Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – Best Class Mods to Pick

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor has come a long way since its early access release. With the recent couple of updates adding new weapons, overclocks, artifacts, and all-new masteries, returning players should take heed that their beloved class mods might not feel as powerful as they were before.

That said, other class mods have become even more powerful when built right. While players have no choice but to grind all the new masteries for power boosts, here are the best class mods to make that grind easier in DRG: Survivor.

5 Driller – Strong Armed

Lob Dozens of Explosions at Once

One mistake new players often make is leveling up the Driller to unlock its last class mod only to find their efforts wasted. This is because the Stronged Armed Driller is one of the hardest class mods to play in DRG: Survivor. It is not friendly for new players at all.

Its weapon range bonus is not impressive when compared to others. Its starting weapon is perhaps decent but with fairly frustrating clearance speed. The entire Throwable build takes at least the first couple of levels to start doing damage, and that too if luck has thrown some excellent upgrades during the run.

However, the Strong Armed Driller becomes a beast after unlocking Cluster Grenades for the main Throwables. With hundreds of explosions happening all over the map at once, this is the only class mod in the game that has such a large area of impact.

Make sure to always pick Cryo Grenade for the Strong Armed Driller. It freezes half of the map, which is pretty useful when running Hollow Bough, the most difficult biome in DRG: Survivor.

4 Driller – Interrogator

Trade Bullets for Improved Fire and Acid Damage

The Driller has always been a popular class because of his fast mining speed, especially if players are looking to farm resources to unlock upgrades in DRG: Survivor. With the Interrogator class mod, the Driller improves his clearance speed further by burning and melting enemies in a large radius around him within seconds.

Returning players might be surprised to see the Interrogator Driller ranked highly because elemental damage used to fall off significantly in Hazards 4 and 5. Thanks to the new Potency mechanic, which arrived with the second update, players can add Damage-Over-Time (DoT) stacks faster and increase the maximum number of DoTs possible for all enemies. Combined with the Interrogator’s 100 percent status effect damage bonus, elemental damage scales far better than before in the later Hazards to make the Driller almost untouchable.

When choosing weapons and upgrades for an Interrogator Driller built in DRG: Survivor, always choose Fire as the primary damage. Fire stacks are incredibly strong with high enough Potency. Acid, on the other hand, does not do that much damage on its own. It is mainly used to soften targets to receive increased damage from other sources. Hence, pick a Corrosive Sludge Pump for that purpose and leave the remaining weapon slots for Fire weapons such as the Colette Wave Cooker and Krakatoa Sentinel.

3 Scout – Sharp Shooter

Spit Critical Hits All Day Long

The Scout already features improved critical multipliers by default. Sharp Shooter improves that even further by stacking more critical chance and critical damage to give players one of the highest damage-dealing class mods in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.

Something else that helps the class mod amplify damage is its secondary passive, which unleashes shrapnel explosions after dealing overkill damage. It combines with the aforementioned critical bonuses to let players do not only insane damage but insane single-target damage to melt enemies with large health pools. This is especially useful when running Hazard 5, where the biggest hurdle is maintaining enough single-target damage to clear a path through large and armored enemies.

This is also what makes the M1000 Classic the perfect weapon for a Scout. It targets enemies with the highest health and almost every hit is guaranteed to be overkill. When piercing a swarm of enemies, every enemy killed will unleash a powerful explosion that can start a chain reaction to clear out the whole area.

The M1000 Classic, as well as the other recommended Medium weapons, desperately need faster firing rates and faster reloads. Hence, do not be afraid to pick global upgrades that target all Medium weapons when running
Scout builds in
DRG: Survivor

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2 Gunner – Heavy Gunner

Stand and Fight With Improved Heavy Weapons

The Heavy Gunner is a rather unique class mod in terms of handling. The entire Gunner build relies solely on its starting weapon, the “Thunderhead” Heavy Autocannon, which could well be one of the best-starting weapons in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. It can deal huge damage while knocking back targets at long range. Pair it with a “Lead Storm” Powered Minigun, and players can melt entire swarms without moving an inch.

While the Heavy Gunner class mod improves the reload speed and range for all Heavy weapons, most of the other Heavy weapons do elemental damage. They will never synergize as well with the Heavy Autocannon as some of the other Medium weapons. Hence, building a Heavy Gunner means having lots of room for experimentation.

Due to reduced mobility and how the Heavy Gunner is forced to unleash his entire payload in a single direction, the Tactical Leadburster with its Cluster Grenades upgrade is a good pick to clear surrounding swarms. Having the Cryo Cannon is also a good option to freeze enemies at a decent range and stop them from boxing players in.

1 Gunner – Juggernaut

Become an Armored Tank That Hits Harder

The Gunner has the highest survival chance among all playable classes in DRG: Survivor. With the Juggernaut class mod, and once all the armor upgrades are unlocked, players can expect an already tanky class to become even tankier. Suffice it to say, the Juggernaut Gunner has everything needed to dominate Hazard 5 runs.

The “Bulldog” Heavy Revolver might not be that efficient compared to some of the other starting weapons, but it does hit like a truck after fully upgraded. The primary damage, though, will come from the “Thunderhead” Heavy Autocannon. Furthermore, it is always recommended to have the Seismic Repulsor to knock back enemies since the Gunner has low mobility.

All that said, it does take a veteran’s hand to make the most of the Juggernaut. Do not be afraid to take a few hits to stack up the damage bonus. For example, when running the Magma Core, stand on the lava to get some stacks against bosses. Players can always restore their health by leveling up or during the preparation phase of the next level.

The following gameplay footage shows how the Juggernaut Gunner fares against the Dreadnought Twins with ease.