Three Safe Opening Methods
Drilling is the default loud method — place a drill on the safe and wait. Guards may hear the noise on higher difficulties. Drill Technician skill (Aced) lets you repair drills with melee hits, critical on long drills.
Nimble (Aced) from the Ghost tree enables silent lockpicking — no drill needed. This is the stealth standard on maps like Brick Bank and Downtown Bank.
Shaped charges blow safes open instantly but are loud and alert nearby guards. Use on loud runs or when time is critical.
Special Safes
The Nightclub heist features a fingerprint safe requiring the Mob Boss hostage to scan. See Nightclub stealth guide for the full route.
Some safes contain nothing — Cleaner skill reduces body bag costs when guards discover empty safes. Read safes & mutators guide for post-100 content.