Payday 2 never ceases to offer players different ways to play the game with various perks, skills, weapons, etc. The Perk Deck System implemented in Payday 2 allows players to benefit from their playstyle, and each one of them will change how a player should approach a situation in a match, which makes this game so loved even years after release.
Some perks will allow players to build their loadouts around tanky gear, stats, stealth, melee, and more. For this article, we will cover everything related to the Stoic Perk Deck and how to build a proper stoic build in Payday 2 around this perk.
The Stoic perk will give you some health regeneration passive abilities and abilities that will make all the damage you take not get applied immediately. Playing with this Perk Deck can be tricky, so in this guide, we will cover the best skills, weapons, and equipment for this.
Overview of our Stoic Build for Payday 2
The Stoic perk might require patience and time to master, as timing is very important for a stoic build in Payday 2. This perk requires players to push in the right moment and retreat when needed to recover the damage lost over time. Stoic allows damage to be ignored and deals the pending damage over time.
Using this perk will replace the player throwable with the Hip Flask. This item will negate the damage supposed to be taken over time. This build was made around an LMG build, but it can also be built around shotguns based on your playstyle.
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What is the Stoic Perk Deck, and how to build it in Payday 2?
The Stoic is a Perk Deck focused on a player’s survivability, allowing damage to be negated and dealt with over time. This characteristic can let players tank many enemies and take a lot of damage. Remember that this perk will still take the pending damage, so knowing when to retreat is fundamental to succeed with this build.
Virtue
This skill unlocks a Stoic’s Hip Flask that reduces damage by 75%. Any damage taken will be applied over time (12 seconds). It is recommended for players to stay on cover after using it because every enemy killed while it’s charging will increase the cooldown.
Un-moved
This perk will convert the armor carried by the player into health; whatever amount of protection the armor offers will be eliminated and added to the health.
Calm
If the player doesn’t take damage for 4 seconds, any pending damage will be completely negated.
Imperturbable
When the player’s health is below 35%, the cooldown of the Hip Flask will be reduced by 2 seconds for each enemy you kill instead of 1 second.
Enduring
When the damage over time is negated, the player will be healed for an additional 50% of the pending damage.
Best Skills for Stoic Build in Payday 2
For skills, we focused on the ones that improve player self-sustainability.
Mastermind
This set of skills will benefit player survivability by adding and lowering the deployment time of first aid kits and doctor bags, reviving teammates from a distance, and damage reduction for the action.
- Combat Medic
- Quick Fix
- Uppers
- Inspired
- Forced Friendship
- Joker
- Hostage Taker
These last three skills will allow the player to have NPCs meat shields. Also, having Hostage Taker Aced will enable the player to regenerate 4.5% health every 5 seconds if they have a hostage or converted law enforcer.
Enforcer
Enforcer only has a few skills that will help the player to reduce damage when performing certain actions and buffing player damage in specific situations.
- Underdog
- Resilience
- Die Hard
For a Shotgun build, you would need to ACE overkill which will make shotguns extremely lethal.
Technician
This set of skills will allow the player to have better accuracy, more ammo, and kill heavy enemies easier. The LMGs will significantly benefit from this skill set as their penetration and ammo increase.
- Steady Aim
- Fire Control
- Surefire
It is optional, but Acing Body Expertise is a good idea to apply headshot damage to anybody’s part when using a full auto weapon.
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Ghost
Ghost skills will allow players with stamina, dodge, critical hits, and agility in general.
- Parkour
- Sneaky Bastard
- Optical Illusions
- Low Blow
- Duck and Cover
Fugitive
These skills will buff your pistol damage and capabilities and increase bleed-out health by 50%
- Nine Lives (Aced will give one life to the player before going into custody)
- Trigger Happy
- Equilibrium
Best Weapons and Equipment for a Stoic Build in Payday 2
For weapons, we will focus on the ones that can help you take special enemies easier and deal with big groups of enemies. Shotguns are also a great option, but for this build, we will focus on LMGs and a Shotgun as a secondary
Primary Weapon – KSP Light Machine Gun
For this build, we recommend having the KSP Light Machine Gun since it will benefit significantly from the Surefire, Steady Grip, and Fire Control skills we recommended.
Base Stats
- Magazine: 200
- Total Ammo: 400
- Rate of Fire: 909
- Damage: 80
- Accuracy: 48
- Stability: 28
- Concealment: 1
Reload Time: 5.6
Attachments
- Long Barrel
- Stubby Compensator
- Stability Boost
- Rail Foregrip
- LED Combo
- Standard Stock
Secondary Weapon – The Judge Shotgun
The Judge Shotgun is hands down one of the best, if not the best secondary in the whole game, and it won’t let you down with your Stoic build. This shotgun offers excellent damage and can be helpful in close-range combat.
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Base Stats
- Magazine: 5
- Total Ammo: 35
- Rate of Fire: 500
- Damage: 155
- Accuracy: 52
- Stability: 28
- Concealment: 29
- Reload Time: 2.3
Attachments
- 00 Buckshot
- Stubby Compensator
- Stability Boost
Melee Weapon – Electrical Brass Knuckles
Other options can replace this melee weapon, but it is a personal favorite. It does 30 and has a very good charge time. It also electrocutes and interrupts enemy actions. The Electrical Brass Knuckles can be helpful against enemies that unexpectedly get too close to you. This is also a fantastic item to base a Payday 2 melee build on.
Equipment – First Aid Kit
First Aid Kit will significantly benefit from the Quick Fix and Uppers skill by providing more First Aid Kits and time to deploy.
Armor – Heavy Ballistic Vest
The Heavy Ballistic Vest offers players 70 armor which will be translated to health. Since this is a build with an LMG, players will benefit from this. If you want more movement speed, feel free to grab a Lightweight Ballistic Vest and build it around movement speed. Yet, we definitely aren’t going for as much agility as we’d need on a Payday 2 dodge build.
Conclusion to Our Payday 2 Stoic Build Guide
Stoic can be extremely fun to use, and it became one of the community favorites when it got first released a few years ago. It can be tricky as it requires players to know when to make moves, but with patience and game knowledge, this can be one of the best builds a player can experience in Payday 2.
Do not forget to visit our other articles where we cover other Payday topics, such as our guide to the Best Payday 2 Stealth Build in 2023. Stealth heists are one of the most challenging types of heists to pull off in the game, but they can be very fun and exciting!
For other great loadouts, check out our survey of the best builds in Payday 2. The list will surely inspire you to try out some new weapon/perk combos.
Good Luck, Good Heist!
