Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is the newest roguelike to enter the fray and comes to us from the team behind Deep Rock Galactic. While you might be familiar with the overall structure of DRG, this game has some big differences.
The original classes are gone; instead, you can choose from one of up to five classes currently. One of these classes is Slicer, the sort of DPS of the crew.
Like with all the classes in DRG: Rogue Core, there are some specifics here that you’ll want to know. Along with that, we’ll cover some of the best choices to make to survive this roguelike.
What Does The Slicer Class Do?
Much to its namesake, the Slicer slices everything in its path. It’s probably got the highest damage output of all five classes.
The Slicer gets the following abilities:
- Slice Ability: Performs a mighty Slice, immediately dealing massive damage to all targets in a straight line.
- Blitz Ability: Perform a gravity-defying Dash forward to quickly get out of – or into – trouble.
- Shield Belt: Creates a shield to protect The Slicer and teammates from enemy Ranged Attacks.
With these abilities and the upgrades you get while delving into the depths of this planet, you’ll have to cut and shoot your way through objectives. The Slicer also arguably has the easiest class to play, since it’s the most straightforward.
Basically, the way it’ll work is that you’ll use your Slice Ability, which has a 20-second cooldown, to chop up close-range enemies while keeping ranged enemies at bay with weapons and your Shield Belt. Your dash will also help you stay on the move and get out of tough situations.
Preferred Builds
Since this is a roguelike and anything can happen while you’re on a mission, it’s important to keep an open mind. Even though that’s true, each class still has things that favor it over others.
It’s a good way to keep yourself focused on a strategy when you have so many options. For The Slicer, there are a few good upgrades to snag and some keywords you should focus on.
The Slicer should focus on upgrading their Slice Ability, which boils down to two directions:
- Melee Damage – Surprisingly, the Slice Ability is affected by most melee enhancements, making this an effective strategy to go with.
- Fire Damage – The Slice Ability can be upgraded to do fire damage, and that can queue up a lot of different upgrades, provided you get those upgrades.
While you can build in some other ways during a mission, these two seem to be the easiest to get into. They’re virtually always available to you as long as you’re completing objectives.
The Melee Build
This build is super simple. If you can buff your melee damage or trigger an effect with it, that’s probably the one to go with.
For instance, one of the upgrades gives you increased damage if enemies are within a certain distance. This means using your Slice will always be even stronger.
On top of that, you can always complete workbenches and choose the upgrade to Slice damage. These kinds of things stack and can become very powerful before you hit the boss.
Some upgrades to be on the lookout for:
- Cool Precision – Increases ability cooldown on weakpoint hits
- Stunning Recharge – Increases ability cooldown and Power Attack cooldown
- Steadfast Surge – Standing still grants an increased ability and Power Attack recharge rate and Power Attack
- Bastion – Standing still grants increased damage and damage resistance
- Eclipse System (Workbench) – Shoots out a projectile from the Slice ability that cuts through enemies
Although you might not always get these exact abilities, don’t worry too much. Mostly just focus on getting your ability pumped up with damage and recharge rate.
You can get the cooldown for Slice down pretty low and wipe out pretty big hordes of enemies. Just try not to get too overzealous, because you’re not invincible.
The Fire Damage Build
This one works fairly well, especially because you’ll often see the upgrades for it that you need to make it work well. You’ll still be focusing on your Slice Ability, but it’ll be a little different.
For this build, you’ll be building around fire damage. The main reason this is good is thanks to Thermal Wake, the workbench upgrade for Slice.
This ability, combined with a few choice upgrades, can result in some significant damage output in crowded situations.
Some upgrades to be on the lookout for:
- Ability Booster – Increases ability cooldown when near teammates
- Magazine-Routed Heat – Increases fire damage per ammo missing
- Volatile Combustion – Killing a burning enemy does significant damage to enemies close by
- Elementalist – Reloading grants your weapon random element damage
- Thermal Wake (Workbench) – Creates a fire trail and causes fire damage in addition to regular damage
These basically turn you into a raging inferno. There are probably more things you can get to make this even better, but for now, those seem to be the most common.
Since enhancements cannot be reset, it makes the most sense to build around your most preferred playstyle overall. Eventually, you’ll have a good enough arsenal to adjust for every occasion.
With all that, you’ll be fairly well set to start cutting up the competition. Remember, it’s a co-op game, so you should always try to plan along with your party.
