Death Stranding 2 is here, and if you are trying to play Hideo Kojima’s strange world for the first time, you are in for quite a ride. This is not like other action games where you shoot everything that moves. Instead, it’s all about making deliveries across dangerous terrain while dealing with monsters and crazy weather. Sounds weird? It is. But it’s also pretty fun once you know what you’re doing. Here are 13 Death Stranding 2 tips and tricks you should know before starting your journey!

Table of Contents
Death Stranding 2 Tips and Tricks That Will Save Your Journey
Here are some tips and tricks that’ll make your life much easier while playing Death Stranding 2. Check them out!
1. Use the Auto-Arrange Feature
Look, if you are like me, who loves to arrange stuff, you could spend 20 minutes perfectly arranging every single box on Sam’s body. However, if it’s not your thing, then you could just let the game do it for you in less than 5 seconds. This is probably the most important tip. When you are loading up Sam with cargo, just use the auto-arrange feature. Here’s how it works: Go to your Cargo Management screen, pile on whatever stuff you want, then hold the Triangle button. The game will put everything in the right spots automatically.

2. Look at the Map and Plan Your Routes Carefully
Before heading out on any mission, take a few minutes to actually look at the map and plan your route. The map shows you rivers, cliffs, storms, and enemy camps. Look at all of this stuff carefully before you leave. Sometimes, taking a longer path around a mountain is way better than trying to climb straight over it with a heavy load and then falling many times.

3. Use Your Odradek Scanner
That spinning thing on Sam’s shoulder is called the Odradek, and it’s a scanner. Press R1 to scan whenever you’re walking around. It will show you:
- How deep the water is
- Where enemies are hiding
- Lost cargo and materials nearby
- How difficult will the upcoming terrain be

The only time you should be careful with scanning is at night near enemies. They can see the light from far away, so scan first to find them, then turn it off when sneaking.
4. Take Naps in Cities
Every time you find a private room, sleep in the bed. It’s like a magic reset button:
- All your bullets come back
- Your bike battery gets full
- Restores your stamina
- Your broken equipment gets fixed

It’s basically a free repair shop. There’s literally no reason not to do this every time.
5. Don’t Try to Be a Hero with BTs
Those creepy invisible enemies called BTs are scary and want to drag you into tar pits and ruin your day. You don’t have to fight them. When your Odradek scanner starts freaking out and you see the black flying ghosts, just run as fast as you can. Fighting the big BT bosses takes forever and usually ends with all your stuff getting blown up.

6. Pick Up Everything While Driving
When you’re driving your bike, you can grab stuff without stopping. Pick up everything coming out of the ground, lost packages, and materials. The more packages you deliver to the same place, the more stars you get. More stars mean better rewards and new equipment.

7. Use Other Players’ Items
One of the coolest parts of Death Stranding 2 is that you can use things other players have built. See a ladder someone left by a cliff? Use it. Find a vehicle that someone parked? Take it for a spin. This saves your own materials for when you really need them. However, you can’t customize other people’s vehicles, but hey, free transportation is free transportation, right?
8. Watch Your Vehicle Battery
You get vehicles pretty early in Death Stranding 2, which is awesome. But always keep an eye on that battery meter in the bottom left corner. Boosting uses way more power than regular driving. If you’re going far, drive slower to save battery. Also, driving through water drains power faster, so plan your route around rivers when possible.
Also Read:
- Death Stranding 2: Complete Cast and Characters List
- Hideo Kojima Confirms Death Stranding Anime Is Coming
- Death Stranding 2 Release Date and All Edition Details
9. Learn About the New APAS Skills
The new APAS system is like a skill tree for Sam. You can unlock better balance, weapon accuracy, and other useful abilities, plus you can swap these skills for free anytime. Before each mission, think about what you’ll face. Going into combat? Equip weapon skills. Crossing mountains? Use balance and climbing abilities. Don’t just set it once and forget it.

10. Fight at Night for Better Stealth
If you have to attack an enemy camp, do it at night. The darkness makes it much easier to sneak around. Just make sure you’re wearing the right colored suit, for example: Yellow for sandy areas and dark colors for rocky places. Also, scan the area first to see where all the enemies are patrolling, then turn off your Odradek light before getting close.
11. Read the Corpus When You’re Confused
It’s not Kojima’s Production if it doesn’t throw weird words at you. When someone starts talking about “timefall” or “chiral” and you have no idea what they mean, open your pause menu and check the Corpus. It’s basically a dictionary that explains all the terms in the game. You can even open it during conversations when someone’s saying something confusing.

12. Hide in Tall Grass Properly
When you’re sneaking around, tall grass can hide you from enemies. However, if your cargo stack is too tall, it’ll stick out above the grass, and enemies will find you. This is another reason why auto-arranging your cargo is so important. It keeps your profile low and makes hiding much easier.

13. Start Exploring Early
Don’t just stick to the main missions. The world is full of secrets, materials, and cool stuff to find. The game rewards you for wandering off the beaten path. Take some time to learn how all the tools work. Try building different structures. See what happens when you combine different equipment. The game has way more depth than it shows you at first.
Death Stranding 2 is definitely weird, but once you get these basics down, it’s actually pretty amazing. Yeah, you’re just a delivery guy, but you’re a delivery guy in a crazy sci-fi world with invisible monsters! We hope that these Death Stranding 2 tips and tricks should help you avoid the most common mistakes and actually enjoy the adventure instead of getting frustrated. Now get out there and start delivering!