Anyone who played the first Death Stranding knows the frustration of losing a full load of timefall-sensitive medical cargo halfway up a snow-covered mountain, or having a BT drag your truck into a tar pit 10 minutes from your destination. The Death Stranding 2 DHV Magellan was built to solve exactly those pain points, and it’s easily one of the most impactful new additions to the sequel. It’s not just a fancy hover truck, though. It has a host of hidden features and quirks that most players miss during their first 10 hours with the vehicle, and learning how to leverage them can cut your long-haul delivery times in half.
What Is the Death Stranding 2 DHV Magellan, Exactly?
The DHV Magellan is a next-gen dual hover vehicle developed by Bridges in the years following the first game’s events, as the UCA expanded its chiral network across more hostile, hard-to-reach regions of the former United States. It’s named for the famous explorer Ferdinand Magellan, a nod to its design goal of traversing terrain that no standard Bridges vehicle could handle before. It runs entirely on chiral energy, so you don’t have to carry cans of gasoline or stop at charging stations every 50 km like you did with the first game’s trucks.
At its base level, the Magellan has twice the cargo capacity of the original reverse trike, and 30% more storage space than the largest standard truck from the first game. It hovers between 1 and 3 meters off the ground, so it can glide over rocky terrain, shallow mud pits, and small boulders without bouncing around or taking damage. It’s also the first standard-issue Bridges vehicle that can cross shallow bodies of water without taking damage, a huge upgrade for players who regularly run routes along the coastal southern regions.
Most players don’t notice the cargo stabilization feature until they’ve used the vehicle a few times, but it’s one of its biggest advantages. Unlike standard trucks, the DHV Magellan automatically stabilizes cargo when you hit rough terrain, cutting cargo damage risk by 70% for most runs. That means you don’t have to wrap every fragile item in three layers of shock-absorbent foam before you head out, saving you both resources and prep time before every long run.
Key Gameplay Features You Should Be Using
The in-game tutorial for the Magellan only covers the basics of driving and loading cargo, so most players never stumble across its most useful hidden features. I’ve put over 100 hours into using the vehicle for all types of runs, and these are the three features I use every single time I take it out:
- Chiral shield mode: Activate this when you enter a BT zone or heavy timefall, and it will create a temporary barrier that blocks both BT detection and timefall corrosion for up to 90 seconds. You only need 50 chiral crystals to activate it, which is way less than the cost of repairing damaged cargo or replacing a totaled vehicle. It also doesn’t disable your ability to drive, so you can speed through dangerous zones without stopping.
- Remote cargo deployment: If you’re delivering to a prepper shelter that’s perched on a cliff you can’t drive up, you can launch individual cargo pods directly from the Magellan’s storage bay up to 100 meters away. The pods have their own built-in parachutes, so you won’t damage fragile goods if you aim correctly. I once used this feature to deliver a full load of emergency vaccines to a shelter on top of a mountain range that would have taken me 45 minutes to climb on foot, and I did it in less than 10 minutes.
- Multiplayer sync function: If you’re playing with friends, you can link up to 3 Magellan vehicles together to form a convoy. Linked vehicles share chiral energy, so you won’t run out of power even on the longest cross-country runs, and you can split cargo across the convoy to reduce individual weight load. This makes group delivery events way easier to complete, especially when you’re hauling oversized cargo that’s too big for a single vehicle.
None of these features are obvious when you first unlock the vehicle, but they completely change how you approach longer, more high-stakes runs. Just make sure you check the wind direction before you launch cargo pods, or you might end up sending your goods straight into a BT nest by accident. I learned that lesson the hard way, and I lost a full load of rare pizza for a prepper who had been waiting three weeks for it.
Pros and Cons of Using the DHV Magellan for Runs
The Magellan is an incredible tool for a lot of delivery types, but it’s not the right choice for every run. Using it for short, tight routes will just slow you down, and there are some terrain types it still can’t handle. Let’s break down its biggest advantages and drawbacks so you know when to pull it out of the garage and when to stick to your smaller vehicles.
On the pro side, it’s hard to beat for long-haul bulk runs. Its large cargo hold means you can carry enough goods to max out connection levels for 2 or 3 different preppers in a single trip, instead of making multiple smaller runs. Its hover ability also means you don’t have to stick to paved roads, so you can take straight-line routes through terrain that would add hours to your trip if you were driving a standard truck. The chiral shield feature also cuts down on the number of repairs you have to make after runs through timefall or BT zones, saving you hundreds of chiral crystals over the course of a playthrough.
That said, it has some real drawbacks you need to account for. First, it’s huge. It can’t fit through narrow canyons, small cave passages, or tight mountain paths that you can easily navigate on a reverse trike or on foot. It also requires a lot of chiral energy to run, so if you’re exploring a region with low chiral density, you might end up stranded far from a safe zone with no power. It’s also really loud, so if you don’t activate the shield, it will attract BTs from twice as far away as a standard quiet vehicle.
If you’re running a short route through tight terrain, you’re still better off sticking to your trusted reverse trike instead of hauling the Magellan out. I made the mistake of taking it through a narrow canyon route early in the game, and I ended up having to abandon it halfway and carry all my cargo the rest of the way on foot, which took twice as long as if I’d just taken the trike in the first place.
How to Unlock and Upgrade the DHV Magellan Fast
You don’t get access to the Magellan until you’re a decent chunk into the main story, but you can unlock it as soon as you complete the mission where you deliver the chiral network core to the new Port Knot City coastal settlement. Once you finish that mission, you’ll get a notification that the Engineer, the Weather Station, and the Timefall Farmer have all contributed to the Magellan’s blueprint, and you need to reach connection level 5 with all three to get the base version of the vehicle.
The fastest way to raise those connection levels is to prioritize delivering high-value, fragile cargo to all three preppers. They give out bonus Magellan upgrade parts for 5-star deliveries, so you can start upgrading the vehicle as soon as you unlock it instead of grinding for parts later. You’ll want to prioritize runs that require you to carry time-sensitive or temperature-controlled goods, as those give the biggest connection level boosts and the most rare upgrade parts.
You can cut the grind time in half if you do these deliveries during double reward events, which pop up every 2 weeks in the game’s live service schedule. A lot of players skip these events because they think they’re just for cosmetic rewards, but they also double the number of upgrade parts you get for 5-star deliveries, so you can fully upgrade the Magellan in a third of the time it would normally take.
When you’re upgrading, skip the speed and acceleration upgrades first. The first upgrade you should get is the extended cargo hold, which adds 30% more storage space, making the vehicle way more useful for bulk runs. After that, upgrade the chiral shield duration, then the hover height, which lets you cross deeper water and larger boulders without taking damage. The speed upgrades are fun, but they don’t make the vehicle any more practical for most delivery runs, so save them for last.
The Death Stranding 2 DHV Magellan isn’t just a fancy new toy to show off to other players in the chiral network. It’s a legitimate game-changer for anyone who loves tackling long, high-stakes delivery runs across the most hostile parts of the game’s map. I still keep my old reverse trike in my garage for short, tight trips, but the Magellan is my go-to for any run longer than 10 km, especially if I’m carrying fragile or time-sensitive cargo. Just remember to stock up on extra chiral crystals before you head out, and you’ll be cutting your delivery times down to nothing in no time.
