Metal Gear Solid 5: Backup, Back Down

This walkthrough will show you how to get the S Rank score in the Backup, Back Down mission in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. We’ll also list all of the primary and optional objectives for you, but it should be noted that not all of the optional objectives are required for an S Rank. The biggest modifier in getting an S Rank is your time bonus, but overall you just need a score of 130,000.

Objectives

• Eliminate an armored vehicle (Mandatory).
• Eliminate multiple fighting vehicles or gunships (Optional).
• Eliminate all armored vehicles without a resupply or fire support (Optional).
• Secure a weapon carried by a transport truck (Optional).
• Extract and armored vehicle (Optional).
• Extract the four soldiers searching for the escaped prisoner (Optional).
• Extract six prisoners (Optional).
• Extract three tanks (Optional).

Walkthrough

To get the S Rank on this mission you don’t have to worry about the time, but instead destroy 11 vehicles, rather than just the seven that are required to pass. You’ll also want to make sure that you’re not spotted, as each time you are that will deduct 5,000 points from your score. Finally, you need C4 and a rocket launcher for this mission, so don’t bother starting it up until you have both.

Choose the landing zone to the north of the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost. From here you will want to move forward just a bit, about halfway between the outpost and your landing zone. This is a perfect ambush point, as most of the vehicles will pass through here. If this is your first attempt at the mission, be sure to plant C4 on the road, and then hide until a tank rolls over it. Blow up the C4 to destroy the tank, calling in a supply drop to get more C4. You can use this method to destroy the first seven vehicles, but the final four that you need for the S Rank are found in different locations.

From your ambush point you should also encounter two additional vehicles that are moving in from the north (rather than the bulk of the vehicles coming from the south), a prisoner in a jeep and a truck that carries a powerful CGM 25 rocket launcher. The prisoner is worth extracting if you can do it without being spotted, and the truck is a must because you need that launcher to take out the gunship in the next part and get your S Rank. Just blow the truck up and grab the launcher from the back.

When the first seven vehicles are down you’ll have the option of taking out three more tanks and a gunship that flies overhead. For this, you really want to use the CGM 25, but if you run out of ammo you can call in a supply drop to switch back to your original launcher. You may have to call in several more supply drops as well, since these tanks seems to have more armor than the first batch you destroyed.

The other key to taking out the three additional tanks and the gunship is that you will likely have to move from your original ambush point. These vehicles may not head to the north where you are, so you might want to move south of the Yakho Oboo Supply Outpost and chase them down on your D-Horse. Speaking of which, you can set up makeshift roadblocks with your D-Horse and use an upgraded Fulton Recovery Device to extract the tanks, which is part of the optional objectives.

To get your S Rank on this mission, plan to run it several times. It’s not an easy one, and early in the game you are going to struggle with a lack of firepower. Later in the game you should have the weapons needed to take the tanks out in less than four shots, and therefore stand a much better chance of getting your S Rank.

Once the missions is complete, call in a helicopter to extract you and continue to Metal Gear Solid 5: Angel with Broken Wings, or return to the Metal Gear Solid 5 Walkthrough and Guide.