Deep Rock Galactic: Survivoris the kind of game you can sink tens of hours into in just one sitting without even realizing what you’ve done. It has an incredibly rewarding gameplay loop that encourages the player to keep coming back for more, and an in-depth upgrade system that makes you feel like you’re actually progressing in the game.

Brotato Is A Spudtacular Twist On Vampire Survivors

Fryin' and Dyin

The permanent upgrades inthis roguelike gameare the same as the temporary ones you pick up during your stint in the caverns, except they don’t reset every run. With a total of 12 upgrades, 12 levels to each upgrade, and a ton of required resources to obtain your upgrades, you’ll be playing the game for a long time before maxing one out. So, it makes sense to pick the best ones first.

brotato vs vampire survivors

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

10Better Boots

Having the option to run fast is good and all, but it’s not very relevant in the early game due to the relatively slow speed of enemies in the first Biome. Why bother getting faster if you won’t see any tangible benefit from a jog?

It does feel good to be able to outrun enemies easily, but with certain other upgrades, it becomes a lot less useful for a lot of reasons. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors has more depth than just keep running. While it’s okay to buy one or two upgrades for Better Boots at the start, it doesn’t make sense to max the upgrade or invest heavily in it unless you run into problems later on in the game.

Better Boots, Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

500 Credits, 2 Croppa

2% Increase in Running Speed

4% Increase in Running Speed

1000 Credits, 2 Croppa

6% Increase in Running Speed

9First Aid Kit

The First Aid Kit is an absolutely essential part of your arsenal when playing Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors. It grants the player acertain amount of Health Regen, making the counter go from 0 to 1 on the first upgrade.

Having a couple extra ticks of health means a lot in a game where a single hit can end your run, but it’s irrelevant whether you can survive longer if you can’t kill the enemies running after you, so you shouldn’t invest too much of your gold and resources on the First Aid Kit.

First Aid Kit, Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

500 Credits, 2 Magnite

1 Tick of HP Regain

500 Credits, 5 Magnite

2 Ticks of HP Regain

1000 Credits, 10 Magnite

3 Ticks of HP Regain

8Upgraded Armor

Similar to the First Aid Kit, Upgraded Armor gives the player a better chance of surviving, providing you with a certain amount of damage reduction. Getting a couple of levels on this upgrade is useful if you’re playing a dodge based build.

The cons of the upgrade are the same as they were for the First Aid Kit. Surviving Longer isn’t going to help you if you can’t get rid of the enemies surrounding you. This is especially true in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors, where the enemy difficulty curve shows a sharp incline the longer you take to kill the final boss of the level.

Upgraded Armor, Deep Rock Galactic Survivors

500 Credits, 2 Enor Pearl

Decreases damage taken from all sources by 2 Units

500 Credits, 5 Enor Pearl

Decreases damage taken from all sources by 4 Units

1,000 Credits, 10 Enor Pearl

Decreases damage taken from all sources by 6 Units

10 Best Games Like Blasphemous 2 For Under $30

Blasphemous 2 is at the pinnacle of atmospheric Souls-like games, but there are other dark fantasy alternatives that match its gothic aesthetic.

7Target Practice

Having a critical chance is a great thing in most games, and the same stands true for this one as well. Since the starting class, Scout, comes equipped with a 200% critical hit damage modifier, compared to the 150% of other classes, it makes sense to increase the chance of the critical hits landing in the first place.

Even if you’re playing a different class, like the Gunner, doing more damage is overall a great outcome. However, due to the fairly low percentage increase with each stage of the upgrade, it feels like a waste of credits and Umanite to get Target Practice. Regardless, you should attempt to get at least 5-6% increase in the critical hit chance because of the incredibly high damage potential.

Split feature image with stills from Salt & Sanctuary, Carrion, and The Last Faith.

500 Credits, 2 Umanite

1% chance of getting a critical hit

500 Credits, 5 Umanite

2% chance of getting a critical hit

1,000 Credits, 10 Umanite

3% chance of getting a critical hit

6Pocket Magnets

The main mechanic for getting better during runs is by leveling up your character. And to level up your character, you need to gain experience points. Likeother games in the genre, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors expects the player to pick the XP up themselves whenever an enemy dies.

In order to accomplish this more efficiently, you can unlock the Pocket Magnets upgrade, which increases the pick-up radius. Having to move less to gain more experience means you’ll level up faster without risking your own well-being. It’s a great option, since you can’t go wrong trying to level up faster.

500 Credits, 2 Jadiz

4% Increase in Pickup Radius

500 Credits, 5 Jadiz

8% Increase in Pickup Radius

1,000 Credits, 10 Jadiz

12% Increase in Pickup Radius

5Mining 101

One of the most important aspects of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors is mining. While it might seem like a gimmick to keep you distracted and differentiate itself fromVampire: Survivors, that’s not the whole story. The resources you collect on each run are very important, both to the run itself and to your overall gameplay experience.

you may make yourself a choke point using mining for enemies to come towards you, reducing the effective size of the swarm. Combined with elemental effects and piercing bullets, you’ll be able to farm the swarm for tons of experience.

You need materials to gain permanent upgrades, and all the materials are found during your runs. Furthermore, the Gold and Niter you find are used to buff your character in between stages as well. Having a faster mining speed means you’ll be able to do all of that a lot faster, letting you progress through the game at a faster rate.

2% Increase in Mining Speed

500 Credits, 5 Croppa

4% Increase in Mining Speed

1,000 Credits, 10 Croppa

6% Increase in Mining Speed

10 Best Survivors In Vampire Survivors, Ranked

From Pugnala to Concetta, these are the greatest Survivors to play as in chaotic roguelike Vampire Survivors.

Reload Speed, as the name suggests, increases the rate at which you reload your weapons. This is a great way to increase your DPS and reduce the time you spend vulnerable to nearby enemies during your runs.

Since you have more than just one weapon on the run, this is an essential upgrade to have. Reducing the downtime for each weapon is a great way, not only to make the game feel better, but also to increase your damage output and make those numbers go higher and higher.

500 Credits, 2 Bismor

2% Increase in Reload Speed

500 Credits, 5 Bismor

4% Increase in Reload Speed

1,000 Credits, 10 Bismor

6% Increase in Reload Speed

3Heavy Bullets

The single most important thing in games like this one is to deal more damage. Everything in the gameplay loop goes around this one fundamental aspect. Whether it’s leveling up or getting upgrades, the end result of everything is to deal more damage.

So, it makes a lot of sense to invest in something that will directly let you do that. High weapon damage equals a higher kill rate, which equals faster level ups, and a faster increase in your DPS, which gets you a higher kill rate, and so on.

2% Increase in Weapon Damage

4% Increase in Weapon Damage

6% Increase in Weapon Damage

2Fast Learner

What’s more important than getting a percentage boost to your overall DPS? Improving your character during the runs. Fast Learner lets the player gain more XP from each enemy and objective, increasing the rate at which they level up.

Combined with the Me Lucky Charms upgrade, you will be able to create an unstoppable build no matter what class you’re playing. It’s important to get the other upgrades as well, but nothing gives as much of a flat increase in damage output as Fast Learner and Me Lucky Charms.

2% Increase in XP Gain

4% Increase in XP Gain

6% Increase in XP Gain

1Me Lucky Charms

While higher damage is good and all, you’ll want to be able to improve your character at a fast pace during a run to keep up with the ramping difficulty of the swarms. That’s where the Me Lucky Charms comes in. This upgrade increases your chances of getting a better rarity of upgrades on level-ups.

This might not sound like a big deal at first, but when you realize that you’ll be leveling up tens of times in each run, it suddenly becomes the most important upgrade to have. Increasing your luck percentage doesn’t give you an advantage in just the earlier stages of the run, it gives you an edge throughout the underground onslaught. This makes it the most important upgrade to have.

2 Ticks of Luck

4 Ticks of Luck

6 Ticks of Luck

The 15 Best Roguelikes For Under $20

These are the best roguelikes for under $20 right now so you don’t have to worry about taking out a small loan to pick them up!