June 2025 didn't arrive with a flashy new heist or some over-the-top island raid. Instead, GTA Online's Money Fronts update leans into the part we've all been pretending doesn't exist: what happens after the score. If you've been stacking cash for years, you've probably wished the game treated that money like it mattered. Now it kinda does, and it's oddly satisfying to see your empire start behaving like an actual criminal operation. Even the way people talk about GTA 5 Money feels different when the game's finally asking where it's coming from and where it's going next.
The new fronts aren't just decoration. You buy a legit-looking business—nothing glamorous, which is the point—and it becomes the place where your messy income gets cleaned up. What surprised me is how much it ties back into the stuff you already own. MC sales, warehouse runs, all the usual grind… it's still there, but now you've got to think about timing and volume. You can't just spam sales and forget it. You'll catch yourself doing quick mental math, like: "Okay, I can push this much today, but I should hold the rest back." It's a simple change, but it makes the whole loop feel less like a checklist.
Heat is the new pressure valve, and it's the best kind of annoying. Move too much money too fast and you're basically inviting trouble. The game nudges you to play smarter, not louder. You'll see players do it all the time: they get excited, dump a huge amount through one front, then act shocked when everything starts lighting up. When Heat climbs, you're suddenly juggling cooldowns, watching routes, and deciding whether to lie low or risk one more run. The freemode missions help here, too. They're not just "drive from A to B" on rails—you can take side streets, change plans mid-run, and actually feel like you're improvising.
The new rides aren't only there to look good in a garage. Some of them feel built for the job: practical, sturdy, and useful when you're hauling money and don't want attention. And honestly, the small improvements matter just as much. The management flow is smoother, the busywork feels trimmed down, and you spend less time fighting menus to do basic empire stuff. It's still GTA, so it's never going to be calm, but it's less of that old "why am I doing this again" feeling.
What Money Fronts really adds is a long-game mindset. You're not living payout to payout anymore; you're managing risk, pacing income, and building something that lasts longer than one big mission. Veterans who already own every property and weapon will feel it most, because the update gives those assets a reason to exist beyond habit. If you're the type who likes seeing numbers climb with a bit of planning behind them, this update scratches that itch, and it makes talk about cheap GTA 5 Money sound less like a shortcut and more like part of the wider economy you're trying to control.
Before Season 1 flips the whole Zombies meta on its head, it's worth locking in a few weapons that already feel unfair. If you're warming up in a CoD BO7 Bot Lobby or just trying to stop bleeding points to early downs, the goal is the same: pick guns that stay reliable when the screen gets busy, the audio's screaming, and your reload timing suddenly matters.
The Shadow SK is for players who like the map to feel "quiet." One shot, one problem gone. You'll notice it most when specials show up and everyone else is panic-spraying. With Zursa Bears, don't tunnel on the head straight away—pop the beehives first, then cash in on the weak point. Tactical Stance plus a scope sounds odd, but it plays smoother than you'd think: quick hip movement when you're cramped, then you can still take clean angles down a lane. Rapid Fire helps too, not for chaos, but for fixing that sluggish rhythm so follow-up shots don't get you punished.
If your plan is "stand your ground and let the horde come," the XM325 does that job without drama. The belt feed setup is the headline—no reloads, just keep firing—yet you've gotta respect the overheat bar or it'll bite you at the worst time. Since the base fire rate is already nuts, Rapid Fire's usually overkill. The 5.56 Caseless FMJ is the smarter pick because it chews through multiple zombies in a line, so your ammo goes further than you expect. Add a sprint-shooting augment like Guns Up and you'll save yourself when a train collapses and you have to move now, not after a reload.
Up close, the M10 Breacher hits like it's mad at the map. That charged shot mechanic is the real trick—hold the trigger, the spread tightens, and it starts feeling more like a heavy slug than a messy blast. Once it's Pack-a-Punched, that charge turning automatic is huge for elites, especially if you run Dragon's Breath to keep damage ticking while you reposition. For SMG players, the MPC-25 is the classic "fast hands, fast feet" option. It's snappy, it loves headshots, and it'll punish you with that tiny mag until you invest in upgrades—so don't get caught mid-reload trying to be a hero.
Wonder Weapons are where high rounds stop being a flex and start being a strategy. The Ray Gun Mark II is the safer, calmer choice because you're not constantly risking splash damage when a zombie slips into your face. It also handles boss pressure well, like Veytharion, since you can stay aggressive without trading your own health. The original Ray Gun still clears crowds better, but it basically begs for PhD so you don't down yourself, and that reload can feel like an eternity when everything's collapsing. If you're testing setups or dialing in perk priorities, sliding back into BO7 Bot Lobbies can help you figure out which one fits your rhythm before the game starts asking for perfection.
After Patch 0.4, Glacial Lance isn't just "usable" again—it's the kind of skill you build around because it feels snappy and mean. You'll notice it straight away in maps: you tap, the empowered lance pops, and the pack locks up in place. If you're planning upgrades early, it helps to think in terms of PoE 2 Currency budgeting, because this setup starts with a small shopping list and then happily eats whatever you feed it.
The whole build leans on a self-damage loop that looks weird on paper but plays clean. Scold's Bridle smacks you with Physical damage every time you use a skill. Lightning Coil then converts a chunk of that hit into Lightning damage, which matters because your unique charm is watching for that self-hit to hand you a Frenzy Charge. The Druggery belt squeezes the charm duration down, so the trigger comes around faster and feels close to nonstop. The "only Ritualist" part isn't hype either: you need the ascendancy node that lets charms function even at zero charges, otherwise bossing turns into that awkward moment where the loop stutters and your damage falls off a cliff.
For your main hand, you're shopping for a rare spear that's basically all business: high crit chance, strong physical rolls, and "gain % damage as extra physical damage" if you can land it. +3 to attack skill levels is the dream because gem level scaling is huge here, but don't brick your budget chasing perfection. Off-hand is a shield stacked with "gain as extra fire damage" where possible; two good lines is ideal, one solid line is still fine. And yeah, a weapon swap with a fast-casting wand or staff makes movement skills feel less clunky, which matters more than people admit when you're blasting maps for hours.
Helmet and chest are non-negotiable: Scold's Bridle with decent Energy Shield and the lowest self-damage roll you can get, plus Lightning Coil to keep the conversion piece consistent. Put a Spirit Gem in the chest so your setup doesn't feel starved. Gloves can be a straightforward rare—flat physical and cold, life, and res—while boots just want move speed, evasion, and capped res so you're not randomly folding to elemental hits. The Druggery belt is locked, so focus on the highest reduced charm duration you can stomach paying for, then round out the rest with an amulet that boosts projectile skill levels and global defenses, plus rings that fix mana through leech because without it you'll feel the build "hiccup" mid-pack.
Once the loop is stable, scaling is mostly about making every empowered lance hit harder and crit more often: aura synergy through a Watcher's Eye-style jewel, an Impossible Escape to clean up pathing, and a good time-lost jewel leaning into crit chance and multi. From there it's just tuning—more levels, better rolls, smarter defenses—until the screen shatters on contact. If you'd rather spend more time playing than price-checking every upgrade, a lot of players also use U4GM to pick up currency or key items faster, then jump straight back into mapping while the build's in its sweet spot.
You will spot the Aetheric Mass fast in Infernal Hordes. It is that red, fleshy lump bolted to the ground, soaking hits and spitting out nasty zones that make you shuffle around at the worst time. If you are tuning your build or hunting upgrades like Diablo 4 Items, these things can feel like pure annoyance because they do not chase you, yet they still control where you can stand and how clean your pulls stay.
The Mass is basically a stationary tax on your attention. It is not "hard" in the classic sense, but it eats damage while you are also trying to kite real threats. Leave one up and it keeps painting the floor. Leave three up and you start running out of safe angles, especially when the pack decides to body-block your exits. It is why your run can suddenly feel messy even when your gear is fine: the fight space shrinks, and your movement gets forced into bad patterns.
A lot of players see "Destroy 50 Aetheric Masses" and instantly start picking every boon that promises more of them. Do not. The mode already spawns these by default in wave after wave, so you are paying a real opportunity cost for something you would have gotten for free. Between waves you get three picks, and those slots are your economy. If one choice is "more Masses" and another is "more Hellborne" or "more Aether Fiends," the elite option wins almost every time because that is where the Burning Aether piles up. There are cute interactions, like a Spire going down and a Mass popping in for a quick delete, but that is a bonus, not a plan.
Kill them when they show up, but do it on your terms. They do not dodge, so dump your best stand-and-deliver damage: big cooldowns, ground-targeted nukes, anything that rewards a target staying still. The trick is not tunneling so hard that the mobile mobs corner you while you are farming a sponge. Clear a Mass to keep the floor playable, scoop the Aether, then get back to the enemies that actually scale your rewards. If your screen is getting clogged, that is your cue to wipe the lumps first so their overlapping zones do not turn the arena into a no-stand puzzle.
If you simply keep playing the mode, the 50-kill objective tends to finish itself, and you will barely notice it. Spend your choices on what makes the run richer and smoother, not on what is already guaranteed to appear. And if you are short on time and just want to streamline the grind, some players also use marketplaces like U4GM to pick up currency or items so their build comes online faster, letting them focus on elite spawns and clean clears instead of dragging through slow waves.
