The Headhunter mission will reward you with GTA$ 24,000 in around 10 minutes or less of gameplay if you do it right.

You will be given four targets to kill within a 15 minute time limit. Each target will be surrounded by a group of very strong body guards, which can make this mission quite tricky for some.

Follow the steps below to make this mission a breeze, even if you're a low-level beginner.

Note: If this is your first time doing VIP missions, or if you're having a hard time with them, you may want to check out our article on How to Start VIP Missions. It contains instructions but also a good trick to make the mission much less challenging.

1. Get the Right Equipment

If you’re a low level player and/or don’t have a lot of experience and you want to play the Headhunter VIP mission, you’re going to want to head to an Ammu-Nation and purchase an appropriate weapon at the very least. Here’s a list of the equipment we recommend in order from most to least important:

  • Micro SMG - Purchasable at any Ammu-Nation for GTA$ 3,750. Since you’ll need to shoot from your car, you’ll want something small and automatic. We recommend the Micro SMG because it’s both of those things, as well as relatively inexpensive. If you can afford it we definitely recommend upgrading to the Extended Clip for an additional GTA$ 9,325.
  • Body Armor - Purchasable at any Ammu-Nation, price variable. This will help you stay alive while being shot at by all of those bodyguards. Depending on your rank, you’ll have access to different levels of body armor. Anything helps, and getting extra won't hurt.
  • Special Carbine - Purchasable at any Ammu-Nation for GTA$ 14,750. There will be some targets in Headhunter that don’t require shooting out of a car, so if you have more cash for purchasing weapons the other one we recommend is the Special Carbine. This is a well rounded weapon that some high level players still use. Again, if you have the extra money you should add an Extended Clip for GTA$ 9,975 and Grip for GTA$ 4,350.
  • Armored Kuruma - Purchasable from the Southern San Andreas Super Autos website for GTA$ 698,250 (or if you’ve completed The Fleeca Job you can then purchase it for GTA$ 525,000). This car will help considerably because it has highly bullet-resistant windows, meaning you can shoot out of the car but enemies can’t shoot you while you’re in it. If you get it, it will be useful for all missions where you have to kill a lot of NPCs from a vehicle as you’ll almost never get hit while you’re in it. If that’s too expensive, you can also get the Armored XLS from the Legendary Motorsport website for GTA$ 522,000, but its windows aren’t as bullet-resistant. It will probably be fine for this mission but not as helpful for future more difficult ones.

2. Start Within City Limits

Before starting the mission, make sure you’re within the city limits of Los Santos. This way all of the targets will also appear within the city limits. If you’re outside the city limits the targets will be all over the map and things will take a much longer time.

3. Focus on the Targets

The targets will always have bodyguards with them, and the bodyguards have a lot of health. Always try to shoot the targets first before catching the attention of the bodyguards. Then once the target is killed, get out of there ASAP.

Two of the four targets will be in vehicles. The ones that are will always be the driver of the vehicle. This means you should always kill the drivers first, then you can just drive away. You should also target the ones in vehicles before the others, because there's always a chance they'll drive out of town and if they do they'll take that much longer to catch.

4. Use a Flying Vehicle with Homing Missiles

This one is optional, but it will make this mission infinitely easier to fly around eliminating targets from the sky. If you don't have a suitable vehicle of your own, there are places you can find them to steal.

If stealing a helicopter is the way you want to go with this, you may want to complete the Sightseer VIP Mission first. That mission is much easier, and is best done with a helicopter as well. In our Sightseer article you'll find a map of common helicopter spawn locations.

If you follow the above steps, you should be able to quickly work your way through the targets and win the mission easily.

Still finding this one tricky? Don't worry, you'll get partial payment for eliminating at least some of the targets. You can also check out the Sightseer VIP Mission, which most players find to be quite easy.