Grand Theft Auto V Trophy Walkthrough

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Trophy Roadmap

Difficulty: 8.5/10
Estimated time to Platinum: 400 – 450 hours
Trophies: 78. 40-platinum 1 / Gold 3 / Silver 15 / Bronze 59
Missable trophies: Bronze All’s Fare in Love and War
Glitched trophies: None
Difficulty related: None
Playthrough: –

Introduction

Welcome to the Grand Theft Auto V trophy walkthrough!
As much as I agree with the strong majority that are familiar with Grand Theft Auto V in saying that Rockstar should just move on toward GTA 6, sadly this will not come any time soon. I have so many qualms with this game now that I refuse to play it any longer, however it does not change the fact that I’ve accumulated well over 5500 hours in both single-player and GTA Online across a seven year span. So I was told to write a trophy guide, and I accepted, so here we are. 

There’s a lot to uncover, so I’ve divided the base game into 6 sections, as well as 3 extra sections for each of the DLCs. 

Let’s get started. 

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Stage 1: Story

In GTA V’s single player, you play as three characters; Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, each with their own set of unique abilities, traits, personalities, and issues. I won’t spoil any of the story here, but I will note that throughout story progression, you will unlock better weapons, better upgrades for weapons and vehicles, and side missions that you will need to complete later for other trophies. So in other words, you don’t need to worry about unlocking anything or having unnecessary difficulty if you just play through the story as normal before tackling other trophies. The only thing you need to keep an eye out for is the final decision of the game after the final mission. You will get 3 options to choose from. A and B will block you out of certain miscellaneous trophies that are character-related, so to make sure you don’t block yourself out of anything, choose option C. In this stage, you will unlock: 

  • Welcome to Los Santos
  • A Friendship Resurrected
  • A Fair Day’s Pay
  • The Moment of Truth
  • To Live or Die in Los Santos
  • Diamond Hard
  • Submersive
  • Blitzed
  • Small Town, Big Job
  • The Government Gimps
  • The Big One!

All I can say is, enjoy the storyline. 

Stage 2: Collectibles & Side Missions:

After you’ve completed the story (and chose “C” during the final decision after the final heist), it’s time to get to work cleaning up remaining ? markers on the map from all three characters. A strong majority of these are needed for 100% completion. If you hold down on the D-pad, there will be a number below the character in the switch wheel indicating how many uncompleted missions you have left for that specific character. In this stage, you will unlock:

  • All’s Fare In Love And War
  • TP Industries Arms Race
  • Multi-Disciplined
  • From Beyond The Stars
  • A Mystery, Solved
  • Waste Management
  • Show Off
  • Close Shave
  • Red Mist
  • Three Man Army
  • Out Of Your Depth
  • Altruist Acolyte
  • A Lot of Cheddar
  • Trading Pure Alpha
  • Pimp My Sidearm
  • Wanted: Alive or Alive
  • Los Santos Customs

All’s Fare In Love And War (Purchase Downtown Cab Co. and complete a private fare)

You can purchase the Downtown Cab Company as Franklin, located just south of the casino in East Vinewood, for $200,000. After purchasing the company, you will occasionally get phone calls asking you to complete special fares for special riders, each one with their own set of rules or guidelines. There are nine in total, so as long as you’re alert while playing as Franklin, it’s not a hard trophy to obtain. Be careful though, if for some reason you decline all nine, this trophy will render itself unobtainable, forcing you to reload a save file or start a new game. 

TP Industries Arms Race (Purchase McKenzie Field Hangar and win the arms race)

You can purchase McKenzie Field as Trevor, located in Grapeseed, for $150,000. There are ten missions you will need to complete, five in the air and five on the ground, consisting of delivering weapons to various points throughout Blaine County, with their own set of rules or permutations. The trophy will unlock after completing the 10th mission. 

Multi-Disciplined (Attain a gold medal in all applicable hobbies and pastimes)

There are several things to do in GTA V outside of killing cops and robbing banks. There are hobbies you can partake in, and depending on how well you do, will reward you with a gold, silver, or bronze medal. The six hobbies/pastimes you need to obtain a gold medal in for this trophy are: 

  • A single shooting range competition in Ammu-Nation: You will need to go to the Ammu-Nation in Pillbox Hill or Cypress Flats, as those are the only two locations with shooting ranges. Michael has the best shooting stat. 
  • A triathlon: The first triathlon is located on the coast near the Los Santos Customs near the airport. Doesn’t matter which character you use as long as they have full stamina. 
  • Flight school lesson: Flight school is located at Los Santos International Airport (where else?) and can easily be completed by any character, though Trevor has the highest flying stat. 
  • A sea race: Found scattered throughout San Andreas at just about every major body of water. Franklin has the highest driving stat. 
  • A street race: This can only be completed by Franklin after he talks to Hao for the first time in the mission “Shift Work”, unlocked after completing the story mission “Complications”. 
  • An off-road race: Found scattered throughout Blaine County. Franklin has the highest driving stat. 

From Beyond the Stars (Collect and return all spaceship parts)

After completing the story mission “Fame or Shame”, a side mission will unlock for Franklin up in the Grand Senora Desert. After talking to Omega, 50 spaceship parts will spawn scattered throughout the map, and you must collect all 50 to unlock the final cutscene. Note, even though the mission cutscenes can only be triggered by Franklin, you can collect spaceship parts with any character, and some parts even require helicopters to reach (Trevor owns helicopters at his airfields). 

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Spaceship Part Locations (From Beyond the Stars Trophy/Achievement)

A Mystery, Solved (Solve the Mystery of Leonora Johnson)

Letter scraps can be collected from the start of the game and can be obtained by all three characters. Similar to the aforementioned spaceship parts, you must find all 50 to unlock “A Startlet in Vinewood”, the mission to complete to unlock this trophy. Note, just like the spaceship parts, some letter scraps are only accessible by helicopter. 

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Letter Scrap Locations (A Mystery, Solved Trophy/Achievement Guide)

Waste Management (Purchase the old dock and collect all nuclear waste)

The old dock, unlockable after completing the Merryweather heist, is located in Paleto Cove in the northwest side of the map. It can be bought by either Michael or Trevor for $250,000. There are 30 nuclear waste barrels to collect, and it’s recommended to circle the entire map in one go as if you leave the submarine or die, the only place to re-obtain it is back at the dock, costing you time. Give yourself about two to three hours for this one, the submarine is not a fast moving vehicle. 

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Nuclear Waste Locations (Waste Management Trophy/Achievement Guide)

Show Off (Complete all Stunt Jumps)

There are 50 stunt jumps scattered throughout GTA V’s map, and you must cleanly land each one without wiping out. This is easiest to complete with Franklin, as while in a vehicle, pressing L3+R3 together will slow down time and make it easier to handle the vehicle you’re using. It’s recommended quick-saving before each attempt, so that if you do not succeed, you can reload the save file and try again without consequences. 

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Monster Stunt Jump Locations (Show Off Trophy / Achievement Guide)

Close Shave (Complete all Under the Bridge and Knife Flight challenges)

There are 50 bridges you must fly under and 15 knife flights you must complete for this trophy. The bridges are recommended to be completed with a helicopter, as you can take your time so long as you don’t touch the underside of the bridge, ground or sides. There are a few tricky ones, but most are very doable on the first try. The knife flights are a little trickier; it’s recommended to buy a Mallard from Elitas Travel via your phone, as the Mallard has a slow flight speed but very high versatility, perfect for lining up your flight in the way that you want. It’s recommended quicksaving before each attempt so you don’t have to travel back to a helipad or runway each time should you die trying.

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Under the Bridge Locations (Close Shave Trophy / Achievement Guide)

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – All Knife Flight Locations (Close Shave Trophy / Achievement Guide)

Notes:

  • The Rockstar Social Club has a single-player map tailored to your account, so signing in and accessing the map will show you where each collectible is and which ones you’ve missed. 
  • The Show Off and Close Shave trophies can be completed in GTA Online, earning you 100RP per jump/bridge/flight for a total of 11,500RP, plus bonus RP upon 100% completion in both challenges. This can help toward the Above the Law and Decorated trophies. 

Red Mist (Complete all Rampages)

Rampages are special missions that can only be completed by Trevor. Upon starting a Rampage, Trevor will get very angry, granting him near-invulnerability and higher damage output, and must kill a certain number of enemies in a certain period of time. These can be completed at any time after unlocking Trevor, so long as you don’t kill Trevor at the end of the story.

Three Man Army (Survive three minutes with all three characters with a 3-star wanted level together off mission)

As one character off mission, you can call the other two characters to hang out with you and go do activities together. The easiest way to do this is with Franklin (his four-door vehicle is the fastest and tankiest out of the three) and go to Los Santos International Airport, as driving onto the tarmac will immediately give you a 3-star wanted level. Drive around the runways for three minutes without dying to unlock the trophy. 

Out Of Your Depth (You’re gonna need a bigger boat…)

All you have to do is get eaten by a shark. Literally. Take any character out to the coast on any side of the map where the water is deep and wait for a red dot to appear on radar. That red dot is a shark, and after a bit of time, jump into the water and wait for it to eat you. Why this is a trophy is beyond me. 

Altruist Acolyte (Deliver an unsuspecting victim to the Altruist cult)

This can only be completed by Trevor. While driving around, you may encounter an NPC that needs a ride to a certain location (the radar flashes white and a blue dot will appear, signifying the event). Instead of driving the unsuspecting victim to wherever they need to go, a large “A” will appear in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness; Trevor must drive them there for the trophy. 

A Lot of Cheddar (Spend $200 million across all three characters) & Trading Pure Alpha (Make a profit over your total investments in the stock market)

As any character (who will have at least $25 million in the bank because of the last Heist), pull up your phone and go to any stock in the stock market. Put ALL your money into a stock with a green arrow (signifying that the stock value is rising), immediately buy, then immediately sell. Repeat a few times until you hit $200 million. As for the profit, wait for some time to pass before selling (sleeping in your safehouse is an effective way to do this). 

Pimp My Sidearm (Fully mod a weapon) 

Going into an Ammu-nation at any point in the game, buying a pistol (cheapest weapon) and buying all possible attachments for it will be less than $3000. Easy trophy. This can also be completed in GTA Online for an RP bonus and progression toward the Decorated trophy. 

Wanted: Alive or Alive (Deliver a bail bond target alive)

This can be only done by Trevor after meeting Maude in the Grand Senora Desert, and requires you to ultimately play bounty-hunter. There are four contracts, and you must deliver at least one of them alive. These are not difficult missions, but it is naturally missable if you manage to kill all four accidentally. If you manage to kill the first three, create a backup save before attempting the fourth so you don’t have to start a new game. 

Los Santos Customs (Fully Mod a vehicle)

You simply just have to select something that isn’t the stock part in every category; it doesn’t have to be the maximum upgrade. This can also be completed in GTA Online for an RP bonus and progression toward the Decorated trophy. 

Stage 3: Single-player Cleanup and Kifflom!

This is the stage to work on anything you might have missed, and clean up the last of the single-player trophies. In this stage, you will unlock:

  • Solid Gold, Baby!
  • Career Criminal
  • San Andreas Sightseer
  • Kifflom!
  • A New Perspective

Solid Gold, Baby! (Earn 70 Gold Medals on Missions, Strangers & Freaks)

Each mission comes with its own criteria (time to complete, amount of kills, accuracy, etc.) and can be viewed after you complete each mission. You will have done more than 100 missions at this point (out of 120 total), so there’s more than enough room to complete the easy missions perfectly and leave the harder ones out to pasture. 

  • Most of the Strangers & Freaks missions have very easy gold medal permutations, so it’s highly recommended to tackle as many as you can from that list before moving back to the main story missions.
  • You do not have to obtain gold all in one try! If a mission calls for time and accuracy, you can speedrun through it on the first try being as messy as you please, then take your time and be accurate on your second try. 

Career Criminal (Attain 100% game completion)

50% of the game is completing the main story, and the other 50% is obtained by completing all the side missions, Strangers & Freaks, participating in applicable hobbies and doing miscellaneous things. Rockstar’s Social Club has a checklist that shows you exactly which missions you’ve completed toward 100%, and which ones you still need to complete, so it’s highly recommended to utilize that list. Here’s the full list: 

  • All 69 main missions
  • Majority of the Strangers & Freaks, including:
    • Tonya (5 missions)
    • Beverly (4 missions)
    • Dom (4 missions)
    • Barry (2 missions)
  • Majority of hobbies and pastime activities, including: 
    • 12 flight school tests (must medal)
    • 6 offroad races (must medal)
    • 6 weapon classes at the shooting range (must medal)
    • 5 street races, including the initial race with Hao (must medal)
    • 4 sea races (must medal)
    • Completing all triathlons
    • Completing all base jumps
    • Completing all helicopter jumps
    • Winning a match of Tennis
    • Winning a match of Darts
    • Finishing all nine holes of golf at even or below par (no more than 36 strokes)
    • Buy a private dance at the strip club
  • 16 miscellaneous activities, which includes:
    • Purchasing a vehicle from a website
    • Collecting all letter scraps and submarine parts and completing the subsequent missions
    • Receiving prostitute service and completing a booty call
    • Holding up a store
    • Completing the Stunt Jumps, Under the Bridges and Knife Flights (only 50% of each is required for this trophy, but you’ll need them all for Show Off and Close Shave anyway)
    • Visiting a bar, going to the strip club, going to the cinema, and playing darts with a friend
    • Visiting the cinema solo
    • Walking and playing fetch with Chop (Franklin)
    • Purchasing any 5 properties
  • At least 14 random events. You will encounter these at various times throughout the game, and these events vary on location and time of day. When the minimap flashes white, there will usually be a red or blue dot on the radar (sometimes flashing) and that denotes something like a robbery in progress, a person looking for a favour, or even a security van you yourself can rob for a few thousand dollars. There are more than 50 of these in the game, so 14 is easily feasible during the playthrough. 

San Andreas Sightseer (Explore all of Los Santos and Blaine County)

Most of the map will already be unlocked for you at this point, with the exception of highly mountainous areas and large bodies of water. The good news about this trophy is that it doesn’t take altitude into effect. The easiest way to complete this trophy is using Trevor and his aerial vehicles, and flying over the mountains and other areas you might have missed. Take note that this trophy is a little misleading, as you only need 95% of the map to be uncovered, but this also includes the little islands scattered around the coast. You might need a little of an eye for detail. 

Kifflom! (Complete your path to enlightenment… or not.)

Buckle up, because this trophy is a handful. The entirety of it can only be done with Michael, and the premise is a journey of joining a cult called the Epsilon Program. To start your journey, you must visit the in-game website “epsilonprogram.com” and take the test. It doesn’t matter what answers you give, just bask in the sheer weirdness that is to come.

  • An Epsilon program mission marker will appear and that will get the ball rolling. It’s only a cutscene with Marnie, one of the members of the Epsilon program, and she explains you must donate $5,000 to continue on your path. 
  • After you donate the money, you meet up with Marnie again who then renames you Zolag, and gives you a list of five cars scattered around north Los Santos and Vinewood Hills that you must find and deliver for them; four cars and a motorcycle. The locations can be found here:

  • Once all five cars are delivered, you will then receive a strange scanning device in the next missions cutscene and will need to find three “artifacts” with it (really just three pieces of junk) as part of your ongoing initiation. After finding the artifacts, Marnie says you will need to donate $10,000 to proceed.
  • In the next mission, you will be asked to purchase the Epsilon program robes, costing another $25,000. They will take a few days to arrive, but once they do, you must wear the robes for 10 consecutive in-game days. The easiest way to speed through these 10 days is by sleeping in your safehouse, as the game advances 6 hours each time you do. So yes, you will need to “save” 40 times.
  • After that pointless grind, you will need to then deliver a plane to Sandy Shores airfield. Finally a mission that actually requires you to do something. 
  • After delivering the plane, I hope you’ll get comfy being in the desert, because your next objective, assuming you’re still wearing the robes, is to walk 5 miles in said desert. You’ll get an update every tenth of a mile, but it’ll probably take you about a half-hour to complete. I would watch out for the cougars, I personally wasn’t paying attention and did die once. You could also tie the sticks on your controller and have Michael walk in circles on top of the Sandy Shores Airfield hangar’s roof, which is how I did it in the end. 
  • After that, if you still feel like continuing your journey at all, you’re finally at the end, as the last mission requires you to help escort a convoy, and the car you’re in has $2.1 million in the trunk. You can do one of two things, you can get to the end destination and accept a rusty old tractor as your reward for everything you’ve done up to this point, or you can do what any sane person would do and murder everyone while taking off with the money. Kifflom, brother brother!

A New Perspective (You played 15 hours in first person)

This trophy is COMBINED for both GTA V and GTA Online, and your progress can be seen in the Stats tab in both variants, so if you haven’t unlocked it by now, you can sit in single player as any character, switch to first person and go afk for however long you need. 

Stage 4.1: The easy online trophies

  • Off The Plane
  • Run Like The Wind
  • Clean Sweep
  • Stick Up Kid
  • Crew Cut
  • Dialling Digits
  • American Dream

Off The Plane (Complete the Introduction)

Upon first entering GTA Online, Lamar will pick you up from the airport and give you a pistol, introducing you to the game and where you can go to do your basics like buy clothes, weapons, and other things you will need to know. Follow what Lamar tells you to do for the trophy. 

Just like with single player, it’s recommended you feel out GTA Online for a little bit and hit at least Rank 10, as not everything is unlockable right away. During this time, Simeon will give you a call and basically give you a personal vehicle (you can choose whatever vehicle you want so long as it’s not worth an exorbitant amount). After hitting Rank 10, Lester will give you a call to visit him at his house in Murrieta Heights, after which will you have most of what you need unlocked to finally trophy hunt (the exceptions being Clean Sweep, which unlocks at Rank 18, and Dialling Digits, at Rank 20). 

Run Like The Wind (Survive with a Bounty on your head)

When you steal enough cars or piss off other players, it’s highly likely that a bounty will be put on your head. What this means is when other players kill you, they gain that amount of money. To obtain one, you must be at least Rank 10 and have spoken to Lester, and either ask another player to put one on your head, or steal enough cars so that an NPC will put one on your head. Once you obtain one, you must survive an in-game day (48 minutes real time) without another player killing you (natural deaths and suicides don’t count). You must be in freemode and killable for the time to tick down (hiding in your apartment/garage or in missions do not count toward the timer), so it’s recommended to start up a solo lobby and hide there for the duration of the timer. Watch out for inactivity while you’re there. 

Clean Sweep (Finish a Gang Attack without dying and kill at least 10 enemies)

Gang Attacks unlock at Rank 18 and can easily be completed solo as long as you have good cover. Gang Attacks are large red circles that you can enter to trigger a gang fight, and you must kill anywhere from 10 to 30 enemies in that gang attack without dying. Here’s a map of spawn locations depending on the time of day. 

Stick Up Kid (Hold up all 20 stores)

There are 20 stores throughout the map that can be robbed; once you rob a store, the store will appear with a green checkmark above it, signifying that particular store is complete. To complete a store, you must safely make it out of the store after you rob it; you do not have to escape the wanted level that follows. 

Crew Cut (Complete a job as member of a crew)

The Rockstar Games Social Club allows you to join crews, which are basically large teams. The most common crews to join are the public, Rockstar-made ones like Payne Killers (MP3) or IGN Crew (IGN). After a while you’ll be almost certain to join a random job with another player with the same crew tag, or while in the single player menu, select “Join Crew Members” in the Online tab and ask to see if a nice person will help you with this. 

Dialling Digits (Call for a Backup Helicopter for the first time)

This is unlocked once you hit Rank 20. Give Merryweather a call and select “Backup Helicopter” for the trophy. Couldn’t be easier. 

American Dream (Own an apartment, garage and insured vehicle)

You’ll get this trophy naturally by playing through the game. Apartments can be purchased after playing the game for a bit via your phone. The cheapest one is around $80,000 located in Paleto Bay, but it’s highly recommended to buy one for a few hundred thousand down in the city, as the apartment will be much nicer and the garage that comes with it can hold more cars. 

Stage 4.2: The boostable online trophies

  • Numero Uno
  • The Midnight Club
  • Unnatural Selection
  • Backseat Driver
  • Enjoy Your Stay
  • Full Refund

Numero Uno (Obtain first place in every competitive game type)

The reason this should be boosted is because no one plays most of these game modes; it’s next to impossible to find someone naturally playing these game modes. There are 16 overall activities you have to win against another player, and progress is not counted if the other player quits, so you must actually complete each one all the way through. There is a medal in the Awards section of the Online pause menu to track progress for most of them, if you’re unsure of what you still have to complete, but I personally recommend writing it down or keeping track on the side somewhere. The list is as follows: 

  • Arm Wrestling, Darts, Parachuting, Golf, Shooting Range and Tennis: All of these with the exception of Tennis will take just a few minutes tops, as you only have to play one hole of Golf, and one round of Arm Wrestling and Darts. With Tennis though, you have to play a full game, which means six sets. 
  • A race of each type: Land, Bike, Sea, Air, Rally, and GTA: Pretty straight forward, a few minutes for each one with two people. Use a personal vehicle for the wins to count toward The Midnight Club trophy. The Rally race will need a minimum of four people, however. See the Backseat Driver trophy for more details. 
  • Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch: The Deathmatch must be set to “Normal”, and the minimum for either one is 5 minutes or 10 kills. I recommend 5 minutes, as 10 kills will take more than 5 minutes on most occasions. 
  • Gang-Attack and Survival: Completing the Clean Sweep and Unnatural Selection trophies count here.

The Midnight Club (Use custom vehicles to win 5 races)

Using your personal vehicle and winning any race, regardless of type, counts toward this trophy. Combine progress with Numero Uno trophy to save time. 

Unnatural Selection (Complete all 10 waves of a Survival)

In the early days, this trophy didn’t need boosting help, as Survivals were one of the best ways of making money. Rockstar has since added a few DLCs that include new and much harder survivals with little incentive to complete them. WIth the additions of all the different Heist DLCs over the years, it’s naturally diluted matchmaking, so these days the chance of finding a squad running the easier Survivals are now slim-to-none. The two easiest Survivals are Boneyard and Processed, as they have numerous places of cover. 

Backseat Driver (Direct a driver to 1st place in Rally mode)

This is the only base-game online trophy that requires four people. Two in one car (driver and co-driver), and two in the other car (driver and co-driver). The first-place co-driver is the one that gets the trophy, and also counts toward the Rally race win for Numero Uno. The quickest and easiest way to obtain this is the Criminal Records race, as the race is taking laps around the Bolingbroke Penitentiary near Sandy Shores. Set it to one lap for a quick, 30-second race, and shuffle the boosters accordingly so everyone that needs the trophy gets a turn.

Enjoy Your Stay (Participate in everything Los Santos has to offer)

Most of this can be combined with the Numero Uno trophy, as it requires you to participate (but not win in this case) in golf, tennis, darts, arm wrestling, and play a round at the shooting range. As with Numero Uno, you must complete these hobbies, as quitting or disconnecting will not count. You must also:

  • Rob a store (Which you already will have done due to Stick Up Kid)
  • Buy a lap dance at the strip club
  • Buy clothes (as part of the tutorial)
  • Buy a tattoo (must be a tattoo on the torso, people have claimed that a tattoo on the arm or legs do not cause this part of the trophy to be deemed complete)
  • Change your hairstyle

Full Refund (Kill the thief that mugged you)

Only players Rank 50 or higher can call Lamar to call a mugger on another player. A mugger is an NPC that will rob you of a considerable monetary amount you happen to be holding then try whatever they can to make a getaway. You must kill that mugger before they get away. The easiest way to do this is in a wide open area with no vehicles around (like an airport runway or the middle of Grand Senora Desert), as the mugger has a tendency to dash to the nearest car to get away. Be sure to have some cash on hand, as there are claims the trophy will not pop if the mugger doesn’t steal anything. 

Stage 5: The Online grind

  • Three-Bit Gangster
  • Making Moves
  • Above The Law
  • Decorated

Three-Bit Gangster, Making Moves, Above the Law (Reach Rank 100 in GTA Online)

This will likely be the last trophy you obtain before the platinum. Rank 100 requires 1,584,350 RP, so you have some work on your hands as most missions in the game only reward a few thousand per job. As a player that has hit Rank 1300 (which is over 70 million RP), here is my two cents on how to do this as fast as possible. 

  • Stay in freemode as little as humanly possible. Freemode does nothing for you here. Winning those freemode events, apart from Criminal Damage (causing as much destruction as you can) only gives a few thousand RP at best. 
  • Deathmatches award a large RP reward for both winning and maintaining killstreaks. 
  • Contact missions aren’t as good as they used to be, but gaining a small amount of RP per kill adds up over time. 
  • The Lucky Wheel in the casino has a chance to reward up to tens of thousands of RP, however you can only spin it once every 24 hours. 
  • For the time they take, Heists are NOT effective ways to gain RP, despite what many people say. A few finales give 5-6k depending on how well you do, but the time it takes to get to that point, as well as the setups not giving nearly as much as they should, means you could make a lot more in less time elsewhere. Heists are only good for money. 
  • There are Awards for just about everything you can do in the game, whether it’s a one-time challenge or an accumulation of something, most Awards give 800RP. See more in the Decorated trophy section. 
  • Stay away from Adversary modes UNLESS they have an active bonus of double/triple the RP. They give next to none. 
  • Continuing the above point, every week, Rockstar Games comes out with bonuses on certain game modes that reward double (sometimes triple) the $ and RP. Contact missions reward very generously in this case, with the hardest missions potentially paying out as much as 7-8k RP. 

Decorated (Earn 30 Platinum Awards)

When the game first launched, this was one of the trickiest trophies to obtain, as 30 Platinum awards was more than half of what was available. There have been so many updates and hundreds of awards added over the years I debated putting this in the “Easy online objectives” category. This is a trophy I would relatively ignore until you get close to Rank 100 as you can easily get 20-25 just by naturally playing the game. They range anywhere from getting kills with a particular weapon, to getting your haircut 25 times, to completing a particular Heist for the first time. However, each platinum award will grant you 800RP upon completion, so the more you complete, the less you’ll have to do to get that sweet Rank 100 trophy. 

END OF BASE GAME

Stage 6: Heists (OPTIONAL)

Heists were added to the game in 2015 in what I like to call their peak, because after that update it’s just been a bunch of glorified nothing since. It was the most exciting update at that time and had everyone playing it for a shot at a big monetary prize. It no longer holds that title today with the launch of other higher-paying Heists but in my opinion, these are still by-far the most fun, even if they pay relatively paltry amounts in comparison. I will say, I wouldn’t touch Heists until you’re familiar enough with the game and not immediately do them at Rank 12 when they unlock for you. 

Be Prepared, In The Name of Science, Dead Presidents, Parole Day (complete all 5 Heists)

You will need a team of 4 to do the original Heists outside of the first one (team of two for the Fleeca Job). Lester will come by your apartment and introduce you to them, telling you there’s a safety deposit box in a bank in Chumash that will be perfect for your first time. Aside from all the awkward conversations, it’s a simple premise, you scope out the bank, steal a getaway car, then make your move. After that, you basically follow the little “storyline”, as you then get a call to break a man out of prison (The Prison Break), then steal data out of a government agency (The Humane Labs Raid), then help Trevor move high amounts of illegal drugs (Series A) and finally move to the big one, the Pacific Standard bank, where the end payout can be as much as $1,250,000 (split between four people, of course). I should point out that after the first setup mission, you do not technically have to complete all of the setups for any of the others as the trophies themselves are for just completing the finales, but it’s recommended you do so for both familiarity and potential progress toward the Decorated trophy if that is still not yet done. They’re also more of the fun missions in the game if you’re interested in that too. These are trophies you just gotta enjoy the ride in; you can only be surprised once.

Shot Caller (Invest your hard earned cash to set up a Heist)

This trophy will be obtained while doing the above trophies if you are the host. You must invest a little bit in fees and crew payouts before starting a Heist. 

Four Way (As Heist leader, set the finale cut as 25% across all players)

Self-explanatory. Your first opportunity to do this will be the Prison Break, and you (as host) get to decide how much money each player will take from the Heist. 

Live a Little (Spend a total of $8,000,000 purchasing vehicles included in the Heists update)

I will clear up that you do not have to make that 8 million from Heists exclusively, you just have to spend that much on specific vehicles that came out with the update, regardless of where you made your money. Most of the vehicles will be discounted after you complete the specific mission that vehicle is featured in, so it’s up to you whether you want to save a little money for other vehicles or spend more for the purposes of this trophy. These vehicles include:

  • Hydra, $3,990,000 ($3,000,000 upon completion of the Humane Labs Raid setup mission “EMP”)
  • Valkyrie, $3,790,500 ($2,850,000 upon completion of the Humane Labs Raid finale)
  • Principe Lectro, $997,500 ($750,000 upon completion of the Pacific Standard finale)
  • HVY Insurgent, $897,750 ($675,000 upon completion of the Humane Labs Raid finale)
  • Prison Bus, $731,500 ($550,000 upon completion of the Prison Break finale)
  • Karin Armored Kuruma $698,250 ($525,000 upon completion of the Fleeca Job finale)

Can’t Touch This (Complete a Heist finale without taking any damage)

This description of this trophy sounds harder than it actually is. While robbing the Fleeca bank during the first Heist finale, no one in the bank will be hostile, and you will be back in the armored getaway vehicle long before any cops arrive to shoot you. Because the armored car has armored windows, the cops set up along the highway have a very miniscule chance of harming you while inside the car, outside of in-mission bugs. Most players have done this first try. 

Mastermind (Earn 25 platinum medals across Heist setups and finales)

At the end of each mission, players will be given platinum, gold, silver and bronze medals based on performance (only platinum and gold for the Fleeca job). It’s not known exactly how to get a platinum medal 100% of the time, but I would suspect it has to do with killing more enemies and doing the most objectives. The way I collected 25 medals was quite simple though, when you do the Fleeca Job, during the first setup of scoping out the bank and driving to Lester’s warehouse for the supplies, I found the driver of Lester’s car almost always got the Platinum medal. I would also recommend driving the black van from Lester’s warehouse to your apartment as well, just to be on the safe side. The next mission, Kuruma, I also found that the driver of the Kuruma from the parking garage to the stash spot under the bridge almost always got the platinum medal too; I would try to kill as many enemies as possible to be safe as well. Finally, during the finale, I found the platinum medal went to whoever did their respective job cleaner (Driver not crashing as much, getting to their destination quickly; driller hacking quickly without failing and drilling quickly while in the vault), but I wouldn’t depend on the finale all that much. The first two set up missions, as long as you drive in both missions, you should be fine so long as Rockstar hasn’t made any internal changes to the missions; you never know with this company though.

Stage 7: Doomsday Heists (OPTIONAL)

Well, let’s hope you thought the original Heists were easy, because this DLC is about to get a lot harder. Definitely don’t attempt these Heists until you’re at least Rank 80, recommended Rank 100 if you don’t completely hate the game and wish to stop playing after unlocking Above The Law. You also must purchase a Facility if you want to even touch this DLC, which is north of at least 2-3 million dollars. 

Getting Started, The Data Breaches, The Bogdan Problem, The Doomsday Scenario, A World Worth Saving (Set up and complete all 3 Heists)

Just like with the previous set of Heists, you get a trophy for setting up the first Heist, and a subsequent trophy for every Finale you complete. You follow the story of a stuck-up loser named Avon Hertz, and his idiot AI Cliffford (yes, 3 f’s), and they claim there’s a man somewhere trying to take over the world. The first Heist is all about gathering intel for Avon, stealing vehicles and things to help you do it. Once you get into the base under a satellite dish, you kill hundreds of enemies to reach the computer to find out it’s a Russian man named Bogdan. The second Heist is about tracking and going to kill Bogdan, again the setups stealing vehicles and weakening his defenses to do so. Once you get on his submarine to kill the guy, Avon reveals this was just one big ruse to kill his biggest “competitor” so he can take over the world with Cliffford, thus sparing Bogdan’s life. The third Heist is about stealing things (what else is new) and weakening Avon’s defenses to take Avon (or in the words of Lester, “little snot”) and Cliffford out for good. 

Orbital Obliteration (Kill another player with the Orbital Cannon)

The Orbital Cannon is a large weapon you can purchase with your Facility that allows you to instantly take out any other player, regardless of where they are or what they’re doing, with a few exceptions. If you’re wondering what the catch is, one shot is $750,000. 

Elitist, Masterminds (Complete all 3 Elite Challenges and the Criminal Mastermind challenge in the Doomsday Heist)

Far and away the hardest two trophies to obtain in the entire game, and it’s not even close. If you struggled playing through the Doomsday heist the first time around, you got some work to do. Each Heist finale has a very difficult set of criteria you must meet to unlock the trophy, fittingly called the Elite Challenge, and while you do gain a massive money and RP bonus for doing so, it’s not without its fair share of practice. For all three Finales it requires you to know exactly where to go, getting there quickly, killing just about every enemy there is and no one can die. The criteria is as follows: 

  • The Data Breaches: Complete in under 5:30, kill 78 enemies and do not lose any lives. 
  • The Bogdan Problem: Complete in under 15:00, the Avenger cannot take more than 5% damage and do not lose any lives.
  • The Doomsday scenario: Complete in under 30:00, kill 150 enemies with headshots, do not make any mistakes while hacking, and do not lose any lives. 

As for the Criminal Mastermind challenge, it consists of doing every prep, setup and finale in order, with the same team, on hard mode, without losing a single life at ANY point outside of prep throughout the run. The missions themselves are hard enough, but what makes this trophy very hard is battling Rockstar’s dogsh- sorry, bad servers, as a crash, disconnection, or small bug has the chance to disrupt any run and make you start right back at the beginning again. You need to have your “Close Application” button on speed-dial for this one, as closing your application fast enough and re-launching the game will act as if nothing happened, because again, Rockstar’s servers are terrible. An experienced group of players might take around 8-10 hours on a good day, but expect it to take around 12. Only word of advice I can give is don’t worry about failing the objective, as it’s only losing lives that will make you start over, so if it means purposely failing to save yourself, do so immediately.

Stage 8: Rockstar Editor (OPTIONAL)

Listen, I know there’s supposed to be some professionalism when it comes to writing guides, but I’m gonna be completely honest in admitting I’ve never TOUCHED the Rockstar Editor apart from the few hours it took me to do this DLC, and that was like, four years ago. I don’t remember a damn thing. And I’m glad. Take my word for it when I say, NO ONE uses this “software”. But for the sake of helping you and your precious 100% in GTA V, I guess I’ll have to refresh my memory. Damn it. 

Vinewood Visionary, Majestic (Create and export 10 videos)

When either in single player or Online, holding down on the D-Pad will cause a menu on the left side of the screen to appear. There should be an option to press X to start recording. It doesn’t matter how long the recording is for these trophies. Enter the Rockstar Editor in the pause menu and Create a New Project. Head to the export option (no need to edit or trim anything) and export your video. The shorter the video, the faster it will take to export/upload. 

Humans of Los Santos (Unlock all Special Characters and enter Director Mode as an actor from this category)

There are 12 “Special Characters” scattered throughout Los Santos and Blaine County, all of which you must interact with in order to unlock them in Director Mode. I would just recommend calling for a taxi to travel to each location instead of driving, it will save you a ton of time. The locations for each character can be found in this video. 

GTA 5 – All Special Characters / Friends [Humans of Los Santos Achievement / Trophy]

First Time Director, Ensemble Piece (Unlock All Story Characters and enter Director Mode as an actor from this category)

If you have already completed GTA V to 100% (which you should have done if you’re reading this), then every character required for this trophy will have already been unlocked. Once you complete all the missions required for 100%, all story characters in Director Mode will be available once you enter the mode, and you’ll also obtain these trophies once you enter with one. 

Cult Movie (Enter Director Mode as Cris Formage)

If you’ve already obtained the Kifflom trophy (again, which you should have done if you’re reading this), pop on over to Director Mode and enter with Cris Formage to unlock this trophy. 

Location Scout (Visit all Locations in Director Mode)

Choose Director Mode and select any character to play as. Open the Interaction Menu (holding the touchpad) and scroll down to the Location option. It will take a little time to load each one but once you “visit” all Locations, which shouldn’t take any more than five or six minutes, the trophy will pop. 

Method Actor (Enter Director Mode using any of your GTA Online characters)

Same concept as the Cult Movie trophy. Enter Director Mode using your GTA Online character. 

Animal Lover, Cryptozoologist (You unlocked all animals for use in Director mode… or did you?)

There are 21 LAND based peyote plants scattered around Los Santos and Blaine County. There are also 6 plants underwater, but you do NOT need to pick these for the trophy (thank god). Once all 21 plants (and thus, the animals associated with them) have been located, going into Director Mode will pop the trophy. Entering Director Mode as any of the animals will unlock Animal Lover, but you already knew that. The locations for the plants can be found here. 

GTA 5 – Peyote Plants Location Guide (Play as an Animal)

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I am freed! Happy hunting! 

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