Hey there, fellow Big Bosses.

So, I hear MGSV is getting a little TOO easy, eh? Find yourself too-often feeling empty inside after effortlessly tranquing and extracting every enemy soldier in an entire outpost in under a minute? Having trouble finding that elusive element of danger whilst traversing the great expanses of Afghanistan and Zaire? NO LONGER.

Today we discuss how to vanquish boredom, easiness, and overall apathy! Today we discuss tactics which will allow you to once again HATE YOURSELF for making an IRREVERSABLE MISTAKE once you accidentally fail at subduing a guard.

I know you're dying to know how to do this, so let's get started.

Mess around with your Display (HUD) Settings [Menu > Options > Display Settings]. Perhaps you'll want to turn the reticle off, disable your Marker Display, or maybe even turn off your Enemy Presence Display.

Turning Reflex Mode off [Menu > Options > Game Settings] may be another course of action worth taking.

These are tweakable while out on your sortie so it may be worth your time playing around with these settings and setting them to your liking. You want to have a balance of challenge and enjoyability.


As for Combat Deployment, avoid sending any of your Diamond Dogs on any of those lovely Sabotage missions. That way, soon enough the enemy soldiers will be fully stocked with a plethora of deadly and challenging countermeasures in an attempt to protect themselves and to thwart sneaky little puppies like you.

Pick a good ol' random stock soldier from your crew! Your mobility perks/prosthetic arms will not be used, adding a layer of difficulty.


Deploy your Diamond Dog with Standard Combat Fatigues. No sneaking suits, none of that fancy armor.
If you REALLY hate yourself, equip fatigues that don't match the surroundings that you'll be in (eg. Wetwork camo in the dry parts of Afghanistan).


No buddies allowed. Okay, fine, you can have D-Horse. for transportation purposes. But lay off the armor. He looks cooler without the face visor and skin-tight jumpsuit anyways (...How do they even put that on?).


There are a few ways to make weapons less OP. Let's go over a few tactics that you can mix and match.

• Consider using unsilenced lethal weapons only, forcing you to get up-close and personal if you want to subdue a guard non-lethally and silently
  
  
• Use low-level weapons only, such as the lv.1 SVG-76 and lv.1 AM D114 as your primary and secondary, respectively.
  
  
• Deprive yourself of your back primary to increase the challenge of having less options
  
  
• Equip the Water Pistol as your secondary! It's not completely useless, but...you know, that's pretty valuable real estate that the pistol is taking up in your secondary slot.
  
  
• No tranquilizer or stun weapons. It's way too easy to knock out threats undetected using these.

Treat yourself to your trusty Empty Magazine, and if you're in the mood to save some animals, why not bring along some Bait Bottles and Cages?
If you really want to capture some vehicles on the down-low, consider using the EMN Mine.


Cardboard box? Sure. Phantom Cigar? Definitely. NVG? Perhaps not.

As for tools, one thing to consider is changing the Fulton level. You need to ask yourself whether you want the ease of the Wormhole Device or the challenge and frustration of your typical Fultons.


Set the darn thing to ASAP. Always. You never know what you're gonna get in regards to lighting and shift-changes, decreasing enemy predictability.

As .Fox Ops. | TD, the True Sun God points out, choosing low-level weapons and getting rid of items on your sortie will also cut down on your GMP/resource usage, saving your moolah for that shiny new weapon or gadget that you've been saving up for in your Development menu.

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Here is an example of what you may want to equip on your sortie:

Do you want to keep placing markers everywhere? Would you rather navigate via the map? It's really up to you and whether you find one of those ideas more enjoyable than the other.


Feel free to get up on your vantage point of choice and use your good ol' INT Scope. No shame in that.
Assuming you are only carrying weak and/or lethal and/or unsilenced weapons and can't pick off enemies from afar, take the chance to choose a plan of attack. Any stragglers? Loners? Overall weaklings? What about line of sight? Capitalize on the mistakes of your prey. Pay attention, if you can, to the gear that the guards are carrying. Who's got a shield? Who's got NVGs?


Stick 'em up! Seriously, forcing a guard to surrender opens up a whole new can of worms: If you're detected and an alarm is raised, all of the guards that you've intimidated are going to promptly spring to their feet and join the fight.

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(The following is based on input submitted by .Fox Ops. | TD, the True Sun God.)
The above route may be too much, which is understandable. Sometimes circumstances dictate that you may need to grab a soldier and choke him out. Whatever floats your boat. However, if you still want the thrill of a challenge, press and hold your choke-out button instead of quick-tapping it. This will prolong the amount of time it takes for you to successfully incapacitate your captive, increasing the probability that you'll be spotted or otherwise inconvenienced.

(The following is based on input submitted by Lavoroxan.)
You may find yourself doing one or two missions/side-ops before making your way promptly to the ACC (or Mother Base for a shower). Consider breaking this habit and going for as long as you can on a single sortie!
Ammo wil dwindle, forcing you to scrounge what you can from your surroundings. Plus, if you take D-Horse or commandeer a vehicle, you can make your way from one end of the map to the other, not to mention using your magical cardboard box powers and fast traveling using one of the orange staging areas!

These are suggestions. You can take none, all, or some of them. Just thought that may be worth mentioning.

Did I miss anything? Did I get something wrong? Let me know! I'll be sure to update the guide accordingly.

Also, if you liked this guide, consider rating it so that others will be able to discover and use it.
Anyways, thanks for reading my guide! I hope it helps you out!