Old Sun — Outer Haven

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The Alert phase here is almost impossible to shake, so this is pure stealth. The Mk. 2 tranquilizer is the weapon — anything louder gives your position away.

• Start left, prone, OctoCamo. Two FROGs appear ahead — tranq both heads with the Mk. 2. Move past, prone again; crawl forward and two more FROGs appear at the path's end — tranq both or let them pass (don't get seen by one further up). Past two crates, two more FROGs — down the near one and the other usually comes to check.
• Favor the left wall. Another FROG ahead — tranq her or let her round the big pillar (don't follow; that's the Gekko's area). Stay left among the crates and pillars to a very large pillar with two stacked crates beside it — hug the pillar (Triangle) to slip through the gap.
• Other side: prone, crawl, stay left out of the Gekko's sight. Two more FROGs appear — shoot both from range with the Mk. 2. Move to where they stood and turn right, as far back as you can get first.
• A Gekko drops in — stay still; shellfire from the Missouri destroys it. Move up, stick left using crates for cover past another Gekko, let it turn away, then tap Triangle at the door to open it. Inside: Ration + ammo, then the elevator (recent audio flashback). Next room: ammo left and right; through the next door for a scene.

• FROG waves. Use the computer desks as cover; clear each wave with an assault rifle or machine gun (more ammo, less reloading), plus the MGL-140 or a sniper rifle. The second wave comes from the walkway above — the DSR-1 / SVD picks them off; some drop to ground level. Watch their grenades and for one flanking you. Clear the last wave for a cutscene.

Screaming Mantis

Difficulty

She barely fights herself — the whole battle is fought through her puppets, and the Syringe is the key that unlocks it.

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Attacks

• Controls Meryl and the dead FROGs as puppets to shoot you
• Blinks around and lunges in close
• Tries to make Meryl shoot herself

Strategy

• At the start you can’t aim at Mantis or shoot Meryl — use the Syringe from the item menu (hold L2) to break her control.
• You can’t damage Mantis directly — shoot the orange-glowing Psycho Mantis doll on her right arm (the other, The Sorrow, is useless here). Its strings snap one by one.
• Protect Meryl and Akiba — either dying is game over. Re-tranq Meryl with the Mk. 2 whenever Mantis takes her; Akiba is unconscious and only dies to your own fire, so keep grenades away from his body.
• When the doll drops, grab it (it becomes a permanent weapon). Equip it, aim at Screaming Mantis, fire to take control, then hold L1 and tilt the controller toward you repeatedly until her health is gone.

Screaming Beauty

Difficulty

The last of the four unarmed Beauty phases.

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Attacks

• Contact life-drain

Strategy

• No Meryl or Akiba to mind this time. Avoid her, hose her with automatic fire, done.

• Scenes, then you're in the Missile Hangar.

• Five long walkway rooms, each with a recent audio flashback; at the fifth Snake auto-walks to the door for a cutscene.
• From the sixth room on, Scarabs respawn endlessly. To just get through: clear the path ahead with a machine gun / MGL-140 / Rail Gun (its field can briefly shield Snake), or use a Chaff Grenade or two to run straight past. You can also run and roll over them for no damage, or ride the Drum Can.

• Dramatic scenes, then the final confrontation.

A bare-knuckle brawl, no weapons.

Liquid Ocelot

Difficulty

No syringes, no guns, no CQC gadgets — just Snake and Ocelot, aging out on the deck of Outer Haven, through four shifting phases.

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Attacks

• Phase 1: quick combos, a kick, an MGS1-style running headbutt
• Phase 2: a windup punch that hurts a lot
• Phase 3: MGS3 CQC — grapples and chokes
• Phase 4: cinematic trading punches

Strategy

• Controls: R1 quick combo, L1 block, X + left stick dodge/dash (dash then R1 = gut punch), hold R1 near him = CQC grapple. Knocked down: Triangle to rise (faster on later knockdowns).
• Phase 1: pre-empt the headbutt by keeping him peppered; trade damage, then block his returns. Changes at ~half health.
• Phase 2: dodge the windup punch (or at least block to soften it), then counter — gut punch into an R1 combo every time.
• Phase 3: break chokes by toggling the left stick, then Triangle to knock him down, then R1 when prompted for a free punch. Grapple back (hold R1) — the throw-down grapple lets you mash R1 then Triangle for a big hit; grappling near the three deck pillars gives a different throw.
• Phase 4: only move and punch remain. Stagger in, R1 for a cinematic punch, stay close, punch again on each pause, and don’t let him land too many of his own. A few of these end it.

• Final cutscenes, then the credits. Act V and the game are complete.