Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Equipment Guide: Best Equipment Ranked

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Complete Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor equipment guide. Every equipment option ranked with stats, best builds, and how to get them.

EarlyGuides Editorial Team

Researched and editorially reviewed. Updated August 12, 2026.

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.

Your choice of equipment defines your damage output and playstyle. This guide ranks every major option, explains what makes each one strong, and tells you which builds they pair best with.

Equipment Rankings

Equipment	Tier	Best For	Notes
Deepcore GK2	S	First dives, learning what the upgrade cards actually do, and any build that wants reliable forward damage without positioning tricks.	The Scout's Classic starting weapon, a straightforward burst fire assault rifle with balanced numbers and no awkward firing pattern to work around.
"Lead Storm" Powered Minigun	A	Corridor fights, directional builds paired with a rear firing secondary, and The Favourite overclock, which doubles its damage and fire rate.	The Gunner's Weapons Specialist starting weapon, firing a hail of bullets in whichever direction you are facing.
LOK-1 Smart Rifle	A	Stage four and five swarms, players who would rather concentrate on mining than on facing, and Elite hunting in open caverns.	An Engineer weapon that locks onto targets and fires homing bullets, which removes positioning from the equation almost entirely.
CRSPR Flamethrower	B	Being surrounded, clearing dense swarms in tight tunnels, and any build leaning on burning damage over time.	A Driller weapon that projects a rotating beam of fire, burning everything it sweeps across.
Breach Cutter	B	Packed swarms, enclosed spaces where projectiles ricochet, and the Hot Plasma overclock that adds damage plus a burn.	An Engineer weapon that fires bouncing projectiles linked by a plasma beam, so the damage is in the line between the projectiles rather than in the projectiles themselves.

S-Tier: Deepcore GK2

The Scout's Classic starting weapon, a straightforward burst fire assault rifle with balanced numbers and no awkward firing pattern to work around. It is the weapon most new players learn the upgrade card system on because nothing about it is conditional.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	S
Best For	First dives, learning what the upgrade cards actually do, and any build that wants reliable forward damage without positioning tricks.
Key Mechanic	Auto firing weapons and manual mining
Recommended Build	Scout

How to get it: Available from mid-game onward. See our walkthrough for the exact progression point.

Best builds using Deepcore GK2: Pairs naturally with Scout thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun

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.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Corridor fights, directional builds paired with a rear firing secondary, and The Favourite overclock, which doubles its damage and fire rate.
Key Mechanic	Five stage dives and Supply Drops
Recommended Build	Gunner

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun: Pairs naturally with Gunner thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: LOK-1 Smart Rifle

An Engineer weapon that locks onto targets and fires homing bullets, which removes positioning from the equation almost entirely. That makes it forgiving in the chaotic later stages where the swarm arrives from several directions at once.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Stage four and five swarms, players who would rather concentrate on mining than on facing, and Elite hunting in open caverns.
Key Mechanic	Overclocks at weapon levels 6, 12 and 18
Recommended Build	Engineer

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using LOK-1 Smart Rifle: Pairs naturally with Engineer thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: CRSPR Flamethrower

A Driller weapon that projects a rotating beam of fire, burning everything it sweeps across. It pairs naturally with the Interrogator Class Mod's amplified status effects, and Spliced Emitter, its Unstable overclock, adds 75 percent to range, damage and potency together.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Being surrounded, clearing dense swarms in tight tunnels, and any build leaning on burning damage over time.
Key Mechanic	Class Mods and weapon tags
Recommended Build	Driller

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using CRSPR Flamethrower: Pairs naturally with Driller thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: Breach Cutter

An Engineer weapon that fires bouncing projectiles linked by a plasma beam, so the damage is in the line between the projectiles rather than in the projectiles themselves. It cuts through packed groups and interacts well with terrain that bounces the shots back through the same crowd twice.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Packed swarms, enclosed spaces where projectiles ricochet, and the Hot Plasma overclock that adds damage plus a burn.
Key Mechanic	Meta Upgrades, Milestones and Gear
Recommended Build	Demolisher

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using Breach Cutter: Pairs naturally with Demolisher thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

Equipment Progression Path

The order you should acquire equipment as you progress:

Starting gear → Enough to clear Crystalline Caverns
"Lead Storm" Powered Minigun → Your first real upgrade, available early
LOK-1 Smart Rifle → Mid-game upgrade with good scaling
Deepcore GK2 → Best-in-slot, aim for this by late game
Upgrade to max → The power spike from max upgrades is enormous

Equipment Tips

Always upgrade your primary equipment before diversifying. One strong option beats three mediocre ones.
Match your equipment to your build's stat priorities for maximum scaling.
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.
Check our tier list for how equipment rankings affect overall build effectiveness.

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