Deep Rock Galactic Survivors Gunner Build Guide

The Gunner is the first unlockable class in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors, and is designed as the DPS class of the game. Here is a guide on how to build him to maximize his potential and shred through swarms and bosses.

Best Gunner Build in Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

Each operator has a role at which they excel, and for the Gunner that is dealing damage. While you can choose the upgrades and weapons to cover up for his weaknesses — those being mining speed, and movement speed — I found he thrives when you double down on his strengths (DPS and armor). That is why this build is oriented towards increasing his overall damage, farming XP from swarms and creating gaps to escape through the enemies instead of through the walls.

Best Class Mod for the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors

All class mods are useful, depending on the type of run you want to make and your preferred playstyle. But I found the Juggernaut to be the strongest overall, and my favorite to play. This is because although it receives a debuff in weapon range, the Gunner already works best when in close contact with the swarms; and in exchange, the Juggernaut receives a +10 to Armor and +50 to HP, which allows you to walk through swarms, if needed, and farm that extra XP in the early stages of the level.

This class mod is harder to use at the beginning because the starter weapon, the "Bulldog" Heavy Revolver, can be slow and underwhelming when surrounded by many enemies. But you can level up the Gunner quickly, and soon you'll be able to add more weapons to your loadout.

Related: Deep Rock Galactic Survivor: Engineer Total Turret build guide

Best Weapons for the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

You can't change your weapons later in the run, so if you don't get the weapons you want, I advise you to spend on re-rolls until you have better options available.

You'll want to get the Gunner to rank 12 as soon as possible to unlock one of his best weapons—the "Thunderhead" Heavy Autocannon, which deals superb damage and gives a small knock back to enemies (including mini bosses). Once you unlock the Heavy Gunner Class Mod, this will be your starting weapon.

I always get the Incendiary Grenade after seeing how much damage it dealt after an entire run.

Other weapons that pair well with the Thunderhead are the "Stubby" Voltaic SMG from the Engineer Class, that shoots fast electric bullets in close distance, and the Subata 120 from the Driller, which shoots behind you and covers your only blind spot when you are kiting a Boss or a Swarm.

Finally, the Drak-25 Plasma Carbine — unlocked by the Scout at level 21 but available also for the Gunner — is the best DPS gun since the plasma bullets ricochet against the walls.

Best Overclocks for the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors

This build is focused on Status Effect damage, which means is always best to choose an Overclock that turns your damage into Fire or Electric. For the "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun, for example, you should choose the Pan Fried Shells Overclock at level 6, 12, or 18.

Best Upgrades for the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors

Any upgrade that increases raw damage or Status Effect damage is priority for this build. However, if you don't want to spend gold re-rolling the upgrades, you can grab a few upgrades on Armour and Movement Speed as well. Remember weapons get their overclocks at level 6, 12, and 18, so it is useful to bring the Lead Storm Powered Minigun and the Thunderhead Heavy Autocannon to those levels as quick as possible.

Best Artifacts for the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

Although there are some artifacts that are great on their own (like the BLT Ration Pack which gives you +70 Max HP, and a useful +2 Life Regen, or the Red Sugar Cube which allows you to increase your Max HP by 2 every time you heal up), it is best to pick artifacts that have synergy with each other.

For example, you can combine the Nitra Scanner (gives a small chance to find Nitra when mining any rock) with the Nitragenic Powder (Increases your critical chance by 0.5% for every Nitra you have) and the Pickled Nitra (Increases your damage 2% and decreases your move speed 0.5% for every Nitra you have).

Or pick the Gold Scanner (small chance to find Gold when mining any kind of rock) and the Gold-Tipped Bullets (Increase your damage done by 1% for every 5 Gold you have).

Finally, a strong combination is the Popup Tripod (increases your fire rate +2% and reload speed +2% while standing still. Lasts for 2s, stacks up to 10 times), with the Barley Bulb Juice (gives you a temporary movespeed buff when standing still of +5% Movespeed for 3 seconds, up to 5 stacks) and the Ammo Rig (+50% Fire Rate, -15% Move Speed).

Related: Latest Deep Rock Galactic Survivor Patch Notes 0.2.146d Update – February 2024

How to play the Gunner in Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

In the early stages, you want to get that sweet XP from the easy enemies by farming the swarms, and delay killing the Stage boss until you've collected enough Gold, Nitra, and completed your level objectives.

• Don't run away from swarms: instead, walk around them, target the explosive enemies, or approach them and quickly walk away to trigger the explosions and melt the other bugs too.
• Use all your weapons: if you are wielding a "Lead Storm" Powered Minigun (which only shoots forward), turn around to face your enemy every few steps.
• Leave the Supply Pod for the end: this way you can drop it on top of the mini boss and one-shot kill it.
• Go back the way you came: this way you will pick up all the XP points from all the mobs that have been following you and died from the Status Effects of your Incendiary Grenade and other DOT weapons.
• Walk through the swarm if needed: it is okay to sacrifice some HP for better positioning, more kills, and more XP.

If you are looking for more on Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors, check How to unlock all characters in Deep Rock Galactic Survivor and Deep Rock Galactic Survivors Tips and Tricks here on Pro Game Guides.