GTA Online Pacific Standard Guide

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Arun Shome

Arun is a devoted GTA series enthusiast whose passion was ignited during late-night sessions of GTA San Andreas. He deeply admires the series' cinematic storytelling and immersive open-world experience, which he channels into his writing.

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• GTA Online Series A Funding Guide - October 5, 2023
• GTA Online Pacific Standard Guide - September 5, 2023
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Heist missions have become an integral part of GTA Online’s identity, so much so that it is hard to even think about the time when GTA Online was not graced by their presence. The Heist update changed this entire game that was, at least during that period, just living in the shadow of its single-player counterpart, and finally gave it its own identity.

But now enough time has passed, and GTA Online has introduced quite a few unique heists with lucrative payouts. Want to become a millionaire in the game quickly? Well, heist missions are going to be your best bet.

And when it comes to deciding on the hardest heist mission in the game, Pacific Standard heist wins this debate by a huge margin. However, it does have a great heist payout and provides players with a perfect balance of a multiplayer experience in which teamwork, planning, and action set pieces come together harmoniously.

However, with excess comes a lot of confusion, and if you are having trouble successfully pulling off this heist with your teammates, then this article will give you a simple-to-understand walkthrough of everything you need to know. Here’s the GTA Online Pacific Standard heist guide.

The Bottom Line Up Front

• Quest Name: Pacific Standard Heist
• Quest Giver: Lester Crest
• Quest Objective: Rob the Pacific Standard Bank
• Time: 1 hour
• The main tip to keep in mind: Play with your friends and use a microphone to communicate. Buy an Armored Kuruma for the finale.
• Total Reward: $1,875,000

Pacific Standard Heist Overview

Main Heist Objectives and Conditions

• 2 to 4 players required.
• Complete 5 Set-up missions before the finale.
• The team will be divided into three roles: 2 Crowd Control players, 1 Hacker, and 1 Thermal Explosive Expert.
• Steal money from Pacific Standard Bank.
• Follow/Find a getaway route to reach the Canyon.
• Escape with the money.

Total Rewards (Finale)

• Easy — $750,000
• Normal — $1,500,000
• Hard — $1,875,000
• Dead Presidents Achievement
• Smooth Sailing Achievement

Total Duration

• 1-2 Hours

The GTA Online community has many opinions regarding this heist. Some players vehemently believe it is the hardest heist mission, while others feel it is the easiest. This disparity of opinions is kind of alarming, so just see this as a warning before starting the setup missions and then inevitably ragequitting due to your team not knowing how to drive.

This is the fifth and final original heist added with the classic Heist update back in 2015. So, you will need to do all of the four heists before you can unlock this one. Again, for this, Lester Crest is going to be your handler. There will be over five setup missions that you need to complete before the actual Pacific Standard heist starts. So, make sure you have a team that is there for you in the long run.

Four players are required for this heist to work. The roles of each player heavily impact how this heist plays out. Thus, it is highly suggested that you do this mission with friends or at least have one person you know on your team. Doing this will help you out in the long run.

The total cost for all of the setup missions will be somewhere around $25,000. The reward for the finale when played in the hardest difficulty may or may not touch $1,875,000. All of this depends upon your performance and skill, and have at least an hour to spare for this heist. Now that you know what to expect, let’s get going with the set-up missions. I’ll highly suggest you to play this entire heist on the hardest difficult to yield the maximum reward.

Set Up Missions

After finishing up the Series A funding heist, Lester will soon call you for another heist mission. Pick up his call and go to your apartment’s heist room to start the set-up missions. There will be five set-up missions.

Vans – Pacific Standard Setup Mission #1

Objectives

• Find Post OP Van with a transponder.
• Take pictures of the license plates of Post OP vans and send them to Lester.
• The team will be divided into Navigator (player using the Tracify app to locate Post OP vans) and Driver( player driving a vehicle)
• After finding the Post OP van, bring it to Lester’s Factory.

Rewards

• Easy — $10,450
• Normal — $20,900
• Hard — $26, 130

Total Duration

• 10 minutes

The main objective of this set-up mission is quite simple, but it is also very frustrating to do, so heads up. Lester will talk about how there are these dye packs that will get activated once you steal the money from the bank. So, to suppress them, you and your team will need to steal a Post OP Van containing a transponder and use it to disable these dye packs.

But before you can track the correct Post OP Van, you will need to use a Trackify app to find the ones within your vicinity and send pictures of their nameplates to Lester, from which he can extract data to find the one with the transponder. Once you send all of the Post OP Van pictures, Lester will mark on your map the correct Post OP Van you must steal and take to the Darnell Bros. garment factory.

All this means that your team will be divided into groups of two, the Navigators and the Drivers, and this is exactly where the entire mission falls apart.

This mission prioritizes verbal communication with your team members. Thus, utilizing the in-game voice chat is going to be very advantageous when you are playing through this mission. But this entire process becomes really annoying when you are in a group of randoms with no microphones. Plus, you even have a timer of 9 minutes.

There are on-screen directional indicators, but let’s be honest, for players who are playing this heist for the first time, they will be totally clueless.

Useful Tips to Keep in Mind

The best way to complete this setup mission would be to become the Navigator and drive a vehicle without moving your camera. This way, the navigation on your app won’t go haywire. Try to travel to the glowing red spots, and you will be able to find an OP Van. Remember to have some distance between you and the Van as if you alert them, this mission will fail.

Another way to complete this mission would be by remembering the Van routes. These vans do not spawn randomly and generally drive through the same roads. So, I suggest that if you are doing this for the first time, somehow manage to find all of the vans and remember their routes. You will have a much more pleasant experience the second time you come to this set-up mission. But for people who can’t wait, here are the general locations that they will be traveling through:

• Auto shop near Eclipse Tower
• Near Alta Street apartment
• Near Los Santos Golf Club
• Near Vespucci Beach

If you are having trouble taking the picture, wait for the OP van to stop at a traffic light and then calmly take the picture.

Signal – Pacific Standard Setup Mission #2

Objectives

• Find and rescue Avi Schwartzman.
• Go to the island where he is hiding.
• Defeat enemies, take Avi with you, and escape the cops.
• Take Avi to the drop-off point after losing the cops.
• Finish your escape under the 8-minute time limit.

Rewards

• Easy — $10,450
• Normal — $20,900
• Hard — $26, 130

Total Duration

• 12-13 minutes

The second setup mission is thankfully not as frustrating as the first one. Your main objective is to extract a character named Avi Schwartzman, who has been hiding from government agents in an archipelago just north of Chumash. And unfortunately, you need him to hack the transponder as he is a signal expert.

So, just like any other setup mission, you will get specific objectives to do first, such as traveling down to a beach on the West Coast and then using SeaSharks to get to the island. Once you do this, you will take Avi on a boat and help him escape from all the cops. The drop-off point will be on a farm at Grapeseed, and you will have to get the cops off your back before you can finish this setup mission. You also have a limited time of 8 minutes to complete this escape.

Useful Tips to Keep in Mind

You don’t have to follow the route the game is telling you to take. Instead, you can drive to Vinewood Police Station and stealthily go to its roof. You will find a police helicopter there. Steal it and use it to get to the island.

Just remember that once you reach that island, you will have to defend Avi from several enemies, so have some Mk II weapons at your disposal. Once the cutscene begins wherein you and Avi go inside a boat to escape from that island, remember to get out of that boat and direct Avi to your helicopter. Avi will only follow the player who has started the cutscene.

When escaping this police chopper, maintain your distance from them, but don’t let them go outside your minimap as the game tends to respawn them. So, make sure that you can still see them on the minimap while not coming under their radar.

Hack – Pacific Standard Heist Setup Mission #3

Objectives

• The team will be divided into 3 decoys and 1 Transporter.
• Take the white van to Vinewood Boulevard.
• Eliminate the enemies.
• Park the White Van next to the Black Van.
• Steal the Hacking rig and place it into the White Van.
• The Transporter takes the White Van to Lester’s Factory.
• The Decoy team needs to destroy the Black Van.

Rewards

• Easy — $10,450
• Normal — $20,900
• Hard — $26, 130

Total Duration

• 11-12 minutes

It is a pretty simple mission compared to everything you have done. In this setup mission, you and your crew will have to steal a hacking rig from a rival heist team. This rig is situated in a black Van guarded by the rival heist crew members.

From your team, one player will act as the Transporter, and the other three will be Decoys. The Decoy team will eliminate the guards near the Black Van and clear out all the enemies for the Transporter, who will bring a white van to this location. A cutscene will then play out in which you will see the Transporter taking out the Hacking ring from the Black Van and placing it in the White Van.

Some backup enemies will arrive at your location, but they won’t know that you have already switched the hacking rig. This means that the Decoy team now needs to take the Black Van to another location while fending off the enemies, while the Transporter with the White Van and the Hacking rig needs to bring it to Lester. Once the Decoy team reaches the marked location, blow up the Black Van.  After doing all this, you will have completed this mission.

Useful Tips to Keep in Mind

Very trigger-happy crew members should definitely join the Decoy team and remember to bring your custom weaponized vehicles such as an Armored Kuruma to make the fight easier.

All three Decoy members should stay in the Decoy car when they are luring the backup enemies. Don’t switch places or change vehicles as doing so increases chances of failure.

Convoy – Pacific Standard Heist Setup Mission #4

Objectives

• Travel to the ambush point.
• Defeat all Merryweather guards.
• Steal the truck with the thermal explosives.
• Escape from the backup Merryweather enemies.
• Reach the drop-off point after losing them

Rewards

• Easy — $10,450
• Normal — $20,900
• Hard — $26, 130

Time Duration

• 10 -11 minutes

This is a set-up mission for acquiring thermal charges, and your success heavily relies on your crew’s firepower. Lester directs you to an ambush spot near the Calafia Bridge, wherein you have to eliminate all of the Merryweather enemies and steal a Barracks truck carrying the thermal charges.

Enemy choppers and Insurgents will also be inbound, so keep an eye on the sky and the ground. After you defeat all of the enemies, you can proceed to hijack the Barracks truck and drive it to the drop-off point. You will also need to escape from the backup Merryweather goons. If you manage to survive and reach the drop-off point with the truck without any enemy following, you win.

Useful Tips to Keep in Mind

You don’t have to wait for the Merryweather enemies to come to the ambush spot to start attacking them. You can start fighting them before that, and I recommend you do this. It will save a lot of your time.

Have snacks and full armor. Remember to bring long-range weapons. With them, you can easily take out the choppers and enemies inside the Insurgents. These two enemy vehicles should be the priority and you should eliminate them before focusing on the others. Be careful with explosive weapons, don’t throw or use them near the Barracks truck.

If you are able to communicate with your teammates, tell them to steal the Insurgent vehicles and use them against the enemies.  Direct one of your crewmates to push the Barrack truck with an Insurgent to increase its speed as this truck is going to be pretty slow. Driving it will be a little frustrating, especially when you are getting showered with bullets.

Bikes – Pacific Standard Heist Setup Mission #5

Objectives

• Travel to the Lost MC clubhouse.
• Eliminate the enemies.
• Steal the bikes.
• Go to the drop-off point.

Rewards

• Easy — $10,450
• Normal — $20,900
• Hard — $26, 130

Total Duration

• 5-6 minutes

Finally, we have come to the final setup mission for the Pacific Standard Heist. The main objective of this mission is to steal four bikes from the Lost MC clubhouse. I suggest bringing your weaponized vehicle with you to this fight.

There will be a bunch of enemies inside the Clubhouse. Eliminate all of them and take the bikes. Now, you will need to get to the drop-off point, but before that, you will need to fend off some Lost MC reinforcements. Thankfully, they will also be on bikes.

Useful Tips to Keep in Mind

I suggest you do not use any explosives as these bikes can easily catch on fire and explode. Make sure you don’t damage them.

Only start moving when all of your crew members have their bikes, and don’t leave any teammates behind when escaping from the Lost MC reinforcement. You need to keep yourself and your crewmates alive to successfully finish this mission.

Pacific Standard Finale

Objectives

• Pay the set-up cost of 25,000
• Travel to the bank with your crew. Don’t get a warning level.
• The Crew is divided into three roles: 2 Crowd Control players, 1 Hacker, and 1 Thermal Explosive Expert
• Crowd Control needs to keep the hostages in check
• Thermal Explosive Expert needs to open up the first and the second gate.
• The Hacker needs to then hack the control panel.
• The Hacker and Thermal Explosive Expert need to put the money inside their bags.
• The crew needs to get out of the bank together and start defending themselves from the cops.
• If the Hacker or the Thermal Explosive Expert gets hit, they will lose money. This will affect the final amount you get.
• Get to the bikes. Ride them to the Canyon.
• Jump off the cliff and get to the Dinghy.
• Escape with the Dinghy.

Rewards

• Easy — $750,000
• Normal — $1,500,000
• Hard — $1,875,000

Total Duration

• 15-20 minutes

Alright, now it’s the time to finally start the finale that we all have been waiting for. All the equipment that you have stolen during the setup missions will come into use as Lester has created a plan that utilizes all of them.

First things first, your team will be divided into three distinct roles: a Hacker, a Demolition expert, and two crowd-control players. Once you have decided on the roles, remember to restock on everything. Snacks, ammo, armor, I mean everything. This heist finale is pretty hard and requires you to fight against a horde of powerful enemies. It is better to stay prepared.

Furthermore, if you are playing on the hard difficulty, the total amount you can get will be $1,875,000 million. But it’s not guaranteed that you will exactly get this amount. The money will carried by the Hacker and Demolition expert, and the more they get shot and take damage, they will keep losing the money.

Now that you remember all this, drive to the Pacific Standard Bank and enter through the main entrance. The crowd control team needs to keep the civilians in check, and the Demolition expert needs to use the charges to break into the vault area. There are some guards within the Vault, so take them out. After that, the Hacker must use their hacking skills to open the vault door. The Crowd Control team should stay with the civilians and make sure they are in control.

You are told not to kill any civilians as it will trigger NOOSE to come to your location, and they come with a lot of military gear and are harder to eliminate. The Demolition expert needs to destroy the final lock and then with the Hacker collect all of the money.

After getting the money in the bags, meet with the crowd control team. By now, you should be surrounded by cops outside, and they will be very aggressive towards you and your crewmates. It’s time to escape! Well, it is going to be insanely difficult.

The escape part of this heist mission has developed an infamous reputation in the GTA Online community, and over the years players have developed various methods that you can follow to finish this heist. So, I’ll tell you about all the popular ones, and then you can choose the ones that suit your playstyle. Keep in mind, that almost all of these methods work better when you are constantly communicating with your teammates, except for the first one.

Finding a Method in Madness

Follow the Rules

In this method, you need to do everything that Lester is telling you to do. Thus, after coming out of the bank, start shooting at the cops. Defend the Hacker and the Demolition expert from getting killed. Use every weapon at your disposal and somehow make it to the area with the bikes, they will be near Las Lagunas Boulevard.

Remember to get to this place while running through all the yellow markers on the mini-map. After you get the bikes, start heading to the Canyon. Your main objective is to escape, so don’t start any unnecessary fights with the cops who are chasing you. Try not to shoot them constantly and drive as fast as you can.

When you reach the Canyon, you will have to jump off a cliff with your bike. Then, open up your parachute and land near a Dinghy on a river. Hopefully, all of your crewmates did the same. Now, just ride the Dinghy to your victory. You have completed this heist. Again, this sounds simple, but it is very challenging, especially if you want the total amount.

Using Your Apartment and the Armored Kuruma

After you walk through all of the yellow objective markers that take you to the bikes, you are technically free to use any vehicle to reach the canyon. This means that you don’t need to use the bikes. So, instead, use this alternative way.

Buy the 0604 Las Lagunas Boulevard at Las Lagunas Boulevard in Vinewood, Los Santos. It is the closest apartment you can buy in the area where the bikes are present. Before you begin the heist, make sure to put an Armored Kuruma in your garage there.

Thus, after stealing the money, go into your apartment, bring your crewmates into the garage, and get out with the Armored Kuruma. This way, you will stay protected from the bullets and will be able to get to the Canyon in a far more comfortable way.

If you want to be even more safer, keep one of the players with the money inside the bank and bring the Kuruma in front of the entrance. After picking up this player, follow the previous yellow objective markers from memory, so that the objective changes for that player, and then head out for the Canyon.

Helicopter Getaway

This is a method that prioritizes the use of a helicopter. So, after you and your crew have started riding the bikes, instead of going towards the Canyon, drive to the Vespucci police station. Climb onto the roof of this building and steal their ambulance chopper. Try to check if the chopper has been spawned before you climb this building.

If it’s not there, start looking somewhere else and then go back to the police station. Once you manage to steal this chopper, you will avoid a lot of bullet fire and travel safely to the Dinghy. Just remember to tell the player who will be controlling the chopper to jump out last.

Using the Armored Insurgent or Enemy Helicopter

In this method, you are required to kill a couple of civilians for the NOOSE agents to get dispatched. These enemies are way stronger than the cops, and they will bring some heavy weaponized vehicles with them like the Insurgents. So, now you have to get out of the bank and eliminate the NOOSE agents who are using the Insurgent’s machine gun and then hijack the vehicle.

If you are able to do this, you and your crewmates could easily use it to reach the canyon without encountering any problems. You can do the same with the enemy helicopters. Use a sniper to take out the driver and ensure that the helicopter does not take any damage. Get into this chopper and ride it to the canyon. This is arguably the hardest method to do.

These are four of the most popular methods that GTA Online players generally follow to finish this heist. There are many other things you can try to do or just directly tinker with the game mechanics, such as finding glitches or abusing the respawn mechanics. But in reality, whatever method you try to follow, it is going to be hard.

FAQs

Conclusion

Pacific Standard Heist is arguably the least-played heist in the game due to its high reliance on communication and reliable teammates. It’s a shame, as this heist has a lot of cinematically rich sequences that are pretty fun to play. Hopefully, this guide will motivate you to give this heist a chance.

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