Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – S-Rank Walkthrough

When going for S-Rank you should always turn off Reflex Mode in the Game Settings. This will give you extra points for every mission. S-Rank is completely based on your final point score at the end of a mission. Try to stay undetected, don’t kill any enemies (stunning them is okay), move quickly and try not to restart any checkpoints. It does not matter on which difficulty you are playing. Normal mode is recommended.

Completing all missions with S-rank will earn you the Hero Trophy (Gold) or Achievement (250G).

• Entire S-Rank Playlist

– Mission 1: Ground Zeroes –
The key to earning S-Rank in this mission is to rescue all prisoners in the area where you find Chico (the imprisoned boy). Rescuing everyone will give you 21,000 points. After finding Paz you should immediately call the helicopter. Put her in a truck and drive to the exfiltration point. It doesn’t really matter if you get detected at this point, as it will only deduct 300 points from your final score and in return you get bonus points for saving time. Sneaking out would take a lot longer and would be much harder as there are many enemy patrols.

– Mission 2: Eliminate the Renegade Threat –
The key to earning S-Rank in this mission is to kill both targets as quickly as possible without being detected. Don’t kill any other enemies.
This is one of the shortest missions. As you go up the hill you will see a bunch of enemies, stun all of them. There’s a parked truck up the road, where the helipads are located. On the back of the truck is a sniper rifle. That’s the key to get a quick S-rank.
Pick it up and climb the wooden watch tower near the area with the white tents. From here you can headshot both mission targets. Call the helicopter for a quick escape, take out both targets with a headshot and you’re done. Make sure you have stunned all of the guards around the watch tower or they will hear you and trigger an alarm!

– Mission 3: Intel Operative Rescue –
The key to earning S-Rank in this mission is not killing any enemies.
You can also get the “Pacifist” Trophy / Achievement during this mission. Only use the stun revolver. It doesn’t matter if enemies kill themselves or each other (e.g. by falling down a building or running over stunned enemies with a vehicle). This won’t influence your score. Destroying the tank at the end doesn’t count as a kill either. Just make sure you are not hitting any of the stunned enemies when shooting rockets at the tank.
When the helicopter spawns you have to take out its crew with the stun revolver. Don’t use the rocket launcher here.

– Mission 4: Classified Intel Acquisition –
The key to earning S-Rank in this mission is obtaining the mission objective without interrogating the undercover agent. This will save you a lot of time which is rewarded with lots of bonus points.
You can also get the Infiltration Trophy / Achievement during this mission.
Just wait on the back of the truck in the beginning. It will bring you to the admin building. Go up to the watch tower (by using the ladder) and grab the cassette tape. Once you have the tape you can leave the area. The least risky way to do so is to get back on the truck that brought you to the admin building. Just stay on the back of the truck for a couple of minutes until the driver returns. He will then bring you back to the starting point which will end the mission and earn you the Infiltration trophy / achievement.

– Mission 5: Eliminate the Anti-Air Emplacements –
The key to earning S-Rank in this mission is to shoot the explosive barrels next to the Anti-Air turrets and to destroy the incoming tank by placing C4 on the street. You should also rescue some prisoners in the 3 minutes you have left.
It is absolutely crucial that you stay undetected and do not kill anyone. Restarting checkpoints is okay. Enemies that die from exploding barrels do NOT count as kills. Blowing up the tank won’t count as a kill either. Just be sure to place C4 on the first Anti-Air turret. Then make your way up the road and shoot the explosive barrels next to the turrets on the helipad. Get in the truck and drive away. Now trigger the C4 from the first turret to make the tank spawn. Place C4 on the street to blow up the tank without being seen.
You don’t necessarily have to rescue any prisoners if you do this quickly enough, but they add good bonus points nonetheless. So on your way out, consider picking some of them up if you had to restart checkpoints or lost points elsewhere.

You need 50,000 points to get the S-Rank in this mission.

– Mission 6: Déjà-Vu –
They key to earning S-Rank in this mission is to recreate 3-4 of the scenes and finish the mission as quickly as possible. There aren’t many enemies, so it’s fairly easy to sneak past them.

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