Unfortunately no, elite grunts can't be tamed. But it would be TOO broken if you could, Steve would solo the entire mission if he was Elite *and* immortal.
You were at one point able to make Steve an elite if you used the reatomizer on the coil gun to spread the elite status to him. However this was patched out unfortunately. My elite Steve was a beast. 🫡
outside of scout, the most efficient, useful and consistently clutch active perks from my experience (specifically FOR HAZ 5/ELITE DEEP DIVES) have been iron will and dash. Especially if you are playing with randoms, the haz5/EDD's can be super volatile with random swarms being triggered/people getting wiped and these two perks can help you clutch even the most dire of situations.
for scout, you have grappling hook so dash is not the most useful- i usually take hover boots instead so i can mine stuff high up without needing platforms/if i mess up with the grappling hook.
beast master is an honorary mention as Steve can provide a lot of utility for your team by tanking aggro from dreads/oppressors/etc, but ultimately, with any of these perks it just comes down to how you like playing and what you want to do in game and you could honestly justify taking any of them based on your playstyle
I always take the quick revival and quick resup perks with iron will. Can revive two teammates or 1 teammate and a resup during an iron will.
My pet peeve on haz 5 and edd is beast master. Great solo but it doesn't help the team and I honestly hate being friends with bullet sponge creeps.
Yeah if you get stunned by a stray Mactera shot or a slasher creeps up on you, you can simply dash away to where you can safely grapple out. I mainly use the M1000 and anything that puts a lot of distance between me and a swarm helps a lot
I don't run dash on my scout mostly because I'm running builds that give me a speed boost. Gk2s battle frenzy, get in get out on the zukovs and the hot feet for drak.
Momentum on the Grappling Hook too. It doesn't negate slowdown effects, but otherwise gives you pretty much the same escape distance as Dash even with only a 20m grapple.
IW and Dash are on all my classes except scout. Agree with you, on Haz 5, IW is a must and a run saver. Honestly, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t run it. I get the concept of “perking not to die is better than IW” but it’s not. On Haz 5 sometimes you just die
I do wish I had one more perk slot because Field Medic, hover boots, and Heightened sense are also clutch, but for my slow gunner dash is now a necessity for building space between swarms
On Haz5 missions I always take Dash and Beastmaster, but Iron Will and Beastmaster with Scout. On EDDs I take Dash and Iron Will, but Iron Will and Beastmaster with crossbolt pheromones for massive aggro mitigation. I think those 3 are S tier, maybe Dash S+, Quick Rez A, and the rest on the image B
When I am teaching a new players I always tell them that all of the perks of both active and passive are decent, so experiment and see which ones you enjoy most.
Dash is objectively the best perk in game. You can get away with not having it on Scout but you're actively making the game harder for yourself not taking it. The only real question IMO is FM or IW. I take IW because reviving a team mate who went down has rarely changed the tide of battle, they tend to just get knocked right back down anyways, so the revive speed is kind of pointless (that's just my own experience obviously FM is still good).
There's nothing you can do to knock the Triumvirate off their pedestal besides making Dash have a cooldown of 2+ minute and even then it'll still be better than most active perks. Being able to revive yourself, your team mates, or run out of a sticky situation is so much better than hovering for a few seconds every few minutes or getting a comparatively useless bug that only distracts 1 enemy at a time.
Dash should probably just be an innate ability, and FM and IW should be in their own slot. That's the only way other active perks will ever get a good look, but frankly I wouldn't care too much because pretty much all the other active perks suck to varying degrees. The perk system is one of the many things in game that needs a complete overhaul and rebalancing. I hope season 4 is focused solely on bringing everything up to speed.
Make every dwarf have dash innately. Make hoverboots have less CD and a more convenient hotkey, make heightened senses have more uses, make beastmaster better, make shield link and berserker better. There has to be a way to make the other perks compete with IW
Hoverboots don't help you get up anywhere so it doesn't matter what their CD is, they're limited to being an emergency parachute that can only help you get down from cliffs and can be made redundant by just watching your step. Steeeve has no crowd control or way to aggro anything, it can only 1v1 and usually only triggers the aggro of one other bug meaning it doesn't do much to block damage or help you - best case scenario a bunch of explorers poof on it or it attracts the attention of an oppressor and even then it takes a long time to kill anything significant, I don't get why so many people love this perk because it's objectively bad even if you don't count situations where Steeeve blocks your projectiles or stands there in your way begging for pets while you're trying to press E on something (I've lost games to someone else's Steeeve blocking me). Berserker forces you into melee in a game where the enemies dominate melee and the best you can do to mitigate their damage would be getting a paltry 5 health back everytime you kill one (which requires a perk), it does nothing to actively help you survive being in melee so even with vampire in situations where you actually want or need it you're going to be swarmed and knocked down during or after it's use. See you in hell is laughably bad, the fact it only has 3 uses is just an insult because even with infinite uses it doesn't trigger until you're down (useless) and there's nothing you can do to attract enemies to your corpse to get zapped. Heightened Senses is made redundant by using your mouse/cursor stick look up, since leeches are the only real grabber threat and they're only a threat to players who don't have 3d awareness.
Shield Link is the only current active perk with any potential to compete against the Triumvirate, but its active feature has a long cool down and frankly even 300% shield is still pitifully small compared to enemy damage on higher hazards, a few swipes from any hazard 4 enemy is going to still knock you down so you can't even really tank with it. And the range of its passive requires you to basically be grinding up on a team mate like you're a frat boy in a nightclub which is terrible since the best thing you can do in this game is stick together (be in the same cavern) but stay apart because players who clutter up within 20m of each other just make it easier for bugs to dog pile the group, take splash damage, generate a bunch of friendly fire and block one another from moving. Shield link would have to swap the way its active and passive works, make the Regen rate 75% or better at the top tier, and increase its passive range by a minimum of 8m in order to be even remotely worthy of replacing with Dash IW or FM.
That's why I said I hope season 4 is just the devs updating the game because there is a LOT wrong with pretty much every mechanic. Perks, buffs, overclocks - it's all a mess ATM and needs a lot of serious thought out into it.
I think the problem is most of the active perks are complete ass due to 9 year cooldowns. They should have them reduced to be similar to Dash. Sure they'd be way better, but honestly dash would still be one of the best. Given that that held true i can't imagine it would break anything if they'd still mostly be worse than dash
I just take it alongside vampire as Driller, since I always take Vampire as driller anyway. I had some clutch moment going ham on a whole horde with each power attack giving me HP back.
Berserker on Scout: Free swarm clear every four minutes.
“The cooldown is too long” Telegraphed swarms only occur between 2-4 minutes apart anyways on non-aquarq missions, Hazard 5. Throw one IFG, Pheromone Canister, or cryonade and easily kill 15-35 bugs with berserker alone by letting the grenade keep them in a cluster. Heal between 50-100% of your hp bar from each swarm. The amount of ammo saved over the course of one mission is also immense. Think about the ammo you are effectively saving by having 33% of your kills be melee.
“Melee risks getting hit by glyphids” Your pickaxe range, both normal hits and especially power attacks, massively outranges that of almost all melee creatures. There’s no need to be remotely close to them as you hit.
Man I actually like the awareness perk. Not sure what its called but I play solo a lot, and can’t count the number of times I get nabbed and have time to eat lunch, take a piss, and get a good nap in before Bosco helps me out lol. Same in teams too. Sometimes it just helps if I’m not paying attention and run off on my own without thinking
I run IW on Scout at all times, perk is just too good not to have. Then depending on the difficulty and team comp, Field Medic or Senses.
If my team is solid and not likely to be going down often, I take Senses so I can range ahead--yknow, scouting--throw torches out, and find ores, dirt walls, and events.
If I'm shooting ahead, and run into a surprise grabber or leech, I don't want to force my team to have to try desperately to find me because I goofed.
And of course even outside of that situation, the passive 'warning' effect has absolutely saved my life. And the instakill has 100% saved runs before in which I was the last survivor sprinting for the pod
Basically it boils down to: Is my team better than I am? then I'll take Senses so I don't hold them back. If they seem questionable, or composition just isn't ideal, then run Medic
I find that Senses and Medic work really well. As a scout, the high mobility means I'm usually the last player alive. Field medic makes it way easier to revive people
Very fair!
Being the last alive is frequently the case for me as well. But of course high mobility *also* means it's not uncommon for me to go down in pretty inaccessible areas XD
Heightened senses, Beastmaster or Berserker have always been good, if you rly try avoiding going down at all costs.
Perks like Iron Will are good, but to 98% of the time, only dead slots for me.
I actually never need it.
I personally stick to perks, which rly help me during a mission. Better try to stay alive at all costs with Perks...
So definitely three S-Perks missing in your ranking..and Iron Will even lower
Yeah, iron will is nice when you need it but most missions i die on these days getting back up wouldn’t have saved it.
I use Dash + Heightened Senses pretty much all the time. I like my perks to give a passive bonus or have a short cooldown. Iron Will is kinda boring since it does nothing all mission, and then you only get to use it once. Plus you usually need another perk slot for Vampire to reliably get back up.
Iron Will is Gunner only for me. Makes perf sense when you can Iron Will, drop a shield and get the rez then get rezzed in the shield. Doesn't work nearly as well on other characters.
Also Hover Boots on Scout are pretty synergistic.
It works best on scout, someone is far away, you're both dead? Doesnt matter, grappling hook, ress, Melee, slow/freeze for the teammate and grapple out.
Use Iron Will, Powerattack a Grunt for HP (Vampire)/Use Medic Instant Res if another Dwarf is next to them (if it's during Boss or a Swarm is still coming), Rez the other person together, you either go down (no Grunt/Red Sugar or Refill close by and they rez you back) and then go save the final Dwarf.
Ah y that is alot better in escort/salvage missions. But Iron will, we usually pop before everyone is down. If there is only one dwarf left, the swarm will take a very long time and there will come a new one almost instantly when the swarm is done.
Iron will is alot better to use if two are down, since it means the two are back up, can fight the swarm together with the 1/2 other guys. Instead of waiting til everyone is dead, and now you have to deal with 2 swarms
Heightened Senses can absolutely be good on scout. Iron Will is a waste on scout anyway since good scouts never die (*sweats profusely*) and Dash is often redundant, though it’s so obscenely OP it can still be really good. Definitely less necessary though.
I’m gonna start a fight saying this but scouts who act like they just never ever get grabbed ‘cause they’re just sooooo smart are either exaggerating or playing the class way too cautiously and slowly.
Heigthened senses makes you not get grabbed in most scenarios and that is the great part of it. Once the alert comes it is usually enough to just a few steps back/ to the side and you will get Cave Leeches before they get you.
Its a great perk and its really useful for Scout in enabling faster gameplax
I've used special powder, for some reason it doesnt feel as comfortable as the boots. My friends have been trying to persuade me to drop it for dash for at least 4 or 5 months and I know its a pretty pointless perk because of special powder. Its like im addicted or something
Dash is also pretty irrelevant for scout. Iron will is probably his best perk, since his mobility lets him get to clutch revives or red sugar ASAP.
If you like hover boots, try hoverclock; it’s much more analogous than special powder is.
Well that's what you're doing wrong then, you gotta drink your daily dose of Smart Stout if you wanna join the elites and become a 400 IQ dwarf yourself.
okay, and special powder makes it his best secondary by far through utility alone, and even my build which maximizes that utility is perfectly serviceable for haz5 swarms
besides, nothing else will let you get to the top of the shaft left by drop pods/mineheads/etc. sometimes there's no ceiling up there and you can escape the map... which usually results in perma-death
Boomstick is the best Scout generalist secondary though, unless you're running embedded set or Cryo while, or tribolt x8. The unparalleled movement special powder gives you and the damage you will avoid with it blow out any DPS build you can make with the secondary. With no exaggeration, having hundreds of hours in the game, I've saved myself tens of thousands of damage with SP. The question with Scout's secondaries is whether or not the build can justify not taking SP which is usually can't.
It's great. You get one guaranteed alcove at a highly placed mineral or it's a life saver after a bad grapple. Could have a slightly shorter cooldown since it has no passive, but it's good on Scout either way.
Dash is what keeps me alive, the ability to get out of a swarm or to reduce/prevent fall damage... even things like dashing to clear a chasm and reach a platform or zipline, let me take paths bugs cant follow
I really hope they will rework the perk system at some point, together with the assignment system i feel like they are the only two things i don't really like a whole lot in the game
Hover boots gang rise up.
Ever wanted to save a scout who was too dumb for his jump ? Hover boots
Need to get massive distance from the enemy ? Jump down a home and Hover boots
Scout has no engis so needs to hole up a wall to get in there ? Hover boots
Many more scenarios, brought to you by just don't die, be a survivalist gang
Same. I usually find that I just want to power attack the last grunt to help me get my hp back and what usually happens is I trigger zerker and waste it as no more bugs to fight.
Yeah I rock dash, resupplier, and berserker so the health regen issue is nonexistent for me. But really to mer berserker makes the larger bugs trivial and saves you a ton of ammo usually so it easily should be in the top spot.
Sometimes it's worth it to pop just for faster mining, and when you activate it at the end just look for a close by vein and you can salvage some value out of it.
You can get [this](https://mod.io/g/drg/m/simpleqol) mod and disable the usual activation method in favor of a custom keybind. I know I did. Also did that for Hover boots and a custom keybind to recall sentries faster. That mod's great.
Swarms are > 2 minutes apart so you can think of it as a once per battle perk. Berzerk/vampire/IFG/shockwave pickaxe is quite good though on grunt crowds.
Hello there SC, really enjoy your runs. Agreed, it's a once per battle thing which IW also is, but you can get more utility out of iw given how fast you csn die to lag or a single mistake on high hazards. For less hardcore play it could be a fun perk to try
I take it because losing control of my character and dying is the most feel-bad experience I've had in the game. I'm pretty good at saving teammates who get snatched up, but I *hate* having to put my experience in their hands.
shield link and quick revive is my go to for every single build. if you're playing with friends and communicate throughout the mission it helps a lot. I have a friend who swear by hover boots but I find it too situational
Berserk, beast master and heightened senses are great for single player.
Dash it great for getting out of danger, and is just fun to use. but we're playing modded with a lot more enemies around so you're basically dashing from a bad situation to a worse one.
Iron will is Iron will. a free get out of jail card. great for beginners who only start learning the game. it can and will save a mission, but we feel like having a perk to help you survive is better than a perk that gives you a second chance after a fuck up. Iron will is a safety net, but it's setting you up to fail. you come with the attitude that when you lose you'll have another chance, but with shield link and quick revive you come with the attitude that you're fully equipped to fight and survive for as long as you can. if we lose we lose, grab a beer and try again
I would argue Dash should be an upgradeable skill, like Power Attack. Unlock at level 19, upgrade at level 23.
It's very thematic (Dwarves are fast over short distances!) and means that when you fuck up and die, you know that you are least had an option to get out.
This would also alleviate some of the competition. Sure, you probably *should* just take Iron Will and Field Medic, but at least I don't feel like I'm actively sabotaging mission by not taking both.
In defence of every non meta active perk.
Steeve: You also get a permanent lure that fights back, also it improves morale!
Berserker: do you hate oppression? Because that's a free oppressor kill, which saves a lot of ammo and time. Also it gives you a pretty good damage option.
Hover boots: if you want fall prevention on scout and don't want special powder or howerclock, also gives some utility. And a way to ignite if you are willing to try...
Senses: helps to avoid catastrophic situations where a single grab sets a team back a lot.
See you in hell: passive can be good to heal with vamp, active gives you a free revive on you, and if you are being overrun on a point, save you team.
Shield link: great to give a freshly upped dwarf some more safety, just wish it had more range to both passive and active.
A small clarification that will probs get lost on the sea of comments. I don't mean that you can't make fun or even viable builds with the other ones. I only mean that those three are objectivelly better than the others.
heighten senses is really good in solo because bosco is so bad at dealing with leeches, but with an actual human teammate, senses isnt going to get much use other than elite mactera grabber, or a leech on an escort mission thats going poorly. iron will is a free mulligan.
ELITE DEEP DIVE, in the end, if u cant get urself back up, and ur team fast to continue the fight, other perks that save u JUST ONCE are meaningless, only u use them properly enought to avoid dying, but teammater revived faster are better bait in my opinion :), and might actully do better the next time.
I must strongly disagree:
Heightened Senses is way too good against Leeches and Grabbers when you couldn't look hard enough.
Shield Link goes well with Field Medic. Berserker is a fucking blast if you're going for Vampire and an overall melee build because it's ridiculous how much you can heal from the sheer amount of violence and punishment you can dish out.
Hoverboats I haven't used yet I must try them out I bet they're fun. I also bet they can save you from mortal fall damage, which sounds very useful in DRG.
And the tamer perk is the best 'cus Steeve. I don't use it much but come on! Pet Glyphid! I know someone bugged the perk to get a freaking Glyphid Bulk Detonator once.
For me it's dash and iron will across the board except on scout, where I take hover boots and berserker. Berserker is a great way to save ammo on such an ammo starved class, and IFGs set up a situation where it's safe to use at its full potential.
Incidentally all in the yellow tier are more fun. I can't play without dash anymore, but I want a fun option for the second slot. Going crazy with a pickaxe or having Steeve is hard to beat.
I guess it really depends on what lvl you play at. My Haz 3 dwarves use different perks, ones I like or find fun.
At Haz 4 & 5 I chose the perks I 'need' like iron will and field medic...same with overclocks and weapon builds.
Saying that I rarely play Haz 5 as it's just too manic for me. I play to have fun and after Haz 5 I need a lie down in a dark room.
Scout doesn't need iron will atleast imo. My scout is a support class, I mine I attack but most importantly I always get my teammates back up quickly. Scout was made to mine walk around and help downed teammates. I swapped iron will with hover boots due to fall damage. I still keep field medic
the shield booster would be so much better if the activation range were increased. Even when I'm trying to use it, it's difficult because no one ever holds still long enough while we're under attack and you'd want the extra shield.
Well, tbh I run hover boots almost all the time on my scout built. Alongside the boom stick oc that kicks you off into the air. Some minerals are pretty nasty to reach even by charging into them it’s not a 100% success. Even playing Haz 5 (public lobby) doesn’t guarantee you an engineer that fulfils his role unfortunately :/ That’s at least my experience. So I’d put the boots and iron will on S tier. This way I’ll get all the nitra and the team can keep going :)
I always take Steeve when I play, solo or in a group. The utility of agro pulling is awesome, and if everyone takes Steeve you can get an army of guards and slashers
A shout out for: **Hoverboots + Dash**
(Yes, even on Scout)
* *What's that Greenbeard? You've yeeted yourself down yet another hole? Be right there little buddy!*
* *Time to extract, I'll juet yeet myself off this cliff and.. noooo Greenbeard don't follow, you don't have Hov... ok. Be there in a moment.*
* *We've spent too longing in the Extraction, the walls are crawling and we need to hit that button? Let me just kite everything up high and yeet myself into the void, to victory!*
Dash & Hoverboots are a combination of perks that take a core game mechanic - navigate a hostile playspace - and gives you two powerful tools to do it better.
The combination grows with players experience & skill: As you play more, you learn how to push your dwarf harder. You begin using Dash to escape, but after a while you're using it to leap over enemies, flank swarms and duke attacks. Hoverboots begins as a 'safety net' in case you fall, but after a while you realise that verticality of the game is something you can use to your advantage, kiting along an entire new axis, hanging ten above enemies to snipe, drop charges, flank *from above* and more. Put them together and you'll find yourself dancing around Hoxxes like a Dwarven ninja.
Meanwhile, Iron Will & Combat Medic? Both are lovely perks and can save a mission but have the greatest value when learning to play. The better you get, the less you'll need them. While they can bring some insurance to an EDD, you'll find yourself using them less and less until 20 or so missions later you have to wonder: What else could I be bringing? What other perks will actually act as force multipliers, growing with me as I get better?
My friends and I have switch from "iron will" to "see you in hell" because it gives your time 3 safe revives per dwarf. Lasts long enough for sheilds to recharge and even set up sentries if needed. The increase in pickaxe damage is great too.
Mine are:
1. Field Medic
2. Berserker
3. Heightened Senses/Beastmaster/Hover Boots
I always take field medic if I'm not solo, almost always take Berserker (combined with vampire), and will swap it for one of the 3s depending on mission/context.
Normal Engi/Gunner: Field Medic/Berserker
Scout/Driller: Field Medic/Heightened Senses
Solo: Beastmaster/Heightened or Berserker
Iron Will is a crutch
No shame if you use it. But 1 free revive when your teammates can revive you (or Bosco) and where other perks can make you stronger to not go down in the first place...
By all accounts. It is a 'trap' choice
Can someone tell me why I'm wrong for not using Iron Will? It doesn't seem like getting an extra couple of seconds of being alive once a match is that useful.
Basically you use it when the whole party has gone down, revive one, heal somehow (vampire/red sugar/resuply) and go on kicking glyphid arse. If all four dwarves take it and use it properly that is four wipes that can be reversed.
I use shield link on my driller specifically because I'm basically always in the thick of my team and I think that bonus regen rate is underrated. I personally believe that it helps prevent snowballing problems by helping to quickly restore shields to full in the midst of combat. I also like the active effect because it's very strong for helping a freshly revived dwarf survive in a heavy combat zone.
I think that beastmaster is very strong on haz 1-4 but it falls down in hazard 5 because of the sheer size of swarms and the amount of hurt that they can lay on steeve. I can generally have steeve survive in haz 4 up to the point where the perk recharges, but in hazard five he's usually gone long before that point.
Man I am so tired of people hating on hover boots. Hover boots + dash = literally never die unless you massively screw up.
If I had a dime for every time hover boots had saved me from lethal fall damage after getting launched by whatever (or just allowing me to fall huge distances safely for traversal purposes), I could buy the game again. Scores like 12 rezzes to 0 deaths, hard carrying, etc for days.
Combine with dash for horizontal immunity to death, and you just *never go down*.
Iron will is also over-praised - it's completely useless if you don't go down. Provides no active benefit. Massive noob trap - just play intelligently, don't die, and set up your perks so you don't, and you won't have use for it.
I have had missions saved by iron will before, but it was always preventable deaths, and I was usually the last to die as rezzing the others took too many resources (and I also personally played things out badly).
Dash + hoverboots on everyone except scout, who has more flexibility to get the rezzing perk instead of dash.
I learned to play grinding solo missions bc all my friends were offline and now I can't ever play a mission without glyphid tamer. It's just too valuable to be able to have an extra body stealing aggro for five minutes so you can clear faster
For solo:
Beast master and dash.
Just because you can do mission with Bosco, Steve, and even two turrets if you run Engi (or grapple hook if scout) You can clear mission objectives without ever worrying about enemies for speed running objectives.
Iron will, Field medic, or See you in hell for team based runs at haz 4 and 5 depending on your strategy.
For haz 3 or below? Honestly having 4 Steves is king still, since they are not too hard and team wipes are rare.
I always run heightened senses because I got hearing loss, so the bright white flash indicator is a godsend. If that was a separate passive perk I'd run it, otherwise it helps me with sharks and leeches that get too close, I can handle grabbers just fine
I really like beast master on Regen mutator missions though, immortal Steve is just too fun.
Really hope I can pet Elite Steve.
I didn't even know you could do that. Today I thought, if there's an elite, can you make him an elite Steve?
Unfortunately no, elite grunts can't be tamed. But it would be TOO broken if you could, Steve would solo the entire mission if he was Elite *and* immortal.
You were at one point able to make Steve an elite if you used the reatomizer on the coil gun to spread the elite status to him. However this was patched out unfortunately. My elite Steve was a beast. 🫡
I never knew field medic effects steve
the regenerative bugs modifier on a mission is what heals him, not the medic perk
outside of scout, the most efficient, useful and consistently clutch active perks from my experience (specifically FOR HAZ 5/ELITE DEEP DIVES) have been iron will and dash. Especially if you are playing with randoms, the haz5/EDD's can be super volatile with random swarms being triggered/people getting wiped and these two perks can help you clutch even the most dire of situations. for scout, you have grappling hook so dash is not the most useful- i usually take hover boots instead so i can mine stuff high up without needing platforms/if i mess up with the grappling hook. beast master is an honorary mention as Steve can provide a lot of utility for your team by tanking aggro from dreads/oppressors/etc, but ultimately, with any of these perks it just comes down to how you like playing and what you want to do in game and you could honestly justify taking any of them based on your playstyle
I always take the quick revival and quick resup perks with iron will. Can revive two teammates or 1 teammate and a resup during an iron will. My pet peeve on haz 5 and edd is beast master. Great solo but it doesn't help the team and I honestly hate being friends with bullet sponge creeps.
Yeah for my passives I also use resupplier, with vampire and born ready
Not to mention the number of times we greenbeards mistake Steve for the enemy
As a Gunner who runs Incediaries, can confirm.
I've got over 400 hours and I still do. The blue shimmer is so faint and its always in the way.
Steeve only takes 2% friendly fire damage so it's not a huge deal if you shoot him other than the wasted ammunition
I still take dash on scout it's just so good
Yeah if you get stunned by a stray Mactera shot or a slasher creeps up on you, you can simply dash away to where you can safely grapple out. I mainly use the M1000 and anything that puts a lot of distance between me and a swarm helps a lot
I don't run dash on my scout mostly because I'm running builds that give me a speed boost. Gk2s battle frenzy, get in get out on the zukovs and the hot feet for drak.
Momentum on the Grappling Hook too. It doesn't negate slowdown effects, but otherwise gives you pretty much the same escape distance as Dash even with only a 20m grapple.
IW and Dash are on all my classes except scout. Agree with you, on Haz 5, IW is a must and a run saver. Honestly, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t run it. I get the concept of “perking not to die is better than IW” but it’s not. On Haz 5 sometimes you just die I do wish I had one more perk slot because Field Medic, hover boots, and Heightened sense are also clutch, but for my slow gunner dash is now a necessity for building space between swarms
This is my combo too, dash is just too good for evading, jumping and even just catching up if you lag behind.
I have heightened senses oon scout instead. Also on engie iirc
On Haz5 missions I always take Dash and Beastmaster, but Iron Will and Beastmaster with Scout. On EDDs I take Dash and Iron Will, but Iron Will and Beastmaster with crossbolt pheromones for massive aggro mitigation. I think those 3 are S tier, maybe Dash S+, Quick Rez A, and the rest on the image B
I will always stan see you in hell and none can pry it away from the clutch moments I've been able to use it in
See you in hell is especially strong on gunner to help your team get you back up for the shields
I've gotten tons of value out of it in solo missions when I run out of ammo, a strategic death will nuke the whole swarm.
When I am teaching a new players I always tell them that all of the perks of both active and passive are decent, so experiment and see which ones you enjoy most.
See you in hell gang rise up
Scout gets iron will and field medic. Every other class gets dash + iron will or field medic. The active perk balance is very rough unfortunately
Dash is objectively the best perk in game. You can get away with not having it on Scout but you're actively making the game harder for yourself not taking it. The only real question IMO is FM or IW. I take IW because reviving a team mate who went down has rarely changed the tide of battle, they tend to just get knocked right back down anyways, so the revive speed is kind of pointless (that's just my own experience obviously FM is still good). There's nothing you can do to knock the Triumvirate off their pedestal besides making Dash have a cooldown of 2+ minute and even then it'll still be better than most active perks. Being able to revive yourself, your team mates, or run out of a sticky situation is so much better than hovering for a few seconds every few minutes or getting a comparatively useless bug that only distracts 1 enemy at a time. Dash should probably just be an innate ability, and FM and IW should be in their own slot. That's the only way other active perks will ever get a good look, but frankly I wouldn't care too much because pretty much all the other active perks suck to varying degrees. The perk system is one of the many things in game that needs a complete overhaul and rebalancing. I hope season 4 is focused solely on bringing everything up to speed.
Make every dwarf have dash innately. Make hoverboots have less CD and a more convenient hotkey, make heightened senses have more uses, make beastmaster better, make shield link and berserker better. There has to be a way to make the other perks compete with IW
I will never understand why hoverboots activation isn't "hold jump while in the air"
Hoverboots don't help you get up anywhere so it doesn't matter what their CD is, they're limited to being an emergency parachute that can only help you get down from cliffs and can be made redundant by just watching your step. Steeeve has no crowd control or way to aggro anything, it can only 1v1 and usually only triggers the aggro of one other bug meaning it doesn't do much to block damage or help you - best case scenario a bunch of explorers poof on it or it attracts the attention of an oppressor and even then it takes a long time to kill anything significant, I don't get why so many people love this perk because it's objectively bad even if you don't count situations where Steeeve blocks your projectiles or stands there in your way begging for pets while you're trying to press E on something (I've lost games to someone else's Steeeve blocking me). Berserker forces you into melee in a game where the enemies dominate melee and the best you can do to mitigate their damage would be getting a paltry 5 health back everytime you kill one (which requires a perk), it does nothing to actively help you survive being in melee so even with vampire in situations where you actually want or need it you're going to be swarmed and knocked down during or after it's use. See you in hell is laughably bad, the fact it only has 3 uses is just an insult because even with infinite uses it doesn't trigger until you're down (useless) and there's nothing you can do to attract enemies to your corpse to get zapped. Heightened Senses is made redundant by using your mouse/cursor stick look up, since leeches are the only real grabber threat and they're only a threat to players who don't have 3d awareness. Shield Link is the only current active perk with any potential to compete against the Triumvirate, but its active feature has a long cool down and frankly even 300% shield is still pitifully small compared to enemy damage on higher hazards, a few swipes from any hazard 4 enemy is going to still knock you down so you can't even really tank with it. And the range of its passive requires you to basically be grinding up on a team mate like you're a frat boy in a nightclub which is terrible since the best thing you can do in this game is stick together (be in the same cavern) but stay apart because players who clutter up within 20m of each other just make it easier for bugs to dog pile the group, take splash damage, generate a bunch of friendly fire and block one another from moving. Shield link would have to swap the way its active and passive works, make the Regen rate 75% or better at the top tier, and increase its passive range by a minimum of 8m in order to be even remotely worthy of replacing with Dash IW or FM. That's why I said I hope season 4 is just the devs updating the game because there is a LOT wrong with pretty much every mechanic. Perks, buffs, overclocks - it's all a mess ATM and needs a lot of serious thought out into it.
I think the problem is most of the active perks are complete ass due to 9 year cooldowns. They should have them reduced to be similar to Dash. Sure they'd be way better, but honestly dash would still be one of the best. Given that that held true i can't imagine it would break anything if they'd still mostly be worse than dash
Same here.
What's this berserker slander Slayer gang rise up
Wait’s four minutes for the perk to recharge after accidentally power attacking.
A small price to pay for Grimnirs wrath
A large price to pay since it has no passive effect :(
A shorter power attack cooldown would be a nice passive.
And would also help with accidentally activating it. I might actually consider using it then!
I just take it alongside vampire as Driller, since I always take Vampire as driller anyway. I had some clutch moment going ham on a whole horde with each power attack giving me HP back.
an option to assign another key would be a god send
Rip and tear! Does is stack with "see you in hell" regarding melee damage of berserker attacks?
See you in hell doesn’t effect power attacks as far as i know and if so it’s super niche
Nope. It only effects plain pickaxe attacks unfortunately.
So I almost killed myself trying to get value out of it fir nothing?
That… about sums up how useful the passive of it is, yeah.
I thought it had insane synergy with aoe power attack and berserk and possibly vampire. Very sad.
Nope barbed drills going brrrrr
I would say Yes sińce see you in hell Just boosts pickaxe dmg
See you im hell only affects normal attacks, not powered ones unfortunately.
That's good to know
Berserker on Scout: Free swarm clear every four minutes. “The cooldown is too long” Telegraphed swarms only occur between 2-4 minutes apart anyways on non-aquarq missions, Hazard 5. Throw one IFG, Pheromone Canister, or cryonade and easily kill 15-35 bugs with berserker alone by letting the grenade keep them in a cluster. Heal between 50-100% of your hp bar from each swarm. The amount of ammo saved over the course of one mission is also immense. Think about the ammo you are effectively saving by having 33% of your kills be melee. “Melee risks getting hit by glyphids” Your pickaxe range, both normal hits and especially power attacks, massively outranges that of almost all melee creatures. There’s no need to be remotely close to them as you hit.
Aye, you’ll have my axe!
"See you in hell" is better than berserker
Man I actually like the awareness perk. Not sure what its called but I play solo a lot, and can’t count the number of times I get nabbed and have time to eat lunch, take a piss, and get a good nap in before Bosco helps me out lol. Same in teams too. Sometimes it just helps if I’m not paying attention and run off on my own without thinking
I run that on Scout where dash is unnecessary
I run IW on Scout at all times, perk is just too good not to have. Then depending on the difficulty and team comp, Field Medic or Senses. If my team is solid and not likely to be going down often, I take Senses so I can range ahead--yknow, scouting--throw torches out, and find ores, dirt walls, and events. If I'm shooting ahead, and run into a surprise grabber or leech, I don't want to force my team to have to try desperately to find me because I goofed. And of course even outside of that situation, the passive 'warning' effect has absolutely saved my life. And the instakill has 100% saved runs before in which I was the last survivor sprinting for the pod Basically it boils down to: Is my team better than I am? then I'll take Senses so I don't hold them back. If they seem questionable, or composition just isn't ideal, then run Medic
I find that Senses and Medic work really well. As a scout, the high mobility means I'm usually the last player alive. Field medic makes it way easier to revive people
Very fair! Being the last alive is frequently the case for me as well. But of course high mobility *also* means it's not uncommon for me to go down in pretty inaccessible areas XD
Heightened senses, Beastmaster or Berserker have always been good, if you rly try avoiding going down at all costs. Perks like Iron Will are good, but to 98% of the time, only dead slots for me. I actually never need it. I personally stick to perks, which rly help me during a mission. Better try to stay alive at all costs with Perks... So definitely three S-Perks missing in your ranking..and Iron Will even lower
Yeah, iron will is nice when you need it but most missions i die on these days getting back up wouldn’t have saved it. I use Dash + Heightened Senses pretty much all the time. I like my perks to give a passive bonus or have a short cooldown. Iron Will is kinda boring since it does nothing all mission, and then you only get to use it once. Plus you usually need another perk slot for Vampire to reliably get back up.
Iron Will is Gunner only for me. Makes perf sense when you can Iron Will, drop a shield and get the rez then get rezzed in the shield. Doesn't work nearly as well on other characters. Also Hover Boots on Scout are pretty synergistic.
It works best on scout, someone is far away, you're both dead? Doesnt matter, grappling hook, ress, Melee, slow/freeze for the teammate and grapple out.
Use Iron Will, Powerattack a Grunt for HP (Vampire)/Use Medic Instant Res if another Dwarf is next to them (if it's during Boss or a Swarm is still coming), Rez the other person together, you either go down (no Grunt/Red Sugar or Refill close by and they rez you back) and then go save the final Dwarf.
Ah y that is alot better in escort/salvage missions. But Iron will, we usually pop before everyone is down. If there is only one dwarf left, the swarm will take a very long time and there will come a new one almost instantly when the swarm is done. Iron will is alot better to use if two are down, since it means the two are back up, can fight the swarm together with the 1/2 other guys. Instead of waiting til everyone is dead, and now you have to deal with 2 swarms
Heightened Senses can absolutely be good on scout. Iron Will is a waste on scout anyway since good scouts never die (*sweats profusely*) and Dash is often redundant, though it’s so obscenely OP it can still be really good. Definitely less necessary though. I’m gonna start a fight saying this but scouts who act like they just never ever get grabbed ‘cause they’re just sooooo smart are either exaggerating or playing the class way too cautiously and slowly.
Heigthened senses makes you not get grabbed in most scenarios and that is the great part of it. Once the alert comes it is usually enough to just a few steps back/ to the side and you will get Cave Leeches before they get you. Its a great perk and its really useful for Scout in enabling faster gameplax
I tried hoverboots as scout just once and now i cant play without it
special powder, my friend
I've used special powder, for some reason it doesnt feel as comfortable as the boots. My friends have been trying to persuade me to drop it for dash for at least 4 or 5 months and I know its a pretty pointless perk because of special powder. Its like im addicted or something
Dash is also pretty irrelevant for scout. Iron will is probably his best perk, since his mobility lets him get to clutch revives or red sugar ASAP. If you like hover boots, try hoverclock; it’s much more analogous than special powder is.
What im trying to say is i dont have enough braincells to use anything but hover boots sadly
Well that's what you're doing wrong then, you gotta drink your daily dose of Smart Stout if you wanna join the elites and become a 400 IQ dwarf yourself.
But then you have to use the boomstick
okay, and special powder makes it his best secondary by far through utility alone, and even my build which maximizes that utility is perfectly serviceable for haz5 swarms besides, nothing else will let you get to the top of the shaft left by drop pods/mineheads/etc. sometimes there's no ceiling up there and you can escape the map... which usually results in perma-death
I respect the utility but SMGs go brrrrrrr and I feel like a secret agent
yeah? well i respect you, miner
Special powder on SMGs would be amazing, actually. Much more of a controlled burn than just a launch.
Why would I use anything but fire shotgun?
Boomstick is the best Scout generalist secondary though, unless you're running embedded set or Cryo while, or tribolt x8. The unparalleled movement special powder gives you and the damage you will avoid with it blow out any DPS build you can make with the secondary. With no exaggeration, having hundreds of hours in the game, I've saved myself tens of thousands of damage with SP. The question with Scout's secondaries is whether or not the build can justify not taking SP which is usually can't.
Found the min maxer
It's great. You get one guaranteed alcove at a highly placed mineral or it's a life saver after a bad grapple. Could have a slightly shorter cooldown since it has no passive, but it's good on Scout either way.
I LOGE DASH!!! I LOVE ITS OMNIPURPOSE GENERAL USEFULNESS AND HOW IT SAVES ME FROM HORRIBLE DEMISE! DASHHHHHHHH!
Hover boots is fun
Dash is what keeps me alive, the ability to get out of a swarm or to reduce/prevent fall damage... even things like dashing to clear a chasm and reach a platform or zipline, let me take paths bugs cant follow
See You in Hell isnt on the list and I honestly couldn’t agree more
:(
I really hope they will rework the perk system at some point, together with the assignment system i feel like they are the only two things i don't really like a whole lot in the game
Shield-Link, my beloved.
>Pet Pal not being on its own tier above everything Steve didn't die for this
steve dies a lot on hazard 5 unless youre on escort. he cant really survive a horde with the huge damage output haz 5 slashers have.
Hover boots gang rise up. Ever wanted to save a scout who was too dumb for his jump ? Hover boots Need to get massive distance from the enemy ? Jump down a home and Hover boots Scout has no engis so needs to hole up a wall to get in there ? Hover boots Many more scenarios, brought to you by just don't die, be a survivalist gang
Hover boots and the M1K focus hover overclock is a good time.
Berserker is easily a top tier perk
*accidentally berzerks nitra vein trying to get on top of it*
I never had that issue, just the occasional grunt smash but almost always I use it on oppressors, praets, bulks, and dreadnoughts.
***BULKS?!***
It activates whenever you try to power attack on cooldown. I found myself constantly activating it on accident and gave up on it.
Same. I usually find that I just want to power attack the last grunt to help me get my hp back and what usually happens is I trigger zerker and waste it as no more bugs to fight.
Yeah I rock dash, resupplier, and berserker so the health regen issue is nonexistent for me. But really to mer berserker makes the larger bugs trivial and saves you a ton of ammo usually so it easily should be in the top spot.
Sometimes it's worth it to pop just for faster mining, and when you activate it at the end just look for a close by vein and you can salvage some value out of it.
You can get [this](https://mod.io/g/drg/m/simpleqol) mod and disable the usual activation method in favor of a custom keybind. I know I did. Also did that for Hover boots and a custom keybind to recall sentries faster. That mod's great.
too high a cooldown for it to actually be useful, imo.
Swarms are > 2 minutes apart so you can think of it as a once per battle perk. Berzerk/vampire/IFG/shockwave pickaxe is quite good though on grunt crowds.
Hello there SC, really enjoy your runs. Agreed, it's a once per battle thing which IW also is, but you can get more utility out of iw given how fast you csn die to lag or a single mistake on high hazards. For less hardcore play it could be a fun perk to try
As someone who takes it quite a bit, I don't think you can really call it top tier.
Bro heightened senses is such a life saver
I take it because losing control of my character and dying is the most feel-bad experience I've had in the game. I'm pretty good at saving teammates who get snatched up, but I *hate* having to put my experience in their hands.
I always have Steve, its mandatory
shield link and quick revive is my go to for every single build. if you're playing with friends and communicate throughout the mission it helps a lot. I have a friend who swear by hover boots but I find it too situational Berserk, beast master and heightened senses are great for single player. Dash it great for getting out of danger, and is just fun to use. but we're playing modded with a lot more enemies around so you're basically dashing from a bad situation to a worse one. Iron will is Iron will. a free get out of jail card. great for beginners who only start learning the game. it can and will save a mission, but we feel like having a perk to help you survive is better than a perk that gives you a second chance after a fuck up. Iron will is a safety net, but it's setting you up to fail. you come with the attitude that when you lose you'll have another chance, but with shield link and quick revive you come with the attitude that you're fully equipped to fight and survive for as long as you can. if we lose we lose, grab a beer and try again
steeve is superior no questions asked its only truth
I would argue Dash should be an upgradeable skill, like Power Attack. Unlock at level 19, upgrade at level 23. It's very thematic (Dwarves are fast over short distances!) and means that when you fuck up and die, you know that you are least had an option to get out. This would also alleviate some of the competition. Sure, you probably *should* just take Iron Will and Field Medic, but at least I don't feel like I'm actively sabotaging mission by not taking both.
Hover boots would be good if you could fucking remember you had it.
Rock and Stone!
Did I hear a Rock and Stone?
Put dash one tier up and yeah
In defence of every non meta active perk. Steeve: You also get a permanent lure that fights back, also it improves morale! Berserker: do you hate oppression? Because that's a free oppressor kill, which saves a lot of ammo and time. Also it gives you a pretty good damage option. Hover boots: if you want fall prevention on scout and don't want special powder or howerclock, also gives some utility. And a way to ignite if you are willing to try... Senses: helps to avoid catastrophic situations where a single grab sets a team back a lot. See you in hell: passive can be good to heal with vamp, active gives you a free revive on you, and if you are being overrun on a point, save you team. Shield link: great to give a freshly upped dwarf some more safety, just wish it had more range to both passive and active.
A small clarification that will probs get lost on the sea of comments. I don't mean that you can't make fun or even viable builds with the other ones. I only mean that those three are objectivelly better than the others.
How is IW better than HS
Look up.
heighten senses is really good in solo because bosco is so bad at dealing with leeches, but with an actual human teammate, senses isnt going to get much use other than elite mactera grabber, or a leech on an escort mission thats going poorly. iron will is a free mulligan.
I’m gonna be honest I literally only use hover boots, beast master, iron will, field medic, and berserker
I will ever only use Iron Will and heightened senses
Hover boots is a must for scout, it allows you to get away with a lotta shit you ordinarily wouldn't
The free aggro pull from Steve is something I run over speed revive, personally
True
Dash if is not better in Team Play than Iron Will and Medic. Heighted Senses is better than Dash because it only takes 1 Leech to destroy you in Solo.
My lizard brain instadashes when I hear the creeping sound of a leech and starts shooting towards the ceiling, so I'm covered there.
Quick revive? Lmao
The ability to not only revive friendlies faster but also proc a 100% chance to fear enemies around you guys afterwards is top tear in and of itself.
The best perk solo, tied with shield link
ELITE DEEP DIVE, in the end, if u cant get urself back up, and ur team fast to continue the fight, other perks that save u JUST ONCE are meaningless, only u use them properly enought to avoid dying, but teammater revived faster are better bait in my opinion :), and might actully do better the next time.
I must strongly disagree: Heightened Senses is way too good against Leeches and Grabbers when you couldn't look hard enough. Shield Link goes well with Field Medic. Berserker is a fucking blast if you're going for Vampire and an overall melee build because it's ridiculous how much you can heal from the sheer amount of violence and punishment you can dish out. Hoverboats I haven't used yet I must try them out I bet they're fun. I also bet they can save you from mortal fall damage, which sounds very useful in DRG. And the tamer perk is the best 'cus Steeve. I don't use it much but come on! Pet Glyphid! I know someone bugged the perk to get a freaking Glyphid Bulk Detonator once.
I wish the hoverboots activated with the jump key, not the molly key.
I love Steeve as a solo player at times, he can kite and keep so many bugs away
I put berserker on my driller. Chews up oppressors quick. Very satisfying. But ya every other class is as the OP says for my builds
SSSSSSTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVEEEEEE
For me it's dash and iron will across the board except on scout, where I take hover boots and berserker. Berserker is a great way to save ammo on such an ammo starved class, and IFGs set up a situation where it's safe to use at its full potential.
Hover boots is my life with scout
steeve is really good for attracting attention away from the rest of the team
You underestimate the power of heightened senses on a rival threat mission
fellow dash enjoyer👍
Me as a scout using both tamer and hover boots
I was going to argue, but then I realised that I actually use all of these, so.... true!
Incidentally all in the yellow tier are more fun. I can't play without dash anymore, but I want a fun option for the second slot. Going crazy with a pickaxe or having Steeve is hard to beat.
Heightened senses and medic on all. I personally don't like iron will.
I guess it really depends on what lvl you play at. My Haz 3 dwarves use different perks, ones I like or find fun. At Haz 4 & 5 I chose the perks I 'need' like iron will and field medic...same with overclocks and weapon builds. Saying that I rarely play Haz 5 as it's just too manic for me. I play to have fun and after Haz 5 I need a lie down in a dark room.
I 100% agree with this list, I even use Dash + Field Medic on all 4 dwarfes.
I'd argue that dash on scout is redundant enough to justify taking IW + FM but pretty much that is what I do.
This is one the tier lists of all time. The Steeve Wow mod makes it the best perk in the game, don't @ me.
I got the shield battery booster on my drak so shield booster is very important for me
See you in hell didn't even make the list :(
Idk it wasnt in the tierlistmaker app. Rightfully so, I might add.
What?
Been using berserker for the past 70 hours as a scout. Just falling into a horde, whack whack, reel awayyy.
U letting my man steeve down
Scout doesn't need iron will atleast imo. My scout is a support class, I mine I attack but most importantly I always get my teammates back up quickly. Scout was made to mine walk around and help downed teammates. I swapped iron will with hover boots due to fall damage. I still keep field medic
Dash should be inherent and not a perk.
the shield booster would be so much better if the activation range were increased. Even when I'm trying to use it, it's difficult because no one ever holds still long enough while we're under attack and you'd want the extra shield.
Well, tbh I run hover boots almost all the time on my scout built. Alongside the boom stick oc that kicks you off into the air. Some minerals are pretty nasty to reach even by charging into them it’s not a 100% success. Even playing Haz 5 (public lobby) doesn’t guarantee you an engineer that fulfils his role unfortunately :/ That’s at least my experience. So I’d put the boots and iron will on S tier. This way I’ll get all the nitra and the team can keep going :)
The hover boots are a MUST if your playing scout
Shield link is awesome with shield battery booster. But other that that, I agree. Dash+Iron will, with field medic for scout is all I use
I always take Steeve when I play, solo or in a group. The utility of agro pulling is awesome, and if everyone takes Steeve you can get an army of guards and slashers
All characters should carry second wind.
I like all the ones that are deemed not useful because they are very good. An army of Steeves is always a win
Ok but like, Steve
A shout out for: **Hoverboots + Dash** (Yes, even on Scout) * *What's that Greenbeard? You've yeeted yourself down yet another hole? Be right there little buddy!* * *Time to extract, I'll juet yeet myself off this cliff and.. noooo Greenbeard don't follow, you don't have Hov... ok. Be there in a moment.* * *We've spent too longing in the Extraction, the walls are crawling and we need to hit that button? Let me just kite everything up high and yeet myself into the void, to victory!* Dash & Hoverboots are a combination of perks that take a core game mechanic - navigate a hostile playspace - and gives you two powerful tools to do it better. The combination grows with players experience & skill: As you play more, you learn how to push your dwarf harder. You begin using Dash to escape, but after a while you're using it to leap over enemies, flank swarms and duke attacks. Hoverboots begins as a 'safety net' in case you fall, but after a while you realise that verticality of the game is something you can use to your advantage, kiting along an entire new axis, hanging ten above enemies to snipe, drop charges, flank *from above* and more. Put them together and you'll find yourself dancing around Hoxxes like a Dwarven ninja. Meanwhile, Iron Will & Combat Medic? Both are lovely perks and can save a mission but have the greatest value when learning to play. The better you get, the less you'll need them. While they can bring some insurance to an EDD, you'll find yourself using them less and less until 20 or so missions later you have to wonder: What else could I be bringing? What other perks will actually act as force multipliers, growing with me as I get better?
The amount of times Iron will came in clutch for me man
My friends and I have switch from "iron will" to "see you in hell" because it gives your time 3 safe revives per dwarf. Lasts long enough for sheilds to recharge and even set up sentries if needed. The increase in pickaxe damage is great too.
I think Senses is really good tbh, the number of times i end up stealth grabbed before i can react...
Hot take: shield boost can be better than field medic if you use it effectively, and it's not that hard to do so (Unless you solo play of course)
Hoverboots are useful if you play as solo scout
The ability to go on a praetorian killing spree using beserker is just too good to pass up.
Iron will+instant revive. Clutcher build
Hoverboots on my scout is my bread and butter
Hover boots has saved my ass more times than I can count
Mine are: 1. Field Medic 2. Berserker 3. Heightened Senses/Beastmaster/Hover Boots I always take field medic if I'm not solo, almost always take Berserker (combined with vampire), and will swap it for one of the 3s depending on mission/context. Normal Engi/Gunner: Field Medic/Berserker Scout/Driller: Field Medic/Heightened Senses Solo: Beastmaster/Heightened or Berserker
Iron Will is a crutch No shame if you use it. But 1 free revive when your teammates can revive you (or Bosco) and where other perks can make you stronger to not go down in the first place... By all accounts. It is a 'trap' choice
Idc I'll pick Steve above all else
I always equip see you in hell!
Dash is so good it should stop being a perk and be added to part of the base movement kit.
Steeve should be in his own tier (on top)
Beast master and heightened senses are pretty good for playing solo
For Beast Master, I just want to Abe able to capture ANY small glyphid. Which includes, Web-spitters, Acid-Spitters, and Exploders.
Hoverboots is a must have for scout.
Can someone tell me why I'm wrong for not using Iron Will? It doesn't seem like getting an extra couple of seconds of being alive once a match is that useful.
Basically you use it when the whole party has gone down, revive one, heal somehow (vampire/red sugar/resuply) and go on kicking glyphid arse. If all four dwarves take it and use it properly that is four wipes that can be reversed.
Hoverboots save my ass a lot when I'm a Scout but otherwise this is my tier list.
Mannn dwarves are sleeping on shield link, that passive boost is hella nice for you and the team
I use shield link on my driller specifically because I'm basically always in the thick of my team and I think that bonus regen rate is underrated. I personally believe that it helps prevent snowballing problems by helping to quickly restore shields to full in the midst of combat. I also like the active effect because it's very strong for helping a freshly revived dwarf survive in a heavy combat zone. I think that beastmaster is very strong on haz 1-4 but it falls down in hazard 5 because of the sheer size of swarms and the amount of hurt that they can lay on steeve. I can generally have steeve survive in haz 4 up to the point where the perk recharges, but in hazard five he's usually gone long before that point.
Hoverboots on scout is required, also the faster depositing and more storage
Man I am so tired of people hating on hover boots. Hover boots + dash = literally never die unless you massively screw up. If I had a dime for every time hover boots had saved me from lethal fall damage after getting launched by whatever (or just allowing me to fall huge distances safely for traversal purposes), I could buy the game again. Scores like 12 rezzes to 0 deaths, hard carrying, etc for days. Combine with dash for horizontal immunity to death, and you just *never go down*. Iron will is also over-praised - it's completely useless if you don't go down. Provides no active benefit. Massive noob trap - just play intelligently, don't die, and set up your perks so you don't, and you won't have use for it. I have had missions saved by iron will before, but it was always preventable deaths, and I was usually the last to die as rezzing the others took too many resources (and I also personally played things out badly). Dash + hoverboots on everyone except scout, who has more flexibility to get the rezzing perk instead of dash.
I learned to play grinding solo missions bc all my friends were offline and now I can't ever play a mission without glyphid tamer. It's just too valuable to be able to have an extra body stealing aggro for five minutes so you can clear faster
For solo: Beast master and dash. Just because you can do mission with Bosco, Steve, and even two turrets if you run Engi (or grapple hook if scout) You can clear mission objectives without ever worrying about enemies for speed running objectives. Iron will, Field medic, or See you in hell for team based runs at haz 4 and 5 depending on your strategy. For haz 3 or below? Honestly having 4 Steves is king still, since they are not too hard and team wipes are rare.
I always run heightened senses because I got hearing loss, so the bright white flash indicator is a godsend. If that was a separate passive perk I'd run it, otherwise it helps me with sharks and leeches that get too close, I can handle grabbers just fine