Introduction: Becoming the Stoic PAYDAY Tank
Tired of going down easily on higher difficulty heists? Struggling to stay alive against relentless assaults of law enforcers? Want to become an unstoppable force able to wade through endless police fire?
Then it‘s time to embrace the Stoic perk deck!
PAYDAY 2 is a 4-player cooperative FPS known for intense standoffs against overwhelming enemy waves. While standard armor offers protection, sustained fire quickly shreds through it.
This is where Stoic shines. It converts all your armor into a giant health pool able to absorb extreme punishment. Top it off with a unique delayed damage mechanic enabling you to avoid most incoming fire damage.
Skilled usage of Stoic allows reaching 1000+ armor converted to health, letting you act as the frontline meatshield for your crew. A true walking tank bulldozing through endless police resistance!
This comprehensive 2000+ word guide aims to fully equip you in mastering the Stoic playstyle. You‘ll learn:
- The specific math behind Stoic‘s health pool and delayed damage
- Optimal loadout synergies and weapon selections
- Detailed situational ability usage and positioning tactics
- Precise breakpoints for critical health thresholds
- How to balance aggressive pushes and defensive evasion
- Common new user pitfalls and misconceptions
So buckle up and grab your ICTV armor – we‘ve got lots of ground to cover!
Stoic Perk Deck Mechanics Explained
Let’s break down exactly how Stoic fundamentally works:
Total Health Pool = Base Health + (Total Armor x 0.65)
Unlike other decks boosting either health or armor, Stoic converts ALL current armor into bonus health.
- For example:
- Base Health: 230
- Total Armor Rating: 800
- 800 x 0.65 = 520 bonus health
- Final Health Pool = 230 + 520 = 750 total health
This means investing in armor boosts also directly buffs survivability with Stoic. Prioritize skills like Armorer and Heavy Impact aced when possible.
Now what about damage reduction? Stoic splits incoming damage into two components:
- 25% damage taken instantly
- 75% damage taken over 12 seconds (damage over time)
Rather than negate a flat percentage, Stoic makes you take only a portion instantly, with most applied as DoT.
This DoT effect builds independently based on damage sources:
- Maximum combined DoT = 75% current total health
- DoT from a single enemy caps at 37.5% max health
Managing this delayed damage is key to mastering Stoic. Letting it stack unchecked quickly overwhelms. Using abilities wisely however allows you to brush off most hits.
Stoic Ability: Hip Flask
Your flask immediately halts all DoT effects and provides brief crowd control immunity. With nine flask charges attainable, you have plenty to negate big spikes.
Several key properties enable sustainability:
- +2 charges per rank (up to +9 max)
- Cooldown: 10 seconds
- -2s cooldown per kill (5s minimum)
- 50% damage resistance during effect
- Removes all DoT damage
This combination empowers frequent activation. Multi-kills can drive cooldown down to only 5 seconds between uses.
Proper flask management understands when to tank hits vs negate damage. Learning these breakpoints is vital to balancing offense and defense.
Helmet Popping
Normally a desperate measure, with Stoic this technique has added utility:
- 100% chance to activate upon fatal hit
- Restores 25% health
- Temporarily increases headshot damage up to 500%
Allowing death saves you from losing while boosting subsequent attacks. It synergizes extremely well with Stoic‘s emphasis on sustaining health.
Combined, these mechanics enable resisting an extreme amount of firepower. You’ll routinely marvel at emerging unscathed from overwhelming odds.
First though, let‘s address the playstyle shifts needed to leverage these powerful effects…
Adapting Your Playstyle and Tactics
Mastering Stoic requires rethinking armor as purely secondary. Instead consider it vital extension of your health pool.
With no innate damage reduction, 100+ armor break situations still leave you dangerously exposed. Avoid this "armor training" mentality when transitioning.
You also give up armor gating – continuing fire will deplete your health bar directly once exposed. This amplifies the risk of bursting down.
Here are key adaptions needed:
Emphasize Health Maintenance
- Constantly monitor health totals
- Exhibit extreme caution below 50% health
- Master flask usage timings
Health segments now matter tremendously given the lack of armor fallsbacks. Get accustomed to watching this primary gauge versus chasing armor gate thresholds.
Set mental breakpoints like prioritizing flask activation under 50% health remaining as a buffer. Learn to time this reflexively against aggressive enemy variants.
Also regularly refresh health back to max:
- First aid kits
- Hostage Taker / Doctor Bag regen
- Teammate revives / heals
Don’t get complacent at high health either. Rapid bursts easily overwhelm before flask responds. Maintain vigilant awareness and positioning.
Aggress Into Multi-Kills
- Flank aggressively with flask ready
- Multi-kill to reduce cooldown
- Flask off damage taken
- Repeat cycle
Instead of behavior defined by armor breaks, focus on chaining flask usages between cooldowns. Push hard when negate available, fade back when countdown hits.
Constantly drive for multi-kills both for points and quicker flask access. Shotguns, LMGs, and melee flows maximize this potential.
Time reloads and ammo pickups to align with cooldown windows as well. Stoic rewards meticulous ability cycling more than any deck.
Master Flanking and Retreat Cycles
Core gameplay centers around forceful advances cushioned by flask immunity, followed by retreat when it falls off. This maximizes multi-kill potential in between.
Strike aggressively into new rooms or sightlines with flask ready. Flask off return fire then quickly reform to cover.ostream withdrawal once immunity fades.
During flask cooldown windows focus on:
- Securing ammo
- Grabbing hostages
- Healing allies
- Reloading weapons
- Repositioning
- Clearing residual threats before advancing again
This fine balance between pushing forward and rapid withdrawal takes practice. But once mastered it enables systematically dismantling most resistance.
Optimal Loadout Synergies
While strictly optional, several skills and gear choices nicely complement and amplify Stoic:
Skills
- Hostage Taker – regenerates 2 health per 5 seconds per dominated enemy
- Combat Doctor – boosts first aid kit amounts carried
- Trigger Happy – substantially improves flask uptime and multi kill potential
Weapons
- High damage shotguns – room clearing and multi-kill powerhouses
- 100+ round LMGs – suppressive ability to lock down areas
- Snipers (700+ damage) – frequent helmet popping activation
Gear
- ICTV / Anarchist armor – Shoot for above 1000 combined health
- First aid kits – Critical emergency health source
- Ammo bags – Enable high capacity weapon spam and reload skips
Building for room clearing firepower maintains aggression. Ammo sustain and self heal effects further enable this push mentality.
While any loud setup works, the above noticeable smoothens the cycle between flask States and aggressive health maintenance.
Now let‘s walk through two illustrative scenarios showing the benefits of this versatile kit…
Live Scenario Walkthrough #1: Aggressive Bank Heists
To truly showcase Stoic‘s strengths, few things beat aggressively tackling a solo loud Bank Heist. This commonly farmed mission has great potential for multi-kills but generally punishes highly aggressive play. The risk to reward upside with Stoic however flips this dynamic on its head – turning you into an unstoppable hp tank.
For loadout let‘s take:
Primary: Izmash 12g (000 buckshot), DB rounds
Secondary: 5/7 AP pistol for shields
Armor: ICTV (Anarchist Perk Deck for 1180 armor)
Skills: Trigger Happy aced, Hostage Taker basic
Deployable: Two upgraded Doctor‘s bag
This setup gives us 1180 * 0.65 = 766 bonus health from converted ICTV armor. That‘s 996 total health to leverage! Paired with a room clearing shotgun, self-sustain from Hostage Taker, and boosted flask uptime from Trigger Happy.
Here‘s a walkthrough pushing aggressively:
- Mask up and burst out the doors hip firing the Izmash – move between clusters dropping 5+ enemies per shot
- Flask off after 2-3 seconds of sustained fire to negate damage
- Push forward through the smoke stunning enemies with fear
- Reload after clearing the front entrance then re-flask
- Sprint right and blast down the hallway before enemies can react
- Rack up multi-kills rapidly reducing flask cooldown
- Stop to grab ammo bag ensuring sustained firepower
- Continue driving down and clearing hallways moving cover to cover
- Hip fire at range into large groups and flask off return fire
- Once cooldown hits break contact and grab a hostage for health regen
- Hold the hostage as a meat shield to block shots while grabbing ammo
- Flank around to burst down the next packed group
- Stop by doctor bag for emergency heal if needed
- Repeat process quickly devastating the overmatched police force!
This ruthless tempo overwhelms most solo Bank Heist waves secured by endless flask and health sustain. The build gives flexibility to both apply calculated pressure and safely reasses when needed.
Let‘s explore an opposite slow and methodical approach highlighting similar adaptability…
Live Scenario Walkthrough #2: Safehouse Raid Holdout
Stoic also enables reliably sustaining long multi-assault holdouts. To demonstrate, let‘s tackle an ambitious 20 minute solo Safe House Raid push at max difficulty.
Here enemies constantly pressure with only brief windows to rebuild position. Survival requires balancing space holding power with cautious positioning during squad transitions.
For gear:
Primary: Ksp 58 LMG (200 round belt)
Secondary: China Puff grenade launcher
Armor: Anarchist ICTV (1180 armor rating)
Skills: Scavenger aced, Hostage Taker aced
Deployable: Two doctor bags
This flexible setup can both aggressively lock down sectors and disable groups at range. Ammo sustain enables suppressing boldly through assaults. While China Puff and hostage refreshes allow safely securing breathing room.
Walkthrough:
- Begin holding upstairs in the bedroom watching the left stair approach
- Burst down initial officers at range moving cover to cover
- Flask off sniper damage then push forward grabbing ammo
- Rotate right to check the balcony and defeat enemies taking potshots
- Quickly snag a hostage for guaranteed health regen
- Retreat to balcony edge watching both stairs with LMG ready
- Suppress and cli down waves pushing when top off on health
- Allow enemy gathering then break groups with GL fire
- Push down to delay assaulters sprinting up the stairs
- Slowly retreat backwards up the steps flasking off return fire
- Repeat suppressing aggressively into waves then displacement
- If health drops low, stall at the top raining fire until regen kicks in
- Utilize doctor bags during brief windows when available
- Keep balancing aggressive delays with methodical retreats to siphon enemies !
This technique safely contains even fortified enemies like maximum FBI and specials. The LMG continuously stabilizes areas allowing flexible repositioning. While health sustains and doctor bags negate lucky enemy shots.
Showcasing versatility across both aggressive and cautious applications!
Common Stoic Pitfalls to Avoid
While extremely potent, several nuanced mistakes can quickly overwhelm if not respected:
Health Pool Mismanagement
- Activating flasks without clearing residual damage first
- Attempting to blindly facetank all fire
- Failing to monitor and respect health thresholds
- Not balancing aggression against regeneration windows
Stoic peaks by perfectly floating health sustained via ability cycling. Get sloppy managing cooldowns or health breaks and consequences rapidly spiral. Master the fine balance first before pushing limits.
Cooldown Abuse
- Squandering flask charges recklessly
- Stacking damage taken over multiple uses
- Hitting 0 charges at bad positions
- Flanking too far beyond support fire
Carelessly expending flask uses builds vulnerability once buffers dry up. Few scenarios pardon a flanking Stoic with no flask or aid ready against alert enemies. Manage your lifeline judiciously at all times.
Armor Psychology Hangups
- Still panic retreating after armor breaks
- Overextending without flask expecting armor saves
- Chasing next gate threshold versus prioritizing health
- Disregarding health chunks from sustained fire expecting armor blocks
Old armor gating habits die hard. But with Stoic these concepts barely apply. Ingrain focus on health totals and flask cycling over segment chasing. Break the armor mental crutch!
Master fundamentals like balancing aggression against sustain. Adapt to the new health centric playstyle. Resist falling back on armor asset concepts. And you’ll tap into remarkable potential.
Conclusion – Embrace the Stoic Juggernaut Within!
Hopefully by now you recognize the sheer endurance Stoic enables. Triggering key abilities at the right times turns you into a damage shrugging machine.
Thousand health pools, frequent multi-kills sustaining flask uptime, and amenities like Hostage Taker together enable incredibly resilient play. Fearlessly lead the charge supported by versatile weapon loadouts.
Yet also respect the nuances. Health discipline and ability cycling mastery separates average from expert Stoics. Integrate the provided positioning and sustain tips until second nature.
Most importantly, have fun! Revel in the powerful warrior fantasy fulfilled shrugging off endless police barrages. Build upon these foundations with advanced tactics putting your demonic durability to creative uses.
Now get out there and soak some bullets!