What You'll Need
- Rank 12 or higher — heists are locked until you hit it.
- A high-end apartment with a heist planning room (from around $200,000).
- Enough cash to cover setup costs — the leader pays these up front.
- 1–3 other players to fill the crew (the first heist needs just one).
- A headset or mic — strongly recommended, heists live and die on communication.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
Reach Rank 12 and buy the right apartment
You can't touch heists until you're at least Rank 12 and own a high-end apartment that includes a heist planning room. Not every property qualifies — when buying through the Dynasty 8 Real Estate website on your in-game phone, stick to apartments listed as high-end. They all come with the planning room. Cheap apartments, stilt houses and standalone garages will not work.
Wait for Lester's call — or call him yourself
Once you meet the requirements, Lester Crest phones you and offers the first heist, The Fleeca Job. If he doesn't call within a few in-game minutes, open your phone and call Lester from your contacts. The Fleeca Job is a two-player heist — the gentlest possible introduction to how heists flow.
Set up as the heist leader
Heists are launched from the planning board in your apartment. Walk up to it to become the heist leader (the host). Read this carefully: the leader pays all the setup costs up front, but in return takes the largest cut of the finale payout and decides how the rest is split between the crew.
Build your crew
From the planning screen you can invite friends directly or fill empty slots with random players through matchmaking. This is also where you set each player's percentage cut. For your first heist you only need a single partner — ideally a friend on a mic. Heists fall apart fast without communication.
Pro tip: buy body armor from the Interaction Menu before every setup and the finale. It's cheap, you can restock it mid-mission, and it's often the difference between finishing a heist and restarting it.
Complete the setup missions
Every heist is a chain: one or more setup missions followed by the finale. Setups prepare the big job — stealing vehicles, grabbing gear, clearing the way. The crew gets paid for completing setups; the leader does not — the leader's reward is the finale cut. You can't skip ahead, the finale only unlocks once every setup is done.
Run the finale
The finale is the main event and the real payday. It demands the most coordination of the whole heist — assign roles before you start, stick to the plan, and keep talking. Pull it off and everyone collects their cut. Completing a heist also unlocks the next one in the chain, all the way up to the lucrative Pacific Standard Job.
Tips & Tricks
- Watch a video of the finale once before you run it — knowing the objectives saves a lot of failed attempts.
- Restock ammo and armor from the Interaction Menu between every mission phase.
- Play with friends or a crew rather than randoms whenever you can — it's a different game.
- Don't rage-quit — leaving mid-heist wipes the progress for everyone, not just you.
- Set up heists from an invite-only or friends-only session so griefers can't crash the lobby.
What About the Newer Heists?
The apartment heists above are the original five and the best place to learn the ropes. GTA Online has since added bigger ones — the Doomsday Heist (run from a Facility), the Diamond Casino Heist (run from an Arcade), and the Cayo Perico Heist, the only heist you can complete entirely solo. Each is launched from a different property, but the core loop — set up as leader, prep with setups, cash out on the finale — stays exactly the same.