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Rock The Cradle is the fourth heist inPayday 3, reuniting the gang with Russian mobster Vlad to steal a crypto-laden hard drive from a shady nightclub. The heist has to be completed without setting off any alarms if you want the valuable crypto; if you’re discovered, you’ll have to settle for whatever cash and other valuables you can steal.
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You’ll need to know the ins and outs of the heist in order to successfully pull it off, and even then a lot can go wrong. With this guide, you’ll have the best chance at escaping with the prize.
Everybody should have a silenced pistol for this heist; a single unsilenced gunshot is all it takes to ruin your plans.
Rock The Cradle Heist Overview
Rock The Cradle can be broadly divided into two parts;getting into the VIP areawhere the crypto drive is hidden, thenbypassing securityonce you’re in to actually steal the drive. There are two ways to do each.
To get into the VIP area, you’ll need to eitherforge VIP Invitationsto show the bouncers, ormess with the club’s sound systemto draw the bouncers away, then sneak in while they’re occupied.
To get the drive, you’re able to eitherkidnap the club’s accountantand force him to unlock the security gate, or you canreset the building’s electricityto disable the lock.
If the alarm is raised at any point,the crypto drive is wiped, rendering it worthless. At that point, your objective will change; you’ll need toempty the club’s vaultand escape with as much loot as you can.
How To Get A VIP Invitation
Blank VIP Invitations can be found in the office of the club’s Entertainment Director, Cassandra Rifkin. The easiest way to reach it is towalk all the way to the back of the cluband lockpick the door on your left,directly across from the VIP doors.
Crouch while lockpicking, and stand as close to the corner of the room as you’re able to. Thisminimizes the chance that the bartender will notice you.
Past the door,go upstairsand enter the door straight ahead. You’ll find yourself near the DJ booth, and the office isahead and to your right; beware of the guard patrolling clockwise, and the camera above the office door.
Once you’re inside Rifkin’s office,hack her computer. Shade will mark Rifkin’s location; she always wears ablack suit jacket over a red dress. If you’re alone, you’ll have to double back; otherwise,send a teammateto intercept Rifkin. She slowly walks around the club,moving between public and private areas.
When you’re standing behind Rifkin, you canhack her phone.This is a suspicious action, so only start the hack if you’re not observed. The best place to do this ison the stairs near the main entranceleading to and from the Reserved area.
Stand near Rifkin until the hack completes; everyone will get a copy of the QR Code required to open the case containing the VIP Invitations. Have the player in the office do so, thenstart looking for Rifkin’s laptop.
The laptop is in one of three places;the booth directly across from her office, thetable in the Reserved area, or thestaff officein the rear right corner of the club. Wherever the laptop ends up,watch out for cameras.
Place the VIP Invitations on the scanner next to the laptop, then hack the computer to overwrite them. Once you’ve collected the forged invitations,stand near the bouncerin front of the VIP doors for a few seconds, and he’ll let you in.
Stand just inside the doors to the VIP area and crouch; if you’re positioned just right, you cansteal the bouncer’s keycardwithout him or his partner noticing, which will be a big help in the next section.
How To Get Into The VIP Area Without An Invitation
At least one player willneed to be maskedin order to get into the VIP area without an invitation. Follow the same route as above to reach the DJ booth outside of Rifkin’s office. When you first enter the area,look to the leftfor a set of stairs. If you’re masked, you canvault over the barricadeto climb the stairs up to the scaffolding over the club.
Use a silenced weapon toshoot out the cameras on the right and left side of the scaffolding, thenrewire the speakersat each of the four corners. When all four are set,interact with the DJ boothto change the music in the club.
Shade says that you need to capture the DJ, but if youstand just behind him, you can change the music without him even noticing.
Once the music is changed, thebouncer with the keycardwill start heading toward the DJ booth, while the other bouncer willstart patrolling the public area.Have an unmasked playerwait in the corner behind the top of the stairwell, then steal the bouncer’s keycard as he passes.
If you’re running solo or don’t have anyone unmasked, you’ll need tocarefully sneak across the clubto get to the VIP area. The bartender will have left by this point, sostay low and go behind the bar.You can just barely get into the VIP area without being noticed - it’s tricky, but not impossible.
Scan the bouncer’s keycard to open the VIP doors, then head downstairs. If you’re masked,shoot out any camerasthat you encounter on the way down.
Related:Payday 3: No Rest For The Wicked Heist Guide
How To Steal The Crypto Wallet
There’s much less security in the VIP area, but you’ll still have to contend with a handful ofguards, bouncers, and cameras, plus the civilian revelers. The crypto drive is behind a locked gate in the IT room, which is located in the far corner. The door isusually guarded by a bouncer and a camera, but you can get in through the side, either via a vent in the bathroom or a side door in the maintenance area.
Once you’re in,check the whiteboardto find out which electrical box and switch you need to use in order to reset the power. The electrical room isimmediately on the rightwhen you first enter the VIP area. The best strategy is to have someone pick the lock andwait inside the electrical roomuntil another player can confirm which switch is correct.
If you can’t cycle the power, or you’re masked up and can’t risk too much moving around, you can insteadtake the accountant hostage.He can be found in one of the poker rooms; look fora man in a suit standing in the corner rather than seated at a table.Shade will identify him as soon as a player get eyes on him.
You should be able totake the accountant through the maintenance roomsto reach the IT room; as long as the cameras along the route are taken care of, you shouldn’t run into any problems. Push the accountant into the retina scanner, then tie him back up andsteal the drive.
The drop point isbehind the trolley car; toss the hard drive (and any other bags of loot) over the construction materials to secure it. You can thenescape via the service elevatornear the stairs leading back to the main club. You can alsoloot the vaultto get even more money from the heist.
Look for wooden crates throughout the VIP area; they sometimes contain cocaine, which you can steal for extra loot.
How To Open The Nightclub Vault
If you fail to secure the crypto wallet, or if you just want some extra cash after escaping, it’s time toopen the Neon Cradle’s vault. It’s locatedin a side room off the maintenance area; look for a red cable running along the ground, and you’ll be able to find it fairly easily.
If you haven’t yet raised the alarm, all you need to do to open the vault isenter the passcode on the keypad. The passcode can be found in the Accounting Office, which isdirectly across from the electrical room.There are three codes; oneon the desk chair, onein the storage room to the side, and onein the safe.Find the code that opens the vault, then bag up the money and escape.
If the alarm has been tripped, there will be an extra step; Shade will need tore-enable the keypad.Follow the red cable from before until you find an access point, thenhack it. When the progress bar fills, you’ll be able to open the vault again as normal.
If an enemy gets too close to the access point, they willpause the hackuntil someone restarts it.
How To Escape The Nightclub If The Alarm Is Triggered
If you bought theCrypto Wallet assetduring heist preparation, you’ll get a brief grace period after the alarm is triggered where you canstill steal the drive.If not, it gets wiped immediately. From there, the mission changes.Go out to the parking lotand collect the sky cage pieces that your driver leaves behind.Place all three bags in the center of the dance floor;this is your new drop point for loot.
Bags on the sky cage canstill be stolen by cops or destroyed by Cloakers; protect them during assault waves!
Onceall the cash from the vaultis on the cage, Shade will send a helicopter to extract you.Shoot out the skylightabove the dance floorand defend your position until the chopper arrives, thenstand on the escape pointnext to the sky cage.
