GTA Online Humane Labs Raid Heist Guide: Setups and Payout
The Humane Labs Raid in GTA Online: every setup, the air-and-ground finale split, the elite challenge, and the buffed payout on each difficulty.
The Humane Labs Raid is the third of the original GTA Online heists, and the Humane Labs Raid stands out because the finale forces the crew to split into an air team and a ground team that have to work in sync. This guide covers all five setups, how the air-and-ground coordination works in the finale, the elite challenge, and the buffed payout on every difficulty. It is a four-player-only heist, so you need a full crew of four to launch a single mission.
What the Humane Labs Raid is and what you need
The Humane Labs Raid sends your crew into the Humane Labs and Research facility to steal sensitive research files. It is hosted from a high-end apartment with a heist planning room, and the host pays a $25,000 setup fee to start the operation. After the 2022 Criminal Enterprises update reduced setup costs across the board, that fee is the same low number for every original heist.
A few non-negotiables before you begin:
- Four players are required. Unlike some later heists, this one cannot be run with two or three.
- All four players must be rank 12 or higher and own a high-end apartment to be invited, though only the host needs the planning board.
- Setup missions can be replayed for money even after you have finished the heist once.
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The five Humane Labs Raid setups
The raid runs through five setup missions before the finale unlocks. They must be completed in order:
- Key Codes sends two players (a Buyer and a Bodyguard) to a meeting to grab keycard codes, then fight their way out and deliver them.
- Insurgents has the crew steal two armored Insurgent LAPVs from a Merryweather test site at the Davis Quartz Quarry and bring them back.
- EMP tasks the team with stealing a Hydra jump jet that has the EMP device installed. The Hydra sits on a Merryweather aircraft carrier out at sea, so the crew has to fight onto the deck, grab the jet, fend off a wave of scripted enemy fighters, and escort it to the drop-off.
- Valkyrie is the standout setup: you assault Merryweather's base at the Los Santos Naval Port to steal the Buckingham Valkyrie attack helicopter used in the finale.
- Deliver EMP loads the device into one of the stolen Insurgents and drives it into the Humane Labs grounds, parking it in position for the finale. Stealth matters here, so a silenced weapon helps if the crew has to fight on the way in.
Setup payouts were raised by 50% in the Criminal Enterprises update, and every player who joins a setup now earns a bonus for grouping up, so it pays to bring a coordinated team rather than randoms.
The air-and-ground finale
The finale is where the Humane Labs Raid earns its reputation. The EMP knocks out the facility's defenses, and the four-player crew splits into two pairs with very different jobs.
- The ground team (two players) makes an underwater approach using rebreathers, then pushes through the labs wearing night vision masks because the EMP has killed the lights. Their job is to reach the server room, grab the files, and survive the wave of security inside.
- The air team (two players) flies the Valkyrie, one player piloting and one on the guns. They drop the ground team in, hold off Merryweather and NOOSE reinforcements that swarm the area, and then extract the ground team once the files are secured.
The coordination is the whole challenge. If the air team cannot keep the pressure off, the ground team gets pinned inside. If the ground team is slow, the pilot runs out of room to maneuver against reinforcements. Voice comms and clear role assignment matter more here than raw skill. Saving the screenshots of a clean run is its own reward, and you can browse community GTA Online screenshots for reference on the route.
Humane Labs Raid payout by difficulty
The Criminal Enterprises update gave the Humane Labs Raid finale a +75% reward buff, one of the largest bumps any original heist received. These are the current total take figures for the finale pot, before it is split among the crew:
- Easy: $472,500
- Normal: $945,000
- Hard: $1,181,250
That pot is divided by the percentages the host sets on the planning board. Each finale crew member is guaranteed a minimum 15% cut under the post-update rules, and the host typically keeps the largest share to cover the setup fee and the time spent running setups solo. A common fair split is roughly 40% to the host and 20% to each of the three crew members.
Hard difficulty is the only sensible way to run it once your crew is competent, since the jump from normal to hard adds another quarter-million to the pot for the same work.
The elite challenge bonus
Like the other original heists, the finale carries an elite challenge that pays a flat bonus on top of your cut when the crew clears all three conditions:
- Finish the finale in under 11 minutes
- Keep total vehicle damage under 2%
- Nobody dies during the finale
The time limit is the hardest part because the ground team's underwater approach and night-vision push eat into the clock. The vehicle-damage condition means the Valkyrie pilot has to fly carefully while still soaking enemy fire, so an experienced gunner who clears threats fast is the key to protecting both the timer and the chopper.
Is the Humane Labs Raid worth running
For a four-player crew that can communicate, the Humane Labs Raid is one of the better-value original heists after the buff. Hard difficulty plus the elite bonus puts it well above where it sat before 2022, and the setups are quick to grind for extra income. It is also good practice for the kind of split-role coordination that later heists lean on. If you are still learning the original heists, check the GTA Online cheats and tips page for survival basics before you launch.
