Metal Gear Solid V: TPP Guide – How to Beat the Man on Fire in Mission 20

Not counting Quiet, the Man on Fire is the first boss you’ll encounter in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He appears at the end of Mission 20: Voices, and you’ll have to defeat him before you can leave the hot zone by chopper. For this fight, I recommend bringing a grenade launcher if you have one. If not, a simple lethal pistol will do as well, but the grenade launcher makes things a little easier.

At the end of Mission 20, Skull Face will spot you in the hospital and call upon the Psycho Kid and the Man on Fire to attack you. You can’t fight him in the hospital, so just run out into the open space. Kaz will inform you that he can’t bring the chopper in until the Man on Fire is down, as he’ll just blow it up. As soon as the fight starts, look out for the two giant water tanks in the area. Your goal here is to lure the Man on Fire to where the water tank is, and then blow it up and douse him in water.

If you have a grenade launcher, all you have to do is shoot the water tank itself when the Man on Fire is in the area, and the water will fall on him. If not, use a pistol to shoot the red barrel at the base of the water tank, and that will do the trick as well. The hard part of this fight is getting onto the chopper before the Man on Fire gets back up. I suggest calling in the chopper right before luring him to the water tank, as this will give you a bit of time to get in and start firing with the gattling gun.

Alternatively, you can also place a C4 explosive near the tank at the shallow pool. Once the Man on Fire wanders in between the tank and pool, blowing the tank up will cause an explosion that forces him into the pool, leaving him incapacitated for a short while.

Don’t bother shooting the Man on Fire with the grenade launcher, as he’ll just absorb the explosion. Also, if you have the water pistol, don’t bother using it against him either. It’ll take about 50 shots with the water pistol to take him down and frankly, it’ll take too much time and will just make it harder for you to survive the fight.

Once the chopper comes in and the Man on Fire is down, quickly hop into the chopper and start shooting at him with the gattling gun. If, for some reason, you are unable to get on the chopper even after using both water tanks, all you have to do is survive until it starts raining, and the boss fight will automatically end. The Man on Fire and the Psycho Kid will disappear, leaving you free to call in your chopper. However, do note that this method will probably rob you of that much coveted S Rank.