Drug Wars

Grand Theft Auto 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony Guide - Side Missions

Drug Wars

Complete “Clocking Off” in the Mom’s House mission line to unlock the Drug Wars side missions. Travel to the pill icon on the map and radar to get started.

While on one of these missions, you will be aided by Henrique and Armando, who are actually quite helpful. Unlike most AI allies, they aren’t a burden at all because you can leave them behind and they will eventually appear in the same or separate vehicles and follow you. So once you have the drugs and are in a vehicle, immediately start toward the drop off rather than wait for them to get in.

It’s a good idea to purchase some Body Armor and an Uzi with plenty of ammo before setting out. Body Armor becomes especially important once you have completed many Drug Wars, as the difficulty increases: you will face more and more enemies outfitted with powerful weapons that can cut down your health in an instant if you aren’t careful.

There are five different Drug War scenarios, all outlined below.

The Hijack
In a Hijack scenario, you must steal a marked boat or car, which will usually be surrounded by several rival gang members. They can easily be picked off from afar with a Sniper Rifle, or you can drive right in and gun them down from inside your car.

Once you’ve killed the surrounding gang members, get in the vehicle and drive it to the drop off marked on your radar. You’ll likely be pursued by rival gang members on your way there. The drugs are in the vehicle, so you must remain in that vehicle. If the vehicle is destroyed, you’ll fail the job.

The Hijack

The Stickup
A drug deal is going down between two rival gangs. The deal will be taking place either outside or in a club. When you reach the location, all of the enemies will appear on your radar as red blips. One of these enemies is carrying the stash. Keep killing the enemies until the stash is dropped; it will be appear on your radar as a dark green blip.

If the deal is taking place outside, you can use a Sniper Rifle from afar to thin the enemy ranks a bit, or you can drive in gun them down with an automatic weapon, an RPG Launcher, or a few Grenades.

If the deal is happening inside of a club, park outside, lock-on to the bouncer and shoot him dead. This will cause the enemies in the club to rush to the front door, allowing you to take them out with the Explosive Shotgun. It’s best to use Free Aim rather than auto-aim for this. Just keep the reticule trained on the front door and keep killing enemies as they appear until the drugs are dropped and the club is empty. If one or two of the enemies refuse to exit the club and the drugs haven’t been dropped yet, head inside and take them out.

When you have the drugs, follow the highlighted route on your radar to the drop off to complete the mission.

The Stickup

The Stash
The drugs will be marked on your radar at the start of the scenario. It’s usually in a lot, surrounded by rival gang members. Pick them off from afar with a Sniper Rifle or drive in and gun them down from inside your car. Clear the way, grab the drugs (or just grab the drugs and make a run for it), and make your way to the drop off.

The Stash

The Convoy
A rival gang has the drugs in a car with them. You’re tasked with stealing the car and driving it to a drop off. There are two ways you can go about hijacking the car: box it in with your own vehicle, get out and oust the driver, or trail after the target vehicle and kill the driver and passengers by shooting them through the windows. To shoot while driving, hold LB to fire while driving and use the Right Stick to aim.

When trying to take out the driver, avoid shooting up the target vehicle too much or popping its tires, because that’s the vehicle you have to get to the drop off in one piece. Cars full of rival gang members will trail after you, so if the car has taken too much damage, you might not be able to make it there.

The Convoy

Complete 25 Drug Wars to unlock the “Snow Queen” Xbox 360 achievement. Each time you complete 10 Drug Wars, a respawnable weapon will be added to Luis’ safehouse.

Safehouse Weapon Spawn Rewards:

Complete 10 Drug Wars - Pistol .44
Complete 20 Drug Wars - Advanced MG
Complete 30 Drug Wars - Explosive Shotgun
Complete 40 Drug Wars - Sticky Bombs
Complete 50 Drug Wars - Gold SMG