Unlike Hideo Kojima’s previous work on the Metal Gear Solid series, his latest release, Death Stranding, doesn’t focus on combat. In fact, you won’t really even fight anyone or anything for the first several hours of the game. Eventually it does enter the conversation though, and eventually becomes a large part of the gameplay experience. But with so long building up to it, you may wonder how to use weapons in Death Stranding, including the Assault Rifle, Grenades, and more.
How to Change Weapons
Let’s cover the basics before we dive into the more specific mechanics of any one weapon. Whether it’s an assault rifle or grenade, in order to use a weapon in Death Stranding you first need to have it in your personal inventory. There’s no gigantic, magic backpack where Sam can store everything. Instead he has a gigantic backpack that relies on real physics and weight management. See our guides on how to carry more items and maintain your balance if you need help with this, but basically just make sure you grab whatever weapon you want and either have it stored on your tool belt or in your backpack.
Once you have the weapon you wish to use it’s fairly simple. Hold right on the D-Pad to pull up the quick inventory menu. This will display any items you can use in the wild, including the PCC or other equipment. You should see the weapon you are wanting to use there, but hit R3 to scroll to the next page if you’re carrying too much stuff. Once you spot it just select it with the analog stick and X to confirm. Some weapons also have different types of ammunition. You can select them here by pressing Triangle. The text on screen will tell you what each does, either focusing on BT’s or human enemies. You’ll now be holding the weapon you selected. To use it you follow these guidelines.
How to Use Weapons
Ready the weapon with L2. For an assault rifle this will make you aim, while grenades will show the arc of your throw and where it will land. Other weapons will be slightly different, but should follow the same mechanics of aiming with L2. Once you have a target in your sights simply press R2 to fire or throw. Make sure you are using the right ammo type though, because if you kill a human it can be a huge problem for Sam and the world.
How to Reload and Get More Ammo
For assault rifles there’s something else you need to keep in mind: ammo. Once you fire a few shots you can reload by simply pressing Square. You should see on screen how much ammo you have overall, so don’t burn through it all. It can be a pain to get more, because you’ll need to head to the nearest Safe House and rest in your Private Room to refill everything. For grenades, once you use all five contained in a set you’ll also want to head to the Private Room to refill them with Sam’s…fluids.
That’s all there is to know about how to change and use weapons and how to reload in Death Stranding.
