1. This guide first and foremost takes into account the primary weapons of Payday 2, since the secondary weapons function almost entirely the same.

2. This guide aims to provide a meaningful and in-depth, yet pallatable and, hopefully, enjoyable reading experience, meant to improve one's basic knowledge of the game, given that Payday 2 itself doesn't quite explain these statistics in sufficient depth.

3. This guide shall be updated at the earliest convenience, and feedback is appreciated for grammatical mistakes, factual errors or changes that have been brought to the game.

The firearms of Payday 2, with a few notable subversions, by and large function similarily to the weapons of other first person shooters, with the basic inventory display covering the following statistics:

• Damage - The absolute lethality of a weapon, and the first factor in determining its efficiency.
  
• Accuracy - How close to the center of the screen the weapon fires, with higher values being desirable.
  
• Stability - How much recoil is felt when firing the weapon.
  
• Threat - The probability of a weapon suppressing enemies through sustained fire.
  
• Concealment - How visible the weapon is when having it equipped. Mainly affects detection rate.
  
• Total Ammo - The maximum number of rounds the player can carry for the respective weapon.
  
• Magazine - The maximum number of shots the player can fire successively before being forced to reload the weapon.
  
• Rate of Fire - How quickly the weapon can fire, whether fully automatic or in single, repeated shots. Measured in Rounds per Minute.

As an example, an unmodified AK rifle is shown, with serviceable damage (slightly boosted by an upgraded perk deck), mediocre accuracy, acceptable stability, mediocre concealment and average threat.

Additional weapon statistics, such as reload speed and recoil values, are provided by the BLT mod "Better Weapon Stats". Visit the "Viewing advanced and hidden Stats" section for other recommended mods.

The damage stat is additively improved through most weapon mods (flat increase), and multiplicatively improved through certain Skills and Perk Decks (eg. 35% more damage means 135% of current damage), and bonuses can stack. However, while it is reasonable to assume that higher Damage values are better, Payday 2's enemies feature so-called "breakpoints" which are commonly targeted to maximize ammo efficiency, and to allow for further tweaking of other weapon stats without sacrificing performance.

The need for hitting these breakpoints becomes apparent when confronting the Maximum Force Responder (MFR) enemy, shown to the right, which forms the bulk of the opposing police assault force on Overkill (OVK) difficulty, as well as the GENSEC Elites, which are exclusive to the highest difficulty, Deathwish (DW) and are shown below.

Because the MFR features brown/tan chest plate armor that completely nullifies damage from the front (earning the nickname "tans" in the process), and additionally has 200 hitpoints (340 on DW) with a 2x multiplier from headshot damage (1.5x on DW), a player is therefore expected to have their desired Perk Deck upgraded to its 8th or 9th card (to include Helmet Popping - 25% additional headshot damage, and Fast and Furious - an additional 5% damage with all firearms), and wield a weapon capable of at least 40 damage (including skills and F&F).


The reasoning behind this is that
40*2=80*1.25=100,
thus ensuring that the player can dispatch of the MFR with two clean headshots, saving up ammunition in the long run and providing the optimal compromise between damage and practicality.

Another common breakpoint that has arisen especially due to Update 79's changes is 80, because it allows to neutralize MFRs with one headshot instead of two. The benefits are notable, though more care is needed when wielding 80+ damage capable weapons - they most likely have less available ammunition and penalize missed shots worse than 40~ damage weapons.

Enemy breakpoint values have been greatly simplified, so all of the above is outdated information. The new damage breakpoint values are as follow:

• One-hit Headshot kills for Tans on Overkill and below: 64 DMG
  
• One-hit Headshot kills for Tans on Mayhem and Deathwish: 384 DMG, and 192 DMG for two shots
  
• One-hit Headshot kills for Tans on One Down: 576 DMG, and 288 DMG for two shots

Accuracy is displayed in steps of 4, meaning the inventory always shows a multiple of 4 for this particular stat. In addition, weapon mods and relevant skills directly improve the stat by, again, multiples of 4. This is because of the indexing system for accuracy, where +/-1 on the table equates to +/-4 shown accuracy.

Essentially, your weapon accuracy is actually a function of spread (in degrees), which works as follows:

2*(1-accuracy/100)=initial spread in degrees

Thus, the higher your accuracy, the lower your spread from the center of the screen.

In addition, Payday 2 features a stance system, where your final spread is further multiplied depending on if you're aiming down sights, crouching or moving. Since the statistics across the board have been standardized, the following "stance values" are used for most assault rifles:

• Using Bipod: 0.625
  
• Crossbow: 3.1
  
• Crouching, stationary: 2.2
  
• Standing, moving or crouching movement: 4
  
• Aiming down sights: 0.8

For instance, here is a modified M308 Rifle, which boasts very high damage and impressive accuracy. The "More Weapon Stats" mod allows one to view the precise spread values for the main stances, moving or otherwise - in this M308's case, 96 accuracy equates to 0.10 degree spread before stance modifiers, meaning it is, for all intents and purposes, near-perfectly accurate at all but the most ridiculous of ranges.


On the other hand, shotguns, like the Steakout 12G pictured above, work somewhat differently from the other weapons. Because shotguns

• fire multiple pellets with one trigger pull;
  
• deal the specified damage, at close range, if only one pellet hits the target;
  
• do not deal increased damage if multiple pellets hit the same target,

it is counterproductive to increase accuracy and waste the main selling point of the weapon class - their crowd control ability, or otherwise known as collateral kills. Despite this, very low values work similarily against the player, because the spray of pellets becomes too spaced out and hits too far away from the center to be used at any ranges past point blank.

Stability is an inverse "Recoil" rating, which means that the higher this value, the less recoil is felt by the shooter. Like accuracy, the stability rating is changed through multiples of 4 before skills are factored. Recoil is measured in the scale of the spread and is, similarily, measured by the function:
0.5 + 2.5*(1-stability/100).

In other words, 0 stability = 3* base recoil, 80 stability = 1* base recoil and 100 stability = 0.5* base recoil.

This modified Lebensauger .308 Sniper Rifle boasts high damage and accuracy, but below average stability and, hence, a higher recoil multiplier to the base values. Vertical recoil can reach up to 10.08 degrees, making its higher rate of fire in comparison to other rifles difficult to properly utilize without practice.

Nevertheless, semi-automatic only (most secondary Pistols, most Shotguns, some Sniper Rifles) or defaulted weapons (M308 Rifle), while they do benefit from increased stability, can be compensated for much easier than fully automatic weapons by spacing out shots.

Detection Risk is tied to the total Concealment of your primary weapon, secondary weapon, melee weapon and armor. If the total Concealment reaches 119 or more, the Detection Risk is at the minimum value of 3. Conversely, at 91 or less total Concealment, Detection Risk hits the maximum of 75.

Detection Risk affects the distance at which civilians, guards and cameras start noticing you, as well as the value at which the detection meter starts (eg. with 35 concealment, once something starts detecting you, the meter starts from a third of the way to maximum).

Additionally, crouching noticeably reduces the detection range, while sprinting makes it easier for enemies to spot you from a distance.

Concealment mostly affects the stealth stage of the heists, though it can also come in handy in loud stages, provided the right skills are equipped.

This AK rifle has been modified to the absolute highest concealment possible, which is 26 for this particular weapon. At this level, with the most inconspicuous secondaries and melee weapons available (many Pistols and the Weapon Butt, respectively), as well as with the Two Piece Suit and the skill "Hidden Blade", unlocked early in the Fugitive Tree, a Detection Risk of 3 can be easily achieved, at the same time aiding stealth (less visible to enemies and cameras) and loud (if the Fugitive skills, "Low Blow" and "Sneaky Bast ard" are chosen) to the fullest extent.

Total Ammo represents the maximum number of carried rounds for your weapon, typically a multiple of the standard magazine capacity. Unlike most other first person shooters, Payday 2's firearms draw from the Total Ammo pool as soon as they are fired. This works to the player's advantage most of the time, as they can fire the entirety of the magazine while keeping almost fully stocked up, provided they maneuver and collect the ammo drops from fallen enemies.

Additionally, ammo pickup is directly proportional to the Total Ammo count, with the exeption of the Vulcan Minigun and Flamethrower (fake 90 ammo for pickup purposes), HRL-7 and OVE9000 Saw (no pickup at all):

• Between 1% and 3.5% of the base total ammo without either Fully Loaded Aced or Walk-In Closet;
  
• Between 1.35% and 4.725%, with Walk-In Closet;
  
• Between 1.75% and 6.125%, with Fully Loaded Aced.

Note that Fully Loaded Aced overrides the Walk-In Closet bonus, meaning your pickup rate is only increased by 40% (135% -> 175%).

DMR Kits for Assault Rifles reduce the ammo pickup rate and cancel out both the aced Fully Loaded skill (though they still benefit from the extra carried ammo to a degree) and the Walk-In Closet perk card.

Magazine (or clip, in some Rifles and Pistols) size dictates how many rounds can be continuously fired without requiring a reload. Reloading an empty magazine is almost always slower than reloading a partially empty magazine, so care should be taken not to fully empty it.

Rate of Fire, measured in Rounds per Minute, dictates how many times you can fire a weapon at the fastest possible speed. This stat can not be increased through modifications, though two skills, the Mastermind's aced "Gun Nut" and the Enforcer's aced "Close By", boost the rate of fire to all Pistols and hipfired non-automatic shotguns, respectively.

This RPK Light Machine Gun, while fairly unstable and inaccurate, compensates for these shortcomings by offering a large magazine size, an impressive total ammo count, high rate of fire and a very generous ammo pickup, making it very sustainable in close quarters maps or fights.

Threat governs the chance to suppress enemies and force them to take cover through sustained fire. The formula for suppression is defined as threat + 2, with the maximum suppression being 45 (at 43 threat).

An unspecified change in the 95.6 hotfix update has made the "Disturbing the Peace" perk from the Muscle deck benefit from increasing threat, giving up to 75% chance of causing panic at 43 threat (maximum). Panic temporarily disables enemies (except Specials) for several seconds, similar to the effect of ECM Feedback. While Panic and Threat can be situationally useful for crowd control, relying upon them is not ideal.

Payday 2 offers both weapon modifications and skills to help you improve weapons and either specialize into a particular playstyle and weapon family, or generalize and improve across the board with all weapons.

As a rule of thumb,

• Most suppressors reduce damage, directly (flat decrease) or indirectly (no decrease but lose opportunity to boost through other barrel extensions) and concealment in exchange for stability, accuracy (in the case of "The Bigger The Better" suppressor, or with the Ghost's aced "The Professional") and completely nullifying weapon firing sounds;
  
• Suppressors are distinguished on the weapon mods overview through the diagonally oriented symbol in place of the horizontally oriented compensator/other extension symbol;
  
• The only mods to affect Total Ammo are certain custom shotgun ammunition, Luxurious Ammo Pouch for the Joceline 12G, DMR Kits for the AK/CAR rifle family and the Gewehr 3, the unique "I'll Take Half That Kit" mod for the Vulcan Minigun, the Assault Kit for the Gewehr 3 rifle, and the unique "Rare/Medium/Well Done" magazine mods for the Flamethrower;
  
• No mods affect Rate of Fire;
  
• There are a number of performance "Boosts" available, which normally give a choice between small increases to Concealment, Stability, Accuracy or a small boost to Team Rewards upon finishing heists - these boosts can be awarded either through the Offshore Payday, as a Card Reward upon completing a heist, or by completing Monthly Side Jobs;
  
• Despite the final weapon Concealment appearing as 0, any further mods decreasing the Concealment value below 0 continue having an effect on Detection Rating;
  
• A serviceable, loud Assault Rifle build looks as follows:
  Damage reaching 40, good Accuracy and decent Stability.

As a rule of thumb,

• The "Sharpshooter" tree in the Mastermind skill set offers bonuses to Assault Rifles and SMGs set to semi-auto mode, whether by changing the firing mode manually or via locking through the custom mods, and while standing still. These bonuses include: greater accuracy and stability, faster reloading upon killing enemies with a headshot, and refunding ammo upon dealing headshot damage to enemies;
  
• The "Shotgunner" tree in the Enforcer skill set offers bonuses to shotguns, including: faster reloading, higher damage, greater accuracy and effective range while aiming down sights, hipfire while sprinting, increased magazine size for the IZHMA and Steakout 12G shotguns, higher rate of fire for non-automatic shotguns while hipfiring and a hefty damage bonus upon killing an enemy;
  
• The "Ammo Specialist" tree in the Enforcer skill set offers bonuses to ammo pickup, including: greater ammo box pickup range, extra ammo pickups every 6th kill, improved ammo bags, higher ammo capacity and higher pickup rate for all weapons;
  
• The "Oppressor" tree in the Technician skill set offers bonuses to Assault Rifles, SMGs, LMGs and Special weapons set to full-auto mode, whether by changing the firing mode manually or via locking through the custom mods. These bonuses include: greater accuracy and stability, improved hipfire accuracy, faster reloading upon killing two enemies, larger magazines for LMGs, SMGs and Assault Rifles, 100% piercing chance towards Tan armor and a partial, permanent headshot multiplier applied to every enemy except Bulldozers;
  
• The "Silent Killer" tree in the Ghost skill set offers bonuses to any suppressed weapons, including: negating up to 2 points of the Concealment penalty from attached suppressors, suppressed barrels or foregrips and granting 1 Concealment per equipped suppressed weapon, increased accuracy and stability and increased damage;
  
• The "Gunslinger" tree in the Fugitive skill set offers bonuses to handguns, whether single or Akimbo. These bonuses include: faster equipping and holstering speeds, increased accuracy, increased magazine sizes for non-revolvers, increased rate of fire, reduced Akimbo stability penalty and increased Akimbo ammo pool, faster reload speed and increased damage.

Accomplishing this goal is the Payday BLT mod, More Weapon Stats[paydaymods.com], which displays the normally unseen reload timers, absolute spread and recoil values, as well as damage drop-off distances for shotguns.

The "More Weapon Stats" mod requires the Payday 2 BLT[paydaymods.com] to work. Both mods update automatically, and are usually compatible with most Payday 2 updates.

Special thanks to Frankelstner's "The Long Guide" for explaining in detail the mechanics of Payday 2; KarateF22 for creating the (sadly no longer supported) Better Weapon Stats GUI interface modification; TDLQ for creating the More Weapon Stats[paydaymods.com] interface modification; the creators of Last Bullet Gaming[forums.lastbullet.net]; and Overkill Software ish.

Thank you for reading this guide. Whether it has been helpful or not, please remember to rate it accordingly. Any suggestions and feedback are welcome.

Keep those helmets flying!