Cook Off (Payday 3) (2024)

Cook Off is a legacy heist in PAYDAY 3.

After the “Turbid Station” heist, Locke makes the gang cook a recipe of meth known for its purity that had resurfaced in the East Coast after being off the market for years.

Backstory[]

An old brand of meth, known for its purity, has returned to the market. The supply chain has been tracked in a lab upstate, and the PAYDAY gang will need to raid the lab so they can sell the drugs themselves. The lab is under heavy guard, and these raids never stop.

How do you turn a crack house into a crack home? While ‘meth home’ would probably be more appropriate, someone tried turning this once disgusting den of debauchery into something livable. As such, the Cook Off house has gotten a few well needed renovations over the years. But once a drug den, always a drug den it seems.

The Cook Off house is the second ‘loud only’ heist in PAYDAY 3, following the footsteps of its predecessor. One difference in the new Cook Off is that it is not endless, the maximum number of bags possible is now capped at 19. The visuals of this heist have seen even more obvious changes over Turbid Station, though it’s still hauntingly recognizable to experienced heisters.

Mission Briefing[]

Description[]

This job might give some of you déjà vu. An old brand of meth, known for it's purity, has returned to the market. Locke tracked the supply chain to a lab upstate, and he wants us to raid the house so we can sell the drugs ourself.

Its Grimier than our recent work, but if things go south, we know you can handle it. Be ready for a fight, though. The lab will be under heavy guard, and based on your past experiences, these little raids never go as planned.

Locke's Contractor Dialogue[]

Remember that meth you stole for Hector Morales back in the day? That recipe's been off the market for years, but it's made a resurgence on the East Coast. I tracked the supply chain to a lab in upstate New York. You chops are old hats at raiding these little sh*tholes! Go in, bag up some drugs, and we'll sell them for a nice profit! Some gangster-types have the house under heavy guard; I don't think stealth is an option here. Be ready to take the goods by Force.

Hovering over the Heist[]

• Locke's found another job for us, might give some of you déjà vu...
• If things go south when we hit this meth lab, at least we know you can handle it.
• This Heist might be a bit grimier than our recent jobs, but drug money is still money.

Challenges[]

Difficulty Challenges[]

Repeat Offender Challenges[]

Misc. Challenges[]

Differences from PAYDAY 2[]

• The heist will now start out in stealth; the police have taken the gangsters into custody and are questioning them, allowing the crew more access to the house for a wider stakeout of ingredients. Confronting the police in the room of the lab will end stealth, prompt backup to arrive, and let the crew start cooking.
  • Every single cop in the house can be dominated, and the alarm will not set off. It will only go off once the lab has been entered.
• The maximum amount of bags is capped at 19, rather than the heist being endless.
  • A final charge will trigger after cooking the 10th bag, significantly increasing the difficulty.
• The meth now has three stages of value once it finishes cooking:
  • Meth: The meth will start out white with average value. [About 55,000 on Normal]
  • Pure Meth: After being left for around 20 seconds, it will turn blue, yielding maximum value. [About 69,000 on Normal]
  • Burnt Meth: If the meth is left too long after turning pure (12 seconds), it will burn, becoming significantly less valuable. [About 41,000 on Normal]
• A garage has been added to the driveway area. It contains more ingredients and cabinets with ammo and/or armor plates. The pickup truck with ingredients that was previously in the driveway was has been moved inside.
• The basem*nt has been made slightly smaller to accommodate for the garage, and there are stairs connecting the two areas.
  • The meth lab may spawn here, in addition to the original spawns on the first and second floor.
  • Windows have been added to the basem*nt on the stair side of the basem*nt.
  • The basem*nt windows can now be boarded up.
• The police cutting the power will now stop the cooking process.
• Scaffolding has been added to some of the outer areas of the building, allowing for more verticality and another method of accessing the top floor.
• The top floor and basem*nt are now under construction.
• The crew can now spawn in both escape van spots, rather than just one.
• Shade will instantly correct herself on a wrong ingredient, as opposed to Bain taking a few seconds to confirm or correct it.
• The van will not leave until the minimum 3 bags are secured, after which it will continue driving in and out as usual.

Strategies[]

Basem*nt Lab[]

If you find enough planks, you can barricade all of the windows to the basem*nt, making it harder for cops to get easy shots on you. Sentry guns are a good call for the basem*nt location, as with boarded windows, the doors are the only way in. Be warned that the Basem*nt is extremely vulnerable to Nader gas, and can flush everyone away from the lab. The Basem*nt is the Ideal location for the meth lab.

First Floor Lab[]

Barricading locations for the first floor lab should be determined by the location of the labs power. You can store your bags in the bathtub as they are in close proximity to the lab, and in turn, in close proximity to you/whoever is near the lab, letting you stop the pesky cops from taking your hard cooked goods. Because it's above ground, snipers have sightlines on the lab at all times because of the side door, so make sure you kill them. The First Floor is an okay location for the lab.

Second Floor Lab[]

Barricade any windows besides the windows to the side roof because you will be able to toss bags down to your friendly heisters running the goods to the van. The second story is the perfect location for the zipline bag. Because it is the second floor, snipers have major sightlines on you and the lab, and cops that land on the roof will gain immediate access to you. The Second Floor will give you trouble when trying to maintain an eye on the Power Switch, especially if it is located in the Basem*nt. Cloakers can also spawn up here just to the left of the lab, so be careful when cooking. The second floor is a less than ideal location for the lab.

General Advice[]

The van will not leave until you secure at least 3 bags. After you secure your 3 bags, you have 30 seconds to a minute before he speeds off. Because of this, you can cook all of your bags but never secure any of them until they are all done. A Zipline Bag is recommended to perform this strategy, as moving 19 bags in the open will leave you vulnerable to being sniped or disabled.

The Transporter skill line is a very good choice due to the bag heavy nature of the heist. Negotiator allows extra medkits from hostage trades; up to 6 with the "More Hostages" asset used. Menacing is also useful when combined with skills from the manipulator skill line, as it provides the crew a steady source of health and armor repair kits between assault waves (this does not apply beyond the 10th bag). Intentionally going into custody is also a good strategy during the endless assault as long as the player is not holding an Overkill weapon (see bugs section), however this is not an option in solo runs and harder on runs with less crew members. It may also be advisable to keep a hostage or 2 near the lab to prevent it from being gassed by a Nader.

It may also be advisable to not pick up any ingredients until all 3 in your inventory have been used up. This can allow you to quickly add the last ingredient without having to wait for Shade, or allow you to use the process of elimination for the Second ingredient. For example, if you have Muriatic Acid and Caustic Soda, if Shade calls for Muriatic Acid but doesn't confirm it (I.E "Hold up!" or "f*ck me, that wasn't right."), it's most likely Caustic Soda, although sometimes Shade may not speak correctly (See bugs). This strategy is best when there is another or multiple other player(s) in the lobby, as this requires you to run around a bunch which may mean you will result in burnt meth.

Power Switch[]

The Power Switch has 5 possible spawn locations.

• The right side of the Shed in-front of the house.
• To the right of the house, under the stairs that connect to the scaffolding.
• Right of the door on the Shed out-back of the house.
• On the front of the house, on the side of the entrance poking out.
• In the Garage, to the left of the Supply lockers.

When a cop attempts to cut the power, they will be highlighted and an icon will appear letting you and other heisters know. It takes cops about 1-2 seconds to cut the power once they begin interacting with the switch. A majority of these switches are in blind spots of certain labs, and as there isn't much time to react to this icon/highlight, especially when playing solo, methods to detect or delay the police from cutting the power can be useful when trying to cook faster. This means Microcams/Motion sensors to detect, and Infrasonic Mines to delay. The HET-5 Red Fox may prove useful to wallbang any cops attempting to flip the power, as well.

Other[]

Techie Locations[]

The Techie is capable of hunkering down in 3 locations.

• In the Garage, just to the left of the Supply Lockers.
• On the Right Side of the street, behind a destroyed car.
• On the Left Side of the Street, behind some pallets.

The Techie, in all 4 spots, is greatly vulnerable to being wallbanged by the HET-5 Red Fox Overkill Weapon. Drones deployed by the Techie can come from a Vent/Duct on the Second Floor, or from behind the fence in the back of the house. The cramped space makes the Techie an important target to kill ASAP, as her drones can pile up and cause a severe annoyance. Boarding up windows can also prove useful to funnel her drones into areas you can control them better.

Miscellaneous[]

• The FBI Van spawns outside of the walkable area. It's locations can be behind the fence at the back of the house, and it can be behind the fence to the right of the house.
• The generic favors spawn near the player's spawn point. It is up against the outer fence, and will highlight if you get closer.
  • These favors are the, Ammo Bag, Armor Bag, Medic Bag, and Zipline Bag.
  • The Zipline Bag can be deployed from the lip on the second story of the house, or just behind where the bag spawns.
• Meth turns pure after 20 seconds of being left.
• Pure meth burns after 12 seconds of being left.
  • Both of these timers are paused when the power is turned off, but unpaused when it's turned back on.

References to Pop Culture[]

• The challenge "I am the one who knocks" is a reference to Breaking Bad
• There is a Pizza on the roof, a reference to an iconic scene in Breaking Bad
• The Blue-ish tinted meth is most likely a reference to Breaking Bad, as Blue Meth gained popularity after the show.

Insider Assets/Favors[]

Faster Supplies[]

Bile's delivery time after lighting the flare is reduced from 1 minute to 35 seconds. This allows you to cook bags faster, and in turn, reduce the amount of time the cops have the ability to kill you during. Pairs great with Longer Purity Window.

More Hostages[]

Adds 3 civilians to the Garage. With the Negotiator Skill, you can get 6 extra First Aid Kits or Armor Kits. Very useful on Overkill where health is not only very limited, but an important resource.

Permanent Escape Van[]

The escape van will not leave. This favor is not as useful, as the driver won't leave until you put at least 3 bags in the van anyway, so you can just wait until all bags are cooked and then bring them to the van.

Longer Purity Window[]

This is the perfect favor for solo players. It increases the burn time from 12 seconds, to 18 seconds. While unlisted, the favor also increases the rate at which meth purifies. It reduces the time from 20 seconds, to just 12 seconds. A great asset on it's own and when paired with Faster Supplies.

Trivia[]

• Similar to Bain, Shade struggles to estimate whether the ingredients needed to be used are correct or not. This is because she is relying on an old guide Bain had written prior to the Payday gang's retirement.
  • According to Shade's dialogue, it seems one of the reasons why Bain struggled to get accurate instructions to cooking meth was because Bain's old guide was, ironically, poorly written (despite mentioning that some of the unreliable instructions were from the deep web), making constant mistakes (such as referring to hydrogen chloride as hydroxide) or using ambiguous terminology (such as "gas it up" when referring to hydrogen chloride).
    • Shade will, in a bout of frustration, ask whether Bain himself was "high on meth" when writing the instructions.

Gallery[]

Bugs[]

• If a player goes into custody while holding an Overkill weapon, the game will crash for the entire crew.
• AI teammates rarely ever pathfind into the bathroom, meaning if you get disabled by a Cloaker inside of it, it will most likely down you.
  • If you go down/get cuffed in the bathroom they will still come and rescue you.
• If you stand in the corner between the bathtub and the wall facing the entrance to the house, Cloakers can disable you.
  • When disabled by a Cloaker through this wall, only the first kick will do damage to you. The rest of the attacks will not hurt you.
• Shade can rarely call out incorrect ingredients and not correct herself until the next line.
  • Shade may also confirm an incorrect ingredient as true if this happens.
• The Escape Van can rarely bug out and not return after leaving, requiring a restart.