Heists are now available to play in Grand Theft Auto Online.

Heists bring a brand new 4-player cooperative gameplay experience to GTA Online, giving players the chance to team up to pull off a string of intense, multi-part raids and robberies across Los Santos and Blaine County.

IGN recently exclaimed, “They’re real and they’re spectacular… these long-awaited four-player online heists are meaty and, in our initial experience, very different from anything else in GTA 5.”

Setting Up for GTA Online Heists

With the launch of GTA Online Heists, we have no doubt you and your Crew are ready to pull off elaborate robberies at some of Los Santos’ most closely-guarded institutions. Massive scores of GTA$ await those with the planning and the teamwork to pull off each of these audacious criminal endeavors.

Here are a few pointers to help ensure your plan is of the best-laid variety.

Follow the Leader

First things first: every Heist needs a leader and the Heist Leader is going to need to be at least rank 12 and own a high-end apartment with a planning board in order to co-ordinate the crime. Not only do Heist Leaders cough up all of the setup costs up-front, they have complete control over team roles and the cut of the final take each Crew Member gets. Additionally, Heist progress is only saved for the Heist Leader – so when choosing a leader it makes sense to link up with someone you can trust.

All Talk

It should go without saying that good teamwork starts with communication – and headsets are important to successfully pulling off Heists. Whether it’s telling a lookout where they need to be, a passenger locating vehicles using the Trackify app and giving directions to the driver, or two infiltrators operating a pair of security panels in perfect sync.

Roll Call

At different stages of each Heist, Crew members will be assigned different roles. These could be slightly different responsibilities within a single scenario – for example, two lookouts and a bodyguard while a buyer completes a less-then-legal exchange of information – or larger deviations, like two players patrolling in an attack chopper above while the other two infiltrate a facility below. It’s important for all players to know their strengths and, in turn, for the Heist Leader to assign accordingly. If you see yourself as an ace pilot, then put in some time at the Flight School and increase that flying stat to prove it.

Tool Up

Professionals don’t expect the customer to provide the tools for the job. While there might be some more specialized equipment that may be provided (or that you’ll need to acquire) along the way, for the most part you’ll be using your own custom vehicles and firearms to get by. So it’s a good time to take stock and make sure your garage and your arsenal are prepared for all possibilities. Silencers on guns and RPGs in general are especially useful for certain Heists while four-door vehicles with added armor can come in handy if you like to keep your friends close. With GTA Online Heists you can unlock a range of new vehicles and gear, including an extensive selection of new outfits perfect for whatever each Heist throws at you.

Bonus Round

For the financially ambitious there are a few ways to increase the income from Heists in a major way. First off, each Heist has its own Elite Challenge which, upon completion, will yield a substantial cash bonus. These can be completed multiple times, but be warned: they’re no cakewalk.

On top of that, there are Special Heist Completion bonuses that can only be achieved once per person, but will add some serious zeros to your bank balance. Examples include:

• First Time – Completing each Heist Finale for the first time, will net you a bonus cash reward
• All In Order Challenge – Complete all Heists in order, including Setups, to receive a $1,000,000 cash bonus
• Loyalty Challenge – Complete all Heists, including Setups, with the same team of players to receive an additional $1,000,000 bonus
• Criminal Mastermind Challenge – Complete all Heists, in order, with the same group of players, without losing any lives, to receive a massive $10,000,000 bonus

The one-off bonus challenges are linked to in game awards. You can monitor your award progress via the Stats > Awards tab in the Pause Menu.

Adversary Modes, Daily Objectives and More

Alongside Heists comes a range of new features and enhancements to make the entire GTA Online experience bigger and deeper. Adversary Modes bring three new kinds of competition to GTA Online while new Daily Objectives and other Freemode activities bring new life to the hectic streets of Los Santos and Blaine County. Here’s a rundown of just some of the new features and additions that have launched with Heists:

New Adversary Modes

These brand new player vs. player modes bring a range of intense new competitive challenges to GTA Online. Adversary Modes will unlock as players progress through Heists.

Daily Objectives

The Los Santos daily hustle just got a little more lucrative. Whether you tend towards Jobs or free-form activities, Daily Objectives will give you a rotating series of challenges to take on for GTA$ rewards. With three new objectives per day, players can stack up challenges over consecutive days to earn bonuses of up to $500,000.

New Freemode Activities

You and your fellow players also have new opportunities for cash and RP rewards with new activities added to the world in Freemode. Be on the lookout for calls from Lester, who may need help to distract the cops in a specific area while his accomplices finish their criminal business. Lamar may call looking for help destroying a vehicle or two, while Trevor and Ron need occasional help picking their business rival’s planes out of the sky. Along with GTA$ and RP bonuses, there are all-new Awards available for completing these challenges with style.

There’s also a new in-game Email notification system that will allow you to contact and message any of your GTA Online friends, no matter what session they’re in – as well as a host of new Awards that yield new items including exclusive t-shirts and car modifications.