THE ULTIMATE SOLO HEIST GUIDE — No Rest For The Wicked

TL;DR: This is a hybrid bank heist that can be run stealth (sneaky, fiddly, satisfying) or loud (chaos, thermite, mayhem). Solo players can absolutely solo it — but you’ll need patience, a stealth toolkit, and precise timing in loud runs. Read the full strat (below).

Quick facts you must not forget

• Heist supports Both Stealth & Loud; payouts differ by mode.

• Location: Bowery / Lower East Side area; start time in lore: 2:00 PM.

• Stealth: power switch, server-room hack, red keycard from a guard, puzzle keypad with fingerprints, carry employee escort to vault.

• Loud: Shade calls in thermite drops to melt floor to vault — bags drop periodically and you must use/collect them; later you lower bollards to let the escape van in. Destroying the van antenna can prematurely stop the assault.

• The heist has randomized spawns (breaker, power rooms, vault switch color, vault code, manager box location) — memorize the methods, not the spots.

Playstyle summary (solo)

• Stealth solo = brain surgery. Slow, methodical, single-player puzzles. Very high payout if clean. Best when you like planning, patience, and manipulating guard patrols.

• Loud solo = endurance + resource management. Thermite farming, holding choke points, disabling bollards, and an escape window that closes if bollards go back up. Expect heavy waves once the vault opens.

Recommended solo loadouts & tools

(Stay practical — these are general suggestions grounded in the heist mechanics described.)

Stealth (primary):

• Silent primary (suppressed rifle or SMG) or high-accuracy suppressed pistol.

• Microcam / Motion Sensor: place one on stairwells and choke points to track the patrolling stair guard.

• ECM / Interceptor

Loud (primary):

• Flexible AR or shotgun for vault fights; decent mobility.

• Throwables (smoke/grenade) and a medic kit if solo.

• Thermite: you’ll collect these from drops — Shade calls them in periodically.

• You'll need to lower bollards (you’ll be disabling power boxes around Main Street during loud).

Step-by-step: Stealth (solo veteran route)

1. Enter unmasked, outside the bank. Move carefully; civs and guards have randomized positions.

2. Find the power switch for the vault gate. It can spawn in many places — guaranteed spawn inside the teller room if you open the left-side door next to the vault. Turn it off quietly.

3. Locate the server room & hack the computer. Server room may be on the 2nd floor or roof. You need a red keycard (steal from a roaming guard). A blue keycard may open the camera room.

4. Do the switch puzzle outside the vault. Two access panels; pull the matching colored switch after the hack to open the pre-vault room (colors are randomized).

5. Escort the employee who has vault access from 1F down to the vault (lower difficulties place him in his office on ground level). This is the single trickiest moment — stair guard patrols are relentless on higher difficulties; put a microcam on the stair and time your sprint when the guard is away. Keep civs controlled.

6. Final keypad code: hack the final computer to get 4 codes; use fingerprints on the keypad to rule out digits — only one code is correct. Use observation, don’t brute force.

7. Vault open → grab loot. If done clean, the loot drop-off point activates and will spawn either in the parking lot or near the back alley. Watch for the ink/dye rig

Pro tips (stealth):

• Use microcam on stair and server entrances. Patience beats aggression.

• If playing higher difficulty, expect extra guards and locked doors (Very Hard/Overkill modifiers). Use recon to find breaker locations early.

Step-by-step: Loud (solo survival route)

1. Alarm goes off → secure positions. Tie civs to increase negotiation time and buy breathing room.

2. Collect thermite drops. Shade calls Bile to drop thermite; first drop ~1 minute after dialog, first bag lands in parking lot. You can fetch it between waves — set it up on the first floor over the vault. Drop cadence: roughly every 30s; each bag speeds up the cut. Expect ~6 minutes for the burn without boosts.

3. Prepare for the hole: When the floor’s gone, enemies flood the vault. Don’t linger in the vault — it’s a meat grinder with poor cover. Place loot quickly, then pull back to a defensible location.

4. Lower bollards on Main Street by disabling power boxes; van extraction depends on this — faster = safer. Note: number of required boxes rises with difficulty.

5. Van/Antenna mechanics: During the FBI assault a van with an antenna arrives—if you destroy that antenna the assault will stop prematurely (good trick if you’re overwhelmed).

Pro tips (loud):

• Place thermite strategically to create a short, controlled entry rather than dying inside the vault.

• Use choke points on the first floor to pick off rushes; vault interior is last-resort.

Handling randomization & difficulty modifiers

• Random breaker/power/security room spawns mean you must scan fast on entry. Don’t commit to a route until you know where the server, power, and security rooms are.

• On Hard/Very Hard/Overkill, expect locked doors, extra guards, tactical flashlight, and special modifiers (Lead Guard, Calling Backup). Adjust by playing slower and using camera recon.

Ink packs / Achievements

• There’s an achievement for completing the heist without letting a dye pack explode on Very Hard or above — handle loot carefully. There’s also one for opening all deposit boxes. If you want the achievement, remove dye risk before pickup.

Common solo failure modes and fixes

• Fail: Stair guard catches you escorting the employee → Fix: microcam + wait for patrol loop, smoke distraction, or staggered movement.

• Fail: Dying inside vault during loud run → Fix: don’t stay in vault; drop the loot and pull back to the first-floor choke/van area.

• Fail: Bollards back up before van arrives → Fix: disable boxes faster, or prioritize bollard objective over extra loot if extraction window is narrow.

Solo difficulty checklist (before you hit START)

• Know whether you want Stealth or Loud. If Stealth, prepare for puzzles and guard manipulation. If Loud, prepare to farm and place thermite.

• Pack microcam/other tools.

• Have an escape plan for when the vault becomes a deathtrap.

FAQ

Q: Can I solo stealth this? A: Yes — if you like long walks, surveillance, and slot-machine RNG. Pack patience and microcams.

Q: Where does the thermite drop happen in loud? A: First bag lands on the roof~1 minute after Shade’s call; more follow periodically. Pick them up. Don’t set them on your foot.

Q: What’s the deal with the vault codes? A: Hack a computer to get 4 codes; use fingerprints on the keypad to deduce the correct code — look for digits without prints. Brute force is for amateurs.

Q: Are the objectives static? A: No — breaker boxes, power rooms, vault colors, vault code, and escape spawns are randomized. Learn to read the map, not memorize it.

Q: How do I stop the assault early? A: Destroy the van’s antenna during the FBI assault. It’s a neat little emergency button the game hands you. Use it.

Final words — tactical poetry

No Rest For The Wicked is a beautifully cruel little heist: a puzzle if you choose stealth, a timing-and-resource test if you choose loud. Solo players who treat it like a chess match win more than those who treat it like a firefight. Pack recon, respect the randomized elements, and remember: the vault is a promise that can turn into a coffin if you’re sloppy. Now go, be sneaky — or burn the floor and dance in the smoke. Either way, don’t forget to laugh when a dye pack ruins your payout.