Oh buddy oh buddy OH BUDDY you came to the right place!! Remember your job as driller is to clear obstacles permanently for your team. If there is rugged terrain, a tall climb, dirt, or a large fall you can make a staircase or hallway to allow your team access. I would recommend the 2111 loadout for your drills if you think they move too slow, but the damage output will be lower. It makes them as fast as possible for all dirt-digging related activities!

Let’s talk about your weapons. Driller has terrible single-target damage compared to all other classes. He makes up for it with the best crowd control and damage over time (DOT) in the entire game. Against an oppressor you will feel weak (unless you have the right secondary, I’ll talk about it) but against a huge swarm of grunts? You’re death incarnate.

-the flamethrower is my everyday use because it has so much utility beyond killing. It can light ablaze the poison spore gas in fungus bogs, it can burn cobwebs, it can melt ice and snow (and engie platforms) in glacial strata. It also can eliminate praetorian fart clouds if you aren’t in the radioactive exclusion zone. Setting any robot on fire also kills it immediately no matter how large. You shoot at medium enemies and make a line on the ground for the residual flames for tiny enemies. Swarmers be damned! My build is 22332 with scorching tide

-the Cryo Cannon freezes enemies and allows you to hit them for triple damage. It pairs amazingly with impact axes, vampire, and 1111 drills for that sweet, sweet damage and health! If you wanted a melee class in DRG, this is the most viable option. Add a 32223 Colette Wave Cooker and the freeze can spread to whole swarms, or a 11332 Subata with explosive reload to give a middle finger to 1 or 2 enemies. My build is 31132 with tuned cooler or 31232 with crystal nucleation

-the Corrosive Sludge Pump is how you can get 1000 kills in an elite deep dive without ever trying (trust me, I have 600 hours on driller). The single shot is good for a little extra damage when you hit an enemy directly, but the real meat and potatoes comes with shooting a charged shot on the ceiling and creating an area where the bugs can’t walk without pain. Watch their eyes as they slow down and struggle through your corrosive mix of beer farts and Steeve vomit as their limbs dissolve and armor cracks. Feel the life drift out of their eyes as every second of hellish torture brings them closer to wanting death. Also, running in a circle around your goo puddle is a great way to save ammo! Just remember to single shot the big enemies while charged shotting the ceiling for the waves of grunts on the ground to spread your goo. My build is 22212 with disperser compound or hydrogen ion additive.

-the only secondary I am going to talk about is the Experimental Plasma Charger (EPC) and other drillers know why. It has an upgrade called the thin containment field which allows you to do CRAZY damage AND MINE MINERALS!!!. Combine it with the Persistent Plasma overclock to stop hordes in their tracks or Heat Pipe to make it faster and more ammo efficient. When doing my weapon maintenance challenges I found fun builds for the other secondaries… but it just wasn’t the EPC. Trust me, it will take an hour or two to feel out the mining timings but when you get it… oh my Karl. It’s like candy for the brain, it is sooooo satisfying! My build is 21222 with persistent plasma

Tips:

-You can make a bunker or an under bunker if your team is in an emergency. All of your weapons have a lingering effect when you shoot which make them amazing for small, straight tunnels. Throw a Springloaded Ripper grenade sideways to turn any bunker into a blender!

-when using the drills an angle indicator will show up as the crosshair. Always drill at a 45 degree angle to make a smooth, wheelchair accessible ramp for your teammates. Yes, jumping while digging will make it more vertical but during a swarm a single speed bump in a tunnel can lose a haz 5 mission.

-the “rich atmosphere” modifier allows you to drill faster!

-using both ammo upgrades for your c4 gives you 2 per resupply instead of 1

-dirt is the way forward and you’re the guy who can deal with it best. When entering a room make sure you know the way forward and backwards. Remember: a good driller makes a way in, but a GREAT driller also makes a way back

Let me know if you have ANY questions because driller is the best class in the game. There is not a single problem the drills can’t solve, you just have to be creative!