Metal Gear Solid 5: Mission 18 Blood Runs Deep

This guide will help you finish and earn an S Rank for the story mission Blood Runs Deep in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. We have also composed a list of the mandatory and optional objectives for the mission, but keep in mind that you don’t need to complete the optional objectives to achieve an S Rank. One of the best ways to earn an S Rank for most of the missions is to earn the time bonus, as this can help you earn the 130,000 points necessary for an S Rank score. 

Objectives 

• Eliminate the former Mbele soldier (Mandatory).
• Eliminate the five prisoners held at the Kungenga Mine (Mandatory).
• Extract a child prisoner (Mandatory).
• Extract the former Mbele rebel soldier (Optional).
• Complete mission without the enemy discovering the prisoner escape (Optional).
• Eliminate the gunship (Optional).
• Extract five snipers from near Kungenga mine (Optional).
• Extract three armored vehicles (Optional). 

Walkthrough

If this is your first playthrough of this mission, it may be best for you to take the time to explore and loot as many areas as you can so that you don’t miss out on any valuable materials. When you are ready to take on the S Rank, the mission should take you about 25 minutes including some of the optional objectives for extra points. Since this mission is a bit longer, you will need more than the time bonus to earn a high enough score for S Rank.

You have several options for choosing your mission companion. D-Horse is good for quick traversal, and D-Dog helps to spot enemies. But, for this mission we opted to bring Quiet along, because the has the ability to take out outposts from a distance. She will help to make this complex mission a bit easier to complete. 

Begin the mission by preparing to take on Bampeve Plantation. Once you are dropped off at the mission area, pull up your iDROID and select Mission and Buddy Support to summon Quiet. Have her attack the Bampeve Plantation, and she will run ahead of you to start eliminating hostiles. When you arrive at the location, help shoot the remaining hostiles to clear out the plantation, opting for headshots whenever possible. 

Once you have eliminated all of the enemies at the plantation, an armored tank will drive through the area. You can sneak past it, but if you have the upgraded Fulton Recovery Device, you can use smoke to carefully approach the vehicle and extract it back to Mother Base. Afterwards, send Quiet further up the road to clear out another outpost, or you can avoid the outpost completely and make your way to the mine. Just keep in mind that there are valuable materials that are worth gathering at the outpost if you haven’t done so already.

Proceed toward the Kungenga Mine, instructing Quiet to attack. Make sure not to let anyone in the mine survive. Keep your rocket launcher handy to deal with a gunship roaming overhead. Taking out the gunship will score you extra points for completing an optional objective and eliminates the resistance from the skies.  

After you have cleared out the enemies near the mine entrance, proceed forward to locate a door made of iron bars on the left within the canyon area. Eliminate any enemies you encounter as you enter the door. Continue forward, skipping the cut scene if you wish to cushion your time bonus. Locate the five child prisoners that you have been tasked with rescuing, and make sure to loot the Rough Diamonds you find within the cell.

Exit the mine with the five children in tow, and head left. Make sure Quiet has you covered, and she will eliminate any enemy she sees. Prepare to occasionally set down the prisoner you are carrying to kill anyone you may encounter. If you eliminated as many enemies as possible up to this point, there shouldn’t be much enemy resistance en route to the landing zone. If you spot enemies at a distance, just try to take them out with your sniper rifle. If you are having trouble getting the prisoners to follow you, have them wait, and then continue forward again. Hopefully this should help move them along. 

When you get to the landing zone, load the prisoners onto the helicopter for extraction, concluding the mission. If you completed several optional objectives along the way and finished in under 25 minutes or so, you should have earned enough points for an S Rank score. 

Continue to Mission 19: On the Trail, or return to the Metal Gear Solid 5 Walkthrough and Guide.