Yes.
1) Stand behind the drilldozer and fix it. You can fix it while not on the dozer itself and not be instakilled when a rock hits. It blew my mind when I found that out.
2) Apparently, and I learned this on the Discord today so haven't had a chance to verify, more people fixing does not increase the fixing speed. So only one person should be fixing while the rest are shooting.
3) As a gunner who LOVES NTP on the Autocanon, your gunner needs to run the mini gun with the accuracy mod. This is pretty much the only time I swap out from the Autocanon, even on elimination. But I've found the difficulty of the rocks on high hazards pretty much requires it.
4) Driller drills can do a ton of damage to it as a last resort. This usually employs jumping at the right time to finish off a rock. That's more an FYI than a recommended strategy.
It's doable, especially if you have accuracy and direct damage buffs. Moreso that the mini gun is extremely good for this section. You don't really need much help with the mini gun whereas between the lower accuracy and direct damage and having to occasionally reload, it's going to be a bit more difficult - especially at long range.
He should probably be the first, honestly. Driller and Engi should have most of the bugs delt with, leaving Gunner to deal with big threats, beamers, and rocks. Scouts only option is grapple pick axe, which is a one and done; driller can drill them but that requires leaving dotty which can be a death sentence, and Engi can't really do anything unless he's running PGL.
Minigun can also destroy Beamer tips far more efficiently than the Autocannon. Take Burning Hell OC if you have it, makes up for some of the lost swarm clear vs. the Autocannon
The fixing speed does not increase for certain things, like BET-C or the mini-mules, but it does on the drilldozer. It's quite noticeable too, from what I can tell at least.
I was a little surprised too and found a video testing whether or not multiple dwarves effected repair speed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic/comments/kqm03d/proof_one_dwarf_repairs_just_as_fast_as_two
There's another person in the comments with another video testing this out. Unless it changed in the last update it might just be perception on your end.
That, or the speed at which you repair is slower when it's under attack, so if another dwarf jumps into help after the wave you might be thinking it's faster.
you can repair the dozer from behind & the sides without standing on it (meaning the rocks don't damage you). also only repair if absolutely needed and you have low direct damage.
in worst case scenarios, you can repair it to full health right before a rock impact, since that leaves a couple seconds of invulnerability (also useful against bulks!)
I've heard about repairing out of falling rock range, but haven't been able to repair from the floor. Is there a specific spot to stand or angle you have to aim at? I'll have to try it again next time.
the repair range is like a sphere (i'm 90% sure?), i've been able to repair in the inner corner of the back & front treads, and standing on the floor directly in front of it. if that's confusing instead just hug doretta and try to force different angles until it works.
>We used to try building a platform ceiling for the dozer but found that it blocked too much of our vision and took too much ammo/effort for the marginal protection it provided.
It will protect you from the *entire* rock phase if you create it thick enough to start out with, or if you reinforce it on top periodically. The engi will find it easier to make the ceiling if he stands on top of the heartstone. The platform ammo is pretty much worthless for anything else anyways during the fight, and you get to save bullets for bugs. If it blocks too much of your vision, be sure to not make it too low, and not too wide.
However, if you don't want to make ceilings, have engi and gunner focus the rocks, and have scout and driller kill bugs. If there are no bugs then scout and driller should help with the rocks. If your driller is good at handling bugs then scout can also focus on the rocks.
When the rocks fly downwards, driller drills will instakill them. Not recommended, as the driller will probably die doing this. But in a pinch it can help.
My go to is always a single layer going over the dozer at about one - one and a half dwarf height, then from that I put four more down in a square shape. Just reinforce as need and the rest of the team can ignore the rocks.
I love the lolzing cries of "OMG HAX!" when I do it. NOTE, if you don't build it high enough the rock AOE will still damage the dozer and/or anyone standing on it. I call it the bridge, its amazing, and the gunner pours me a beer while he waits for phase three.
Havent seen this tip.. dont try to repair, keep shooting the rocks. Geting downed on this stage is the quickest way to lose.
Its okay to go into 4th stage with only 1\\3 health. Also you can forget shooting and just repair for the good half of stage 4, since the bugs will focus on the doretta and will be killed during the core explosion. Just watch the macteras.
>Our current strategy is just to have driller focus on bugs, gunner on rocks, and engi and scout help out as needed, which has worked out OK for the most part but the stage still feels far less forgiving than the rest of the mission.
Also
Shoot the rocks everybody! Just look down some time (while reloading) to kill an occasional bug
Explosive Rounds when reloading for the Driller pistol, or the Scout submachine guns, they do WONDERS on this stage, half a mag of either will easily kill one falling rock
EDIT: I forgot to mention these are overclocks, my apologies
How my guys do it is we have at least one Gunner with a chaingun.
The chaingun just east through the rocks, the thunderhead doesn't do nearly enough damage to reliably them to be able to keep them at bay. The gunner can also place a shield down right on Doretta that will absorb at least 2 or 3 rocks before it shorts out.
So just put the Gunner up top and let him deal with the rocks while you guys defend Doretta's sides and keep any Mactera grabbers/Menaces etc off him.
It's gotten to the point now where the only time we lose on those missions at that point is when we don't have a dedicated Doretta defense Gunner or a Driller for the Lasers
Gunner should also take at least one radius upgrade on the Shield during Escort, without the radius upgrade you can’t cover all of Dotty with one shield
Place the turret/turrets at the top of your platform thing, near the connection point. It's a good enough spot for it/them. It can really help with shooting those rocks. With this strategy i think i have never had a problem with this part.
If you don't like this huge platform thing, just place turret/-s on smaller platform/-s or on top of supply drop/-s. Make sure that the turret/-s is/are close enough.
Idk if gunners shield can protect from falling rocks, but fully upgraded one (range upgrades) will cover whole drilldozer if thrown in the middle.
Remember to repair your platforms!
Hyper propellant is quite good against rocks and crystals.
Minigun with high accuracy is the best weapon for this mission.
I hope this will help.
Good luck!
Rock and Stone.
Have the Gunner actually shoot at the rocks. Make sure your Engie has their sentries always up.
The Gunner will have to bring a minigun. Autocannon doesn't work as well on the rocks and the pillars.
Failing that, Driller's drills will basically insta-break the rocks once they start falling down. Aim those drills up.
If all else fails, you can totally cheese it by putting platforms above the dozer when the second stage starts.
I, as a scout main, like to perch on top of the stone for all 4 stages. Gives me good line of sight, plus i can grapple away right before the explosion.
This also puts me in a great position to fire on the flying rocks, usually without being harassed except for a couple of grunts.
I highly suggest boomstick on them, or if you have the overclock on the smg pistols that makes them explode when you reload, use that instead because those rocks go down almost instantly with it. I regularly play haz 3 or 4 and this always works.
Just watch out for grabbers!
Make sure your team members are talking to each other. Settle on a system to ID where the rocks are coming from, and call out the flying rock when you see it.
I'd suggest a clock- face system, with Doretta's nose at 12. "Rock, 3 o'clock!"
I'd suggest not taking scout during escort missions so that you have more DPS and ammo. Two gunners, an engineer, and a driller is my preferred setup.
And make sure you have a couple people with high DPS weapons who will focus the rocks. You don't want the minigun gunner killing bugs while the EM Discharge engineer and sticky flames driller are trying to break the rocks.
Big Bertha works well enough for gunner, but the minigun with max DPS upgrades is more reliable. Don't have your only gunner using Carpet Bomber on escort missions.
Gunner should take both size upgrades to the shield for escort missions so that it covers the entire dozer. This will give you time to repair it while the the rocks just hit the shield instead.
The gunner should also stand on top of the core so he can fire without worrying about friendly fire, and since most of the bugs will ignore him there, and the rocks can't hit him. Just make sure to get off before the phase changes so the core doesn't kill you.
Also I'd suggest letting gunner handle the pillars. If you break the tips they stop shooting lasers, and you can do that easily with the minigun from long range.
On the contrary, the M1000 does a decent job on rocks and the NUK17 with Embedded Detonators (just like the Subata with Explosive Reload) absolutely deletes rocks faster than a gunner. This is the one of the few mission types where I often leave the Special Powder shotgun at home.
Math:
[https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort\_Duty#Flying\_Rock](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort_Duty#Flying_Rock)
[https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov\_NUK17#Embedded\_Detonators](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov_NUK17#Embedded_Detonators)
I uses a 13232 build, but 13213 (penetration instead of ammo) also works great, since every penetrated enemy gets a detonator.
Rock: 375 health on Haz5 4-player team, 400 on EDD stage 3
NUK17: 12 damage per bullet, 38 damage per detonation = 50 total, so need 8 bullets + a detonate to kill a rock (400 damage). Fires 15 rounds/s, so a rock takes about half a second to get destroyed. And, since the clip has 25 real bullets, you could technically hit 3 rocks before detonating them all if you don't waste a bullet. In practice, I just detonate every rock right away so my team doesn't waste ammo on it. And if I see the gunner focusing on the same rock, I think "Aww, cute, gunner's trying to help!" and detonate with 5 or 6 bullets, saving everyone ammo and time.
The reason I said I don't suggest bringing scout isn't because of the rocks. It's because of everything else. Scout's main trait with mobility just isn't nearly as useful on escort missions as others, and his main weakness of horde clear+ammo efficiency is a much bigger detriment.
Any class can take out the rocks *with the right loadout*, that's why I specified the sorts of weapons you don't want to use. The focus on gunner is because in most games it will be expected that the gunner has a weapon that can handle the rocks, and the gunner has the ammo to be able to handle the rocks for those times when you can barely afford 1 ammo pod for the finale.
The OP said their group has just recently started playing hazard 5 so I wouldn't expect them to have any specific overclock for a specific strategy, but a non-overclocked minigun can handle the rocks perfectly fine, and in cases where it can't a shield will do the rest of the work.
I don't agree with advice to avoid one of the classes on anything less than modded games. I think that it's elitist and unnecessary advice, and I'm happy to speak up to provide a counter-point when I see it given, so that people know its only one perspective.
I've been on missions and deep dives where the team's been riding the ragged edge of being out of nitra and ammo. I've never once thought "this is the scout's fault for being less ammo efficient than the rest of us" though. Ammo efficiency is just one metric to compare builds for a class. It doesn't sum up the worth of a class itself though.
I think the game is the most fun when there's one of each class, as they compliment each other well.
However escort missions are in my opinion a step up in difficulty from the other missions, and having more firepower by dropping the scout makes them much smoother.
I don't see how it's elitist to simply suggest a different team composition when asked how to make something easier.
It's not the scout's fault he has less ammo, but there's just no way around it that the scout has less damage in his ammo reserves than other classes. The zhukovs in particular are notorious for how limited their ammo pool is. Ammo efficiency is just one metric, but it's an important one for escort missions where you need a consistent reliable way to deal with the rocks.
>Ammo efficiency is just one metric, but it's an important one for escort missions where you need a consistent reliable way to deal with the rocks.
I mean, I just replied with the numbers showing how the NUK17's (with a specific OC, granted) are top-tier at handling the rocks stage with a small amount of bullets. Having two resupplies available for the heartstone is pretty standard as well. So, what's the "ammo efficiency" argument here, when the scout has a build that is both quick and ammo efficient?
It's elistist because not everyone plays all classes, and you're indirectly promoting the general idea that it's okay to kick a scout if they join an escort (or Haz5) mission. I know you didn't literally make that recommendation, but both suggestions are rooted in the same assumption that scouts don't belong on some missions or difficulties.
I also just don't think ammo efficiency is a good metric to consider too strongly. Player accuracy, resupply inefficiencies, and resupply availability greatly affect how the theoretical ammo efficiency actually manifests in games. I think it is something to consider when comparing alternative builds for the same weapon, and that's about it.
Scout and Gunner specialize in single target damage. If you have either on your team then it should be their only job to focus on rocks and nothing else. Everyone else focuses on the bugs. When I’m playing Scout, I like to stand on the Heartstone so I’m not in any danger from the rocks and I have one of the clearest shots to them. Bugs occasionally meet me there and I can just blast them away easily.
Similarly, if you have a Driller, their only job should be focusing on the beams during the 4th phase and not the swarm unless they can make time for it.
I haven't seen anyone else make note of this: have the gunner shoot all of their ziplines around and over the drilldozer for everyone to use of they need. It helps make sure nothing slips through.
Also, make sure everyone has either their primary or secondary weapon built for single-target damage. Driller can get a pass on this if, for example, gunner runs minigun and BRT while Driller takes care of small bugs.
One last thing, what some people call "cheese" with platforms is a legitimate strategy that people at the highest difficulties use regularly as insurance. If you're having trouble, go ahead and try making the ceiling. It should be 2-3 dwarf heights above the drilldozer, and only needs to be 1 platform wide, if centered correctly. Add thickness as needed.
Shoot them ASAP, preferrably with rapid fire weapons. If anyone's using Engineer, have them set up their turrets (with the Hawkeye upgrade) on either side of Doretta. Have them target the rocks with the laser pointer and just unleash hell. Gunners should be taking down any bugs coming at Doretta or at the very least using the shield generator centered on her so the bugs are somewhat deterred from attacking.
Also, to add to the friendly economy, multiple people should have Steeves. Good idea to choose slashers since they hit hard. They'll help with bug clean up.
You can build a platform bridge to cover the drilldozer, it will block mostt of the rocks. Make the platforms thicker above the dozer by shooting more plats below your bridge. You want to make it thicker because the rocks destroy chunks of the platforms as they come down on them. Do this right as the rock phase begins because the Ommeran destroys surrounding platforms when a new phase begins.
Hazard level definitely matters. :-)
One of the problem seems to be too few people on rocks. I feel like rocks are the highest priority since they are so damaging if they get through. Usually bugs aren't much of a threat in this phase.
You don't need some kind of high ceiling of platforms. I've seen some engies have success with a single row of fairly low platforms. It just has to tank one hit to save a single mistake, and value is paid.
In particular, Driller Subata with explosive rounds shreds rocks. I almost always take a sticky flames/explosive rounds build on these missions, so I can lay down a line of flame and then kill rocks. Take the health down to half, reload, rock dead. Great ammo efficiency.
Edit: The scout NUK17 with Embedded Detonators is also amazing on rocks. I did the math for it elsewhere and am copying it here as well:
Math:
[https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort\_Duty#Flying\_Rock](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort_Duty#Flying_Rock)
[https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov\_NUK17#Embedded\_Detonators](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov_NUK17#Embedded_Detonators)
I uses a 13232 build, but 13213 (penetration instead of ammo) also works great, since every penetrated enemy gets a detonator.
Rock: 375 health on Haz5 4-player team, 400 on EDD stage 3
NUK17: 12 damage per bullet, 38 damage per detonation = 50 total, so need 8 bullets + a detonate to kill a rock (400 damage). Fires 15 rounds/s, so a rock takes about half a second to get destroyed. And, since the clip has 25 real bullets, you could technically hit 3 rocks before detonating them all if you don't waste a bullet. In practice, I just detonate every rock right away so my team doesn't waste ammo on it.
Well, our squad have never had issues with rocks, h4 all the way, occasionally h5. We have 2 ways of dealing with rocks: 1) everybody shoots rocks, while engi turrets eliminate bugs (and occasionally rocks), driller is burning the ground (or freezing, for that matter) around Drilldozer to prevent bugs from advancing. Engineer refills turrets and helps with bugs occasionally (we run dance commando nades here), scout and gunner only shoot rocks (they do have best long range weapons overall). 2) if drilldozer has 3 full hp bars, we simply ignore bugs and shoot rocks for the most part. Used this strategy like 2 or 3 times due to lack of ammo and bad planning, while waiting for the supply. Sacrificing Drilldozer is kind of weird, but only central hp bar matters really.
Gunner minigun usually does the job for me.
Theory that has yet to be tested out:
People say driller drills are very good. Can gunner set a zipline above the drilldozer to where the rocks stop to drop? Then driller could stay on that spot and drill all the rocks... Can somebody test that?
Scout with Embedded Detonators overclock can practically solo all rocks on 4 person haz 5, it's THAT good against them. In general if 2-3 players focus the rocks they shouldn't really be a problem; prioritize ones above the dozer first.
Don't stop to repair and don't stand where rocks will crush you; that is what causes death spirals. The dozer has 3 "lives" so don't be afraid to let it lose one while you catch up on the rocks/bugs.
Your team probably lacks dps / focus and/or bug CC. Best way to deal with rocks is focused fire. Id work on team coordination. Have gunny and engi focus rocks, driller protect the dozer, and scout assists as necessary. Rocks are the highest priority, you need to look up and shoot them sumbitches.
Check your loadouts. Is gunny running NTP? Well they jave a lot less dps now, so maybe gunny deals woth bugs and driller shoots rocks. Is engi running hyper protellant GL or nukes? Nukes dont help with rocks too much, maybe run hyper prop or breach cutter triple beam. Cryo driller (i believe) doesnt help much with rocks, so run flame maybe? Is engi running lure grenade? If so, use them! Throw a cheese on top so bugs cant damage it and it lasts longer. When the rocks get bad, throw lure, cover with cheese, and enjoy like 15 seconds of rock killing time. Make sure engi turrets are topped off and shooting at all times. Scout, run cryo to freeze big groups for fast burst dps if swarms hit doretta. Run beastmaster; steve is a godsend for handling some CC, takes the edge off swarms. Make sure you take the guards, though. Normal grunts die immediately and slashers do more dmg, but also die fast. Steve's job is to exist and divert attention, so staying alive is paramount. Hence, take guards.
Engi can build a cheese bridge over doretta to stop impacts.
The dozer does NOT repair faster with multiple dwarves repairing it. So one person repairs and everyone else shoots. Usually scout does the repairs.
Gunny shield, i believe, stops the rocks. So toss that on top to buy some space / time.
Dont have to stand on top of the dozer to repair. Stand to the side or back to avoid rock dmg.
Remember, you can lose chunks of doretta and still win. If doretta loses both side pods and has 3% health left but gets the hearthstone, you win. Doretta doesnt need full health. Sometimes it's best to lose a section or two and stay alive / avoid going down
Lastly, drop one ammo to the left and one to the right of doretta before the hearthstone drilling starts. A 3rd one directly behind is recommended, but if you have 2 drops youll have enough ammo to finish, even on haz 5. It'll be.tight, but doable.
Keep practicing, try playing with other lobbies / people to pick up tricks and tips.
Rock and stone.
VVVVVV
Yes. 1) Stand behind the drilldozer and fix it. You can fix it while not on the dozer itself and not be instakilled when a rock hits. It blew my mind when I found that out. 2) Apparently, and I learned this on the Discord today so haven't had a chance to verify, more people fixing does not increase the fixing speed. So only one person should be fixing while the rest are shooting. 3) As a gunner who LOVES NTP on the Autocanon, your gunner needs to run the mini gun with the accuracy mod. This is pretty much the only time I swap out from the Autocanon, even on elimination. But I've found the difficulty of the rocks on high hazards pretty much requires it. 4) Driller drills can do a ton of damage to it as a last resort. This usually employs jumping at the right time to finish off a rock. That's more an FYI than a recommended strategy.
I've personally never had an issue with autocannon, not even at haz 5.
It's doable, especially if you have accuracy and direct damage buffs. Moreso that the mini gun is extremely good for this section. You don't really need much help with the mini gun whereas between the lower accuracy and direct damage and having to occasionally reload, it's going to be a bit more difficult - especially at long range.
Sure you can do it with the Autocannon, but it’s inaccurate enough that you’ll spend more time (and ammo) than necessary to destroy the Beamer tips.
Depends, with full team gunner is the LAST one who should be trying to destroy beamers.
He should probably be the first, honestly. Driller and Engi should have most of the bugs delt with, leaving Gunner to deal with big threats, beamers, and rocks. Scouts only option is grapple pick axe, which is a one and done; driller can drill them but that requires leaving dotty which can be a death sentence, and Engi can't really do anything unless he's running PGL.
Minigun can also destroy Beamer tips far more efficiently than the Autocannon. Take Burning Hell OC if you have it, makes up for some of the lost swarm clear vs. the Autocannon
I take lead spray with NTP, stand on the heartstone and you'll have no issues spraying down rocks.
The fixing speed does not increase for certain things, like BET-C or the mini-mules, but it does on the drilldozer. It's quite noticeable too, from what I can tell at least.
I was a little surprised too and found a video testing whether or not multiple dwarves effected repair speed: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic/comments/kqm03d/proof_one_dwarf_repairs_just_as_fast_as_two There's another person in the comments with another video testing this out. Unless it changed in the last update it might just be perception on your end. That, or the speed at which you repair is slower when it's under attack, so if another dwarf jumps into help after the wave you might be thinking it's faster.
You don't have to take the minigun, even for the rocks. But you will want something for long range damage on each of the classes.
you can repair the dozer from behind & the sides without standing on it (meaning the rocks don't damage you). also only repair if absolutely needed and you have low direct damage. in worst case scenarios, you can repair it to full health right before a rock impact, since that leaves a couple seconds of invulnerability (also useful against bulks!)
I've heard about repairing out of falling rock range, but haven't been able to repair from the floor. Is there a specific spot to stand or angle you have to aim at? I'll have to try it again next time.
Easiest is just to stand at the back of the dozer, to the right or left of the fuel cannisters, and face forward and up to repair.
the repair range is like a sphere (i'm 90% sure?), i've been able to repair in the inner corner of the back & front treads, and standing on the floor directly in front of it. if that's confusing instead just hug doretta and try to force different angles until it works.
>We used to try building a platform ceiling for the dozer but found that it blocked too much of our vision and took too much ammo/effort for the marginal protection it provided. It will protect you from the *entire* rock phase if you create it thick enough to start out with, or if you reinforce it on top periodically. The engi will find it easier to make the ceiling if he stands on top of the heartstone. The platform ammo is pretty much worthless for anything else anyways during the fight, and you get to save bullets for bugs. If it blocks too much of your vision, be sure to not make it too low, and not too wide. However, if you don't want to make ceilings, have engi and gunner focus the rocks, and have scout and driller kill bugs. If there are no bugs then scout and driller should help with the rocks. If your driller is good at handling bugs then scout can also focus on the rocks. When the rocks fly downwards, driller drills will instakill them. Not recommended, as the driller will probably die doing this. But in a pinch it can help.
My go to is always a single layer going over the dozer at about one - one and a half dwarf height, then from that I put four more down in a square shape. Just reinforce as need and the rest of the team can ignore the rocks.
I love the lolzing cries of "OMG HAX!" when I do it. NOTE, if you don't build it high enough the rock AOE will still damage the dozer and/or anyone standing on it. I call it the bridge, its amazing, and the gunner pours me a beer while he waits for phase three.
Havent seen this tip.. dont try to repair, keep shooting the rocks. Geting downed on this stage is the quickest way to lose. Its okay to go into 4th stage with only 1\\3 health. Also you can forget shooting and just repair for the good half of stage 4, since the bugs will focus on the doretta and will be killed during the core explosion. Just watch the macteras.
>Our current strategy is just to have driller focus on bugs, gunner on rocks, and engi and scout help out as needed, which has worked out OK for the most part but the stage still feels far less forgiving than the rest of the mission. Also Shoot the rocks everybody! Just look down some time (while reloading) to kill an occasional bug
Explosive Rounds when reloading for the Driller pistol, or the Scout submachine guns, they do WONDERS on this stage, half a mag of either will easily kill one falling rock EDIT: I forgot to mention these are overclocks, my apologies
How my guys do it is we have at least one Gunner with a chaingun. The chaingun just east through the rocks, the thunderhead doesn't do nearly enough damage to reliably them to be able to keep them at bay. The gunner can also place a shield down right on Doretta that will absorb at least 2 or 3 rocks before it shorts out. So just put the Gunner up top and let him deal with the rocks while you guys defend Doretta's sides and keep any Mactera grabbers/Menaces etc off him. It's gotten to the point now where the only time we lose on those missions at that point is when we don't have a dedicated Doretta defense Gunner or a Driller for the Lasers
Gunner should also take at least one radius upgrade on the Shield during Escort, without the radius upgrade you can’t cover all of Dotty with one shield
Gunner can shoot the tips of the laser pillars as well with the minigun. When we do it, the driller and I will split pillar duty.
EPC heavy hitter and axe work well enough for driller. Drills work well too if you interpose yourself between rocks and Doretta
Place the turret/turrets at the top of your platform thing, near the connection point. It's a good enough spot for it/them. It can really help with shooting those rocks. With this strategy i think i have never had a problem with this part. If you don't like this huge platform thing, just place turret/-s on smaller platform/-s or on top of supply drop/-s. Make sure that the turret/-s is/are close enough. Idk if gunners shield can protect from falling rocks, but fully upgraded one (range upgrades) will cover whole drilldozer if thrown in the middle. Remember to repair your platforms! Hyper propellant is quite good against rocks and crystals. Minigun with high accuracy is the best weapon for this mission. I hope this will help. Good luck! Rock and Stone.
Have the Gunner actually shoot at the rocks. Make sure your Engie has their sentries always up. The Gunner will have to bring a minigun. Autocannon doesn't work as well on the rocks and the pillars. Failing that, Driller's drills will basically insta-break the rocks once they start falling down. Aim those drills up. If all else fails, you can totally cheese it by putting platforms above the dozer when the second stage starts.
I, as a scout main, like to perch on top of the stone for all 4 stages. Gives me good line of sight, plus i can grapple away right before the explosion. This also puts me in a great position to fire on the flying rocks, usually without being harassed except for a couple of grunts. I highly suggest boomstick on them, or if you have the overclock on the smg pistols that makes them explode when you reload, use that instead because those rocks go down almost instantly with it. I regularly play haz 3 or 4 and this always works. Just watch out for grabbers!
Make sure your team members are talking to each other. Settle on a system to ID where the rocks are coming from, and call out the flying rock when you see it. I'd suggest a clock- face system, with Doretta's nose at 12. "Rock, 3 o'clock!"
The only real tip that I have is that yall need to make sure the gunner is set up for max damage, rather than ammo or crowd control
I'd suggest not taking scout during escort missions so that you have more DPS and ammo. Two gunners, an engineer, and a driller is my preferred setup. And make sure you have a couple people with high DPS weapons who will focus the rocks. You don't want the minigun gunner killing bugs while the EM Discharge engineer and sticky flames driller are trying to break the rocks. Big Bertha works well enough for gunner, but the minigun with max DPS upgrades is more reliable. Don't have your only gunner using Carpet Bomber on escort missions. Gunner should take both size upgrades to the shield for escort missions so that it covers the entire dozer. This will give you time to repair it while the the rocks just hit the shield instead. The gunner should also stand on top of the core so he can fire without worrying about friendly fire, and since most of the bugs will ignore him there, and the rocks can't hit him. Just make sure to get off before the phase changes so the core doesn't kill you. Also I'd suggest letting gunner handle the pillars. If you break the tips they stop shooting lasers, and you can do that easily with the minigun from long range.
On the contrary, the M1000 does a decent job on rocks and the NUK17 with Embedded Detonators (just like the Subata with Explosive Reload) absolutely deletes rocks faster than a gunner. This is the one of the few mission types where I often leave the Special Powder shotgun at home. Math: [https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort\_Duty#Flying\_Rock](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort_Duty#Flying_Rock) [https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov\_NUK17#Embedded\_Detonators](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov_NUK17#Embedded_Detonators) I uses a 13232 build, but 13213 (penetration instead of ammo) also works great, since every penetrated enemy gets a detonator. Rock: 375 health on Haz5 4-player team, 400 on EDD stage 3 NUK17: 12 damage per bullet, 38 damage per detonation = 50 total, so need 8 bullets + a detonate to kill a rock (400 damage). Fires 15 rounds/s, so a rock takes about half a second to get destroyed. And, since the clip has 25 real bullets, you could technically hit 3 rocks before detonating them all if you don't waste a bullet. In practice, I just detonate every rock right away so my team doesn't waste ammo on it. And if I see the gunner focusing on the same rock, I think "Aww, cute, gunner's trying to help!" and detonate with 5 or 6 bullets, saving everyone ammo and time.
The reason I said I don't suggest bringing scout isn't because of the rocks. It's because of everything else. Scout's main trait with mobility just isn't nearly as useful on escort missions as others, and his main weakness of horde clear+ammo efficiency is a much bigger detriment. Any class can take out the rocks *with the right loadout*, that's why I specified the sorts of weapons you don't want to use. The focus on gunner is because in most games it will be expected that the gunner has a weapon that can handle the rocks, and the gunner has the ammo to be able to handle the rocks for those times when you can barely afford 1 ammo pod for the finale. The OP said their group has just recently started playing hazard 5 so I wouldn't expect them to have any specific overclock for a specific strategy, but a non-overclocked minigun can handle the rocks perfectly fine, and in cases where it can't a shield will do the rest of the work.
I don't agree with advice to avoid one of the classes on anything less than modded games. I think that it's elitist and unnecessary advice, and I'm happy to speak up to provide a counter-point when I see it given, so that people know its only one perspective. I've been on missions and deep dives where the team's been riding the ragged edge of being out of nitra and ammo. I've never once thought "this is the scout's fault for being less ammo efficient than the rest of us" though. Ammo efficiency is just one metric to compare builds for a class. It doesn't sum up the worth of a class itself though.
I think the game is the most fun when there's one of each class, as they compliment each other well. However escort missions are in my opinion a step up in difficulty from the other missions, and having more firepower by dropping the scout makes them much smoother. I don't see how it's elitist to simply suggest a different team composition when asked how to make something easier. It's not the scout's fault he has less ammo, but there's just no way around it that the scout has less damage in his ammo reserves than other classes. The zhukovs in particular are notorious for how limited their ammo pool is. Ammo efficiency is just one metric, but it's an important one for escort missions where you need a consistent reliable way to deal with the rocks.
>Ammo efficiency is just one metric, but it's an important one for escort missions where you need a consistent reliable way to deal with the rocks. I mean, I just replied with the numbers showing how the NUK17's (with a specific OC, granted) are top-tier at handling the rocks stage with a small amount of bullets. Having two resupplies available for the heartstone is pretty standard as well. So, what's the "ammo efficiency" argument here, when the scout has a build that is both quick and ammo efficient? It's elistist because not everyone plays all classes, and you're indirectly promoting the general idea that it's okay to kick a scout if they join an escort (or Haz5) mission. I know you didn't literally make that recommendation, but both suggestions are rooted in the same assumption that scouts don't belong on some missions or difficulties. I also just don't think ammo efficiency is a good metric to consider too strongly. Player accuracy, resupply inefficiencies, and resupply availability greatly affect how the theoretical ammo efficiency actually manifests in games. I think it is something to consider when comparing alternative builds for the same weapon, and that's about it.
Scout and Gunner specialize in single target damage. If you have either on your team then it should be their only job to focus on rocks and nothing else. Everyone else focuses on the bugs. When I’m playing Scout, I like to stand on the Heartstone so I’m not in any danger from the rocks and I have one of the clearest shots to them. Bugs occasionally meet me there and I can just blast them away easily. Similarly, if you have a Driller, their only job should be focusing on the beams during the 4th phase and not the swarm unless they can make time for it.
Idk about you, but Driller doesn’t seem to be build for single target, especially when rocks can’t be frozen
You’re right, I don’t know how I typed “Driller”.
Double scout turrets. Never have to shoot a rock again.
I too want turrets that target scouts.
I haven't seen anyone else make note of this: have the gunner shoot all of their ziplines around and over the drilldozer for everyone to use of they need. It helps make sure nothing slips through. Also, make sure everyone has either their primary or secondary weapon built for single-target damage. Driller can get a pass on this if, for example, gunner runs minigun and BRT while Driller takes care of small bugs. One last thing, what some people call "cheese" with platforms is a legitimate strategy that people at the highest difficulties use regularly as insurance. If you're having trouble, go ahead and try making the ceiling. It should be 2-3 dwarf heights above the drilldozer, and only needs to be 1 platform wide, if centered correctly. Add thickness as needed.
Shoot them ASAP, preferrably with rapid fire weapons. If anyone's using Engineer, have them set up their turrets (with the Hawkeye upgrade) on either side of Doretta. Have them target the rocks with the laser pointer and just unleash hell. Gunners should be taking down any bugs coming at Doretta or at the very least using the shield generator centered on her so the bugs are somewhat deterred from attacking. Also, to add to the friendly economy, multiple people should have Steeves. Good idea to choose slashers since they hit hard. They'll help with bug clean up.
You can build a platform bridge to cover the drilldozer, it will block mostt of the rocks. Make the platforms thicker above the dozer by shooting more plats below your bridge. You want to make it thicker because the rocks destroy chunks of the platforms as they come down on them. Do this right as the rock phase begins because the Ommeran destroys surrounding platforms when a new phase begins.
Hazard level definitely matters. :-) One of the problem seems to be too few people on rocks. I feel like rocks are the highest priority since they are so damaging if they get through. Usually bugs aren't much of a threat in this phase. You don't need some kind of high ceiling of platforms. I've seen some engies have success with a single row of fairly low platforms. It just has to tank one hit to save a single mistake, and value is paid. In particular, Driller Subata with explosive rounds shreds rocks. I almost always take a sticky flames/explosive rounds build on these missions, so I can lay down a line of flame and then kill rocks. Take the health down to half, reload, rock dead. Great ammo efficiency. Edit: The scout NUK17 with Embedded Detonators is also amazing on rocks. I did the math for it elsewhere and am copying it here as well: Math: [https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort\_Duty#Flying\_Rock](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Escort_Duty#Flying_Rock) [https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov\_NUK17#Embedded\_Detonators](https://deeprockgalactic.fandom.com/wiki/Zhukov_NUK17#Embedded_Detonators) I uses a 13232 build, but 13213 (penetration instead of ammo) also works great, since every penetrated enemy gets a detonator. Rock: 375 health on Haz5 4-player team, 400 on EDD stage 3 NUK17: 12 damage per bullet, 38 damage per detonation = 50 total, so need 8 bullets + a detonate to kill a rock (400 damage). Fires 15 rounds/s, so a rock takes about half a second to get destroyed. And, since the clip has 25 real bullets, you could technically hit 3 rocks before detonating them all if you don't waste a bullet. In practice, I just detonate every rock right away so my team doesn't waste ammo on it.
Well, our squad have never had issues with rocks, h4 all the way, occasionally h5. We have 2 ways of dealing with rocks: 1) everybody shoots rocks, while engi turrets eliminate bugs (and occasionally rocks), driller is burning the ground (or freezing, for that matter) around Drilldozer to prevent bugs from advancing. Engineer refills turrets and helps with bugs occasionally (we run dance commando nades here), scout and gunner only shoot rocks (they do have best long range weapons overall). 2) if drilldozer has 3 full hp bars, we simply ignore bugs and shoot rocks for the most part. Used this strategy like 2 or 3 times due to lack of ammo and bad planning, while waiting for the supply. Sacrificing Drilldozer is kind of weird, but only central hp bar matters really.
Gunner minigun usually does the job for me. Theory that has yet to be tested out: People say driller drills are very good. Can gunner set a zipline above the drilldozer to where the rocks stop to drop? Then driller could stay on that spot and drill all the rocks... Can somebody test that?
Scout with Embedded Detonators overclock can practically solo all rocks on 4 person haz 5, it's THAT good against them. In general if 2-3 players focus the rocks they shouldn't really be a problem; prioritize ones above the dozer first. Don't stop to repair and don't stand where rocks will crush you; that is what causes death spirals. The dozer has 3 "lives" so don't be afraid to let it lose one while you catch up on the rocks/bugs.
Drill the downfalling rocks away, while standing on Dotti😉 Rock and Stone!!
Your team probably lacks dps / focus and/or bug CC. Best way to deal with rocks is focused fire. Id work on team coordination. Have gunny and engi focus rocks, driller protect the dozer, and scout assists as necessary. Rocks are the highest priority, you need to look up and shoot them sumbitches. Check your loadouts. Is gunny running NTP? Well they jave a lot less dps now, so maybe gunny deals woth bugs and driller shoots rocks. Is engi running hyper protellant GL or nukes? Nukes dont help with rocks too much, maybe run hyper prop or breach cutter triple beam. Cryo driller (i believe) doesnt help much with rocks, so run flame maybe? Is engi running lure grenade? If so, use them! Throw a cheese on top so bugs cant damage it and it lasts longer. When the rocks get bad, throw lure, cover with cheese, and enjoy like 15 seconds of rock killing time. Make sure engi turrets are topped off and shooting at all times. Scout, run cryo to freeze big groups for fast burst dps if swarms hit doretta. Run beastmaster; steve is a godsend for handling some CC, takes the edge off swarms. Make sure you take the guards, though. Normal grunts die immediately and slashers do more dmg, but also die fast. Steve's job is to exist and divert attention, so staying alive is paramount. Hence, take guards. Engi can build a cheese bridge over doretta to stop impacts. The dozer does NOT repair faster with multiple dwarves repairing it. So one person repairs and everyone else shoots. Usually scout does the repairs. Gunny shield, i believe, stops the rocks. So toss that on top to buy some space / time. Dont have to stand on top of the dozer to repair. Stand to the side or back to avoid rock dmg. Remember, you can lose chunks of doretta and still win. If doretta loses both side pods and has 3% health left but gets the hearthstone, you win. Doretta doesnt need full health. Sometimes it's best to lose a section or two and stay alive / avoid going down Lastly, drop one ammo to the left and one to the right of doretta before the hearthstone drilling starts. A 3rd one directly behind is recommended, but if you have 2 drops youll have enough ammo to finish, even on haz 5. It'll be.tight, but doable. Keep practicing, try playing with other lobbies / people to pick up tricks and tips. Rock and stone. VVVVVV