Missions can be tough in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The good thing is that you don’t have to go in alone! There are “Buddies,” A.I. characters that can go with you on most missions. You only have access to one at the beginning, but as you progress through the game, you’ll unlock more.
I’ll explain each Buddy and how to get them. I’ll also help by explaining the equipment each Buddy can get and what you unlock by raising their Bond levels. Warning: There are slight spoilers in the sections where I explain each Buddy, so read on at your own risk.
For guides and help with other parts of the game, please visit my Beginner tips and tricks.
This guide will go over everything about Buddies in The Phantom Pain including:
- D-Horse – Full details on this Buddy, including equipment, how to get her, Bond level unlocks, and uses.
- D-Dog – Full details on this Buddy, including equipment, how to get him, Bond level unlocks, and uses.
- Quiet – Full details on this Buddy, including equipment, how to get her, Bond level unlocks, and uses.
- D-Walker – Full details on this Buddy, including equipment, how to get it, and uses.
Buddies
Before I begin, let me go over a few basics of Buddies.
- Buddies can die. If a situation looks dangerous, get them out of there.
- You can start a mission with a Buddy and switch them out at anytime.
- It costs money and works like a supply drop.
- Buddies, except for D-walker, have Bond levels.
- Increasing these unlock new abilities for the Buddy.
D-Horse
You start the game with D-Horse unlocked.
- D-Horse is a great Buddy for traveling. She gets you from one point to the next quickly.
- You can stealth by hiding on her side while riding.
- You can shoot while traveling on D-Horse.
You’ll be tempted to abandon D-Horse once you get other Buddies, and vehicles, but this Buddy is still a great choice in many situations.
Equipment and Bond
You can unlock Battle Dress upgrades for D-Horse, which increases her defense.
When you get your Bond level up, you’ll unlock Defecate. Yes, you read that right. Why you want this? Well, if you do it in the middle of the road an enemy vehicle goes down, it will spin out and stun everyone inside.
D-Dog
You can get D-dog as soon as you can start choosing which missions to take.
- The easiest way is to choose Mission 4 and take the landing zone directly north of Spugmay Keep.
- You’ll see a puppy around this area, Fulton it back to base to begin the unlock process.
- Just continue to do missions and around mission 10, D-dog will be fully grown and able to go on missions with you.
When it comes to sneaking around, D-Dog is the best.
- He automatically alerts of you of an enemies in your area and marks them for you.
- He’ll also mark plants, animals, and friendly units, like prisoners.
- He can wound, stun, or kill enemies to keep them from spotting you.
Equipment and Bond
D-Dog can unlock sneaking suits and a battle dress. The battle dress increases defense, but the sneaking suits add other features.
- Sneaking (Knife) – This changes the wound command to kill.
- Sneaking (Stun) – This changes the wound command to stun.
By leveling Bond, you unlock Bark to draw enemies away from an area and Keep em busy, to get the attention of multiple enemies.
Quiet
Unlocking Quiet takes a bit. Eventually you hear reports of a sniper out in the field and to be careful.
- After this, if you go to Aabe Shifap Ruins, you’ll trigger a cut scene and boss battle with Quiet, which is Mission 11.
- This happened while I was on the side op, “Make Contact with Emmerich“. She’ll be taken back to base and put in a cell.
- From here, continue to do missions and check back at Mother Base. Multiple cut scenes happen before you can finally use her as a Buddy.
Quiet uses a sniper rifle and has some of the best support in the game.
- You can send her to scout an outpost anywhere on the map, and she’ll mark anything she sees.
- You can send her to an attack position so she can get a better view of enemies you want her to shoot.
- She will attack anyone that sees you so you can be free to do what you want.
Equipment and Bond
There are different variations of snipers she can use.
- Her stock sniper rifle can be upgraded to have a suppressor.
- You can also unlock tranq rounds and a suppressor for that.
- There is a stronger sniper rifle to unlock, but you need the BRENNAN LRS-46 blueprint to unlock it.
Unlike the previous 2 companions, Quiet’s upgrades are tied to her bond level. As long as you use her on missions and make use of her abilities, you’ll be max bond in no time.
She also unlocks the ability to shoot a grenade that you throw, which will ricochet to attack enemies or helicopters.
D-Walker
You unlock D-Walker after completing mission 12: Hellbound. This Buddy does not have a bond level, it’s a walker after all, but it has several upgrades and equipment.
- D-Walker is a great Buddy for all-out assault.
- You can get on the walker to attack, or have it standby.
- Besides the weapons on D-Walker, you can only use special sub weapons.
Equipment
The only thing you need to worry about is equipment, but you’ll need a lot of resources, specialists and more to unlock some of equipment for D-walker. Below is a list of the things you can upgrade.
- Armor
- Ammo rack for higher ammo capacity
- Auto loader to reload faster
- Support head, which can get stealth and auto-search
- Arm, for CQC attacks
- Pistols, both lethal and non-lethal
- Sub-machine gun
- Gatling gun
- Anti-tank guided missiles
- Flamethrower
- High-voltage stun gun
That’s al for my Buddy guide for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Let me know if you have any questions. Check out my Mother Base guide if you want help getting everything you need to upgrade your Buddies.
