Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Heavy Duty Patch Notes

The biggest addition to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor since launch dropped today. The Heavy Duty expansion brings a paid DLC and a free update simultaneously, and both have enough content to justify the fanfare.

On the DLC side, the headliner is the Demolisher, a brand-new class that operates a weaponized industrial vehicle called the Rockdozer. Crushing bugs under your wheels rather than shooting them is a shift in how the game plays, and the 11 new weapons the Demolisher brings along can be accessed by other classes through the tag system. The new Glacial Strata biome adds ice-sliding movement and cryo enemies, and the Egg Hunt mission type introduces a multi-phase boss fight that only triggers once you deliver the final egg. I'm excited to see how the Demolisher changes build variety across the board.

Free for everyone is Endless Mode, which the community has been asking for since early access. It caps you at 15 artifacts and ramps difficulty hard from stage 11 onward, so this isn't a casual grind loop. Mastery rewards now scale with hazard level, which gives veteran players a proper reason to push harder. The tag system also expands with six new synergy types including Sidearm, Spray, and Precise, opening up build combinations that simply didn't exist before.

Everything in the update is listed below.

Hello Miners,

It’s time to gear up. Today we’re launching Heavy Duty, a brand-new paid DLC packed with destructive firepower, frozen frontiers, and high-stakes missions. Alongside it, a free update rolls out to all players with endless mode, mastery rewards, tag system changes, and the usual slew of system improvements, bug fixes, and balance changes.

Let’s break it down:

HEAVY DUTY EXPANSION (DLC):

NEW CLASS: THE DEMOLISHER

Built for destruction. Engineered for overkill.

For the first time in DRG history, we’re introducing a new class: The Demolisher.

This new powerhouse class operates a fully weaponized industrial vehicle known as the Rockdozer, turning the battlefield into a demolition site. Crush the swarms beneath your wheels, leaving a trail of devastation. If the other dwarves fight the bugs…the Demolisher plows them down.

The Demolisher brings an arsenal of 11 new weapons with him to Hoxxes, available to other classes via the tag system

NEW MISSION: EGG HUNT

Collect alien eggs and have Bosco deliver them to a central cargo pod in a star-shaped flow, forcing you to branch out and return under fire. Once you hit the quota, a short grace period lets you risk it all for extra rewards… if you dare.

Deliver the final egg, and everything changes. A Brood Nexus erupts on top of the pod, locking down your exit and triggering a multi-phase boss fight. It spawns relentless waves of enemies, and at key moments, creates Nexus Sprouts that must be destroyed before you can damage the nexus again.

NEW BIOME: GLACIAL STRATA

Glacial Strata introduces a fast-paced frozen biome where the environment is as powerful as your arsenal. Slide across smooth ice for bursts of speed at the cost of control, trigger deadly icicle traps by shattering ice crystals, and face new cryo-infused enemies adapted to the cold.

With more biome choices added to missions, and without increasing progression requirements, you gain greater freedom to tackle challenges your way.

Update 1.1 (Free Content)

Endless Mode

The long-awaited Endless Mode is finally here.

The first 10 stages of an Endless Dive are shorter, with increased enemy density. You will move through these early stages quickly while ramping up your power at a much faster pace than usual.

Endless is a variant of Elimination, but with its own constraints. You can only carry up to 15 artifacts, so every choice matters. From stage 11 onward, the challenge shifts. Difficulty increases significantly, and each stage will test your build and decision-making skills.

We have spent months optimizing Survivor, but we fully expect players to find new and creative ways to push systems to their limits. We are looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Mastery Rewards

For those who take on the toughest hazards, mastery now comes with additional rewards.

Mastery milestones grant rewards based on mastery points earned. Higher hazard levels yield more points, meaning greater rewards for players who push themselves further.

This system is aimed at the greybeards who want their skill and persistence to be recognized.

Tag System Expansion

With the new weapons and effects added to the pool from the DLC, we wanted to expand the available synergies and give all players more options and variation in their builds. That’s why we’ve added new tags and tag synergies.

We have added new overclocks to match the tags, so if you pick a Sidearm overclock, you can also get an Ultimate Sidearm Unstable overclock. If you pick the sidearm overclock on multiple weapons, you can start getting upgrade cards to match that synergy.

Some tags already existed, like Spray and Precise, but were never used, so now you can pick upgrade cards for those as well!

The new tags and tag synergy upgrade cards are:

Sidearm, Favourite, Groundzone, Thick Boy, Spray, and Precise

Improvements & Fixes

Picking overclocks now adds relevant \
Upgraded to Unity 6
KD-tree-based physics improvements
XP cube performance optimizations
VFX system improvements
Memory leak fixes and general stability improvements
Achievement “Unreasonable uptime”: Fixed an issue where the achievement still required 60 seconds, even though it should be 30 seconds. (again)
Achievement “Undercooked”: Fixed an issue where you didn’t get the achievement if you salvaged the Overclock. (again)
Mission Goals: Fixed an issue where you had to complete 2 stages instead of just 1 while activating B0b-33 no more than 2 times. Also, B0b-33 now only activates if there is fuel. (again)
Improved the design of achievements where you have to equip 6 pieces of gear of the same rarity. It now also counts higher rarity gear. (……again)

Balance changes

Overclock balance
NEW UOC: Ultimate sidearm: +60% damage to all other weapons

Weapon balance

"Lead Storm" Powered Minigun buffed: Clip size 150 → 200, base damage 25 → 28
Voltaic Stun Sweeper buffed (again): Base damage 48 → 55, Potency 20 → 22
Breach Cutter (again): Has the \ tag

Artifacts balance

Multi Tool nerfed: Reload speed -25% → -20%, every unique \ equipped: reload speed +5% → +4%

Elimination gate 2 nerfed (again): Mandatory Pep Talk now gives +10% XP gain, and +100 Max HP, Omega Mini Exploders mutator is changed to Serrated Claws II

That’s everything for today’s launch. Whether you’re crushing bugs with the Demolisher or pushing your limits in Endless Mode, there’s a lot to dig into.

Now get back down there, miner.

Rock and Stone.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor OUT NOW: Heavy DUTY Notes (30th April 2026)

Full Patch Notes