Payday 3 Dirty Ice stealth heist guide (solo)

Here’s our guide on how to solo stealth run the Payday 3 Dirty Ice heist.

One of Payday 3’s heists involves a classic jewellery store robbery. Like something you’d expect from a film in the Oceans franchise, you can get through this heist through crafty use of hacking, infiltration, and a silenced pistol here and there.

Most cases you won’t actually have to kill anybody, meaning you can attempt this as a pacifist, though it is considerably harder that way. We’d also recommend trying out our best stealth build in Payday 3, which will give you a pretty good chance of making it easy, though in reality we completed this mission without having to gear up with it.

We found out that one of the best ways to level up fast in Payday 3 is through speed-running the Dirty Ice heist. Once you’re familiar with how to stealth the mission, you should check out how to quickly get levels in the game.

How to solo stealth the Dirty Ice heist in Payday 3

The Dirty Ice heist was a personal favourite of mine during my review of the game. While not ground-breaking or overtly iconic some of the other heists, there was still something particularly rewarding with such a simple level. Especially following on from Road Rage, which while great for farming money, is pretty stale and action focused.

When you load up Dirty Ice for the first time, it’s a good idea to head into the Ashton Fine jewellery shop and have a look around. You’re going to spot the manager, dressed in blue, and a handful of guards protecting the jewels. There’s also a few doors, most of which are protected by a guard and a keycard or QR code.

Seemingly impenetrable though there’s always a way in.

How to open the QR code locks in Dirty Ice

Outside of the shop, there’s two options to get inside. On the left is a large fence with a guard patrolling behind it. On the right, there’s a little alleyway reachable by some stairs. There’s another guard patrolling behind this gate here, alongside a security camera. Just to the right of this alley is another, this time a store worker is faffing around in front of some crates. Head over here and pick up the mobile phone that’s on the crates. If you can’t see if, instead circle back to the alley on the left of the shop.

When the guard’s back is turned, lockpick your way in. Steal the blue keycard from his back pocket and pick up the phone on the floor at the end of the alley. It should be next to a white car.

You should now have the Blue Keycard and a QR Code scanned from the phone. You’re going to need both of these to get inside the backrooms of the jewellery store.

How to get into the Dirty Ice manager’s office

Head back over to the underground alleyway. You’re going to need to wait until the guard has his back turned, then pick the lock. You’re also going to need to avoid the security camera. Once you’re in the alley, wait until the guard enters the doors. Then, you can follow him inside making sure not to get caught. You’re going to use the QR code to get inside.

Inside, you’ll be at the bottom of some stairs. Avoid getting caught by the guard sometimes patrolling, and head upstairs towards the back of the shop. Inside, you’re going to look for the manager’s office. There will be a door on the left leading to it, though you’re going to need to evade a camera, guard, and civilian to get inside – alongside lockpicking your way in.

You can kill the guard and take the civilian hostage, hiding them both in the manager’s office. This actually makes this a little easier as you can do less sneaking around. Make sure to answer the radio to alleviate any suspicion.

Once you’re in the manager’s office, you’re going to find a computer and a phone. Take the QR code and interact with the PC. You’ll find an email stating the basement code’s location, usually on the whiteboard in the staffroom. There’s going to be a phone in staffroom, and one in the bathroom too. Make sure to pick all of these up.

Payday 3 Dirty Ice codes

How to get into the Dirty Ice basement

Head over to the staffroom and avoid the security guard, camera, and worker that might spot you (if you haven’t neutralised them already). On the staffroom white board you’re going to see the “wifi code” which is thankfully also going to double up as the basement code. Remember to note this down, as you’re going to need to remember it to get into the level’s penultimate area.

Now, you’re ready to head into the basement. At this point, you’re probably going to want to put your mask on and start taking out guards. We’d recommend using a silenced pistol for this, though you can always make use of lures and alike to get into the power room.

The blue keycard will let you into the room with the security guard, and killing him will stop you from having to worry about cameras. There’s another guard patrolling the main area in the basement – take care of him too. Now you’re free to roam around the basement, where you will find a utility room.

Inside is a safe, a power switch, and a red key card. Pick up the keycard if it’s there, crack the safe, and turn off the power. Inside the safe you’ll find documents informing you of the jewellery shop’s sinister activities, and you’ll want that for certain. You’re going to use this to blackmail the manager into opening the vault, so make sure you do that.

How to get into the Dirty Ice vault

Head over to the VIP showroom to activate the next quest marker, then head back to the manager’s office. You’re going to be able to call her on the phone and blackmail her, then get her to come and press the button to the vault. You’re going to use the red keycard after throwing her into the button, and you’ll have access to the jewel in the vault.

How to get into the Jewellery Workshop in Dirty Ice

Now, you’re going to be able to head into the VIP showroom with the manager and throw her into the locked door’s biometric scanner. She’ll unlock the workshop.

How to clean jewellery in Dirty Ice

You can use to remove the tags from the jewellery. You’re going to do this over and over to the jewellery, before loading it up in the van. You’ve now looted the back of the store and the jewels – the next step is to shoot up the front of shop and take the rest of the jewellery. You’re going to need to be quick with this, and having teammates will help to remove the tags from the jewellery. You’re going to be able to do it all pretty quickly if you kill the guards and take hostages in the front. Make sure nobody escapes, or you’ll have a police assault to content with.

You can open up this window on the top floor which takes you onto the roof. You can use it to escape, or you can run down and out of the back doors.

Escape, and call it a day with your bounty. Or, get ready to go loud.

How to get the maximum payout in Dirty Ice

Now that you’ve finished stealthing Dirty Ice and you’ve got all of the bags from there – you’re going to be able to go loud and get the rest of the money.

Before you do this though, you’re going to want to have made sure you’ve already looted and collected all of the bags from the back of the store. Ideally, before you mask up, you’re going to close all of the security shutters in the store. This isn’t considered suspicious behaviour, so you can press all of the shutter buttons without risking much.

After this is done, it’s time to go loud. Start by taking all of the jewellery bags and processing them in the sorting machine, then pick up all of the smaller loot items. Make a quick getaway once you’ve sorted all of the jewellery, though you might need to fight against a few assault forces here and there.

If you’re interested in finding out how to stealth similar heists – check out how we’d go about running stealth on No Rest for the Wicked and on Rock the Cradle.