Deep Rock Galactic: Gunner Weapons Guide
Deep Rock Galactic is a cooperative, FPS mining game developed by Danish indie studio, Ghost Ship Games. You play as one of four class specialties, collect important resources, fight alien lifeforms and impress your boss, all while being a dashing dwarf in space… and mostly underground.
We jumped into the Experimental version of the game so we can show you and break down all the different weapons at your disposal (once you level up and unlock them!).
Every dwarf in Deep Rock Galactic has their own distinct types of gear, consisting of armor, support tools, and weapons. The primary and secondary weapon slots each have a choice of two weapons (once you unlock them via the assignment board).
All weapons can be modified in multiple ways to fit your unique play style and the enemies you’ll face in your next mission. In our breakdowns, our main focus will be on the weapons themselves — minus the mods. But we’ll briefly highlight our favorite mods thus far.
Today’s focus is on the Gunner specialty arsenal. For the Gunner’s primary weapon slot, you have the “Lead Storm” Powered Minigun and the “Thunderhead” Heavy Autocannon.
“Lead Storm” Powered Minigun Highlights
- Good mid to long-range weapon
- The weapon takes a little bit of time to wind up and gain improved accuracy
- Overheats and locks-up after a specific amount of constant fire
- Only 8 damage per bullet but has a high fire-rate to balance it out
- High max ammo means you won’t have to worry too much about calling down a supply drop for more ammo
Lead Storm feels like it shreds through enemies. It has a really nice range to initiate combat long before the enemies are on top of you.
That said, you’ll have to be careful about how much ammo you use — it can be easy to blow through your 2,400 bullets if there’s a swarm incoming — and there’s no reload available until you call down for an ammo supply drop.
And as with most mini-guns, it can easily overheat. This causes a short cooldown period where you won’t be able to use the “Lead Storm”.
The Mods we like for the “Lead Storm” are:
- Improved Platform Stability (to assist with accuracy, especially when initially firing)
- Oversized Drum (increases ammo by 600)
- Hardened Rounds (200% Armor Break Bonus — great against some of the tougher shielded enemies)
- Lighter Barrel Assembly (shortens the spin-up time, which gets you to improved accuracy sooner)
- Cold As The Grave (every kill cools the gun down for longer consistent firing)
Thunderhead Highlights
- Good mid-range weapon
- Starts with a fair amount of ammunition in the clip
- No overheating!
- Continuous shooting picks up the fire-rate
- Long range shots work ok, but their accuracy drops
- The weapon feels really good to handle and has a solid 14 damage per shot plus 8 explosive area damage (22 total damage depending on the circumstances)
The weapon does a good job of damaging stronger enemies, or enemies that are closely grouped up (thanks to the area damage). In certain situations, and with the right mods, this gun could excel as a “boss killer.”
One of the problems this weapon suffers from is the lowered accuracy, especially when enemies are at a distance and you’re low on ammo — and bullets actually hitting their target starts to matter.
The Mods we like for this weapon are:
- Expanded Ammo Bags (Adds 220 more ammunition to the total carried)
- Tighter Barrel Alignment (Improves accuracy)
- High-Velocity Rounds (Increases damage to 18)
- Penetrating Rounds (Increases armor break by 400%)
- Resistance at Full Rate of Fire (Damage reduction when at a full rate-of-fire)
Our Preference for the Gunner’s Primary Weapon:
Effective weapons and mod choices can be very situational but our current preference is to go with the “Lead Storm.” We really like the long range of the weapon — we can initiate combat from further away and be able to weaken enemies until they are in the range of our teammates’ weapons (especially important as this game is co-op preferred). Its fast fire-rate and lack of reload-ability are both great for intense fights — shoot fast, shoot many — as long as you make your shots count.
For the Gunner’s secondary weapon slot, you’re choosing between the “Bulldog” Heavy Revolver and the BRT7 Burst Fire Gun.
“Bulldog” Heavy Revolver Highlights
- The Bulldog basically is a classic revolver, best at close quarters or mid-range
- The ammo in each clip is limited, but the Bulldog makes up for it with high damage from every shot
- The fire-rate is slower than other guns — if you’re suddenly surrounded by enemies, this is a challenging weapon to use
- The reload is also a little on the slow side, so make your shots count and watch your back when you stop to reload
With precision and a little patience, this gun can be absolutely nasty against any enemy type. The high damage output means you use less ammo than other guns — all other things being equal — and it’s great if the enemy is barreling down on your position. It’s also very useful against many of the hardier enemies, for example, creatures that are armored and you need something for precision shots at weak points. On the other hand, this weapon is not always great against fast moving enemies.
The Mods we like for this weapon are:
- Quickfire Ejector (Faster reload)
- Floating Barrel (Improves firing stability so you can get back on a target quicker after each shot)
- Stun (Chance to stun per shot fired)
- High-Velocity Rounds (Increases damage to 65)
- Glyphid Neurotoxin Coating (Bonus damage against Glyphid enemies)
BRT7 Burst Fire Gun Highlights
- Just like SMGs, this gun does well up close, but not at range
- This weapon can keep up with faster enemies
- If enemies sneak up on you, you can burst-fire multiple rounds to stagger them
- It’s easy to go through your ammo quickly and not actually be able to do enough damage to kill an enemy before you have to reload
Overall, this is a very different experience from the Bulldog. The BRT7 is very effective against the smaller and faster enemies but feels lacking when going up against the larger ones. The weapon can, however, be great at the end of a mission, when you have to run to the drop-pod and usually find yourself swarmed by enemies on the way.
The Mods we like for this weapon are:
- High-Velocity Rounds (Increases damage to 15)
- Quickfire Ejector (Increases reload speed)
- Increased Caliber Rounds (Increases overall damage to 19)
- Expanded Ammo Bags (Max ammo increases to 215)
- Burst Stagger (Stagger targets if the entire burst hits the target)
Our Preference for the Gunner’s Secondary Weapon:
After playing around with both the Bulldog and the BRT7, our vote goes to the Bulldog. Though the Bulldog is a slower gun, it packs a punch and will take less ammunition to down an enemy. It also balances well with the faster “Lead Storm” — so equipping these two for the Gunner is a good way to go. If an enemy has been weakened at range but is still barreling toward you, you want to kill the enemy and move on to the next quickly. The Bulldog, with precision, helps you do that.
If you’re looking for a class that involves dumping a lot of lead when facing swarms of alien enemies, make sure to check out the Gunner. And if you’re a Deep Rock Galactic vet, let us know your favorite class and weapons in the comments below.
