The Porter Grade system makes a return from the first game, and it’s been expanded to include even more handy features in Death Stranding 2. Whether you’re a newcomer or a series fan, there’s quite a bit to unpack here, so let’s get into it. Here’s everything you need to know about the Porter Grade system in Death Stranding 2.
Death Stranding 2 Porter Grade System Explained
First off, let’s talk about what Porter Grades actually are and what they do in Death Stranding 2. The Porter Grade serves as an evaluation of your delivery performance in Death Stranding 2. The better your delivery performance is, the faster your Porter Grade increases.
By increasing your Porter Grade, you’ll be able to unlock new skills in the APAS system, as well as cosmetics such as new nicknames that can be displayed in your profile. It’s also worth noting that if you reach level 40 in all categories, you’ll get the Silver Trophy, A Premier Porter.
How to Increase Porter Grade
There are a total of five categories that make up your Porter Grade: Porter, Combat, Stealth, Servicemanship, and Bridge Link. You don’t necessarily have to focus on all five categories; just excelling in two or three can also be a viable way to play and increase your Grade.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what each category entails:
| Category | How to Increase |
|---|---|
| Porter | Complete deliveries. |
| Combat | Engage in combat with all enemy types like Brigands, BTs, MULEs. |
| Stealth | Defeat enemies without getting spotted or alerting other foes. |
| Servicemanship | Return lost cargo, complete Sub and Standard Orders, and complete Aid Requests. |
| Bridge Link | Build structures and help other porters complete their projects. |
As you can see, each category caters to a different play style. If you only care about combat, you might want to focus on the Combat and Stealth categories. At the same time, if you’re not a fan of being stealthy, just going in guns blazing is also a viable way to play, and you can increase your Porter Grade in Death Stranding 2 simply by gaining experience in the Combat category.
Porter Grade Rewards
By increasing your Porter Grade, you’ll start unlocking new APAS Enhancements. These are a new feature in Death Stranding 2 and it’s basically a skill tree where you can unlock nodes to help make the game a bit easier.
For every five Porter Grade levels you gain, you’ll unlock a new APAS Enhancement in the skill tree. It doesn’t seem to matter which categories you level up in, as long as five levels are gained.
