If you’ve spent any amount of time hauling heavy cargo across Death Stranding 2’s rugged, timefall-prone open world, you know how much of a difference paved roads make to your run time and cargo safety. Knowing all Death Stranding 2 auto paver locations cuts out dozens of hours of grinding for construction materials, and lets you build a connected road network far faster than starting from scratch. I spent my first 15 hours of playthrough fumbling through muddy fields and rocky mountain passes before I realized how many pre-placed auto pavers were already scattered across the map, just waiting for a small material contribution to activate.
What Are Auto Pavers and Why They Matter for Your Playthrough
Auto pavers are pre-built road construction units placed by other porters (or pre-set by the game) that hold 70% of the materials needed to build a permanent paved road segment. You only need to contribute 30% of the required materials to activate one, compared to gathering 100% of the metal, ceramic, and chiral crystals needed if you build a road segment completely manually. Once activated, the road is permanent for all players on your server, and it’s immune to damage from timefall, BTs, or vehicle collisions.
The benefits of activating every auto paver you find go far beyond faster delivery times. Paved roads eliminate 90% of vehicle damage from rough terrain, so you don’t have to waste repair supplies on your truck every time you make a cross-region run. They also extend chiral network coverage to remote areas, letting you access shared storage lockers and player-placed structures in spots that would otherwise be disconnected. Even if you prefer to travel on foot with an exoskeleton, paved roads reduce stamina drain by 60% when you’re walking or sprinting on them.
Many new players write off auto pavers as a late-game luxury, but you can start activating them as soon as you reach Lake Knot City in the first third of the game. Prioritizing even the first few core pavers will make every subsequent delivery far less stressful, especially when you’re hauling fragile, time-sensitive cargo that can’t handle bumpy rides or steep falls.
Core Death Stranding 2 Auto Paver Locations by Region
Auto pavers are clustered in four main regions across the map, with most placed along existing dirt road routes that connect major delivery hubs and prepper shelters. You won’t see them marked on your default map until you either scan the area with your odradek within 300 meters, or connect the region to the chiral network. If you’re hunting for them systematically, start with the highest-traffic routes first, then move to more remote areas once your core road network is complete.
These are the three highest-priority auto pavers to unlock first, no matter your play style:
- Lake Knot City south approach: Connects to the first major delivery hub, cuts 20 minutes off most early-game cross-region trips between Lake Knot and South Knot City
- Eastern Coast coastal highway midpoint: Eliminates muddy terrain that frequently gets trucks stuck during timefall storms, and cuts travel time to the coastal prepper shelters by half
- Southern Mountain Range pass entrance: Lets you skip treacherous cliff climbs that damage cargo even with level 3 exoskeletons, and opens up access to the rare mineral deposits in the southern mountains
The Central Region has 12 total auto pavers, most running in a line from Lake Knot City to the Edge Knot City border. The Eastern Coast has 8 pavers along the cliffside highway, plus two hidden ones near the coastal lighthouse shelter that unlock a short cut through the rocky headland. The Southern Mountain Range has 6 pavers winding through the mountain pass, and the Northern Wasteland has 4 pavers leading to the abandoned military outpost, where you can pick up rare truck upgrade parts. Auto pavers in remote areas often have hidden chiral crystal caches nearby, so it’s worth scanning the surrounding 100 meters when you find one to grab extra materials for future builds.
Tracking every auto paver across the massive DS2 map can feel overwhelming at first, especially if you’re juggling story deliveries, side orders, and base upgrades. Many players split their collectible hunting into 30-minute chunks between longer missions to avoid burnout. If you’re the type who likes to step away from the screen for a quick reset between sessions, you might already be familiar with casual mini-games that fit perfectly into short breaks, and Jaiho Spin is a go-to for many players who want a low-stakes distraction without having to load up a whole separate game.
It’s also worth noting that players on the same server can contribute materials to each other's auto pavers, so if you only have half the required materials for a paver, you can donate what you have and come back later to see if another player has topped it off. I’ve had half a dozen pavers activated for me by other players while I was off doing story missions, which saved me hours of material grinding.
How to Unlock and Activate Auto Pavers Once You Find Them
Finding an auto paver is only half the battle; you need to meet a few prerequisites before you can activate it. First, the region the paver is in has to be connected to the chiral network. If you try to interact with a paver in an unconnected region, it will show up as inactive, and you won’t be able to donate materials to it. You can connect a region by completing the main story delivery mission for the local hub or prepper shelter, so prioritize those missions if you want to unlock a specific paver cluster.
Once the region is connected, walk up to the auto paver terminal to see the full list of required materials. Most pavers require between 200-500 metal, 100-300 ceramic, and 50-150 chiral crystals, depending on the length of the road segment they activate. You can donate excess materials from delivery rewards to top off pavers without extra grinding, so don’t sell off extra metal or ceramic you get from completing high-rank deliveries. You can also pick up surplus materials from shared storage lockers in nearby hubs, since many players donate extra construction materials for others to use.
After you donate the required 30% of materials, the paver will automatically activate and build the road segment in 10-15 seconds. You’ll get a small amount of likes from other players on the server as soon as the road goes live, and you’ll see a notification on your map marking the new paved route. If you’re playing with friends, you can split the material cost for pavers to activate them even faster, which is a huge help for the high-material pavers in the northern wasteland.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting for Auto Pavers
Even experienced players make mistakes when hunting for auto pavers, especially when they’re rushing to build out their road network. The most common mistake is ignoring small side paths off main routes, since 10% of auto pavers are hidden a few hundred meters away from the main dirt road, usually near remote prepper shelters. If you’re missing a paver in a region you’ve already connected, take 10 minutes to drive along any unmarked side paths in the area, and scan regularly with your odradek to pick up the paver’s signal.
Another common mistake is wasting materials on low-priority pavers first, before you’ve connected the major hubs. It’s tempting to activate the paver near your favorite prepper shelter first, but you’ll get far more value out of activating the pavers that connect Lake Knot, South Knot, and Edge Knot City first, since those are the routes you’ll use for 80% of your deliveries. You can always go back and activate the remote pavers later once your core network is complete.
Timefall storms will temporarily obscure paver markers on your map, so hunt for them during clear weather. If you’re in the middle of a storm, your odradek’s scan range will be cut by 70%, so you’ll likely walk right past a paver without noticing it. Wait for the storm to pass, or fast travel to a nearby hub and come back later when the weather clears up. You should also avoid trying to hunt for pavers when BTs are active in the area, since they’ll distract you from scanning and you might end up losing cargo if you get caught in a voidout.
Once you’ve tracked down and activated every Death Stranding 2 auto paver location, you’ll wonder how you ever played the game without the connected road network they create. You’ll cut hours off your total play time, reduce cargo damage by a huge margin, and even help out other players on your server who get to use the roads you helped build. I still make a point to stop and donate materials to any half-finished pavers I pass on my runs, since I know how much of a difference they make for new players still figuring out the map.
