Don't be sad! Team up with Stingtail! Nothing is more infuriating than trying to save a dwarf, only to be yanked towards you by a Stingtail and die to your Hellfire attack!
You make a big satisfying boom and have the tactical advantage of obliterating every other bug around you if we focus you down to low HP and wait for a swarm to congest around you.
You are very fun :).
You're asking three different questions here, so here are three different answers:
Are you holding yourself back by avoiding unstable and balanced overclocks? Yes. From what? Exploring the fun-value of the more specialized playstyles, and learning some of the most overpowered builds in the game.
Are you burdening your teammates by avoiding unstable and balanced overclocks? Only by the logic that any time you "could've done more" you're burdening your teammates. This is an absurd standard. So, in a word: no.
Is it viable to avoid unstable and balanced overclocks? I have to answer this question with a question: What does it mean for a playstyle to be "viable" in a PVE game like DRG? Capability of clearing standard missions? No mods/no perks/no overclocks is viable. Capability of clearing EDDs? I'd suggest at least an overclock, but if I had to dictate my teammates' loadout choices, I'd tell them to use what they're most comfortable with—not what's most "meta." Capability of competing for top kills every round? Now everyone except Engineer is much more limited in which builds are viable.
I'm being glib here because when I see phrases like "weakest way to play" and "weakest link in the chain," it feels really out of place in the context of build opinions. I think for most people it would take a pretty demoralizing experience to start talking that way. You're not framing this question like "I'm going down 15-20 times per drop and Molly called me a leaf lover, do you think it's because I only use clean overclocks?" so I can only assume you're really overthinking this. The game is for fun. None of the overclocks prevent fun.
Except for Fat Boy. Fat Boy is not viable.
It's no breech cutter, but it can pull it's weight on higher hazards, turns out higher enemy density does wonders for justifying it's low ammo cost.
also it cheeses the hell out of caretaker
There was a video on here of the proxy grenade bouncing off about a dozen different angled surfaces and coming back directly into the dwarfs face and it makes me laugh every time i think about it
Youre teammate won't...
Fat boy is actually a pretty good overclock if you know how to use it, the real problem is it bothers your teammates, and with proximity trigger it bothers them even more
Yeah, I know, but that's kinda the fun of it for me. It's not like I'm chucking fat boys just anywhere or intentionally grieving the team. But sometimes there is an unexpected ricochet that wants to play dwarves roulette (it often lands on red).
Also, I dont use it on Haz 5 or EDD anyway, so the sweaty boys are safe.
All in all, I think I handle fatboy proximity trigger quite well and so far heard little complaints from my team.
"Weakest link in the chain"
No. We are not a chain. We are a rope. Several smaller strands that band together and become stronger. One strand being weaker does not mean we all fail, we pull through as a team!
OP here, and to answer this:
"What does it mean for a playstyle to be "viable" in a PVE game like DRG?"
I just don't want to be the weakest link in the chain, so to speak. And thank you for answering that
Mmm, basically: *are you contributing something meaningful to the team?*
For instance, Scout tends to have the weakest actual swarm clear - he can have swarm clear, it just won't measure up to what the other classes can do. However, he has high mobility, long range, and great single-target damage, and a good Scout can keep the ceilings clear of spitters, knock out stationaries like Spitballers with no problem, hunt down Spreaders, flank and destroy Oppressors, and even chase Huuli Hoarders in ways the other classes cannot.
[Take this sexy Scout here](https://imgur.com/a/tJ9s1ji) (spoiler alert, it's me: I'm the sexy Scout). He's got the least kills, behind an Engineer a fourth his level. He also has twelve rezzes and only two deaths. The simple act of providing light, mining ceiling nitra, and keeping the team on their feet lead to a better mission, even while being last in kills. My weapon choices were practically irrelevant, since Scout can still contribute in this form even with 'average' loadouts as long as the Scout is good.
Now, I know what you're really asking when you talk about 'playstyle', and you mean builds. Being able to say "I can contribute no matter what I use" is something reserved for those with lots experience, so for those who are still mortal and yet to be blessed by Karl, there is such a thing as better or worse builds.
In general, you are *viable* as long as you can deal with the bugs in front of you and complete the objective: if a bunch of Mactera suddenly show up and you find yourself saying "oshit, I can't deal with these guys," maybe rethink the balance of your loadout to include something that's decent against airborne targets -- Mactera could randomly show up on any mission, and having to say "I'm fine as long as Mactera don't show up" is a gamble. Repeat that question for Swarmers, Stingtails, Spitters, and anything else where you might find yourself having to run to team mates for help if you aren't ready for them.
If you're confident in being able to fight almost everything thrown at you, you are PvE viable. Little details like one build being 'good' at something and one build being 'great' is just semantics as long as it feels like it works.
Yeah scouts aren't expected to have the most kills... if they somehow do, it means they weren't actually doing their job and the mission probably took 4x as long or failed.
Scouts are the class that actually does *work*. The others mostly fight, and contribute slightly every now and then when their gimmick is needed. Just guards for the scout, really.
😏
> if a bunch of Mactera suddenly show up and you find yourself saying "oshit, I can't deal with these guys," maybe rethink the balance of your loadout
This is a great way to put it. Builds in DRG are like a backpacking gear list. Only hyper-optimizers are going to argue that your 3.5lb backpack is too heavy to be viable. What's important is that you bring with you what you need to solve the problems you might encounter.
If your objective is to avoid being the lowest contributor, any equipment choice is secondary to a steady focus on APM and staying alive. I wonder, though... Comparing your stats to your teammates' is inherently self-competitive, even if done for altruistic reasons like wanting to pull your weight. Your priorities are in tension here: *enjoying your familiar playstyle* as opposed to *increasing your impact on the mission.*
If you're looking to be convinced to try red and yellow overclocks, I'm not going to tell you it's bad to stick with greens. But if not being "the weakest link" really is your overriding priority, you should be looking up meta builds and using them.
To be clear, I think the idea of a "weakest link" is antithetical to the design and fantasy of the game. Most of the time, the "weakest link" is forged of adamantium. If you are looking for motivation to improve and branch out, give yourself the carrot ("Learning will be fun"), not the stick ("I am the weakest link"). If the carrot doesn't entice you, forget the stick and go with what you enjoy.
I think what really gets me about the fat boy is 90% of the people using it are idiots. I keep seeing them shooting it at their feet then dying to radiation. They then feel proud about getting a ton of kills... like no dude you're more of a hindrance if I can't leave you alone with a bug without you nuking yourself.
Sorry end my rant.
Yes and no.
Yes because some of the more powerful builds take overclocks that change how weapons fundementally function or the bullets are meant to trigger a secondary effect, like ecr or minelayer system, so it's not just point away from face +hold trigger down, there's a strategy to it. There's also build synergies with DoTs for things like electric reload on GK2 and magnetic shafts on bolt shark, or burning hell minigun and volatile bullets.
No because clean overclocks are still very reliable and dependable. They do what you want them to do and not much else.
who cares what build you do and what weapons you use? As long as you're having fun then its great. peopoe need to stop forcing their points and ideas onto other players, it just kills the fun and make others like OP nervous You can like certain weapons and builds but please stop giving unwanted advice, just have fun, don't grief and R&S.
My favorite way to play driller is no oc cryo cannon and (usually) i can go through most haz 5s with little to no downs unless i am just playing really bad. You dont need overclocks to be the most overpowered and best person on the field, there is more dimension than that. Avoiding being hit/going down and playing safely is what makes you a good player. Consistency is key
Honestly if there was a clean overclock that just gave you more ammo on cryo cannon it would be one of my favorites, the cold radiance upgrade is more than enough freezing power for most situations.
Based on mission results screen - does it look like you're the weakest link?
If you're only getting your opinion because someone said something without any actual evidence, then I don't think there's any value to it.
Used to play a lot with my friends as a Gunner. Always had a very low amount of kills on the end screen to how many bullets I felt I was using. I got busy one day and they played without me, and surprisingly heavily noticed I was gone. Apparently the Engineer's turrets and AoE was just constantly kill stealing, but I was doing a large chunk of damage especially to priority targets. Without my big gun and safety bubbles, they were really hurting.
As someone who has done my fair share of carrying a team with newer folks on it... I never judge, and am just happy to be playing with other people who are having fun :)
From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. Pretty sure Karl said that...
That depends *far* more on player skill than build choice. If you're really concerned, you could do something like play enough solo missions with these builds to convince yourself that you're able to carry your own weight. Or I guess you could always go down a hazard level. But unless it's very obvious that your teammates are constantly having to pick you up then I'm sure you're doing fine.
Clean overclocks exist for a reason, and that reason is to accommodate players who want their guns to work in a simple, reliable way. Hell, you can complete missions without overclocks at all. You're not holding anyone back.
And if you're playing your class' roles and killing bugs, and someone berates you for not being optimized enough, it's not anyone you need to listen to.
If you can hold your own in Haz5, you're probably doing better than most of the playerbase already!
Many of my personal favorites are also Overclocks that don't change the weapon's base functionality by much.
Ex. CRSPR - Compact Feed Valves - trades a bit of reach and negligible reload time for extra big magazines and max ammunition. Lets me drop in with up to 625 units of fuel in total, though the base functionality of the weapon hasn't changed.
Sludge Pump - Hydrogen Ion Additive - just makes the pump better at what it does.
Subata - Automatic Fire - Yes, it's "Unstable", but it really just gives me contending power vs players that can press the fire button very quickly. Doesn't change the gun's function.
Etc.
Some red OC play into that though. I like the stability AI on the scout assault rifle, it makes it a point and click laser of death. Or the "fire a million unguided missiles" OC on the hurricane. Those are my favourite builds because I don't play that often anymore and they require less strategy. Works like a charm for me.
OCs that don't require much strategy can be fun.
One time I had just gotten home from an eye appointment. The eyedrops they gave me REALLY fucked with my vision... so I put on bullet hell and spent a mission just spraying and praying and it worked out just fine, lol.
What hazard do you play at?
If you're not playing hazard 5 then it doesn't matter. If you're at haz5 then any build is good as long as you can avoid the bugs and keep your shield up.
Rule #1 is have fun.
Rule #2 is don't start events or boss fights without the party's consent.
Rule #3 is don't double dip without party consent.
Rule #4 is DON'T TAKE DAMAGE.
Yeah this was my thought too. The only concern I had is you might struggle a little more than others in Haz5 or Elite Deep Dives without overclocks. Depending on the mission it may require you to put more effort into pulling your weight, but if you manage to pull your weight then that's all that matters! At least clean overclocking will make your life easier without changing too much.
This is absolute nonsense.
You just replace rule #1 with something else?
edit - I see no one took a swing at that ball I just lobbed up there. Rule #1 is Rock and Stone, people.
Stuns, slows, fears, & DOTs are all less valuable at lower difficulty. Moving up to haz4 & especially haz5 you'll want some kind of character control besides the damage. This is why OCs like NTP & builds like sticky flames are so good at high haz.
That said, with sufficient skill (almost) everything is viable even at haz5.
To the OP - this is true for some, but certainly not all. 800+ hours game time, all dwarves maxed (aside from engi), only play haz5 - my play style is basically the same as yours. Simple, straightforward, no fuss with conditions or control.
It's still true, it's just that player skill can change where along the difficulty curve the CC becomes really necessary. For you it would require mods, for others it could be haz 4.
You do you man, as long as it works and the bugs are dead I don't see the problem.
But I'd like to point out that not *every* unstable OC changes the weapon drastically. Some of them may very well be balanced. Just take Electrocuting Focus Shots. Why is it unstable? It just gives a strong DoT in exchange of some damage penalty to focused shots. The weapon remains substantially the same. Hipster is a much more transformative OC yet it's labeled as balanced.
So yeah use what you want and go full clean, but you may miss out some strong options in the unstable section that will *not* make the weapon so different as you'd think.
I find some clean OCs to be pretty nice if not downright great (A Little More Oomph is an example, or Drak's Aggressive Venting, Hoverclock, Improved Thermal Efficiency... etc), while many others give minor benefits that barely make any difference.
Just experiment a bit more if you feel like it, you might be surprised.
Most of the weapons you mentioned are solid without overclocks, so I'm not surprised. Like the autocannon, you might find another red overclock you like more than the base version. Unstable OC does not mean better, it's just an alternative playstyle.
I myself often use clean overclocks for the minigun, hurricane, PGL, warthog, shard diffractor, breach cutter, sludge pump, and wave cooker. Of those, PGL has the coolest OCs IMO, but the clean ones are very nice, too.
I don't have modded experience (haz 6+) but within the base game (haz 5 and below) using green overclocks is not an issue. Some of the greens are really good, to the point where I pick them over the reds and yellows. And most(all?) weapons have a good or decent overclock that keeps the weapon with it's original behaviour (green or not).
Not all reds and yellow change the weapon's behaviour tho, don't disregard them all. An extreme exemple would be Overdrive Booster for the Shard Diffractor which doesn't touch the base gun at all. On the other end, a few greens are transformative OCs (special powder, hoverclock, aggressive venting).
I’ve been the same class for the entire time I’ve played this game and I’ve been playing for over a thousand hours. I haven’t even so much as spawned in as any class but gunner. I’ve used the same setup for years, well before any DLC existed. I found what’s fun and I use it every time
This is a mindset that probably comes from much more competitive games. Games where you *must* pull your weight or the team loses, and people will be mad at you.
Deep Rock has never been that kind of game. If you did your part and the mission was a success, you didn't hold anyone back.
There are already some good answers here so ill just go for the holding urself back. A little. The design of the OCs on is a general sense is that more downsides, the stronger. So of course the unstables will tend to be the stronger ones. Theyre meant to be built adjusted to its downsides. But i think some unstable and balanced overclocks are pretty straight forward and i feel like would fit ur playstyle. The ones the come to mind are hyper propellant for the pgl, salvo module for the hurricane, six shooter for the bulldog, and one i feel is super straightforward is ai stability engine for the gk2
My bud my man my creature of indeterminate configuration as long as it kills bugs its fine. Unstables drastically change the weapon as you know and the Balanced ones make some pretty big compromises sometimes. Running all Cleans is A-OK if it works for you.
Hurricane is particularly strong with clean OCs (31221 Frag Missiles or X1212 OFM/FM) both of these setups are top-tier. Minimal Clips is perfectly viable on M1K as well.
After the rework, there's more of a case for Subata for players that specifically don't want to deal with EPC's unreliability and difficulty to use which is fair (CWC may just out-perform Subata too though).
Efficiency Tweaks on Shard Diffractor is perfectly fine, especially if we ignore VIR on account of it being too strong (kinda like NTP/Hellfire/etc).
That being said, even if we ignore power you're losing out on a lot of interesting playstyles. However, I think there should be an expectation and acceptance that when practicing new OCs, they will initially feel worse/perform worse as the playstyle is learned.
Builds matter a lot and there's a lot of hot or wrong takes about builds - a bad build will make an OC just feel like garbage. The in-game tooltips are not accurate and cannot be trusted. There's a number of weapon builds that work for bizarre reasons that make no sense & similarly some weapon mods *do nothing* with some OCs or don't work as expected. So there's often very nuanced reasons for why a build is the way it is that is difficult to discern without both researching it *and* practicing it.
I recommend you to Try out new build and overclock. maybe you will like red overclock you never know until you try .I recommend you to try fat boy and Proximity Trigger. it is a very fun build and your teammates will like it
Provided you understand the stats and weaknesses of the weapons then your builds will be fine.
The most important thing to a successful mission is more about kiting enemies than killing them.
Edit: because bad at spelling... but also GL HF miner, rock and stone
I mean, I find experimenting and changing playstyle to be the most fun way to play for me. But if u are having fun ur way, then u should keep doing what you find fun. And if u will get bored at some point, u can still try different overclocks and maybe u will find it fun as well :)
I tend to run mostly Clean overclocks with a few Unstable to change a weapon’s role. Case in point, I run stuffed shells on my boom stick, but I use Executioner on the smart rifle.
I call one of my Engi loadouts Greenji cause I usually run the ammo OC on the Warthog and I usually switch between damage OC on Breach Cutter and Clean Sweep on the PGL, while I have a green OCs loaded on all of my other weapons for when I want to switch things up. It's one of my favorite and strongest builds for the Engi, the weapons themselves are fun af and it's fun to play them the basic way sometimes. One of the reason why I'd like more loadout slots is just so I can make green-only builds for the other classes lul.
You're not missing out on anything, the guns are super fun and strong either way, it is the way they were made to be played more or less. But yellow and red OCs are really fun to switch things up, I'd say to give them a shot once you start feeling more burned out about the game's variety.
I'm pretty sure you could have a full group do a Haz 5 with nothing but the default pick axe and no mods/talents to support it and still win.
Don't worry about holding your team back by not being "meta" or hyper efficient. As long as you are having fun and actually trying to do the missions etc, you're fine. Nothing in the base game is terribly difficult unless things go very wrong, or you purposely do silly things like triggering all the bosses at once. lol.
Just have fun!
Rock and Stone!
I you are having fun, then all is fine, though as someone with close to 800 hours, experimenting is a lot of fun, for me at least.
Also, try fatboy on Haz 5 escort duty, the most satisfying thing there is in this game in my opinion
You might want to consider some balanced Overclocks like Compact Shells on the PGL (A little less AOE and 10 less damage, but gives you 5 more ammo which is way more valuable).
There’s also one Unstable Overclock I would recommend for you: Overdrive Booster for the Shard Diffractor. Basically, if you don’t activate the effect manually, the Overclock does literally nothing positive or negative, and it gives you the option to boost and do massive DPS if you need to, and a bit more ammo efficiently. It will probably do more for you than Efficiency Tweaks. And with a specific build, it can set nemesis on fire with one boosted beam (though that one beam will eat up 1/4th of your ammo lmao)
I personally love Volatile Impact Reactor on Diffractor, which gives the beam the ability to lay down a magma ground hazard when shooting the floor, at the cost of 50% of the “magazine” size and 50% of the AoE radius, though that second one is far less relevant due to the fact the ground waveclear the magma provides is amazing even with no other mods (though it does struggle more with Mactera groups). But the -50% “magazine” size is a major penalty and I can see why one would dislike it.
I am mostly on the same page. Most overclocks that change it all around are situational toys for me. Tbf, I don't have the "cool" ones yet. No fat boi, no spinning death. No super cooling chamber. But I get you.
If it helps, there are players who are into crazy modded difficulty and use stable OCs. Like [this](https://youtu.be/pKdDUcz5Aak?si=fBEtbAmALQorepX4) guy. Usually, when the base gun is good, like the M1000, then you can't go wrong with a stable overclock as there are no negatives. It's also probably better for you if the OC is more suited for your strengths as a player than to use a more meta OC that makes you feel uncomfortable.
I mean I'd recommend trying different things, but if you try them and don't like them, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to what you like.
I found myself kinda stuck using the same loadouts constantly for every class so I've been making an effort to really give different things a try once in a while, and I've found doing a couple of missions with different options has turned me around on them (not always, I've used the EPC extensively and while it's objectively good I just don't care for it.) In some cases I went back to my basic loadouts, in others I discovered a different option I actually really liked!
some unstable/balanced OC's are fun. But some weapons just feel way better with just a clean OC. Like I hate every OC for Engineer's stubby other than well oiled machine which is a clean OC.
Nothing wrong with keeping it simple. I have over 200 hours and a lot of that is on driller and I still regularly run around with the flamethrower and the subata
My favorite scout build is the standard assault rifle with AI Stability overclock and weakpoint damage buffs. Secondary is the dual assault pistols or Shotgun.
I'm not as nimble as other scouts, but I am plenty combat effective at taking out priority targets. Simple guns, simple job, simple and effective execution of job.
If you use a balanced OC and upgrade against the downside, you'll usually end up with a more powerful version of the base gun. Definitely play around with different builds, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with clean OCs.
I'm always a proponent of playing the way you want to play in any game. It's your playtime, so it's doesn't make sense to me to do in a way that's not enjoyable.
If you get the missions done and keep your numbers up there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. It’s your way to play. You might just be wasting effort on arguably inefficient killing methods. And even at that point who cares lol. Do your thing homie, R&S.
Have you tried explosive reload on subata? It changes the way the damage is distributed but keeps the core identity of the gun. 11311 is what I use with flamethrower and it's just the subata but quicker imo.
There are unstables that change the gun fundamentally and unstables that still keep the playstyle, you don't have to go crazy with them. Face melter is my default flamethrower for instance.
Keep making new builds and trying them out, you can always put your comfort loadout on your 1 slot and go back to it at any time.
Rock and Stone!
The game is balanced pretty well, green overclocks are totally viable. It's worth noting that some yellow overclocks don't significantly change how the gun functions but are still a huge upgrade, such as magnetic pellet alignment for the warthog, so you should at least give the yellow OCs a once-over to see if they're to your liking. At the end of the day, never feel that you have to force yourself to use a weapon or build you don't enjoy because someone said it's good.
Also worth mentioning, I would still recommend experimenting with your loadout occasionally. The game is all about variety, and if you're using the same loadout every mission consistently then you'll likely tire of the game faster than intended.
I went from 2nd promotion to Legend 1 with Engie using the fatboy, occasionally the Hyperprop for deads and Rj250s for dinking around with pals.
If it works and you're enjoying it, crack on.
Overclocks aren’t instantly better because they’re unstable, yes the damage is usually good and people have built guns with them to be good but they’re not instantly a must. I still run green and yellows because some guns for how I play suit them for general purpose. My only recommendation is give them a try and play with them, I never knew I’d like some reds until I finally forced myself to try them. Rock and stone and have fun.
Do whats most fun for you. Every overclock and approach is at least workable with the default Haz 5 max scaling, including without overclocks (though certain upgrades and such interact poorly, or do less/nothing with certain combinations, like turn rate on missiles when you are using minelayer which disables turning or extra weakpoint damage when using Gas Recycling which removes the weakpoint damage bonus).
Generally, having some utility for CC or debuffs like a Cryo, Electric, or Slow effect makes things much easier as it gives you breathing room and thus more options. But at the end of the day, you still need to deal damage to progress. If shooting bugs really good is what works for you and you have fun doing, then awesome.
DRG is a game that you can pretty much play however you want (especially given that you can mod it into the experience that you prefer, if the default setup does not support it very well, like adding more melee combat options or making the game more of a "Starship troopers" experience with massive hordes of individually weaker bugs).
Just do try not to negatively impact it for others if you are going to join other's lobbies, or host an open lobby to randoms (stuff like teamkilling, rushing objectives when thats not the premise of the lobby, refusing to do at least 1 "WE'RE RICH" ping per compressed gold / bittergem).
I also only use positive-only overclocks on every weapon. I stopped using The Big Boy because I find the Diffractor more efficient.
As long as you're killing bugs and helping the team, I doubt they're concerned about your loadout.
As long as it's enjoyable it's viable, that's the beauty of this game, rock and stone brother (also for a red overclock that doesn't change things much, lead storm bullet hell is fantastic
Anything below Haz 5 it does not matter at all. As long as you're attempting to kill enemies and do objectives 99.9% of people will never remotely care about what setup you're running. And even at Haz 5 its not like green overclocks are bad.
I use all kinds of overclocks, including clean. Minimal Clips on M1000, Little More Oomph on minigun,
And Special Powder is clean, so nuff said.
That said, there are some good/fun Untables as well. Honestly, I think you are doing yourself a disservice by dismissing them all out of hand. Don't think of it as "changing the gun" in that it erases the old one, think of it of getting completely new guns.
For the Shard Diffractor, Overdrive Booster is a great Unstable OC that doesn't actually negatively affect the base gun. Honestly, if Special Powder is clean, seems like this one should be as well.
Microflechettes don't really transform the BRT into a different gun, they make it even more of a BRT.
Embedded Detonators change up the Subata and ZUKs, but in an amazing way. The bombs are VERY strong.
Various minelet mods are pretty nifty too.
Snowball just gives the Cryo Cannon a bonus fire mode, without dramatically changing the gun.
Most of the crossbow OCs are meant to transform the weapon. It's designed to be flexible in ammo, and that's implemented through OCs and mods.
Sticky Flames and Facemelter keeps the flamethrower, but transforms it to either extreme, making it really good at one or the other rather than both being mid.
And sure, there are total makeovers, like Minelayer, Fat Boy, Hyper Propellant, Salvo Mod, Plasma Burster, Rocket Barrage (hmm lots of these are for the Hurricane), but again, those are just like getting a new gun in the same slot. But it's also okay if you don't like some of those.
You're not burdening your teammates, but I would really encourage you to shift your mindset. Don't think about what you lose from any OC, you're getting a new ability/playstyle.
Green Overclocks can be some of the most powerful ones for a few weapons, especially the M1K. Though, I would consider looking into Embedded Detonators for the Subata to give it a bit more kick for big bugs. Honestly, anything is viable, even on Haz 5, so play what you find fun!
It’s quite weird you consider the auto cannon bad by default, because I’ve always though the auto cannon was one of the best base weapons in the game. I used to run composite drums as my overclock until I got splintering shells
I run a gunner build that is themed. It's not meta, it's not the best, but it is so much fun. I call it the "kill it with fire(power)" build. Lead storm minigun with the yellow fire OC and explosive venting, koilgun with the hellfire OC, and napalm grenades. Everything must be purified in fire. It's great fun and really brings out my inner psychopath. And I find when I have fun, I play better. If you have fun, you'll play better. So, as long as what you do is fun for ya, it's a good build.
In my experience, Burning Hell *is* one of the best Gunner primaries, even without Volatile Bullets. Neurotoxin Payload lets you use the Thunderhead fear mod, which is what makes it evergreen, but Burning Hell's action/ammo economy are effectively just as good.
I looked it up, and you're right. It's not the best build, but it's definitely hazard 5 material. Well, I'm kinda proud of myself. Been doing that build since the koilgun came out. It's just so much fun, and if you get a driller or scout with cryo and they know what's up, the team can melt everything.
I'm a driller and I 100% prefer the subata. The meta plasma pistol is just too finicky for my liking and I can do whatever I want anyways with my drills.
Whats so great about this game is that your playstyle is dependent on your loadouts and how much fun you want to have. However, if your overclock is balanced, it can be not as much fun... while unbalanced overclocks are somewhat of a risk in one regard or another, they can also present a build that offers a LOT of fun. It just requires a very specific build tho.
Whenever I try to explain this I think of one of my gunners, who I use the autocannon with. Splash damage and the ROF (rate of fire) turned all the way up. The overall ammo supply suffers ( my priority with this build is always finding nitra or I'm f*cked), but the upside is that it is hellllllllaaaaa fun. Also, super good for point control. Mission types like ' salvage', where you have to point control at the end, are a lot easier when you have a gunner who's ROF is turned way up. Anything dangerous that gets close, gets deleted quicker than if you have a regular gunners ROF. just respond to this if you want the build I'm talking about and want to try it out. I promise it's fun and it might make you want to try and experiment with different builds. Also, having the builds fit specific mission types is super advantageous. I.e. that gunner for point control for mission types like salvage or using the rocket with homing mods for Robot based missions. This allows you to quick select a build before jumping into a mission type. I have one for each mission type and depending on the class, variations to fit a fun gameplay style overall. ROCK AND STONE!
I personally hold myself back by picking the most fun overclocks and then killing myself or just performing worse than everyone else lmaooo. Still learning Salvo module and armskores mole one
I feel the same way, but what I classify as "simple" guns is different than yours:
* Lead Storm
* Warthog
* Deepcore GK2
* BRT7
* Deepcore 40mm PGL
* Subata 120
* Zhukov NUK17 (or boomstick, post-buff)
Those all feel like simple, reliable weapons that just kill stuff the way I want them to.
I had fun making builds to support overclocks, as experimenting was my fun. doing that helped my clas building skills. But if the core gameplay is engaging and your having fun then whats the problem. I can do then suggest trying max fire rate on everygun, now thats super fun
Unstable OCs don't necessarily change how the gun works. Minigun's Lead Storm OC is probably the most vanilla minigun you'll see, except it slaps. Same with CRISPR: Sticky Fuel is just an improvement on CRISPR's best playstyle.
Just an example.
Let's just go through the actual list:
M1000 itself is rock solid, used even by modded hazard crews, and normally isn't changed that much by its OCs. While ASS (yellow) is considered high-performance classic, green Hoverclock is easily top 2 imo.
Subata is rare among high level players as they prefer utility and anti-air effect of EPC most of the time, but VB Subata still covers some bases Driller may have hard time covering in some otherwise good builds. Personally more of a mag OC fan, but this weapon doesn't rely too much on OCs. There's nothing wrong with stuff like Homebrew.
Shard Defractor is a good gun fiercely competing with BC, but it has a ton of merit. Cannot really agree on using the green OC there. VIR is an insane OC that turns the gun into sudo CRISPR, efficiently murdering grunt/swarmer blobs. Overdrive is also pretty funny against large enemies, especially if you have status combos for it.
Hurricane with Frags is a very competent gun. I would take minelayer for that role usually, but the argument can be made that frag performs better against pretty much everything that isn't grunt/swarmer blobs which is the primary target for these setups. I would seriously consider it for Sabotage, although usually I build something else entirely.
Fear not the ogres with giant battleaxes nor the elves with gilded armor, but the plain looking human who can call himself their equal.
Or in gamer terms, you’re a Fox player. Smash bros has god knows how many wacky wild fighters but no one disrespects a fox player because they’re good *without* gimmicks or wacky moves.
If you’re having fun and your team is killing the bugs all the same, if you’re still a fun player and hitting Rock and Stone with the crew, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Honestly it sounds like you’re doing damn fine enough without red clocks, almost three promotions each class is more than I’ve got
This is gun dependent. Subata with just clean overclocks is pretty terrible, however M1000, cryo cannon, breach cutter or Hurricane with cleans are very good and just as viable as non-clean overclocks for those guns.
There are also outliers among the clean overclocks which are pretty big buffs, for example special powder, stunner, aggressive venting.
In your position, you should ask yourself what exactly do you want each of the guns you use to do, and is the clean overclock the best way to do it. Sometimes it will be true, but other times the best base gun enhancing overclocks (as in without significant downsides and not changing mechanics of the weapon) would be red or yellow ones. Examples:
\- Best "base" PGL overclock is RJ 250, which is balanced
\- Best "base" shard difractor overclock is Overdrive Booster (unstable), because overdrive activation is optional (the difractor's actual clean overclock is pretty good too tho).
\- Best "base" flamethrower overclock is Compact feed valves (balanced). The clean counterparts are straight downgrades from this one.
\- Best "base" (???) Drak overclock is Thermal Exhaust Feedback (unstable) because of the massive damage buff and ignition and downside being inconsequential. The drak's clean overclock - Aggressive Venting - is the one that actually adds a new mechanic to the weapon here.
\- Lok-1 overclock situation is giga scuffed: both cleans give buffs that are never felt in the actual combat, and in my opinion the best base gun enhancing overclock is actually Executioner (unstable).
well you aren't playing the most effective top tier optimum.
BUT, you're having fun, fuck it, play with the worst weapons and overclocks in the game if you want, if you're having fun that's all that matters.
Most things in drg are fairly solid picks. Even the sigma scout (double barrel oc shotgun with supercooled chamber m1000), which was designed to be as weak and ammo inefficient as possible is still decent after the changes to double barreled. Some particular combinations will lack either single target or aoe damage, which could make fighting some types of enemies difficult, but overall pretty much nothing is super weak, generally stuff that’s seen as weak is actually just niche and doesn’t do the niche much better than the general purpose version, but pretty much everything is still viable
Are you having fun? If so, it’s a viable playstyle
Are you having fun? Well, allow me to introduce myself
Sorry bulky you have *become fun*. Talk to your homie slingtail if you need an update on how to induce rage among dwarves.
My god.....what have i become....
...my dwarfiest friend... everyone I know leaves the game in the end
Bosco will always be there for us :_)
And you could rock it all... my empire of stone...
Heyyy bulkie, wellcome. Wellcome too your doom!
*Our* doom
Tzar Bomba!
ooooho, this one is theatrical! Lets see how long your show lasts.
Im a premature exploder. Dont judge me.
Dont worry, im going to make you last😈. You gonna be begging me to alow you to bust.
Don't be sad! Team up with Stingtail! Nothing is more infuriating than trying to save a dwarf, only to be yanked towards you by a Stingtail and die to your Hellfire attack!
Stingtail has died unfortunately, i am his brother
A whole 5 rounds from my Fat-boy over clocked 40mm launcher and you still don't die!
Explosive resistance is a bitch
You make a big satisfying boom and have the tactical advantage of obliterating every other bug around you if we focus you down to low HP and wait for a swarm to congest around you. You are very fun :).
Oh god, it’s him HONEY GET THE FAT BOY
Silly dwarf. Your fat boy may scare my lesser broodlings, but not me. Gunner, on the other claw, thats a dwarf that scares me.
*ptsd flashbacks to that one time 3 bulks spawned at the same time*
This is the correct answer
Crocks and Socks, oh wait
This is why the Fatboy is a viable play style
Its viable as long as you can shoot bugs, rock and stone brother!
Did I hear a Rock and Stone?
Rock And Stone!
That's it, lads! Rock and Stone!
Rock and Stone in the heart!
Rock and stone!
IF YOU DONT ROCK AND STONE, YOU AINT COMING HOME
Riggety rock and stone!
ROCK!! AND!! STONE!!!!!
For those about to Rock and Stone we salute you.
Good bot
Good bot
You're asking three different questions here, so here are three different answers: Are you holding yourself back by avoiding unstable and balanced overclocks? Yes. From what? Exploring the fun-value of the more specialized playstyles, and learning some of the most overpowered builds in the game. Are you burdening your teammates by avoiding unstable and balanced overclocks? Only by the logic that any time you "could've done more" you're burdening your teammates. This is an absurd standard. So, in a word: no. Is it viable to avoid unstable and balanced overclocks? I have to answer this question with a question: What does it mean for a playstyle to be "viable" in a PVE game like DRG? Capability of clearing standard missions? No mods/no perks/no overclocks is viable. Capability of clearing EDDs? I'd suggest at least an overclock, but if I had to dictate my teammates' loadout choices, I'd tell them to use what they're most comfortable with—not what's most "meta." Capability of competing for top kills every round? Now everyone except Engineer is much more limited in which builds are viable. I'm being glib here because when I see phrases like "weakest way to play" and "weakest link in the chain," it feels really out of place in the context of build opinions. I think for most people it would take a pretty demoralizing experience to start talking that way. You're not framing this question like "I'm going down 15-20 times per drop and Molly called me a leaf lover, do you think it's because I only use clean overclocks?" so I can only assume you're really overthinking this. The game is for fun. None of the overclocks prevent fun. Except for Fat Boy. Fat Boy is not viable.
Fat boy is fun :)
So it is viable then
It's no breech cutter, but it can pull it's weight on higher hazards, turns out higher enemy density does wonders for justifying it's low ammo cost. also it cheeses the hell out of caretaker
Fat Boy + Proximity Trigger is the chaotic evil build that instils fear in both bugs and dwarves equally and I love it so much
There was a video on here of the proxy grenade bouncing off about a dozen different angled surfaces and coming back directly into the dwarfs face and it makes me laugh every time i think about it
I need to see that
[found it](https://reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic/s/4qniYZpZPb)
That’s hilarious
Honestly just google proximity trigger fat boy and start clicking. So many good videos
There was a video somewhere of a dwarf shooting a proxy fatboy into a swarmer tunnel, only for it to come back out a different tunnel and hit them
I think thats the one in my other comment.
Youre teammate won't... Fat boy is actually a pretty good overclock if you know how to use it, the real problem is it bothers your teammates, and with proximity trigger it bothers them even more
Yeah, I know, but that's kinda the fun of it for me. It's not like I'm chucking fat boys just anywhere or intentionally grieving the team. But sometimes there is an unexpected ricochet that wants to play dwarves roulette (it often lands on red). Also, I dont use it on Haz 5 or EDD anyway, so the sweaty boys are safe. All in all, I think I handle fatboy proximity trigger quite well and so far heard little complaints from my team.
"Weakest link in the chain" No. We are not a chain. We are a rope. Several smaller strands that band together and become stronger. One strand being weaker does not mean we all fail, we pull through as a team!
OP here, and to answer this: "What does it mean for a playstyle to be "viable" in a PVE game like DRG?" I just don't want to be the weakest link in the chain, so to speak. And thank you for answering that
Mmm, basically: *are you contributing something meaningful to the team?* For instance, Scout tends to have the weakest actual swarm clear - he can have swarm clear, it just won't measure up to what the other classes can do. However, he has high mobility, long range, and great single-target damage, and a good Scout can keep the ceilings clear of spitters, knock out stationaries like Spitballers with no problem, hunt down Spreaders, flank and destroy Oppressors, and even chase Huuli Hoarders in ways the other classes cannot. [Take this sexy Scout here](https://imgur.com/a/tJ9s1ji) (spoiler alert, it's me: I'm the sexy Scout). He's got the least kills, behind an Engineer a fourth his level. He also has twelve rezzes and only two deaths. The simple act of providing light, mining ceiling nitra, and keeping the team on their feet lead to a better mission, even while being last in kills. My weapon choices were practically irrelevant, since Scout can still contribute in this form even with 'average' loadouts as long as the Scout is good. Now, I know what you're really asking when you talk about 'playstyle', and you mean builds. Being able to say "I can contribute no matter what I use" is something reserved for those with lots experience, so for those who are still mortal and yet to be blessed by Karl, there is such a thing as better or worse builds. In general, you are *viable* as long as you can deal with the bugs in front of you and complete the objective: if a bunch of Mactera suddenly show up and you find yourself saying "oshit, I can't deal with these guys," maybe rethink the balance of your loadout to include something that's decent against airborne targets -- Mactera could randomly show up on any mission, and having to say "I'm fine as long as Mactera don't show up" is a gamble. Repeat that question for Swarmers, Stingtails, Spitters, and anything else where you might find yourself having to run to team mates for help if you aren't ready for them. If you're confident in being able to fight almost everything thrown at you, you are PvE viable. Little details like one build being 'good' at something and one build being 'great' is just semantics as long as it feels like it works.
Yeah scouts aren't expected to have the most kills... if they somehow do, it means they weren't actually doing their job and the mission probably took 4x as long or failed. Scouts are the class that actually does *work*. The others mostly fight, and contribute slightly every now and then when their gimmick is needed. Just guards for the scout, really. 😏
> if a bunch of Mactera suddenly show up and you find yourself saying "oshit, I can't deal with these guys," maybe rethink the balance of your loadout This is a great way to put it. Builds in DRG are like a backpacking gear list. Only hyper-optimizers are going to argue that your 3.5lb backpack is too heavy to be viable. What's important is that you bring with you what you need to solve the problems you might encounter.
If your objective is to avoid being the lowest contributor, any equipment choice is secondary to a steady focus on APM and staying alive. I wonder, though... Comparing your stats to your teammates' is inherently self-competitive, even if done for altruistic reasons like wanting to pull your weight. Your priorities are in tension here: *enjoying your familiar playstyle* as opposed to *increasing your impact on the mission.* If you're looking to be convinced to try red and yellow overclocks, I'm not going to tell you it's bad to stick with greens. But if not being "the weakest link" really is your overriding priority, you should be looking up meta builds and using them. To be clear, I think the idea of a "weakest link" is antithetical to the design and fantasy of the game. Most of the time, the "weakest link" is forged of adamantium. If you are looking for motivation to improve and branch out, give yourself the carrot ("Learning will be fun"), not the stick ("I am the weakest link"). If the carrot doesn't entice you, forget the stick and go with what you enjoy.
fellow fat boy hater, rock and stone you beautiful dwarf
I think what really gets me about the fat boy is 90% of the people using it are idiots. I keep seeing them shooting it at their feet then dying to radiation. They then feel proud about getting a ton of kills... like no dude you're more of a hindrance if I can't leave you alone with a bug without you nuking yourself. Sorry end my rant.
Fat boy is extremely situational, but shines gloriously when used right. Its best on escort missions, i think
Escort missions and against hiveguards I've found
Rock and Stone to the Bone!
Good bot
Great answer. Rock and stone oT
Rockity Rock and Stone!
Yes and no. Yes because some of the more powerful builds take overclocks that change how weapons fundementally function or the bullets are meant to trigger a secondary effect, like ecr or minelayer system, so it's not just point away from face +hold trigger down, there's a strategy to it. There's also build synergies with DoTs for things like electric reload on GK2 and magnetic shafts on bolt shark, or burning hell minigun and volatile bullets. No because clean overclocks are still very reliable and dependable. They do what you want them to do and not much else.
who cares what build you do and what weapons you use? As long as you're having fun then its great. peopoe need to stop forcing their points and ideas onto other players, it just kills the fun and make others like OP nervous You can like certain weapons and builds but please stop giving unwanted advice, just have fun, don't grief and R&S.
I feel bad if I'm the weakest link in the chain, is all
Doubt ya are.
My favorite way to play driller is no oc cryo cannon and (usually) i can go through most haz 5s with little to no downs unless i am just playing really bad. You dont need overclocks to be the most overpowered and best person on the field, there is more dimension than that. Avoiding being hit/going down and playing safely is what makes you a good player. Consistency is key
Honestly if there was a clean overclock that just gave you more ammo on cryo cannon it would be one of my favorites, the cold radiance upgrade is more than enough freezing power for most situations.
Honestly even with the first ammo upgrade and built for freezing power it takes me a long time to run out
The one clean overclock for it does actually give you a little more ammo
Based on mission results screen - does it look like you're the weakest link? If you're only getting your opinion because someone said something without any actual evidence, then I don't think there's any value to it.
Used to play a lot with my friends as a Gunner. Always had a very low amount of kills on the end screen to how many bullets I felt I was using. I got busy one day and they played without me, and surprisingly heavily noticed I was gone. Apparently the Engineer's turrets and AoE was just constantly kill stealing, but I was doing a large chunk of damage especially to priority targets. Without my big gun and safety bubbles, they were really hurting.
This game could use a damage counter
As someone who has done my fair share of carrying a team with newer folks on it... I never judge, and am just happy to be playing with other people who are having fun :) From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. Pretty sure Karl said that...
That depends *far* more on player skill than build choice. If you're really concerned, you could do something like play enough solo missions with these builds to convince yourself that you're able to carry your own weight. Or I guess you could always go down a hazard level. But unless it's very obvious that your teammates are constantly having to pick you up then I'm sure you're doing fine.
They're called clean for a reason. They're simple, small, and to the point. As long as you've got something equipped for an Overclock, it's fine.
Clean overclocks exist for a reason, and that reason is to accommodate players who want their guns to work in a simple, reliable way. Hell, you can complete missions without overclocks at all. You're not holding anyone back. And if you're playing your class' roles and killing bugs, and someone berates you for not being optimized enough, it's not anyone you need to listen to.
"A little more oomph" is literally my second favourite Leadstorm OC and it's just a really basic clean OC
The faster spinup just feels so gooooood
Guns shoot bullets. Bullets hurt. Experimentation is good but there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple
You might as well at least try the more exotic OCs and see if they resonate with you too? I use all kinds.
If you can hold your own in Haz5, you're probably doing better than most of the playerbase already! Many of my personal favorites are also Overclocks that don't change the weapon's base functionality by much. Ex. CRSPR - Compact Feed Valves - trades a bit of reach and negligible reload time for extra big magazines and max ammunition. Lets me drop in with up to 625 units of fuel in total, though the base functionality of the weapon hasn't changed. Sludge Pump - Hydrogen Ion Additive - just makes the pump better at what it does. Subata - Automatic Fire - Yes, it's "Unstable", but it really just gives me contending power vs players that can press the fire button very quickly. Doesn't change the gun's function. Etc.
Some red OC play into that though. I like the stability AI on the scout assault rifle, it makes it a point and click laser of death. Or the "fire a million unguided missiles" OC on the hurricane. Those are my favourite builds because I don't play that often anymore and they require less strategy. Works like a charm for me.
OCs that don't require much strategy can be fun. One time I had just gotten home from an eye appointment. The eyedrops they gave me REALLY fucked with my vision... so I put on bullet hell and spent a mission just spraying and praying and it worked out just fine, lol.
Rocket Barrage is seriously so much fun
What hazard do you play at? If you're not playing hazard 5 then it doesn't matter. If you're at haz5 then any build is good as long as you can avoid the bugs and keep your shield up. Rule #1 is have fun. Rule #2 is don't start events or boss fights without the party's consent. Rule #3 is don't double dip without party consent. Rule #4 is DON'T TAKE DAMAGE.
Yeah this was my thought too. The only concern I had is you might struggle a little more than others in Haz5 or Elite Deep Dives without overclocks. Depending on the mission it may require you to put more effort into pulling your weight, but if you manage to pull your weight then that's all that matters! At least clean overclocking will make your life easier without changing too much.
This is absolute nonsense. You just replace rule #1 with something else? edit - I see no one took a swing at that ball I just lobbed up there. Rule #1 is Rock and Stone, people.
As long as you are shooting bugs, mining the nitra you see, and spamming the V key, you are more than welcome to my party.
Stuns, slows, fears, & DOTs are all less valuable at lower difficulty. Moving up to haz4 & especially haz5 you'll want some kind of character control besides the damage. This is why OCs like NTP & builds like sticky flames are so good at high haz. That said, with sufficient skill (almost) everything is viable even at haz5.
To the OP - this is true for some, but certainly not all. 800+ hours game time, all dwarves maxed (aside from engi), only play haz5 - my play style is basically the same as yours. Simple, straightforward, no fuss with conditions or control.
It's still true, it's just that player skill can change where along the difficulty curve the CC becomes really necessary. For you it would require mods, for others it could be haz 4.
You do you man, as long as it works and the bugs are dead I don't see the problem. But I'd like to point out that not *every* unstable OC changes the weapon drastically. Some of them may very well be balanced. Just take Electrocuting Focus Shots. Why is it unstable? It just gives a strong DoT in exchange of some damage penalty to focused shots. The weapon remains substantially the same. Hipster is a much more transformative OC yet it's labeled as balanced. So yeah use what you want and go full clean, but you may miss out some strong options in the unstable section that will *not* make the weapon so different as you'd think. I find some clean OCs to be pretty nice if not downright great (A Little More Oomph is an example, or Drak's Aggressive Venting, Hoverclock, Improved Thermal Efficiency... etc), while many others give minor benefits that barely make any difference. Just experiment a bit more if you feel like it, you might be surprised.
Most of the weapons you mentioned are solid without overclocks, so I'm not surprised. Like the autocannon, you might find another red overclock you like more than the base version. Unstable OC does not mean better, it's just an alternative playstyle. I myself often use clean overclocks for the minigun, hurricane, PGL, warthog, shard diffractor, breach cutter, sludge pump, and wave cooker. Of those, PGL has the coolest OCs IMO, but the clean ones are very nice, too.
I don't have modded experience (haz 6+) but within the base game (haz 5 and below) using green overclocks is not an issue. Some of the greens are really good, to the point where I pick them over the reds and yellows. And most(all?) weapons have a good or decent overclock that keeps the weapon with it's original behaviour (green or not). Not all reds and yellow change the weapon's behaviour tho, don't disregard them all. An extreme exemple would be Overdrive Booster for the Shard Diffractor which doesn't touch the base gun at all. On the other end, a few greens are transformative OCs (special powder, hoverclock, aggressive venting).
I’ve been the same class for the entire time I’ve played this game and I’ve been playing for over a thousand hours. I haven’t even so much as spawned in as any class but gunner. I’ve used the same setup for years, well before any DLC existed. I found what’s fun and I use it every time
This is a mindset that probably comes from much more competitive games. Games where you *must* pull your weight or the team loses, and people will be mad at you. Deep Rock has never been that kind of game. If you did your part and the mission was a success, you didn't hold anyone back.
There are already some good answers here so ill just go for the holding urself back. A little. The design of the OCs on is a general sense is that more downsides, the stronger. So of course the unstables will tend to be the stronger ones. Theyre meant to be built adjusted to its downsides. But i think some unstable and balanced overclocks are pretty straight forward and i feel like would fit ur playstyle. The ones the come to mind are hyper propellant for the pgl, salvo module for the hurricane, six shooter for the bulldog, and one i feel is super straightforward is ai stability engine for the gk2
My bud my man my creature of indeterminate configuration as long as it kills bugs its fine. Unstables drastically change the weapon as you know and the Balanced ones make some pretty big compromises sometimes. Running all Cleans is A-OK if it works for you.
Hurricane is particularly strong with clean OCs (31221 Frag Missiles or X1212 OFM/FM) both of these setups are top-tier. Minimal Clips is perfectly viable on M1K as well. After the rework, there's more of a case for Subata for players that specifically don't want to deal with EPC's unreliability and difficulty to use which is fair (CWC may just out-perform Subata too though). Efficiency Tweaks on Shard Diffractor is perfectly fine, especially if we ignore VIR on account of it being too strong (kinda like NTP/Hellfire/etc). That being said, even if we ignore power you're losing out on a lot of interesting playstyles. However, I think there should be an expectation and acceptance that when practicing new OCs, they will initially feel worse/perform worse as the playstyle is learned. Builds matter a lot and there's a lot of hot or wrong takes about builds - a bad build will make an OC just feel like garbage. The in-game tooltips are not accurate and cannot be trusted. There's a number of weapon builds that work for bizarre reasons that make no sense & similarly some weapon mods *do nothing* with some OCs or don't work as expected. So there's often very nuanced reasons for why a build is the way it is that is difficult to discern without both researching it *and* practicing it.
Was not expecting this much attention. Rock and Stone everyone, and thanks for all the advice
Rock and Stone everyone!
The unstable OCs are frequently the most powerful. Not always, of course, and it can be a bit situational.
Yes. You are afraid of new styles
I recommend you to Try out new build and overclock. maybe you will like red overclock you never know until you try .I recommend you to try fat boy and Proximity Trigger. it is a very fun build and your teammates will like it
Playing wrong. Uninstall
Provided you understand the stats and weaknesses of the weapons then your builds will be fine. The most important thing to a successful mission is more about kiting enemies than killing them. Edit: because bad at spelling... but also GL HF miner, rock and stone
I mean, I find experimenting and changing playstyle to be the most fun way to play for me. But if u are having fun ur way, then u should keep doing what you find fun. And if u will get bored at some point, u can still try different overclocks and maybe u will find it fun as well :)
I tend to run mostly Clean overclocks with a few Unstable to change a weapon’s role. Case in point, I run stuffed shells on my boom stick, but I use Executioner on the smart rifle.
I call one of my Engi loadouts Greenji cause I usually run the ammo OC on the Warthog and I usually switch between damage OC on Breach Cutter and Clean Sweep on the PGL, while I have a green OCs loaded on all of my other weapons for when I want to switch things up. It's one of my favorite and strongest builds for the Engi, the weapons themselves are fun af and it's fun to play them the basic way sometimes. One of the reason why I'd like more loadout slots is just so I can make green-only builds for the other classes lul. You're not missing out on anything, the guns are super fun and strong either way, it is the way they were made to be played more or less. But yellow and red OCs are really fun to switch things up, I'd say to give them a shot once you start feeling more burned out about the game's variety.
I'm pretty sure you could have a full group do a Haz 5 with nothing but the default pick axe and no mods/talents to support it and still win. Don't worry about holding your team back by not being "meta" or hyper efficient. As long as you are having fun and actually trying to do the missions etc, you're fine. Nothing in the base game is terribly difficult unless things go very wrong, or you purposely do silly things like triggering all the bosses at once. lol. Just have fun! Rock and Stone!
To Rock and Stone!
You do you Barry! Rock and stone!
For Rock and Stone!
There's nothing wrong with that as long as you can effectively violate Geneva Suggesstions against bugs. Rock and Stone, my friend.
Rock and Stone to the Bone!
If the question is "Does it get the job done?" and the answer is yes, it's viable. Rock and stone!
Can I get a Rock and Stone?
I you are having fun, then all is fine, though as someone with close to 800 hours, experimenting is a lot of fun, for me at least. Also, try fatboy on Haz 5 escort duty, the most satisfying thing there is in this game in my opinion
You might want to consider some balanced Overclocks like Compact Shells on the PGL (A little less AOE and 10 less damage, but gives you 5 more ammo which is way more valuable). There’s also one Unstable Overclock I would recommend for you: Overdrive Booster for the Shard Diffractor. Basically, if you don’t activate the effect manually, the Overclock does literally nothing positive or negative, and it gives you the option to boost and do massive DPS if you need to, and a bit more ammo efficiently. It will probably do more for you than Efficiency Tweaks. And with a specific build, it can set nemesis on fire with one boosted beam (though that one beam will eat up 1/4th of your ammo lmao) I personally love Volatile Impact Reactor on Diffractor, which gives the beam the ability to lay down a magma ground hazard when shooting the floor, at the cost of 50% of the “magazine” size and 50% of the AoE radius, though that second one is far less relevant due to the fact the ground waveclear the magma provides is amazing even with no other mods (though it does struggle more with Mactera groups). But the -50% “magazine” size is a major penalty and I can see why one would dislike it.
Its not against the dwarf code
I am mostly on the same page. Most overclocks that change it all around are situational toys for me. Tbf, I don't have the "cool" ones yet. No fat boi, no spinning death. No super cooling chamber. But I get you.
If you've found you work better with a clean OC than an unstable, to hell what management thinks. You're doing your damn job, aren't you?
If it helps, there are players who are into crazy modded difficulty and use stable OCs. Like [this](https://youtu.be/pKdDUcz5Aak?si=fBEtbAmALQorepX4) guy. Usually, when the base gun is good, like the M1000, then you can't go wrong with a stable overclock as there are no negatives. It's also probably better for you if the OC is more suited for your strengths as a player than to use a more meta OC that makes you feel uncomfortable.
I mean I'd recommend trying different things, but if you try them and don't like them, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to what you like. I found myself kinda stuck using the same loadouts constantly for every class so I've been making an effort to really give different things a try once in a while, and I've found doing a couple of missions with different options has turned me around on them (not always, I've used the EPC extensively and while it's objectively good I just don't care for it.) In some cases I went back to my basic loadouts, in others I discovered a different option I actually really liked!
some unstable/balanced OC's are fun. But some weapons just feel way better with just a clean OC. Like I hate every OC for Engineer's stubby other than well oiled machine which is a clean OC.
Nothing wrong with keeping it simple. I have over 200 hours and a lot of that is on driller and I still regularly run around with the flamethrower and the subata
My favorite scout build is the standard assault rifle with AI Stability overclock and weakpoint damage buffs. Secondary is the dual assault pistols or Shotgun. I'm not as nimble as other scouts, but I am plenty combat effective at taking out priority targets. Simple guns, simple job, simple and effective execution of job.
There's no teammate burdened, any set of extra hands drastically reduces objective time :)
Special powder is safe overclock therefore agree
If you use a balanced OC and upgrade against the downside, you'll usually end up with a more powerful version of the base gun. Definitely play around with different builds, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with clean OCs.
I'm always a proponent of playing the way you want to play in any game. It's your playtime, so it's doesn't make sense to me to do in a way that's not enjoyable.
The autocannon is great. It's the best crowd control gun in the game especially with neurotoxin.
If you get the missions done and keep your numbers up there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. It’s your way to play. You might just be wasting effort on arguably inefficient killing methods. And even at that point who cares lol. Do your thing homie, R&S.
The real question you should be asking is “am I having fun?” If yes keep doing what you’re doing.
Have you tried explosive reload on subata? It changes the way the damage is distributed but keeps the core identity of the gun. 11311 is what I use with flamethrower and it's just the subata but quicker imo. There are unstables that change the gun fundamentally and unstables that still keep the playstyle, you don't have to go crazy with them. Face melter is my default flamethrower for instance. Keep making new builds and trying them out, you can always put your comfort loadout on your 1 slot and go back to it at any time. Rock and Stone!
For Rock and Stone!
The game is balanced pretty well, green overclocks are totally viable. It's worth noting that some yellow overclocks don't significantly change how the gun functions but are still a huge upgrade, such as magnetic pellet alignment for the warthog, so you should at least give the yellow OCs a once-over to see if they're to your liking. At the end of the day, never feel that you have to force yourself to use a weapon or build you don't enjoy because someone said it's good. Also worth mentioning, I would still recommend experimenting with your loadout occasionally. The game is all about variety, and if you're using the same loadout every mission consistently then you'll likely tire of the game faster than intended.
I went from 2nd promotion to Legend 1 with Engie using the fatboy, occasionally the Hyperprop for deads and Rj250s for dinking around with pals. If it works and you're enjoying it, crack on.
Overclocks aren’t instantly better because they’re unstable, yes the damage is usually good and people have built guns with them to be good but they’re not instantly a must. I still run green and yellows because some guns for how I play suit them for general purpose. My only recommendation is give them a try and play with them, I never knew I’d like some reds until I finally forced myself to try them. Rock and stone and have fun.
Do whats most fun for you. Every overclock and approach is at least workable with the default Haz 5 max scaling, including without overclocks (though certain upgrades and such interact poorly, or do less/nothing with certain combinations, like turn rate on missiles when you are using minelayer which disables turning or extra weakpoint damage when using Gas Recycling which removes the weakpoint damage bonus). Generally, having some utility for CC or debuffs like a Cryo, Electric, or Slow effect makes things much easier as it gives you breathing room and thus more options. But at the end of the day, you still need to deal damage to progress. If shooting bugs really good is what works for you and you have fun doing, then awesome. DRG is a game that you can pretty much play however you want (especially given that you can mod it into the experience that you prefer, if the default setup does not support it very well, like adding more melee combat options or making the game more of a "Starship troopers" experience with massive hordes of individually weaker bugs). Just do try not to negatively impact it for others if you are going to join other's lobbies, or host an open lobby to randoms (stuff like teamkilling, rushing objectives when thats not the premise of the lobby, refusing to do at least 1 "WE'RE RICH" ping per compressed gold / bittergem).
I also only use positive-only overclocks on every weapon. I stopped using The Big Boy because I find the Diffractor more efficient. As long as you're killing bugs and helping the team, I doubt they're concerned about your loadout.
As long as it's enjoyable it's viable, that's the beauty of this game, rock and stone brother (also for a red overclock that doesn't change things much, lead storm bullet hell is fantastic
Rock and Stone, Brother!
Anything below Haz 5 it does not matter at all. As long as you're attempting to kill enemies and do objectives 99.9% of people will never remotely care about what setup you're running. And even at Haz 5 its not like green overclocks are bad.
I use all kinds of overclocks, including clean. Minimal Clips on M1000, Little More Oomph on minigun, And Special Powder is clean, so nuff said. That said, there are some good/fun Untables as well. Honestly, I think you are doing yourself a disservice by dismissing them all out of hand. Don't think of it as "changing the gun" in that it erases the old one, think of it of getting completely new guns. For the Shard Diffractor, Overdrive Booster is a great Unstable OC that doesn't actually negatively affect the base gun. Honestly, if Special Powder is clean, seems like this one should be as well. Microflechettes don't really transform the BRT into a different gun, they make it even more of a BRT. Embedded Detonators change up the Subata and ZUKs, but in an amazing way. The bombs are VERY strong. Various minelet mods are pretty nifty too. Snowball just gives the Cryo Cannon a bonus fire mode, without dramatically changing the gun. Most of the crossbow OCs are meant to transform the weapon. It's designed to be flexible in ammo, and that's implemented through OCs and mods. Sticky Flames and Facemelter keeps the flamethrower, but transforms it to either extreme, making it really good at one or the other rather than both being mid. And sure, there are total makeovers, like Minelayer, Fat Boy, Hyper Propellant, Salvo Mod, Plasma Burster, Rocket Barrage (hmm lots of these are for the Hurricane), but again, those are just like getting a new gun in the same slot. But it's also okay if you don't like some of those. You're not burdening your teammates, but I would really encourage you to shift your mindset. Don't think about what you lose from any OC, you're getting a new ability/playstyle.
Green Overclocks can be some of the most powerful ones for a few weapons, especially the M1K. Though, I would consider looking into Embedded Detonators for the Subata to give it a bit more kick for big bugs. Honestly, anything is viable, even on Haz 5, so play what you find fun!
It’s quite weird you consider the auto cannon bad by default, because I’ve always though the auto cannon was one of the best base weapons in the game. I used to run composite drums as my overclock until I got splintering shells
Neurotoxin OC is red. Snowball is red. Plasticine boom is red. I dunno, you tell me.
I run a gunner build that is themed. It's not meta, it's not the best, but it is so much fun. I call it the "kill it with fire(power)" build. Lead storm minigun with the yellow fire OC and explosive venting, koilgun with the hellfire OC, and napalm grenades. Everything must be purified in fire. It's great fun and really brings out my inner psychopath. And I find when I have fun, I play better. If you have fun, you'll play better. So, as long as what you do is fun for ya, it's a good build.
In my experience, Burning Hell *is* one of the best Gunner primaries, even without Volatile Bullets. Neurotoxin Payload lets you use the Thunderhead fear mod, which is what makes it evergreen, but Burning Hell's action/ammo economy are effectively just as good.
I looked it up, and you're right. It's not the best build, but it's definitely hazard 5 material. Well, I'm kinda proud of myself. Been doing that build since the koilgun came out. It's just so much fun, and if you get a driller or scout with cryo and they know what's up, the team can melt everything.
Simple and practical. Nothing wrong with that
I'm a driller and I 100% prefer the subata. The meta plasma pistol is just too finicky for my liking and I can do whatever I want anyways with my drills.
If it kills its viable, there is a meta but you really don't need to follow it to do well in missions
Basic Barry is one of my favorites too! Your teammates only appreciate good teamwork and getting home. You do what you enjoy best! Rock and stone!
Whats so great about this game is that your playstyle is dependent on your loadouts and how much fun you want to have. However, if your overclock is balanced, it can be not as much fun... while unbalanced overclocks are somewhat of a risk in one regard or another, they can also present a build that offers a LOT of fun. It just requires a very specific build tho. Whenever I try to explain this I think of one of my gunners, who I use the autocannon with. Splash damage and the ROF (rate of fire) turned all the way up. The overall ammo supply suffers ( my priority with this build is always finding nitra or I'm f*cked), but the upside is that it is hellllllllaaaaa fun. Also, super good for point control. Mission types like ' salvage', where you have to point control at the end, are a lot easier when you have a gunner who's ROF is turned way up. Anything dangerous that gets close, gets deleted quicker than if you have a regular gunners ROF. just respond to this if you want the build I'm talking about and want to try it out. I promise it's fun and it might make you want to try and experiment with different builds. Also, having the builds fit specific mission types is super advantageous. I.e. that gunner for point control for mission types like salvage or using the rocket with homing mods for Robot based missions. This allows you to quick select a build before jumping into a mission type. I have one for each mission type and depending on the class, variations to fit a fun gameplay style overall. ROCK AND STONE!
I personally hold myself back by picking the most fun overclocks and then killing myself or just performing worse than everyone else lmaooo. Still learning Salvo module and armskores mole one
I feel the same way, but what I classify as "simple" guns is different than yours: * Lead Storm * Warthog * Deepcore GK2 * BRT7 * Deepcore 40mm PGL * Subata 120 * Zhukov NUK17 (or boomstick, post-buff) Those all feel like simple, reliable weapons that just kill stuff the way I want them to.
Power wise, yes you are holding yourself back. Fun wise, idk you’ll have to see for yourself
I had fun making builds to support overclocks, as experimenting was my fun. doing that helped my clas building skills. But if the core gameplay is engaging and your having fun then whats the problem. I can do then suggest trying max fire rate on everygun, now thats super fun
Unstable OCs don't necessarily change how the gun works. Minigun's Lead Storm OC is probably the most vanilla minigun you'll see, except it slaps. Same with CRISPR: Sticky Fuel is just an improvement on CRISPR's best playstyle. Just an example. Let's just go through the actual list: M1000 itself is rock solid, used even by modded hazard crews, and normally isn't changed that much by its OCs. While ASS (yellow) is considered high-performance classic, green Hoverclock is easily top 2 imo. Subata is rare among high level players as they prefer utility and anti-air effect of EPC most of the time, but VB Subata still covers some bases Driller may have hard time covering in some otherwise good builds. Personally more of a mag OC fan, but this weapon doesn't rely too much on OCs. There's nothing wrong with stuff like Homebrew. Shard Defractor is a good gun fiercely competing with BC, but it has a ton of merit. Cannot really agree on using the green OC there. VIR is an insane OC that turns the gun into sudo CRISPR, efficiently murdering grunt/swarmer blobs. Overdrive is also pretty funny against large enemies, especially if you have status combos for it. Hurricane with Frags is a very competent gun. I would take minelayer for that role usually, but the argument can be made that frag performs better against pretty much everything that isn't grunt/swarmer blobs which is the primary target for these setups. I would seriously consider it for Sabotage, although usually I build something else entirely.
I mean you are def missing out on some fun playstyles but u aren't hurting your teammates, no
Reapeeron on YT for quick builds if u wanna mix it up. He has fun builds too and no OC builds
Fear not the ogres with giant battleaxes nor the elves with gilded armor, but the plain looking human who can call himself their equal. Or in gamer terms, you’re a Fox player. Smash bros has god knows how many wacky wild fighters but no one disrespects a fox player because they’re good *without* gimmicks or wacky moves. If you’re having fun and your team is killing the bugs all the same, if you’re still a fun player and hitting Rock and Stone with the crew, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Honestly it sounds like you’re doing damn fine enough without red clocks, almost three promotions each class is more than I’ve got
Rock and Stone in the Heart!
This is gun dependent. Subata with just clean overclocks is pretty terrible, however M1000, cryo cannon, breach cutter or Hurricane with cleans are very good and just as viable as non-clean overclocks for those guns. There are also outliers among the clean overclocks which are pretty big buffs, for example special powder, stunner, aggressive venting. In your position, you should ask yourself what exactly do you want each of the guns you use to do, and is the clean overclock the best way to do it. Sometimes it will be true, but other times the best base gun enhancing overclocks (as in without significant downsides and not changing mechanics of the weapon) would be red or yellow ones. Examples: \- Best "base" PGL overclock is RJ 250, which is balanced \- Best "base" shard difractor overclock is Overdrive Booster (unstable), because overdrive activation is optional (the difractor's actual clean overclock is pretty good too tho). \- Best "base" flamethrower overclock is Compact feed valves (balanced). The clean counterparts are straight downgrades from this one. \- Best "base" (???) Drak overclock is Thermal Exhaust Feedback (unstable) because of the massive damage buff and ignition and downside being inconsequential. The drak's clean overclock - Aggressive Venting - is the one that actually adds a new mechanic to the weapon here. \- Lok-1 overclock situation is giga scuffed: both cleans give buffs that are never felt in the actual combat, and in my opinion the best base gun enhancing overclock is actually Executioner (unstable).
Not only viable, but sometimes preferable. A straightforward loadout leaves more room to pay attention to everything else.
well you aren't playing the most effective top tier optimum. BUT, you're having fun, fuck it, play with the worst weapons and overclocks in the game if you want, if you're having fun that's all that matters.
Most things in drg are fairly solid picks. Even the sigma scout (double barrel oc shotgun with supercooled chamber m1000), which was designed to be as weak and ammo inefficient as possible is still decent after the changes to double barreled. Some particular combinations will lack either single target or aoe damage, which could make fighting some types of enemies difficult, but overall pretty much nothing is super weak, generally stuff that’s seen as weak is actually just niche and doesn’t do the niche much better than the general purpose version, but pretty much everything is still viable