The Foxhound rank is the highest rank you can get in Snake Eater. Whether you want this rank for bragging rights or for the trophy in the Master Collection, I got you.
There are some myths about this rank I would like to dispel and some points I’d like to clarify:
- There is no 25 meal limit in this mode. I don’t know where guides keep hearing that, but you can eat as much as you want. The only restrictions here are that you have to take less than 10 health bars worth of damage, and you can’t use life meds.
- If you allow the End to die of old age, it will not void the no kills requirement, BUT it will make the Mosin Nagant impossible to obtain. YOU NEED THIS GUN.
- You can use the healing frequencies. There is no penalty for this.
- Killing enemies by shooting barrels do not count as kills. The barrel killed ’em.
- You CAN NG+ the Foxhound rank by playing the game through on Extreme beforehand, but if you can already beat it on Extreme then you can get Foxhound, so this is largely pointless.
- Finally, pick “I like MGS3” at the start of your game. All this does is give you a bunch of useful NG+ camos for free.
- Here’s video 1 and 2. Both of these videos are perfect resources for guiding you through this run. I recommend both because if one offers a strategy that seems too difficult, then the other will usually offer a good substitute.
Now for some more specific tips:
If I just applied a bandage OR reset the bone, the rest would heal on its own
Increasing Health Quickly
In Snake Eater, you increase your max life by getting injured and healing from it. This is especially useful on Extreme as you don’t have a ton of room for error.
HOWEVER, if you partially heal a wound (which is indicated by the red on the health bar) and allow the rest to heal during gameplay, then you will get a pretty hefty boost in your health. Also, don’t worry about the 10 health bar limit; in one test run, I ran into dozens of claymores to get my health up, and I didn’t even crack 4 by the end of the game. Outside of elective damage, you really won’t get hit a lot in this run, so go nuts (within reason).
The Fury Fight
This is the hardest boss fight in the game. You NEED the Mosin Nagant for this fight.
Now that we all now how much this fight sucks, I’m going to give you a strategy that I haven’t really seen mentioned anywhere else. Something which got me through all my Foxhound runs.
You have to shoot the Fury with the Mosin 8 times to end the fight. He falls down and becomes momentarily invincible after 3 shots, so this means you have to hit him with 3 volleys. This is annoying because this boss is almost entirely random in how it plays out.
Naturally then, the strat would be to shoot him 3 times, then 3 times, then 2 times. Right? ABSOLUTELY NOT. This is a terrible idea. After you hit him with three shots initially, he will transition from his skulking around phase to his ‘oh my god, where is he’ phase.
This second phase initiates after he says “My suit’s been ripped”. Something which only happens when you knock him down. To avoid this, and to delay his second phase, you want to hit him TWICE, then three times, and now you only have to track him down one more time during his manic phase to land the last three hits.
No horror game can hope to emulate the terror I felt when facing the Fear on Extreme, but you can do it. Remember, he’s not scary, he’s annoying.
Like riding a bike
Where To Save
You get a 24 save limit in Foxhound. Now, for whatever reason, no video guide I’ve been able to find has used all of these saves. They mostly just use around 18.
This is insane. You get 24, use every single one. Don’t be a hero.
Here’s an Imgur gallery with screenshots so you know exactly when to save. This, in conjunction with the video guides, will mean you’ll have the Foxhound rank before you know it.
I remember thinking it seemed impossible, but now I have 3 Snake Eater platinums and nothing left to do but wait for the remake… it has to come out soon, right?
