Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain features a buddy system, allowing you to bring a companion with you into battle during missions. There's a small handful of buddies you can recruit, each of whom comes with their own unique abilities.
It can be difficult to decide which buddy to bring on missions, as their special abilities and defining characteristics can influence or accommodate your playstyle. With that in mind, we've put together this guide to help you decide how to use your companions.
D-Horse
D-Horse is your starter buddy. He'll offer you a means of transportation, at least until you find other, faster vehicles.
You'll be able to hang from his sides to stealthily make your way past enemies, because no one in the Metal Gear universe ever suspects a lone horse. You can also make him poop on command. When a vehicle drives into the poop, it'll spin and stop, and cause every passenger to pass out.
D-Dog
You'll find D-Dog as a puppy during story mission 4. He'll run towards you at the landing zone. Fulton extract him in the landing zone right where you depart the helicopter. Once you've completed the mission, return to mother base and you'll see a cutscene with the dog.
To get him to join you on missions, you'll need to complete Missions 7, 8, 9, 10 and and two of any other missions and you'll find that some time has passed and D-Dog is all grown up and available as a buddy.
D-Dog can mark enemies and captured friendlies on the radar. He can also distract enemy soldiers.
D-Walker
D-Walker is a mechanized walker that you can outfit for either combat or stealth. To unlock him, you'll need to complete a few missions in the game's African region. D-Walker uses a Tranq pistol as its basic weapon and can be summoned at any time during a mission. It can be equipped with better weapons, effectively turning it into a light tank. It can also fight in melee combat, picking up enemy soldiers and beating them up.
D-Walker has a radar that marks unseen enemies on your map.
Quiet
To recruit Quiet, don't kill her in Mission 11. If you accidentally killed her, restart the mission.
Once done, take on Mission 14 and you'll unlock Side Op 111: Visit Quiet. Do so. Visit her at the medical platform. WHen you arrive at the helipad, go downstairs to find her cell. Once you call back the helicopter to leave the area, you'll see a cutscene with Quiet, who will join you on missions as a buddy.
As a sniper with augmented abilities, Quiet can turn invisible and hide from enemies. She can also scout areas and mark enemies. You can send her to designated spots on the map to provide you with sniper cover.
She can be instructed to shoot enemies, provide covering fire, and even fire at grenades—allowing you to take out enemy helicopters.
