Lock and Load! A Complete Class, Weapon Build and Perk Guide.

1. Accuracy allows the minigun to hit weakspots easier OR Faster windup makes the minigun far more responsive.
2. More ammo allows for the minigun to last longer OR more damage to shred through enemies quicker.
3. Blowthrough allows the minigun to be far more effective against clumps of enemies.
4. More damage to shred through enemies faster. Stacks well with faster windup (row1) + damage (row2).
5. All options are good. Personally prefer aggressive venting for a large fear effect. If overheating often, cold as the grave is likely the best choice.

1. Direct Damage allows for more DPS especially against single targets. Ammo is another popular choice, although can be an excessive amount of sustain.
2. Lighter Barrel Assembly helps the gun to reach max damage much easier, especially when kiting and in chaotic situations.
3. Direct Damage again for more DPS and ammo economy OR Firerate Increase for a massive boost in damage and handling.
4. Splash Radius allows for significant damage against hordes of enemies and makes the weapon more effective against swarmers.
5. More Damage again for yet more DPS OR Fear for a powerful crowd control, that’s a little chaostic however.

1. Accuracy is important for hitting the weakspots.
2. Ammo is key to increasing the guns limited ammo pool.
3. Hollowpoints massively increases damage against weakspots.
4. The final damage upgrade, this allows the bulldog to oneshot slashers and mactera.
5. Dead Eye is amazing for jump-shooting, a key kiting tactic.

1. Recoil Reduction helps to stabilise the gun at long ranges OR blowthrough if you want the weapon to serve as a backup horde clear.
2. Burst Delay Reduction improves the guns lacklustre handling immensely.
3. Large Clipsize to further improve the guns handling.
4. Ammo to improve the sustain of the weapon OR Hollowpoint for a weapon that does heavy burst damage.
5. Stun is the preferred option. Burst can improve DPS however often overkills enemies wasting ammo.

The Flamethrower is capable of melting waves of enemies and setting enemies on fire for weapon combos and damage over time.

1. Increased Fuel Tanks is a massive improvement, due to the flamethrower taking a long time to reload.
2. Direct Damage is a key component of the build, due to how large the damage increase is.
3. Firerate Increase combines with the damage upgrade from before for large damage output.
4. Ammo is required to help reduce the extra fuel consumption of increased firerate.
5. Finally Explosion on Death does massive damage against clumped up enemies.

Cyrocannon has less range and ammo than the flamethrower, but the powerful freeze effect can make eliminating high value targets incredibly easy.

1. More Freeze Power to allow for quicker freezing of key targets.
2. Ammo to improve the cyrocannons sustain in combat.
3. Faster Freeze Flow to go with the freeze power increase from row 1.
4. Ammo once again for a massive increase to the Cryocannons sustain. You can take Increased Freeze Power although you may find yourself running out of ammo.
5. Fragile makes the cyrocannon far more effective against grunts, guards and slashers by breaking them apart instantly.

The subata provides a large amount of accuracy and ammo, being a great way to cover driller’s weaknesses.

1. All options are good here. I personally prefer reload speed, as it allows me to keep the subata topped up at all times.
2. Ammo OR damage, however taking both damage upgrades might result in a lack of ammo.
3. Ammo OR damage, however taking both damage upgrades might result in a lack of ammo.
4. If running the flamethrower, hollowpoints with volatile bullets results in a massive amount of damage by stacking the bonuses. If running cyrocannon you cannot hit weakpoints against frozen enemies, so the straight damage increase is better.
5. If you’re running the flamethrower, you’ll want volatile bullets. If running the cyrocannon go with the mactera damage increase since you cannot easily set fire to enemies.

The EPC gives driller the ability to do AoE damage at long range, with versatility however lacking the ammo supply and accuracy of the subata.

1. Stacking Ammo to try and combat the lack of base sustain.
2. Ammo OR damage, however taking both damage upgrades might result in a lack of ammo.
3. Faster Charge Speed to improve the weapons handling. While reduced charge cost helps with the ammo problems, without the faster charge the weapon can be dangerous to charge up in hectic situations.
4. Stacking Ammo to try and combat the lack of base sustain.
5. Unstable Containment Field is a powerful mod, however does take a lot of attention to use effectively. Flying nightmare and hot plasma are both very niche, and do not fit well into driller’s kit.

The warthog is a solid weapon, effective against most enemies within a short range and has excellent ammo economy.

1. Clipsize improves the uptime of the weapon significantly.
2. More ammo gives the warthog much more sustain. All three options here are really solid however, but the ammo is much more versatile.
3. Reload speed combines well with the clipsize increase from before, ensuring the weapon is always ready to pump out damage.
4. Damage allows for easier one-shots on grunts, meanwhile armourbreak is an extremely niche upgrade.
5. Firerate Increase and automatic fire are both great quality of life upgrades, and improve the handling. Turret whip requires too much attention on higher difficulties to be effective.

The stubby doesn’t have the same ammo economy or damage output as the warthog but provides massive crowd control and damage over time.

1. Increased Electrical Chance is a cornerstone of this build, stacking with other effects.
2. Recoil Reduction is massive for the stubby, since it’s stability is so poor even when burst fired.
3. Both are great options. If you find yourself running low often, take the ammo, if not the damage upgrade.
4. Increased Damage against Shocked Enemies, since your electric chance is 50% this effect comes into play much sooner and doesn’t require precise aiming.
5. Electric Arc is the best option here, the increased shock chance means that this effect triggers far more and providing amazing crowd control.

The PGL is the best long range AoE in the game, and consequently one of the strongest weapons.

1. All options are solid here. Damage helps you reach key breakpoints, ammo is always nice due to the low ammo count, and splash makes the AoE even stronger.
2. Ammo Increase is a massive boost to how much damage you can dish out.
3. Fire Grenades allows for the weapon to easily melt grunts or any enemies close to death from the initial blastwave. Armour break is a tad niche, and not ammo efficient.
4. Splash Radius is a massive boost to the effectiveness of the weapon while stun is incredibly niche and randomised damage can cause the weapon to miss effective breakpoints.
5. Spiked Grenade is the better choice simply due to the fun yet chaotic nature of proximity grenades.

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1. Extended Lifetime gives the breach cutter much more effective range.
2. The Ammo Increase is just too large to pass up, giving this weapon far more sustain.
3. Both options are good. Quick deploy allows you to ignore positioning, although plasma width can catch way more enemies.
4. Both options are good. Stun will trap enemies in the plasma field, while armour break is much more effective against praetorians.
5. Plasma trail is great, catching swarmers especially if combined with the stun upgrade from before.

GK2 is a solid weapon good for all situations, however it lacks against swarms of enemies and has limited ammo supply.

1. Firerate helps to deal with hordes easier by outputting more DPS OR better base spread to give the GK2 a larger effective range if burst firing.
2. Both are solid choices, however taking the damage increase might result in a lack of ammo so I would recommend going with the ammo upgrade first.
3. All options are good here. The damage increase is minor, so feel free to take the handling modifications if you prefer the weapon with them. You will still be able to oneshot swarmers.
4. Hollowpoint is a better pick than Armour Break, as scout you should be able to easily hit weakspots if flanking with the grappling hook. Firerate is a nice damage increase, though you may find ammo to be extremely lacking especially without previous ammo upgrades.
5. Battle cool is better here, especially if you did not take any accuracy related upgrades. The Speed buff is powerful, however it can be easily obtained from the grappling hook. Stun is nice, but does little to help with scouts lack of ammo.

Gives the scout an accurate weapon capable of one-shotting many enemies, or staggering the,.

1. Ammo capacity to improve scout’s limited ammo pool OR The damage is nice for a few niche breakpoints however.
2. Faster charging improves the weapons handling drastically, and makes it far easier to kite with.
3. Additional damage on charge and hollowpoint on row4 allows the weapon to one-shot certain enemies with a charged shot.
4. Hollowpoint is another massive damage boost and as mentioned aboved needed for key thresholds.
5. Stagger on focused hit is great for keeping larger targets pinned OR quick reload on headshots if you want a weapon with more uptime.

The boomstick is a weapon capable of decimating large amounts of warriors, and heavily staggering larger enemies.

1. Increased ammo capacity for more sustain.
2. Faster reload speed, since the weapon only has 2 rounds per clip the quicker reload speed makes a massive difference.
3. More pellets per shell allows for grunts to be one-tapped by the shotgun.
4. Blowthrough allows the shotgun to be highly effective against condensed swarms. Scout can circle around enemies to get enemies to combine.
5. All options are good here. Do note that fire-damage does reduce the shotguns damage against dreadnoughts.

The zhukoves provide quick and nimble burst damage, though do have issues with ammo economy.

1. More ammo to once-again combat scout’s ammo deficiencies.
2. Quicker reload speed improves handling, but has a good synergy with row5 upgrade get in, get out.
3. Accuracy means less ammo is wasted going wide, and that more shots hit weakspots improving both damage and ammo economy.
4. Blowthrough allows the weapon to shred warriors easily OR hollowpoint for a weapon that is capable of high burst damage.
5. Unless if you are running IFGs get in, get out is the only useful upgrade. If running IFGs, the additional damage is highly effective.

DEEP POCKETS won’t win games, but the extra mineral space is nice to have, especially on scout. Consider choosing more combat focused perks.

VETERAN DEPOSITOR has a decent damage resistance, but requires molly on the mission, and isn’t effective while kiting. Best suited to gunner, or tight caves.

VAMPIRE is somewhat weak, with sweet tooth being better for additional health. However has combos with beserker and combat drills, though it can be risky to try and gain health back this way.

UNSTOPPABLE can save your life against earthquakes and storms, and is helpful for transportation on point extract. Solid but boring perk, good on everyone but scout.

SWEET TOOTH allows you to keep health topped up higher. Especially strong on shield-disrupt missions due to more red sugar spawns. Movement speed is a nice but niche bonus.

STRONG ARM is a rather weak perk, making it slightly easier to find leeches and transport gems. Consider choosing more combat focused perks.

SECOND WIND is hard to use effectively. In combat situations, you’ll want to shoot, fire, sprint but the firing cancels out second wind reducing it to minor utility.

RESUPPLIER is very useful on salvage and escort missions, since you’ll likely rely on resupply pods for the heavy action sequences.

FRIENDLY ideally shouldn’t be needed providing your team isn’t actively trolling. Consider more combat focused perks instead.

ELEMENTAL RESISTANCE is incredibly useful on the radioactive and magma zones due to elemental damage being a bigger threat in those biomes, but is weak on other biomes.

ITS A BUG THING is a joke perk, so only invest if you have perk points to spare or wanting to have a bit of fun. Or you just really, really hate lootbugs.

BORN READY is only worth considering on flamethrower driller and autocannon gunner. Even then, other perks provide a far larger advantage,

BEAST MASTER is very strong when used on guards, as the large health means the creature stays alive longer to provide a distraction.

BESERKER allows for a quick burst of damage to eliminate key targets, and can be really strong to eliminate tricky targets like oppressors by ignoring their armour.

DASH allows for you to easily avoid bad situations and re-position, it’s quick recharge allowing for frequent use and dodges. Strongest on gunner, weakest on scout.

FIELD MEDIC is an excellent tool for confident grey-beards, the faster revive speed and AOE fear allowing for comebacks. However, it requires you to be the carry to be effective.

SEE YOU IN HELL has a massive AOE blast and fear, allowing for you to revived in a pinch. However, this requires your team to be communicating and you to go down.

HEIGHTENED SENSE is a mostly useless perk once you’ve gotten into the habit of looking up, but can be used to escape the odd trawler or grabber if needed.

HOVER BOOTS is on the weaker side unless if you find yourself dying to fall damage commonly. It’s short duration and long cooldown make it lacklustre to keep you away from danger.

IRON WILL can be excellent for clutching a game, dealing damage at a tough moment and reviving an ally or yourself. However, it’s one time use and doesn’t come with the field medic passives.

SHIELD LINK is a decent perk for salvage or black boxes due to it’s passive, but the activate ability is hard to use effectively without communication and close group positioning.

1. Accuracy allows the minigun to hit weakspots easier OR Faster windup makes the minigun far more responsive.
2. More ammo allows for the minigun to last longer OR more damage to shred through enemies quicker.
3. Blowthrough allows the minigun to be far more effective against clumps of enemies.
4. More damage to shred through enemies faster. Stacks well with faster windup (row1) + damage (row2).
5. All options are good. Personally prefer aggressive venting for a large fear effect. If overheating often, cold as the grave is likely the best choice.