The Big Score

Overview

The Big Score is the final and largest heist of Grand Theft Auto V. Lester Crest plans the robbery of the Union Depository in Pillbox Hill, the federal gold reserve of Los Santos, as the job that will set Michael, Franklin and Trevor up for life. The crew knows Steve Haines and Devin Weston want them dead or silenced, which makes the score both a payday and a last stand.

Setup missions

• Surveying the Score: the crew follows armored vans and finds a construction tunnel under the depository.
• Planning the Big Score: Lester presents the two approaches and the crew is hired.
• Stingers (subtle): steal a police transporter carrying spike strips.
• Gauntlet (subtle): steal three Bravado Gauntlets and have them modified at Los Santos Customs.
• Driller (obvious): steal an industrial drill from a La Mesa warehouse.
• Sidetracked (obvious): steal a train in the Grand Senora Desert.
• Getaway Vehicle (obvious): stash a car for the escape.

Approaches

• Subtle: the crew puncture the tires of two Gruppe Sechs armored vans in a tunnel, take the guards' places and, with a coerced guard named Casey along, drive the vans into the depository. On the way out, Franklin hacks the city's traffic lights to keep Merryweather at bay. The gold is moved into four modified Gauntlets, the crew fights off Merryweather and races out of the city into waiting trucks.
• Obvious: Franklin drills into the vault from below with a heavy cutter while Michael and a gunman distract the police at the front. The crew blows the vault, fights off NOOSE in the parking garage, then lifts the gold with helicopters. Trevor flies while Lester shoots down Merryweather Buzzards, and the gold is dropped onto a moving train.

Crew and tips

Both plans use drivers, gunmen and a hacker, and crew members who gained experience in earlier heists perform far better.

• The obvious approach needs fewer, cheaper crew members and is more profitable.
• An inexperienced Karim Denz should never be the first driver; he can crash and lose half the gold.
• In the subtle approach, a weak first gunman drops gold while loading the Gauntlets.
• Keep Trevor's helicopter steady so Lester can destroy the Merryweather choppers.

Payout

The gross take is about $201.6 million for the obvious approach and $201.3 million for the subtle one, after bribing an inside guard with a gold bar. With a cheap crew, each protagonist can earn over $40 million. After the heist, Devin orders Franklin to kill Michael, setting up the final choice between the three endings.