10+ TIPS & TRICKS I WISH I KNEW - Death Stranding (+ Director's Cut) 

Going for those achievements too? I made an exhaustive Memory Chips guide as well! You can see it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XPsb5RCdsuE.html

My main tip is don't waste your time in the East - progress the story and once you get the Power Skeleton you'll realize how much easier the game can be and then you can go back and screw around all you want.

Who remembers their first trip to port knot city? That BT area still gives me the chills

My biggest unseen tip is that you can use your rope to tie down cargo on the carrier. Nearly nobody knows this, but standing next to a loaded carrier and equipping your rope, target the carrier with L2 and then use R2 to tie down the cargo. A neat little trick

One thing you didn't mention about chiral chrystals is that every 1000 you have on you reduces the weight of the load you're carrying by 1 kg. It's worthwhile to hoard them on your person, rather than storing them at the destinations. Just leave 50-100 banked for fabrication, and carry the rest on you. Between that and most skeletons, volume is far more of a limiting factor than weight. You can only stack cargo so high, after all.

Just realised tonight that if your low on blood surrounded by BT's and have EX grenades and a vehicle near, throw a grenade at the vehicle and drive off. BT's won't come near and try drag you down. Many might know this but ive only been playing for 5 days

I left a couple tips a year or so ago, but I just found another really good one that's fun and I only just learned after hundreds of hours in-game, as well as some helpful stuff about dealing with BT's for newer players. The Bola Gun (at least level 2, idk about lv.1,) works on BT's lmao. This tip works SUPER well with the cord cutter you get later on. Tie up a BT then simply walk up and cut the cord with no risk. Also, remember, Sam's urine is literally a BT weapon. Peeing a little bit will stop a BT from approaching you. That's why the ability to urinate is on the weapon wheel (it's a hint.) The game makes BT fields out to be much worse than they actually are, just in general. When you go to a BT zone, you don't need to be worried. Just remember you only need to crouch and sneak when your Odradek is flipping open and closed at a fast rate, and you only need to hold your breath when it starts spinning. When holding your breath, even very close to a BT, you can catch your breath quickly as long as you stop moving completely before you stop holding your breath, and hold again before you even start to move again. You don't need to no-breathe-sneak the whole zone, thankfully lol. As a bonus tip that's super counter-intuitive: if you don't have a bunch of important stuff on you, it's actually easier sometimes to just run in and get caught on purpose. Taking down the BT that shows up when you get dragged is more economic than trying to throw a grenade at every single base BT in your path. Plus, a nice chunk of chiral crystals to celebrate your victory. Oh, and one more: If you're "gripping for balance" with Sam's right hand, he can't also hold his breath. Release your grip on your right backpack strap before sneaking past a BT or Sam can't hold his breath.

The big tip really is to not do any side missions in the first area. Just get to the second area as fast as you can because that’s where the game really starts and makes the first area way easier. Once you can build bikes and exoskeletons and such.

I got another tip. Ever fell down a slope and started tumbling or falling? The pissing button equipped. Just whip your schlong out while you are falling and come to a complete stop. Don't forget to aim

It may be well known, but I just discovered after like 50+ hours in-game, that the Timefall Shelters (the ones that look like mushrooms or umbrellas,) spray container repair spray on you wyen you use them, so stopping off in the mushroom shelter will completely repair all the containers you're carrying to 100% durability. Super handy, especially since they tend to exist in timefall areas. If it's actively raining (Timefall,) mushroom shelters will also refill your flask.

My second playthrough of DS was spent on two tasks: getting 5 stars at every delivery location and completing the highway system. By the time I had to transport Mama to Mountain Knot City, it was a simple matter of loading her in a truck and taking her on a leisurely drive, of course stopping at a hot spring to loosen up.

Material Hoarding (Claiming materials to put into Private Locker) is also really helpful for others. I typically store half of my materials, and donate the other half to the shared locker. Imagine the joy you'll bring to someone building roads when they find a 1000 metal and 800 ceramic container in the shared locker. Roads aren't always solo affairs. Once you've donated to a road, you get credit for materials donated by others. Journeying ahead to donate a few Chiral Crystals can save you time and resources. If you're having problems with the Sticky Gun, after the package is airborne, hold down the Triangle (PS) button to automatically grab and store it. Works better than Left or Right Hand.

To add onto the tip about finding preppers in deadzones, if you look close enough and zoom in on the map without filters on, you can actually see where their shelters are, so you don't have to run around the whole mountain just to find one person.

I’m on chapter 6 and it’s been such a heavy effort to build roads. The NPC’s say that seeing Sam in action gives them hope. Likewise, getting notifications that other players used:contribute to roads I use gives me wind to keep donating materials to scattered auto pavers

Climbing ropes, when you make it to the top with one of these, make sure to throw the rope back down so other players can use it, if you leave it at the top, it will remain there until another player throws it back down.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I realized something recently. I like to take my Truck everywhere. After several interesting routes up the mountain to Elder, and some failed attempts that left me turned back around facing back down the the path i came... If you scale a mountain path backwards in your vehicle, considering the Truck is "rear-wheel drive," you can more easily get up the trail. Kinda like turning your Truck into a downshifted front-wheel drive.

If you have problems with remembering what materials certain MULE camps hoard, place a materials sign within that territory as a marker. As signs can be viewed from the map if you zoom in close enough, you'll be able to track material camps with ease. Keep on keeping on!

Started playing this yesterday on my PS5 I didn't play it earlier Because everyone was saying it was a Walking Sim but man I'm glad I gave this game a chance ❤️

The mountain incinerator spawns some really big chiral crystals! If you’re on your way to Mountain Knot or burning a body, climb up the sides and head to the tower.

A lot of people try to define what a strand type game is and some try to compare it to Dark Souls but most are missing the point. It’s not called a strand type game because of its asymmetric multiplayer. Kojima called it a Strand game because all other games that exist focus on giving the players a stick and death stranding make players focus on using a rope. All the gameplay elements are themed around this strand concept that makes you want to tether things together. It teaches you that you become more powerful the more you can connect things vs other games make you feel powerful by having the biggest stick. My biggest gameplay tip is to build all the roads asap. After that point you can make huge deliveries from North-South/East-West using the trucks. I also take on deliveries to the preppers you pass along the way. For example I will take 500kg from Lake Knot to South Knot, but also pick up stuff for the collector, engineer, and cosplayer. When I am near these preppers I’ll leave the truck on the road and take the cargo on foot to the prepper using a floating carrier and carry back any lost cargo or extra deliveries in the direction I’m headed. I usually like to be on foot. If the deliveries aren’t timed then you should take your time and pickup the lost cargo and chiral crystals as you journey. Upgrade and repair as any other structures as you can. The more you connect with other players the higher chance other players will have to see your structures.

USE THE OTTER HOOD. If you fall into a river or get swept away while wearing the hood, Sam will float on his back and paddle very effectively. I've only fallen in or been swept away while wearing the hood two times, but on both occasions I had a number of large-sized packages on my backpack and none of them fell off. Idk if I was lucky or if that's a perk of the hood, but either way, I was able to get back to shore SO easily with Sam floating on his back and paddling the way the hood allows.

0:38 BT's 1:51 Grip, Crouch & Compass 2:59 Sneaky Water 3:39 Auto-Arrange 4:09 What is Lethal 4:39 Mules 7:31 Connection Rewards 8:11 Premium Delivery 8:39 Trailblazing 9:43 Empties 10:08 R&R Inside 10:52 Max Cargo Distance 11:28 Reverse Trike 11:54 Vehicle Durability 12:30 Floating Carriers 12:54 Truck Rule 13:19 Bridges Trucks 13:45 Incline Boosting 14:09 Cargo Swapping 14:43 Upcycling 15:21 Material Hoarding 15:48 Requesting Help 16:06 Dead Zones 16:25 Roads 17:25 Decay & Maintenance 18:24 Bridge Place 18:53 Zip-Line Level 2

I'm really enjoying this game. Luckily for me I found a data chip when completing a delivery early on in the game which had the "Ride" version of the bike. It doesn't take any damage and the battery is double the standard version. I'm obviously sharing it in my garage for everyone else 😊

Umbilical cords - I loved it when I unlocked the cutting device on my bracelet. By that point in the story, I wasn't as freaked out by BTs and knew how to approach them better, both at a distance with blood bombs and close up by cutting their cords.

Another tip that you didnt mention (ESPECIALLY TO THOSE NEW TO THE GAME) is after you receive grenade pouch, you can go to a private room and customize your backpack so they can fit a alot of grenades and add an extra battery for your usage. Even for an experienced player like myself, this feature is one of the most easiest feature to forget abt since for me i rarely stay down in the private room for so long. Enjoy!

A tip not mentioned in this video, possibly because Caedo didn't play it with the DualSense controller. I play on PC and do not own a PS5, but I bought the controller for this game entirely. When you lightly hold both L2 and R2, you can sense which side you're tilting towards, which makes it easy and intuitive to counter it, without looking at the prompts or Sam. It's very satisfying.

I've just begun playing Death Stranding and this instructional was both helpful and intimidating simultaneously. I'm getting older and don't pick things up as quickly as I used to!

A good tip is to complete the side missions from V. You get some pretty nice upgrades. Also, ziplines are amazing. I can go from first prepper to the Evo-Devo, to the Timefall farm, to the weather station, and back without getting off. Side note about the level 2 zip lines is only one of them needs to be level 2 to have a reach of 350m

Maybe it was obvious to others, but during my 2nd playthrough I realized there's actually alot more "Prepper Bunkers" than the ones you have to visit and connect for the main story, it's worth visiting these optional preppers and delivering their lost cargo if they have any or taking on orders for them in order to connect them to the chiral network so you can build structures, bridges, etc. in their territory, can also get you some neat rewards if you improve your connection (stars) with them.

I talked so much crap about this game when it came out, never giving it a shot. When it was on sale before the Director's Cut, I thought that I should give it a shot. It quickly became one of my favorite games, the story, the score, the gameplay, everything about it was fantastic.

Passing through water and being in time fall refills the water container. Going to the private room WITH the vehicle (By standing next to it and press C) keeps the vehicle contents and does not move it to the private locker. That means you do not have to refill the truck from things moved to the private locker. You keep your vehicle inventory as is. Distance traveled is an equation for determining like payout on delivery. If you wish and it is not a timed delivery keep a large delivery in the truck for a longer time while delivering smaller ones. Your payout for the held deliveries will be much greater.

Tip! Materials in standard orders are for the taking and these excellent deliveries respawn, the distribution centre south of lake knot city gives you 800 metals to deliver to the engineer, take the order to the engineer and before delivering it select 'claim materials' take 800 metal then deliver the order. I call one of my favourite standard orders 'The Lake Knot City Motherload', for best results you need to do order number 511 with a fully constructed road between Lake knot City and South Knot City with a truck.

Death Stranding is absolutely amazing! It is so fresh, creative, the world is so detailed, amazing performances from the cast, the story, vibe, truly no other game quite like it, Hideo Kojima is a true creative genius.

As soon as I realised the BTs stayed away longer by fighting the boss I just started letting myself get caught on purpose. I really don't see any point to "making a path" and taking them out 1 by 1. It's just more fun anyway fighting a boss Having said that once you get ziplines you really have to go out of your way to fight them

My biggest tip is that when you are being attacked by BTs (when they are swarming around you on the ground) you can urinate on them. Quick way to get rid of them and not get sucked into a fight with a larger BT!

If you hold the Strand "aimed" you can counter melee attacks from the MULES. It puts you behind them and you can then strap them up. I think you might be able to counter thrown spears the same way. It's been a while since I tried that specific move. I might have just been near a guy attacking when a spear was thrown.

You can actually still get into a truck even when it's full, with cargo on your back, so long as none of said cargo exceeds your backpack's secure strapped volume, as it will be placed on the passenger seat. In Addition, the truck will automatically load cargo exceeding your backpack into the truck bed if there is space, and then load it back onto your backpack the moment you get out of the truck.

Sticky gun can fetch you the rope from anchor point if you aim at it carefully (there is no auto aim as one for cargo)

I just started playing the game and building the roads is my biggest headache (other players have been finishing it for me and I feel guilty), I never thought about taking stuff from the shared locker and recycling and then storing those in the personal locker, that's genius! That's helpful for the more hard to get to areas too. Thanks for the tips!

In deathstranding director's cut, the chiral crystals was mentioned to help sam become lighter 1,000cg of chiral crystals is equal to 1 kg less heavier

Hi, very good video Tips. Another one, when you face a big black monsters, throw them a blood grenade. It will make the impact zone, on their boby, turn to "red cristals" and they will be really more sensitive to lethals weapons dammage when you'll shoot this zone.

You can use climbing anchors to climb up steep surfaces. Place one down and start traversing up whatever terrain you are having trouble with. You won't stumble or slide down.

Personally death stranding is a masterpiece of a game and I'm not sure many people can see how incredible it is when on paper it's simplistic yet vast in quality. I absolutely love when I find other players built structures to aid all of us and realizing how we the players are all connected through the chiral network.

I literally just finished this game and thought it was fantastic. Such a peacefully stressful game. The turbo on trucks in the snow up a hill can cause a rage quit. Such a pathetic slide back down the hill trying to recover lol

Another tip for those of you aspiring BT hunters, when covered in blood or tar DON'T GO THROUGH RIVERS! Instead, go to your private room, then wash off in the shower. Your grenades lvl 0, 1 & 2 will be generated in larger quantities based of your grime, how much you drink and how many cryptobytes you eat. If you want to maximize your grenades eat cryptobytes instead of using the blood bags, as blood bags add nothing positive other than passive health regeneration. Hope this helps someone! 😊

One more huge tip: once you really start to build roads, you’ll quickly run into the problem of not having enough materials nearby and having to do large hauls from base far away. BUT if you replay the boss fights specifically the ranked boss fights, you will receive a HUGE amount of resources once the event is over! Definitely helped me out a few times! Also, use automatic robot deliveries to complete orders that transport resources to the bases, that’s how you quickly top up metal etc. for that base and the xp doesn’t hurt either!

Towards the end of the game I had the whole map completely routed out with ziplines. So the last hours of the game for me were mostly running to one of my posts, press the button and watch Sam just fly across the map :D Ziplines in this game, if placed right, make this game super easy mode, especially since you can attach the carrier while lining :D

If you wanna stop faster on the Reverse Trike then when holding "A" (reverse/brake) on keyboard also hold your "right mouse click" for a "reverse wheelie" to almost stop on a dime no matter your cargo load,... just noticed this on my own today. Been playing for 5 days, and this is helping me get around easier on that thing, and I didn't see it in any tip videos yet,.... I did not read all comments though.

Thank you! The most impressive was the blaze trail. That's really a neat detail. It's probably those greenish lines on the map the show the current blaze trails of your player pool.

Thank you so much for making this and pointing out the trailblazing/ dirt path making mechanic.❤️ I swear no one talks about how cool that is and it's like the whole point of this severely underrated game.😢 I think it's important to stress to people who aren't getting into it right away NOT to linger too long in chapter 2. Story Progress gives the player so many more tools to complete old orders with. It's good to master the fundamentals before moving on to more difficult orders, but unlocking premium deliveries and grenade pouches ASAP is priority. Analog tilt sensitivity is the name of the game; Imagine Sam is a truck and drive him as such. READ E-mails and pass time in private rooms between grinding orders to level up connection levels since progress will be halted until your read them. Some times you have to rest to advance time to receive mail in the first place. I hope to find a Caedo structure a make a strand contract! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

A bit late to the video, but a small addition to the point of always getting more stars from the sites that give you useful stuff (like the Power Skeleton). Generally you will have the best upgraded equipment at four stars, there is no need to grind for the fifth early on (the fourth star is generally easy enough to get to with a few "missing item" + order runs).

One slight correction from the truck part (around 13:30): Sam can have cargo on him if the truck is full, as long as it doesn't go above the main section of the backpack (basically anything covered by the backpack cover you can get from the collector later in the game). It will sit on the passenger seat next to him.

Carriers now work on ziplines. This is a massive change for the better

My favorite game of all time. It's an astonishing accomplishment. It's a whacky concept, but you have to play it to see what a feat it is. Thanks for the video.

Just started playing! All a bit overwhelming the amount of stuff I need to do! 😅😅😅

I finished the game without ever killing anyone cause i prefer using the bola gun and fists. The Bola Gun is the best gun in the game anyway (fk recoil on the other guns which makes aiming frustrating as fk). Haven't played directors cut btw

Tons of depth to item management. Game kind of reminds me of Snowrunner/Mudrunner in just hauling stuff with physics being the main challenge

Not sure if mentioned in comments, but you can also use the Maser to disable enemy vehicles, stunning any passengers on board and forcing them to exit the vehicle once they recover.

My favorite tip that nobody ever knows: the bola gun works on BTs. When they're frozen with it, they can't send you to the Catcher or anything, so once you have the cord cutter you can just walk up casually and send them on their way.

Also if you come up against a boss BT like a squid or lion, you can hit them with a hematoma grenade or grenade launcher then switch to a assault rifle with lethal rounds and take it down faster.

Love these sort of guides, they give me the tips without undue amounts of spoilers :D

Roads actually is a crucial item of multiplayer because it gives major boost to received likes. Building roads earlier - guaranties that there will be piece of road build by you and you will receive likes from players who neglected building roads on same stage as you and roads evolved automatically for them on later stages of game. If you dint build roads - they expand automatically and you dont receive bonus for those pieces which you didnt built

Tip: In using a cargo as a weapon even though it says (destroyed) you can still use it a few times before it disappears so make use of it it deals massive damage. Also resting in flat surface is faster to recover.

I really have come to appreciate this game, despite its seriously insanely slow pace in the beginning. But just imagine if this world came to pass 🤣

Just watched this after getting to chapter 15. Great tips. I tried to avoid spoiling myself too much while doing my playthrough, but some of these tips are really useful for post-game as well.

You don't have to change your vehicle's color to instantly repair/recharge it. Just store the vehicle and then retrieve it.

Great video and as I've only just got my ps5 I am already well into chapter 3 of the director's cut and loving it. . One really simple thing I hope is something new or I've wasted soooo much time getting off bikes to pick things up is that... Well you don't have to get off the bike to pick things up. . It just needs to be stationary

Thank you so much for all your info. I just started playing the game and love it so much! I have had like a week of 3 am bedtimes and don't see an end. Some of your tips I had already figured out but a ton I didn't even know about. I think I gotta start over now because I got the directors cut. It seems to be alot more stuff, can't wait.

Thank you. As a new player, I'm finding this game so interesting and fun, I can hardly contain my praises. This video will definitely be useful to me and I really appreciate it.

Playing the directors cut at the moment and i`m at episode 7. Your video helped clear some question i wasn`t sure about and teached me something i haven`t thought was possible. Thanks!

I am so broke I am contemplating Death Stranding more so now than before. Well, I love this game and I'm grateful to this video. thanks Caedo Genesis, that's all I can afford to give.

I thought I knew all the tips after multiple playthroughs, but you got me with the last one. In the director's cut you can use zip lines with the carriers!!!! I had no idea.

at 14:00 - use drift button when driving trucks uphill. Drift works really well in that case

You can also see timefall bounce of BTs if you can focus ahead, instead of on the ground and your odradek. I always just navigated only with the odradek warnings on the first playthrough.

Another great thing about roads is that BTs can’t reach you anywhere if you are on the pavement

Finally Discovering this game in 2023 (Had a sealed copy since 2019 LOL) DS is an amazing game and ty for this guide!

That sneaking tip is so damn good thank you so much

I've played this game for 50+ hours and this video still taught me a lot of simple stuff I simply didn't know. I didn't even realise the BT's will only show up on scan if you're not moving. I just simply hadn't noticed it only worked when I wasn't moving. Great video man

Two tips wasn't mentioned: Even if the truck is full you can put the first "row" of things from your back to the passenger seat. Also, when you carry a body, you can seat it on the passenger seat and drive with it given you have no other excess cargo on your back (nothing hanged on your tool rack and on the suit, etc).

You can still drive a full truck with some cargo on you - equipment doesnt count, but you can also have cargo on the back (anything that fits into the backpack - 2 Ls or equivalent) and up to 4 S cargos attached to suit

I swear, whenever I see people reviewing Death Stranding, they always never use the grip buttons. It's so annoying seeing them say stuff like, "It's too difficult to walk around, I keep falling over." And the whole time they aren't using the grip buttons. It's just really irritating, like at least learn how to play the game first..

They don't mention that you can take carriers with you on zip lines in the director's cut. Atleast I never saw any mention of this. This was such a hassle in the standard game when I need to take a lot of cargo but wasn't able to use the zip line because I had a carrier with me. This will make new orders so much better now in the mountains area since traversing by zip line is the fastest way to get around

Deliver the damn Pizza's right off the bat. More than worth getting done. The rewards for delivering them all. Can help a lot early in the game. And help keep your cargo load down.

Driving up steap hills is also much easier if you go in reverse.

There are alot of materials in the ruined shelter by craftsman... Just access the terminal where you collect his tools, and open the private locker. Great for building roads

The game blasts you with so many mechanics that I missed some of it, and the ingame tips aren't that thorough. So, thank you!

13:30 You were close about the truck being full and Sam not being able to get in with extra cargo. Sam can still get into a full truck with cargo on his back as long as the cargo on his back all fits into his backpack or on his arms and legs. If anything is stacked higher than his pack, he can't get in a full truck.

I had no clue you could dodge! I discovered tackling accidentally and knew about the dropkick but had no idea there was even more. That changes everything!

The Bridges truck also keeps orders chilled. Very handy for getting Legend of Legend of Legend on those mountain-sourced deliveries.

I've only had this happen once, but when I was driving a Mule truck through their area, they didn't spot me as an enemy until I stepped out and began fighting. Great moment, lol.

Great video, alot of effort you put in here. much respect

Started my first playthrough of this game a couple of days ago, so thank you for this video; Lots of good tips and info! I am feeling VERY lost mainly because of the utter mess that is the interface menues. Like the quest log, for example; I've just completely given up on trying to make sense of it. Yikes! Still managing to pull my own load, pun intended, regardless, though. But that thing is a situation.

I didnt know about the zipline upgrade!!!! Thank you!

Also, you don’t have the road network in the first area. If you are going to put down a zip line, please check what others exist on the map and try and space yours out at least 300m from the other. Use cliff tops to your advantage!

I built a zip line from the first city connecting áll of them down till the farm and the south city. With this i reduced the traveling time on built road (30min travel) to 5 minute zip line travel. With this i manage to deliver in premium delivery from the south city to the first one within total 30 min travel time instead of 1, 5 hour +. This game is a masterpiece.

I spent way too long in the first area. Lugging deliveries back and forth. The internet told me so and I"m glad that I held off further lugging until episode 3.

This helped me out. I just got the game about 3 weeks ago. I was mostly trying to build roads in central area, but started getting low on materials and didn’t want to farm them anymore 😅

About carrying cargo into truck Even if you fully loaded it completely Sam can bring with him the cargo in his Legs and Shoulders, witch is 4S (small) and the exactly amount of the backpack It is 1XL (extra large) + 1M (medium) or 2S Or 2L (large) I need to make a video explaining this, about the sizes of the cargos Never saw anyone talking about it Great video, I've been playing the game since launch on PS4, I'm currently playing offline to get a challenge and your video game me some tips I never thought Wish I Had Director's Cut Amazing work Keep on keeping on 👍🏼

Best video i've seen on tips and tricks for this game. Bravo dude! You got a sub from me.

the "balloon" bts that show up near the incinerator in the central region and around the edge of the map in several spots are super easy to kill, and drop chiral crystals and sometimes cargo like dlhigh density materials. they are always in large groups andnits easy to get 3000+ crystals in a few minutes by killing them. they respawn after a few hours assuming you dont rest in a private room and faster if you do.