Death Stranding is a Kojima game about delivering cargo and reconnecting America. Kojima is famous for making unique games such as the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and Death Stranding is no exception. In Death Stranding, you'll travel to lots of different locations, and none of it would be possible without the useful items that you can find and create. These include weapons, vehicles, and even different kinds of unique technology.

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Below you'll find ten items that make Sam Porter's life so much easier and why it's essential that you carry them with you​​​​​ at all times. From foldable ladders to floating carriers, here are ten of the most useful items in Death Stranding.

Updated September 8, 2022 by Michael Caruso: The equipment in Death Stranding is one of the things that sets it apart from other games. You can use weapons, tools, and machines to guide Sam Porter to each of his destinations, making each trip easier than the last as you unlock the ability to use new items. Without this special equipment, Sam wouldn't make it a day in the open world, so it's important to know about the best equipment and how they function. We've included a few additional items in Death Stranding that you should use for maximum delivery speed.

20 Stun Bombs

Death Stranding Stun Bomb Creating Electricity

Stun Bombs are an easy way to get enemies out of your way without killing them, especially if they're all grouped up in one area. This weapon has the potential to stun or even knock enemies unconscious, which makes it easier to traverse certain terrain and locations without deadly weapons.

Additionally, Stun Bombs can disable vehicles that they hit, giving them another use. To get the most out of Stun Bombs, you should use them against groups of enemies as opposed to single ones. Water is another useful way to utilize this bomb since it increases the effects and width of the Stun Bomb.

19 Assault Rifle

Death Stranding Assault Rifle Hanging On A Wall

The Assault Rifle is a very powerful and lethal weapon you can use in Death Stranding. Human enemies are susceptible to its ammo, and it has a fast fire rate, making it the perfect weapon if you want something that can easily kill any human enemy you encounter. There's also a non-lethal version of the Assault Rifle, which may be preferable in certain situations.

Combat in Death Stranding is challenging, so having such a powerful weapon by your side will make fights against enemy groups much easier and less risky. Assault Rifles can hold 30 ammo per clip at a time, which means you'll only have to reload occasionally.

18 Sticky Gun

Death Stranding Sam Using The Sticky Gun

Sticky Guns allow you to retrieve cargo at a distance, which is ideal if cargo has fallen and you can't pick it up without changing your path. You can shoot a projectile at the cargo using the Sticky Gun, then pull it back to Sam, catching it in the air.

If you don't catch the cargo in the air, then it'll get damaged as it falls to the ground. There are so many situations where cargo can fall, so the Sticky Gun is an invaluable tool for players of all skill levels. However, it comes with the risk of the cargo taking damage, giving this item a risk vs reward factor that only you can account for.

17 Thermal Pad

Death Stranding Sam Porter Wearing Thermal Pads

Thermal Pads are useful if you'll be traveling to cold areas around the open world. You can equip this item to reduce the stamina drain that you receive in colder locations, which is very helpful while making trips atop snowy mountains. However, the downside to wearing Thermal Pads is that your battery will drain faster, so you need to be careful while wearing them.

Wearing Thermal Pads is definitely a trade-off, but they're the perfect piece of gear for a snowy delivery if you plan correctly. Sam wears the Thermal Pads on his hips and shoulders, so it'll help keep him toasty all over his body. While wearing Thermal Pads, you can even sleep in cold locations.

16 Riot Shotgun

Death Stranding Riot Shotgun Hanging On A Wall

Riot Shotguns are perfect if you're within arms reach of an enemy. They can deal massive damage depending on how close you are and have large spread, so it's easy to hit your target from close range. These shotguns are also semi-automatic, so they're also a lot of fun to use compared to other weapons.

At level two of the Riot Shotgun, you unlock the ability to use hematic rounds as well, so this is a weapon that can effect most enemy types. If you like shotguns in video games, then the Riot Shotgun may be better for you compared to something like the Assault Rifle, especially in close combat situations.

15 Grenade Launcher

Death Stranding Grenade Launcher In The Snow

Although grenade launchers are a weapon famous for being powerful in video games, they're even more useful in Death Stranding because you can load the weapon up with multiple types of ammo.

The types of ammo that you can use with a grenade launcher include explosive grenades and hematic grenades, which you can use against BT enemies. The effects of each grenade only activate when they hit a surface or enemy.

14 ​​​​​​Power Skeleton

Death Stranding Sam Porter In The Power Skeleton In The Menu

The power skeleton is most useful when you're carrying a lot of items. This skeleton gives Sam Porter extra strength; however, you won't move very fast while carrying all that cargo. If you aren't using a vehicle and you have to deliver many cargo boxes, then it's most worthwhile to use the power skeleton instead of the speed skeleton.

Power skeletons are great, and they make your journey a lot simpler because you won't have to sacrifice delivering any cargo while you have the skeleton equipped.

13 Hematic Grenade

Death Stranding Hematic Grenade Exploding In A Field

Grenades in Death Stranding are plentiful; however, not every type of grenade damages BT enemies. The most potent form of grenade for fighting BTs is the hematic grenade, and they're easy to create because they require Sam's blood, which is an easy resource to obtain in Death Stranding.

Although there are other types of weapons you can use to fight BTs, hematic grenades are helpful because they deal radius damage and don't require an external weapon to shoot them.

12 Cargo Catapult

Death Stranding Cargo Catapult Launching Cargo Boxes

Added in The Director's Cut, the Cargo Catapult is one of the best time-saving pieces of equipment in Death Stranding. You can use this powerful tool to launch cargo across the map, making it easier to transfer items over challenging obstacles that would otherwise require a long hike.

If you need help getting cargo from one place to another without carrying it, then the cargo catapult is one of your only options for swiftly moving boxes over mountains and rivers.

11 Delivery Bot

Death Stranding Delivery Bot Carrying Cargo

Sometimes you don't want to deliver a specific piece of cargo because it seems like such a hassle; that's where delivery bots come in. You can launch delivery bots across the world, allowing them to travel to a destination all by themselves.

With the delivery bots, you can make even more deliveries in the same amount of time, so this piece of technology is one of the most efficient items in the entire game for avoiding deliveries on foot.

10 Speed Skeleton

Death Stranding Sam In The Speed Skeleton In The Menu

Death Stranding features a lot of hiking, and sometimes it's nice to have equipment that can speed up your travels. There are lots of vehicles in Death Stranding; however, one of the most underrated pieces of equipment that can help you cross terrains quickly is the speed skeleton.

At the cost of strength, this skeleton helps you move much quicker on foot. Unfortunately, you can't obtain it until around the middle of the story; however, once you've acquired it, you can immediately feel the difference and run like the wind. Sam Porter needs this essential skeleton to traverse the landscape swiftly.

9 Anti-BT Handgun

Death Stranding Anti BT Handgun Hanging On A Wall

This powerful piece of tech will ward off the pesky BT enemies with hardly any inventory space sacrificed. Most guns in Death Stranding require a large portion of your inventory space to carry them around, but this gun is the exception to the rule.

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The main function of the Anti-BT Handgun is to have a pistol on hand at all times that can defend you against the ghostly figures that you'll encounter throughout Death Stranding.

8 Truck

Death Stranding Truck Next To A Rock

The truck is an essential vehicle for any delivery person in the Death Stranding world. Its main advantages are that it can move faster than Sam Porter can on foot, and it can carry a truckload of items that you might not have taken because of limited inventory space.

Although this vehicle will need to be charged occasionally, it's definitely worth the extra generator cargo because of how many items can be carried in the back. You'll always want to consider taking one of these trucks for any long-range delivery assignments.

7 Ladder

Death Stranding Sam Porter Climbing A Ladder

The ladder is a very self-explanatory item. It can help you scale mountains and deliver cargo to otherwise unreachable locations. One downside of the ladder is that sometimes they can't extend enough to get you to where you're trying to go.

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From crossing streams to scaling mountains, the ladder is every delivery person's best friend. Packages won't get damaged often when you can quickly deliver them with few obstacles, and having a ladder on hand is essential for making quick deliveries.

6 Generator

Death Stranding Generator Charging Sam's Equipment

You can carry portable generators in your inventory and use them to charge other items such as vehicles like trucks or bikes. If you're riding a vehicle over a long distance, then you'll want at least one of these on hand so that you can charge your gear back up to full power.

Generators take up a medium amount of inventory space, so although they're not the smallest piece of gear in in Death Stranding, you can usually make room for a few of these if you're driving a vehicle. Generators are critical to ensuring that Sam Porter performs his job well.

5 Climbing Anchor

Death Stranding Sam Porter Hanging From A Hook

Sometimes you'll come across mountains that are too steep to walk down normally. This is where the climbing anchor really shines. You can attach it to the ground to scale mountains and other terrains without having to worry about falling and sliding down the hill.

This piece of gear goes hand-in-hand with the ladder because they both share a similar function, just with different ways of completing their goal. When you come across a climbing anchor left by another player in Death Stranding, you'll feel very relieved.

4 Bola Gun

Death Stranding Enemy Dying To The Bola Gun

The Bola Gun is a powerful weapon that can stun enemies while also keeping them alive, with its visual effect causing blue orbs to shoot at the foe. This is one of the first weapons that Sam receives in Death Stranding, and although there are a few weapons that are more powerful than this one, because of its non-lethal traits, there aren't many other tools that you can use to end an enemy's reign of terror without killing them.

You can easily craft this gun, and it's small enough not to make a giant dent in your inventory. The Bola Gun is a weapon that every post-apocalyptic delivery person should always have on hand because, along with it not killing enemies, it's also quick to temporarily stun enemies.

3 Timefall Shelter

Death Stranding Timefall Shelter In A Storm

Throughout Death Stranding, you'll have to deal with Timefall showers that can attract BTs towards Sam and his BB. The only way to get around these storms is to craft and deploy a Timefall shelter within the world.

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The relief of finding one of these shelters can cause an immense feeling of happiness because of how difficult dealing with the BT enemies is in Death Stranding. You should always carry a Timefall Shelter if you have some extra space on your back or vehicle.

2 Reverse Trike

Death Stranding Reverse Trike Traveling The Terrain

Riding motorcycles inside video games has never been as useful as in Death Stranding. The reverse trike deserves its notoriety because of the bike's ability to quickly traverse the terrain and zoom past enemies.

Few pieces of gear are as useful and necessary as the reverse trike because motorcycles aren't something that other types of vehicles can replace. You need to be on the lookout for reverse trikes while adventuring so that you can move quickly throughout the world.

1 Floating Carrier

Death Stranding Floating Carrier Carrying Cargo

The main advantage of using floating carriers in Death Stranding is that they can hover above the terrain, so you won't have to worry about them falling down or tripping over rocks like other vehicles in the game.

The floating carrier's downside is that it requires chiral crystals as fuel; however, getting cargo transported easily and with minimal hassle is worth it. Sam can even ride these carriers himself, which is very fun. Floating carriers feature a unique mechanic, and they're one of the most useful items in Death Stranding, which is why you should use them as often as possible.

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