The Doomsday Heist is the latest online-only update for Grand Theft Auto 5, giving every criminal mastermind the chance to drive flying cars and infiltrate secret bases to save the world. Like all of these add-ons, you’ll first need to unlock a special facility to take part in the festivities — and even attempting the heist itself costs a pretty hefty chunk of change.
But, if you’re got what it takes (and a very helpful friend to join you) then you can earn well over a million bucks per day. Each run of the Doomsday Heist offers a massive 400k+ pay out for the Heist Leader. If you’re quick, and know how to complete every step, you can collect your earnings once every hour. It isn’t the fastest way to earn cash in Grand Theft Auto Online, but it isn’t a bad way to make a buck either.
Doomsday Heist Guide | How To Complete Every Step
The Doomsday Heist isn’t exactly forthcoming about every single step. Some steps are a little tricky, while others are easy if you know how to handle yourself. If you’re looking to earn big cash, find a friend you can trust — and follow the steps below for the biggest possible payout.
- What You’ll Need:
- To get started, you’ll need two players (you and a friend) — the more players join you, the more the cut will be split.
- You’ll need $65,000 to begin Act 1 of the Doomsday Heist.
- You’ll also need to unlock The Doomsday Heist Facility.
- For more money, unlock Hard Mode Heists and Heist Replays. Hard Mode will give you a bigger payout, but you’ll need a good partner.
To make life easier, I suggest jumping into a solo Online Session and inviting your heist partner so you don’t have to worry about other players while you prepare for the heist.
Step #1: Getting the Ambulance
The first step is easy — just call 911 on your phone and request an ambulance. Steal it and escape / call Lester to remove your wanted level.
This is a simple solo job, so you can send your partner down to southern Los Santos to prepare for Step #2.
Step #2: Getting the Akula
Travel to Fort Zancudo and enter the base. Download the Akula’s location at the mission marker, but remember to clear the room after the download begins, or you’ll get wasted when the base goes on alert.
When the download is complete, the Akula’s location will be revealed — it’s always somewhere in southern Los Santos. Your partner should steal it and fly back to base.
To make the next step easier, the Heist Leader at Fort Zancudo can steal a Cargobob from the base while escaping, though it isn’t strictly required for the next step.
Step #3: Getting the Deluxos
The third preparation step is a long, slow process. You’ll need to find four Deluxos and steal them. The mission will point you to their locations — the Cargobob will make things easier, but it isn’t required.
You don’t have to steal all four at the same time. If you get two, you can replay a mission to get another two Deluxos. You can also respray any Deluxos to escape the cops.
Step #4: Dead Courier Setup Phase
For this phase, your team will split up into two teams — the Paramedic Team and the Helicopter Retrieval Team. The paramedics should equip Assault Shotguns to make the job easier.
The Helicopter Retrieval Team will need to play especially carefully. Watch out for soldiers will deadly weapons, and don’t get killed — there are no respawns in this section.
Step #5: The Deluxos Setup Phase
This is a tricky step, but there are ways to make life easier. Equip a Missile Launcher first of all, and be prepared to destroy lots (and lots) of vehicles.
On Land: To stop the truck, slam into the side and try to force them to stop. Push the truck into a tree, a building, or anything else that will stop them. Don’t ram from behind!
On Sea: This part is tricky. You’ll want to stay ahead of the target and zig-zag to avoid incoming fire.
On Air: Hide beneath the plane while your partner takes out helicopters with missiles. Destroy the plane, and the choppers will (mostly) stop attacking anyway.
Step #6: Akula Setup Phase
This is the toughest part of the pre-heist phase. Equip Silenced Rifles or anything that’s quiet — you’ll want to use stealth or you’ll get caught in a grueling fight. Silenced headshots will make life so much easier here.
Infiltrating the Base: Inside the base, you’ll want to watch out for guards and security cameras. Don’t bother shooting the guards at the main gate, instead sneak inside, shooting the first camera, then shooting the guard beneath the camera. Ahead, there’s another lonely guard. Kill him, then clear the guards at the two gates.
Kill the patrolling guards ahead, then reach the Security Chief. Kill him and take his keycard. Now you can go toward the objective — circle around the large building, and shoot the camera before taking out the two guards. Shoot the last patrolling guard through the security gate to clear the path inside.
Infiltrating the Server Room: Shoot the scientist at the elevator, then carefully stealth kill your way through to the objective room. The guards are pretty slow inside, so just shoot them with silenced weapons if they see you.
Hacking the Servers: Make a cross-shape, connecting all the output nodes with the input node in the center. You’ll be able to make a cross-shape with the top nodes and the bottom nodes. When the hacking is complete, enemies will pour into the room.
When you’re swarmed, retreat to the center of the large chamber and defend until the center is mostly clear. When it is, take out the enemies on the walkway to the elevator — the glass is bulletproof on the way to the elevator, so you’ll have some cover.
Outside, stay near the door and shoot the incoming agents. Shoot down the helicopters with missiles or aim for the tail rotors to cause them to spin-out and crash. When more agent vehicles drive through the main gates, that’s your cue to sprint for the escape vehicle.
Activate Stealth Mode when you’re a little bit outside the base to easily escape your wanted level.
Step #7: The Doomsday Heist
Now you can finally enter the heist. Set the Heist to “Hard” for a bigger payout here — the leader will get a 60% cut, and your partner will get a 40% cut. The more players that join you, the more you’ll have to split the earnings — if you only bring two, the leader will easily earn $400k+, while your partner will earn $300k+. Not a bad payout.
You should be able to complete the entire heist (with setup) in about an hour. Swap hosts and let your partner become Heist Leader between runs to speed up the process.
Getting Inside: Drive up to the facility and use a rifle to take out the guards outside before going in. Once you’re inside, move carefully — check every side-room and headshot through the troops. Reinforcements will appear in the lower offices from the stairs. Whenever you hit a checkpoint, expect to face another wave of reinforcements.
At the end, you’ll gain control of an array of turrets. Use them to shoot everything out of the sky. There’s no way to fail this part, so just enjoy the ride and be happy you made it to the end of the heist.
With this heist, you and a friend can easily make a million dollars in a day, it just takes a few repeat heists to make it happen.
