Rogue Core Update 2 Finally Adds Threat Levels

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any major news for Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core. Thankfully, that wait is finally over. Update 2 is launching next week, and it’s bringing a ton of new features, upgrades, enemies, and changes to how difficulty works.

Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core Update 2

Update 2 is shaping up to be a pretty substantial one, introducing several features players have been asking for since Rogue Core entered Early Access. So, let’s dive into some of the biggest changes coming next week.

First up, Threat Levels are finally being added, giving players more control over how difficult they want their runs to be. Higher Threat Levels will also reward players with additional XP, giving you another reason to push yourself.

More importantly, Threat Levels will completely uncouple game difficulty from Depth. Difficulty will also become independent from the mission timer, giving players much more control over how they want each run to play out.

When Update 2 launches, you’ll be able to select a Threat Level when choosing a mission, much like how difficulty works in Deep Rock Galactic.

Here’s how the new system works:

• Threat Level: The five Threat Levels affect the number of enemies, swarm frequency, enemy health and movement, enemy aggression (including attack frequency and projectile speed), and overall damage.
• Assault Pace: This controls the pacing of your run by adding more or less time to the mission timer. Tone it down if you want to take your time, or ramp it up if you work best under pressure.
• Depth: Depth will now primarily determine which bosses and boss biomes you have access to. Rather than tying Depth directly to difficulty and the mission timer, it will now act more as a progression system for unlocking content. For now, Depth 4 will remain locked until the fourth boss is ready.

Boss Invulnerability Phases Removed

Boss fights are also getting a major change thanks to an absolutely massive amount of player feedback.

Long boss invulnerability phases are being removed. Instead, bosses will either briefly block attacks or use blocking mechanics that players can work around with careful aim, AoE damage, or simply repositioning themselves.

This should make boss fights feel much more active instead of forcing players to sit around waiting for an invulnerability phase to end.

New Upgrades & Artifacts

The Upgrade pool is also expanding once again, with Update 2 putting a bigger focus on elemental damage.

Seven new Expenite Upgrades and one new Artifact are coming with the update:

1. Spark-Booster: When enemies in medium range are electrocuted, gain 45% movement speed for +3 seconds.
2. Grid-Shock: Damaging electrified targets spreads +50% electric damage to other enemies connected via electrical arcs.
3. Weathering Blast: When active Stone Skin expires, deal 50 Ice damage in short range. Gain +25 additional damage per 5 Stone Skin lost.
4. Icy Shrapnel: Hitting frozen targets launches ice fractures in the opposite direction, dealing +25% Ice damage in a Short Range cone.
5. Icicle Strike: Power Attacks spawn icicles that last for +5 seconds.
6. Concussive Shot: Weakpoint hits have a 25% chance to stun targets for +2 seconds. Destroying breakable weakpoints guarantees the stun and doubles its duration.
7. Frostbane: For every active Stone Skin, gain +5% Ice bonus on all melee damage.
8. [ARTIFACT] Nuclear Optics: Enemies caught in your flashlight beam take 30 Radiation damage per second.

New Enemy, Old Weapon

There’s also a brand-new enemy lurking in the caves of Hoxxes. The Voidkin Dominator is a tankier and harder-hitting version of its smaller cousin, the Drifter, giving players another threat to worry about during their runs.

Thankfully, you’ll have an old favorite returning to help deal with it.

The fan-favorite Lok-1 Smart Rifle is making its way into Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core. The weapon will also retain its unique auto-lock firing mechanism, giving players another familiar tool to bring into the depths.

Honorable Mentions

Of course, that’s not everything coming with Update 2. There are plenty of smaller additions and changes arriving alongside the bigger features. Here’s a quick look at some of the other highlights:

• New Entrance Facilities & Cave Generation
• New Molaktula Biome
• All Reclaimers have automatically been granted Security Clearance Level Alpha within the Intel system
• New Artifact Event
• New Alterations:
  • High Stakes: Increased Luck in upgrade RNG, but reduced Expenite gains from all sources.
  • Siege Engines: All enemies, except bosses, move at half speed and have twice as much health.
  • Headhunter: Expenite no longer spawns in caves, but all enemies drop Expenite when killed.
  • Death Mitosis: All Core Spawn split into two smaller “baby zombies” when killed. All enemies, except bosses, have less health.

All of this is launching on Wednesday, September 2, so mark your calendars, grab your favorite drunks, and get ready to dig back into the core of Hoxxes.