If you’ve spent any time hauling cargo across Death Stranding 2’s rugged, BT-infested wasteland, you know bad roads can turn a simple delivery into a disaster of broken parcels and wasted time. The auto paver in Death Stranding 2 is one of the most underrated tools you can unlock, cutting down your travel time by hours once you know how to use it properly. I’ve put 120+ hours into both the pre-release build and full launch version, so I’ve tested every trick, glitch, and best use case for this tool to save you the frustration of figuring it out on your own.
How to Unlock the Auto Paver in Death Stranding 2
You won’t get access to the auto paver until you complete the 8th main story mission, “Pathfinder’s Request”, which tasks you with delivering 3 tons of construction materials to the southern knot city outpost. A lot of players skip the optional side quests tied to this outpost, but you’ll need to finish at least 2 of them to unlock the full auto paver blueprint instead of the limited trial version. The trial version only lets you pave 100 meters of road at a time, so it’s worth taking 20 minutes to run those small delivery side quests first.
You’ll also need to have a level 2 construction terminal at any outpost you want to deploy the paver from, so make sure you’ve donated enough chiral crystals and metal to upgrade those terminals before you start planning your road network. If you’re playing on hard mode, the side quest requirement jumps to 3 completed side missions for the southern outpost, but you also get a 10% material cost discount for all auto paver projects as a bonus, which adds up fast when you’re paving hundreds of kilometers of road.
Best Use Cases for the Auto Paver in Death Stranding 2
The auto paver isn’t just for making smooth roads for your trucks. I’ve found it works for way more use cases than most players realize, especially if you’re playing with friends in co-op. I’ve listed the highest-impact uses below to help you prioritize your first paving projects:
- High-traffic delivery routes between major knot cities: Paving these routes first cuts delivery time by 60% on average, and reduces cargo damage from bumpy terrain by 80% in my testing.
- BT zone border paths: Paved roads don’t hold chiral residue the same way dirt paths do, so BTs are far less likely to spawn within 20 meters of a paved road, making these routes much safer for low-level players.
- Steep mountain access roads: If you’re hauling heavy cargo up to the mountain outposts, a paved road lets you use a truck instead of climbing on foot, cutting a 45-minute trip down to 7 minutes tops.
- Co-op shared construction zones: Any road you pave with the auto paver is visible to all players on your shared server, so you can team up with friends to build a full cross-map road network in a few hours instead of days.
One mistake I see new players make is paving small, random side paths first. That wastes a ton of metal and chiral crystals, and you’ll end up running out of materials when you need to pave the high-traffic routes that actually move the needle on your delivery efficiency. I once spent 3 hours paving the full route between the southern knot city and the mountain outpost with two friends, and we cut our average delivery time for that route from 35 minutes to 5 minutes. That saved us over 10 hours of travel time across the rest of our playthrough, so the time investment was more than worth it. I always recommend mapping out your top 3 most used routes first before you touch any side paths.
Common Auto Paver in Death Stranding 2 Issues (And How to Fix Them)
Even if you follow all the unlock steps, you might run into a few glitches or usage issues with the auto paver that aren’t explained in the in-game tutorial. The most common issue players face is the paver stopping mid-pave with a “insufficient chiral density” error. This doesn’t mean you’re out of materials, it means you’re too close to a BT zone or a timefall storm edge. Move the paver’s starting point 50 meters away from the storm or BT border, and it will start working again immediately.
Another common issue is the paver not syncing to your co-op server. If your friends can’t see the roads you paved, just restart your construction terminal at the nearest outpost, and the road will sync across all players on your server within 2 minutes. You also might notice the paver uses 20% more materials than the in-game estimate lists, that’s not a glitch. The estimate doesn’t account for uneven terrain, so always bring extra metal and chiral crystals when you’re paving mountain routes, where the extra material cost is highest. There’s also a rare glitch where the paver will spawn a small section of road that’s invisible, even though it’s solid to drive on. If that happens, just walk along the invisible section and spray a single can of chiral spray on it, and it will become visible immediately. The devs are aware of the glitch and are planning a patch for it, but that quick fix works 100% of the time for now. I always add 25% to the listed estimate so I never run out mid-project.
Tips to Maximize Your Auto Paver Efficiency
Once you’ve got the basics down, there are a few little tricks I’ve picked up that make using the auto paver way faster and cheaper. First, always pave roads during clear, non-timefall weather. Timefall makes the paver work 30% slower, and the fresh pavement will degrade 2x faster if it’s exposed to timefall right after it’s laid. If you see a storm coming, pause your paving project and come back later, it will save you a ton of repair work down the line.
Another tip is to team up with 1-2 other players when you’re paving long cross-map routes. If one player brings materials, one operates the paver, and one scopes the route for BTs and obstacles, you can pave 3x faster than you would working alone. You can also use recycled cargo from lost delivery missions as construction materials for the paver, which cuts down the cost of building roads by almost half if you collect enough lost cargo as you run regular deliveries. If you’re playing solo, you can also use your floating carrier to haul extra materials to the paver, so you don’t have to make multiple trips back to the terminal for more supplies. The floating carrier can hold 2 tons of construction materials at a time, which is enough to pave 500 meters of road on flat terrain without needing to restock. I stopped buying construction materials from terminals entirely once I started saving all the lost cargo I found for auto paver projects.
At the end of the day, the auto paver in Death Stranding 2 is a tool that rewards a little bit of planning before you start using it. It’s not the flashiest tool in the game, but it’s one of the few that makes every other part of your playthrough easier, from delivery missions to co-op events to exploring hidden parts of the map. Don’t rush to unlock it if you’re still working through early story missions, but once you get access, take the time to learn its quirks and plan your road network properly, you won’t regret the time you put into it.
