Best Weapons to Use Early in Deep Rock Galactic Survivor

Early on in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, players are pretty limited in their choice of weapons. As you navigate your dungeon crawl, you’ll get the chance to add additional firepower, but you need to choose wisely if you want to survive.

Players will begin with only one weapon and one class available to them in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, so strategy becomes vital as you navigate the hoards to achieve your objectives. One key decision is which additional weapon to add when you level up, because it can truly make the difference between life or death. Here are our tips for which early weapons to unlock and use to ensure you’ll make it out of the Crystalline Caverns alive.

Related: How to Play the Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Early Access

Your Starter Weapon in Deep Space Galactic: Survivor – The Deepcore GK2

This is the initial weapon you’ll load in when you start out as a Classic Scout in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. The Deepcore GK2 deals a moderate amount of damage in short bursts, making it a solidly mid-level weapon. Regardless, you’re stuck with it for a while until you unlock more class options and load-outs.

As such, the early portion of your dungeon crawl will be focused on trying to level up this starter weapon to get the most out of it. In fact, one of your early mission objectives is to get this Weapon to Level 12.

So while you don’t get a choice in whether or not to use this weapon early on, you can opt for upgrades at every new level that will increase its damage and reload speed while leveling up to hit the objective.

Best Early Weapon Additions in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Players are forced to start with the class-specific weapon, leveling up will give you the ability to add additional weapons as you play through the game. Once you hit certain levels, you can choose between three different perks.

Often, these perks improve your character’s HP or defenses or increase your weapon level. However, at Levels 5, 15, and 25, you’ll be able to pick one new weapon. These are the early weapons you can choose between, ranked based on how much they’ll help you progress in the game.

1. Shukov Nuk17

One of the first optional add-ons early in Deep Space Galactic: Survivor, this weapon fires in all four directions, making it much easier to keep the aliens at bay. Compared with the slow, one-direction speed of your starting weapon, the Zhukov Nuk17 is a real game changer that helped me finally survive the first round.

It’s our top pick for early weapons due to its spray-firing capacity to thin out the hordes before they take you down.

2. Cryo Grenade

The Cryo Grenade is one of the three early weapon choices before you unlock additional add-ons, and it is the first to deal a type of damage other than kinetic. It delivers area-of-effect cold damage, which slows down your enemies.

It’s slow to reload, but really packs a punch when it hits the hoard, making it an effective early weapon to help you survive until you can upgrade.

3. Jury-Rigged Boomstick

This weapon packs a powerful punch with massive, explosive damage. It can help take out many enemies in one fell swoop, but its reload speed is a bit slow. It always targets the closest enemy, which means you won’t be able to keep your distance from the aliens if you want to make them go boom. Not ideal early on when your character is pretty squishy.

The Jury-Rigged Boomstick certainly makes a great addition to your arsenal early on in Deep Space Galactic: Survivor, but the slow reload speed and limited range make it a bit less versatile than other early weapon add-on choices.

4. M1000 Classic

After you earn enough XP to unlock new weapons, this will be the first new addition to the rotation of weapon unlocks as you complete your dungeon crawl. The M1000 Classic targets the highest HP enemy with a powerful punch of kinetic damage. It’s incredibly useful during the final stage when you combat the elite alien enemies. However, targeting the strongest enemy isn’t particularly helpful beforehand, when you’ll need more widespread fire to take out the sheer number of aliens surrounding you.

It’s a good one to unlock in Deep Space Galactic: Survivor, but I wouldn’t pick it as the first weapon you add on since you’ll likely be a ways off from the big boss at that stage and should go in for something with more ground cover.