Gather hacking equipment, prepare getaway bikes, acquire thermal charges, and take down the flagship branch of one of the biggest banks in the country with the Pacific Standard heist. It’s the fifth heist of GTA Online meta released back in 2015.
The premises begin with Lester Crest debriefing you about robbing the main branch of the Pacific Standard Bank located in Downtown Vinewood. As he explains the heist plan, you’ll find out that there are a total of five heist setups that you need to complete before starting the finale.
To complete the heist successfully, you need to work together with the other crew members and finish all the setup missions successfully, followed by the heist finale. This guide will help you through every step of the way.
Guide To Complete The Pacific Standard Heist in GTA Online
The Pacific Standard Job Setup 1 – Vans
In this fun setup mission, your objective is to steal a Post Op van, integrated with a transponder that’s capable of disabling the dye packs of the Pacific Standard Bank in the finale. The crew is split into two roles – drivers and navigators.
Each car needs to have a driver and a navigator. Then, while the driver is driving, the navigator needs to bring up their cellphones and use an app called Trackify to locate the right van. Once the navigator locates the van, the driver drives the vehicle towards it.
As soon as the van is close enough, the Navigator needs to launch the Snapmatic photo app and take a picture of the license plate of the van. Once the navigator has taken the picture, Lester checks the license plate and notifies which van is the right one.
After finding the right van, your crew has to confiscate it and drive it back to Lester’s factory. The best thing is that you won’t be attacked on the way back, so it’s going to be quite easy to complete the mission.
The Pacific Standard Job Setup 2 – Signal
The second job setup for the Pacific Standard heist known as “Signal” requires you to take the transponder that you acquired from the van to Avi Schwartzman. Schwartzman is a signal expert who can match the frequency of the Pacific Standard dye packs.
As he’s a fugitive, he’s hiding out on an island in North Chumash. You need to follow the yellow marker on the HUD to reach a seashore and pick up some jet skis to find the island where Schwartzman is hiding.
All you have to do is cross the waters and reach the destination, so don’t expect any action on the way. However, as you get close to the island, you’ll find that it’s covered with cops all over the place, and there are choppers too.
Evade both the cops and the choppers and reach the island. Then, get off the jet skis and climb up on the rocks to snipe some guards. Also, take down the chopper using rockets, sniper rifles, or any weapon of your choice.
Now, infiltrate the island and take down the cops. Once you’ve eliminated all the enemies, head to the blue ring and pick up Avi. Then, head to the boat marked on your HUD to leave the island, and head across the sea.
Escort Avi to the boat marked on the HUD. After you successfully leave the island, navigate across the sea unless you find a large bridge up the river, which you would instantly recognize if you have completed the Boat in the Bay mission in GTA Online.
After you reach the lake, head towards the yellow dot where you would be asked to lose the cops. It’s better to stay in the middle of the lake until the wanted stars disappear. Then, grab a car and drive Avi to the yellow dot where Paige gives him the transponder.
The Pacific Standard Job Setup 3 – Hack
In this third setup mission, you have to borrow a hacking rig from one of your fellow rival crew in Vinewood. For this mission, your crew is divided into two groups – Decoys and Transporter. Three players are assigned the role of Decoys, while one acts as the Transporter.
As soon as you start the mission, head to the white van with two of your teammates and drive to Vinewood Boulevard. Once you reach there, you have to kill the rival gang members. Make sure you look out for enemies rushing from the streets and snipers above.
After clearing the enemy waves, go towards the black van to find the hacking gear. Hereafter, the transporter will carry the equipment and get in the white van. On the other hand, the decoys will head to the black van to ambush the rival gang members.
This will allow the transporter to safely deliver the equipment and white van without having to deal with the enemies. Once both the teams have reached their respective checkpoints, the setup mission will be over, and all you have to do is destroy the black van to get paid.
The Pacific Standard Job Setup 4 – Convoy
The fourth setup mission – Convoy – is a bit more difficult as there are certain things that could go wrong while performing this heist. The most important thing is to make sure that you stick to your teammates and listen to each other.
In this mission, your objective is to hijack a convoy of trucks from Merryweather, carrying the charges you need to destroy the bank’s doors in the heist finale. As there are no factions in this setup mission, your whole crew needs to work together to accomplish the objective.
After starting the mission, head towards the ambush point located on a bridge. Make sure your crew head there in separate cars, as you will have to block the road and steal a military truck. That being said, take your positions on the bridge and wait for the convoy to arrive.
Also, make sure you don’t rig the bridge with explosives, as doing so would mean that you’ll destroy the truck, and the mission will be failed. You may also see a chopper before the convoy arrives, so be sure to deal with it.
Then, kill everyone in convoy and get into the truck and insurgent. Each vehicle should accommodate two of your crew members, with the truck following the trail of the insurgent. The insurgent needs to shoot everything that comes in their way and keep moving.
As you get near the drop-off, you will get a message asking you to escape Merryweather and kill any remaining enemies on the way. Do so and deliver the truck to the yellow dot marked on the HUD. After the mission is completed, you’ll receive a bonus and unlock the Savage chopper.
The Pacific Standard Job Setup 5 – Bikes
The “Bikes” is the last setup mission before the main action begins. In this mission, you just have to steal some sports bikes from the Lost gang’s clubhouse and drop them off near the Pacific Standard bank.
As there are no factions or roles in this mission, it can be quite hard to pull it off right on the first try. However, we’ll be using a nifty trick that will help you out. Therefore, make sure you read this section carefully as it will save you a lot of time.
To begin the mission, head towards the Lost Casino and kill the biker group, but make sure you don’t destroy the bikes in the process. Once you have done that, steal the Lectro bike parked right in front of the clubhouse.
Now here comes the tricky part – you and your crew have to ride the bikes to a drop-off located near the bank. However, on your way back, the lost gang has put up some roadblocks that you will have to pass through.
As all your teammates are on bikes, there’s a high chance of someone crashing or getting shot by the Lost gang members. That’s when the trick also comes into play to avoid the enemies and get back to the bank in one piece.
While leaving the clubhouse premises, the yellow line will guide you to take the right path, but don’t do that yet. Instead, head straight first and then take a right. This way, you’ll be able to avoid all the roadblocks and reach the bank in no time.
The Pacific Standard Job Finale
Many players agree over the fact that The Pacific Standard Job has one of the hardest finales in GTA Online heists. The problem is that the players consider it to be a classic bank robbery, but in reality, it has a hellish getaway.
The reward is also quite substantial, and if you manage to max it out, you’ll be able to get over $1.25 million each. For the finale, the crew is split into three factions – Hacker, Demolition, and Crowd Control, each with their own set of skills.
To begin, everyone needs to get into the same car and head towards the Pacific Standard Bank. Make sure you don’t get a wanted level on your way to the bank, otherwise, the heist will end immediately. Once you get there, walk up to the front door.
Crowd Control Team
Doing so will trigger a cutscene, after which two members of the Crowd Control team will be instructed to take out the guards and intimidate the NPCs inside the bank. To do that, just aim at the players with your gun but don’t shoot.
The yellow bar at the bottom-right section of your screen will indicate how intimidated the NPCs are. If the bar drops to a considerable level, the NPCs will start to panic and will trip the alarm. While the Crowd Control team is doing this, the hacker and Demolition move to the vault.
Demolition and Hacker Team
Demolition’s role is to place a thermite charge on the door at the back of the bank’s lobby. After opening the first door, Demolition will move towards the next door at the top of a flight of stairs. Once both doors are open, a member from Crowd Control will intimidate the tellers.
Watch out for security guards approaching you down the stairs, and kill them if you need to. Now, the hacker will go to the terminal and open the door where there’s another titanium gate that needs to be burned by the Demolition team.
After the Demolition team has completed its task, both factions walk into the vault and start grabbing the cash from the two tables inside. The alarm will go off immediately upon doing so and now all the crew members need to regroup at the next door.
Police will be waiting for you on the other end, so be sure to be prepared for it. It is advised to use a minigun and start shooting at the cops as soon as you open the door. After clearing your way out, head across the street and get to the bikes.
The Getaway
At this point, there are multiple ways for you to escape. You have to drive for over three miles while having a five-star wanted level on your head. Before you get into the vehicle, you should see two crates with body armor, so equip them first.
Moreover, it’s up to you whether you use the bikes to escape or getaway in a car instead. While bikes are comparatively faster, you’re prone to damage caused by bullets, and a single heavy crash may lead to instant death of your player.
On the other hand, if you choose a car to escape, not only all your crewmates will be together, but they will also shield you from enemy attacks. Once you’re in the vehicle, head to the canyon while dealing with police and roadblocks on your way.
You need to keep going until you reach a cliff, where you’ll be asked to jump off the cliff using a parachute. When you jump off, head forward and follow the river’s stream. Remember, time is running out so do everything quickly and reach the boat.
Now, all you have to do is drive to the yellow marker and that’s it. After a post cutscene, you’ll be paid the bounty, and the heist will be successfully completed.
Pacific Standard Heist Payout
The maximum takeaway that you can claim with the Pacific Standard Heist depends on the difficulty level you choose. On easy difficulty, the payout is $500,000, for normal, $1,000,000, and for hard difficulty, the payout is $1,250,000.
Out of this, $100,000 is the setup cost, which means if you’re playing in the hard mode, you can get away with a cut of $171,580. However, if you’re attempting the heist for the first time, you can easily bank up to $271,580.
Bottom Line
So there you have it, our detailed look at how to complete the Pacific Standard heist in Grand Theft Auto Online.
This guide provides tips for how to best tackle this heist, by covering the setup and different approaches which can be used to beat it. For those who have struggled with this heist due to the extreme difficulty, Hopefully, our advice will help clear things up a bit.
