Are you eager to obtain the best early-game upgrades and weapons in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach? The settlements that you help out provide you with nifty goodies as you level up. Of course, certain rewards are better than others, as they can truly impact exploration, combat, and your cargo delivery process.

The best weapons and upgrades in Death Stranding 2

Our guide discusses various gear pieces and equipment that can be yours within the first few hours of starting the game. All of these can be acquired from settlement leaders in Mexico, though you have to level up your connection/reputation with them. This is done by collecting and delivering lost cargo, which then leads to earning more “likes” for your efforts. Upon reaching a certain rank, you should be able to unlock and craft these items.

Note: Reputation rank-ups also grant other rewards, such as additional bandwidth for building structures, extra points for skill/perk selection, and more facility resources that can be picked up.

• Location: Ciudad Nudo del Norte (C1)
• Rank: 3 stars

Cuidad Nudo del Norte (C1) is the first large facility/distribution center that you visit in the game. It also has one of the best weapons in Death Stranding 2, and it’s none other than the SL Machine Pistol (MP).

There are several factors that make this firearm amazing early on:

• It has a built-in silencer, which means you won’t always give away your position when shooting foes.
• It’s effective against human and BT hostiles.
• You can toggle between full-auto and semi-auto fire–the latter tends to be more accurate.
• You can store it in your handgun holster, so it’s unlikely to cause hassles when lugging around tons of wares.

• Location: The Bokka
• Rank: Q-pid connection (Trekking Boots) and 2 stars (Sticky Gun)

The Bokka is a fellow porter, though he’s now living in his hideout due northeast of the C1 South Distribution Center. He has a couple of awesome rewards for you to unlock:

• Trekking Boots – Complete an initial order for the Bokka to connect his hideout to the Chiral Network. This allows you to craft the Trekking Boots, which are better than the other footwear at this stage of the campaign. It has an excellent grip (i.e. prevents you from slipping often) and higher durability, too.
• Sticky Gun – It’s a good idea to have a Sticky Gun in your inventory, as it allows you to pull containers from far away. This is actually immensely useful if you see a lost cargo or resource crate that’s in the middle of pool of tar or a raging river. Rather than taking a risk, you can just grab the item from farther away.

• Location: C1 South Distribution Center
• Rank: 3

To be clear, you do receive the Blood Grenade Lv1 automatically as part of the story–i.e. the settlement leader unlocks the fabrication blueprint over once you’ve connected the site to the Chiral Network. However, if you keep getting likes until you hit rank 3, you’ll also unlock the Blood Grenade Lv2. This is significantly more powerful than its low-tier counterpart, which makes it ideal for all the BT encounters in Mexico and beyond.

• Location: Former Geophysics Research Lab
• Rank: 2

You’ll be able to fabricate your own vehicle, a Tri-Cruiser, once you complete the main objective in the Former Geophysics Research Lab. Then, upon reaching rank 2, you’ll unlock a means of outfitting your cycle with extra armor. This upgrade can be fabricated in a garage, and it grants bonus durability to your Tri-Cruiser.

That does it for our guide on the best upgrades and weapons in Death Stranding 2–at least the ones that you can unlock just a few hours into the campaign. Since we’re already on the subject of getting ideal rewards and bonuses, then you might be interested in learning about the best APAS Enhancement skills to prioritize.

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.