An overview of the FOB PVP 'meta' loadout

This is without a doubt the most iconic weapon of FOB PVP with a large portion of the metagame centering around it. The stun grenade launcher is powerful in its capability of stunning opponents from far distances as soon as the grenade hits a surface and once a player is stunned they can be easily eliminated via any sort of weapon. On the surface the sleep grenade launcher may appear to be better, it is a higher grade weapon after all. However, stun grenades have advantages that trump sleep grenades and thus the sleep grenade launcher is rarely used by top players. Here is a list of the characteristics of both grenade launchers: Sleep grenade launchers:

• Gas lingers for a short while after impact (can create pressure but conversely makes it dangerous for the user approach the gas, potentially causing issues when trying to approach a sleeping opponent)
  
• Can go through walls
  
• Only one grenade hit close enough to a player can tranquilise them, however its tranquilising effects wane over time and dolphin diving can reduce the impact of the gas
  
• Cardboard boxes are ineffective at countering sleep grenades

Stun grenade launchers

• Marks target on hit, even if they are protected by a cardboard box
  
• No lingering effect on impact (meaning that the user is more likely to be able to approach the stunned opponent without fear of being knocked out by their own stun grenades)
  
• Requires two hits to stun Snake/Avatar (or any soldier with the tough guy ability), but dolphin diving can reduce the stun effect
  
• Cardboard boxes can protect against the stun effect except for direct hits on the player

Stun grenades marking the target on hit is the biggest reason as to why the stun grenade launcher is used over the sleep grenade launcher as well as why stun grenades are so central to the meta. A large portion of FOB PVP matches revolve around trying to find the other player, knocking them out, and then neutralising them. Another key weapon for the meta, this sniper rifle boasts high damage at its highest grade (being able to take out guards in 1-2 hits and neutralise players in 3-5 body shots even with the highest grade armour) as well as customisability that is essential PVP matches. The AM MRS-71 rifle is able to have its ammunition changed to have 30/180 bullets which is important for infiltrators to have enough rounds to be able to take out all of the guards as well as the defender. Additionally, the sniper rifle can have a grenade launcher underbarrel equipped with the most popular choice being the sleep grenade underbarrel due to more stun grenades typically being the priority and the highest grade sleep grenade underbarrel has more ammunition than all other grenade underbarrels.

To put it bluntly, most other back weapons perform badly in PVP especially if the opponent has the highest grade sneaking suit or battle dress. Although rocket launchers have a wide area of impact which will mark the target on hit, its damage is minimal and has high reload time. Stun grenades are better for marking players and any sort of gun is more easily able to neutralise opponents - with typically just one headshot being enough. With how important stun grenade launchers are to the meta most players opt to have their secondary weapon also be a stun grenade launcher to provide themselves with more stun ammunition. Although it cannot fire two stun grenades in quick succession (which will often result in the target being knocked out) one can quick swap after shooting once with the RGL-220 to mimic the quick fire capabilities of the RGL. Not only is this prosthetic very useful for regular FOB infiltrations for its ability to pull guards towards you (hence allowing for easy hold-ups) it can be used on other players as well which will cause them to be stunned when hit. The Hand of Jehuty is quite useful for getting players who are waking up so one can stun them again as well as making disarms more consistent. However the Hand of Jehuty (and all other prosthetics) will be unusable when near grade 9-11 UAVs.
Note - the Hand of Jehuty allows for one to perform a stun lock on the opposing player for as long as it has enough charge, please do not do this unless the opponent is a cheater!

These grenades are key in forcing pressure on the opponent and closing off passages. They are often used on the bridges to prevent the opponent from approaching which is important for protecting the infiltrator from getting eliminated when knocked out. Hand grenades can be useful for taking out groups of guards and for neutralising stunned opponents in hard to reach places. 2-3 maximum grade grenades are able to neutralise an opponent with max defence. During FOB PVP matches, both players will have a visible FOM which can be viewed via the iDroid giving a clue as to where the player is. A FOM decoy can be used to add an additional FOM to make it harder for the opponent to determine the location of the user, however only one decoy can be in effect at once. The decoy can also be combined with stealth mode (which removes your FOM) to trick opponents. The DM generators are another tool for creating pressure as they can go through walls and if they hit a player they will be marked. They can also be very effective in destroying security equipment such as cameras and mines. The generated dark matter can also hinder visibility even with the NVG equipped. Do note that stun DM generators will not wake up sleeping/knocked out guards but the damaging one will. When placed the user can warp to where the latest wormhole was placed. This is vital in enabling retreats in dangerous situations, ambushing the opponent, or in the case of the defender allowing them to warp back to the first platform if the infiltrator has overtaken them. Grade 9 wormholes can be destroyed or picked up however so be careful of that happening. Although they are not as powerful as when they are used in grenade launchers in terms of PVP, they can still be useful for their ability to catch players off guard and stun guards (especially in non-lethal FOBs as the guards are immune to sleeping gas). Grade 11 stun grenades can knock out guards for 8 minutes, longer than stunning via a CQC combo or chokehold which lasts for 6-7 minutes. These can be placed in tight spots where opponents are likely to run through, both interrupting them on hit as well as marking them. When stepped on they release a tranquilising gas that can easily catch players off guard. However they can be crawled or dived over without being triggered, as such they can be combined with a D-MINE which will trigger the sleep mine upon explosion. The grade 10 varient has a large area of effect when the decoy is destroyed which can be used to stun opponents and when they are electrocuted they will be marked as well. The decoys can either be combined with a mine which will explode the decoy and hence releasing the electrocution effect in tandem. Additionally, the decoy can be thrown into a wedge which will cause the decoy to be destroyed as soon as it is activated, essentially acting as a activatable trap.

You may find it strange that FOB PVP players deploy with many cardboard boxes and keep diving out of them. This is because diving out of a cardboard box removes a mark on you, essential in hiding your position from your opponent.
You become marked in the following cases:

• Whenever you are hit (including by stun grenades from grenade launchers)
  
• When looked at through a scope or binoculars for long enough (or by placing a marker on the player through the binoculars)
  
• When a guard/camera/UAV spots the infiltrator (typically when a guard says 'contact' and mentions the direction of the infiltrator this usually means a mark has been placed on the intruder)
  
• During reflex mode (this does not always happen, auto-aim helps with spotting the intruder this way)

Cardboard boxes can also protect against stun grenades given how central they are to the meta. Do bear in mind however that the box will not protect you from direct hits from stun grenades and getting 'hit' (as indicated by the damage marker on the reticle) will still mark you. These are pretty much almost always used no matter the loadout as they make it easier to spot guards and security equipment as well as see through smoke. Although sneaking suits are not highlighted through the NVG, weapons as well as an opposing player's NVG still are and as such guards and players can still be spotted this way. Do note that grade 9-11 UAVs will make NVGs unusable. The ability to remove sway when aiming down sights can help when shooting distant targets, especially when considering that most loadouts include a sniper rifle. These are important for the infiltrator to easily be able to find all of the guards and hence neutralise them all. This is often one of the goals of the infiltrator as if all guards and UAVs are destroyed, combat alerts only last a short while hence making reaching the core easier.

Either Snake or the Avatar is the most used character for PVP as he provides numerous benefits exclusive to him. He is the only individual that is capable of having multiple abilities at once (e.g. faster reload, faster running speed, tough guy, etc.) and is the only person that can use prosthetics. Typically PVP players will use the grade 11 sneaking suit with Snake as it provides high defence - which is essential to being able to survive the onslaught from guards - as well as increasing health regeneration speed and making it harder to spot the user through NVGs. Quiet is also used by some players due to her boasting impressive speed and a dash which can be used to quickly rush down opponents. She also handles sniper rifles very well having little to no recoil when using them and overall being overall more accurate with them. However, her inability to dolphin dive and only needing one stun grenade to knock her out are key weaknesses of hers which results in most players choosing Snake/Avatar instead. That said, she can be very difficult to deal with when used in tandem with auto-wormholes and energy walls which is frowned upon by some members of the PVP community. Although DD staff are able to have higher ranks than Snake across all fields, most of the time this is not favourable for FOBs. As mentioned before, Snake is able to have multiple abilities at once whereas the staff are limited to just one. DD staff are sometimes the prime choice when aiming to stealth max level FOBs as they can provide perks that Snake does not have access to, such as increased noctocyanin/pentazemin effect time and automatic marking of cameras.

Whilst not necessarily a part of the loadout, deployments are used by PVP players to make infiltrations easier.

This is pretty much essential for any infiltrator planning to engage in PVP. Without this deployment, reinforcements are more or less endless and thus making it extremely difficult for the infiltrator to core the FOB. Since most PVP loadouts are focused on going lethal the guards will inevitably call for reinforcements. Although it is technically possible to prevent reinforcements by neutralising the guard calling for help before they can finish talking to CP, in most cases this is not always possible. Stealth and non-lethal loadouts do not have to worry about this as much since as long as no guards are killed or fultoned reinforcements will never be requested. Hopefully this is pretty self explanatory, having less guards to deal with makes infiltrations easier. Grade 11 FOBs are easily able to neutralise infiltrators just from the guards alone, even with the highest level sneaking suit/battle dress. As such, a large majority of PVP players choose to reduce the security equipment level to make infiltration more managable. A grade 11 FOB can be reduced to grade 6 with the highest grade deployments. Not all PVP players play with reflex mode turned on (in part due to the defender sometimes being able to spot the intruder when reflex mode is activated) but for those that do this deployment can be useful in giving the infiltrator more leeway in being able to neutralise whoever or whatever spotted them. If an FOB has a nuclear weapon there are some changes to the effects deployments have. Firstly, the armoury cannot be weakened and the number of guards will not be lowered as much.

The following are not usually used in the traditional meta loadout, but are used enough in PVP to be worth mentioning.

As mentioned in my guide on cheaters in FOB, the fulton launcher is essential for countering many types of cheaters. Although its slow fire rate and reload speed do not make it the top choice for PVP, it can be a good choice if you know the opponent will be using energy walls and auto-wormholes and the fulton launcher bypasses both of these.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3640601921 A lot of rushdown loadouts use this grenade launcher for its ability to swiftly eliminate groups of guards. It can also neutralise other players with enough shots. When activated, these provide full immunitiy to damage and stun/sleep for as long as it is active. However it does not make oneself immune from CQC - it will not stun the user but they can be stun locked by consecutive CQC if performed correctly. Additionally if the user attempts to use the Hand of Jehuty whilst the energy wall is active they will end up stunning themselves. Due its strength many traditional PVP players choose to not use it and its usage is looked down upon by some members of the community. From grade 10 onwards if the user is knocked out, tranquilised, or neutralised from lethal damage they will instead be warped to where the last wormhole generator was placed, essentially acting as an extra life. Unlike the grade 9 wormholes, they cannot be picked up or destroyed. Like the energy walls, this a very powerful item that is frowned upon in traditional PVP.

For the lower grade versions of some of the gear listed in this guide 2 FOBs will be sufficient. However, to develop most gear grade 8 and above a third and fourth FOB is required. Additionally, the amount of resources required to make grade 8-12 equipment exponentially increases requiring a lot of resource grinding to be able to make everything. This leans into one of the biggest issues of FOBs - the amount of resources required to not only make PVP gear but to also deploy with it. Not necessarily but you would be making things much harder for yourself especially when going against top level players. It is more lenient for a defender as they have infinite lives and only have to worry about neutralising the intruder. The stun grenade launcher and grade 7 sniper rifle can be made with just two FOBs and they are relatively cheap to deploy with; these can be completely sufficient for a defender.

However, being an infiltrator without the highest grade gear puts you at a greater disadvantage, especially when infiltrating high level FOBs and facing off against experienced defenders. Not having the highest level sneaking suit makes it very easy for one to be neutralised from the guards and the lower grade sniper rifles are not able to take out guards with higher level armour in one hit.

Not necessarily but it is very hard to do so. Despite the wealth of options MGSV provides the player, a lot of them do not perform well in terms of PVP. Grenade launchers and specifically stun grenades are so central to the meta it is difficult to use anything else against experienced players and win consistently.

As mentioned before defenders have more leeway in being able to use less meta weapons due to the match being skewed to their favour. Personally I tend to use lower level equipment when on defence and sometimes I may experiment with using unconventional weapons. Further, if I know I will be going against an inexperienced opponent I will often elect to use a more unconventional loadout to make things more fair and more fun for myself.

That said, please do not take this as meaning that you cannot deploy with anything else. Some players specialise in using loadouts different to the meta, such as stealth PVP loadouts or anti-meta loadouts. If you can find a loadout that you have the most fun with I think that is more important, even it includes using auto-wormholes and energy walls. For some people using the same loadout over and over again can get quite boring.