Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

This page will help you to defeat the various bosses in Metal Gear Solid 2.

Olga

 * Olga will begin by shooting at you, interspersed with talking. Get in as many attacks as you can here.
 * As soon as she stops talking, shoot the light and two closest catches on the cloth. This way she cannot blind you. Note that the catches and light cannot be shot on Extreme difficulty.
 * Now run from cover to cover, with the box equipped if you have it, tricking her into shooting where you are not. Get a shot in whenever she is not looking, and she goes down easily.

Gurlukovich Soldiers

 * The soldiers will be shooting at you from down the hall. You can hide behind either crate here, and there is ammo and a ration behind you.
 * Crouch behind either crate and shoot in first person view (psx: R1) and peek to the left (psx: L2) and up (psx: L2 & psx: R2) to get head shots in.
 * If they throw a grenade, stand up and quickly run to the other crate.
 * Jump-out shots are not recommended.
 * When you have shot enough soldiers, a final group of three will run up to you in a line. The leader will kick you over and shoot you while you are on the floor. To avoid this, stand up and shoot at their heads repeatedly before they reach you.

Fortune

 * You'll encounter Fortune in the bottom of Strut A, after dealing with the bomb. She will constantly shoot at you with her railgun, and as you've seen before, bullets will have no effect--so your only option is to run around dodging her shots until you receive a call, at which point the battle ends.

Fatman

 * Fatman's battle has some unique conditions - he will plant C4 around the helipad, and it's your job to find where he's placed it (the small bombs give off a "scent", so Sensor A works again) and freeze it with your coolant spray before it explodes. But you also have to worry about killing Fatman, and good luck catching him (as he's wearing rollerblades and can skate around the helipad as he sees fit). Also, don't get in his way when he's skating - he can knock you over easily.
 * The bombs that Fatman plants can usually be found on the large industrial shipping crates - on the sides, on top, or underneath - but always within reach of your coolant. You may have to crawl under the crates to reach the explosives.
 * When attacking Fatman, remember to aim for the head - his bomb blast suit absorbs just about any blow. Your best opportunity to shoot Fatman is when he has to stop and rest (you'll hear his heavy breathing).
 * After several rounds of disarming bombs, Fatman will stop planting them and come after you! In this phase, he's much more aggressive, but easier to find. A punch-punch-kick-kick combo will knock him over, giving you a chance to shoot him in the head (the M9 works best, since knocking him down depletes his stamina). Repeat until Fatman announces that "it's time to get back to bombs", at which point you will want to get your coolant ready again.
 * After the battle, Fatman will arm an enormous bomb. Don't panic--just pick up his body and move it somewhere else. Pick up Peter Stillman's dog tags, then freeze the bomb under where his body was.

Vamp

 * At the start of the battle, Vamp will bow to you. If you're not burdened by such things as honor and dignity you can take this opportunity to shoot him. Try using either sniper rifle and aiming for the bullet hole in his forehead for maximum damage.
 * While he's underwater, shoot the surface of the water with Stinger missiles to inflict immense stamina damage.
 * The knives he throws can be shot down.
 * At some point, be sure to shoot out all four of the lights in the area. If you do not, Vamp will eventually use his "shadow seal" attack to immobilize you.

Harrier

 * The Harrier has two main attacks. The vulcan cannon can be dodged easily, but to avoid the missiles you need to be behind something that will block them (the large blocks on the lower level of the bridge work best).
 * Occasionally, the Harrier will fly far off in the distance, then jet directly over you. You will take a small amount of damage if you are on the top level at this point; however, the chance to pelt the Harrier with Stingers might be worth taking a hit, depending on how much LIFE you have left.
 * Obviously, the only weapon that works here is the Stinger surface-to-air missile launcher. Just keep firing every time you get a lock-on; ammo is not an issue.
 * After losing about half its health, the Harrier will send about fifty million pieces of debris falling towards you. If you are not hanging from one of the rails over the pit in the middle, you will take massive damage.
 * Keep firing and the Harrier will fall eventually.

Vamp (Sniping)

 * Quickly shoot Vamp 4-5 times in the head with the sniper rifle. Simple enough.
 * If you are not extremely fast here, the hostage will be killed and the game will end.

Metal Gear RAYs

 * At first, three RAYs will stand in a line. After taking enough damage the three RAYs will leap at you and start running around the arena.
 * Chaff grenades will decrease the accuracy of the machine gun and homing missiles.
 * The Stingers are the only weapon that will work. You can aim directly for the cockpit, or you can shoot the "knee" first and then the cockpit for more damage.
 * If you stand directly underneath RAY, about 80% of the time it will use its water beam, which takes a long time to charge and execute and can thus be dodged easily, giving you an opening. Around 20% of the time it will merely stomp you good, so be ready for that possibility.

Solidus

 * Solidus can't be hit most of the time, when he attacks you and especially when he scales the neighboring wall he leaves himself exposed for a quick R3 stab.
 * 3 hits will knock him down but don't try to hit him as he's getting up, he'll spin kick you.
 * Mash buttons or rapidly move the movement stick to escape a tentacle grab.
 * The missiles are very slow and easy to dodge
 * At about 1/3 of health he'll throw off his tentacle rig to fight you 'mono e mono' at this point he'll become very fond of his rocket boosts. He'll usually do a triangle around you before diving in for an attack, you can either try to block this or cartwheel out of the way.
 * He leaves himself open for longer after attacks in this form and looses access to all his abilities excluding sword attacks and his rocket boots.