Do not think of one down as a place for fighting, This difficulty is not intended for killing and/or offshore grinding/cook off. The most important thing you need to know about this diffuclty is that it revolves around being fast, playing safe, and playing as a team. As such it is necessary for not one, but ALL team members to bring aced doctor bags as a deployable, and have the nine lives, swan song, and inspire skills all ACED. This is the very minimum requirement for one down.

As such it can be done by lower level players given they understand what they are doing, and they understand that a teammates life is just as valuable as their own, you have to be willing to trade your life for a teammate. Lives can be restored with doctor bag charges, but teammates in custody put a lot more strain on you than simply using a life to save them.

An important aspect of one down is the way in which you approach fighting. It is vital to have at least one member of your group using 'convert skills' to provide meatshields for the team, and reduce the amount of gunfire coming at your team, These skills however, are not NEEDED, just recommended. I've completed one down heists, goat sim, hoxton breakout, the bomb: forrest to name a few without the aid of hostages, but the amount of sniper fire in particular is something you will surely notice. GET THESE SKILLS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE THE POINTS AVAILABLE

As with every build you will need duck and cover basic (aced when you have points to spare) and parkour basic (aced is optional, but not required).

Another very important aspect of this build is the perk deck which you use. In my opinion there are two perk decks which sit above all else for this diffuculty, not because they offer damage, or health, or regen, but what they do offer is DAMAGE IMMUNITY. These two perk decks are The Armourer (No DLC required) and Anarchist (Sydney character pack DLC). Anarchist is of course prefered. The two seconds damage immunity can ensure you will make it into range to inpire your teammate up, or give you those few extra seconds to fix a drill or lockpick a door. This build does opt for some dodge (5% base from suit, and a little extra from sneaky bastard basic), but it is not what makes your build work, I would not suggest using the rogue deck over anarchist, but it is a viable deck also.

Basic inventoy setup, light xbow (or heavy if you aim to take out dozers), post patch bows are still viable in one down difficulty, The ability to replenish arrows (without explosive/posion bolts) makes them invaluable, since it allows you to restock your secondary ammo much faster. If you do not have the chivalry pack DLC you will need to be a much higher level (Closer to 90) before you will have the points available to make a build including the necessary weapon skills. Both pistols and shotguns benefit greatly from the dodge and crit aspect of this build, and they fit well with the aim of this build, be on the move, and take out threats quickly. The judge/shotgun crit setup is much like the bow. you will take out specials in a single shot to the head and will even kill dozers faster than with the bow, but ammo starts to become an issue the longer the heist goes on. pistols are a better way to take out the enemies with more precision, such as medics that are healing that dozer from right at the back of the wave, and snipers that you just can't seem to hit with your bow. The damage is much lower per shot though, and you WILL have to rely on picking up ammo that your teammates are not using (as their ammo is replenishable).

For your melee Use either the Electric Brass Knuckles, or Buzzer, these are a great tool for getting converts reliably, and melee weapons don't deal enough damage to be useful for killing anyway.

If you are doing a heist where you feel it is impossible to get your hands on some converts without being killed in the process, or if there simply aren't any enemies to convert (safehouse nightmare) drop these skills in favor for some more weapon skills, messiah aced, feign death aced, or if the heist requires it, drill skills. If you want to be more of a team played you may even be able to trade them off for jack of all trades aced in the technician tree and bring along a few first aid kits with you as a secondary, although I feel as though we are currently too strapped for points to make that trade off.

Thanks to all my payday2 friends for being so bad at the game that they (even at infamy 25) needed the help of my amazing build to get their one down masks:

• Darkhorse_54
  
• Nubachu
  
• C0llyFl0wer
  
• GF

Miso Prawny, Me love you long time.