GTA 5 strategy guide

Grand Theft Auto 5 is a massive game that can take weeks, if not months, to complete. Released in 2013, it remains one of Rockstar Games' most ambitious projects and continues to be among the most-played titles after 11 years. However, most players play it till the completion of the story.

Considering you are one of those few players who would like to complete the game 100%, this GTA 5 strategy guide will walk you through the entire game's outline from start to end. Keep in mind that the journey will not be a cakewalk. You will have to engage in various long and tedious activities throughout. Still, completing a massive game like Grand Theft Auto 5 to 100% is a prime reward in itself.

Note: Some parts of this GTA 5 strategy guide are subjective and only reflect the writer’s opinions.

GTA 5 strategy guide: An overview of the journey

Completing Grand Theft Auto 5 to the fullest requires a lot of plan and patience (Image via Rockstar Games)

While the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 5 is massive, achieving 100% completion doesn't require you to finish every single task. Many activities only need to be partially completed to contribute to your overall progress. Rockstar Games divided the journey into five main categories. They are as follows:

Story Missions (55%)
Strangers & Freaks missions (10%)
Hobbies and Pastimes (10%
Random Events (5%)
Miscellaneous Activities (20%)

The GTA 5 strategy guide will focus only on these activities so that you can achieve 100% completion ASAP. It is worth noting that the gaming studio includes many hidden surprises that you will see as you progress. From discovering new cars and meeting new characters to unlocking unique tasks, the game packs many interesting surprises that only hardcore players of the game can experience.

If you want to check the current progress of your game, then there are two methods. The GTA 5 strategy guide readers should follow the below-mentioned steps:

The in-game method

Open the pause menu by pressing the required button on your gaming platform.
Head over to the Stats tab in the pause menu and enter the tab.
Scroll down to the 100% Checklist to see your current progress.

If you are not logged into the game, you can still check the stats on Rockstar Social Club. The website gives you a more detailed overview of what has been completed and what needs to be done. GTA 5 strategy guide readers are advised to follow the below-mentioned steps:

Go to the Rockstar Games official website (https://www.rockstargames.com).
Click on the Games tab and select Grand Theft Auto 5.
Click on the Story tab and select Stats.
It will open the Career Overview page. There you can see various elaborate details related to the story mode protagonists as well as the online character.

Also read: GTA 5 parents guide

All Grand Theft Auto 5 Story Missions for 100% completion

Completing the story missions is completing half the journey of Grand Theft Auto 5 (Image via Rockstar Games)

Rockstar Games offers 69 missions in Grand Theft Auto 5. You must complete all of them to progress towards 100% completion. They include the Prologue, main story missions, and Lester’s Assassination Missions. Readers should note that the last one is not necessary for the completion of the main storyline. Therefore, the GTA 5 strategy guide advises you to do only the first mission of Lester’s Assassination series (The Hotel Assassination) and keep the rest for later.

The Lester’s Assassination missions are directly related to the in-game stock market. As a result, you can utilize them to make exponential profits by trading. The GTA 5 Stock Market Guide will give you all the necessary details about this feature.

On the other hand, the Prologue and the story missions should be completed serially. Once you reach the last mission, you will get the following three options:

Option A: Kill Trevor (Something Sensible).
Option B: Kill Michael (The Time's Come).
Option C: Deathwish (The Third Way).

While you can choose any one of the missions, the GTA 5 strategy guide advises you to select Option C. The other missions that you need to complete are as follows:

Prologue
Franklin and Lamar
Repossession
Complications
Father/Son
Marriage Counseling
Daddy's Little Girl
Chop
The Long Stretch
Friend Request
Casing the Jewel Store
Carbine Rifles
Bugstars Equipment
BZ Gas Grenades
The Jewel Store Job
Mr. Philips
Nervous Ron
Trevor Philips Industries
Crystal Maze
Friends Reunited
Fame or Shame
Dead Man Walking
Three's Company
By the Book
Scouting the Port
Minisub
Cargobob
The Merryweather Heist
Did Somebody Say Yoga?
Hood Safari
The Hotel Assassination
Masks
Boiler Suits
Trash Truck
Tow Truck
Blitz Play
I Fought the Law…
Eye in the Sky
Mr. Richards
Caida Libre
Deep Inside
Minor Turbulence
Paleto Score Setup
Military Hardware
Predator
The Paleto Score
Derailed
Monkey Business
Hang Ten
Surveying the Score
Bury the Hatchet
Pack Man
Fresh Meat
Cleaning out the Bureau
Architect's Plans
Fire Truck
Reuniting the Family
The Bureau Raid
The Wrap Up
Lamar Down
The Ballad of Rocco
Legal Trouble
Meltdown
Planning the Big Score
Stingers
Gauntlet
Driller
Sidetracked
The Big Score
Ending 1 - Something Sensible
Ending 2 - The Time's Come
Ending 3 - The Third Way

Completing all these will increase your stats from zero to 55%.

All Strangers & Freaks missions in Grand Theft Auto 5 for 100% completion

The Strangers & Freaks missions in Grand Theft Auto 5 allow you to meet new people outside the storyline (Image via Rockstar Games)

Rockstar Games included 66 Strangers & Freaks missions in Grand Theft Auto 5. Fortunately, GTA 5 strategy guide readers need not complete all of them to achieve 100% completion. You have to complete only 24 Strangers & Freaks missions for the purpose.

It is worth noting that, unlike the main story missions, the Strangers & Freaks missions have no particular chronological order. They are associated with certain minor NPC characters. The GTA 5 strategy guide outlines all the necessary Strangers & Freaks missions required for 100% completion:

Tonya Wiggins (Only Franklin Clinton)

Pulling Favors
Pulling Another Favor
Pulling Favors Again
Still Pulling Favors
Pulling One Last Favor

Beverly Felton (Only Franklin Clinton)

Paparazzo
Paparazzo - The Sex Tape
Paparazzo - The Partnership
Paparazzo - The Meltdown
Paparazzo - The Highness
Paparazzo - Reality Check

Barry (Only Franklin Clinton)

Grass Roots - Franklin
Grass Roots - The Pickup
Grass Roots - The Drag
Grass Roots - The Smoke-In

Dominic "Dom" Beasley (Only Franklin Clinton)

Risk Assessment
Liquidity Risk
Targeted Risk
Uncalculated Risk

Hao (Only Franklin Clinton)

Shift Work

Mary-Ann Quinn (Only Franklin Clinton)

Exercising Demons

Omega (Only Franklin Clinton)

Far Out
The Final Frontier

Peter Dreyfuss (Only Franklin Clinton)

A Starlet in Vinewood

GTA 5 strategy guide readers should keep in mind that there are many more missions from these and other characters. However, only the aforementioned ones are required for 100% completion. They will increase your progress by 10%.

All Hobbies and Pastime activities in Grand Theft Auto 5 for 100% completion

The Hobbies and Pastimes in Grand Theft Auto 5 give you a break from the action-packed life (Image via Rockstar Games)

Grand Theft Auto 5 Story Mode has a total of 61 Hobbies and Pastime activities that you can find around the map. These include activities ranging from interesting things (such as races and parachuting) to unusual ones (such as doing yoga and clicking pictures of animals). Since most of them are required for 100% completion, the GTA 5 strategy guide advises players to take part in them.

Players need to complete 42 out of 61 Hobbies and Pastime activities in Grand Theft Auto 5. These activities are divided into 12 categories. They are as follows:

Flight School Challenges

Training Take Off
Runway Landing
Inverted Flight
Knife Flight
Flat Hatting
Touch Down
Loop the Loop
Helicopter Course
Helicopter Speed Run
Skydiving
Drop Zone
Earn Your Wings

Shooting Range Challenges

Hand Guns
Submachine Guns
Assault Rifles
Shotguns
Light Machine Guns
Heavy weapons

Hao’s Street Races

Shift Work
City Circuit
Airport
Freeway
Vespucci Canals

Off-Road Races

Canyon Cliffs (Bike Race)
Ridge Run (SUV Race)
Mineward Spiral (Bike Race)
Valley Trail (Bike Race)
Lakeside Splash (Bike Race)
Eco Friendly (SUV Race)

Sea Races

Los Santos Port
Power Station
El Gordo
Lago Zancudo

Triathlons

The Vespucci Beach Triathlon
The Alamo Sea Triathlon
The Coyote Cross Country Triathlon

Parachuting (Base Jumps)

Bank Bailout
What Goes Up…
Falling Mouse
Aim for the Fairway
Razor Rock Dive

Parachuting (Helicopter Jumps)

Pacific Tour
Photo Finish
Turbine Terror
The Decline
Runaway Train
Carving the Mountain
The Fall of the Alamo
Dammed If You Don't

Tennis

Win a game

Darts

Win a game

Golf

Win a game

Strip Club

Get a private dance

The GTA 5 strategy guide readers should do all these activities, as they will increase the progress by 10%.

All Random Events in Grand Theft Auto 5 for 100% completion

Random events should be time immediately as they spawn in Grand Theft Auto 5 (Image via Rockstar Games)

Random Events in Grand Theft Auto 5 are among the hard-to-find missions. Although Rockstar Games included 60 Random Events in the game, it is very hard to predict when will they spawn. Fortunately, the GTA 5 strategy guide readers do not need to complete all of them. To contribute towards 100% completion, you will have to do any 14 Random Events.

Here is a list of all the Random Events in Grand Theft Auto 5:

Abandoned Vehicle 1
Abandoned Vehicle 2
Arrests 1
Arrests 2
ATM Robbery
Bike Thief City 1
Bike Thief City 2
Border Patrol 1
Border Patrol 2
Border Patrol 3
Burial
Bus Tour
Car Theft 1
Car Theft 2
Chase Thieves City 1
Chase Thieves City 2
Chase Thieves Country 1
Chase Thieves Country 2
Construction Accident
Countryside Gang Fight
Countryside Robbery
Crash Rescue
Deal Gone Wrong
Domestic
Drug Shootout
Drunk Driver 1
Drunk Driver 2
Escape Paparazzi
Gang Intimidation
Getaway Driver
Hitch Lift 1
Hitch Lift 2
Hitch Lift 3
Hitch Lift 4
Luring Girl into Alley
Mugging 1
Mugging 2
Mugging 3
Prisoner Lift 1
Prisoner Lift 2
Rogue Altruists
Security Van 1
Security Van 2
Security Van 3
Security Van 4
Security Van 5
Security Van 6
Security Van 7
Security Van 8
Security Van 9
Security Van 10
Shop Robbery 1
Shop Robbery 2
Simeon Yetarian
Snatched
Sports Bike Thief
Stag Do Running Man
Duel
Sea Plane
Monkey Mosaic

These missions may appear in random order. Therefore, the GTA 5 strategy guide advises players to complete them as soon as one appears on the map. Completing any 14 of them will increase your game progress by 5%.

All Miscellaneous Activities in Grand Theft Auto 5 for 100% completion

Some miscellaneous activities also contribute towards 100% completion of the game (Image via Rockstar Games)

The Miscellaneous Activities are one of the most overlooked things in Grand Theft Auto 5. While Rockstar Games offers 30 such activities, GTA 5 strategy guide readers must complete the following 16 things:

Purchase five properties/businesses (See GTA 5 Business Guide)
Purchase a vehicle from an in-game website.
Walk with Chop and play fetch.
Make a booty call.
Opt for a prostitute service.
Rob any of the stores.
Visit any of the cinema halls and watch a movie (any duration).
Visit a cinema with a friend.
Visit a bar with a friend.
Visit the Strip Club with a friend.
Play darts with a friend.
Collect 50 spaceship parts (related to the Far Out Strangers & Freaks mission).
Collect 50 letter scraps (related to the A Mystery, Solved achievement/trophy).
Complete any 25 Stunt Jumps.
Complete any 25 Under The Bridge stunts.
Complete any eight Knife Flights.

Once you complete them all, your progress will increase by 20%. You will unlock the Career Criminal achievement/trophy. GTA 5 strategy guide followers may also start seeing UFOs near Mount Chiliad, Fort Zancudo, and Sandy Shores. Rockstar will reward Franklin with a new t-shirt with "100%" written on it.

However, the most interesting reward is a new Strangers & Freaks mission named "The Last One" for Franklin. Plus, GTA 5 strategy guide readers can also find a new Golden Peyote Plant near the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness area, which will turn the characters into Sasquatch.

Also read: GTA 5 Money Guide

Edited by Ashmita Bhatt