This is not the co-op shooter. Funday Games built Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor as a top down single player auto shooter under Ghost Ship Publishing, entering Early Access on 14 February 2024 and reaching 1.0 on 17 September 2025. You still play a dwarf on Hoxxes, still mine Nitra and Gold and still get pulled out by a Drop Pod, but nobody aims: your weapons fire on their own while you drive the dwarf around the cave and dig through terrain. A dive is five stages, each with a Supply Drop and an Elite, and stage five ends with a Dreadnought. The Heavy Duty Expansion of 30 April 2026 added the Demolisher, a fifth class riding a weaponised bulldozer.
Starting Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a roguelike game built around Auto firing weapons and manual mining and Five stage dives and Supply Drops. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Scout | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Gunner | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Engineer | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Driller | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Demolisher | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Gunner. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Demolisher as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Auto firing weapons and manual mining
Every weapon fires by itself, so the only inputs that matter are where you move and what you dig. Mining is the real skill: carving tunnels shapes how the swarm reaches you, opens escape routes and exposes the Gold and Nitra that pay for upgrades. Weapons also have a facing, so some fire forward, some backward and some in four directions at once, which turns movement direction into an aiming decision.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Auto firing weapons and manual mining works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Crystalline Caverns
The Jewel of Hoxxes and the standard biome, purple terrain studded with crystal formations and no enemy stat penalty at all. It carries five hazard levels with goals covering weapon upgrades and resource collection, which makes it the place to learn a new class before taking it anywhere harder.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The Gunner's Weapons Specialist starting weapon, firing a hail of bullets in whichever direction you are facing. Damage output is high and entirely directional, so it punishes players who let the swarm wrap around behind them.
Step 4: Understand Five stage dives and Supply Drops
A dive is five stages. Stages one to four follow the same shape: survive, collect the Supply Drop, kill the Elite, then take the Drop Pod down. Stage five is different, holding only a Supply Drop, three Eggs that hatch into Elites, and the Dreadnought. On that final stage the Supply Drop only drains half the Dreadnought's health instead of killing an Elite outright, so taking it early is usually correct.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Magma Core
Dark rock and lava, with angry glyphids, lava vents and exploding plants as hazards. Enemies here carry 5 percent extra health and damage, and the hazard goals push you to trigger the explosive plants deliberately and to collect Nitra rather than avoiding the terrain.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Auto firing weapons and manual mining
Every weapon fires by itself, so the only inputs that matter are where you move and what you dig. Mining is the real skill: carving tunnels shapes how the swarm reaches you, opens escape routes and exposes the Gold and Nitra that pay for upgrades. Weapons also have a facing, so some fire forward, some backward and some in four directions at once, which turns movement direction into an aiming decision.
Five stage dives and Supply Drops
A dive is five stages. Stages one to four follow the same shape: survive, collect the Supply Drop, kill the Elite, then take the Drop Pod down. Stage five is different, holding only a Supply Drop, three Eggs that hatch into Elites, and the Dreadnought. On that final stage the Supply Drop only drains half the Dreadnought's health instead of killing an Elite outright, so taking it early is usually correct.
Overclocks at weapon levels 6, 12 and 18
Weapons gain levels during a dive from the upgrade cards you pick. Balanced overclocks become selectable at weapon level 6 and again at level 12, and a single Unstable overclock unlocks at level 18. Balanced ones are modest trades such as Bigger Mags, which gives 100 percent clip size for 10 percent reload speed. Unstable ones are extreme: The Favourite doubles one weapon's damage and fire rate while cutting 30 percent from every other weapon you carry.
Class Mods and weapon tags
Each class has several Class Mods that decide your starting weapon and specialisation, so the Scout's Sharp Shooter starts with the M1000 Classic and builds around critical hits, while the Engineer's Tinkerer starts with the Warthog Auto 210, gains experience faster and reaches overclocks sooner. Weapons carry four tag categories, damage type, family, type and firing style, and Class Mods key off those tags rather than off weapon names.
Meta Upgrades, Milestones and Gear
Gold, Nitra and Red Sugar are spent inside a dive and do not carry over. Meta resources and Credits do, and they buy Meta Upgrades from the main menu, semi permanent stat buffs that apply to every class. Milestones unlock new weapons for each class, biome goals award Biome Points that open more hazardous biomes, and Gear, added in 1.0, is a meta layer of items that customise Class Mods.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Expecting the co-op shooter
There is no aiming, no four player team and no first person view here, and the class names are the only thing the two games share directly.
2. Standing in open caverns rather than digging
Open ground lets the swarm surround you from every direction, while a tunnel forces it into a line your weapons can actually clear.
3. Spreading weapon levels evenly across four weapons, so none reaches level 18 and the run finishes without a single Unstable overclock
4. Saving the stage five Supply Drop for later, when it only halves the Dreadnought's health and taking it early gives you the whole fight to work with
5. Ignoring Nitra and Gold while surviving comfortably, then reaching the shop between stages with nothing to spend and falling behind the difficulty curve
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Auto firing weapons and manual mining and Five stage dives and Supply Drops
- Choose Gunner as starting build
- Clear Crystalline Caverns main content
- Acquire "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Magma Core
- This is a separate game from Deep Rock Galactic. That one is a first person four player co-op shooter from Ghost Ship Games; this is a top down single player auto shooter by Funday Games where weapons fire on their own and you never aim.
- Mining is the actual skill. Gold and Nitra buy weapon upgrades in the shop between stages, and the tunnels you carve decide from which direction the swarm can reach you, so digging is both economy and defence.
Tips for New Players
- This is a separate game from Deep Rock Galactic. That one is a first person four player co-op shooter from Ghost Ship Games; this is a top down single player auto shooter by Funday Games where weapons fire on their own and you never aim.
- Mining is the actual skill. Gold and Nitra buy weapon upgrades in the shop between stages, and the tunnels you carve decide from which direction the swarm can reach you, so digging is both economy and defence.
- Gold, Nitra and Red Sugar are spent inside a dive and never carry over. Only meta resources and Credits persist, and those buy Meta Upgrades from the main menu that apply to every class.
- Overclocks come at weapon levels 6, 12 and 18. Balanced ones at 6 and 12 are trades like Bigger Mags, which gives 100 percent clip size for 10 percent reload speed, and the level 18 Unstable slot is where a run's identity is decided.
- The Favourite is the clearest example of an Unstable overclock. It gives one weapon 100 percent extra damage and fire rate while cutting 30 percent from everything else you carry, which only works if you have already committed to a single weapon.
- Stage five is structured differently from stages one to four. It contains only a Supply Drop, three Eggs and the Dreadnought, so clear the Eggs before the Elites hatch into a fight you have to run at the same time as the boss.
- On stage five the Supply Drop drains half the Dreadnought's health rather than killing an Elite. Taking it early rather than saving it for an emergency is usually the right call.
- The Dreadnought telegraphs its lunge by stopping and spreading its arms. The moment that happens, run 90 degrees to the side rather than backward, because backward keeps you inside the lunge path.
- Weapons are tagged by damage type, family, type and firing style, and Class Mods key off those tags. Gridrunner wants electrical weapons and Operator wants drones, so pick pickups by tag rather than by which name you recognise.
- Red Sugar heals immediately when picked up and can also affect specific artifact bonuses, while Morkite exists mainly for secondary objectives rather than for combat power.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as Deep Rock Galactic?
No. Deep Rock Galactic is a four player first person co-op shooter from Ghost Ship Games. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a single player top down auto shooter built by Funday Games and published by Ghost Ship Publishing, where weapons fire automatically and you control movement and mining only. They share the setting, the classes and the weapon names.
What classes are in Deep Rock Galactic Survivor?
Scout, Gunner, Engineer and Driller are the four base classes, each with three Class Mods that set your starting weapon and specialisation. The Demolisher is a fifth class added by the paid Heavy Duty Expansion on 30 April 2026, riding the Rockdozer and bringing 11 new weapons that other classes can also reach through the tag system.
What biomes are there?
Crystalline Caverns, Magma Core, Hollow Bough, Salt Pits and Azure Weald in the base game, with Glacial Strata added by the Heavy Duty Expansion. Enemy difficulty rises with the biome, from no modifier in Crystalline Caverns to 15 percent extra health and damage in Salt Pits, and Biome Points from biome goals open the more hazardous ones.
How do overclocks work?
Weapons level up during a dive from the upgrade cards you pick. A balanced overclock can be chosen at weapon level 6 and again at 12, and a single Unstable overclock at level 18. Balanced options are modest trades, while Unstable ones are extreme, which is why pushing one weapon to 18 usually beats levelling several to 12.
How long is a dive?
Five stages. Stages one to four each involve surviving, collecting the Supply Drop and killing the Elite before taking the Drop Pod deeper. Stage five contains a Supply Drop, three Eggs that hatch into Elites, and the Dreadnought, which hits considerably harder than anything before it.
More Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Guides
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Overview
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Best Builds
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Tier List
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Walkthrough
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Tips & Tricks
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Weapons Guide
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Combat Guide
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Boss Guide
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Maps & Locations
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Crafting Guide
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, check out these related guides:
- Risk of Rain 2 Beginner's Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
- Hades Beginner's Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
- Darkest Dungeon Beginner's Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
