Death Stranding 2: How to capture and summon BTs for kaiju battles

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is filled with obtuse mechanics and various oddities that you could finish the game before ever seeing, and that’s part of what makes it so special. Although you will get the ability to capture and summon big BTs for chaotic kaiju battles as part of the main story, you’re never forced to actually engage with the mechanic. You absolutely should though, because it’s awesome.

In this guide we’re breaking down how to capture BTs and how to later summon BTs to battle, complete with the Gojira-inspired kaiju battle music.

How to capture a BT – DS2

First, it’s important to note that you can only capture large BTs that have a health bar. When you encounter a group of BTs in the world, simply get caught by them and don’t fight back. Having them drag you into the tar will cause a large BT to be summoned.

Next you need to be able to whittle down its health. Health bars are yellow as standard, but will turn red when it’s low enough to capture. Now comes the hard part.

With the BT health in the red, use an EX Capture Grenade (you will get these as the story progresses) and throw it at the BT’s glowing red head. 

If successful, it will crystallise and disappear. Make sure to collect the BT crystal that appears after it dies, and you will find the BT Crystal for that BT type in your inventory under the “Special” tools.

How to summon a BT – DS2

If you want to summon your captured BT to fight for you, you can do that, but it can only be summoned to fight other large BTs. This can potentially make your quest to catch ‘em all faster, though it could also cause your BT to kill your prey before you can throw a grenade.

Once you get dragged into the tar and a big BT emerges for a scrap, simply go into your Special tools menu and select the BT Crystal of the BT you want to summon and press X.

Your summoned BT will emerge onto the battlefield and start attacking the large foe for you, complete with retro kaiju battle music and a title drop. It’s goofy, but incredibly fun, and only costs a small amount of Chiral Crystals for a summon.