Deep Rock Galactic – Hazard 5+ Driller Builds 1 - steamlists.com

Table of Contents

1share
0
0
0
0
1
Share

Two builds I use for Hazard 5+ for the Driller, with my choices explained. Includes TLDR if you just want to get on with it.

Introduction

The above screenshot was taken when I got all the achievements in the game, about 507 hours in.

I’ve played the game a fair bit, and I’d like to pass some of the things I’ve learned down to greenbeards and greybeards alike.

In this guide, I present two driller builds I use at Hazard 5 and Elite Deep Dives, with a description of their playstyles.

This guide was released 13 March, 2022.

Cryo Cannon Build: Freezer Burn

Description

My favourite build for the driller.

You basically freeze enemies really quickly with your Cryo Cannon.

Frozen enemies take triple damage from all non-AoE sources.

Once frozen, if there are a lot of enemies, while backpedalling, switch to your Experimental Plasma Cannon and use it to inflict Temperature Shock – [fandom.com] . (If you heat a frozen enemy, or freeze an enemy that is on fire, you instantly do 200 damage) This one shots all grunts.

Otherwise, you use your pickaxe, drills and power axes to melee.

In this build, killing enemies with melee heals you up.

This melee focussed playstyle also ensures you don’t go through ammo as quickly as other builds.

To tune this build for solo, I change the perks to Beast Master and Dash instead of Field Medic and Iron Will. I also change the Armor’s Breathing Room to Static Discharge.

Downsides

You lack reliable, safe single target burst damage outside your axes, so you will need to depend on your teammates for Dreadnaughts.

Passive Perks

1. Vampire: You heal by 5 whenever you melee kill a medium+ sized enemy.

Your drills, power axes and pick axe all count as melee. This ensures you stay topped off.

2. Second Wind: After 4s of sprinting, you move 12% faster.

This skill lets you make distance when you’re being chased by ANGRY ENEMIES.

3. Veteran Depositor: Ignore the 50% deposit speed. This skill also gives you a 30% damage reduction when you’re near Molly, drop pod and mine head. You will often need to defend a point, and this extra tankiness is honestly, very very worth it.

You could also run Thorns here, if you’re having trouble with swarmers. (The Cryo Cannon has Cold Radiance, so this shouldn’t be a problem).

Active Perks

1. Field Medic: The instant revive often turns the tides in tough spots. No Dwarf Left Behind!

2. Iron WIll: Sometimes your whole team goes down, and this gives you a second chance. If you get even a little bit of healing in Iron WIll, you revive. (Whether from Red Sugar, using a Resupply, or even Meleeing an enemy!)

Cryo Cannon Build: TLDR

Cryo Cannon: Faster Turbine Spinup, Bypassed Integrity Check, Increased Flow Volume, Larger Reserve Tank, Cold Radiance, Improved Thermal Efficiency (OC)

Experimental Plasma Charger: Increased Particle Density, Overcharged Plasma Accelerator, Tweaked Radiator, High Density Battery, Plasma Burn, Energy Rerouting (OC)

Pickaxe: Better Weight Balance

Satchel Charge: Fragmentary Shell, Kill Switch, Extra Satchel Charge, Rock Mover

Reinforced Power Drills: Barbed Drills, Magnetic Refrigeration, Supercharged Motor, Increased Tank Pressure

“Mole” Armor Rig: Improved Generator, Overcharger, Temperature Insulation, Breathing Room

Cryo Cannon Build: Cryo Cannon

Your bread and butter. Pretend you’re Elsa, and freeze your enemies.

Tier 1

Faster Turbine Spinup: You start shooting as soon as you click.

I take it over Larger Pressure Chamber (Shoot Longer) or Stronger Cooling Unit (Freeze Faster).

Consider; you’ll be up in the enemies’ faces all the time, this 0.4s faster shooting will be the difference between life and death.

Tier 2

Bypassed Integrity Check: Your gun starts repressurising instantly. (No reload time)

I take it over Larger Reserve Tank (More Ammo) and Overclocked Ejection Turbine (Longer Range).

The “instant reload” is very important against Glyphid Dreadnaughts and high hazard swarms. In addition, the quicker reload allows us to bust out our drills for some damage, then quickly switch back in a jiffy, and have a reloaded cannon.

Normally, you need 1s before the “reload” starts after you run out of pressure. If you don’t take this skill, you will find yourself needing 2 reloads against Glyphid Dreadnaughts instead of 1.

This build is already fairly close range, and the extra range doesn’t make too much of a difference.

Tier 3

Increased Flow Volume: You fire 20% faster.

Essentially, instead of 8 damage ticks per second, you do 9.6 damage ticks per second. Thus, you can freeze enemies faster.

I take it over Improved Pump, which increases the reload rate.

Tier 4

Larger Reserve Tank: You have 150 more ammo.

‘Nuff said. 😉

I take it over Hard Mixture (More damage) and Supercooling Mixture (Faster Freezing). At higher hazards, a little extra ammo goes a long way.

We aren’t using our Cryo Cannon for damage, so Hard Mixture is out.

Super Cooling Mixture increases our freezing rate by 12.5%. Essentially, you do 9 “Freeze” instead of 8. We’ve already taken the better 20% buff in Tier 3, and this is overkill. I find the extra ammo more useful.

Tier 5

Cold Radiance: You freeze enemies 4m around you.

You will be swarmed from all directions. Freezing enemies who’re above or behind you while you’re focussing in front of you is basically a godsend.

I take it over Fragile, which has a chance for frozen targets to instantly die.

Overclock

Improved Thermal Efficiency

This gives us +25 ammo in our tank, and makes our pressure drop by .525 per second instead of 0.7. Thus, we can fire for longer.

Compare with:

Tuned Cooler: This has a horrible refill rate once you empty your mag / pressure chamber.
Flow Rate Expansion : You need to reload 2.25x earlier. We aren’t playing reload simulator.
Ice Spear : We want to freeze hordes, not do damage to single targers.
Ice Storm: We want to use melee, EPC and our allies to deal damage. We don’t exactly want to hold left click down.
Snowball: No. Just no.

Cryo Cannon Build: Experimental Plasma Charger

You will use the Experimental Plasma Cannon (EPC) to nuke frozen enemies, and to shoot distant targets like Macteras, Lootbugs and Leeches.

This is not a charged shot build.

Tier 1

Increased Particle Density: Your normal shots do 25% more damage

Your normal shots do 25 damage instead of 20 damage. This is a significant increase vs targets you can’t freeze easily (Macteras, Leeches, Lootbugs).

I take it over Larger Battery (More Ammo) or Higher Charged Plasma Energy (More Charge Shot Damage).

Tier 2

Overcharged Plasma Accelerator: Your shots fly 25% faster

This is the only non-charge shot tier 2 upgrade, and the faster projectile speed makes it easier to use.

I take it over Heat Shield (You can hold a charge shot longer)

Tier 3

Tweaked Radiator: Your gun cools 50% faster.

Again, this is the only non-charge shot tier 3 upgrade. In addition, your gun cooling down faster lets you put more projectiles downrange.

I take it over Crystal Capacitors (You charge 2.5x faster), and Improved Charge Efficiency (Charged shot uses 6 ammo instead of 8)..

Tier 4

High Density Battery: You have 20% more ammo. (+24 shots)

‘Nuff said. 😉

Once Again, this is the only non-charge shot tier 4 upgrade. More ammo is always welcome.

I take it over Expanded Plasma Splash (Bigger charge shot radius) and Reactive Shockwave (More charge shot damage).

Tier 5

Plasma Burn: Apply 11.25 heat per shot to enemies,

This is what makes the build sing.

Let’s take a Grunt Guard on Hazard 5. It has 324 HP. You freeze it with 10 damage instances of the Cryo Cannon, which is you firing it for 1.04 seconds! This deals 60 damage, leaving it at 264 HP. You pull out your EPC and shoot it. This does 25 * 3 (triple damage vs frozen enemies) = 75 damage, leaving it at 189 HP. Now, Plasma Burn triggers Thermal Shock, which does 200 damage… Which kills the enemy.

Thus, you can 1-tap frozen grunts!

You could fire 3 shots at a lootbug and watch it burn. Similarly, you can burn down Macteras, etc.

Compare this with Thin Containment Field which basically is what you need for EPC mining. >__>. Just leave mining to the scouts, haha.

Overclock

Energy Rerouting

This gives us +16 ammo, and a faster charge rate. But I’m just using it for the extra ammo.

Compare with:

Magnetic Cooling Unit: Your gun cools faster, and you can hold a charge longer.
Heat Pipe : Your charged shots charge faster and use less ammo.
Heavy Hitter : You do 60% more damage, but you have -32 ammo (!). This is honestly overkill, and the lack of ammo hurts a lot. As explained above, you just need to freeze and EPC to kill even the most tanky grunt.
Overcharger: Use more ammo while charging, but your charged shots do more damage and is bigger.
Persistent Plasma: Charged shots leave a plasma trail, but deal less damage.

Cryo Cannon Build: The Rest

Pickaxe

As this is a melee focussed build, and you basically do triple damage to frozen targets,

I find it important to take Better Weight Balance (20s Power Attack Cooldown)

I take it over Serrated Edge (Power Attack does AoE damage, but has a 30s(!) cooldown) and Shockwave (Power Attack’s AoE is 2m radius instead of 1m).

Satchel Charge

I use satchel charges for both terraforming and the occasional swarm nuke.

If you want to change the build to a more damage focussed one, be my guest.

Tier 1

Fragmentary Shell: +3m damage radius

Tier 2

Kill Switch: Pick up unexploded satchels

Tier 3

Extra Satchel Charge: +1 ammo

Tier 4

Rock Mover: +9m radius for carving rocks

Reinforced Power Drills

While you won’t win awards for drilling through rocks quickly, you will be able to use your drills in melee against frozen enemies (great for taking down Praetorians). In addition, you can actually drill a longer distance than going for a faster drill speed with this build!

Tier 1

Barbed Drills: Double Melee Damage. +5 Damage

Our Drills will be used against frozen foes. This literally doubles our melee damage to 10 from 5.

I use it over Hardened Drill Tips (+50% mining rate) and Expanded Fuel Tanks (+5 fuel)

Tier 2

Magnetic Refrigeration: +50% faster cooling

Our drills will cool at 3/s instead of 2/s. This allows us to use our drills, then switch to the cryo, then switch back and always have each weapon fuelled and ready to go.

I take it over Streamlined Integrity Check (5s overheat duration over 8s). If you’re swapping between your drill and cannon appropriately, you will never overheat. In addition, while drilling, just stop before you hit 100% and you will be able to keep drilling at a steady clip.

Tier 3

Supercharged Motor: +50% mining rate

Tier 4

Increased Tank Pressure: 16% more fuel

More ammo is good. I take it over Bloody Cold Drills (Drills can be used indefinitely against enemies) because I find it.

“Mole” Armor Rig

My armor rig is built for bigger and faster shields. I basically flee, go to cover whenever my shields break, before I reengage. You can change the build to your tastes.

Tier 1

Improved Generator: Shields start recharging in 4.5s

I take it over Boosted Converter (Shields recharge twice as fast, but after 7.5s) and Bigger Mineral Bag (You carry 5 more minerals).

Tier 2

Overcharger: This increases your shields by 20%. +5 shields.

I take it over Healthy (18% more HP), as I want to use shields to mitigate damage over Health.

Tier 3

Temperature Insulation: +50% Fire Resist

Tier 4

Breathing Room: 3s of invulnerability after being revived

That 3s is often the window you need to get out of really hairy situations.

Flamethrower Build: Burn and Turn

Description

My first build for the driller that I was confident to take on Hazard 5.

You basically burn enemies from far away with your Crispr Flamethrower while kiting them. You stun high HP targets with your Subata so they stay in your flames and burn down.

You need to fight your instinct to hold down the left mouse button. Just douse the ground the enemy is walking on, and move on. You will be killing them with burn damage rather than with direct damage.

This ranged focussed playstyle needs you to be constantly on the move and to mind your spacing.

To tune this build for solo, I change the perks to Beast Master instead of Iron Will. I also change the Armor’s Breathing Room to Static Discharge.