Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core replaces the four iconic classes with five new ones called Reclaimers, each with their own abilities to bring to the mission. These Reclaimers offer players a class fantasy on how they’ll approach the run and plan for builds, from slicing through hordes like butter or acting as a frontline tank. Coming from DRG with over 200 hours played, I can say that these new classes offer more utility to cover up the team’s weaknesses.
However, the nature of a roguelike means that these classes will need to contend with consistency and luck issues, on top of their tuning. Because of this, the Rogue Core best classes are the ones that can stay reliable in unpredictable situations and stay relevant through harder difficulties.
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core Classes Explained
The five classes in Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core are Spotter, Slicer, Retcon, Guardian, and Falconer. Ghost Ship Games has done an excellent job communicating the specialization of each Reclaimer, but their strengths become clearer once players have actually taken them on a run and tinkered with their upgrades. Knowing the basic abilities of each character will make finding the best Rogue Core class easier.
| Reclaimer | Class Fantasy | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Ability 3 |
| Spotter | Combat specialist and scout | Crit Dart: Marks enemies to receive 100% crit chance from the team. | Scanner: A passive ability that scans for enemies. | Ranger’s Pocket: Deploy a single-use ammo pack. |
| Slicer | Evasive, melee assassin | Slicer: Slices through hordes with a plasma sword. | Blitz: A quick dash for repositioning. | Shield Belt: Deploy a shield that destroys projectiles. |
| Retcon | Adaptable weapons specialist; Berserker | Rewind Time: Snapshots the current location and state in time, bringing them back to the same state after a short duration. | Rage: Enter a bloodlusted state to deal double damage and have increased attack speed. | Contingency Plan: Revive with full Armor and Health when the whole team goes down. |
| Guardian | Repulsion Field: Fears enemies running away from the Guardian. | Concussive Barrage: Shoots a barrage of bombs that reduce armor and stun. | Repulsion Field: Fears enemies, causing them to run away from the Guardian. | Protective Frontline; Crowd Control |
| Falconer | Beastmaster; Elemental Damage; Field Medic | Shock Drone: Sends a drone to barrage enemies with electric damage. | Remote Drone Revive: Orders the drone to revive downed teammates. | Thunder Rod: Creates a zone that empowers allies with electricity damage. |
Rogue Core Best Classes
For beginners, it’s better to try all classes at least once to understand what everyone can contribute. In fact, it’s also a good idea to level more than one class since the lobbies restrict having more than one Reclaimer. However, for players who want to push into deeper Depths for tougher challenges, it’s a good idea to prioritize investing in the best classes in Rogue Core.
5 – Retcon
Retcon is not a bad class in theory, and that’s speaking from experience. Her ability to lock a copy of herself in time snapshots everything in place, including health, ammo, and grenades, which makes this Reclaimer a reckless beast during this short duration.
I do enjoy the class, but what made her rank so low is that she’s completely reliant on RNG to roll for great weapons, upgrades, and abilities. Roll well, and she can accomplish much during her Rewind Time duration, blanketing the caves with Deepcore Grenade Launcher modded with fast fire and reload time. Conversely, if she’s weak normally, then she stays weak as her signature ability can’t help. Good luck trying to convince random lobbies during Negotiations to funnel strong upgrades.
She has more consistency with Rage, with the caveat that players will need to take damage to charge the ability, which is just so difficult in deeper Depths. Retcon is a “win more” character, making her very fun but inconsistent. Lastly, her passive also sounds like it can clutch the run, but if the whole team went down in the first place, it most likely means that they deserved it.
4 -Falconer
The Falconer has quite a bit of micromanaging to do with the Shock Drone and the Thunder Pod, but she offers so much elemental damage and synergizes perfectly with Electric-based upgrades. The Falconer can go all in to have multiple effects layering on the enemies, melting through hordes with chain-lightning and debuffs.
She’s Rogue Core’s best class for players who want to lean into a mage fantasy, stacking upgrades for ability damage and cooldown to unleash a salvo of electricity on enemies. However, it takes a tad bit of luck to get the synergies she needs before she reaches her full potential.
Falconer’s biggest tradeoffs are her lack of survivability, mobility, and the fact that she needs to plant her feet near her Thunder Rod for her damage spike. On the plus side, her ability to safely revive teammates from a distance is a lifesaver, especially in public lobbies.
3 – Slicer
Players who do their best work independently will definitely gravitate towards the Slicer. The Slicer is naturally fast with his dash, but he becomes even trickier to pin down once he starts stacking Bio Boosters to dodge attacks and gain more move speed. Slicers can also deal heavy burst damage, especially in close range, making them Rogue Core’s best class for fighting big threats.
What makes a good Slicer invaluable is how they’re able to safely separate from the pack during exploration phases, allowing them to complete objectives like activating Workshops. Slicers keep the team efficient and can use upgrades to adapt whether the team needs more single-target damage or horde clear. The Shield Belt is also a fantastic defensive tool to alleviate pressure from long-range enemies.
2 – Guardian
The Guardian is a frontline protector with extensive crowd-control capabilities. The impact of a situationally aware Guardian can significantly make the game less chaotic.
His Concussive Barrage can already control priority enemies like the frog that shoots lethal laser beams and can even stun bosses. Repulsion Field is clutch for protecting the team in claustrophobic encounters like escorting the Ramrod or protecting the elevator.
Guardians can also spec into becoming a dedicated tank, an AoE beast, or go all-in on restoring the team’s armor with their upgrades. He’s a simple Reclaimer to play, but he is the best class in Rogue Core for carrying the team.
1 – Spotter
The Spotter takes the top spot because they do one main thing, but they do it so well that they’re simply a must-take class in higher difficulties. This Reclaimer’s Crit Dart is essential for marking priority enemies and making them more vulnerable for the team.
The best part is that this always works and only gets better with upgrades by applying more debuffs on the enemy. Spotter is Rogue Core’s best class, simply because guaranteed crits will always melt the enemy, regardless of how unlucky his teammates’ builds are during that run. Most of the time, Spotter doesn’t even need to call on his team since he has many upgrades that increase his crit chance and damage.
Spotter is a class in Rogue Core that I immediately feel is missing on the rare times he isn’t in the party. The Spotter’s ability to scan enemies is convenient, and the ammo pack is alright, but the Crit Dart is too good to pass up in any serious team.
