Grand Theft Auto V
78 Achievements
Masterminds
Complete all 3 Criminal Mastermind challenges in The Doomsday Heist.
How to unlock the Masterminds achievement in Grand Theft Auto V - Definitive Guide
If you have completed the online achievements in the Xbox One version of the game, you can import your GTA Online character to this version and automatically pop all the online achievements you’ve earned previously. Please note, importing your Xbox One GTA character to the Xbox Series X version will essentially wipe your Xbox One GTA Online character progress, so it’s highly advised to finish the Xbox One and the Japanese stack if you plan on doing it first.
If you have not started or imported any of your progress from the previous generation:
As of now, you need to complete all three of the Criminal Mastermind Challenges achieved in Grand Theft Auto Online. To find your progress, you must be in an online lobby, public or private. Press , then use or to find the Stats tab at the end. Press , then scroll down to Awards. Press on Awards, then scroll down to The Doomsday Heist. Press to view all The Doomsday Heist related awards available. The three challenges you need to focus on are:
Criminal Mastermind II: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 2 players, on hard difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind III: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 3 players, on hard difficulty without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind IV: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 4 players, on hard difficulty without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
While working on each of these awards, you will likely complete All in Order bonus and Loyalty II,III, and IV.
Criteria every player needs to know to avoid progress reset:
You CAN die during Preps, but CANNOT die during the Setups or Finales.
You CAN fail a Setup or Finale and choose quick restart option. If you do fail a mission, make sure it wasn't due to a death.
The quit out trick for player death during Setups and Finales is easily the most important trick to use. If a player in your crew dies, hit , then either select Grand Theft Auto V and scroll down and hit quit, or simply select another game in the recently played list. The game must be exited in less than five seconds from the moment a team member dies. The idea is similar to the Dashboard method players used for the original Criminal Mastermind on the Xbox 360. This method does not 100% work, as missions auto save checkpoints, and if you happen to die during the auto save, it automatically fails the Criminal Mastermind.
Personal in game vehicles that explode cause the game to immediately autosave. If you die due to a personal vehicle explosion, it will likely reset your progress. Credit to rafa1000house for bringing this to our attention. I can confirm this is true as both progress resets I've encountered were a result of car explosion killing us causing an immediate autosave, voiding the medal. Typically, any mission with helicopters will likely lead to potential explosion due to their heat seeking missiles.
If a player disconnects during a mission, it's advised that everyone needs to immediately quit the game using the quit out method, as this may void progress.
You CANNOT purchase prep vehicles to skip the missions and progress.
You CAN do all Preps first, then do all Setups for each Act; or do Prep, Setup, Prep, Setup until completion of the Finale. As stated in the actual challenge, you MUST do ALL Setups and Finales in order, top to bottom, starting with Act I and finishing with Act III.
Preps CAN be done in private lobbies now. This is a new update that resolves the aging frustrations of playing with randoms in a public lobby.
When doing Setups and Finale Heists, its best to go into a private lobby. There are reports of server issues in public lobbies that can cause players to disconnect from a full lobby at the end of a Setup, causing server lapses that reset progress.
When you start a Criminal Mastermind play-through, you MUST complete it with the same people in the same order before starting a new one. You CANNOT do multiple Criminal Masterminds play-throughs at the same time. Example, you can not start CMII with friend A, then start CMIV with friends B, C and D and continue progress for CMII. However, do keep in mind, if friend A was the host of CMII play-through, THEY will keep THEIR OWN progress if you decided to reset YOUR OWN by going for CMIV. So if you do decide to start a new play-through, it's best to let your teammates know.
You DO NOT need to complete every challenge with the same players for all three play-throughs. You do not need to play with friend A for CMII, CMIII, and CMIV. You CAN play with friend A in CMII; friend B and E in CMIII; and friends B, D, and F in CMIV. Just ensure you are playing the entire play-through, Act I through Act III, with the players you start each play-through with.
These DO NOT need to be completed in one session. You can play a few missions a night for a couple of weeks. Progress will not be interrupted while playing free roam, multiplayer, or other non Doomsday heists.
It's IDEAL to make sure every player doing the heist missions to be in the same organization. To do this, the player hosting the missions needs to hire each player as a body guard after registering as a CEO. This helps the system keep the group as a unit, as servers can split players up prior to missions starting. I would recommend players all being within the player owned facility before starting each mission to avoid sync issues.
Tips and Tricks:
Basic start up procedures include:
Using the Interaction menu:
Purchasing a Facility:
Registering as a VIP, CEO, President and hiring heist Crew:
“The Standard FPS-2 control setting is the best option because it allows you to sprint while having the interaction menu open.”
*Credit to Rheinadler for this suggestion*
Special thanks to oxBURN3Rxo and HollaBackGaming for their contributions. Thanks for all the up-votes and contributions in the comments! Good luck to everyone!
I'm French🇲🇫 , i speak little english
The Challenge’s requirements may at first seem highly demanding, however, there is an exploit which can be used to make the Challenge a lot easier. If any of the Challenge’s requirements are failed, all players can Close the Application (i.e. quit the game and go back to the PS4’s dashboard) via the PS Button and reboot the game. This allows players to leave the game before it has the chance to reset progress and save. Note, however, all players must Close the Application and should do so promptly, failure to Close the Application promptly may result in progress being reset for those that fail to do so. It is therefore advised that players press the PS Button and have “Close Application” highlighted so that they can immediately access the option when holding down the PS Button. It is also advised that players use microphones to notify their team when they should Close the Application: a suggested signal is to frantically scream “CLOSE APP!”. You can then check your progress towards the Award through the Awards Section of the Stats Tab in the Pause Menu.
Expect to spend at least 30 hours on this trophy alone (approx. 10 hours for each run). You may find yourself spending longer on the trophy if any you or any of your teammates’ progress is reset despite following the challenge’s requirements. There are, however, methods that have been found to circumvent progress from resetting due to glitches (more detail on these methods can be found below).
The requirements for the Criminal Mastermind Challenge are as follows - read them carefully:
- Complete all Heist Setup Missions & Finales in order: i.e. starting from the top of the planning board and working your way down through the Setup Missions to the Finale, and completing the Heist in the following order: Act I, Act II, Act III. Note that you may complete the Prep Missions in any order you prefer.
- Complete all Heist Setups and Finales with the same crew: if at any point during your Criminal Mastermind attempt you play a Doomsday DLC Heist with players other than those in your team, your progress will be reset.
- Complete all Heist Setups and Finales without dying: you must not die in any Setup Mission or Finale, though you are permitted to die as many times as you like in free mode Prep Missions. If any players die, all players should Close the GTA V Application immediately: doing so may allow you to retain your progress on the challenge before the game resets and saves your progress.
- Setups Missions and Finales must be completed on Hard difficulty: ensure the Difficulty is set to Hard in the Lobby Options prior to starting Setups and Finales (they are set to Normal by default).
- Note you must also complete Prep Missions in free mode: if you pay to skip any Prep Missions, your progress will be reset. You are allowed to die in the Prep Missions, and there are no difficulty settings, nor can you fail them and have progress reset.
Below are some techniques that some players have found useful for avoiding the challenge’s progress-tracking glitching and resetting progress:
- Before starting any missions (whether Preps, Setups or Finales), have the Heist Leader invite their team to their SecuroServ Organisation/Motorcycle Club. All players should then accept the invite.
- Start missions from the Planning Board of the Facility: do not start missions via the text messages sent by Lester. Once inside the Facility, the Heist Leader should invite their team to their Facility through the Facility Management Menu in the Interaction Menu. Once all team members are inside the Facility, enter the Planning Room together. Take extra care to enter the Planning Room together before Finales and when starting new Acts, as a cutscene will begin playing automatically for anyone in the Facility as soon as the Heist Leader enters their Planning Room. If any team members are outside the Planning Room when the cutscene starts (i.e. before the Heist Leader starts a new Act or enters the Planning Room to start a finale), their progress may be reset. A way to avoid this is by having the Heist Leader wait for their team to get to the Planning Room before entering.
- Use Invite-Only Sessions for Setups and Finales - you can create an Invite-Only Session from the Online Tab of the Pause Menu when in GTA V's Story Mode. Public Sessions should only be used for Prep Missions since this is a mandatory requirement for starting Prep Missions.
- Note that you are permitted to use the trip-skip feature and this is highly recommended to save time. Note also that you are permitted to call Lester to have him remove your Wanted Level.
See the below videos for a demonstration of completing the 2 player version of the Challenge:
Act 1 - Criminal Mastermind:
Act 2 - Criminal Mastermind:
Act 3 - Criminal Mastermind: Coming soon
See The Data Breaches, The Bogdan Problem and The Doomsday Scenario for Act-specific tips. You should also read through the techniques given in the Tips & Strategies Section - these will be vital to avoid dying. Good luck!
Credit to ProfBambam55 for providing methods & advice for avoiding progress-tracking glitches.
In order to obtain this achievement, you will need to complete three different challenges for The Doomsday Heist. You can check your progress at any time by pressing and going to STATS > Awards > The Doomsday Heist. The challenges in question are:
Criminal Mastermind II: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 2 players, on hard, difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind III: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 3 players, on hard, difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind IV: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 4 players, on hard, difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Continue reading below for additional guidelines, strategies, and tips involved with this achievement.
Key Tips, Guidelines, and Notes
- Prep missions can only be done in public lobbies, while Setups and Finales can be done in Private lobbies
- You can die during Prep missions
- You cannot purchase Prep equipment/vehicles or utilize the "Trip Skip" option during missions as it will void challenge progress
- You can fail a Setup or Finale (and restart by using the "Quick Restart" option) but it cannot be due to a death
- You can call Lester and remove your Wanted Level during Prep missions
- Using an Armored Kuruma during Prep and Setups missions is highly recommended
- Buy full ammo and full Super Heavy Body Armor before every Setup and Finale
- Stock on free snacks inside the Facility before every Setup and Finale
- When eating snacks for health regeneration, do so in cover as it cancels the animation of eating the food
- Make sure to eat snacks and apply body armor mid-mission through the Interaction Menu
All in all, these three challenges willprove to be difficult, but with enough practice and with a good group of teammates, each challenge should be manageable within a handful of hours (the only overly difficult one is Criminal Mastermind II, as some mission objectives are seemingly impossible with just two players).
As a final note, make sure you are checking your Challenge progress after each and every Prep, Setup, and Finale. There have been some reports that the Challenges often reset themselves (for reasons unknown), so checking your status periodically is a good way to make sure you are staying on track.
Once all three of the new Criminal Mastermind Challenges have been completed, this achievement will finally unlock.
A step-by-step guide/walkthrough of this entire DLC, courtesy of user Neg96, can be found HERE. It is extremely detailed, and should provide all of the information needed to finish this heist.
1. Complete all three heists without dying with 2 players.
2. Complete all three heists without dying with 3 players.
3. Complete all three heists without dying with 4 players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RVMHZrchIk
1. What is a ban in the form of a cap or “unreliable player status” - This is a punishment for players who often let the team down, for which you are sent into exile on COMPLETELY SEPARATE SERVERS! on which you can play ONLY with players serving a similar sentence!
The DURATION of such punishment is from 2 days (48 hours) to 8 days (192 hours)!!!! They wrote that there were cases with longer periods. Once there, under no circumstances will you be able to play with your team until the punishment counter goes down! You won’t be able to reset, shorten, or reset it, just wait!
Although I’m lying, there is one way to continue completing the robbery without waiting for the expiration of the punishment, for this all members of your team must receive the status of an Unreliable Player, proudly wearing a cap with the inscription “stupid” and continue playing on the servers for “unreliable”.
A few words about the servers themselves for Dishonest players, as a rule, sheer Hell is going on on them with constant warring high-level players constantly hiding in the invis, flying fighters, motorcycles, cars, bombing Avengers, etc.
2. How not to get this ban: Each player has a character characteristic that can take three values: - “Honest Player”
- "Suspicious Player"
- "The Dishonest Player"
To see your characteristics - click OPTIONS - NETWORK - PLAYERS - From the list of players in your session, select yourself and check your reputation for reliability, if the value is “Honest Player” everything is fine, continue the passage if you see that your characteristics have moved into the category of “Suspicious” player" then we urgently interrupt the passage (since leaving the party one more time and you will get a ban) and begin to correct ourselves. The easiest way is for your team to organize a simple race for 1 lap, for example around a prison, a track for 30 seconds. Complete it 3 times, finishing and winning, and your friends should also thank you at the end of the race for your participation in it. Such a simple measure should correct your karma and return you to the category of honest players.
3. We continue to Rob and Kill
PS The very fact of receiving the “stupid” cap and the status of “dishonest player” does not affect the statistics in any way.
1. As mentioned above, for preparatory tasks in the open world, an open session is held, all players are invited to one organization and must be in the planning room at the host’s base at the time the mission starts. In such missions you can not only die, but also the destruction of a vehicle that must be obtained according to the terms of the task does not reset the “genius of the underworld” counter (for example, in a mission where you need to steal 4 deluxo from a garage, randoms destroyed one of the cars, we delivered 3 out of 4 and the task was not completed, the counter was not reset; when restarting the mission, it was enough to deliver only 1 car).
2. for preparatory tasks from the lobby, you need to create a session by invitation, also join one organization and at the start be all players in the host planning room. If one of the players dies, it is best not to close the application, as advised above, but to go to the console menu via the PS button, go to options, network settings and uncheck the wi-fi box. There is no need to leave the game. This method allows you not only to save statistics even when a red screen appears, but also not to worry about being punished as an “unreliable player”. VERY IMPORTANT : in such missions it is better to use the transport offered by the game to complete the task. Many players use the vigilante (batmobile) to simplify the passage of some missions, but if during the game it is destroyed along with the player inside, then nothing will save this player from resetting the statistics , no matter how quickly he leaves the game (triple checked by our team) .
3. Just in case, we didn’t miss any cutscenes or rides while passing through.
What can help you get through:
1. It is advisable that the team of players have at least 1 player of level 120, at which the opportunity to buy a minigun opens up. He kills the super soldiers from the third act very quickly.
2. Buy a bunker, a mobile command post or an avenger from a weapons workshop, upgrade all the modifications (this will take a long time) and ultimately get an MK II assault rifle with the ability to attach an optical sight with a thermal imager to it (this will be very useful in the mission setup avenger 2- th act) and armor-piercing cartridges (useful everywhere).