PAYDAY 2 – Predator Shotgun Build (DS Viable)

The Predator shotgun. Commonly considered to be the worst shotgun in the game. That must mean it’s complete trash and should be taken seriously, right? Well not quite. This build here, not only makes the 12g viable, but even fairly strong even on the highest difficulty. And after playing in several high level lobbies, and getting several questions about my weapon choice, this is the final product for those that really want to take this gun to the next level.

Skills

Сrеdit gоеs to Carrot!

Mastermind

• Combat Medic Basic – Required for the rest of the tree. That’s about it.
• Quick Fix Ace – Lets you drop FAKs faster and gives a nice little resistance.
• Uppers Aced – Vital to all Stoic builds. Gives you lotsa FAKs and prevents downs near them.
• Forced Friendship Basic – Gives you a couple cable ties, but you really need it for the rest of the tree.
• Joker Aced – Lets you convert a police officer to your side. The reason that this is aced is mainly to unlock the highest tier in this skill tree fairly cheap.
• Partners in Crime Aced – Gives you a beefy convert that also increases your speed and health.
• Hostage Taker Aced – Having a hostage/convert now heals you over time. Also vital for Stoic builds.

Enforcer

• Underdog Basic – Slight damage increase when nearby enemies, but mainly for unlocking the rest of the tree.
• Shotgun CQB Aced – You reload 50 percent faster. Trust me, you’ll need it.
• Shotgun Impact Aced – Delicious, delicious damage. Also a bit of stability. But mainly damage.
• Close By Aced – You can now fire while sprinting and fire faster. Neat.
• Overkill Basic – Delicious, delicious damage. This skill converts the Predator from trash, to bold and brash.
• Resilience Aced – Mainly just for anti flash because most of the time you will be shooting at people, and not flashbangs on the floor.

Technician

• Nada.

Ghost

• Duck and Cover Basic – Lets you run around more, but mainly unlocks the rest of the tree (how many times have i said that already? ive lost count).
• Parkour Aced – Lets you run around a bit more, but mainly for unlocking the rest of the tree so that you can reload and book it at the same time.
• Inner Pockets Aced – Gives you much needed concealment that you will use for crits.
• Second Wind Basic – Literally does nothing except unlock the rest of the tree.
• The Professional Basic – Honestly you can switch this out for Optical Illusions, but I prefer to keep this because it can be used on your secondary as a backup incase you run out of ammo.
• Low Blow Aced – Delicious, delicious damage. Crits take this mediocre weapon to a one shot on head shot, killing machine. 10/10
• High Value Target Aced – More damage to all specials which lets you double shot most specials. Don’t mess with dozers though.

Fugitive

• Nada.

Weapons and More

Weapons

The Predator 12g shotgun (What did you expect?).

Here’s how I suggest you mod it:

• Ammunition: 000 Buckshot
• Barrel: Extended Magazine
• Barrel Ext: Donald’s Horizontal Leveller
• Gadget: Compact Laser Module(personal preference)
• Stock: No Stock

I didn’t use a sight or boost but you can if you want to.

For your secondary, you can use any max concealment weapon. I personally used the Bernetti 9 pistol modded for as much concealment as possible.

Whatever Else

Your deployable should be First Aid Kits to keep yourself alive, as this is a Stoic build. Your armor should be the max that you can equip without going above 23 concealment to maximize your crit ability. Because I didn’t use concealment boosts and whatever, it’s the Heavy Ballistic Vest. Your perk deck is obviously Stoic because it just works without needing anything else. This perk deck really makes just about any weapon viable. Melee is personal preference, but get something with high concealment. Throwable is HE Grenades. Just kidding, it’s the Stoic bottle.

Play Tips

Big things to remember

• You can’t really deal with long distance snipers that well, so try to stay out of their way.
• Make sure you have a convert as it will increase your survivability drastically.
• Reload whenever you aren’t actively firing.
• Reload whenever you are actively firing.
• Reload constantly.
• When you are about to go down, don’t. (Use the flask or drop a first aid).
• Help out the team. You have a lot of FAKs, and you don’t need to be greedy.

Why?

I don’t know. I just wanted to see if I could make the non-meta shotguns work on the higher difficulties. In the end, it worked out so I’m pretty happy with it. This build is fun to mess around with, and also doesn’t make you look like an Izhma/Grimm/Goliath tryhard. Try it out and see for yourself. If you have any weapons that you think are unsavable because of how bad they are, let me know. I’ll see what I can do to try and save them.