This walkthrough aims to help you earn an S Rank score in the [Extreme] Backup, Back Down mission in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, and includes a list of the mandatory and optional objectives available for this mission. Keep in mind that it is not necessary to complete all the objectives to earn an S Rank. All you need is an accumulated score of 130,000 or more, and earning the time bonus as well as some score multipliers will greatly increase your chances of achieving an S Rank.
Objectives
- Eliminate an armored vehicle (Mandatory).
- Eliminate multiple fighting vehicles or gunships (Optional).
- Eliminate all armored vehicles without receiving a resupply or fire support (Optional).
- Secure a weapon carried by a transport truck (Optional).
- Extract an armored vehicle (Optional).
- Extract the four soldiers searching for the escaped prisoner (Optional).
- Extract six prisoners (Optional).
- Extract three tanks (Optional).
Walkthrough
This mission is a more difficult version of the Backup, Back Down mission you completed previously. Hopefully following our guide will help make this mission seem much less challenging. The goal with this mission is to eliminate or extract as many vehicles as possible in order to earn a high score. Note however that you do not need to extract all eleven vehicles to earn a high enough score for S Rank, if you follow our instructions.
Begin the mission by selecting the northern landing zone for your drop location. You will need to bring along a tank as well as the Fulton Cargo +2 upgrade. Also equip some explosives, preferably C4.
After your helicopter drops you off at the landing zone, hop into your tank and head toward the nearby road. Park your tank in the center of the road to create a roadblock. You will mainly be waiting for vehicles to approach, and when they slow down you can extract them. However, there is one parked tank that cannot be extracted, so we will show you how to eliminate this tank using C4.
Run up the road toward the outpost, making sure not to get spotted as you approach the entrance. Move along the right side of the outpost, taking down a guard stationed outside of a large walled structure. Enter the walled area on the right, and locate a large red tank just past the entrance to the left. This tank is too large to extract, so instead just plant all of your C4 charges on this tank and then carefully sneak away. Clear out of the walled area, and then blow the C4 to destroy the tank.
Now, head back to where you left your original tank parked along the road. You will be staying in this area for the rest of the mission. Position yourself along the small incline along the side of the road, staying prone to keep covered. Basically all you need to do now is wait for enemy vehicles to drive up to the makeshift roadblock you created with your tank.
When a vehicle approaches your tank, quietly sneak up behind the vehicle and use your Fulton Recovery Device to extract it to Mother Base, along with all the people inside. After a few minutes, there will be a truck transporting a prisoner toward the outpost that you dealt with a moment ago. You can choose to ride D-Horse a bit further up the road from your tank, parking the horse in the road to create another roadblock. Make sure it is far away enough from where your tank is, otherwise you will have to deal with two vehicles approaching too closely to one another, putting you at risk of being spotted.
With D-Horse parked further up the road, wait along the roadside for the vehicle transporting the prisoner to approach. Sneak up to the truck and use your Fulton Recovery Device to send them away. Afterwards, get on D-Horse and ride as quickly as possible back to your tank in order to intercept the next vehicle in time.
Continue to stake out your tanks location, carefully extracting each vehicle that approaches the road block. You may want to position your D-Horse further up the road as a secondary road block, since there will be vehicles coming from both directions. This will prevent vehicles heading toward each other from meeting too close to the same point.
The last two vehicles will approach back to back, and will attempt to destroy your road block. So, position your horse in front of your tank to create another road block, giving you more time to deal with the vehicles even if they take out your tank.
As these last two approach, sneak up behind the second tank to extract it with your Fulton Recovery Device, and then quickly run up to extract the last tank as it fires at your road block. Then, sprint to your extraction helicopter at the landing zone before the timer runs down to finish the mission.
If you completed the mission with about six or seven vehicles extracted, as well as the Perfect Stealth, No Kills bonus, you should have earned enough points to achieve an S Rank rating.
Continue with Mission 35: Cursed Legacy, or return to the Metal Gear Solid 5: Walkthrough and Guide.
