Skip To...
While many around the UCA know Sam as the legendary porter, the reality is that in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, our favorite post-apocalyptic hero is starting from scratch, meaning you need to find a way to increase his stats. Fortunately, there are many things you can do in the game that will let you boost Sam’s skills to make even the most challenging deliveries a thing of the past. Here, we’ll tell you the easiest way to increase Sam’s stats in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
How Stats Work in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Before we delve into how to increase Sam’s stats in Death Stranding 2, let’s take a look at all the stats in the game. When you start your walkthrough, you’ll have 10 skills with a couple more unlocking later. Some stats will increase passively as you do your normal deliveries, while others will require a bit of work. Here are all the stats and the upgrades you get after leveling them up.
- Terrain Traversal
- Lv1: Traversal Endurance 0%
- Lv2: Traversal Endurance +10%
- Lv3: Traversal Endurance +20%
- Lv4: Traversal Endurance +30%
- Lv5: Traversal Endurance +40%
- Carrying Capacity
- Lv1: Maximum Carrying Capacity 0kg
- Lv2: Maximum Carrying Capacity 10kg
- Lv3: Maximum Carrying Capacity 15kg
- Lv4: Maximum Carrying Capacity 20kg
- Lv5: Maximum Carrying Capacity 30kg
- Endurance
- Lv1: Fatigue Accumulation 0%
- Lv2: Fatigue Accumulation -10%
- Lv3: Fatigue Accumulation -15%
- Lv4: Fatigue Accumulation -20%
- Lv5: Fatigue Accumulation -30%
- KO Resistance
- Lv1: KO Damage Reduction 0%
- Lv2: KO Damage Reduction -10%
- Lv3: KO Damage Reduction -15%
- Lv4: KO Damage Reduction -20%
- Lv5: KO Damage Reduction -30%
- Lung Capacity
- Lv1: Maximum Lung Capacity 0%
- Lv2: Maximum Lung Capacity +10%
- Lv3: Maximum Lung Capacity +20%
- Lv4: Maximum Lung Capacity +30%
- Lv5: Maximum Lung Capacity +40%
- Strand Skills
- Lv1: Attack Range 0%
- Lv2: Attack Range +10%
- Lv3: Attack Range +20%
- Lv4: Attack Range +30%
- Lv5: Attack Range +40%
The above skills are Sam’s not-so-combat-oriented ones. However, they are vital for deliveries, resisting knockouts, holding Sam’s breath when facing BTs, and sneaking around. But there are also some skills that fall into the Mastery category that include all the combat-oriented ones. Out of all of them, only the Melee Combat one has different upgrades, while all gun-related ones have the same stat increases.
- Mastery: Melee Combat
- Lv1: Attack Power 0%, Number of Consecutive Attacks: 3
- Lv2: Attack Power 10%, Number of Consecutive Attacks: 3
- Lv3: Attack Power 10%, Number of Consecutive Attacks: 4
- Lv4: Attack Power 20%, Number of Consecutive Attacks: 4
- Lv5: Attack Power 20%, Number of Consecutive Attacks: 5
The ones related to guns have all the same upgrades, which we’ll list below:
- Lv1: Reload Speed 0%, Reticle Sway 0%, Recoil 0%
- Lv2: Reload Speed 10%, Reticle Sway -12.5%, Recoil -12.5%
- Lv3: Reload Speed 20%, Reticle Sway -25%, Recoil -25%
- Lv4: Reload Speed 30%, Reticle Sway -37.5%, Recoil -37.5%
- Lv5: Reload Speed 40%, Reticle Sway -50%, Recoil -50%
How To Increase Every Stat

To increase Sam’s stats in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, all you must do is perform activities that use said stat. For instance, if you want to become better at using handguns, you need to defeat enemies with handguns. If you want to be better at stealth takedowns with your strand, you must take enemies down with that item. And so on.
If you want to get all stats to the maximum rank, do as many orders as possible, including optional ones. Furthermore, always try to approach them differently. Whenever you want to improve Sam’s gun-handling skills, go loud and knock every enemy out with your weapons. Yet, if you want to make Sam a porter-ninja, then sneak around and take everyone down silently. It may take a while to make Sam the legendary porter he once was, but there are many things to do in the sequel, so you’d better get started.