Payday 3‘s heists give players the option of masking up and bringing the guns out immediately, or using stealth for portions or the entirety of a heist. The jewelry store heist Dirty Ice can be completed entirely using stealth, but has some tricky moving parts.
In this guide, I will walk you through exactly what you need to do to complete every objective in Dirty Ice, as well as how you can do so without breaking your stealth.
Payday 3: Dirty Ice step by step walkthrough
In this section, I will give a brief overview of how I completed Dirty Ice without ever breaking stealth. Of course, you can break stealth at any point, and the objectives won’t change—if anything they’ll just be easier as you’ll trade finesse for good aim.
If you need more information on any step, find a full breakdown of each in the following section. To complete Dirty Ice without breaking stealth, you must complete these steps in order:
- Outside—Scan the phone in the alley behind the store
- Outside—Steal the Blue Keycard from the guard behind the store
- Outside—Enter the VIP showroom using the QR code from the phone
- Manager’s Office—Learn the basement passcode from the manager’s computer
- Hallway or outside—Enter the basement
- Basement—Disable the cameras using the Blue Keycard
- Basement—Pick up the Red Keycard
- Basement—Crack the safe for evidence to threaten the manager
- Manager’s Office—Threaten the manager using the phone in her office
- Manager’s Office—Take the manager hostage and bring her to the biometric scanner to enter the workshop
- Workshop—Scan all jewelry bags to clean jewelry before loading them
- Manager’s Office/Hallway—Unlock the vault using the Red Keycard and the button on the manager’s desk
If you complete these objectives, you will have done every possible objective in Dirty Ice and will receive the highest possible reward. Of course, you must also steal all of the jewelry, but that part goes without saying and doesn’t need explaining.
Below, find comprehensive breakdowns of each step required to fully clear Dirty Ice.
How to gain access to the VIP showroom in Dirty Ice
To gain access to the VIP showroom, you’ll need to find and search a phone, which will automatically provide a QR that can be scanned. There are multiple doors that require QR codes, and each one is single use. Luckily, there are multiple phones as well. Here are the locations where you can find a QR code to enter the VIP showroom:
- The couch of the manager’s room
- The bathroom in the hallway
- A crate behind the store
- The table in the break room
How to gain access to the basement in Dirty Ice
Gaining access to the basement of Ashton fine jewelry is fairly simple, but also randomized. You’ll need a code, which can be found on the computer in the manager’s office. Look through the emails, and you’ll be guided to one of three locations:
- The WiFi password in the break room
- The employee of the month picture frame
- A ledger in the VIP showroom
The actual numbers will be different each time, so you’ll have to check for yourself. Within the basement, you’ll be able to disable the security cameras (requires Blue Keycard) and shut down the alarms.
Once you have the code, input it at the door reached by going through the QR code door in the back alley, or at the outside door reached by lockpicking the gate to the left of the storefront.
How to find the Red and Blue Keycards in Dirty Ice
The Blue Keycard is needed to shut down the security cameras. It is found outside on the belt of a guard patrolling the alley. The easiest way to steal it is actually to let the guard see you, as he will then escort you out of the alley. While he is escorting you, grab it off of his belt while walking behind him.
The Red Keycard is found in the basement, so you’ll need to have accessed the VIP showroom by getting a QR code from a phone. Within the basement, enter the room with the small safe that can be cracked—the Red Keycard is sitting on the desk next to the safe. The Red Keycard is half of the key to unlocking the vault, and the other half is a button on the manager’s desk.
How to disable security cameras and alarms in Dirty Ice
You’ll first need to have accessed the basement before you can shut down the alarms and security cameras. To turn off the alarms, all you have to do is flip the switch inside the room with the safe and the Red Keycard.
To turn off the security cameras, you need the Blue Keycard, which can be stolen from the guard in the alley. Once you have the card, scan it on the blue scanner in the basement, and take down the guard inside the closet. Once the guard is dealt with, the cameras are no longer a threat, and can be monitored by a player to get a bird’s eye view.
How to gain access to the workshop in Dirty Ice
You’ll need the manager for this, as the workshop is locked with a biometric scanner. She can be found in the front room of the store wearing a blue suit. She can be taken hostage and brought to the scanner without breaking your stealth.
To get into the workshop without breaking stealth, crack the safe in the basement next to where you found the Red Keycard. The safe can be cracked by slowly turning the dial in whichever direction you are prompted until the ring turns green.
Inside the safe, search the documents, which will give you evidence to use against the manager. Return upstairs to the managers office, and use the phone to call the manager to her office by using the evidence as blackmail. This way, you can take the manager hostage without breaking stealth, as she will be alone with you in her office.
Once you’ve gotten photos of the incriminating documents, find the workshop door in the VIP showroom. This will prompt you to return to the manager’s office and use the phone to lure her in. Take her hostage, and shove her into the workshop door to have her unlock it.
Inside the workshop, you will find a scanner to which you can bring all bags of jewelry to be scanned and determine their worth before loading them into to getaway van, ensuring that you don’t load up any worthless loot.
How to unlock the vault in Dirty Ice
Unlocking the vault requires finesse. According to the manager’s computer, you have to press two buttons simultaneously. This is only sort of true. You must press one button and scan the Red Keycard simultaneously. The locations are:
- The button on the manager’s desk
- The Red Keycard scanner next to the vault
The vault itself is in the hallway from the shopfront to the manager’s office, and is difficult to miss. You’ll see the keycard scanner where the Red Keycard must be scanned just to the left of the vault door.
If you are alone, you can make a hostage (preferably the manager, since you should have her in the room anyway) press the button on the manager’s desk by activating it while you have them as a human shield. Quickly return to the hallway, and you will now have the option to scan the red keycard at the vault door, which will unlock it.
Inside, you will find the Rare Stone, which greatly increases your cash earned from the Dirty Ice heist.
