Doomsday Heist Criminal Mastermind (II,III,IV) Guide

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Welcome! This guide will serve to provide tips and strategies that will prove useful to anyone attempting any of the three criminal mastermind challenges for the Doomsday Heist. Having recently completed my sixth successful doomsday heist criminal mastermind run, I thought I should give my knowledge to the community instead of letting it go to waste, and I'm also passionate about writing these guides, so there's that. I'll go over the different missions and give tips for each one, sometimes with specific strategies depending on whether the challenge is being done with two, three, or four players.

General Information

• Unlike the criminal mastermind challenge for the original heists, there is no protective armor like the heavy utility vest. However, there are certain helmets, lightly armored helmets, that you can wear to protect yourself, and they reduce headshot damage from enemy NPCs (and players) by 25%, according to Tex2, a widely recognized, reputable and knowledgeable member of the community. Sources: https://gtaforums.com/topic/681401-weapons-information-by-game-files/?do=findComment&comment=1072339091 / https://gtaforums.com/topic/681401-weapons-information-by-game-files/?do=findComment&comment=1072340325

Lightly Armored Helmets include the "construction helmets", the "biker helmets", the "flight helmets". and the glossy/matte mirrored/all black biker helmets (only if the visor is down.)

• You can do the prep and setup missions for an act in any order, but you must complete the acts in order.

• You are allowed to fail missions. For prep missions with four deliveries (Deluxos, Strombergs), you can finish without the full set, but you will need to deliver the remaining ones in another try.

• You are allowed to die in the freemode heist prep missions, but not in the heist setups and finales.

• Buying heist prep equipment will invalidate the challenge progress for everyone in your group.

• NEVER accept doomsday heist invites from Lester, this can result in challenge progress being reset.

• ALWAYS invite everyone on your team to the facility and have them enter the heist room before starting any setup missions or finales. Failure to do this may result in challenge progress being reset.

Act 1 - The Data Breaches

Prep: Paramedic Equipment - Call Emergency Services/911 on the phone, select paramedics, and steal the Ambulance.

Setup: Dead Courier - The paramedic team can maintain stealth up until the data is downloaded from the laptop. The recovery team can ideally land the Savage on the left side of the coroner office, facing towards the hospital.

Setup: Signal Intercepts - After starting a hack on the targets, you can put the phone down and still continue the hack, useful for quickly applying snacks and armor from the interaction menu. Stay in front or to the sides of the targets while hacking them to avoid damage better.

Setup: Server Farm - After the third hack, enemies will start spawning in the server room. If playing with three or four players, it may be a good idea to have one person hold down the area near the elevator, taking out enemies and making sure it is safe for the others to come. On exit, be sure to pay attention to the two groups of enemies that spawn in the alley on the left.

Finale: The Data Breaches - Drive to the IAA base in an armored Kuruma and take the enemies out. The rest of the mission is very straightforward, although make sure to pay attention to the enemies in the work area below the first room of the facility.

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Act 2 - The Bogdan Problem

Preps: Keycards and Riot Control Van - You can pick up the vehicle with a DH-7 Iron Mule.

Prep: Strombergs - The truck icons that are bigger are the actual trucks carrying the strombergs. You can use the DH-7 Iron Mule to pick them up.

Setup: Avenger - When you enter the hangar, either run to the left to take cover behind the gas tank, or run to the right to take cover behind the rooms near the stairs. Use the Heavy Sniper Mk 2 with a thermal scope to see the enemies easily.

Setup: Rescue ULP - Take out the enemies outside the foundry in an armored Kuruma. Two people should park their vehicles in a way that both of the doors to the foundry are blocked off to NPCs. Everyone (Including lookout team) should come inside the foundry through the door closest to the foundry's entrance gate. The ground team will then clear the inside of enemies and escort Agent ULP down the stairs, before returning to wait with the lookout team. Agent ULP will eventually wander outside and get killed by the enemies, and after a quick restart, all enemies will be gone and an Insurgent Pickup will be available to use.

In Criminal Mastermind III, have two people on ground team.

Setup: Salvage Hard Drives - The RCV driver should help the salvage team by blocking them from shots. The salvage team (and the passenger RCV operator in Criminal mastermind IV) can optionally take a Nightshark from any of the burn sites to use as a protective vehicle to shoot from. However, they will need to briefly enter the van before the next burn site to activate the fires. It is a good idea to snipe as many enemies as you can before entering the burn sites.

In Criminal Mastermind III, have two people on salvage team.

Setup: Submarine Recon - Everyone should deliver the strombergs simultaneously to avoid a mission softlock that can sometimes happen.

Finale: The Bogdan Problem - It is possible for air support team to avoid spawning the enemy helicopters by simply avoiding getting too close to the avenger. They should wait a safe distance from the avenger, and pick up the submarine team when they are done and go to the avenger.

In Criminal Mastermind III, have two people on submarine team.

Act 3 - The Doomsday Scenario

Prep: Chernobog - You can pick up the vehicle with a DH-7 Iron Mule.

Setup: Rescue Agent 14 - Go to the shipyard in an armored Kuruma and clear the enemies. In Criminal Mastermind II, one player gets in a Half-track and waits on the far side of the road outside the gate of the shipyard. Once ready, the other player will go to Agent 14 and activate the cutscene. After the cutscene, the Half-track driver will reverse into the area near the juggernauts and help kill them with drive-by weapons. In Criminal Mastermind III, one players drives the Half-track while another is the gunner, and you both help to kill the juggernauts by drawing attention away from the other player. In Criminal Mastermind IV, two players will get inside the Half-track with another being the gunner, and you all help to kill the juggernauts by drawing attention away from the other player.

After the first set of enemies is gone, clear the next enemies that spawn, making sure to take out the buzzard helicopter ASAP, as it can blow you up if you are in a vehicle. When getting to the third building, safely blow up the gas tank, and have one player drive the Half-track and one player man the gun. The driver drives past the gas tank to the cargo container, where the gunner can shoot the juggernauts through the small space. After all enemies are cleared, one player drives in a Kuruma to activate the next checkpoint, and then they drive back to safety while the other player is waiting near the end of the building behind the wooden planks and crate, ready to kill the juggernauts with right-side peeking. After the juggernauts are gone, clear the rest of the enemies in the Kuruma and fly to the drop-off, only one person needs to fly there with Agent 14.