Planning to unlock the best skills in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach? These perks can be found in the APAS Enhancements menu, which you can access when you pause the game. That said, there are a few caveats, such as how these bonuses are unlocked and when you’re allowed to make changes to them.

The best APAS Enhancement skills in Death Stranding 2 – Best skills guide

The Automated Porter Assistant System or APAS Enhancement feature is unlocked upon reaching Australia, which happens a few hours into the campaign. Once you’re tasked with handling Order 9: Deliver the Chiral Contaminator to the Government’s base, you’ll also be told that you can allocate skill points to various skill trees: Porter, Combat, Stealth, Servicemanship, and Bridge Link.

The best skills in Death Stranding 2 can be unlocked depending on the actions that you did when tackling missions/orders. That’s because each skill tree leans more into a particular playstyle, which subsequently increases your overall Porter Grade:

• Porter – Refers to carrying heavy loads of cargo and bringing them to their destination.
• Combat – Fighting human and BT enemies in encounters.
• Stealth – Silently eliminating your foes without getting spotted.
• Servicemanship – A catch-all term for general exploration and trekking through the wilderness.
• Bridge Link – Related to building structures and engaging/helping other players. This leans more into the game’s online component.

There are also a few caveats that you should remember if you want to have the best skills in Death Stranding 2:

• You can do all sorts of actions as you roam around the world. But the points you earn for each skill tree are only awarded upon completing orders/missions.
• It’s important that you manage your cargo deliveries and earn more likes, since these increase your connection/reputation rank with settlements. At certain ranks, you’ll gain APAS Enhancement memory upgrades, which are basically extra skill points.
• You can freely reset or reselect skills via the APAS Enhancement menu. This allows you to fine-tune your build based on your playstyle. However, you can only make changes while you’re in a region that’s already connected to the Chiral Network–i.e. the settlement’s leader has asked you to connect their site using the Q-pid.
• Note that you can only select perks/nodes that are interconnected to those that you’ve already unlocked. As such, when we suggest a particular skill in the next sections, it’s implied that you must also activate its prerequisite node.

The Porter skill tree has some of the most viable perks for the campaign, as it directly impacts how well you’d be able to manage cargo deliveries:

• Instant Cargo Binding (100 memory) – Creates an electromagnetic field that binds cargo and prevents crates from scattering in case Sam falls over. This ensures that your containers don’t end up dropping all over the place in case you experience a few mishaps.
• Battery Efficiency Boost (80 memory) – Reduces vehicle battery consumption by 8%. This is a great perk to have as it helps you with your vehicle’s battery energy.
• Skeleton Auto Assist (40 memory) – The skeleton that you fabricate and equip makes it harder for you to lose your balance.
• Improved Floating Carriers (40 memory) – Reduces the rate at which your Floating Carriers consume Chiral Crystals as you move around. You’re likely to attach a Floating Carrier to Sam given how much weight they could carry. As such, this perk becomes invaluable since your Chiral Crystals, which are also used for repairs and resource mining, won’t get depleted rapidly.

It goes without saying that a couple of the best skills in Death Stranding 2 can be found in the Combat section of the menu. You’re going to face a lot of brigands and BTs, so it’s imperative that you have a means of gaining the upper hand:

• Improved MP Bullets (40 memory) – Increases the accuracy and power of MP bullets–i.e. those that are effective against both human and BT enemies.
• Aim Assistance (80 memory) – Aiming your firearm causes the targeting reticle to center on an enemy within range. Well, let’s face it, if you find it easier to aim using a mouse instead of a gamepad’s thumbstick, then this is a decent option to activate.

Sometimes, clearing out an area without being detected is the most viable course of action. A few perks that allow you to catch enemies unaware tend to be amazing in the long run:

• Proximity Scanner (50 memory) – Your Odradek’s scan function now shows the silhouettes of humans and animals within a 20-meter radius.
• Simple Noise Canceler (20 memory) – Renders your movements almost silent. So, just crouch and approach your foes from behind to knock them out and tie them up.
• Faster Scanner Recharging (40 memory) – The Odradek has a short delay in between scans. This just shortens that delay by a few split seconds–perfect for those who want to spam their ping/scan actions as they roam around.

The Servicemanship category has a few of the best skills in Death Stranding 2. While situational, they nonetheless impact how you’d traverse environments as you continue to explore the world around you:

• Emergency Vehicle Charger (90 memory) – If your vehicle’s battery energy has been fully depleted, you can press the L3 button to recharge it using Sam’s suit battery instead.
• Timefall Generator (40 memory) – Timefall corrodes and damages vehicle plating and container durability. However, with this upgrade, you can recharge Sam’s battery as it’s raining. Of course, your own suit’s battery can be used for additional actions before it gets completely drained.
• Faster Order Preparation (80 memory) – Standard orders lead to more “likes” and reputation level-ups once completed. The more active you are at any given time, the more you’d be able to do as you go from one facility to the next.

As mentioned earlier, Bridge Link perks lean more toward the online aspect of the game. Ideally, you should build structures that other players could use (assuming they stumble upon them). Likewise, you might want to deliver the shared cargo left by other players in facilities or help out others who need supplies and resources.

• Strand Contract Cap Boost (20 memory) – Allows you to have more Strand Contracts with other players you’ve encountered–i.e. you can activate these via the SSS menu. If you and another player have a Strand Contract, then you’ll be able to share more resources and structures with them. This is great for those who have other buddies playing the game.
• Auto-Aid Request (40 memory) – This automatically creates aid requests depending on the situation you find yourself in, be it combat-related or one where you need folks to donate materials to your structure.
• Sharing Boost (60 memory) – Grants more objects–i.e. structures and items–that can be shared by other players within the Chiral Network. This really enhances the cooperative and communal aspect of the game.

That does it for our Death Stranding 2 best skills guide. Since we’re already tackling ideal picks in the game, you might want to learn about some of the best early-game weapons and upgrades as well.

Humanity yearns to be interconnected once more, and it’s up to you to deliver the goods. If you need more help, then we’ve got you covered in our Death Stranding 2 guides hub.