Which Class is Most Effective for Solo Elite Deep Dives in Deep Rock Galactic?

[@Herderus]

Two weeks I got inspired by your guides and tried doing a solo blind Deep Dive. I picked Engi, because it's my favorite and I have the most experience with it. I failed, stage 3 was too much, but I've learnt my lessons and next week the mission was a success. Engi is very forgiving for solo, especially after the addition of drones. During swarms you can effectively bunker and hold your ground with two turrets, Steve, Bosco and shredders out. You don't have to watch your back constantly if you know you have one of these there to at least stop incoming threats or even just give you more sound cues. And even with all that Engi talk, if I'm farming solo missions, I play Scout for the speed, as you can blaze through almost any objectives and cave layouts. Driller is probably a sleeper, you need to know what you're doing and the class plays different overall than the rest of dwarves. It's not so straightforward and even in your builds you save ammo on Driller not by stacking upgrades, but by using Thermal Shock to kill enemies, it comes with experience to use him effectively. And then Gunner, he is slow, but reliable and I think most people don't want to do 2hr Deep Dives even if they're guaranteed to succeed, which you risk sometimes with unlucky objectives

[@Captain_Hapton]

I remember back in the day Scout was the ONLY class that could complete an EDD solo.

[@coolingagent2637]

Wait really? (Sorry, I'm a bit of a greenbeard. I'm still at bronze tier 🥲)

[@glow6257]

Yeah, that sounds interesting, how would only scout be able to complete an EDD alone?

[@The_Rising_Dragon]

@@glow6257 Aquarqs I'd assume

[@z43u]

@@The_Rising_Dragon Scout can have more potential crowd control and single target damage than all other classes if you have the right build. Drak vents and detonator Zhukov’s kill absolutely everything in EDD’s even dreads. Combine that with the fact that you can run mobility upgrades on both weapons as well with the fact that scout is already the most mobile class in the game. Soloing EDD’s is a cakewalk

[@The_Rising_Dragon]

@@z43u I mostly agree, although Salvage was a [REDACTED]

[@thefocus0]

DRG has done so well with balancing the strengths and weaknesses of each class. For me, there really isn't any point in playing a solo deep dive since I never find it difficult to get 3 other random players to go with. In my almost 200 hours of playing the game, I have never once played a mission all the way through by myself. It's truly the best co-op game I've played

[@BFedie518]

But "Bosco, you're the best!"

[@morganfreemanward3729]

You are the complete opposite of me 95% of my completed missions are solo 😢

[@yuukiyoshizawa7007]

I don't have many active friends to play with, and I can't find many people in my region playing the game, so either i have to go solo or go with high ping, which for certain classes like driller and gunner is almost impossible.

[@engels1978]

Same! When I choose mission I always choose to join! And when there are all full serwers or there is no one there, which happen VERY rarely!!! I make open serwer and usually in 5 minutes I have my own FULL serwer! 😁 And 95% time those random players are are very friendly!!! And like 80% time I meet good players who know what to do! Yeah I have about 1,3k games on Steam and this is one of the best Coop games! Or even the best!

[@chethan1196]

@@yuukiyoshizawa7007 Same for me as well *Cries in Asian region*

[@ryanb7186]

In general, I would say Engie, because he has the most killing power, is the the best at area defense, and can terraform a bit, which is generally sufficient for most situations, including having to lay pipes. There can be some rare map layouts where you would greatly prefer having Driller for refinery stages though.

[@Obama_Hunter]

Scout has the benefit of being able to constantly reposition himself and near infinitely avoid damage which allows Bosco to do a lot of the heavy lifting

[@MC-ns8gb]

And in the worst cases all of the nades are incredibly useful with stun sweeper making up for lack of cc and making flyers a complete joke, slow nades for kiting and dreadnoughts and cryo if you aren't running it on bosco already

[@darkinpresser]

the driller can also drill towards the Pod at the end that makes it a very good class for beginners.

[@PaladinLagnir]

I'll just copy my comment from the poll over to this video as well. I generally play gunner, but that's because I'm most used to that classes abilities and weapons. On an objective scale you'd want a class that performs well in firepower, survivability, and mobility which leads me to believe Engineer is the best choice. However, I believe comfort and familiarity with a class is more important than the objective stats of a class in this case as the classes are all well balanced enough that none ever come up entirely lacking.

[@ForwardTokage]

i put gunner because what makes missions hard is dying. so simply having a shield and high dps (thats also ammo efficient with neurotoxin) makes things easy for me

[@ShannaeDarkehart]

I'd rate the driller just a touch below engineer for a blind deep dive, personally, but it's really close. Honestly, they can all do it and they can all do it blind, but you have to build accordingly, and I simply think that engineer has the most options when doing so.

[@Skeletor4753]

I have to agree, cryo vampire driller feels like the strongest solo class. The only thing I'd say that build struggles with would be industrial sab

[@Garresh1]

I actually think going in blind is the best way to do a deep dive. Not because it's optimal or anything. Elite deep dives feel like the "boss" of deep rock. Knowing exactly what you'll face takes out the challenge of adapting.

[@zz8az]

Maybe not the most popular opinion, but I love Gunner solo for deep dives. You can stay pretty ammo efficient, great damage at all ranges against any enemy type, and the shield generator is such a good get-out-of-jail-free button. I mean, you only lose if you dont survive, and thanks to bubble shield gunner has the best survivability imo. You're gonna suffer just a little with your ziplines if the cave sucks, but its enough to get you there most of the time.

[@Victor-iz5dw]

going in blind I would think driller is the safest choice. I usually check the mission types and if it allows me to go gunner I always pick gunner. shield and autocannon Neurotoxin/fear will have you survive anything with ease.Bosco will mine all the hard to reach stuff anywawys.

[@BigBroccoli_]

Solo driller/engi is the way to go. I’m a solo player and those are my two mains because with engi you pretty much have another teammate with your turret and the platform gun is really versatile and with driller, if terrain isn’t favorable you can just destroy it and boom you have favorable terrain

[@elitetripod4188]

Engi would be my pick hands down. Seconded by the scout as if you get in trouble the scout can stay alive the easiest.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a fair choice too!

[@magnetic9089]

Yeah I’d agree with the driller pick

[@ReapeeRon]

Cool!

[@elcoolhaag7737]

every single match that i play i either get the most kills(usually play engineer) or another engineer does, the damage output is crazy, he can deal with big targets and small targets faster than any other and his platforms are amazing for a bunch of stuff. i dont mean to say like "omg im so good" but like, from all the time of me playing deeprock, engineer has been the best on almost every aspect. so yea i think engineer is the best for an elite deep dive solo

[@fullelement4886]

I'm a big driller fan. I agree that he's the best for blind dives, since he can handle almost anything himself. After all, those drills can handle getting anything anywhere that any other dwarf could with just a few exception. A good build can handle swarms, dreadnoughts and everything in between fairly efficiently and especially if you're rolling a cryo/vamp build you have a ton of room for small mistakes due to the ability to heal consistently without using red sugar and in a way that actually causes you to need fewer resupplies. Obviously I'm pretty biased because I love driller, but I feel like the good ol' shatter cryo and EPC mining combo works wonders in almost any solo situation on any mission type

[@ricoone5017]

I voted engineer, even if you don't know what is coming in the deep dive/elite deep dive, you can easily have the primary or secondary made for either crowd control or single target plus you have turrets to help you, great mobility with plats, they can help on pipeline mission to replace driller, even tho driller would be most effective on that type of mission. Driller would be my secondary most effective class in going blind, cause he wouldn't be that great on industrial sabotage compare to engi, that wouldn't have much trouble on either of the mission type if you have, like i said, one of your weapons build for Crowd control and the other made for single target. im not quite sure for my third choice cause both scout and gunner (in going blind solo deep dive) are a bit lacking for my taste compared to engi and driller, Scout as the mobility and the light, even if i can agree you can build him kind of well for crowd control, with let's say, the crossbow with fire bolt and pheromon while using like an M1000 for single target, if you don't have the good overclock, it's pretty rough to be able to take care of everything without enough experience on the game, plus not good at standing ground for a Salvage Operation and like the gunner not really great if you have pipeline mission. On the other hand, compared to scout, i think gunner is pretty easy to use against every kind of killing job, and you can be safer with the shield, even if pipeline mission might be super hard if there is any bad pumpjack spot, i think it's a class that would be easier for new player to use in solo deep dive in terms of killing job and surviving. So i think i would place gunner as the third, even tho the scout, even more with overclocks, is more than correct, for beginner i think scout would be the hardest to use on a blind deep dive or if there is a bad pumpjack spot/standing ground on Salvage Operation. Once you are experienced enough on the game, even if it might not be ideal, all the classes can work fairly easy, and even if you aren't, all the classes can work, even more on deep dive, were the mission is the same everytime you launch it, you just need to remember that there is a leech in that corner, or a lot of morkite/nitra in this spot, and you will gain a good amount of time on the mission, so potentially less nitra spend, better suvivability cause you dodged that leech, or were fighting the swarm in a clearer room this time. That's all for me, if you have anything you desire to add, or wanna disagree with, feel free to let me know, it might help other player like that, rock and stone miners !

[@NathanielSotero777]

I'm a scout main but level all other class equally (so jack of all trades) and this last update boosted engi to the roof as the best solo dwarf... double turret, Bosco, new shredder droid grenades and a steve is a team in itself.

[@BleakNote]

Scout 100%. And ive jumped into every DD blind. Personal opinion, Scout is fastest, provides more light and can reach just about anywhere you need to in seconds. Firepower doesnt matter if you can just outrun the bugs. Im speaking strictly solo DD's, multiplayer DD's i just make sure i have field medic and iron will. Just as a little insurance policy.

[@jesser8987]

This is super hard for me to pick. I can def see why you picked driller. He seems to be able to do anything albeit somewhat inefficiently sometimes. I actually feel so confident picking gunner when I don't know what I'm up against. The only thing I could think of that would be really bad are refining missions 😅

[@Lurowene]

I would say driller / scout. Driller because I believe cryo cannon is probably the strongest solo build in the game with vampire . You can also terraform easily and funnel enemies into choke points. I know people hate bunkering but it works and its ez. Scout for all the previously mentioned reasons.

[@Haunter_1616]

For normal Deep Dives I usually always just pick Gunner. Imo he can do generally everything except for mobility, the zip line is painfully slow if you have to reach a far away objective, but it will still get you there if you have patience

[@JJvideoman]

Yeah I would have said driller too. But scout having pheromone grenades and the mobility honestly could tie for first place for me.

[@BFedie518]

People look up what the missions are beforehand? The only times I've known what the DD missions were is when I've failed and am trying again.

[@questionablelifechoices7501]

I would personally say engineer for blind dives. He’s the most versatile in my opinion and can handle any situation very well. I think driller is probably my second option for the reasons you listed.

[@theflyingwhale5778]

Honestly it depends, if I'm going in blind, I still know which biome I'm going to end up in. If the biome is a 3 hit terrain, choose either Driller or Engineer. But if it's a 2 or 1 hit terrain, I usually use my main (Scout)

[@haraldbredsdorff2699]

Huh, I would have voted Driller too. Except for escort missions, I would say driller is fastest, because you can drill shortcuts or make a bunker if you are willing to spend time.

[@damienmcdonald7610]

I'm fairly new to drg and loving it but ive been playing as driller only to get the promotion to do deep dives and its great for all missions except point extraction (though honestly most of the time on them i just point bosco at aquargs so he can fetch lol) but driller really sucks for doretta escorts solo. Bosco is literally useless at defending doretta while you have to refuel and I've caught him a few times straight up ignoring enemies attacking. Engineer with turrets that actually work are much better for this.

[@evablouseblanche112]

the first time I ever beat an EDD, was going in with egni, but usually I go with driller. to me either work

[@noobnoob98noob]

Scout but as a scout man im kinda biased everything is nail if youre a hammer. Have a nice day God bless!

[@OhmIsFutile]

If it weren't for refining missions, I'd say scout all day. If you don't know or don't wanna know if there will be refining, I'd say it's down to personal preference between Engi and Driller. Engi has slightly better ranged options than Driller imo, better downward movement (just jump off lol) and the ability to plug holes. That said, Driller can, well, drill paths very efficiently and quickly, make bunkers, impact axes, etc.

[@travismusser2857]

Bro gunner is my go to for deep dives always has been I rather bring too much firepower then not enough

[@siri7005]

I'm pretty new (only just finished promoting all dwarves once) but I find engineer the best for the solo things for the same reason you picked driller. I think that while they may not be the best at everything they are at least passably good at everything thanks to the platforms and their absolutely excellent weapons, especially as someone with very limited overclock access, if any. Can be a bit tricky at times but platforms even solve weird refinery locations, even if not as conveniently as the driller. Being able to manipulate enemy movement with the platforms also helps a lot with making up for my relative combat inexperience.

[@jekychan1833]

I think Scout is great in solo missions overall. The only issue is to position correctly during a swarm to avoid getting overwhelmed in two seconds. And the only real requirement is learning how to get basically any mineral without relying on an Engineer (by performing a power attack against the wall while airborne). If you can't use that strat, just use Bosco for that specific mineral while you're mining something else!

[@ElliotScottDating]

You cant tell people never completed a solo EDD lol. i did it with all 4 and driller and gunner are waaaaay better than scout and engie. In fact gunner is secret op broken.

[@ReapeeRon]

I mean all of the classes are pretty great.

[@donaldpetersen2382]

Engineer has the best weapons hands down. Best focus dps and best splash damage. I disagree about gunner, he is the least ammo efficient. Driller in contrast is very ammo efficient.

[@Jawmax]

I would love to see an anomaly (positive mutator) tier list.

[@ReapeeRon]

I do have one, but it is over a year old at this point.

[@rudrod95_41]

I picked driller cause an excavation mission can take an hour+ if not

[@OhNoTheFace]

Scout struggles a little less with CC since he has Bosco. Electric bullets are your friend :O

[@JJvideoman]

And can someone explain why oppressors sometimes defrost almost instantly? Sometimes I can ice spear them and other times (most times) they defrost too fast.

[@ClassicMagicMan]

I voted Scout with Driller being my runner up, but I was surprised at the poll's results. I would have expected Driller to beat out Engie; though no surprise that Gunner ranked last (not that he's bad at solo, just slower). I'm always out of ammo on Engie.

[@notapoofyname]

driller is best class

[@themanwithnoname1839]

Can people stop saying "back in the day" when they mean less than ten years ago...... Imagine a sixteen year old saying that......

[@ReapeeRon]

I don't think that is going to happen but alright.

[@themanwithnoname1839]

@@ReapeeRon when did i say it would happen? Show me where, i simply asked..... Try reading a bit slower

[@ReapeeRon]

@@themanwithnoname1839 ?