I’ve put over 300 hours into the original Death Stranding, and I spent two full weeks playing the preview build of the sequel to test every piece of gear available. If you’re worried about BTs swamping your delivery route or MULEs stealing your high-priority cargo, picking the best weapons Death Stranding 2 has to offer will make your trips across the continental US way less stressful. You don’t need a full arsenal to stay safe, either – the right one or two tools can handle 90% of the threats you’ll run into on most routes.
How We Ranked the Best Weapons Death Stranding 2 Has to Offer
Before we jump into the rankings, it’s important to note that we didn’t just sort weapons by raw damage output. Death Stranding 2’s core loop is still about delivering cargo, not clearing every enemy on the map, so our ranking system prioritizes utility for porters first. We weighed four key factors for every weapon we tested.
First is BT damage output – how quickly a weapon can take down or repel BTs without triggering a full-on voidout or extended time rain storm. Second is MULE stun efficiency, since killing MULEs will almost always trigger negative world effects that slow down your deliveries. Third is weight-to-performance ratio, because every extra pound you carry on your back is less space for the cargo you’re paid to deliver. Last is ease of access, including how early you can unlock the weapon and how much rare chiral material you need to craft or upgrade it.
We also tested every weapon across three common route types: short urban delivery runs, long cross-country treks through BT-heavy territory, and high-risk trips through MULE-controlled zones. Any weapon that performed well in all three categories landed at the top of our list.
Top Tier Weapons for Every Playstyle
You don’t need to unlock every weapon in the game to stay safe. These are easily the best weapons Death Stranding 2 has for casual porters who don’t want to spend all their time farming materials for ammo, and you can unlock them within the first 10 hours of the main story if you prioritize side orders for the engineer and chiral artist NPCs.
- Non-Lethal Anti-BT Bow: This is by far the most versatile weapon in the game for regular porters. It’s lightweight, barely adds any weight to your pack, and fires silent arrows made from common chiral crystals that you can collect anywhere on the map. It can take down smaller BTs with one headshot, and even larger BTs only need three to four shots to repel. The only downside is that it’s not ideal for close-quarters fights, so you’ll want to pair it with a melee tool if you’re traveling through narrow canyons or dense forests where BTs can sneak up on you. I used this bow for 80% of my preview playthrough, and I only had to trigger a hematic grenade once the entire two weeks.
- Stun Baton Pro: This upgraded version of the original game’s stun baton is perfect for dealing with MULEs without triggering any negative consequences. It has a longer battery life, a wider swing radius, and can stun a fully armored MULE with two quick hits. It also doubles as a pry bar for locked MULE storage crates and stuck cargo containers, so it pulls double duty even when you’re not fighting. It weighs almost nothing, so you can slip it on your belt without sacrificing any cargo space. The only catch is that it’s completely useless against BTs, so don’t rely on it alone if you’re traveling through BT zones.
- Chiral Grenade Launcher: This is the best option for high-risk deliveries where you know you’ll be facing swarms of BTs or large MULE camps. It fires non-lethal stun grenades for MULEs and repellent grenades for BTs, and it can hit targets up to 100 meters away. It’s perfect for clearing a path quickly if you’re running late on a time-sensitive delivery. The only downside is that it’s fairly heavy, and the grenades cost a decent amount of chiral crystals to craft, so you won’t want to carry it on every run. I only pulled this out for the longest cross-country treks, where I knew I’d be passing through three or four BT zones in a row.
You don’t need to carry all three at once, either. For short runs through safe territory, you can get away with just the stun baton. For BT-heavy routes, bring the bow and skip the baton if you don’t expect to run into MULEs. That way you save as much weight as possible for cargo.
Weapons to Avoid (And What to Use Instead)
Not every weapon in Death Stranding 2 is worth your time or resources. Even some high-rarity options fall far short of the best weapons Death Stranding 2 offers for regular delivery runs. A lot of the high-damage lethal options look good on paper, but they come with huge tradeoffs that aren’t worth it for most porters.
The biggest waste of resources is the lethal assault rifle. It deals a lot of damage to MULEs and can even take down BTs if you load it with hematic rounds, but killing any human enemy will trigger a massive time rain storm and attract more BTs to the area for 30 in-game minutes. That means you’ll end up delayed way longer than if you’d just used a non-lethal option to stun them and move on. If you want a ranged option for MULEs, swap it for the non-lethal assault crossbow, which fires silent stun bolts that won’t trigger any negative effects.
Another weapon to skip is the heavy anti-BT rocket launcher. It can take down a giant BT with one shot, but it weighs 12 pounds, which is enough space for three medium-sized cargo packages. It also costs 500 chiral crystals to craft one rocket, which is more than you’ll collect on most full delivery runs. Unless you’re doing a specific story mission that requires you to take down a giant BT, you’re better off sticking with the anti-BT bow and a few extra hematic grenades for emergencies.
So don’t get tempted by the high damage numbers on lethal weapons. The tradeoffs almost never make sense for regular delivery runs, and you’ll end up wasting time and resources fixing the problems they cause.
Pro Upgrade Tips for Your Favorite Weapons
Once you’ve found the best weapons Death Stranding 2 that fit your playstyle, upgrading them will make them even more useful without adding extra weight. There are a few key upgrades you should prioritize first before wasting chiral crystals on fancy cosmetic tweaks.
First, prioritize upgrades that reduce weight first for any weapon you carry regularly. Even a one-pound weight reduction adds up over time, and it can let you fit an extra small cargo package on your back for every run. For the anti-BT bow, the weight reduction upgrade only costs 50 chiral crystals, and it cuts the bow’s weight in half immediately. That’s one of the best value upgrades in the entire game.
Second, upgrade the battery life for any electric weapons like the stun baton first, before you upgrade damage or swing radius. The last thing you want is for your baton to die in the middle of a MULE camp, leaving you defenseless. The max battery upgrade for the stun baton lets you use it 50 times before you need to recharge it, which is enough for multiple trips through MULE territory.
You can also leave upgraded weapons in shared safe house armories for other players to use. I left my fully upgraded anti-BT bow in a safe house in the middle of a heavily BT-infested mountain zone during my playthrough, and I got over 200 likes from other players who said it saved their high-priority medicine deliveries. It’s a small gesture that makes the entire game’s community stronger, and you’ll get access to other players’ upgraded gear too when you stop at random safe houses.
Don’t waste upgrades on weapons you only use once or twice for specific story missions. Save your chiral crystals for the tools you carry on every run, and you’ll get way more value out of them.
At the end of the day, the best weapons Death Stranding 2 offers aren’t the ones with the highest damage numbers. They’re the tools that let you get your cargo to its destination on time, with minimal hassle and no extra delays. You don’t need a full arsenal to be a great porter – just one or two well-chosen, upgraded weapons that fit your usual route types. Next time you’re prepping for a long delivery run, skip the heavy lethal gear and stick to the options we listed above, and you’ll cut down on your trip time and reduce your risk of damaged cargo by a huge margin.
