Driller
Ice Spear Build
This build is the opposite of the flamethrower, instead of burning enemies to dust, we’ll freeze them in their tracks, leaving them defenseless to us or our fellow dwarves to deal with. The biggest draw to this build is it insane crowd control capabilities, while still being able to deal with any tough enemies thanks to both the Ice Spear overclock, and our secondary weapon. This is a good medium build between the crowd control role of the driller and the damage dealing of a stronger single target weapon. This build also excels in a group game were allies can cleanup all the frozen enemies you leave behind, allowing us the save the ammo for purely freezing enemies, and letting the team kill them before they defrost. Keep an eye on your ammo while using Ice Spear, as it has a huge cost (50 ammo) to shoot 1, make sure the target your shooting is worth the ammo!
Weapons
Cryo Cannon
T1C – 
Stronger Cooling Unit (+1 Cold (better freezing) )
T2A – 
Larger Reserve Tank (+75 Max Ammo)
T3B – 
Increase Flow Volume (+20% Rate of Fire)
T4C – Larger Reserve Tank (+75 Max Ammo)
T5B – Cold Radiance (Apply 60 Cold per sec to enemies within 4m of you)
Ice Spear (Press Reload to consume 50 ammo and fire an Ice Spear deaming 350 damage and 150 Area Damage, +1 sec Repressurization Delay)
Ice Spear is the main point of this build, it does huge amounts of damage to single targets, and a decent portion of area damage to anything near the impact zone. This makes it ideal for taking out menaces or any tough enemy from afar before they can become a threat. The downside is the chunk of ammo it requires to shoot 1 ice spear, it is not something that can constantly be used, less we run out of ammo. T2A and T4C help with the overall ammo management of the build. T5B and T1C help with the overall freezing potential of the build, easily freezing hordes and allowing us to swap to our secondary weapon to quickly cleanup any tough enemies.
Experimental Plasma Charger
T1B – 
Larger Battery (+24 Max Ammo)
T2B – 
Overcharged Plasma Accelerator (+25% Velocity)
T3C – 
Tweaked Radiator (+50% Cooling Rate)
T4B – 
High Density Battery (+24 Max Ammo)
T5A – 
Burning Nightmare (x3 Charge Shot Damage vs Frozen enemies. Remove Area Damage on charge shots)
Heavy Hitter (+60% Damage per regular shots, +50% Heat per regular shot, -32 Max Ammo)
This secondary makes the most sense as far as synergizing with our Cryo Cannon. Charge shots from this weapon do 3x more damage vs frozen enemies. The downside is the removal of any area damage, but since Cryo Cannon is really all the area damage we need, the 3x damage will definitely help when dealing with Praetorians or tough enemies. This is alternatively a good weapon to deal with enemies that are outside of our Cryo Cannon’s effective range. T1B and T4B help with the overclocks downsides and ammo economy.
Equipment
Satchel Charge
T1C – 
Bigger Charge (+250 Damage)
T2A – 
Kill Switch (Disarm and pick up charges)
T3A – 
Extra Satchel Charge (+1 Max Ammo)
T4B – 
Concussive Blast (+10m Stagger Range)
Satchels are great for cave clearing, but also work very nicely for large hordes and tough enemies. The perks really speak for themselves, increase damage, Stun chance, Max Ammo. Best to use against large hordes and Praetorians, but be careful as these can down allies with 1 explosion.
Reinforced Power Drills
T1B – 
Hardened Drill Tips (+50% Mining Rate)
T2A – 
Magnetic Refrigeration (+1 Cooling Rate)
T3A – 
Supercharged Motor (+50% Mining Rate)
T4A – 
Increase Tank Pressure (+6 Max Ammo)
We don’t really use these as weapons, they are not very strong compared to other options we have (our actual weapons) unless the enemy is really close to death and we want to regain health with Vampire perk. Focus on using these to create tunnels quickly, getting resources, or making a defensible location during hordes. Really helpful for Morkite Refining missions and drilling directly back to the Drop Pod instead of running through the cave again.
Mole Armor Rig
T1A – 
Improved Generator (-1 Second Shield Recharge Delay)
T2B – 
Healthy (+20 Max Health)
T3A – 
Temperature Insulation (+50% Fire Resistance)
T4C – 
Breathing Room (+3 Second Revive Invulnerability)
Armor is pretty flexible in perk choice, I enjoyed the following perk combination. It will always be more beneficial to take T2B (Healthy) for the increase in health, rather then shield, which only gives +5. Shield also regenerates, while health does not unless you gather red sugar or a re-supply pod. I also found T4C to be helpful especially on harder difficulties were you might be revived in the middle of a horde of enemies, the extra seconds in invulnerability will really help to get to a safe distance to re-group.
Impact Axe
Easily the best grenade option for the Driller, easily out performs other grenades and fills the gap for single target damage. We also have the largest capacity of grenades with this option. This is particularly strong vs Praetorians/Oppressors as it Stuns them in place for a few moments. When paired with Vampire Passive perk, we can regain health from a distance on enemy kills.
Passive Perks
Born Ready
Resupplier
Elemental Insulation
Vampire
Born Ready : A really nice perk for Driller specifically, since the reload speed his heavy weapons can be a bit slow, especially in a pinch, it makes it really nice to both reload quickly, and not be left defenseless. When you’re out of ammo, swap to your secondary, after 5 or so seconds you’ll hear a verbal notification that the reload is done.
Resupplier : Another great perk that I recommend across all classes. If resupplying 50% faster wasn’t good enough to have in a pinch, gaining 25% more health each time is just the cherry on top. One of the best passive perks to have in my opinion.
Elemental Insulation : An optional choice, but a relatively strong one depending on the cave biome you’re in. Take 30% less damage from all elemental sources. This includes; Fire/Frost/Electricity/Poison/Radiation/Heat and Cold.
Vampire : Highly recommend this perk on all Driller builds since the Driller has multiple sources that can activate Vampire that other classes don’t have. You regain health on any melee kills of Grunts or tougher enemies (does not activate on swarmers). While the pickaxe can of course activate it on any class, the Driller specifically has different choices. This pairs extremely well with Iron Will perk. The Driller’s Reinforced Power Drills can activate Vampire, and the throwable Impact Axe can also activate Vampire.
Active Perks
Iron Will
Field Medic
Dash
Heightened Sense
Iron Will : Once per mission, you can revive yourself for 12 seconds before going back down. This may not sound like a great perk at first, but it can be a game saver. While on it’s own, not very strong, you can revive allies who can then revive you in turn. Alternatively, even in a solo game, there is a way you can stay alive, effectively turning this into a permanent self revive option. If you gather health within the 12 seconds, you will stay alive. This can be from Red Sugar, Resupply pods, or other means (Vampire Passive Perk). This perk is pretty strong on any class to keep for emergency situations. Recommended saving it’s use until absolutely necessary.
Field Medic: 100% a group game perk, do not use if playing solo. This perk should definitely be equipped when playing in a group game. The ability to revive allies 30%, fear enemies after reviving an ally, on top of the activation option of instantly reviving an ally, this perk can save games on its own.
Dash : Gain a very short burst of speed that can be used every 25 seconds (at max rank). This burst of speed ignores any slow effects you may be suffering, which can be really helpful when stuck in goo or any other slowing effects. You can even Dash while holding heavy objects like Aquarqs. This is particularly strong on slower classes, like the Driller, in order to keep up with the team, or to escape a tight situation quickly.
Heightened Sense : Based on personal preference. If you play solo you can rely on Bosco to help you out of being grabbed, usually by a cave leech. For group games, as a Driller with limited range weapon options, it can be useful to have an escape button for emergency situations to escape being grabbed. This perk can easily be skipped if playing with a coordinated group.
