As with the first game, Death Stranding 2 has various stats you can improve and level up over time, though they're more varied—and important—than before.. You also improve them in a slightly different way, too.
With even harsher conditions across Mexico and Australia than in North America, including new storms, earthquakes, landslides, and so on, you need to have your wits about you. Focusing on boosting these stats will pay off massively in helping you deal with new threats.
This guide is based on the PS5 version of Death Stranding 2, but we'll update it if anything changes as and when the PC version arrives. If the first game is anything to judge by, we could see it coming our way in around six months time.
How to improve each Death Stranding 2 stat
There are a total of 12 stats that you can level up, split into two categories: Sam's fitness and his weaponry skills. You level each of these stats by performing a different action—some easier than others, like terrain traversal—with five levels of upgrades to progress through:
Stat | How to Improve | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Terrain Traversal | Traverse natural obstacles like slopes, rivers | Reduces stamina depletion when wading through water or scrambling up gradients |
Carry heavy cargo loads over long distances | Increases Sam's maximum weight limit | |
Endurance | Running for long periods of time | Reduces fatigue accumulation |
KO Resistance | Moving while holding to centre your balance, and blocking enemy attacks | Damage reduction to make Sam harder to knock unconscious |
Lung Capacity | Holding your breath for extended periods of time | Increases how long you can hold your breath for |
Strand Skills | Binding enemies from behind (stealth takedowns) | Increases the attack range of your strand |
Mastery: Melee Combat | Kill enemies while unarmed or using melee weapons | Increases melee damage, attack combo length, and makes melee weapons more durable |
Mastery: Handguns | Kill enemies using handguns | Improve reload speed, reticle sway, and recoil control with handguns |
Mastery: Assault Rifles | Kill enemies using assault rifles | Improve reload speed, reticle sway, and recoil control with assault rifles |
Mastery: Sniper Rifles | Kill enemies using sniper rifles | Improve reload speed, reticle sway, and recoil control with sniper rifles |
Mastery: Machine Guns | Kill enemies using Machine Guns | Improve reload speed, reticle sway, and recoil control with machine guns |
Mastery: Shotguns | Kill enemies using shotguns | Improve reload speed, reticle sway, and recoil control with shotguns |
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