Deep Rock Galactic | The Problem With Engineer Primary Weapons

In this video we are going to be discussing all of the primary weapons for the Engineer class in Deep Rock Galactic. I have heard a lot of complaints about Engi's weapons, at least the primary weapons. I think is for one major reason though.

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[p_serdiuk]

Engi's primaries are really Personal Defence Weapons, as their main role is to allow him to defend himself at close range, not to contribute to the team's DPS output. His secondaries, turrets, and grenades do the jobs that the team really needs him for, which is area denial and quickly deleting high HP targets or clumped up groups of trash mobs.

[BadShotDR]

As a player whose only maximum ranked dwarf and whose main dwarf by extension is Engineer, his primaries (I think) are “supposed” to have synchrony with the turrets, if that makes sense. I presume the devs have an assumption that, when playing Engineer, your turret or turrets (depending on how you build your turrets) are “supposed” to compensate/offset what firepower the primary weapons bring to the table.

When you consider Engineer has access to overclocks such as mini shells, turret em discharge or turret arc, explosive chemical rounds or executioner, and mods such as turret whip, the electric mods on stubby, and the range buffing lenses on the lok-1, there is an impression that your primary weapons are aimed to put in work that the turrets do not. The same reasoning can be applied with the secondary weapons, but while the secondary weapons are known for their overkill power in numerous regards, the primary weapons complete the jobs the turrets do not necessarily specialize in.

I’ve found the turrets being best at residual damage, swarm slow down, and area control, and this goes for either a one turret or two turret build. Whatever the mission, I am prepared to have all my weapons and tools do work, and I don’t feel like my primary weapons are going to do an undermined job.

If I got the warthog, I’ll be reliably taking down the health of larger enemies, which is something the turrets can do, but not always efficiently, especially when the turrets can handle swarms and smaller enemies with more idea efficiency.
If I got the stubby, the electricity offsets the raw bullet damage of the stubby, so the ammo efficiency is top notch, and my turrets aren’t wasting ammo inadvertently, and this makes swarms less costly toward ammo.
If I have the lok-1, my range is far superior than the range of my turrets, therefore my turret’s longevity is increased, and depending on what overclock I have on, the health of various enemy types are drained quickly with minimal danger.

I’ve played and main many engineer type characters in multiple shooters, and from that I’ve learned how much the turret-part of the character is not the main course; rather, the turrets are side dishes and the main course is how well you, the actual engineer, utilize and bring the entire meal together, if that makes sense. If you think a part of your meal is underwhelming or a different part of it is too overwhelming, it’s not necessarily the part of dish at fault, but the synchrony and offset BETWEEN them all that is the reason why for these senses of being underwhelmed or overwhelmed.

Do I see why people say Engineer’s primaries are underwhelming? Yes, sure.
Do I agree? No, not really, I’m used to the holistic aspect of finding full use in each function of Engineer’s kit.

I hope this helps, as long as this comment was! Rock & Stone!

Edit 6-1-23: It’s really cool to see all the positive feedback and I’ve since then got every class to Legendary tier as of yesterday!

[TheAbyssalStorm]

Engie’s playstyle is less of being the “wall” that bugs have to get through, that’s Gunner’s job, but rather being the guy who thins down the hoard, giving his teammates some extra leeway. His secondaries and turrets excel at that, but his primaries are more focused on supportive roles. The Warthog is good at clearing smaller groups of grunts, Stubby debuffs the bugs, slowing them down, and the Lok-1 clears flying enemies quite nicely.

[Baphelon]

I think Engi's primaries are perfect, because if you try to defend yourself with JUST your primaries, you will run out of ammo very quickly. Your primary is not for horde clearing, it's for mopping up after your team and your turrets. Whenever I go back to engi after playing other classes for a while I always die a ton, because I forget that turrets are this classes bread and butter. They can be unassuming and you may not notice them when they're there, but you DEFINITELY notice when they're not.
With OCs and experience of course this can change a lot, but at baseline this is how the game wants you to think. You are a master of area denial, so while other characters like to hop all over the place during hordes, you are at your strongest when you dig your boots in at one spot and fight like hell.

[Wheelz]

Engi is built around his ability to control the flow of the bugs, with his Turret at the heart of it all.

That's something i think new players might have to learn, as it's not immediately apparent when first starting.

Engi has a "loop" to his play, in that you're meant to be traversing the cave while always looking for places for your Turret(s). If you're not proactive with your turret you're going to feel underpowered.

The primary is meant to be your "mop up" weapon while you get from one vantage to the next, and to clean up heavier targets your turret is focusing.

Engi is very much a class you have to use every tool to make the most of the class, and the primary is just one part of that ensemble. In a vacuum the primaries will look bad in comparison to the other class primaries also in a vacuum.

But together with the Turret, grenades and even the platform gun with the bug repellent, that's how you make Engi be the most OP in the game

[birdmustard]

I feel that the raw power you can get out of Engie's secondaries make the primaries have to be a little underpowered to balance them, but the small pool of ammo for their secondaries makes them run out quickly, while the primaries sometimes feel like they're not doing much. So green beard engie's may be struggling to play the class well from underusing their turrets.

[Jaqoum_The_Wizard_King]

Engi’s primary’s are his *second* line of defence. He was designed to work around his guns, so his primary (which isn’t meant to be his main damage source) takes a backseat to the aimbot guns.

[roguedm]

I've been playing Engi for a long time and I had forgotten how rough it feels to play him without upgrades and overclocks. As a fully kitted out engi I don't find I have these problems. My warthog damage and ammo management is pretty good. Better than scouts. With experience you will end up fighting along with your turret when the horde arrives and you're only using your primary on its own when moving between caverns.

[horactixtv]

As an Engineer player- primaries are terrific. Even the stubby which I consider the weakest is still extremely good.
His primary can be built anyway the player wants. Engineer is a jack of all trades type dwarf.
Single target dmg? Executioner/CycleOverload
Swarm clearing? EM Refire/Turret whip.
Want infinite ammo? Light-weight rounds.
Want a better Warthog? Magnetic Pellet Alignment.
Don't even want to aim? ExplosiveChemRounds.
This is without accounting for his secondary (which is even stronger in most cases) and his nades (plasma and mine, VERY GOOD STUFF)
Whoever complains about ammo issues are forgetting to put down their sentries, lol.

[TheMagus]

I think if you're overusing Engi's primaries it can really feel like you have a bad ammo economy, but if you're taking full advantage of your turrets, secondary, and throwables it's not bad at all.

[emgee]

Engineer's damage and contribution to his team is spread out across his entire kit, rather than (mostly) condensed into their weapons like gunner/driller, you gotta use your whole kit to make the most of it.

[xander__yalnif]

I believe Engineer's primaries exist to eliminate the survivors of those targeted by his secondary weapons and turrets, his primaries are the sidearm to the power weapons of his secondary slot.
That's how I use them anyway, and as general personal defence between large waves of enemies, but whenever there's more than a handful of grunts, the secondary comes out to obliterate them, the sentries deal with swarmers, and the primary extinguishes the survivors that slip past it all.

[notenote]

Gotta love the question of "What's the problem with the Engineer Primaries?" being answered with "There is no problem."

[Old_Man_Bernard]

Engi's primaries are very good as an all around tool, his secondaries are where his big burst damage lies, the others are more support tools than anything.

[KhunShawn]

I honestly haven’t been paying attention to this video but I want to say thank you for the background noise, your tone and delivery is really well done for someone I don’t think is using a script.

[TheYellowAznBoiZ]

I have only played like 30 games with random at most so my sample size is small, but I noticed a lot of engineers usually forget about their turrets, platforms and relied on their primaries and or the damn grenade launcher (usually of the nuke variation) It's a bit frustrating since their primary doesnt help a lot and the nuking get old fast when they are used mindlessly and end up hindering everyone. I understand that setting up turrets is a hassle and requires some planning which many seems to lack (or dont take the fast build upgrade)

[SpaceDwarfNova]

I feel like Engineer's primaries are fine, same with the other classes. I agree with having trouble balancing Engi cuz he also has the turrets. The turrets I feel like kinda take away from the ammo Engi would otherwise have had on his weapons. Rock and Stone!

[przemekolchowy]

One thing I noticed about Engi over my time playing it is that he's not ammo inefficient, at least not to the point most players tend to believe.
He is simply very fast to kill stuff, which obviously burns a lot of ammo. After all, your turrets passively engage everything at the range, providing constant firepower.
Sometimes it's better to stop pulling the trigger at every enemy that enters your line of sight and let turrets and other players take care of it. You let the guns rip during swarms and dangerous waves, and at High-Value targets.

[DangStank]

His primary weapons shouldn’t be strong. His secondaries are huge wave clears, and his sentries are good sustained support. His primaries are pretty much for taking out a few stragglers too keep yourself alive

[arturmagomedov]

Engineers weapons are pretty strong. He is by far the most powerful dwarf in the game. His killing potential and capability is insane. He needs a nerf or everyone else a buff