Deep Rock Galactic: Best Perks, Ranked (2024)

Deep Rock Galactic is a creative first-person shooter that's been around for more than 5+ years and is still very much alive due to a dedicated dev team and an entirely wholesome fanbase. It's a game that relies on players working cooperatively in an attempt to explore distant planets for minerals and other resources while defending against the alien insects that live on them. With plenty of entertaining things to do besides mining ore, it is also important for the player to focus on upgrading their character (this goes for the new spin-off game, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor as well)

These optional bonuses can help not only the players themselves but also their co-op partners when facing the dangers across each planet, especially as players can take on these challenges at different difficulties. With nine tiers of Perks to upgrade, there are a wide variety of Perks with both active and passive effects for the player to achieve. These are by far the best Perks for Deep Rock Galactic players to invest in.

Updated July 12th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: Deep Rock Galactic is a truly unique franchise in the way that it's so wholly beloved by its fanbase, regardless of the quality of each season. Whether it's the classic Deep Rock Galactic or the more recently released Vampire Survivors-like game Deep Rock Galactic Survivors, fans are happy with the quality of these games. There's an absurd amount of content in each game, with tons of new things to unlock, new weapons to try out, and new Overclocks to grind for. Perks, in particular, make a huge difference in DRG, regardless of whether you're playing on a standard level or in a Deep Dive. So, with that in mind, let's give a complete overview of all the Perks players can obtain in the game.

13 Perk Menu Overview

A Look at a Fully Upgraded Perk Menu

Upgrading your way through the Perk Tree is Deep Rock Galactic is going to take some time, regardless of how good of a dwarf miner you are. It takes a ton of Perk Points, levels, and so on to get the highest level of Perks available, so we've attached a video above that hovers over every single Perk at every single stage of it's upgrades so that any players who don't have the tree fully decked out yet can get a picture of what it looks like when complete.

12 Passive Perk: Born Ready

Max Tier Rank 3

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Born Ready	Unequipped weapons automatically reload after *15/10/5 seconds.

First up is Born Ready, a Passive Perk that isn't unlocked until the Dwarf in question reaches the seventh tier of Perks in the tree. Now the function of this Perk is pretty simple, stowed weapons are automatically reloaded after a certain amount of time passes (based on the Tier of the Perk of course).

And, while this certainly is a convenience, it's not all that noticeable of an effect until Tier 3. Also, for the most part, this is a Perk that is only really useful on one character, the Engineer. A lot of the Engineers' weapons have high damage output but long reload times and low ammo capacity, which is where this Perk comes in handy. Additionally, there's nothing worse than jumping off a ledge as an Engineer, pulling out the Platform Gun to fire straight down to break the fall, only to find out it needs to be reloaded.

11 Passive Perk: Thorns

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Thorns	Any time an enemy attacks the player's dwarf with a melee attack it will take *6/12/18/24 damage in return.

Out of all the Perks on here, this is the one that players will probably notice the least mid-combat. That said, it's still helpful, especially for Swarmers and Naedocyte enemies. With Thorns, players will automatically deal damage to enemies that deal melee damage to them, once per 0.75 seconds.

This means that the Perk isn't particularly helpful against a swarm of Swarmers due to the lapse of time between each Thorn trigger, but it makes it so that players won't need to worry about singular Swarmers much at all. Just keep in mind, it's only worth using on characters who are always in the thick of it like Gunner and Driller, and it needs to be at least Tier 3 as well.

10 Active Perk: Hover Boots

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Hover Boots	Active Effect: Allows the player to hover midair for *2/2.5/3/3.5 seconds. Additionally, the jets from the boots can burn any creatures directly underneath the player. Has a *120/105/90/75 second cooldown.

Hover Boots, the first Active Perk in the rankings is pretty much the best overall Perk for new players to use. By far the most dangerous thing in Deep Rock Galactic is fall damage, which is funny to think about since this is a game about Dwarves surviving on a planet full of territorial bug aliens. But, it's true, players will find themselves needing a revive as a result of a fall because of some slight hole created far more than at the hands of some bug. And, depending on the biome, these are the moments where the Hover Boots truly shine.

This is, once again, a Perk that's only worth using at the max Tier available for it, but with it, players can save themselves from a potentially fatal fall every 75 seconds just by holding the 'Crouch' button mid-air. Additionally, Hover Boots have an extra (slightly hidden) usage on Scouts in particular as these allow Scouts to grapple up to something, let go, hover, quickly mine a 'pocket' in the wall for themselves, and grapple into it. But, most people just tend to use their Hover Boots to make the trip back to the extraction point in this Extraction Shooter a bit less precarious.

9 Passive Perk: Deep Pockets

Max Tier Rank 3

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Deep Pockets	Each of the player's mineral pouches can now hold *5/10/15 more valuables.

Once players get used to the gameplay loop of Deep Rock Galactic, actually surviving against the bug creatures is less of a concern, and gathering materials quickly and efficiently becomes the main focus.

And, nothing is more inefficient, especially in multiplayer, than having to constantly go to Molly or call her over to deposit Minerals. With Tier 3 Deep Pockets, the time between deposits actually increases by a noticeable amount. And, in the rare scenarios where players encounter a Crassus Detonator and are suddenly looking at seemingly infinite amounts of minable gold, Deep Pockets is even more of a timesaver.

8 Heightened Senses

Max Tier Rank 3

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Heightened Senses	Passive Effect: The player gets an early visual warning when a creature is about to grab them. Active Effect: *1/2/2 times per mission, players can escape after being grabbed by pressing the 'Use' input to break free. Will also kill the creature grabbing the player when used. Has an *infinite/90/5 second cooldown.

This next Perk feels almost like it was designed for one specific class, the Scout. Scout players quickly discover in Deep Rock Galactic multiplayer that they'll often get separated from their team. Whether this is from staying behind to clear out all the Nitra or from scouting ahead with the Grappling Hook, Scouts are on their own a lot.

And, nothing feels worse than confidently blazing ahead from the team only to get snagged by a Cave Leech or Mactera Grabber miles away from everyone else. But, with Heightened Senses, this is much less of an issue. With this Perk equipped, players will have this white visual effect (and noise) appear at the borders of their vision when something is about to grab them. Not only that, but they'll also be able to instantly kill whatever grabbed them up to two times per mission.

7 Passive & Active Perk: Shield Link

Max Tier Rank 3

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Shield Link	Passive Effect: Whenever the user of this Perk is within 4 meters of a teammate, both of their shields will recharge 50 Percent faster. Active Effect: The player can utilize the 'Use' input when looking at a teammate to overcharge their shield to 300 Percent for *20/30/30 seconds. Has a *3/3/2 minute cooldown.

In single-player, Shield Link is basically not ever worth using, but Deep Rock Galactic is primarily designed as a multiplayer game. And, while the DRG community is one of the friendliest and most welcoming around, having Perks that are centered around helping others out makes it even easier to get along with new people in random lobbies.

That's why Shield Link is a perfect Perk to use in these situations, as all players need to do is walk up to an ally who just got out of a combat situation or is out of shields and stand near them so that their shields recharge at a 50 percent faster speed. Additionally, if there's ever a moment where it looks like an ally is about to be in trouble, players can trigger the active effect of Shield Link to instantly refill their Shields and even give them an over-shield as well. It's not one of the 'best' Perks in the game sure, but this is mostly just because it's a bit difficult to use consistently and the distance in the Passive is a bit restrictive, so overall it's still absolutely a great option.

6 Active Perk: Berzerker

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Berzerker	Active Effect: Enter the 'Berserk' state for 10 seconds. While in this state, the player gets boosted melee damage, and their Power Attack recharges much faster. Has a *10/8/6/4 minute cooldown.

Moving on to Berzerker, which is yet another Perk that players probably underestimated at first glance, only to discover its true utility 100+ hours in. Berzerker seems like something that would only work with a melee class, at first, but that's not entirely true. To elaborate on this 'true utility' let's go over the most important factor for Deep Dives and higher Hazard levels, which is Ammo.

Players will find themselves burning through Ammo at a pretty staggering rate during the harder missions of Deep Rock Galactic, and smart usage of the Pickaxe Power Attack does a lot to mitigate the ammo usage. The Power Attack truly is the perfect thing to use when completely swarmed with enemies or to take that last little chunk out of a Praetorian's HP. And, with the Berzerker Perk, players can go into their 'Berzerker' state pretty often to basically have unlimited Power Attacks for 10 seconds, which is truly a lot of damage. Not only that, this Perk synergizes so incredibly well with Driller's Melee-focused attributes as well as the Vampire Perk.

5 Passive Perk: Friendly

Max Tier Rank 1

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Friendly	The player both takes and deals 50 Percent less friendly fire damage while this Perk is equipped.

Probably the most controversial decision for these rankings is to rank Friendly this high up. But, truly, making it so that friends or even random players don't need to worry about hurting their allies with gunfire is such a bonus to the overall DRG experience. With this Perk active, the player not only deals 50 percent less damage to allies, but they also take 50 percent less damage from their allies.

Having this equipped makes it possible for Engineers to play with others and still use something like the Fat Boy Overclock, for Drillers to use their Flamethrower as much as they want, or for Gunners to unload as many explosives as needed to kill enemies. Granted, it doesn't nullify friendly fire completely, so still keep friendly fire in mind, but it's very difficult to actually down an ally with this Perk active.

4 Passive & Active Perk: Field Medic

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Field Medic	Passive Effect: The player revives teammates *15/20/25/30 Percent faster. At Tier 4, nearby enemies also flee when ally is revived. Active Effect: Once per mission, the player can press the 'Fire' input while reviving an ally to instantly revive them.

Out of everything here, Field Medic is the best 'support' Perk overall. All that said, there's a reason it's still ranked 4th. Well, this is simply due to the fact that the Active component of Field Medic can only be used a maximum of one time per Mission.

To elaborate a bit more, Field Medic makes it so that the player with it equipped will revive their allies 30 percent faster and at Tier 4 reviving an ally will also cause nearby enemies to flee for a short duration. Additionally, it also has an Active that allows players to instantly revive a teammate, but as stated earlier, only once per mission. Still, that 30 percent revive speed buff is instantly noticeable and often makes all the difference in crucial moments when a lobby is about to wipe.

3 Active Perk: Iron Will

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Iron Will	Active Effect: Once per mission, the player can get themselves up from a downed state with all their weapons reloaded and bonus strength for *6/8/10/12 seconds. In this time period, if players find a way to heal themselves, they'll stay up, and if they don't they'll go down for good after time is up. Also, in this state players hit harder, move faster, and are more resistant to crowd control effects.

If Field Medic is a Perk that is generally useful but can also prevent a team wipe, Iron Will is even better at preventing a team wipe but is a bit less universally helpful. With this Active Perk equipped, players will be able to (once per mission) revive themselves instantly, become invincible for a short duration, have their weapons instantly reloaded, and move faster before going down again at the end of that short duration.

But, if players can find a way to heal even 1HP, whether through Red Sugar, Resupplying, or even through Vampirism, they won't go down at the end of this duration. So, the Perk is most commonly used when everyone goes down so that an ally can get themselves up, have enough time to revive one teammate (or more), and then get a bit of health for themselves to keep the mission going. It's at its most useful during Deep Dives especially, as the procedural generation makes it difficult to 'learn' the map, and the Active effect of Iron Will refreshes at the start of each of the three Deep Dive stages.

2 Passive Perk: Resupplier

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Resupplier	The player restocks at the Resupply Pods *20/30/40/50 Percent faster. They also regain *10/15/20/25 more HP when they resupply. Lastly, after resupplying, all their weapons will be instantly reloaded for them.

While some Deep Rock Galactic players may not agree that this Perk deserves the silver medal, they're probably having this thought with Resupply currently equipped anyway. This Perk is one that, once a player uses it for even a few missions, they'll rarely ever take it off again. Resupplying without this Perk equipped is truly slow, less convenient, and more of a risk to the mission since players will need to actively focus on conserving ammo more often.

However, with it active, players can use resuppys during hectic moments, they can use it to prevent Iron Will from re-downing them, and they can use it to instantly reload their heavier weapons.

1 Active Perk: Beast Master

Max Tier Rank 4

Icon	Name	Perk Description
	Beast Master	Active Effect: The player can hold the 'Use' input while looking at any variety of Glyphid Grunt within 2 meters of them to tame said creature. After they're tamed, these Tamed Grunts attack their previous allies and will deal *100/200/300 Percent extra damage than their default state depending on the player's Tier Level of Beast Master. This taming ability has a 5-minute cooldown.

And finally, it's time to talk about the most overpowered Perk in Deep Rock Galactic, and second place isn't even close. Beast Master is so absurdly good as an Active Perk, and that benefit is even multiplied if multiple people have it equipped in the same lobby.

With Beast Master, players will be able to tame a Glyphid Grunt every 5 minutes to become 'Steeve', their loyal companion. And, as anyone knows, every game that allows people to have pets instantly becomes much better. Steeve will be fully healed once tamed, will deal up to 300 percent more damage at max Perk Tier, and will auto-hunt down nearby enemies, which can pull aggro and also add a ton of additional damage at the end of a mission.

On top of all that, players can also tame more than just standard Grunts, they can also tame Slashers and Guards, each of which has its own benefits. Overall, an Engineer who has Beast Master, Shredder Swarms, both Turrets, and the Lok-1 Smart Rifle will find that the game basically plays itself, and even when they do need to do some killing, the gun aims by itself.

Deep Rock Galactic

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One

Released

May 13, 2020

Developer(s)

Ghost Ship Games

Publisher(s)

Coffee Stain Publishing

Genre(s)

FPS

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op

See at Xbox Games Store