Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - S-Rank Walkthrough - Mission 23: The White Mamba

Mission 23: The White Mamba
The trick in this mission is to avoid the White Mamba boss fight entirely by putting him to sleep before the fight starts. Getting to him without being seen should be easy enough. Stick to the right side of the camp and enter the ship from behind. Now wait until White Mamba has his back turned to you, then shoot him in the head with your tranquilizer gun. Extract him via helicopter.

There are two golden rules for getting S-ranks:
1. Don't try it on your first playthrough (a lot of strategies only work when replaying missions and you will unlock better gear over the course of the game).
2. Skip all cutscenes to save time (yes, cutscenes add to your time and will greatly reduce your points!)

S-Rank Strategies, basic tips and things you should know:
- Getting 130,000 points in a mission unlocks the S-rank (same score requirement for all missions)
- Only main missions have a ranking system, side ops don't. Main missions 02, 22, 43 are an exception, they don't have any ranks. There are 50 main missions in total.
- Completing the missions as quickly as possible without being seen is usually good enough. Skip the bonus objectives, they take too long and will complicate things.
- Equipping the Invisibility Camo, Parasite Suit, Raiden Suit, Cyborg Ninja Suit, Chicken-Hat, Infinity Bandana, using D-Walkers Fulton Ballista or calling in air strikes / helicopter support will void the S-rank. With these items you are limited to A-rank at best. So don't use them!
- On your first playthrough of the missions, always try to take out the enemy radar stations. This gives you a huge tactical advantage because you can call the extraction helicopter directly to the enemy base (or start the mission there).
- S-Ranks earn you a lot more money and heroism than lower ranks

With these tips in mind you should have very little trouble following these video guides and obtaining all S-ranks. Be warned, however, that the game uses a variable difficulty system. If you use a lot of headshots, enemies will get helmets. If you always infiltrate at night, enemies will get night vision goggles. If you always use sleeping grenades, enemies will wear gas masks etc.
In this walkthrough series I stick to the basics to make it as easy to replicate as possible. These guides are fairly spoiler free as I skip the cutscenes to save time.

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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Trophies and Achievements:

Apprentice
Completed a mission using a Combat Unit staff member.

Accomplished
Completed all missions.

Executed
Completed all mission tasks.

Elite
Completed all missions with an S rank.

Undertaken
Completed a SIDE OP.

Cleared
Completed all "Mine Clearing" SIDE OPS.

Achieved
Completed all SIDE OPS.

Captured
Captured an outpost or guard post.

Search-and-Destroy
Captured all outposts and guard posts in Northern Kabul, Afghanistan.

Sweep-and-Clear
Captured all outposts and guard posts in the Angola-Zaire Border Region.

Deployment
Completed all key Dispatch Missions.

Intruder
Played an "Infiltration" FOB mission.

Cry Havoc
Made D-Dog available for deployment.

Speechless
Made Quiet available for deployment.

Trusty Steed
Raised bond with D-Horse to the maximum.

Man's Best Friend
Raised bond with D-Dog to the maximum.

War Buddy
Raised bond with Quiet to the maximum.

Extraction
Fulton extracted an enemy soldier.

Interrogation
Interrogated an enemy soldier.

To The Rescue
Extracted a female prisoner.

Platoon
Increased Mother Base staff to 50 or more personnel.

Battalion
Increased Mother Base staff to 250 or more personnel.

Army
Raised all Teams/Units to level 99.

Enhancement
Developed 50 or more development items.

Reinforcement
Developed 100 or more development items.

Locked and Loaded
Developed 300 or more development items.

Architect
Constructed all available platforms for Mother Base.

Deterrence
Developed a nuclear weapon.

Disarmament
Disposed of a nuclear weapon.

Prosperity
Earned a total of 10,000,000 GMP or more.

Conservation
Extracted all wild animal species.

Collector
Obtained all blueprints and key items.

Reminiscence
Obtained all memento photos.

Hero
Obtained the codename "Hero."

[LessThanZero-je]

My 7 yr old and I totally love this playlist, thank you so much for putting in the time. Here it is 2022 and I would rather play MGSV with her than buy the latest Assassin Creed's Dawn of Ragnarok because we both feel that AC has sort of abandoned the whole concept of pure espionage while MG has not. Come on Konami, make another one!!

[jmn]

When I first did this mission, I had Quiet with me using the Guilty Butterfly. While searching for Eli, Quiet was putting every child soldier back to sleep. It was both hilarious and effective.

[muffetmissulena]

I actually didn't know you could skip this fight. Definitely saved me the trouble!

[spandytube]

Best way to cheese the mission: sneak up to Eli's room on the ground - same route as in the video - just where you are able to snipe without being detected and tranq him in the head. He will be alerted so IMMEDIATELY after you fire, pause and return to checkpoint. You will be taken back to the bottom of the ship except Eli will now be asleep and you will get the mission objective as if he was never alerted.

[FPrimeHD]

Small tip that might help, if he doesn't leave his top area just slowly go over and look through the door to identify him. This will cause him to alert and get up. He walks over and stands looking around with makes it easy for a quick shot. Make sure you go back to your initial position before he comes out.

[KOREANGRAYWHALE]

Use Air shotgun, you can see that little shit flying, definitely best game ever.

[dharkomens]

Can confirm it still works. Idk about using a grade 2 tranq sniper, since I used a grade 4. But basically just stand on top of those docks at 2:49, and if he is not out, just throw an empty mag to have him come out and shoot him in the face. I had to tranq another kid in the boat where he was, but still got the S. Once the chopper is called all the kids run away and you dont have to worry about alerting anyone

[GreyFox]

I LOL'ed when he jumped off the boat and dropped Liquid on his head.

[CFBR]

This one is driving me INSANE, it's unbelievable. You can take down any adult soldier in this game with a single tranquilizer headshot, but on this boy NOTHING works. I've restared the mission 10 times and he's always siting on his chair. If I try to shoot him, he'll see me. If I try to battle him, he won't stun. If in the middle of the battle I put 4 tranquilizers on his head he won't get down. If I try the stun arm, it won't take him down. If I try a stun granade, won't work. If I try a sleep granade, won't work. WTF? How a child is that strong? LOL. - Edit: finally made it, after waiting around 4 minutes for him to get off the chair... Anyway, thanks for the video! Your guides are great.

[john_Reilly]

If you stand on the outermost walkway at the very corner you can just see his head and snipe him. easy S rank

[Phei.]

pigs head?!?!? A conch?!?! LORD OF THE FLIES REFRENCE BRUHHH T.T

[EchelonTVV]

If you do this mission early in the morning he will be asleep. Simply tranq him in the head and carry him to the chopper. Easy S Rank.

[emanuelursan]

why when i shot him in the head he go on alert status and all the kids i avoided start to shot at me ?

[solidgold]

As of february 14th 2022, i used the stun arm level 4 and it worked like a charm.

[dirkoftheblaze]

I brought D-Dog and a non lethal loadout with the sneaking suit. Sneaked my way through and then confronted him. I used CQC only for the boss fight and got an S-rank.

[GiovanniMarraschi]

You're awesome man! Keep up with The good work! Greetings from Brazil!

[AXIvan]

do not bring D-og or else he won't move

[Drift_YT_]

The only way to get the mamba is religiously follow this video. Or just reach the vessel where the mamba is sitting on the throne. Climb the boat from behind and then climb top and just wait for the mamba to come out then aim for his head with tranq gun. You might have to wait a log for him to come out.

[luckyglove]

I found out using a phantom cigarette he gets out to look at the lake when the hour is over good time to tranquilize him

[nintenghost]

This is the only mission in the game where I got an S rank without trying. Really don’t know how when I only did the one objective and alerted him into a CQC fight