Because of the way Ghost Ship games brought basically all of the weapons from Deep Rock Galactic to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, the builds in this game are very versatile. Players have all sorts of weapons to choose from at levels 5, 15, and 25 during a run. Plus, depending on what upgrades they choose for this weapon on ever level up (as well as their Overclocks), the function of these weapons can vastly differ.

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And, a lot of the time, the Dwarf subclasses give that character access to even more weapons too. The Gunner, for example, has access to all Projectile Weapons with his default subclass, the Engineer has access to Construct Weapons with his default class, and the Scout's second subclass gives him access to Light Weapons. The Scout, despite seeming like the most mechanically 'basic' Dwarf of the four, has some builds that are absurdly strong, so let's go over some of the best options in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor now.

Scout Build 1: Jack-Of-All-Trades

A Build That Covers Every Circumstance

For the first build, the Scout is going to take a page from the Driller's book and go for an elemental build. All of the weapons listed above have access to Electric damage either by default or through an Overclock, and this entire build is centered around dealing as much Electric Damage as possible. The Stubby will take care of any pesy nearby enemies, the Voltaic Stun Sweeper will hit enemies at range (or the highest health enemies, depending on the Overclock), the TH-0R Bug Taser is in charge of AoE damage, and the Zhukovs will cover the Scout while they're running around.

Additionally, with this build, players actually have two elemental buff level upgrades they're constantly keeping an eye out for, both the upgrade that buffs all Status Damage (which includes electric) or the upgrades that specifically buff Electric Damage. For Artifacts, players will want to look out for anything that increases their overall survivability or any general damage buffs (that don't come with debuffs too, like the Pickled Nitra). Sadly, there aren't any Artifacts in DRG: S (yet) that buff elemental builds, but based on what the developers have said in News updates for the game on Steam, it probably isn't all too long of a wait until these types of Artifacts are added in.

Scout Build 2: Crit Build

Absurdly High Damage Output Build

Next up is a build that players will need to get their Scout to at least Rank 18 to start working towards (and Rank 24 to follow the build completely). This is a build for players who have already put a substantial amount of time into Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, but as a result this is one of the strongest builds in the game. The Scout's third subclass, the Sharpshooter, has a pretty hilariously strong passive ability. When the player uses this subclass they not only start with one of the strongest weapons in the game, the M1000 Classic, they also get the passive of +15 Crit Chance, +50 Crit Damage, and the ability for their Crits to cause high-damaging shrapnel explosions.

So, as a result, this build is entirely centered around getting Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and individual Damage per shot as high as possible. Players will want to use weapons that prioritize high damage over high ammo count or high fire rate, which is why the M1000, Boomstick, and Boltshark are on here. The Deepcore is a fill pick, as players don't 'need' to use the Deepcore for this build to work, but they will want to get a weapon at level 5 or 15 that's a bit more focused on AoE than single target damage, and the Deepcore is the best 'middle of the road' option. For Artifacts, it should be obvious to anyone who has unlocked these, but the Squint-EE5 and the Nitragenic Powder are obvious picks. On top of this, this build can also benefit quite a lot from the Pickled Nitra, Nitra Scanner, and Reflex Calibrator, as long as players are aware this will end up slowing down their movement speed quite a bit.

Scout Build 3: Crowd Control Build

Keep Them Pushed Back & Under Control

For the third build, let's take a look at another Sharpshooter build. Sadly, once players unlock the Sharpshooter subclass for the Scout, they very rarely go back to using the Classic subclass. While the Deepcore Assault Rifle and M1000 Classic Rifle fill different roles, in general the M1000, Crit Chance buff, and Crit Damage buffs are far better than the Classic's Move Speed and Max HP buffs.

In any case, this is a CC-centric build for the Sharpshooter that doesn't quite build into it's Critical Hit abilities as much as the last build does. Rather, this one focuses on using the Jury-Rigged Boomstick's knockback Overclock to keep enemies at a distance, using the Cryo Grenade to keep groups of enemies completely frozen, using the Bug Tazer to deal with the smaller mobs, and using the M1000 Classic to cleave through entire lines of enemies in a single shot. It's a relatively similar build to the first build in this guide, but this one is a lot more viable for Hazard 4 and 5, depending on the Biome of course, as controlling those absurdly overwhelming waves of Glyphids on those Hazard Levels is more important than anything else.

In general, the Artifact recommendations for this build follow a lot of the same logic as the two other builds above, those being Artifacts that buff Damage, Reload Speed, Survivability, and Move Speed. This is also one of the rare builds where either the BRN or preferably the FRZ Shield Belt is a recommended Artifact. This is due to the fact that this build is centered around keeping enemies away from the player and using knockback and freeze to do so. But, some Glyphids will inevitably slip through the cracks, so the FRZ Shield Belt will give the player a second to breath and re-position when this happens.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor was released on February 14th, 2024, and is available on PC.

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