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DRG Analysis > Beginner’s Guide to Reviving

Beginner’s Guide to Reviving

This was written before season 5. The principles are the same, but there are some new enemies now.

Is your team in trouble? Are a couple of dwarves down? Or worse, are you the last one alive? Should you try to revive your teammate, or keep kiting and fighting? Here’s some advice for you. (This guide is more useful in higher hazards - lower hazards let you get away with doing whatever.)

Some of you will read this and say “yeah, big deal, isn’t this all obvious?” Good, you’re already an expert! Some will say “I ain’t reading all that but good job”. Oof, you’re missing out. But for everyone else, hopefully this guide helps!

The Big Rule: Only revive if you can do it safely. Everything else is just more detail based on this rule.

Let’s go through the following questions:

• Why is this a good rule?
• What makes a revive unsafe?
• How can you make a revive safer?
• Who should you try to revive first?
• Any other tips?
• This is a long post, do I need to remember all of it?

Why is this a good rule?

Short answer: Taking a little damage is ok. But if you try to revive, and take huge damage or die in the process, then your team will probably be in a worse position than if you just ran away to keep fighting.

Long answer:

If you can revive while taking little or no damage, that’s obviously a good thing. But if you die while holding E on a teammate, you have accomplished nothing. Both of you being dead is worse than only your teammate being dead. If you do manage to finish the revive, but die shortly afterward, your now-alive teammate probably has less health now than you had before. So the situation is still worse. Yes, a successful revive can be a big payoff, but it can’t happen if you’re dead before you finish it. So do it carefully.

There are some exceptions. If the newly-alive teammate is using the Breathing Room armor upgrade (which they should be), they’ll have enough time to grab a resupply and heal (if there is one), or chain-revive someone else (if the someone else is accessible nearby), or throw a shield (if they’re gunner and they have a shield and it’s charged). Or, some things can change the odds and the possible payoff. Do you have field medic? Are you out of ammo anyway? Is someone already in the escape pod? These exceptions require some judgment and are quite high-stakes. So, it’s good as a general rule to only go for safe revives, unless you have a good and clear reason to risk it, and a plan for what should happen before and after. Remember, an unsafe revive usually makes the team worse off.

If things are getting really urgent (you’re the last one alive and low on health and ammo, Doretta’s going to die, machine event is running out, or you just really need to get the team back on track fast for whatever reason) it’s usually better to spend an iron will or two than to go for risky revives. That’s what iron will is for, after all.

It doesn’t have to be perfectly safe. There can still be enemies around. Taking a little damage isn’t a big deal. But you have to learn to figure out how to tell a safe revive from an unsafe one.

What makes a revive unsafe?

Short answer: Any enemy that can heavily damage or interrupt you during the revive. Particularly watch out for: tanks, ranged enemies, and enemies that grab, push, or dig.

Long answer:

It doesn’t matter how many grunts are chewing on the body - they can only target one dwarf at a time, so they will not hit you. This can lead to quite crazy-looking situations where a greybeard stands in the middle of 20 bugs and revives someone without taking a single hit.

But, any enemy with an AOE or ranged attack will hit you, even if they’re targeting the downed dwarf. Remember, you have to stand in place holding E for several seconds. If the death clump contains an enemy that can hurt you during this time, then it’s not safe. Think of that dwarf as off-limits for revive until these problem enemies are neutralized. These enemies include:

• Praetorian
• Oppressor
• Sentinel
• Any projectile enemy (mactera, menace, acid spitter, septic spreader, korlok, patrol bot, spitballer, etc)

That’s what you should look out for on the body. Additionally, look out for yourself! Some enemies can interrupt you or kill you while you try to revive:

• Trash type enemies like grunts, naedocytes, swarmers if they’re targeting you - but only if they’re close enough to swarm you before the revive finishes. If they’re far enough away, you can probably stick the revive.
• Shellback/youngling. If the body is on flat ground, or especially on low ground, KILL THE SHELLBACKS FIRST
• Stingtail (anywhere on the map)
• Grabber (anywhere on the map)
• Dreadnought aggroed on you or anywhere near you - if not aggroed on you then you’re probably good to go
• Any projectile enemy targeting you (mactera, menace, acid spitter, septic spreader, korlok, patrol bot, spitballer, etc)
• Leech! If the downed dwarf is in an unexplored part of the cave, LOOK UP. You should always look up in unexplored areas anyway, but a downed dwarf seems particularly good at making people lose track of their environment.
• Trawler (tho sometimes, if they’re full health, they won’t attack and you can ignore them)
• Anything super obvious, like if a bulk is right next to the body, or there’s a suspicious green radiation field

How can you make a revive safer?

Short answer: Look at the “what makes a revive unsafe?” lists of enemies. Which ones are threatening your revive? Your goal is to stop or slow these from interfering.

Long answer:

There are multiple ways to do this, but each method only affects some of them, so you still have to think about it, and be careful. I’ll describe some options below. But, as you gain experience with your weapons and tools, you should be able to think through all these bullet points basically on the fly. You’ll get better at judging things with practice and experience. Remember, the goal is to recognize problem enemies, and somehow remove them from the problem.

• Gunner shield is the most obvious. It keeps enemies and projectiles out, making it a super powerful tool to revive almost whoever you want. Be careful though, because it doesn’t completely block dreadnought stomps, bulk explosions, sentinel/oppressor/dreadnought/bulk digging, or oppressor ground-pound. Also, shellbacks will roll right through the shield and mess up your revive. Digging enemies can interrupt you by digging the dwarf away from you. Still, gunner shield is usually the best way to “force” a revive.
• CC effects (crowd control: stun, fear, slow, or anything else that makes you safer sooner than you can kill everything) can be a quick way to make a revive safer immediately. Stun C4 is very good at this, as well as all the scout grenades. Phero is super effective but requires bugs nearby, IFG and cryo can both buy you enough time, and boomerangs are the most iffy because they only apply to a limited number of enemies and take time to bounce around - but they are much much better than nothing. Engi lures are also unreliable (they don’t always distract, and they have limited “health”) but better than nothing.
  • Some caveats: Beware that most other sources of stun only last 3 seconds or shorter, which isn’t long enough for a revive. Also, note that praetorian-class enemies tend to resist stun, and oppressors/sentinels/dreads are completely immune to fear. Also, bulks and dreadnoughts will ignore lures and pheromones.
• Grabbers, stingtails, and shellbacks will probably have to just die, because cc effects like stun/fear/slow can’t always reach them and they’re still dangerous even if they’re currently far away. Also, long-range ranged enemies like Menaces or Patrol Bots probably have to be gunned down too.
• AOE slowdowns like sticky flames and sludge can be enough to remove trash from the equation. If the trash was the only thing making it unsafe, you’re good to go! These tools can even buy time against bigger approaching threats, which might just be enough.
• If the downed dwarf uses See You In Hell, that should keep most ground enemies away, and often makes the revive pretty safe. But, watch out for surviving ranged enemies and bosses.
• Drilling the downed dwarf into the ground can provide some shelter from ranged enemies, if you want to attempt a revive during a korlok or caretaker fight. But watch for melee enemies which can still threaten the revive, or mobile ranged bugs which could still get an angle on you.
• If several dwarves are trying to revive at the same time, you don’t have to hold E for as long. So if you can coordinate with your teammates, you might be able to manage a more dangerous revive together. With caution, of course!
• Sometimes you are invulnerable, which makes reviving easier. This is either if you’ve just been revived yourself and are using the Breathing Room armor upgrade, or if you are using Iron Will. Then the only enemies you need to worry about are things that can grab you (stingtail, grabber, leech) or push you (shellback, oppressor, Lacerator) or dig the dwarf away while you’re trying to revive. If any of those are around, you probably want to just look for some kind of healing and then keep fighting to make the revive safer. Only if there’s no other hope should you roll the dice on the revive.

Who should you try to revive first?

Short answer: First ask yourself who’s a safe revive, then ask yourself who will help you the most. It’s probably Gunner.

Long answer: Here’s a bunch of things to consider:

• Whoever is safe and reachable is the obvious limitation. If there are multiple options, then…
• Gunner is probably the best idea if they have shields ready. Shields are very very powerful, and tend to also make Gunner’s Iron Will the most powerful. Revive him normally if you can, and try to save his Iron Will for when the team is really in trouble.
• If the team is low on ammo and nitra, Scout is most able to stay alive while out of ammo. And the most able to get nitra.
• Consider experience level. If you get to choose between reviving Sweet Summer Child (completely unpromoted) vs Magnus McKarlson (3-star legendary), maybe go for the whitebeard.
• Consider what enemies are around, and what each dwarf is equipped with. If it’s a swarmer swarm and Sticky Fuel driller is one of the two near you, probably revive him. If it’s Mactera Plague, maybe go for the Engineer with Roll Control. If you know someone is out of ammo, probably go for someone else.
• Discuss with your teammates, if you can! Communication gives you more information (and perhaps more wisdom) to work with.
• I highly recommend the Death Marker mod to help you instantly tell whose body is which.

Any other tips?

• When reviving, keep an eye on your health and shields. If they start going down, you’ll be able to judge whether you can finish the revive without losing too much health. If one swarmer is chewing on you, and you’re near full health, probably finish the revive. But if your health is going down faster than you like, jump away. Stay alive, and try again once you’ve made it safer.

• If multiple dwarves are down, call a resupply somewhere. Near you is fine, near some of the bodies is better if you can get there. When someone is revived and needs health/ammo, or someone iron wills and needs health, a nearby resupply is a huge help.

• If there’s a big clump of grunts chewing on the downed dwarf, consider leaving them alive while you revive. They won’t attack you, and the revived dwarf may be able to power-attack them for a juicy Vampire heal.

• If there’s one particular threat you want to worry about (for example, if you’re hoping to revive a teammate during a dread fight), then while you’re reviving, try to stand at an angle where you can keep an eye on it.

• If the body is in front of a wind vent, GG. That’s a fat L. I hope you have C4.

This is a long post, do I really have to remember all of it?

All these specific details and lists of enemies are hard to memorize, I get it. Instead of trying to remember everything, try to instead remember the reasoning for it. The “Short Answer:” lines are the big ideas that should guide you. If you can’t remember anything else, remember the Big Rule: Only revive if you can do it safely.

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