Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain max bonding tips to raise bond to maximum with Quiet, D-Dog and D-Horse.
Metal Gear Solid games are usually for the lone-wolf that is Snake, but in The Phantom Pain Big Boss has the privilege of deploying companions on missions with him.
For more help on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom, read our Blueprints Locations Guide, Mother Base Guide and PC Tweaks Guide.
MGSV: Phantom Pain Max Bonding Tips
Companions in The Phantom Pain are called Buddies, and you acquire them from different areas and missions in the game.
It’s not just as simple as acquiring them though – your actions and usage of your Buddies directly influences the Bond between them and Big Boss.
The stronger the bond, the more efficient the Buddies become, learning new abilities and acquiring new equipment.
This guide will help you in understanding how to acquire all these Buddies, their use on the battlefield, and how to Bond properly with them.
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D-Horse
D-Horse is one of the default available Buddies in the game, who can be deployed immediately after the Prologue.
Use
The primary and most obvious use of D-Horse is to transverse the rough and dry terrain of Afghanistan.
You could use him in Angola as well, but the terrain there is vastly different and denser, which encourages on-foot movement.
D-Horse Max Bonding Tips
Deploying and riding D-Horse in plenty of missions should easily allow you to bond with this loyal stallion.
Once the Bond is above 50%, you’ll be able to use the ‘Do it’ command, which makes D-Horse defecate. Yeah, not the most glamorous thing, but it can help topple lightweight vehicles and annoy enemies.
D-Dog
D-Dog, commonly referred to as DD, is a one-eyed buddy that joins you fairly early in the game.
You will find him as a puppy in early missions from Misson 02 to 05 near the deployment area. Fulton recovering him will transport him to Mother Base, where Ocelot will decide to train him.
Once that cutscene has been completed, you need to complete six main missions and return to Mother Base after which D-Dog will be grown fully in a cutscene that plays once you are about to leave on a chopper.
Use
D-Dog obviously can’t be ridden into battle on, but he’s one hell of a scout. Despite only having one eye, the fully grown D-Dog is a fantastic asset on the battlefield.
He’ll place provisional markers on all soliders, prisoners, animals, medicinal plants, enemy mines, weapons, and vehicles in a wide radius.
This makes D-Dog an extremely useful asset when it comes to infiltration missions, as the Buddy is easily capable of mapping out the entire enemy prison and the location of the prisoners.
At higher stages of bonding, D-Dog has the ability to knockout enemies, wound them, or even kill them.
D-Dog Max Bonding Tips
D-Dog can be bonded with by deploying and by developing a piece of equipment for him. Bonding is reduced if you do damage to him or dismiss him.
Eventually, once the Bond with D-Dog is strong enough, you will learn various offense-oriented commands for the hound where he will attack the enemy in the center of your screen.
Quiet
The scantily dressed Quiet is a mysterious yet excellent optional buddy. You will encounter her in Mission 11, where you will have to defeat her. Once you do, you’ll have the option of either exterminating her, or taking her prisoner.
If you choose the latter, you can take her to Mother Base where she will be held captive in a cell in the Medical Platform.
After completing Mission 14, you can take on the Side-Op mission ‘Visit Quiet’, where you will simply have to head to her cell in the Medical Platform.
Leave the Mother Base after this and a cutscene will be triggered. Quiet will then join you as a Buddy.
Use
Quiet is a formidable Buddy who can use her unique abilities and incredible sniping skills to assist you during missions.
She is primarily an offense/support buddy, but does an equally commendable job in scouting due to her very large vision range (240 meters covering 160 degrees in front of her).
You can assign her to do one of two primary roles: Scout mode, where she will carry out recon of specific locations and permanently tag enemies.
Her Attack mode will allow her to assist you in combat by shooting soldiers who spot you. This can result in the enemy going at Alert Status, but it is always better than full Combat Status triggered by discovery.
Using her as a support sniper in heavily fortified areas gives Big Boss a huge advantage as enemies are usually distracted by her sniping and she gets rid of anyone who spots you.
Quiet Max Bonding Tips
Since Quiet is a human, bonding with her is more complex than it is with D-Horse and D-Dog. However, the rewards are also much bigger.
The very first thing you can do to increase your Bond with Quiet is to use a non-lethal weapon to defeat her during Mission 11. After this, visiting quiet in her cell once per stay also increases the bond.
Once she is available for deployment alongside you, using her abilities and retrieving supply drops ordered by her will also increase your bond.
Later on, staring at Quiet in first-person view for at least five seconds in the Aerial Command Center (once per visit) will also greatly increase the bond.
This is especially true if you stare at her breasts for at least 10 seconds, which will trigger her to come close to you. Staying inside the ACC for at least 5 minutes with her will trigger her to crouch into a cat position.
As Quiet’s bond with you increases, her poses in the cell or ACC will change greatly. After 75% bonding, you can use the well-advertised grenade-ricochet ability where Quiet will shoot a grenade you toss to send it flying towards enemies or gunships.
In addition to this, Quiet’s Equipment is also more complex and better upgraded every after every 10% increase in bond (starting from 20% Bond).
D-Walker
D-Walker is a special Metal Gear that is available to you after you complete Mission 13.
Although it can be considered a Buddy, you do not have to Bond with the D-Walker in anyway. Instead, its abilities are linked to its current components, which can be developed and then equipped from the Customize menu at the Aerial Command Center.
Use
The D-Walker is an offensive Metal Gear that also gives great mobility. Using the D-Horse in Angola is a lot harder due to the dense terrain, which is why the D-Walker is a better option.
