SnowRunner Equipment Guide: Best Equipment Ranked

Q: Do I need the season passes?

No. Michigan, Alaska and Taymyr are the base game and hold well over 200 missions between them. The seasons add regions such as Yukon, Kola Peninsula, Wisconsin, Amur, Don and Maine along with new trucks, and they are additive rather than required.

Q: Is there co-op?

Yes, up to four players online. Co-op changes the game considerably because recovery stops being a solo problem: a second truck can winch you out of bogs that would otherwise cost you the run.

Q: How is SnowRunner different from MudRunner?

SnowRunner keeps the terrain simulation and adds snow, ice, a much larger contract structure, truck upgrades found on the map and a progression system across regions. It is the same core driving with a full game built around it rather than a sandbox.

Q: Which region should I do after Michigan?

Alaska. It introduces snow and ice at a manageable difficulty and its maps are less punishing than Taymyr's Drowned Lands. Going Michigan to Taymyr directly is the usual reason people bounce off the game early.

Q: Is there any way to fail permanently?

No. Trucks can be recovered, damage can be repaired and fuel can be delivered, so a bad situation costs time rather than progress. That is the point of the design: the game measures patience and route planning, not reflexes.

Complete SnowRunner equipment guide. Every equipment option ranked with stats, best builds, and how to get them.

EarlyGuides Editorial Team

Researched and editorially reviewed. Updated August 12, 2026.

SnowRunner is Saber Interactive's off road hauling sim, published by Focus Entertainment, released in April 2020 and reaching Steam on 18 May 2021 once Epic exclusivity lapsed. You start in Michigan on Black River, the tutorial map, and work outward through Alaska, Taymyr, Kola Peninsula, Wisconsin and a long run of seasonal regions. There is no combat and no enemy: the opposition is mud, water, load weight, fuel and your own route choice, and it supports four player co-op throughout.

Your choice of equipment defines your damage output and playstyle. This guide ranks every major option, explains what makes each one strong, and tells you which builds they pair best with.

Equipment Rankings

Equipment	Tier	Best For	Notes
Chevrolet Kodiak C70	S	Michigan contracts and any early job where the route is bad but not catastrophic.	A Heavy Duty truck and one of the first proper haulers available in Michigan.
Chevrolet CK1500	A	Revealing map fog, collecting upgrades and checking whether a river crossing is survivable.	A Scout class pickup, fast on anything resembling a road and useless as a hauler.
Azov 64131	A	Taymyr and Kola Peninsula routes where the ground is bad for the entire journey rather than in patches.	An Offroad truck with genuine mud capability and a fitting list that covers most standard addons.
Caterpillar 745C	B	The single worst section of a region, and for recovering vehicles that nothing lighter can reach.	An articulated Heavy dump truck that goes places nothing else will, on enormous tyres and with an articulated joint that keeps wheels on the ground over broken terrain.
Pacific P16	B	Heavy trailer contracts and long hauls where getting there at all matters more than getting there quickly.	A Heavy class truck built for weight rather than speed, capable of dragging trailers that stall lesser vehicles outright.

S-Tier: Chevrolet Kodiak C70

A Heavy Duty truck and one of the first proper haulers available in Michigan. It carries real cargo without the fuel appetite of a Heavy, which makes it the workhorse for the opening region.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	S
Best For	Michigan contracts and any early job where the route is bad but not catastrophic.
Key Mechanic	Deformable mud, snow and water
Recommended Build	Scout

How to get it: Available from mid-game onward. See our walkthrough for the exact progression point.

Best builds using Chevrolet Kodiak C70: Pairs naturally with Scout thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: Chevrolet CK1500

A Scout class pickup, fast on anything resembling a road and useless as a hauler. Scouts exist to find watchtowers, upgrades and routes before you commit a loaded truck to them.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Revealing map fog, collecting upgrades and checking whether a river crossing is survivable.
Key Mechanic	Winching and recovery
Recommended Build	Highway

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using Chevrolet CK1500: Pairs naturally with Highway thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: Azov 64131

An Offroad truck with genuine mud capability and a fitting list that covers most standard addons. It sits in the sweet spot between the fragile Heavy Duty trucks and the fuel hungry Heavies.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Taymyr and Kola Peninsula routes where the ground is bad for the entire journey rather than in patches.
Key Mechanic	AWD, differential lock and gear selection
Recommended Build	Heavy Duty

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using Azov 64131: Pairs naturally with Heavy Duty thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: Caterpillar 745C

An articulated Heavy dump truck that goes places nothing else will, on enormous tyres and with an articulated joint that keeps wheels on the ground over broken terrain. Its cargo options are narrow and its fuel use is brutal.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	The single worst section of a region, and for recovering vehicles that nothing lighter can reach.
Key Mechanic	Tyres and upgrades found on the map
Recommended Build	Offroad

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using Caterpillar 745C: Pairs naturally with Offroad thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: Pacific P16

A Heavy class truck built for weight rather than speed, capable of dragging trailers that stall lesser vehicles outright. It is slow, thirsty and largely unstoppable once moving.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Heavy trailer contracts and long hauls where getting there at all matters more than getting there quickly.
Key Mechanic	Contracts, tasks and cargo loading
Recommended Build	Heavy

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using Pacific P16: Pairs naturally with Heavy thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

Equipment Progression Path

The order you should acquire equipment as you progress:

Starting gear → Enough to clear Michigan
Chevrolet CK1500 → Your first real upgrade, available early
Azov 64131 → Mid-game upgrade with good scaling
Chevrolet Kodiak C70 → Best-in-slot, aim for this by late game
Upgrade to max → The power spike from max upgrades is enormous

Equipment Tips

Always upgrade your primary equipment before diversifying. One strong option beats three mediocre ones.
Match your equipment to your build's stat priorities for maximum scaling.
Send a scout through a map before committing a loaded truck. Watchtowers reveal the fog, upgrades sit physically in the world waiting to be found, and a five minute scout run regularly saves an hour of dragging a full trailer down a road that ends in a river.
Check our tier list for how equipment rankings affect overall build effectiveness.

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