If you are just starting Deep Rock Galactic and you’re not sure what upgrades you should get for your weapons, here is a guide to walk you through my Top 4 Driller Loadouts for Deep Rock Galactic. These are the Driller builds I have the easiest time with and how to play with them in Deep Rock Galactic.
As a Driller, you excel at massive area control by having access to weapons with large area of effect damage as well as terrain-shaping tools that give you an edge against the swarms of glyphids. This means that your builds will vary between a supportive dwarf that helps the team and a killing machine that gets into the thick of the fight dealing extreme amounts of damage to glyphids (and scouts).
PERKS
As far as passive perks go, Vampirism is probably the best perk on Driller since it heals you on melee kills on medium or larger enemies, which is extremely valuable to the Driller since your Drills and axes count as melee damage, paired with the fact that the Driller is close-medium range means that you will rack up tons of healing over the course of a mission. Thorns is also very important since it damages glyphids that attack you, which is perfect since most times you will be up close and personal with those bugs. Resupplier is the final perk I would take due to the faster resupply which allows you to get a resupply during a swarm without as much danger.
For active perks, I always take Field Medic and Iron Will in multiplayer since Field Medic allows you to revive your team very fast in dangerous situations while Iron Will can let you save a mission by reviving yourself for 10 seconds if you’re down, during which you can revive teammates. It’s important to know that any healing you receive during Iron Will revives you so you don’t need teammates to pick you up after the 10 seconds are over. This works extremely well with Vampirism and Resupplier since both of these heal you, thus reviving you. For solo missions I think Beast Master and Heightened Senses are the best. Beast Master lets you tame a glyphid, essentially giving you another ally to draw enemy aggression. And Heightened Senses lets you kill cave leeches that grab you, and having no allies to kill the cave leech means that they’re a death sentence if you don’t have Heightened Senses.
GENERAL EQUIPMENT
The Impact Axe, Satchel Charge, Mole Armor Rig, and Pickaxe use the same upgrades no matter what loadout I use for Driller. In my opinion, the Impact Axe is the best grenade for Driller because he lacks high damage options aside from his Satchel Charge, and the Satchel Charge itself is upgraded to have as many uses as possible since the extra damage and area of effect upgrades are overkill. The Mole Armor Rig is upgraded to have as much survivability as possible, which is important because the Driller doesn’t weave in and out of combat very much so your shield doesn’t recharge in swarms very often. For the Pickaxe, more power attacks are better, because the other upgrades are once again overkill.
First Driller Build: Frontline Ice Support
My number 1 Driller build for Deep Rock Galactic uses the Cryo Cannon as your primary weapon. Use the Cryo Cannon to freeze as many enemies as possible, causing them to take increased damage from all sources. The upgrades that you take for this build reflect this notion by going all-in on the freezing power. This Driller loadout works extremely well when playing with others because they will benefit from the bonus damage, and you also don’t have much damage yourself. The vampirism perk is bolstered further for the Driller when using the Cryo Cannon, because your melee attacks are stronger against frozen enemies. Plus, they also don’t retaliate until they unfreeze! To further improve your support and versatility, your Experimental Plasma Charger is upgraded with Thin Containment Field. This allows you to mine out minerals on the ceiling.
Second Driller Build: Medium Range Fire
My second Driller build for Deep Rock Galactic focuses on a hybrid of damage and safety using long reaching flames and the Colette Wave Cooler. This removes the burning effect on enemies but causes them to take a burst of damage. Your plan should be to first sweep an area with your CRSPR Flamethrower, and after most enemies are aflame you can sweep the area with your Colette Wave Cooker to kill weaker enemies. Your flames are also upgraded to slow enemies which can be impactful when trying to help your teammates keep their distance from the glyphids.
Third Build: Medium Range Goo Support
My third Driller Build for Deep Rock Galactic focuses fully on support. A Corrosive Sludge Pump will massively slow enemies. Here your game plan will revolve around feeding glyphids through a tight corridor which causes them to run through the sludge blobs that you shoot on the ground. An easy way to do this is by drilling a straight hole into the wall. Then after you drill in a fair bit you can place and detonate a satchel charge at the end. This will create a bunker for your team to fit into. After your team is inside, coat the entrance hole with sludge. Most glyphids will die crawling through it, and the ones that don’t can be shot with your Experimental Plasma Charger. The Experimental Plasma Charger is also upgraded to deal splash area damage, which will also help against grouped glyphids.
Fourth Build: Frontline Ice Damage
My fourth and final Driller build for Deep Rock Galactic features the Cryo Cannon, Collete Wave Cooker, and Reinforced Power Drills. This build is similar to the frontline ice support build, but this time you don’t need to rely on your team to kill the frozen bugs as much. The Colette Wave Cooker will unfreeze frozen enemies, but they will take a large amount of damage upon doing so. Most glyphids die right away from this. As a result, this can be very good against swarms. The ice from the Cryo Cannon also has a chance to insta-kill frozen enemies resulting in fewer enemies to kill after freezing a swarm. This build is very good for solo missions or when your team severely lacks area of effect damage. The drills are once again fitted with the damage upgrade so it kills the frozen glyphids more efficiently, letting you get more kills which in turn gives you more health from Vampirism.
So whether you’re brand new to Deep Rock Galactic or a seasoned player, I hope these Top 4 Driller Builds will help you through your mission and introduce you to a couple of Driller playstyles. As you continue playing it’s always a good idea to experiment with different upgrades to see what fits your style of play, whether it’s efficient, fun, or both! Rock and Stone!
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