can be a life saver when you are in a pickle).

-Uppers Aced: not much to say, maximum number of minimeds possible, keeps you and your partners going for a long time.

-Swan Song Aced: in the unfortunate event that you get incapacitated (which will happen regularly in Death Wish), you can destroy many enemies close by with infinite ammo for nine seconds. I managed to kill a Black Dozer and a Skulldozer on the same incapacitation several times, protecting the guy with Inspire as he revived the rest of the team. Additionally, both your weapons work really well with this skill (watch for that Mosconi recoil though). You can also perform a last ditch revive on another teammate, since you have spare invincibility time.

-Low Blow Basic: you can occasionally get critical hits on enemies, which are surprisingly powerful. Coupled with the high rate of fire of the SMG, you can deal a lot of damage (aced version only gives you more flexibility regarding concealment).

-Sneaky Bstrd. Basic: you get an extra 8 points of dodge chance on top of the base 40 (we have 9-10 detection risk). It doesn’t seem like much, but in my experience, it helps a lot with avoiding gunfire, especially in Death Wish (aced version only gives you more flexibility regarding concealment).

-Bullseye Basic: I had four spare points and could not find a better place to spend them. It actually serves a purpose though. Since this is a Rogue-Suit dodge build, your armor will be breached regularly, and on Death Wish, that can pose a threat if your dodge chance decides not to help you when you are being shot by fifty policemen at the same time. So if you kill an enemy with a headshot, you will regain a small amount of armor back, which means that you have a small barrier before they start destroying your health again. In a tough situation, it can be a life saver since it complements your dodge, and the only enemy that has armor penetration on you is a sniper.

As with any “fugiforcer” build, your primary concern is to kill cops, and provide suppressive fire to cover your team as they complete objectives. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help with objectives, but if you see your partners in a pickle (like moving bags in Firestarter Days 1/2/3 and getting shot at, or trying to get the cable in Hotline Miami Day 1 in the middle of the assault), you should use your speed, mobility, and firepower to kill the enemies and provide cover. Don’t be afraid of dying, you have 4 downs before you go into custody and you can kill everything in sight with Swan Song. Also, with any dodge build you should never be standing up and not sprinting, you should only sprint or crouch, since dodge is at its peak at those times. Only walk when transporting bags, and if you see your armor reach zero, immediately crouch and/or throw the bag you’re holding, so as to not lose a down haphazardly.

As with any dodge build, your emphasis should be on using your speed to your advantage, using cover often and being intelligent and precise when shooting people. Your Mosconi must be used as a close range powerful weapon and all your shots should be headshots, since with 193 damage, you can kill almost anything with one hit (except tasers and cloakers which require 2, and bulldozers which require a different strategy). Remember to use Spotter on special units, since the 15% damage boost can help you kill them rapidly. When you find yourself unable to reload, or in the middle of police fire without cover, you should use your smg, which can kill Gensec Elite Units (grey cops) and Maximum Force Responders (orange/tan cops) rather quickly with burst fire to the head, taking advantage of the 50 round mag. You want to save your Chicago ammo as much as you can, but don’t let that restrict you to only using the shotgun (prioritize being alive before saving bullets). Always try to burst fire; only spray if you have a lot of cops in the same line of sight. To kill snipers, switch to the smg, enable semi-auto fire and use the sight to shoot accurately. 10 accuracy is not optimal, so take cover when you notice that you’re missing all your shots and ask your crew to take them out for you. If you see your health alarmingly reaching zero, take cover and use your minimeds to recover, but don’t waste them all in the beginning of the heist, since you and your mates will need them.

This build grants you the ability to kill dozers rather easily when using a strategy. When you see a dozer, mark them with Spotter, don’t let them have direct line of sight to you because they can and will kill you. Use your Mosconi to score 2 headshots on the dozer, removing at least the first mask, crouch, switch to the smg and spray directly at his face while at the same time moving to avoid fire and also controlling the recoil of full automatic fire of the Chicago Typewriter. If you score most of your shots you will destroy the bulldozer in seconds, even if you miss the Mosconi shots, which you shouldn’t. Worst case scenario, would be that your dodge fails you and get killed by the dozer. In that case, use either weapon to spray and wreck the enemy with the invulnerability of Swan Song. In Death Wish, usually 2 dozers spawn at the same time, two skull, two black or a combination of both. If you enter Swan Song, try to kill both dozers before incapacitation so that your team can revive you safely.

Like it was said several times before, the primary way of helping your partners is to kill as many enemies as you can, so they will take less damage. Even though this is your main goal, you can support your team by leaving minimeds in strategic points around the map, use Swan Song to clear a whole area of enemies (including dozers) and also perform a last ditch revive on the Inspire guy, using Nerves of Steel. If you die in the middle of the revive, Swan Song will give you enough time to finish it and then you can use the spare to kill enemies and clear the area before you go down (you can also leave a minimed for the Inspire guy so that he doesn’t die again). Additionally, since you bought Nine Lives Basic, you can worry less about dying and also you can use medbags less frequently, leaving more charges for your team.

As with any build in PAYDAY 2, “Mafioso” does have its caveats. Most importantly, you are bound to close-medium range combat. The Mosconi is very powerful at close range, but even in medium range, the damage will decrease substantially. The Chicago is quite effective at close and medium distances, and it would have also been decent at long ranges, if it wasn’t for that low accuracy. Because we modded it for concealment, you won’t be hitting snipers way out in the distance. You can kill the ones in Hoxton Breakout, Hotline Miami Day 2, as long as you use semi-automatic fire, for example.

Although we spent a considerable amount of points in Enforcer, we don’t have upgraded ammo bags, which means that you should rely on your teammates or pick it up from the ground (good ammo pickup can counteract this). Also, another con is that you are only able to bring minimeds to missions. Other, more conventional Death Wish builds have more flexibility in this regard, like a player can bring fully upgraded ammo or meds, upgraded minimeds or c4 with shaped charge, etc. If you like minimeds, and have a team that can bring other useful stuff, then you won’t have a problem.

As a Death Wish viable build, it lacks a very important skill: Inspire Aced, which can become a problem if you only have one player with that skill on your team or none. So, you’ll have to rely on your partners to have Inspire. The good news is that, as you have Nerves of Steel and Swan Song, if you’re the last player standing, you can attempt a last ditch revive on the player which has Inspire Aced, and then he/she can revive the whole team. Finally, since you have Nine Lives, you can strategically use Swan Song to help your team, and only use a medbag when downed 4 times.

No drill skills can be found on this build, which is a bummer but it’s not that bad, considering all the benefits you have against enemies and high survivability. Lastly, a minor caveat is that if you have your Mosconi equipped, and consequently get tased, you have a very small window of opportunity to kill the taser, because of the magazine capacity. So, when near a taser, you should have the Chicago Typewriter on your hands, that way you can at least stun the enemy and avoid going down.

You can slightly alter some of the skills in this build for personal preference. For example, you can skip getting Nine Lives Aced and Bullseye Basic for Overkill Basic in the Enforcer tree, for increased damage with the Mosconi, which can help you deal extra damage to the dozer’s visor and kill tasers and cloakers with one headshot, or you can get some drill skills. You could buy Fully Loaded Aced if you want, but I don’t recommend it, since I think that 8 points don’t justify the small increase in ammo pickup over Walk in Closet. You can also pick up Combat Doctor Aced in Mastermind if you drop Nine Lives, Bullseye and some other skills; not really recommended, but possible.

Finally, users that have DLC can feel free to use this build and modify the SMG choice, like the
Blaster, Patchett L2A1 or de Uzi. It’s also viable to keep the Chicago Typewriter but use the Funnel of Fun Nozzle for increased damage but reduced accuracy (pretty much destroying your medium range combat capabilities).

• Double Bulldozer Destruction:








• Destroying a Taser, Cloaker, Shield and a Sniper:










• Killing a Skulldozer by myself without dying:




(you can see those critical hits doing all the work)

There's a few other builds that I use on a regular basis or have used before very extensibly. I would like to share those as well. I will be adding the links when each one is finished:

• Fugimaster build (the "support" type of build, dodge based)
• Techforcer build (armor based technician that can deal a lot of damage and whistand gunfire extensibly)
• Masterforcer build (armor based enforcer/mastermind, very versatile for Death Wish)

-19/08/2015: Modified dodge value numbers due to the Rogue perk deck nerf.
-22/08/2012: Added the Brass Knucles to the "melee" section.
-27/08/2015: Added the Upcoming Builds section.