Greenbeard Guide: Driller

This guide seeks to help those green-beards who have no idea what they're doing. In this ""short"" loadout guide we will assume that you have:

• No Overclocks
• No Promotions
• No maidens
• 1 active and passive perk slot
• Have only the base starter weapons
• Have only the base starter grenade
• Have enough credits to buy basic weapon upgrades

I think it is also important to know that terminology when it comes to weapons upgrades. For instance, Flamethrower's upgrades can be read out as 22222. This means that the 1st upgrade tier has the 2nd upgrade choice, the 2nd upgrade tier has the 2nd upgrade choice, and so on.

Note: Do not take this guide as a definite answer to your upgrade choices, rather take it as a general guide to help you through the beginning stages of DRG.

With that said, let's get started:
Team role: As the driller, you don't really have a clearly defined role, at least, not in combat. In combat, your flamethrower can deal with small bugs like swarmers with ease. The flamethrower's sticky flames can deal with large swarms of medium to large bugs. Not to mention, if they are on fire your Subata 120 can prove to be decently lethal as long as you're hitting their weak point.

Outside of combat, you should be using your drills to make areas easier to defend. Areas around mission objectives like the Orbital Relay Uplink are typically really cramped, use your drill to make it less cramped when defending. Another use for the drills can be used for the drop pod. On missions where the drop pod lands far away you can use your drills to create a direct path toward it, making it a lot easier for your team. If there isn't a scout on your team you can use your drills to get resources in hard-to-reach places.
CRSPR Framethrower: The first Gun, or flamethrower rather, is a tool designed to deal with the largest of swarms and smallest of critters. The Sticky flames ability allows you to draw a literal line in the sand preventing small critters from crossing and giving larger critters a much harder time. Upgrades: 22222

1. This first tier is relatively flexible. If you find yourself running out of fuel in the tank too quickly then take "High capacity tanks", otherwise "High-pressure ejector" is the better option.
2. "Triple Filtered Fuel" makes it much easier to light bugs on fire constantly.
3. "Sticky flame slowdown" is possibly the best upgrade in the 3rd tier if used correctly. This war crime of an upgrade slows bugs down greatly, making it so that spend more time in sticky flames which of course means more damage.
4. To add to this "Sticky flame duration" increase the sticky flame duration which makes the flamethrower better at saving ammo.
5. Finally "Targets explode" is exactly what it says. This allows the driller to become even better at crowd control as bugs will spread the fire to other each other.
   

Subata 120: This tiny little pistol is here to accompany the driller with larger targets. Upgrades: 31311

1. This first tier is pretty flexible just like the flamethrower, if you find yourself running out of ammo in the mag too fast then take "High capacity magazine", otherwise "quickfire ejector" is the better choice.
2. "Expanded ammo bags" is the better option here since the damage upgrade in this tier barely affects overall DPS, so it is better just to take ammo.
3. (See above)
4. "Hollow-Point Bullets" since the 60% increase in weak point damage is much better than "High-velocity rounds" as long as your facing the weak point
5. "Volatile Bullets" is a no-brainer here. A 50% increase in damage as long the target is on fire and extends the burn duration. This last upgrade combos greatly with the flamethrower allowing for larger targets to be more smoothly dealt with.
   

Reinforced Power Drills: The drills are the reason the driller is called what he is. These things grind anything (except resources like Nitra) to a pulp making quick work of existing terrain. Upgrades: 2111 The upgrades selected are there to enhance and improve on the drills' already great characteristics.

Satchel Charge: The #1 cause of scout deaths, right next to fall damage. These explosives have enough C4 in them to wipe out entire waves of bugs. Upgrades: 2112 The upgrades selected are there to improve the ammo capacity. Since by default you only get 2, extra ammo helps with dealing with more swarms. The last tier is also pretty flexible. "Rock mover" helps greatly with your mining expeditions, while the first 2 are great for combat.

Reinforced Impact suit: Nothing too special just armor that helps the driller not die. Upgrades: 3213 To help with your mining "Bigger mineral bag" helps. We also take breathing room to allow for a longer period before the driller can take damage after getting revived. However, the first 2 are also great if you happen to get overwhelmed

Pickaxe: The standard melee weapon. Upgrades: 13 We take better weight balance because a -10sec cooldown is just too good.

Throwable: The impact axe is a fantastic throwable being about to dish out extremely fast single-target damage in a show window. Great if you want to deal with Praetorians or Oppressors.

Perks: Since we're only working with 1 active and passive perk slot we don't have too many options, so rather than put one perk above the rest I going to list my preferred perks and you can pick one that fits the occasion.

Thorns - This perk isn't as needed as it is for a scout or gunner. However, it could be an option if you find yourself unable to deal with small critters.

Resupplier - This is good for higher difficulties where the increase of health gained from resupplies helps greatly.

Deep pockets - Fits the driller's role as a resource gatherer. Allowing the driller to grab resources without having to deposit as often.

Vampire - This is a must-have perk. The reason being is that you get +5 health back on any melee kill. This includes your drill and your axes.

Iron will (active) - Allows the driller to awaken from their downed state to revive players. (Note: If you gain any health within the iron will period you will still be alive after this period ends).

Dash (active) - Allows the driller to quickly dash out of the way. This allows the driller to have a small amount of mobility. Also allows the driller to dodge attacks like those from a dreadnought.

Beastmaster (active) - Allows the driller to turn bugs over to his side. This draws bugs away from the driller while also clustering bugs together allowing the driller to light all of them on fire.
With is information you greenbeards better not let the DRG management down. Stay quick, start sharp and stay safe. Rock and Stone!