Death Stranding 2: On the Beachputs you back in the worn and torn shoes of Sam Bridges, and offers new and improved ways to carry backbreaking amounts of cargo over increasingly treacherous terrain. Along the way, you will get access to increasingly effective gear that will allow you to perform more difficult deliveries.
While some of the gear you can fabricate has niche applications that make them optimal for a handful of delivery routes, others you will always want to make sure you have handy. Just make sure you have enough materials in stock to fabricate these essential items.
10Coffin Board
The ideal method of transportation, the coffin board is the best addition to the Death STranding franchise due to its smooth and reliable method of travel. Pretty much just a uniquely designed hoverboard, the coffin board floats over the ground at a decent speed and can even travel over water and tar of any depth.
The only downside to the coffin board is that it only operates within the chiral network, making it useless when connecting new regions or traveling through an area outside the network. However, you can also pull it behind you like a floating carrier, so you don’t have to abandon it when you hop off.
9Active Skeleton
The first active skeleton you get is the battle skeleton, whichincreases your cargo capacityand running speed, and reduces the damage of projectiles. Skeletons wear down over time, so you will always want to make sure you have one equipped that can handle your next journey, since they provide a significant advantage.
The other two skeletons are the bokka and boost skeletons, each of which has its own uses. However, the boost skeleton is the overall best as it vastly increases your speed and softens your landings. You can upgrade these skeletons by making deliveries to the stations where you first obtained them, which both adds features and upgrades existing ones.
8Bola Gun
If you are moving through brigand or armed survivalist territory, it is usually ideal to be as stealthy as possible, to reduce the chance of being knocked out or having your cargo broken or stolen. The hands down best weapon to ensure a simple and stealthy mission is the bola gun, and it’s not even close.
While other weapons, such as the tranq handgun and sniper, have the capacity to knock out enemies at range, the bola gun does this far more efficiently while giving you more ammo to work with. You will have to approach and kick enemies you have caught in bola traps, though, but you may do so silently and quickly, and will only ever need one bola per enemy.
7Gloves
There are two types of gloves in Death Stranding 2, which both have very different uses depending on your route and planned destination. The combat power gloves have strong electrical attacks that can even be used as a stealth weapon when approaching enemies from behind, while also boosting your climbing ability.
The climbing power gloves swap the effectiveness of the combat gloves, still maintaining punching power but giving a substantial boost to climbing power and also helping you balance. It can also force grab nearby cargo without having to be right on top of it, even while driving pickup off-roader vehicles.
6Handgun
Death Stranding 2 provides Sam with a much-needed handgun holster, able to equip a handgun without a bulky cargo box taking up valuable real estate on Sam’s body. This means there is no reason not to have a handgun equipped at any time, unless you are desperate for one kilogram of cargo weight.
Another addition to the holster is a proper armory of weapons, including many sidearms with various uses that compliment any playstyle. Although easily justifiable to always have equipped, make sure you are using them as backup weapons and placing your shots well, as they tend to have smaller magazine sizes than other weapons.
You can fabricate ammo containers into your backup that give additional ammo if you find yourself always running out.
5Floating Sentry Gun
A late-game item but one that makes combat an easy sweep, the floating sentry gun is what it sounds like, where you may throw a gun that hovers in the air and shoots at your enemies. You can even have four active simultaneously, which allows you to hide in safety as they clear out an entire compound on their own.
You can even pick them back up after they run out of juice and just throw it again to reset their timer and continue shooting. Although if you aren’t planning to raid a base, one should be enough as it can add significant weight and take up space if you have to hold on to all four at any given time.
4Backpack Cover
Obtained by the tar fisherman north of the tar lake, the backpack cover does what it sounds like, acting as a weatherproof cover for the contents of your packed cargo. This prevents the erosion of cargo containers caused by timefall while also preventing it from flying out when you take hard falls.
Although the cover deteriorates over time and only covers the space within your backpack and not on top or on your shoulders, you should never leave a waystation without one on. This is especially useful in the mountains, as timefall snow is common and the slow pace you travel will almost assuredly cause cargo containers to fail.
3Grenade Pouch
One of the more annoying pieces of equipment to be in cargo form is grenades, as you will always want to have some on hand, which makes the extra bulk, despite its low weight, a nuisance. Grenade pouches on your backpack solve this by allowing you to store a handful of various grenades in a tiny satchel at all times.
Also, only taking up two slots on a backpack makes it hard not to justify over any other attachment, especially by how often you will use grenades, especially against BTs. You can even add multiple grenade pouches, allowing you to carry one set of every type if you want to be extra prepared for every possibility.
The Projectile Predictor APAS enhancement can help you make better use of grenades and avoid wasting them.
2Extra Battery
More so than in the first game, almost everything you do in Death Stranding 2 requires battery, which makes sense as to why you will see generators placed by players across the entire map. In areas outside the chiral network, you will inevitably run out of juice and lose access to many features you often forget you rely on.
While there are APAS enhancementsthat can help save on battery life, the best solution is to add battery attachments to your backpack to store extra battery life. There are a handful of different battery types, and you can even add solar cells to charge them during the day, which doesn’t force you to sacrifice precious attachment space.
1Chiral Antigravity Device
A 2x2 attachment for backpacks, each chiral antigravity device increases your max carrying capacity by ten kilograms. Not only does this allow you to carry cargo loads that you were otherwise unable to, it can make extremely heavy and hard-to-balance loads a piece of cake.
Especially if you are planning to pick up as much lost cargo as you can along your route, stacking these devices will make your porting life much easier. On top ofhoarding chiral crystalsand various APAS enhancements, there won’t be a delivery you can’t make with your own two legs.
