The Perk system in Deep Rock Galactic is pretty deep, just like all of the other mechanics in the game. But, which Perks are the best overall?
Deep Rock Galactic is a creative first-person shooter that’s been around for more than 5+ years and is still very much alive due to a dedicated dev team and an entirely wholesome fanbase. It’s a game that relies on players working cooperatively in an attempt to explore distant planets for minerals and other resources while defending against the alien insects that live on them. With plenty of entertaining things to do besides mining ore, it is also important for the player to focus on upgrading their character.
These optional bonuses can help not only the players themselves but also their co-op partners when facing the dangers across each planet, especially as players can take on these challenges at different difficulties. With nine tiers of Perks to upgrade, there are a wide variety of Perks with both active and passive effects for the player to achieve. These are by far the best Perks for Deep Rock Galactic players to invest in.
Updated October 31st, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: Deep Rock Galactic has a ton of different Perks for players to choose from and experiment with as they level up their Dwarven class of choice and put their hours in. Some of these Perks have a simple effect such as reducing friendly-fire damage while others are entirely unique mechanics such as the Hover Boots. Regardless, most of the Perks players can choose from in Deep Rock Galactic are pretty useful, which is a rarity in games these days. However, some of these Perks still reign supreme over all the others, so let’s go over some of the most commonly used and ‘best’ Perks this game has to offer since (at the time of writing this) a lot of players are returning to the game to experience its Hoxxes Halloween Event.
Disclaimer: In the tables below, the ‘*’ symbol will let players know that these three statistics are based on the Perk’s current Tier level in the Perk Upgrade tree. 12 Born Ready
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Name
Perk Description
Born Ready
Unequipped weapons automatically reload after *15/10/5 seconds.
First up is Born Ready, a Passive Perk that isn’t unlocked until the Dwarf in question reaches the seventh tier of Perks in the tree. Now the function of this Perk is pretty simple, stowed weapons are automatically reloaded after a certain amount of time passes (based on the Tier of the Perk of course).
And, while this certainly is a convenience, it’s not all that noticeable of an effect until Tier 3. Also, for the most part, this is a Perk that is only really useful on one character, the Engineer. A lot of the Engineers’ weapons have high damage output but long reload times and low ammo capacity, which is where this Perk comes in handy. Additionally, there’s nothing worse than jumping off a ledge as an Engineer, pulling out the Platform Gun to fire straight down to break the fall, only to find out it needs to be reloaded. 11 Thorns
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Name
Perk Description
Thorns
Any time an enemy attacks the player’s dwarf with a melee attack it will take *6/12/18/24 damage in return.
Out of all the Perks on here, this is the one that players will probably notice the least mid-combat. That said, it’s still helpful, especially for Swarmers and Naedocyte enemies. With Thorns, players will automatically deal damage to enemies that deal melee damage to them, once per 0.75 seconds.
This means that the Perk isn’t particularly helpful against a swarm of Swarmers due to the lapse of time between each Thorn trigger, but it makes it so that players won’t need to worry about singular Swarmers much at all. Just keep in mind, it’s only worth using on characters who are always in the thick of it like Gunner and Driller, and it needs to be at least Tier 3 as well. 10 Hover Boots
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Name
Perk Description
Hover Boots
Active Effect: Allows the player to hover midair for *2/2.5/3/3.5 seconds. Additionally, the jets from the boots can burn any creatures directly underneath the player. Has a *120/105/90/75 second cooldown.
Hover Boots, the first Active Perk in the rankings is pretty much the best overall Perk for new players to use. By far the most dangerous thing in Deep Rock Galactic is fall damage, which is funny to think about since this is a game about Dwarves surviving on a planet full of territorial bug aliens. But, it’s true, players will find themselves needing a revive as a result of a fall because of some slight hole created far more than at the hands of some bug. And these moments are where the Hover Boots truly shine.
This is, once again, a Perk that’s only worth using at the max Tier available for it, but with it, players can save themselves from a potentially fatal fall every 75 seconds just by holding the ‘Crouch’ button mid-air. Additionally, Hover Boots have an extra (slightly hidden) usage on Scouts in particular as these allow Scouts to grapple up to something, let go, hover, quickly mine a ‘pocket’ in the wall for themselves, and grapple into it. But, most people just tend to use their Hover Boots to make the trip back to the extraction point in this Extraction Shooter a bit less precarious. 9 Deep Pockets
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Name
Perk Description
Deep Pockets
Each of the player’s mineral pouches can now hold *5/10/15 more valuables.
