While the complete build requires all 28 points, the skills will be discussed in the order of what I recommend picking up first. This guide is designed to cater to both experienced players and those still leveling up.
As we progress through the build, aspects like weapons, armor, tools, etc., can be a matter of personal preference. I'll be showcasing the equipment that works best for me, but feel free to choose what suits your playstyle. If you're determined to run the R900S with HBL and ECMs, go ahead and stick to your preferences. (Psychopath)

Any statistics stated in this guide are sourced from The Lengthy Guide by KarmicChaos and thehowl5657 as well as Girthy Guide by ☆ Ema and puppy. These guides are the perfect starting point if you are interested in a higher-level understanding of game mechanics, so I highly recommend them!

Full Build for those who don't need a walkthrough Here[pd3.gg]

• Gunslinger BASIC: Gunslinger BASIC will be the foundation of our build. Swapping weapons allows us to easily gain EDGE, Though the drawback is losing it when aiming down sights (ADS). EDGE provides a 10% damage increase, but we will be mostly using it to activate other skills.
  While later skills help to maintain EDGE, for beginners investing an additional point in Gunslinger ACED is recommended. This refreshes your EDGE each time you land a headshot while hipfiring.
  
• From the Hip: This skill is crucial; as long as we have EDGE, our hipfire spread is reduced by approximately 30%. It plays a vital role in ensuring we hit our shots consistently with this build.
  
• Heavy Hipfire: With EDGE active, this skill causes every hipfire shot to significantly stagger all enemies except Bulldozers and Drones. A single shot can break Shield cover, halt Cloakers from charging, and create the space needed to complete objectives during assault waves.

• Enforcer BASIC: Enforcer BASIC unlocks our GRIT generation, activated by killing 2 enemies close to us within 4 seconds. Similar to EDGE, GRIT provides a 10% damage reduction and will later be used to activate another skill.
  
• Combat Reload: This skill is crucial for refreshing both GRIT and EDGE. Reloading with a non-empty magazine resets the timers for both modifiers. It's advisable to build weapons with the Quick-Pull mag. However, skilled players who monitor modifiers can opt for high magazine capacities. Notably, there's an interesting synergy with the Ammo Funnel skill, which we'll discuss in its section.

• Mower BASIC: While we only need this skill to access Ammo Funnel and Replenish, the fact that we gain EDGE every 35 shots doesn't hurt us and can occasionally come into play with high-capacity weapons. However, it's often easier to quickly swap weapons to gain EDGE.
  
• Ammo Funnel: The initial part of this potent combo, Ammo Funnel ensures that all ammo we pick up is directly transferred into our magazine as long as EDGE is active. This capability allows us to sustain continuous firing for an extended period, particularly when paired with Replenish.
  As mentioned in the Combat Reload skill, an interesting synergy exists between these two skills. If you happen to pick up ammo or fire your last shot and it results in a kill, activating Replenish, Combat Reload will still refresh your GRIT and EDGE. This is because the "refresh" occurs when your character puts the magazine/ammo back into the weapon, not when you initiate the reload.
  
• Replenish: The complementary part of this combo, Replenish, dictates that, as long as EDGE is active, we automatically pick up ammo dropped by enemies we kill. When combined, every kill replenishes ammo into our magazine, proving even more potent with one-shot kill weapons like the SA-A144 or Castigo 44. In such cases, we only need to reload if we miss. It's worth noting that this can be a double-edged sword, as refreshing GRIT and EDGE relies on reloading. However, this can be easily managed by intentionally missing and then reloading—a less frustrating process than it might seem, I promise.
  
• Sprint Loaded: The final skill in the Mower Line, Sprint Loaded, allows us to reload while sprinting. Despite its straightforward name, it plays a crucial role in our high-mobility strategy, enabling us to refresh our GRIT and EDGE while on the move.

• Demolitionist BASIC: For a fun and useful bit of tech, we're picking up several skills in the Demolitionist Tree. Starting with Demolitionist BASIC, which increases our explosion AOE by 20%. This will not only make landing our flashbangs easier but allow us to hit even more enemies at once
  
• Cooker: Sometimes we can't get our GRIT from 2 close-range kills, and that's where this skill comes into play. By holding our throwable for 1 second before throwing, we can gain EDGE and maintain it with Combat Reload.
  
• Overcooked: The second part of this tech, Overcooked, makes it so that any explosive throwables will explode on impact. With these skills, we now have on-demand flashbangs to allow us to create space or escape even in the stickiest of situations.
  
• Extra Munitions: Increasing our throwable count by 2, this skill gives us a total of 5 flashbangs. Additionally, when we later pair this with Top Up, every Ammo Bag charge will give us all 5 back.

• Ammo Specialist BASIC: Ammo Specialist states that our total ammo capacity is increased by 20%, and our Ammo bags contain 2 more charges. Given how heavily we are using our throwable, more ammo bag charges is always welcome!
  
• Scrounger:: To supplement our flashbangs, we pick up Scrounger. This skill works so that as long as we have EDGE, ammo drops have a 10% chance of replenishing one of our throwables! This allows us to use our throwables far more frequently since we can get more without using an ammo bag charge.
  
• Plate Up: As long as we maintain GRIT, ammo drop with regenerate our current armor chunk every 2 seconds. Paired with the new Adaptive Armor Lining, this allows us to stay engaged in firefights for far longer than we can with any other armor choice.
  
• Top Up: Top Up makes it so that whenever we do use an Ammo Bag charge it will fully restock our throwables, giving us even more flashes to throw around.

• Tactician ACED: This skill line empowers our flashbangs even further. With Tactician ACED, the area of effect of our flashbangs is increased by an additional 20%. Additionally, we gain EDGE whenever we blind or stagger an enemy, although acquiring EDGE is still easier through Gunslinger BASIC.
  
• Coup De Grâce: With EDGE active, this skill enables us to deal 10% more damage against blinded or staggered enemies. This bonus applies to both our Flashbangs and the heavy stagger from Heavy Hipfire, though the effects do not stack.
  
• Expose: Enemies affected by our flashbangs lose all armor for the duration of their blindness, effectively granting us armor penetration with any weapon we choose.
  
• Scramble: For our final skill in the line, we pick up Scramble, which extends the duration of our flashbangs' effects by 20%. This provides us with more time to move or clear the hoard of cops that we have just stunned.

• Transporter BASIC: Transporter was always destined to be a powerful skill line, and our investment of 3 points here perfectly demonstrates that. With Transporter BASIC, we gain or refresh RUSH whenever we pick up a bag or body. The final modifier, RUSH, boosts our movement speed by 10%. While we won't have RUSH as frequently as GRIT and EDGE, the extra movement speed is always a welcome advantage.
  
• Beast of Burden: A straightforward yet invaluable skill, Beast of Burden ensures that carrying bodies or bags doesn't slow us down as long as we have RUSH. This significantly enhances bag transportation, as RUSH will always be available when picking up a bag.
  
• Power Lifter: A skill long awaited by Payday players since early Payday 2, Power Lifter grants us the ability to carry 2 bags simultaneously. While the skill typically incurs a movement penalty, thanks to Beast of Burden, this skill now comes with no downsides! With these skills, solo bag transportation becomes bearable, and groups can swiftly raid a heist, leaving it empty faster than ever before.

• Clean Slate: Thanks to the Adaptive Armor Lining, we don't need to allocate many points in this skill line. However, we do want to acquire the new Mastery Skill: Clean Slate. This skill grants us the ability to restore 1 armor chunk from armor repair kits, provided we have no armor. Since we aren't using armor bags, this is how we'll replenish lost armor. Armor repair kits are readily available from Dozers, Techies, or civilian trades, making it easy to recover lost armor.

• Escapist BASIC: For the final skill line in this build, we'll be acquiring two skills. Beginning with Escapist BASIC, we gain RUSH by sprinting for 3 seconds while masked up.
  
• Swift: Lastly, we'll obtain Swift, which enhances our movement speed by 10% while masked up. When combined with RUSH, we achieve a total increase of 20%.

While you can get away with using most weapons with this build, I'm going to demonstrate five primaries: an Assault Rifle, 2 SMGs, a Marksman Rifle, and Shotgun, and two secondaries: a Semi-Auto Pistol and a Revolver. If you're interested in using a weapon outside of these, for the most part, the weapon attachments remain the same within weapon categories (e.g., the WAR-45 and the FIK PC9 would have the same attachments).

• Sight: Projection RDS
  
• Barrel Extension: Parted Compensator
  
• Magazine: Quick-Pull Mag
  
• Stock: TQ
  
• Vertical Grip: Cylinder Grip
  
• Grip: Biofit Grip

• Sight: Projection RDS
  
• Barrel Extension: Cylindrical Silencer
  
• Barrel: Ranged Barrel
  
• Grip: Biofit Grip
  
• Magazine: Quick-Pull Mag
  
• Stock: TQ
  
• Vertical Grip: Cylinder Grip

• Sight: Box RDS
  
• Barrel Extension: Parted Compensator
  
• Magazine: Extended Mag
  
• Stock: TQ
  
• Vertical Grip: Stub Grip

• Barrel: Ranged Barrel
  
• Magazine: Quick-Pull Mag
  
• Barrel Extension: Hybrid Muzzle Break
  
• Sight: Primed Marksman Scope
  
• Grip: Biofit Grip
  
• Vertical Grip: Cylinder Grip
  
• Stock: TQ

• Barrel: Ranged Barrel
  
• Magazine: Quick-Pull Mag
  
• Stock: TQ
  
• Sight: Projection RDS
  
• Barrel Extension: 12G Sediment Choke
  
• Grip: Biofit Grip
  
• Vertical Grip: Cylinder Grip

• Magazine: Extended Mag
  
• Barrel Extension: Obelisk Silencer/Parted Compensator
  
• Sight: Box RDS
  
• Grip: Friction Grip

• Barrel: Ranged Barrel
  
• Sight: Box RDS
  
• Grip: Tac Grip
  
• Barrel Extension: Parted Compensator

Given our heavy reliance on flashbangs and our adoption of Adaptive Armor Lining, our deployable of choice is the Ammo Bag. With the help of Top Up and Extra Munitions, consuming 1 Ammo Bag charge will replenish 5 flashbangs, in addition to the usual ammo pickup.

With only 2 options, there's not much to discuss here. If you want large crowd control capabilities, run the Marcom Mamba MGL. If you want to 2-tap dozers with ease, run the HET-5. Both will serve you well; however, I would choose the HET-5 over the Mamba for most situations.

Is anyone surprised by this choice? With the Adaptive Armor Lining granting us 2 armor chunks, light movement speed penalty, and no trauma damage, it's an obvious pick for our armor. Despite its modest 5% damage reduction, when combined with Plate Up, we have a potent combo that allows us to engage deeper in fights than ever before.

Because of our skill selection, our best choice is flashbangs. Thanks to Overcooked, all our grenades will explode on impact, and with the added range of Demolitionist BASIC and Tactician ACED, we'll be stunning large groups of cops at once. From creating space, Pushing Objectives, or trying to revive a teammate, our flashbangs are an incredibly useful tool in our loadout.

Since this is almost entirely a loud build, MicroCams and ECM Jammers won't be of much use. For this build, I recommend you switch between Infrasonic Mines and Motion Sensors depending on the heist. For example, I run Mines on NRFTW to catch enemies trying to pull the fire alarm, but on Road Rage I use Motion Sensors to check for enemy spawns in areas I can't directly see

Below are some examples of me running through the heists. While the gameplay is by no means perfect, this should give a good example of the build in action.

Pre-Update 1.1.2 Build