Welcome to the third content update for Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor aka. The Masteries Update! This update features new game modes, tons of new artifacts, milestones, achievements, balance changes, quality-of-life upgrades, and bug fixes.

This update makes fundamental changes to the way you gain power between dives and removes the need to first level a weapon to 12 before you can start overclocking them. The goal is to create a smoother progression for new players with less feeling of getting stuck on a Hazard level. Returning players have had their upgrades refunded and will not be able to buy them all back until they engage with the new systems.

If you want to play the update spoiler-free, you should just go ahead and close these update notes and fire up the game. We hope you enjoy it!

Masteries is a brand new game mode in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, where you are challenged to complete a dive with new rules. Expect deviations from the main game in terms of stage count, number of supply pods, Huuli Hoarders, etc.

Besides being fun to learn and master, masteries also reward upgrades to weapons, class mods, and biomes. We’ve tried to carefully balance these rewards to be powerful without feeling so mandatory that you are forced to do them.

Weapon Masteries
There are 42 Weapon Masteries, one for each weapon, and they unlock once you’ve reached level 12 with a specific weapon. In a weapon’s Mastery, you enter a 3-stage dive where you are only able to use that weapon, and no other weapon slots will unlock in the dive. If you complete the run, you will unlock a permanent upgrade to the weapon that will apply to all game modes. This reward scales with the Mastery's hazard level.

Class Mod Masteries
Class Mod Masteries unlock after completing a Hazard 2 dive with a specific class mod, and there are of course 12 of them - one for each class mod. These masteries are regular 5-stage dives, but they come with an array of added challenges, most notably the inability to heal during a stage. That’s right: No red sugar, no life regeneration, and no healing when you level up. These are combat-oriented masteries where the stage area is smaller, there are fewer minerals to mine, fewer supply drops, and many more Huuli Hoarders! Each completed Class Mod Mastery will give a permanent passive bonus to that class mod across all game modes.

Biome Masteries
Biome Masteries unlock after beating a specific biome on Hazard 3. The challenge here is straightforward: There are 10 stages instead of the usual 5. The reward is a permanent upgrade to the specific biome that will carry through all game modes.
Anomalies is a new optional game mode that offers experienced players an added layer of challenge. Each Anomaly offers a unique spin on the core gameplay, but they are not required to increase your power level.

Bloody Learner
In a Bloody Learner Anomaly Dive, you take damage whenever you level up, have +100% increased experience gain, and start your run with a BLT Ration Pack (+70 Max HP, +2 Life Regen).

Hardcore
In this mode, you’ll start with just 10% of your normal max HP, and all max HP upgrades and healing are also reduced to just 10% of their usual power.

Vanilla
In Vanilla, we have stripped you of all your meta upgrade bonuses and mastery bonuses.

No Movement
In No Movement, you can only move for the first 5 and the last 30 seconds of each stage!

During Masteries and Anomalies you will be able to find a new meta currency - Morkite Reactor Cores. Since this currency is used to unlock some of the new meta upgrades and some of the last stages of “old” meta upgrades, we have refunded all meta currency.

Players who have previously “completed” the meta progression will find that they can no longer buy all meta upgrades until they obtain Morkite Reactor Cores. This is part of the Early Access process, and we hope that you’ll see it as a challenge instead of a loss.
Artifact Rerolls:

• Reroll artifacts from the Supply Pod

Trigger Training:

• Increase Fire Rate

Catalyst Boost:

• Increase Status Effect Damage

More Juice:

• Increase Potency

Gold Cache:

• Increase Starting Gold

Nitra Cache:

• Increase Starting Nitra

Multi Tool

• -25% reload speed
  
• +5% reload speed per unique [tag] equipped

Turbo Encabulator

• 3% increased damage for every equipped Overclock
  
• 3% increased reload speed for every equipped Overclock
  
• -5% mining speed for every equipped Overclock

Weapon Box

• Equip an additional random level 6 weapon with a random overclock

Ancient Knowledge

• Instantly gain three levels

Chemist Kit

• 15% increased potency
  
• 15% increased status effect damage

Company Issued Magnet

• Spawns a magnet at the end of a stage. It collects 50% of the remaining XP when you grab it.

Piercing Projectiles

• 50% increased pierce

DRG Coupons

• Gives a 20% discount to all future shop purchases in the current run (excluding healing and reroll costs)

Energy Bar

• 1% increased damage for every player level
  
• -2 to max HP for every player level

The 9 new Artifacts are all tied to new Milestones, but they also each have a Steam Achievement. Additionally, we have added 4 new Steam Achievements for completing a Hazard 5 dive in each Biome. The Hazard 5 biome achievements are not retroactive, so returning players will have to complete a Haz 5 run again to unlock them.

• Unlock requirements for Overclocks have been removed
  
• Biome Goals can now be completed on higher hazard levels
  
• Added a refund option on the meta upgrade screen
  
• The red vines in Hollow Bough have been made slightly shorter. They now scale with the size of the level.
  
• Added a camera shake slider in Settings
  
• Added a damage vignette toggle - this is the damage flash you get at the edge of your screen when you take damage
  
• The Splash video when you start the game is now skippable

• We have identified and fixed large performance issues when mining lots of rock at the same time, so "True TNT + Cluster + Feedback Harness" mining builds should now stutter significantly less
  
• Mining fast in any biome should now feel smoother
  
• Several other systems now have improved performance as well. Damage numbers can still be a performance sink though.

• All Hazard levels have been rebalanced to match the new unlock flow and power increase
  
• Class and Class Mod bonuses have been moved from the Artifact group to the Meta group. When the final stats of a weapon are calculated, different bonuses are grouped together and then those groups are multiplied with each other. Previously, bonuses you get for choosing a specific class or class mod were in the same group as Artifact upgrades, but they are now in the group with Meta Upgrades. This makes artifacts more impactful.
  
• LOK-1 Smart Rifle:
  • Base damage reduced to 55 (was 58)

• Tactical Leadbuster:
  • Base Damage reduced to 24 (was 28)
    
  • The time between shots in a burst reduced to 0.025 (was 0.03)
    
  • Rebalanced Cluster Grenade Overclock

• Krakatoa Sentinel:
  • Range reduced to 4 (was 5)
    
  • Potency reduced to 10 (was 12)

• Spiral Boomerang Overclock:
  • Range reduced from to 350% (was 400%)
    
  • Reload speed reduction increased to 40% (was 30%)

• High Velocity Bullets Overclock:
  • Now also gives 10% increased damage

• The Favorite Overclock:
  • When applied to Plasma Burster, it now gives Explosion Radius instead of Potency

• Shellback Elite:
  • Aim rotation reduced to 30 (was 25)
    
  • Attack range reduced to 9 (was 10)
    
  • HP reduced by ~10%
    
  • Base damage reduced to 8 (was 14)
    
  • Damage tick interval reduced to 0.3 (was 0.5)

• Clipboard of Grudges:
  • Experience gain increased to 7-12 (was 5-10)

• XP Scanner:
  • Now finds experience twice as often

• Fixed the "endless stage" glitch (Sorry Farham, this was always coming). This results in slightly different behavior around the top of the drop pod ramp.
  
• Tactical Leadburster:
  • Fixed an issue where the pierce value started too high, but did not actually update when selecting pierce upgrades

• “Hurricane” Guided Rocket System:
  • Fixed explosion VFX not scaling with explosion radius (visuals only)
    
  • Fixed lingering audio issues with this weapon

• Plasma Burster:
  • Fixed the "Tape Some Nails To It" (extra Kinetic Explosion) overclock not working at all with this grenade

• Shredder Swarm Grenade:
  • Fixed an unfortunate interaction with Artifacts that applied temporary buffs (ie. Armor Grease, Popup Tripod), which made the drones act incredibly janky
    
  • Optimized game performance when using these drones

• Breach Cutter:
  • Fixed a bad piercing calculation that lead to the weapon not having infinite pierce

• Conduit Overclock:
  • Fixed the behavior of this Overlock. Before: All constructs shot lightning at all other constructs. Now: The constructs of the weapon with the overclock shoots lightning at constructs from other weapons (as originally intended. This is a slight nerf to the Overclock)

• Mocap Artifact:
  • Fixed Mocap not being unlocked when completing the milestone on the Twin Dreadnoughts fight (either of the twins will now satisfy this milestone)

• Dreadnought:
  • Fixed an issue where its volcanic spikes would sometimes have no collision

---

We also want to highlight an awesome new bundle on our store page. We’ve partnered with Dome Keeper to make a ‘Space Mining Extravaganza’ bundle. Dome Keeper is a roguelike survival miner where you defend your space dome from waves of attacking aliens and dig deep into the planet in search of valuable resources and artifacts. Sounds familiar?
It’s a ‘Complete the Set’ bundle, so if you already own DRG:S, you can get Dome Keeper at 10% off.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42671/Space_Mining_Extravaganza

Last week we revealed details about Masteries, an upcoming core feature included in Update 03 of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. This week, we’re ready to talk about another headline feature coming in the next update: Anomaly Dives.

As you progress through Masteries and earn powerful upgrades to weapons, class mods, and biomes, you also unlock access to four kinds of Anomaly Dives:

• Bloody Learner
  
• Hardcore
  
• No Movement
  
• Vanilla

Each Anomaly offers unique spins on the core gameplay and is meant as an optional game mode for advanced players looking for a challenge. If you can squeak out a victory, the bragging rights are yours!

In a Bloody Learner Anomaly Dive, you take damage whenever you level up, have 100% increased experience gained, and start your run with a BLT Ration Pack (+70 Max HP, +2 Life Regen). You better start dodging those XP orbs, avoid all pick-up radius upgrades, and let’s not forget the magnets which might just insta-kill you. A good balance of fire power, health regeneration, and a craving for red sugar should get you far.

Once you’ve tried Bloody Learner, why not go for a Hardcore Anomaly Dive? In this mode, you’ll have to be extremely careful with your health, because you’ll start with just 10% of your normal max HP. If you think a BLT will save you, think again – because all max HP upgrades are also reduced to just 10% of their usual power. The last two Anomalies will be a surprise on patch day (or you can read about them in the patch notes). We have a ton of ideas for fun Anomalies to add in future updates and ways to expand this system. Perhaps you do too? Let us know in the comments.

Completing Anomaly Dives does not reward you with a permanent upgrade like Masteries do, but during a run you can find Morkite Reactor Cores which are a new currency. These cores are used to unlock some of the powerful new meta upgrades available in Update 03, such as Nitra Cache which lets you start a dive with some Nitra, or the aptly named Artifact Rerolls upgrade that allows you to reroll artifacts from the Supply Pod at the cost of Nitra. Morkite Reactor Cores are also found in Masteries, because Anomaly Dives are meant to be optional and not a requirement to progress in power level.

Update 03 also adds new artifacts, milestones, achievements, balance changes, much-requested bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements. And you won’t have to wait long for any of this – because Update 03 is coming NEXT WEEK!

Rock and Stone
The Funday Dwarves