Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – S-Rank Walkthrough

There are two golden rules for getting S-ranks:
1. Don’t try it on your first playthrough (a lot of strategies only work when replaying missions and you will unlock better gear over the course of the game).
2. Skip all cutscenes to save time (yes, cutscenes add to your time and will greatly reduce your points!)

S-Rank Strategies, basic tips and things you should know:
– Getting 130,000 points in a mission unlocks the S-rank (same score requirement for all missions)
– Only main missions have a ranking system, side ops don’t. Main missions 02, 22, 43 are an exception, they don’t have any ranks. There are 50 main missions in total.
– Completing the missions as quickly as possible without being seen is usually good enough. Skip the bonus objectives, they take too long and will complicate things.
– Equipping the Invisibility Camo, Parasite Suit, Raiden Suit, Cyborg Ninja Suit, Chicken-Hat, Infinity Bandana, using D-Walkers Fulton Ballista or calling in air strikes / helicopter support will void the S-rank. With these items you are limited to A-rank at best. So don’t use them!
– On your first playthrough of the missions, always try to take out the enemy radar stations. This gives you a huge tactical advantage because you can call the extraction helicopter directly to the enemy base (or start the mission there).
– S-Ranks earn you a lot more money and heroism than lower ranks

With these tips in mind you should have very little trouble following these video guides and obtaining all S-ranks. Be warned, however, that the game uses a variable difficulty system. If you use a lot of headshots, enemies will get helmets. If you always infiltrate at night, enemies will get night vision goggles. If you always use sleeping grenades, enemies will wear gas masks etc.
In this walkthrough series I stick to the basics to make it as easy to replicate as possible. These guides are fairly spoiler free as I skip the cutscenes to save time.

Useful link: Entire S-Rank Playlist

Prologue: Awakening
To get this S-rank simply skip all cutscenes in the prologue. Try to score headshots on the first two enemies. When you get to the lobby with multiple enemies, immediately turn around and drop down the hole in the ceiling, now crawl to the opposite end of the room where the exit door is found.

Mission 1: Phantom Limbs
Beat the mission at least once before doing this S-rank. This allows you to change the helicopter’s landing zone at the end and you can skip the confrontation with the skulls.
Make haste to the prisoner’s location. Approach the village from the east, this way you can easily skip all guards. Pick up the prisoner, put him on your horse, call the helicopter and you are done. I completed this with the “No Traces” perfect bonus because I completely skipped all enemies in this mission.

Mission 2: Diamond Dogs
Mission 2, 22, 43 do not have any ranks. Play this mission how you want, I only included it for the sake of completion, but there’s no S-rank in it (and no points are awarded at the end).

Mission 3: A Hero’s Way
Very simple and short: Use a sniper rifle to eliminate the target from far away. Start at the eastern landing zone. The commander will always spawn in or around the same building and wears a red hat. From the landing zone you ride to the mountain top near the village and shoot him. Leave the area on horseback.

Mission 4: C2W
Very simple if you have destroyed the enemy anti-air radar in a previous playthrough of this mission. If you haven’t already, replay the mission and throw some explosives at the radar (you find it in the same enemy camp that has the antennas you must destroy). At the start of this video I select the new landing zone, that’s where you can also find the enemy radar.
In your next playthrough select the new landing zone in the enemy camp and shoot down the antennas with your helicopter’s minigun. That’s it, you won’t even have to leave the helicopter.

Mission 5: Over The Fence
On the west of the enemy base is a crack in one of the rocks. Climb up and you can skip almost all enemies. There are only two guards where the prisoner is. Put them to sleep and get the prisoner. There’s a hole in the ceiling, put him there and use the fulton device to extract him.
Now simply get back to your horse and ride away to escape the hot zone. Mission complete!

Mission 6: Where do the Bees Sleep?
Very simple if you have destroyed the enemy anti-air radar in a previous playthrough of this mission. If you haven’t already, replay the mission and throw some explosives at the radar (you find it in the same enemy camp where the honey bee main objective is located). At the start of this video I select the new landing zone, that’s where you can also find the enemy radar.
Use this new landing zone to save a lot of time. While approaching the enemy base, look out the helicopter’s window on the right and destroy the anti-air turrets with your minigun. Get out of the chopper and immediately go to the main objective. Skip the cutscenes and call your horse to ride away from the mist and to the extraction zone.

Mission 7: Red Brass
The goal here is to extract the 3 commanders. Choose the landing zone in the north as your starting point. One Commander comes in a vehicle from the road in the north. Another one is in the marked mission area (village with enemies, inside building). Third one comes in a vehicle from the southern road. You can get to them before they reach the village. Put your horse on the street and then use the tranquilizer gun to on the soldiers in the vehicle. Use the fulton device to extract them.

Mission 8: Occupation Forces
Don’t attempt this S-rank on your first try! Keep playing until you have the Fulton Cargo +2 Upgrade (it allows you to fulton tanks and other vehicles). Start at the left (western) landing zone. Head west, past the enemy outpost and follow the road until you reach an empty house. Reaching the house triggers the convoy of 3 vehicles. Put your horse on the road to stop them, then fulton extract them all. Escape the area on horseback to finish it quickly.

Mission 9: Backup, Back Down
This is one of the hardest missions to get an S-rank. Best advice: don’t bother with it until you have beaten the game.
The Fulton Cargo +2 Upgrade and a highly durable vehicle (such as a tank you extracted from enemies) is a must-have. Put the tank on the northern road to create a roadblock and put your horse in front of the tank (so you have two roadblocks essentially). When a vehicle approaches you run up behind it quickly and fulton extract it. You can always camp at the same spot on the northern road, all vehicles will pass through here. Just go to the spot in the video and you shouldn’t have much trouble with this. Make sure to destroy at least 9 out of the 11 vehicles. You must destroy the first 7 in time for the last 4 to spawn. Avoid detection for a nice score bonus.

Mission 10: Angel With Broken Wings
When you ride north on the western road you will trigger the convoy. Put your horse on the road to stop the vehicles. Now take out the guards in the jeep and destroy the tank (sneak up from behind and place C4). Extra via helicopter.
If you have the fully upgraded fulton device you can extract the tank for bonus points rather than destroying it.

Mission 11: Cloaked in Silence
There’s a very easy trick for this mission. Instead of fighting Quiet, use supply drops on her location. Each supply drop takes away 50% of her energy. So you only need to hit her with 2 supply drops and can stay in cover all the time. You must mark her with your binoculars first, then she will show up on the map. She always starts on top of the ruins. After that you must find and mark her again (when using the binoculars listen for her sound and watch out for the reflection of her sniper rifle).

Mission 12: Hellbound
This is one of the longer missions and you will always start at the same point. Start this mission at night, it’s easier. In the first enemy camp always stick to the left wall (crouch to avoid being seen). Crawl if the enemy chopper has its search light on you. Now hang off the side of D-Horse to get past the enemy outposts unnoticed. Once you have arrived in the central base camp, stick to the wall on the right and stay in the shadows (always crouching) until you reach Emmerich. Go back the same path you came.
When the metal gear attacks you, run through its legs then put Emmerich on D-Horse and manually choose the helicopter extraction point in the south. First, stick to the walls on the left. Then cross the road and stay behind the walls on the right. By the time you get to the landing zone you the Metal Gear should have lost sight of you. Restart the checkpoint if he catches up.

Mission 13: Pitch Dark
Ignore all the enemy camps at the start of the mission. Just ride to your main objective in a straight line, stay away from enemy outposts. Once there, disable the pump in the middle. Then sneak out of the camp and use your rocket launcher on the red water seperator tank to destroy it from far away (so you are already out of the camp when you shoot). Now escape the hot zone on horseback.

Mission 14: Lingua Franca
Very easy and short if you already know the Viscounts location. Be sure to select 0600 as the starting time (daytime) because the viscount gets moved around at night. Simply go to the location shown in this video, extract him via Fulton device and escape the area on horseback.

Mission 15: Footprints of Phantoms
Very simple if you have destroyed the enemy anti-air radar in a previous playthrough of this mission. If you haven’t already, replay the mission and throw some explosives at the radar (the radar is found at the landing zone that I select in the beginning of this video).
In your next playthrough select the new landing zone in the enemy camp and destroy the walker gears with your helicopter’s minigun. That’s it, you won’t even have to leave the helicopter.

Mission 16: Traitor’s Caravan
Very easy if you already know the location of the truck (mission target). It always has the same location, just go where I go in the video. Use the Fulton device to extract it, then escape the hot zone on horseback.

Mission 17: Rescue The Intel Agents
Very easy if you already know the locations of the two Intel Agents. Speed alone will earn you the S-rank here. Start with the agent in the north and Fulton extract him. Now ride to the camp in the south (ride around it to avoid enemies), grab the agent and bring him to the helicopter (he cannot be fulton extracted).

Mission 18: Blood Runs Deep
It’s highly recommended that you get the Fulton +Children upgrade before doing this S-rank. You must beat side op 113 to develop it (which is unlocked after story mission 26). Eliminate the target in the first enemy camp. Then head on to the mines, bring a silenced sniper rifle and kill everyone there. Use the fulton device to extract the children and call in the helicopter (if you’ve destroyed the anit-air radar you can call it directly to the mines).

Mission 19: On The Trail
Works best if you have sleeping gas grenades or stun grenades in your inventory. Immediately head to the location of the commander. He is guarded by a group of soldiers. Throw the sleeping gas to take out all enemies, then fulton extract the commander and escape the area on horseback.

Mission 20: Voices
Bring some explosives to this mission, C4 or a grenade launcher would be best. Make your way through the enemy camps undetected as quickly as possible. The tricky part is the boss fight against the man on fire at the end. Place some C4 on the gas tank by the pool. Now wait for him to walk between the tank and the pool and blow it up. This will push him into the pool and end the fight immediately. Escape through the tunnel to end the mission.

Mission 21: The War Economy
A very easy and quick mission if you already know the location of the CFA Official. He will always be in the same building, just go where I go in the video. Kill him, then escape the hot zone. A speedrun will easily earn you the S-Rank, you don’t have to be stealthy.

Mission 22: Retake the Platform
Mission 2, 22, 43 do not have any ranks. Play this mission how you want, I only included it for the sake of completion, but there’s no S-rank in it.

Mission 23: The White Mamba
The trick in this mission is to avoid the White Mamba boss fight entirely by putting him to sleep before the fight starts. Getting to him without being seen should be easy enough. Stick to the right side of the camp and enter the ship from behind. Now wait until White Mamba has his back turned to you, then shoot him in the head with your tranquilizer gun. Extract him via helicopter.

Mission 24: Close Contact
Rush to the two hostages with D-Horse. Hang off the side of D-Horse and ride around the enemy camp where the prisoners are being held. Throw some sleeping gas grenades to take out the group of guards and fulton extract the two prisoners. Escape the hotzone on horseback to finish the mission.

Mission 25: Aim True, Ye Vengeful
Immediately head to the child soldier. Tranquilize him and put him in the jeep. Now look for the second target in the middle of the camp (under a roof). Put him in the jeep too and put both of them in the helicopter.

Mission 26: Hunting Down
The target enemy always has the same starting point. Go there right away and take him out with a sniper rifle from far away, then leave the hot zone.

Mission 27: Root Cause
Use D-Horse to get to the Intel team member as quickly as possible. He always spawns at the same spot in the beginning of the mission. Use the tranquilizer gun and put him on D-Horse or into the truck, the leave the hot zone by land. You don’t have to be stealthy, feel free to use reflex mode and quickly kill the enemies blocking your escape route.

Mission 28: Code Talker
At the start of the mission you should skip the fight against the skulls by riding past them with D-Horse. They will probably spot you, just try to get as far with D-Horse as possible. Should you get hit you run into the Jungle where it’s safe. Make your way to the mission objective and extract with the helicopter via the northern landing zone. Take out the guards with non-lethal means for some bonus points. Ignore the possessed soldiers at the end and just run past them to the landing zone (doesn’t matter if they see you).

Mission 29: Metallic Archaea
You should absolutely bring a machine gun to this mission. I recommend the ALM 48, but any of them will get the job done. Also bring some explosives (C4, Grenade Launcher, Grenades). Quiet is the best buddy for this, the others would be useless. The trick here is to hide in the hangar by the starting point. But don’t forget to mark the Skulls when the fight starts, that way you will know their location and health status. Now you can shoot them with your MG through the hangar windows. You can also plant C4 in front of the hangar and lure them into it. Run away when there are spikes coming out the ground, they will explode and instant-kill you.

Mission 30: Skull Face
You only have one objective in this mission – reach skull face on the back of the enemy camp. The best approach is to stay stealthy and complete the mission as fast as possible. Always stick to either the right or the left side of the area. This lets you skip most enemy groups. The enemies have helmets, so bring a silenced sniper rifle in case reflex mode is triggered and shoot them in the eyes. Though if done stealthy, you can complete the mission without firing a single shot and score the no traces bonus worth 120,000 points.

Mission 31: Sahelanthropus
There are two things you need for this mission: A rocket launcher (GNOM-11 is recommended) and a Grenade Launcher (Isado RGL-220 works best). The mission consist only of the boss fight against Sahelanthropus. When you use up one weapon’s ammo you a supply drop will be triggered automnatically. So empty your grenade launcher right away, then use the rocket launcher and pick up the new ammo when it arrives. Repeat this tactic and you should defeat Sahelanthropus quick enough. His weakspots are his “belly” (when it’s glowing) and the 4 white canisters on his upper back. So aim at those.

Mission 32: To Know Too Much
This is a very easy and quick mission. Use D-Horse to ride to the target person in marked mission area (he’s near some rocks) and fulton extract him. If you get there fast enough you won’t have to deal with any enemies. Use D-Horse to escape the hot zone, that’s it.

Mission 33: [Subsistence] C2W
Very simple if you have destroyed the enemy anti-air radar in a previous playthrough of this mission. If you haven’t already, replay the mission and throw some explosives at the radar (you find it in the same enemy camp that has the antennas you must destroy). At the start of this video I select the new landing zone, that’s where you can also find the enemy radar.
In your next playthrough select the new landing zone in the enemy camp and shoot down the antennas with your helicopter’s minigun. That’s it, you won’t even have to leave the helicopter.

Mission 34: [Extreme] Backup, Back Down
The Fulton Cargo +2 Upgrade and a highly durable vehicle (such as a tank you extracted from enemies) is a must-have. Put the tank on the northern road to create a roadblock and put your horse in front of the tank (so you have two roadblocks essentially). When a vehicle approaches you run up behind it quickly and fulton extract it. You can always camp at the same spot on the northern road, all vehicles will pass through here. Just go to the spot in the video and you shouldn’t have much trouble with this. If you stay undetected it will be enough to extract 6 out of 11 vehicles. If you run up to them quick enough to do the fulton extraction that shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you do get detected you should destroy all 11, this will give you 160,000 points and guarantees an S-rank (but it’s harder, takes longer and there are no checkpoints in case you get killed). The last 4 vehicles only spawn if you destroyed or extracted the first 7 within the 15 minute time limit. A stealthy approach is safest, but requires good timing.

Mission 35: Cursed Legacy
Most important thing is that you start at the landing zone in the south. Also bring some Active decoys to distract the heavily armored guards. Head to the container in the jungle first and fulton extract it. Then head to the one by the mountain. The trick with the second container is to fulton extract yourself with it. Just climb on top of the container and fulton extract it while you’re on it. Then you will immediately leave the area and the mission ends. You can easily get a time based S-rank here, even if you get detected.

Mission 36: [Total Stealth] Footprints of Phantoms
Bring some active decoys and C4 to this mission. Use the sneaking suit and infiltrate at night. Approach the enemy camp from the east and crawl up to the walkers. They are guarded by enemies, so throw your decoys to distract them. Now crawl up to the walkers and place some C4 on the ground next to them (one C4 per walker). Leave the camp and blow up the C4, then leave the hot zone on horseback.

Mission 37: [Extreme] Traitor’s Caravan
Very easy if you already know the location of the truck (mission target). It always has the same location, just go where I go in the video. Use the Fulton device to extract it, then escape the hot zone on horseback.

Mission 38: Extraordinary
Your only objective here is to find a tiny film canister collectible and leave the area. The canister has 3 different spawn locations, all in the ruins close together. I show you all 3 possible spawn locations in this video. Infiltrate at night, equip the sneaking suit and night vision goggles! With night vision you will see the film canister highlighted in yellow color, which makes it much easier to see. In the iDroid’s mission tab you can see a blurry picture of where the canister will spawn.

Mission 39: [Total Stealth] Over the Fence
On the west side of the enemy base is a crack in one of the rocks. Climb up and you can skip almost all enemies. There are only two guards where the prisoner is. Put them to sleep and get the prisoner. There’s a hole in the ceiling, put him there and use the fulton device to extract him.
Now simply get back to your horse and ride away to escape the hot zone. Mission complete!

Mission 40: [Extreme] Cloaked in Silence
Unlike your previous encounter with Quiet in mission 11 you cannot use supply drops to defeat her this time. She will always jump away in the last second. So instead you should just defeat her with a sniper rifle. Stay near the starting point (at the spot where I am in the video). From here you can always see Quiet and defeat her quickly. Aim from cover for half a second to make her shoot at you. Then you have 2 seconds to aim at her before she fires the next shot. An alternative strategy to get the 4th mission task would be to place 4 sleeping mines at one of her sniping spots down in the ruins. Then wait for her to run into the mines. This is very random though, but could bring you an early win.

Mission 41: Proxy War Without End
Bring a rocket launcher to ths mission! You’ll need it to shoot down the helicopter at the end. Choose the landing zone in the middle and head to the outpost in the west. All vehicles will pass through here. Take out the guards (be sure to fulton extract them if you don’t kill them, otherwise they wake up later). The vehicle from the north arrives first, then the two from the south. They all make a stop at the outpost and you can fulton extract them from behind. For the 4th vehicle you need to put your horse on the road to stop it. And finally, destroy the helicopter with your rocket launcher.

Mission 42: [Extreme] Metallic Archaea
The skulls in this mission have a lot of health. To get the S-rank you have to finish the fight as quickly as possible. You should pick the strongest sniper rifle you have. Either the “Brennan LRS-46” or even better the “Serval AMR-7”. Other sniper rifles work too, but it will take quite a bit longer. Bring Quiet as your buddy, she will attack the skulls, too.
First off, mark all 4 skulls. Climb up the roof of the hangar (in front of the starting point) and kill the first 2 skulls from there. Always request supply drops in advance so you never run out of ammo! When the first two are down the other two will usually walk around the hangar and you can’t shoot them from the roof. So go down and take cover behind (or inside) the hangar. When there’s a spike coming out the ground you must run away immediately! It will instant-kill you when it explodes.
When a skull’s shield is depleted you should focus only on him (so he doesn’t get a chance to reload his shield). Take them out one by one. Alternatively you can use a machine gun or lure the skulls into C4. Remember to use supply drops!

Mission 43: Shining Lights, Even in Death
Missions 2, 22, 43 do not have any ranks. Play this mission how you want. I only included it for the sake of completion, but there’s no S-rank in it.

Mission 44: [Total Stealth] Pitch Dark
Ignore all the enemy camps at the start of the mission. Just ride to your main objective in a straight line, stay away from enemy outposts. Once there, disable the pump in the middle. Then sneak out of the camp and use your rocket launcher on the red water seperator tank to destroy it from far away (so you are already out of the camp when you shoot). Now escape the hot zone on horseback.

Mission 45: A Quiet Exit
To unlock this mission you must raise the bond with Quiet to the maximum. Then play her side op #150 “Secure Quiet” and after that mission 45 becomes available.
This S-Rank is all about speed. Use the CGM 25 rocket launcher, it will destroy the enemy tanks in 2 shots. If you don’t have it use the Killer Bee or FB MR Rocket Launcher. Always request supply drops in advance. When you’ve picked up one supply drop you request the next. You can place ATB-Mines and C-4 on the road to destroy two of the vehicles. Always stay behind cover by the road (the rock formations work well). Alternatively, you can fulton extract the tanks to complete one of the mission tasks, but this is much more risky.

Completing this mission also unlocks the “Disappearance” trophy / achievement.

Warning: After this mission your buddy Quiet will leave the game and she won’t ever return! Only play this mission if you are absolutely sure you won’t need her any longer.

Mission 46: The Man Who Sold The World
This mission is essentially the true secret ending of the game. See final cutscene at the end of the video. You’ll be replaying the prologue and learn what truly happened. To unlock this mission you must:
– Complete all other story missions (except duplicates such as extreme, subsistence and total stealth variations)
– Do all important (yellow) side ops
– Build out mother base (build an FOB in online mode to speed things up)

Getting the S-rank is easy enough. Just skip all cutscenes and you’ll get it.

Mission 47: [Total Stealth] The War Economy
A very easy and quick mission if you already know the location of the CFA Official. He will always be in the same building, just go where I go in the video. You can find a broken fence on the west side of the airport, use it to skip all the guards. There’s only one guard in the building and another in front. Carefully approach and take them out with CQC (cut throat). Now kill the CFA Official and escape the hot zone. A speedrun will easily earn you the S-Rank.

Mission 48: [Extreme] Code Talker
Bring a light tank to this mission! With it you can drive past the 4 skulls at the beginning. Also bring some active decoys, you can use them to distract the guards near the mansion. Enter the mansion from behind to reach Code Talker quickly. Call the extraction helicopter to the northern landing zone and run there as fast as you can (ignore the enemies, doesn’t matter if they spot you).

Mission 49: [Subsistence] Occupation Forces
Start at the left (western) landing zone. Head west, past the enemy outpost and follow the road until you reach an empty house. Reaching the house triggers the convoy of 3 vehicles. Hide behind cover until the first tank gets close and then sprint towards it. Fulton extract it from the side. Then fulton extract the truck and the other tank one after another. Now leave the area (it’s quicker by helicopter in this case).

Mission 50: [Extreme] Sahelanthropus
Bring the light tank “ZHUK-BR 3”, the grenade launcher “Isado RGL-220” and the rocket launcher “CGM 25” to this mission. With this equipment the S-rank will be a piece of cake. Use the tank until the Metal Gear destroys it. Aim for the gas tanks on his back and for the belly when it’s glowing. When your tank gets destroyed you use up your rocket launcher ammo, this will trigger a supply drop. Now use the grenade launcher until the supply drop arrives. Always keep moving and when Sahelanthropus casts the rocky spikes from the ground you run away or shoot on them.

You should now have unlocked the Elite trophy, congratulations!

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