We here at Readwrite have been extolling the virtues of Deep Rock Galactic Survivor long before it came out on Steam last week. It is a truly great autoshooter in the vein of Vampire Survivors but with enough Deep Rock Galactic in it to make the dwarves happy.
If you have just started out mining deep down you may have found that while you can get past the first few levels, beating the end-of-biome boss, the Dreadnaught, is frustratingly impossible. And of course, if you lose, it’s back to the beginning of the game. There are no second chances.
And as the Dreadnaught can kill you very quickly, seconds even, if you are not careful, it can rapidly get annoying. So let’s look at our tactics for beating the big guy and seeing how to put an end to him and quickly progress.
How to kill the Dreadnaught in DRGS
The first thing to note if you have only just started playing Deep Rock Galactic Survivor is that beating the Dreadnaught is unlikely to happen. The thing about games like this is that death is a part of it. Each time you die and have to start back at the beginning, in theory, you should be stronger. Each mission gives you the opportunity to mine gold and other minerals that allow you to upgrade your dwarf and even unlock new classes that may be more suited to your playstyle.
But there are a lot of upgrades in DRSG so what should you aim for with your build? You can easily waste all your resources but never forget, that the end goal is to defeat the Dreadnaught on level five of each biome.
Tactics for beating the Dreadnaught
The first time you come up against him you will probably die, and more likely many times after that. Hopefully, though you have been watching how he moves. He is not a sophisticated boss with a huge amount of patterns. We are not playing DoDonpachi here.
The Dreadnaught will amble along following your path. Every so often he will stop. This is your only signal and the one you need to look out for. After a second or so stationary he will leap toward you and try to land on you. If he manages it you will hueg a hefty proportion of your hit points. Early doors you can die after about three hits, later on when you have built your health bar up a bit you can survive slightly longer, but we are not looking to survive here, he will get you eventually so we need to avoid and dispatch.
Try to time it so just as the Dreadnaught is about to leap you veer off at a 90-degree angle to the direction you were moving in. He should miss you, maybe not by much but it is enough. It is important to try to lure him into open spaces as if he gets you where you can’t dodge out of the way you are done for.
The other thing to watch out for is the Swarm, which by this time will be huge, so avoid doubling back on yourself or they will get you instead.
All the while try to lay down fire on him to reduce his health bar. You won’t avoid him forever, eventually, you will screw the timing up, so you need to get him dead as quickly as possible.
Best upgrades to beat Dreadnaught
If you are looking for upgrades that any class of dwarf can you then anything that boosts your movement speed is important. It’s difficult to doge the Dreadnaught but if you are a bit faster it gets easier to put some distance between you both.
Health Point buffs are important too, but don’t take the smaller ones at the expense of upgrading your guns and turrets. You need to get to a good mix where you are nimble and strong enough, but also packing firepower.
If you have unlocked the Driller or the Engineer, take upgrades to your turret systems as these will also help keep the swarm at bay while also damaging the Dreadnaught while you run for your little hairy life.
Eventually, you will beat the Dreadnaught and progress to the next biome, where waits a stronger Dreadnaught. Such is the life of a dwarf in Deep Rock Galactic, even if they might be about to become TV stars.
