This is the Drillers default side arm a standard pistol with reliable aim and decent damage output. [1] Contagion Transmitter spreads poison to nearby enemies and do extra 30% damage. Especially when the objective is just on the other side of a wall. Your class utility skill is similarly focused with your large reinforced power drills capable of being a melee weapon if required but are intended for team mobility with cave drilling. [3] Plasma Burn It takes about three shots to light a Sludge Pump puddle on fire. Depending on which modification you take for its final row, you can either devastate burning enemies or any of the flying Mactera bugs. Itd be a real shame if someone tossed a high grade explosive right on top of them. This burst damage pairing relies on leveraging Exothermic Reactor to deal Temperature Shock damage so youll want to utilise your reliable sources of burning or frozen on your primary. This support utility should not be overlooked as a good driller can save his team significant time and pain during all hazard levels and game modes. Have your teams Engineer surround the entrance hole with bug repelling platforms and simply funnel kill the approaching enemies. On Elimination missions the player needs to destroy two to three Glyphid Dreadnoughts that lie slumbering in their cocoons. You will not get a lot of difference with it. This is the Drillers best weapon for helping his team deal massive damage. Mole Armour Rig: Similar to your dwarven allies youll have an armoured rig that you can upgrade to boost your odds of survival. Neither of these pistol style options offer significant damage output though so dont lean on them heavily to clear paths quickly through your enemies. A driller can be equally effective with flamethrower or cryo if you keep this gameplay difference in mind. However, its one of the hardest hitting attacks in the game, capable of removing massive chunks of the enemys health if you hit their weak points with it. Though do be careful when dealing with enemies that are immune to heat/fire. Both of these generate weapon heat that will stop you firing the weapon for a short period while it cools down but there is no reloading for this weapon. Making this even better is that the weapons beam is wide enough to do AoE damage. However, if you dig out all the terrain that those minerals are attached to, the cluster of minerals will be immediately mined. The best tactic is to kite the enemy into a cluster before dropping and detonating the C4. Additionally, it functions on a battery system, so you have to juggle the weapons heat bar. Its essentially a simple pistol which with the right modifications can see a boost of damage and capacity that make it a reliable side arm and the recommended mods reflect this approach. Like other weapons in Deep Rock Galactic the Cooker operates on an overheating mechanic which means you dont need to reload the weapon but do need to manage the heat generated from continuous firing. Additionally, optimizing the charges for terrain clearing allows you to set up easy safe havens via bunker blasting. This piece of equipment is equally powerful as a defensive and offensive weapon while also being a terrain clearing powerhouse. Given that its easier to ignite enemies than freezing them, we recommend using the flamethrower with the Sticky Flames modification. The Driller is all about helping, maximizing efficiency, and filling in if someone goes down or stinks at their job. The Cooker is relatively flexible with the damage perfectly suited to picking off small enemies that are causing a nuisance to your team mates that are far way but equally powerful at focused burst damage if required when paired with the right primary or ally. The Drill should be used for digging and guns for killing. If youre running the Experimental Plasma Charger with the heat mod or have another Driller on the team with the flamethrower, you can do some nasty combos. Lets discuss in this lengthy section of our Driller Guide. The Drill is a useful tool in the Driller's arsenal in that it has a lot of adaptability depending on the situation. Using this to clear firing lines for your team of obstacles or flattening terrain can be a useful advanced tactic that might seem like a minor activity but can vastly boost your allies ability to deal damage and survive. 2022 Top Shelf Media | All Rights Reserved, Image: Ghost Ship Games via HGG / Jeffrey Hsu. To get full usage out of this grenade, let the gas spread out as much as possible, then ignite it with any source of fire damage. Real deep. The EPC can be used as a standard pistol with a heat sink system. All of the driller weapons are equally viable at their intended role though provided you use them for what they were designed for with each having a different elemental theme (flame, cryo and sludge). You can apply this to defending/holding objectives as well. You can remove the turrets that are preventing you from reaching the control node, or you can dig a tunnel to the control node and hack it from the safety of the ground (assuming youre in reach of it). Granted there is a fuel cost and some of the maps can be massive, but if the Gunner is out of ziplines and the Engineer needs to conserve Platforms it can help a lot. The Sticky Flames will prevent them from being doused, allowing you to trigger the temperature shock reaction repeatedly by microwaving the next ablaze target. Combined youll be able to mix all of this information into a build that feels enjoyable and powerful for your own mining adventures. While you can deactivate all the turrets by hacking the control node, reaching it and being able to safely do so is another issue. Whether it be creating a path to connect your split team or focusing on keeping enemy swarms under control with your main gun, youre constantly needed somewhere. Youll want to find the sweet spot where youre in range of burning it, but also far away enough to avoid getting grabbed by its tentacle arms. There are two main uses for these blowing up massive holes in the terrain and murdering packs of enemies. Even better, you get eight of them (the highest count of any dwarfs grenades). Using these against high priority threats can make your teams life a whole lot easier. Additionally, its a projectile-based weapon that has a bit of an arc to its shots. Sam enjoys the cooperative variety that Deep Rock Galactic has to offer and has played the game since it started the early access period. What are the best builds for the Driller in terms of weapons and equipment? Pepper your enemies with as many single shots as possible and just steadily chew away their health. There are a few ways to build the EPC and I prefer focusing on strong shots and use the weapon accordingly but you can also build it for a more generalist basic attack sidearm (both options included below). In those cases, you may want to continue blasting them with the Cryo Cannon to keep them frozen while the rest of your team takes advantage of the frozen damage multiplier. Many players consider this to be the Drillers best grenade. Avoiding overheating is rather easy, so those mods are largely ignored. But only if the Cryo Cannon is used effectively by the Driller. All of your primary weapons have massive AOE presence, and your arsenal of explosives tend to have large blast radiuses. Youll see this reflected in the heavy flamethrower, cryo and sludge options that are paired with weaker secondary weapons for backup damage and additional range. Try to keep to small puffs of flame to light the terrain on fire. Depending on which primary youre using, there are small tweaks to the Subatas build to help it synergize more. This manually detonated shot does a tremendous amount of damage. This is one of the best builds in the game right now, letting you easily delete most major threats in seconds (dont be surprised if it gets nerfed). With the right perspective the Driller can be an invaluable member to the team and help everyone accomplish what needs to be done faster and easier than normally possible. When you arent creating pathways through the terrain though the driller is a capable fighter alongside the gunner and has fantastic damage and even crowd control depending on your selection of weapons with your perk choice often enhancing these strengths. Dont bother altering the terrain freezing the area will only slow the enemy at best. While a solid option with its 6 capacity its generally overkill given your other gear options already have ample explosive destruction so would be the lowest on my tier list of driller throwable items. The latest in microwave technology has been added to the Drillers arsenal in Season 2 for easy cooking on the go. Update April 25, 2021 by Ben Baker: The Driller is often one of the most underrated and misused classes in Deep Rock Galactic. As in it has infinite range. Maybe cause temperature shocks and spread burning/freezing mists to nearby enemies? The driller is a great master of all mechanics class in the Deep Rock Galactic universe that wants to stay in range of this teammates to protect them and make their lives easier. Of course, this also means the team will be unable to move around and avoid the bugs' attacks. [1] Heat Radiance Makes it easier for nearby enemies to ignite while kiting them. This is better for large foes. This build is designed for uncomplicated straight damage and as a secondary way to ignite things. 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[1] Improved Charge Efficiency This one is personal preference. This removes the headache of trying to connect points A and B in caves with severe inclines and obstacles. If youre using the flamethrower for example your goal should be sweeping the area for small enemies to let your team focus on the larger threats. Keep in mind that, unlike the flamethrower, the cannon is better suited for direct damage. As a driller your role varies heavily depending on your weapon selection. The driller is effective across low and high hazard levels with the right focus and use of Bosco in solo gameplay. In certain circumstances it can function as a makeshift weapon, but the Driller should avoid doing this whenever possible. These upgrade options are fairly typical on most dwarves and give you a slight uptick in your survival chances if your shield does break while in the thick of it which is generally where youll be as the driller. This is the build we most recommend for the CRSPR Flamethrower, as its fantastic for keeping swarms at bay. This means identifying large clusters of minerals that arent easy reached and making them accessible with a dug out staircase. But otherwise it can be a great way to avoid kill boxes and make a beeline for the exit. The Driller has three options for his side arm. Given that frozen enemies have all their weak points temporarily disabled, you just want to pump as many bullets into them as fast as possible. The rest of your slots can be filled with whatever you feel fits your playstyle. We recommend pairing it with the Subata using our Mag Dump build below to ensure that you can finish off bulkier enemies who wont die instantly from being frozen. While incredibly ammo efficient, youll still have to anticipate the enemys movement to make the most out of this. [2] Thin Containment Field This is what lets you actually detonate the charged shot manually. This dramatically increases efficiency, conserves ammo and other consumables, and increases the odds of surviving the mission. Just be careful with your distance when dealing with it. Utilise the driller tips below to boost your survivability and speed across the various mission and enemy types of Deep Rock Galactic. Its a tough combat-based mission in this multiplayer game that can drain ammo supplies and can be tough to survive. You can also use it to destroy armor plating on some enemies to grant your team easier access to squishy bits. The High-Explosive Grenade does exactly what it sounds like. Your email address will not be published. When the team needs to make a break for the exit the Driller can cut a new path out. [1] Densification Ray other option is unnecessary with Sticky Flames. You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
. Sometimes too many enemies or exploders will pour in, forcing you to retreat. Additionally, if you completely miss hitting an enemy with an axe, you can pick it up and use it again! The Deep Rock Galactic (DRG) driller is one of the four available classes in the solo and co-op mining adventure and sometimes overlooked for the value he can provide. Just note that its not really effectively to apply puddles to walls and vertical surfaces due to the games coding being somewhat inconsistent. As a bonus, the blast can mine mineral deposits as well! This leads to the bugs receiving three sources of fire damage and maximizes ammo efficiency. Do note that larger and tougher enemies typically take longer to freeze and break out quicker than regular enemies. [2] Power Supply Overdrive lets you apply the overclocks radiation very quickly. Focused more on supporting your team through damage boosting cryo effects this is not a weapon youll want to run when playing Deep Rock Galactic solo and instead reserved for games with at least 2 or 3 other players that bring sufficient damage sources. You dont have to worry about hitting frozen enemies in their weak points their entire body takes extra damage. Like a Dreadnought who happens to be standing still to roar at your team. Any major threat will fall to your acidic onslaught. Do note that the ignition flame has to be direct damage, so things like Sticky Flames wont trigger it. [2] High Capacity Magazine Ensures you have enough bullets to kill a foe before it unfreezes. Instead, its usually more practical to light the enemys path on fire so they have to walk through the flames. The damage output is quite slow, consumes precious fuel that could be used for digging, and puts you in dangerous melee range. As a side note, we do want to point out that the blast charges are very good at destroying armor on some of the tougher enemies. The Driller can pick a wall, start tunneling, and before the team knows it theyve reached the objective. Its a great way to further complement the Flamethrowers playstyle or to ignite the Sludge Pumps puddles (do note that it takes a couple shots to ignite). Its your job to drill through the Compacted Dirt walls that separate sections of the map, clear out any annoying terrain that prevents easy traversal, and create paths to hard-to-reach areas. Your primary goal when playing as the driller is to save your team time, this means looking for potential locations where you can create a tunnel. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The player should just be careful with random drops and make sure theyre heading the right direction. plus it uses more fuel. With some careful timing the player can cause the bugs to hatch and detonate the C4 just as theyre appearing for massive damage. Simply hit enemies with a direct round from the Sludge Pump first to apply corrosion to them, then switch to the Wave Cooler to spread poison and radiation via the 5th rows modification (Contagion Transmitter) and overclock to enemies. This is a bit of an oddball of a weapon, and arguably the hardest weapon to master in Deep Rock Galactic. A bit of an inversion from the Drillers other weapons, the Sludge Pump immediately afflicts hit enemies with a nasty corrosion DOT (damage over time) to chew away their health. This build is all about keeping those lines of flames you create burning for as long as possible. You will get less distance on a full fuel container, in high oxygen you might get value with the movement speed increase, but i havent tested that yet. This allows the flames to deal direct damage to the enemy and causes the flames to stick to the ground under their feet. They can freeze enemies to help the Gunner knock off their armor, they can help the Engineer thin the herd with the Flamethrower, they can build staircases to help a Scout mine tricky to reach minerals, and they can dig paths when others run out of ziplines and platforms. Youll want as much max ammo as possible, so resupplies will give you more. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Sign up for the High Ground Report newsletter and getthe best of HGGdelivered straight to your inbox. While the damage is okay from this primary weapon the utility of the slow and map control in a team setting is its strength and thus predominately what youll be designing your Corrosive Sludge Pump build around. The only thing these drills cant dig through is minerals like gold and Nitra, solely because of gameplay balance reasons. If you want to conquer Hoxxes IV and uncover all of its untold riches for yourself, youre going to have to dig deep. We recommend swapping to your sidearm to finish off high-health frozen targets. Theres only one real build we can recommend for the Cryo Cannon, and thats one that focuses on freezing enemies as quickly as possible with direct damage. Like many of the classes in Deep Rock Galactic the name speaks for itself when it comes to the driller with your primary goal to drill out paths for your allies to the map objective. Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by Samuel Franklin. For utility the driller comes equipped with the powerful satchel charge that can be placed in strategic locations to be later detonated to damage bugs or simply to clear terrain. Additionally, the gas from the grenade can be ignited to deal massive explosive damage. It would be like clubbing someone over the head with a medkit, sure it works but that is the least effective use for the item. Its fantastic for holding chokepoints and buying time for your team. [1] Heat Sink to help offset the overdrive modes heat generation. Tier 5 mods for the Subata 120 has a major decision though and while I default to the Mactera toxin as a counter to flying enemies you can also run Volatile Bullets as a solid DPS boost when paired with your flamethrower although needs some micromanagement while playing to maximise this benefit. Your email address will not be published. This is the final primary weapon you can unlock for the Driller. Driller secondary weapons give you a weapon option with longer range than your primary weapons and an alternative method to remove basic enemies from the map. Your equipment as a driller has briefly been covered above and is primarily about terrain altering options to help your team move around the map to key locations. Higher chance on low health targets. As the Driller, youre effectively leading your teams charge. Thats why this build combines them together to make you the ultimate war criminal. It also has the option of charging up a more powerful shot that travels a bit slower but explodes on impact for AOE damage. But its far more effective, and safer, to move on once an enemy is frozen and try to stop the whole swarm in their tracks. This beautiful portable microwave is the Drillers best secondary weapon and can be customized to further enhance his primary weapons role or as a standalone oven of invisible death. As a bonus, frozen enemies dont trigger special death effects (like the Praetorians death fog). The Driller simply picks a wall and starts cutting while their teammates cover their six. 2022 Top Shelf Media | All Rights Reserved. This should be enough to light other nearby enemies on fire. The satchels are a bit finicky when you try to stick them to walls, making positioning them for optimal murder a bit hard at times. A one-stop shop for all things video games. Well go over whats expected of your role, the best builds for the Driller, how to utilize your equipment, and other tips and tricks to help you conquer Hoxxes IV. The most notable aspect of this weapon is its range. In these cases, you can create convenient straight tunnels to lay down the pipelines and connection pods. The first two are effectively pistols and sit on wildly opposite ends of the difficulty curve to master. This makes it highly useful for dealing with armored enemies like Praetorians, Glyphid Guards, and Dreadnoughts. This build emphasizes just directly burning your enemies to a crisp. Simply drill a small tunnel horizontally, toss a charge in, and boom! Damage wise this weapon at base deals nearly double the damage of the Subata 12 and five times the Subata 12 for a charged shot with the trade off being significantly less ammo. Also, this does not work in the Magma Core region, as explosions turn the terrain into burning magma. Neurotoxin Grenade: The best grenade for your driller when running with the flamethrower and playing multiplayer as the effectiveness is dramatically enhanced with the option to light the gas cloud on fire. The thing to remember is the Driller's job typically is to help the team progress, not stick around. The CSP is particularly effective at narrow chokepoints where you can cover the ground in goo and enemies are forced to walk through it although its charged fragment shot can still hold its own in open areas. Reducing friendly fire damage is an absolute must on the Driller, or your team will hate you. High Explosive Grenade: Continuing the theme of high explosive power when it comes to the driller this is for players that want even more opportunities to blow things up. Also, if a teammate gets downed in an inconvenient location, you can bathe their surroundings in fire/ice/acid to create an opening. Our recommended build for the Subata is largely focused on ensuring you have plenty of ammo to help offset your primary weapons ammo consumption. To give players some better insight into this enormously important class this list has been updated with some key info and better clarifies what a Driller should be doing and how to do it. The only problem is getting the timing down to trigger the detonation at the right moment. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. While not bad, its probably the weakest choice for the Driller. However, enemies killed with this weapon will not trigger their death effects, much like frozen enemies. HGG is a website that helps gamers optimize their gaming experience and get an edge over their adversaries. This time, youre working with ice and a cold meter. If you do manage to freeze one, youll probably have depleted half your ammo on a single enemy. Weve updated it for Season 2, but if there are any other tips/tricks that you think we should include in our guide, please subscribe and leave a comment below. Its also surprisingly effective at taking advantage of enemy weakpoints if you have steady aim and build appropriately. This makes it amazing for dealing with dangerous threats that you cant reach easily or dont want to risk getting to close to (like the new Nemesis). However, dealing direct damage with flamethrower can be rather ammo intensive. Getting the most bugs into that kill zone as possible is vital for maximizing damage output. [1] Volatile Bullets If using the Flamethrower / Mactera Toxin-Coating (2) If using others. Alternatively, you can dig tunnels to key objectives (like the exit pod) if finding a natural path is too troublesome. Every class of character in Deep Rock Galactic is useful, and here are a few tips on how to play as the Driller, the clear time-saver of the bunch. Just make sure to communicate to your team what youre doing first. The Cryo Cannon can also be an effective tool for controlling the crowd and making it easier for teammates to survive and kill everything in sight. Thankfully, the cannon can do a surprising amount of damage and will instantly kill most low-health enemies. Its performance holds up even after youve unlocked the other guns. While its fairly easy to fully ignite turrets and such (mainly by igniting the terrain around them), its considerably more difficult to ignite enemies that fly around (were looking at you drones). Everything in its reticle will be hit by the microwaves. Alternatively, you can mod the weapon to heat up enemies and light them on fire as well. With an understanding of how the driller fits into a role in your Deep Rock Galactic team and some useful driller tips in hand we will now dive into options for creating the best driller builds possible. While its a bit overkill for smaller enemies, its fantastic for chewing away at bosses and other bulkier threats health bars. Cryo Cannon: Your second primary weapon option for the driller which becomes available at level 10 and offers a completely opposite playstyle to your flamethrower although both have an element of slowing down incoming attacks. Enemies on fire already generate an aura of heat, and the explosion from the 5th row modification (Exothermic Reactor) produces another 50 heat. This is handy for bypassing swarms, saving time, and when the teams ammo reserves are low. In summary this is a great default option that you can use for most driller situations without much thought. Which is why our Driller Guide is so clutch. Updates are gradually helping with this, but many players are still unclear about what the Drillers role exactly is and what its meant to be used for. [3] Thermoelectric Cooler more efficient than Heat Sink. When using the Flamethrower its importantthe Driller aims it at the enemies faces when releasing the flames. Create lines of flame and kite enemies through them. C4 should be the Drillers go-to when it comes time to do some serious damage. As for fighting, your primary weapon is fantastic for providing AOE coverage to deal with swarms of enemies. Get to the high ground. Proper usage of it can be a life saver though. You can also mine minerals with the explosion (though be careful, it usually sends the loot flying in every direction). As often as this trick works it can just as easily create a kill box for the bugs. Dont use Hardened Drill Tips as first one. Its effect radius is the largest one of all the grenades in the game. For an advanced (although limited) tactic you can even create bunkers from the environment although you should be careful when doing so and ensure your teammates are on the same page with this strategy. Required fields are marked *. Use your satchel charge early and often, there are many Deep Rock Galactic game types that youll know where the swarm and other attacks are coming from so placing one to trigger at the right time can be a team saving action. If you want to do so, angle your charged shot slightly higher than where you want the puddle to be and try to get closer before you fire it. Drawn to darker and more horrifying games, he enjoys diving into the lore, secrets, philosophies, and complex characters found in those grim worlds. Sometimes you have to carry heavy objects like Aquarqs or Drilldozer batteries to certain locations. The Drillers grenades are all focused on one thing murder! You will not get the full potential if you have 2 drill speed increases. [3] More Fuel / [1] Oversized Valves if youre not worried about ammo. No matter what equipment you take on a mission, theres one perk that is an absolute must on the Driller Friendly. Upon entering a room the Driller should be looking for ways to increase mining efficiency.