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30+ Tips & Tricks You Might've Missed

By Caedo Genesis

Here's some tips & tricks that can be overlooked (thanks to the ridiculous amount of pop-ups), and some that the game doesn't tell you!

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Caedo Genesis
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Category: Achievements, Characters, Co-op, Crafting, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Secrets, Walkthroughs, Weapons

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

3 Apr, 2022 @ 8:01pm

4 Jun, 2022 @ 9:53pm

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Guide Index

Overview

10+ Tips & Tricks I Wish I Knew (Video Version)

Intro

Delivering

Vehicles

Constructing & Connecting

Combat

Comments

10+ Tips & Tricks I Wish I Knew (Video Version)

This is the most polished version! There are some tips below that I left out however, since there's so many!

Intro

I greatly enjoy this game, and had a 5 page script just sitting around for upwards of a year, so I might as well share my findings huh? I don’t know about you, but I didn’t read every single tutorial pop-up the first time through, or my fourth. So here are a bunch of valuable tips that could’ve been overlooked, and a few tricks that the game doesn’t really tell you at all. Most of these apply to both versions of the game, but I’ll be sure to mention it as we go if it’s something specific to Director’s Cut.

I also made a Memory Chips Guide for those of you chasing the Fount of Knowledge Achievement: https://youtu.be/XPsb5RCdsuE

Delivering

When you’re given your first delivery, you’ll be loaded down with heavy cargo and shown the grip buttons to help keep balance. This’s for both dealing with rough terrain, and keeping cargo vertical. If both grip buttons are held, your pace will decrease, but your stability increases. When you choose to adjust with one of the grip buttons instead, you will be able to keep a faster pace. Crouching can offer complete stability and also save Sam from completely tumbling over if he loses his balance.
AUTO ARRANGE-CARGO FREQUENTLY. Sam's center of gravity can be dramatically improved if you're doing this often. An exception to this advice would be with certain cargo runs that have specific transport requirements, such as the infamous pizza delivery missions that require it to stay flat. With things like that, you’ll need to arrange your cargo in a more manual way so the aforementioned pizza sits on top of your pack, rather than sideways. A truck can also keep pizza flat, as you would expect.
Cargo is safest under the strap, and will be better protected if you take a fall. Anything stacked above it however, will be more susceptible to damage and even fall off if Sam tries to go under low obstacles.
Cargo is measured in size and weight, and Sam has a limit to both of these. Small cargo can fit on your shoulder or hip braces, while medium cargo and larger will need to be on his back, or in hand. You’ll see on the bottom right when you’re taking an order how many containers, and how much weight Sam will be taking beforehand. This way you’ll be able to plan accordingly if you need a vehicle or floating carrier too, or you can just cancel out if the order is too much. One more thing related to cargo weight, the more Sam is weighed down, the more his movement and turning will become sluggish. It’ll also take longer to stop when he’s encumbered. So if you’ve got a heavy load of cargo and are going downhill, you’ll want to make sure to hold both grip buttons, and give enough space when you reach the bottom.
Some situations may call for precise movement and turning. The first-person compass can help with this if you just need to make a 180 without too much fuss, step onto a weirdly tilting ladder, and safely navigate steep cliffs.
Each delivery point has something to offer if you build connection rating with them, which is indicated by the 5 stars that fill up as those deliveries are made. Along with this, more and more tools to help Sam with efficiency are unlocked as you make successful deliveries, be it vehicles, active skeletons, weapons, backpack mods, portable constructors, etc… I want to draw particular attention to the active skeleton which comes in 3 variants: Power Skeleton, Speed Skeleton, and All-Terrain Skeleton. Once you find a prepper that provides you with one of these, max out their connection stars by bringing them deliveries and they’ll level up the fabrication plans for that active skeleton!
ALWAYS CHECK WATER DEPTH with your Odradek scanner before you cross either on foot or in a trike. Red means you’ll be swept away, while yellow and blue are safe to cross. If you do decide to wade through water on foot, holding your grip buttons during most of it will slow your endurance drain. Keep in mind too that you can just stop while in the water to regain stamina, then keep trudging forth after it recovers.
Water will also wash off tar and blood, but being covered in either doesn’t particularly have a negative effect, just appearance.
Cargo has two durability bars, container and cargo. The container damage doesn’t matter for delivery ratings, only the quality of its contents! Cargo loses durability by impacts, and if the container itself has decayed from timefall, the damage on impact can be greater. There’s a couple ways to repair containers to further protect the cargo inside. Container repair spray is the equipment option, and can be used to spray the containers on your back or on the ground. Another option is player constructed timefall shelters. When entered, a timefall shelter will spray repair mist each time. If you’ve already unlocked shelters for your PCC’s, you might as well carry those instead and drop a timefall shelter if you desperately need some repairs or a shield from the timefall. The benefit of being player constructed too is other players may have placed a shelter nearby for you to use, letting you conserve your own equipment for later.
Rough and rocky terrain can smooth out and become dirt paths the more you and other players travel it.
Once you can gather them, Chiral Crystals are the ultimate maintenance resource. They weigh nothing, and can be used on construction and repairs. Chiral Crystals are also used to fuel floating carriers. There are several spots in the world that spawn Chiral Crystals in dense clusters. Take note when you do find them, since you can return later to gather more. The amount of Chiral Crystals you have on you can be checked in the menu just below the map.
PREMIUM DELIVERIES become available (After Order 24?), and can easily be overlooked; if you do take these on, they'll come with extra requirements like a timer or cargo damage maximum. Completing these within the requirement will raise your legend rank (depending on game difficulty), as well as grant increased likes when premium cargo makes it to its destination.
Used up items (Like Blood Bags) still take up inventory space, and can be dropped or thrown when they’re empty either through the radial or cargo menu. If you feel like waiting until you can replenish them, the game will actually tell you from the fabricator menu how many used up items you’re carrying, and automatically replace them if you choose to put them in your utility pouch, offloading your empties in one smooth motion.
Resting in a Safehouse or Distro Center replenishes lost endurance, as well as gives a temporary 25% boost if you drink up to 3 energy drinks after.... in the game that is. Don't drink 3 energy drinks in a row in real life.
Your Cargo can be left up to 800 Meters away before it disappears. If you’re making a side trip that happens to be a lot further than 800 meters, you can stash other deliveries in a Private Locker at Bridges Facilities, Safehouses, or Postboxes. Vehicles full of cargo can be stored in garages to both repair the vehicle, keep it for later use, and send the cargo directly to the private locker of that facility. If you need to leave your empty vehicle somewhere too, it’ll stay put unless you continuously bring out new vehicles from the garage.
When making a delivery, holding crouch let’s Sam stop to rest, which is a way to both save the game, and even recover endurance with some sleep. Be mindful that resting in high altitude environments can result in game overs.
On the topic of saving, if you’re going for premium S rank deliveries, be absolutely sure to save before you start moving to your destination. This’s just to ensure you have an easy spot to go back to in case something goes horribly wrong in transit, like taking a hill too fast.

Vehicles

The reverse trike is the first vehicle available. It’s quick, sometimes can help carry more cargo, and is easy enough to maneuver. At the start though, you’ll be facing lots of rough terrain on the east coast. To make it easier, simply hold back on your direction control to do a wheelie and you’ll have a surprisingly easier time. Don’t forget that if you get stuck too, all vehicles have a jump function. Be aware that jumping vehicles also burns more battery life though.
You can check your vehicle durability the same way you can check for structures since they’ll show up as icons on the map. You can check the vehicle you’re currently driving this way too.
Trucks are amazing for deliveries, and take some time to unlock, unless you’re willing to steal one from the MULES of the central region. While not as advantageous as a Bridges vehicle, with its inability to repair, low battery and lack of cover for the truck bed, MULE trucks can still help you move large amounts of materials around quickly for road construction as early as you’re willing to do it!
Vehicles can be repaired by resting or garage storage in player made shelters, cities or distribution centers (with vehicle on platform). For a quicker repair method, I learned that if you are loading up your damaged truck at a distro center or city, and as long as it’s not from another player, you can change its color scheme, and it will be automatically repaired without needing to rest.
Trucks can get stuck, but they cannot flip. Sharp turns will simply result in driving on two wheels for a time.
When going uphill, boosting trucks any direction besides straight up is a great way to lose control. As soon as those wheels come off the ground, it’ll jerk a direction you don’t want to go when it lands, and most likely go sideways. If you want to get a truck up steep inclines, it is possible, but using boost sparingly will reduce overall chances of getting stuck sideways.
Lights on the back of trucks indicate how full they are. Trucks can carry a maximum amount of 28 XL pieces of cargo or equivalent while the weight of said cargo appears to affect battery consumption. If a truck is completely maxed out, Sam won’t be able to get into the driver’s seat with any extra cargo on him aside from equipped gear and the items stored in pouches.
Once Floating carriers are available, you should always bring one. They can make every trek easier by keeping your cargo stable and allowing Sam more personal mobility. Rather than trying to drop cargo manually under cover in timefall too, you can instead just detach your carrier under a timefall shelter so you can quickly recover your cargo when you return. The strand can be used to tie down the cargo on your carriers. Carriers can be ridden too and will accelerate down hills. Provided you don't collide with large rocks, the bottom of the hill can be reached quickly. Bear in mind that carriers do still spend Chiral Crystals to operate.
Storage between multiple vehicles and carriers can all be accessed if they’re close enough to each other, letting you seamlessly transfer cargo from one transport to another.

Constructing & Connecting

Death Stranding is a game all about connecting, and to help encourage this, is an asynchronous multiplayer game. This means that you still play the main character, but structures, lost cargo, and equipment can be shared across other players’ worlds. The shared locker at each connected facility stores player donated goods and undelivered cargo. Even if you don’t have anything to donate, or a use for the items in the shared locker, you can offload them all and recycle them if you’re in need of resources at that location. Since there is a resource limit at each location, the game will let you know if recycling will pass that limit too.
Each delivery point only has so much storage for materials as mentioned before, but each of them also seem to have unlimited private locker storage. If you’ve hit the resource cap and want to hoard more, you can do so by claiming bulk materials, then storing them in the private locker for later. This way the facility’s materials will continue to rack up, and you’ll have a surplus for mass construction ready to go.
If you come across player structures you happen to appreciate, you can give them likes. Doing this will position them higher on your bridge links list. If you want to see more of these players' structures in your own world, create a strand contract either through the bridge link menu, or from selecting their structure on the map, selecting ‘view creator’s bridges ID’ and linking to them from there.
Every connection you make to a new prepper or facility will have something worth your time if you keep delivering to them, and raise connection level. Connection level is indicated by the five stars on the lower right when you make a delivery. Often something will unlock for each star you fill, even if you get nothing, connection level raises your bandwidth, or build capacity within the chiral network. Keep an eye out for clients that give valuable low weight, or high-density materials as rewards. They’ll be a goldmine for anything related to building, especially roads.
You can request help with upgrades from other players, and once you’re able to use this feature, it’s a great way to share structures to other worlds too. According to the tips section, simply marking a structure to request upgrades will be more likely shared than others.
If you find a deadzone in the Chiral Network, that means you have a new delivery client to find. Sometimes these preppers are well hidden, but finding them will more often than not yield some decent benefits either with schematics, tools or resources that you can't get anywhere else.
Roads are incredibly helpful, and will make a beautiful alternative for hoofing over rough terrain. Outside of the obvious of being a smooth path, roadways made with auto-pavers also keep vehicles from losing charge if they’re touching the center strip. For something so helpful, they also come with the steepest material costs. When you set out to pave some roads via an Auto-Paver, keep in mind that you can see exactly how many resources it needs by going to your map and hovering over its icon. This can be done with any player built structures too. The amount required for the Auto-Pavers vary depending on the wacky path they follow, but assume it will cost tons of metals and ceramics, as well as some chiralium sprinkles.
Structures can be dismantled from the map, both your own and others from online players that might be in your way or useless to you. If you’ve been playing a long time and structures from other players are too damaged to function, simply removing them will cause brand new ones to appear in the area sometime after.
240 Chemicals, 480 Special Alloys are needed to upgrade ziplines. Reason for mentioning is that level 2 Zip-lines get 50 more meters of distance, totaling 350 meters. Being they cost 500 chiral bandwidth each, you’ll want all the distance you can get out of them!
The viewfinder is great for setting waypoints to plot both manual traveling routes and Zip-line placement, as it shows the distance and line of sight from your position. Waypoints can also be placed when you mount a Zip-line.
Player structures, yours included, do decay over time! They can however, be repaired if you return to them and contribute the needed repair materials. If you have Chiral Crystals, they can be used in most repairs and don’t weigh you down. In most cases it’s still more cost effective to simply upgrade the structure in question, especially if you want it to stay there anyway. Generally when you upgrade a PCC structure, it’ll become much more durable and have increased functionality. A reminder that roads do decay too, so be wary if Auto-Paver icons start showing yellow triangles on your map, because that is the sign of heavy erosion.
You might’ve seen some bridges seemingly placed at random, but this placement might still be deliberate. Bridges can be used to bypass BT’s by walking over them at times, but they can also serve as cover for vehicles near areas that experience heavy timefall. Since there’s danger as well as lost cargo in these areas, the temptation to stick around might be high. It’s nice not worrying about your vehicle rusting out completely while you explore the area.

Combat

Discovering Beached Things, or BT’s will be stressful during your first few encounters, that’s basically their whole deal. Your Odradek combined with BB’s senses will help you detect BT’s and even make the ones nearby appear if you hold still. To know if you’re getting too close to a BT, your Odradek will go from clicking, to spinning.
There’s some things about BT’s that aren’t entirely apparent, like their umbilical cords. First, the cords are simply a way to more easily detect a BT when you’re holding still. Second though, is that these cords are also tethers, and the BT’s will only be able to move so far away before being pulled back to their starting position. If you’re able to outrun a BT, it’ll eventually come to a stop, and float back where it came from.
Being caught by BT’s isn't game over, this will instead spawn a large boss BT known as a Catcher, and if you manage to defeat it, it will drop TON of Chiral crystals. Defeating or successfully fleeing from a Catcher will also temporarily stop the timefall and BTs in the area. If you get dragged and aren’t prepared for a boss fight, you can attempt to escape by slogging and jumping through the tar covered arena to the edge to disengage.
Bloodstained BT's will take more damage from ballistic weapons if the stained area is hit, and will do more damage than hematic rounds.
The game shows the dangers of dead humans in its opening moments, and if Sam does kill a human, he’ll need to dispose of the body at an incinerator to prevent a voidout. The question is, what counts as lethal? Only weapons labeled ‘lethal’ and repeated hits with vehicles can kill humans. Thankfully this means you’ll have to make a conscious effort to kill someone by bringing the proper gear for taking lives. Don’t worry about drowning enemies either, all their suits have floatation devices, just like Sam’s.
MULES are the bandits of Death Stranding, and the first hostile humans you’ll encounter. They’ll attack you for your cargo, but for no other reason. Even if they manage to defeat you via knockout, they’ll simply steal your cargo (Sometimes your shoes), place it in their postboxes, and leave you outside their perimeter. Knowing that they’re only after cargo, if you leave your cargo outside their perimeter sensor poles, you’ll be able to sneak around unnoticed. MULE camps are a great place to harvest materials from their tents and postboxes too, and often have a bulk amounts of one material type. For instance, some MULE camps have tons of Metals, while the next one over could have loads of Ceramics.
There are many ways to deal with human hostiles. If you want to go stealthy and use a little CQC, you’ll want to make sure your cargo’s not stacked too high, use tall grass to hide, and keep an eye on your foes with the odradek scanner. The Strand is an item you’ll always have with you, which can both be a silent takedown weapon from behind, as well as a way to counter melee to stagger the enemy. What do you do once you’re detected however?
When you get detected by a human enemy, it’s nice to know what kind of options you have if you didn’t bring a weapon. Weapons take up space after all! There’s several options for moves that, when timed correctly, can even leave you unscathed. The Strand is still something that’s always available, but if multiple enemies are around, using The Strand will leave you open. Thankfully there’s several other melee options. First is your standard punch and kick combo, which is simply 3 button presses with your attack button; these can be empowered by certain gloves. Next, you have the dodge, which is done by holding both grip buttons and pressing jump; this one of course allows you to avoid melee strikes when timed right. Third of the basic moves is the tackle, used to knock an enemy off balance. This is also performed by holding both grip buttons, and pressing attack instead of jump. If you dispatch a foe with a melee hit, there will be a short slow-mo sequence in which you can snatch the cargo they drop with a grip button. If you do grab this piece of cargo and aren’t worried about the contents, you can then wield it against or even throw it at remaining foes by pressing attack and releasing your grip. With Director’s Cut, 3 more mobile melee moves were added. First is the body slam, done by jumping and pressing crouch. Second is the knee strike, which is performed by pressing attack while jumping. Then there’s finally the drop kick, which you can do by sprinting jumping, then pressing attack.
The first (?) non-lethal gun you gain in vanilla is the Bola Gun. On impact, it wraps up the target, incapacitating them for a time. If fired at humans, aiming above the neck will cause an instant knockout. If they’re hit below, they may need to be kicked or stunned another way to prevent them from getting free and attacking again.
DC: A new non-lethal ranged option was added to Director’s Cut in the form of the maser, a short range electrical weapon that performs about as expected. Shots to the head of human targets knock them out immediately, while body shots might need some followup. The mission for the maser unlocks in the eastern region, sometime after reaching the distro center west of capitol knot. The missions given will have more rewards than just the maser, and send you to a brand new location to explore!

11 Comments

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omw to hell haha 22 May @ 4:14pm

g unit

Crentin Dalbs 21 Mar @ 1:33pm

i always thought it was strange that moving BTs would eventually disappear and reappear back where they were, I never considered it's their cords tethering them!

The sparkling gold BTs (the floating ones, not the swimming ones) show up more than a few times in Very Hard mode, and in my experience, patrol in quick motions around the BT area which can catch you unawares. They take a TON of ammo to bring down, seem to be immune to the bola gun, and seem to move too fast to cut their cord, so I've found it's best to just try to avoid them. I've run into them (amongst other places) at the abandoned factory near Craftsman, the ruins north of the Geologist, and just north of the Distro center west of capital knot (once you're heading back after completing the chiral network). All on Very Hard mode.

Kiwi 4 Nov, 2023 @ 3:40pm

you can definitely kill a human first hit with a vehicle if you're going fast enough.

Malcore 24 Sep, 2023 @ 4:16pm

Great info

FriedTeto 11 Apr, 2023 @ 12:49pm

i think i found new combat tip which is
shooting the bowla in a Mule head will instantly knock him out.

FluidExtractor 24 Mar, 2023 @ 7:21am

"If you have Chiral Crystals, they can be used in most repairs and don’t weigh you down."
Not only do they not weigh you down, they actually lighten the load. Saw a loading screen tip saying:
"The more chiral crystals Sam collects, the more he will be aided by their floating capabilities, effectively reducing the weight of his load. Every 1000 cg of chiral crystals collected will reduce Sam's burden by 1kg."

Major Gnuisance 18 Nov, 2022 @ 4:33pm

I'll add some more: (1) Thrown containers and silenced guns can be used to make sound distractions. Can be used to reveal BTs without a working BB.

(2) Sandalweed makes your steps much quieter and the oxygen mask works the same as holding your breath.

(3) If a BT senses you, remain calm, crouch, hold your breath and move away from where you were. Going in the direction the BT is coming from is a viable option when doing this, just avoid colliding with it and you can pass right by it. Don't overdo holding your breath or you'll make noise. Use firing range drills to practice.

A'den 8 Apr, 2022 @ 7:17am

"Sam won’t be able to get into the driver’s seat with any extra cargo on him aside from equipped gear and the items stored in pouches."

You can enter full vehicle with extra cargo/gear, as long as it fits within backpack straps. So you can carry:
-equivalent of two L packages in the backpack;
-up to 4 S packages attached to suit;
-one piece of gear on tool rack;
-anything stored in pouches, depending on what pouches player has on them
And still be able to drive a full truck

Jackets 6 Apr, 2022 @ 3:25am

Once drank over 8 Monster Energy Drinks over the course of four hours, as a child.
Not fun. Wouldn't recommend.

Big Benji 4 Apr, 2022 @ 8:21pm

There are different types of gazers (floating body with umbilical cord) from white, giant, red, and gold. Most of the BTs will send you to the tar pits to face a catcher but gold BTs (spawn very rare and under certain conditions) will cause an instant voidout if they drag you down.

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