Slicer Build: Best Loadout, Perks & Enhancements

The Slicer is a melee-first powerhouse in Deep Rock Galactic Rogue Core, and the strongest build revolves around one very simple premise: stack as much cooldown reduction as possible to maximize the uptime of Slash, then take full advantage of what the workbench offers for the Slice ability. The result is massive damage, incredible mobility, and a monstrous slice ability that clears screens faster than you can say "Rock and Stone."

Video Highlights:

• Core loop: cooldown reduction + Slice uptime = nonstop AoE carnage
• Clip System gives Slice +100% melee on hit plus penetration
• Death Resonance and Steadfast Surge snowball your ability recharge
• Stone Skin stacking makes you shockingly tanky
• Red Sugar mechanics heal you through entire swarms

Your first and most important workbench pickup is the Clip System. It grants Slice a +100% increase to melee on hit and gives the ability penetration — this is the key to those screen-clearing pops. The second strong grab is Thermal Wake, which leaves damage-over-time residue on the floor for 5 seconds, ticking for 16 fire damage and synergizing beautifully with fire-based recharge enhancements later in the run.

The build leans on two perk decks working in tandem: Reckon's Recklessness deck and Slicer's Carnage deck. Both decks are packed with useful options, but a few stand far above the rest.

Axe Out deserves special mention: doubling melee damage after emptying a magazine covers both your power swings and your Slice ability — just make sure you carry a weapon with a magazine. Come Get Some can spike to +60% damage with six enemies around you, which happens constantly in swarm phases.

Enhancements are where this Slicer build truly snowballs. The goal is stacking every source of ability and power attack recharge until Slice comes back nearly instantly.

For artifacts, three stand out:

• Brawler — +250% power attack recharge speed and melee damage awards 2–18 Stone Skin depending on damage dealt. With this plus your other Stone Skin sources, you will hit 99 Stone Skin rapidly and spam power attacks every few seconds.
• Frenzy — killing targets grants +20% damage dealt (stacking) at the cost of +5% damage received for 6 seconds. Clear a screen with Slash, then melt the boss with stacked Frenzy buffs.
• CQC Protocol — every 1% max ammo missing per weapon increases melee damage. The weakest of the three, but still serviceable.

Your attribute points lean harder into melee and sustain than most builds. The spread below balances raw power attack damage with survivability:

For weapons, prioritize a magazine-fed gun so Axe Out triggers reliably (it may not work with shotguns — test carefully before committing). Top performers:

Once you have the Clip System, focus on a weapon with an element if it lacks one. Freeze, Poison, and Radiation all work well — you lean on melee so heavily that the gun mostly needs to hit hard and feed your elemental synergies like Fire Leech.