Over a decade after its previous title, the best heist crew in gaming is back with Payday 3. With a bunch of new locations to loot and some new faces in the squad, it's up to you to get your money's worth. Find out everything you need to know about the Under the Surphaze art gallery heist!
The Under the Surphaze heist is one of eight new locations included in Payday 3 upon the game's initial launch, with more to come in future DLCs, taking place in a high-end art gallery. There are loads of high-value artworks to loot, so make sure you grab them all.
For more content on the latest instalment in the Payday franchise, take a look at our guide to the Dirty Ice heist! Additionally, find out if you can take off your mask!
Key locations in the Under the Surphaze heist
The security office
If you want any chance of getting through this heist in stealth mode, which is required for the secret painting, then you'll need to get into the security office. This is the gallery's eyes on the whole location and is manned by a guard. If you can get in there and take the guard out, the cameras in the building become merely cosmetic. To get there, you'll need to climb the scaffolding outside the building to the second floor and pick the lock to the door.
First of all, you need to be wary of the cameras. There will be three in your way that pivot, so there will be opportunities to avoid their sight. There is one as you open the door and two in the hallway where the office is. There is a sign outside of the office to indicate where it is, essentially it's at the end of a hall just before a corner. Time your movements right and pick the lock to open the door.
The Security Office isn't checked when guards go on patrols, so this is also a great place to store any dead bodies or hostages that are tied up. If you're stealthy enough, you can clear the top floor of all hostiles and claim it for your crew.
The server room
Next to the Security Office is the Server Room. There isn't much to this room except for two key items, a cell phone and the spectrophotometer that you'll need later.
The manager's office
One of the most important locations in Under the Surphaze is the Manager's Office. You can find this around the corner from the Security office in another hallway on the second floor.
The Manager's Office has a number of key items and focal points. These are;
- The Manager's computer
- The cell phone
- The safe behind the desk
- The button behind the middle painting on the wall
- The three miniature sculptures on the desk
The manager's computer will have important information stored in it via emails and the cell phone will give you another QR code to get through locked doors. You can find the safe directly behind the desk by removing the false wall. This will contain some useful items, including the USB stick that you'll need later on.
The button behind the painting on the right wall from the desk won't be accessible yet, but take note of its location in the bottom right corner, as you'll need to revert back to this later. Similarly, there are three mini sculptures on the Manager's desk. Take note of these and do not loot them until later, as this is a key part of the secret painting heist.
How to complete the Under the Surphaze Heist
The Under the Surphaze heist is one of the toughest in Payday 3, particularly for those looking to acquire every single valuable in the gallery. Moreso than other locations, this heist will require some in-sync teamwork to accomplish in its entirety. Here are some focal points for completing the robbery.
The zipline
Before you take part in this heist, make sure to buy a zipline favour from the arms dealer. When you first spawn in the Under the Surphaze heist, you'll see the bag before you commence the mission. Make sure to grab this, as it will be an essential tool for those looking to complete the mission in stealth.
You can position the zipline outside on the Manager's Office side of the building. Open one of the windows, step through it and set it up in the corner of the platform. As you collect art, you can use the zipline to transfer it to the dumpster near your getaway car. Once you clear the second floor, you can go down with the zipline and pack the car before moving on to the more intricate parts of the heist.
Lowering the security bars
Many of the sculptures and paintings in the art gallery will be protected by bars, which can be lowered. In order to do this, you'll need to find the panel on the wall to initiate this. The panel will look like a small black rectangle and will have a yellow outline when you're near it.
To lower the bars around the art, activate the panel by interacting with it, then stand in the indicated circles to disable the security. This will require standing in multiple circles for set periods of time, so ensure security and cameras are taken care of first.
Bypassing laser security
The key exhibition rooms will be filled with a various assortment of laser security measures that will trip when touched and cause your stealth to be broken, so great care should be taken with these. You are able to enter these exhibitions with a QR code, but the best approach is to go from above.
You can enter the exhibition rooms from above by climbing up to the roof and heading to the windows at the top and by using the vent system that you'll find an entrance to on the roof. The windows can be cut through so you can quietly drop in from above and the vent entrances can be opened. Be sure to check your landing spot before dropping, as the rooms feature platforms you can land on to avoid the lasers.
Each room will have a switch to deactivate the lasers, which is in the room of a rather large lever on the wall. Make your way to these and interact with them without touching the lasers to disable this security measure. For the rooms that have a moving cone of red light, you are able to be seen under them but make sure not to move as they pass, as they are sensitive to movement.
A note for the lasers themselves - give yourself a few moments to scope out the system in front of you. Some lasers will flick on and off in different patterns while others will remain stationary. The most important thing to look out for that can be your undoing is the floor. If there is a light red glow that simulates water moving, do not touch the floor under any circumstances until the power is turned off.
Uma Ladette painting
The Uma Ladette painting is one that will require some extra elbow grease to loot as there is a fake and a genuine one. In order to determine the real one, you'll first need to find out their locations, which you can find by reading the associated email on the computer in the Manager's Office.
Once you have the locations of the two paintings, you will need to grab the spectrophotometer from the Server Room and the USB drive from the safe in the Manager's Office. Head to one of the paintings, cut through the glass and position the spectrophotometer in front of the painting. It will scan it and determine if it is the original or the duplicate. Once you determine which is the original, plug in the USB stick and take the painting.
Looting downstairs
It will be tougher to clear downstairs as you will likely have used up your radio responses upstairs when taking out the guards, so avoiding them altogether is the wisest move.
The first thing you should look for is an open office area with a console on the wall. This is for the bars around the sculptures so you'll have to do the circle mini-game again. Additionally, instead of dropping into the exhibition rooms from above, you'll need to use the QR codes to get in.
Where to find the secret painting in Under the Surphaze
The most prized possession in the art gallery is the Shanda Latrell painting and it requires a lot of teamwork to grab. The first thing you should know is that you'll need at least three players to make this possible and that you cannot under any circumstances break stealth before you've grabbed the painting.
The Shanda Latrell painting can be found downstairs in an exhibition of its own. It's not tough to find as it stands out, being the only artwork in a huge room.
The manager's office sculptures
Once you have opened up the map in the gallery, head back to the Manager's Office and check out the sculptures on the desk. There are three, so each player should pick one and seek it out. You'll need to communicate with each other, as the success of this loot depends on all three removing the sculptures at the same time.
The manager's office button
Removing all three sculptures at the same time will reveal the button behind the middle painting in the Manager's Office. Pressing this will open the display to the Latrell painting for you to grab it. However, make sure you are prepared before pressing the button.
The Shanda Latrell painting laser security
Pressing the button will cause the Latrell painting's final defences to activate in the form of a pretty tough laser grid. It is actually better to get to the painting before pressing the button as you can avoid it entirely by jumping the display rope around it. Position someone inside of the rope before pushing the button and the painting is yours to grab.
Once the painting is grabbed, it isn't mandatory to keep yourself in stealth, but it certainly helps to make an easier getaway. Whether you get out of the grid unscathed or not, it's up to you to grab all the loot that's left in the gallery and make your escape!
That's all there is to know about the Under the Surphaze heist in Payday 3! For more content on the game, take a look at all of the game's trophies, as well as whether Payday 3 is crossplay and can be played solo!