The lift shudders. The Expenite counter blinks: one upgrade could flip this mission from tidy extraction to full-on mayday. I froze for a second and felt the whole run hinge on that tiny, shining number.
I’ve logged dozens of Rogue Core runs and tracked every Expenite roll like a hawk. You get the choices; I’ll give the pattern, tradeoffs, and the gut checks I use when the clock’s bleeding and the swarm is ten seconds away.
Complete list of Expenite upgrades in Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core
I once watched a teammate spend Expenite on a small damage buff and then single-handedly save the mission an hour later.
Below you’ll find the full roster of upgrades sorted by rarity so you can scan fast and pick with confidence. The game hands you options like a noisy vendor in a bazaar—some glint, some whisper, and a few change the run’s math entirely. Treat choices like tools in a kit: the right one makes the difference between tidy extraction and frantic respawn. The tables that follow list every upgrade available as of the current early access build; I’ll flag what I value, when you should chase synergies, and which upgrades I usually skip.
How do I spend Expenite efficiently?
Spend it where your playstyle compounds gains. If you’re the squad’s crowd-control anchor, stack cooldown and area-of-effect helpers; as a skirmisher, favor damage-per-shot and weakpoint synergies. On higher difficulties, prioritize sustain first—armor, healing, and anything that shrinks downtime so you stay in the fight.
Which upgrades are best for solo play?
Solo players want survivability and self-sustain over pure team buffs. Look for Better Red Sugar, Armor Boosts, Hemoforge or Bio Charge, and artifacts like Fountain of Youth or Safety First. These let you trade risky positioning for steadier uptime and fewer clutch revives from strangers on Discord or Steam friends lists.
How much does each upgrade cost?
The first upgrade costs 120 Expenite and price scales upward with each extra boost on the run. Think of the early picks as high-leverage bets; later ones are often marginal gains that shine if they slot into a specific build.
Common upgrades
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Health Reward | Adds +20 Base Health.Heals by 100%. |
| Adaptability | Everytime you hit an enemy, you get +1% Critical Chance until you inflict a Critical Hit. |
| Adhesive Snare | +20% chance to spawn an Adhesive Snare on kill that does 99% Slowdown. |
| Adrenaline Charger | Getting hit reduces active cooldowns by +10% |
| Backburner | When Class Ability is on cooldown, your Pickaxe Damage and Power Attack recharge rate increases by +20%. |
| Burning Exposure | Deal +30% Weakpoint Damage to burning enemies, radiating that damage as Fire Damage in a 2m radius. |
| Combo Strike | Dealing Melee damage recharges your Power Attack by +25%. |
| Cool Precision | Weakpoint hits reduce active ability and power attack cooldowns by +10%, based on damage dealt. |
| Critical Strike | Critical Melee Hits damage all other enemies within +4 meters of the target. |
| Critical Recharge | Critical Hits reduces active ability and power attack cooldowns by +10% of damage dealt. |
| Fire Leech | Ability and Power Attack Recharge Rate increases by +20% per burning enemy within 10 m. |
| Fish In a Barrel | +25% damage against stunned targets. |
| Frost Harvest | Killing medium or large frozen targets gives +3 Stone Skin. Critical kills triple it. |
| Hemoforge | When below 50% Max Health, killing an enemy will make it drop +1 Red Sugar. |
| Magic Missiles | +10% chance to shoot a magic missile when firing your weapon. |
| Marksman’s Loop | Scoring two weakpoint hits in a row with a weapon or tool loads +1 ammo into its magazine. |
| Mercy Trigger | +50% Weakpoint Damage to enemies beneath 50% health. |
| Nerves of Steel | Standing still reduces Spread by +30%. |
| Pelter | +35% Magazine Size |
| Poison Extraction | When poisoned enemies within +5m get hurt, you restore 1 Health per enemy. |
| Subzero Rage | For every frozen enemy within 5m you gain +10% melee damage. |
| Suppressing Fire | Damaging an enemy applies +1 stack of +2% Slowdown for 10s. Stacks up to 45 times. |
| Ticking Bomb | Deal +200 Explosive Damage in a 5m radius after suffering 50 damage total. |
| Vampire | Heal +7 Health on Melee Kill of medium-sized or larger creatures. |
Uncommon upgrades
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Arc Lunge | Hitting electrified targets with Melee Attacks drains their electricity to send arcs of lightning to all enemies within +3 meters. Arc damage scales with damage dealt. |
| Armor Boost | +12 Armor |
| BOOM! You’re Dead! | Killing enemies makes them explode, dealing Explosive Damage equal to kill damage in a +1.5m Radius |
| Crippling Strike | Melee attacks stun enemies for +1.5s |
| Critical Hit Chance | +4% Critical Chance |
| Flux Conduit | For every unit of Armor missing, you gain +1% Ability Recharge Rate |
| Reloading Trick | The first +1 shots in your magazine have a 100% Critical Chance |
| Repositioning | 45% Movement Speed for +2s on reload. |
| Sharpshooter | +50% Weakpoint Damage to targets more than 10m away. |
| Spore Release | Killing poisoned targets leaves behind a poison cloud lasting +5 seconds, dealing 50 Poison damage per second. |
| Steadfast Surge | Standing still increases the recharge rate of ability and power attack by +200%. |
| Stunning Recharge | Stunning an enemy reduces your ability and power attack cooldowns by +20% |
| Sweet Surrender | 25% Chance for medium-sized or larger enemies to drop +1 Red Sugar (10 HP) on death. |
| Ticking Bomb | Deal +300 Explosive Damage in a 5m radius after suffering 50 damage total. |
| Volatile Combustion | Killing a burning enemy deals +150 Fire Damage within a 3m radius. |
Rare Upgrades
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Armor Boost | +18 Armor |
| Armor Charger | +1% Electricity for every armor active. |
| Better Red Sugar | Gain +75% Health from Red Sugar |
| Brittle | Frozen non-boss enemies have (100 – remaining health)% chance to shatter on hit. +50 base chance per additional upgrade. |
| Bolt Dash | Sprinting into enemies deals +50 Electricity damage on impact. Damages scale with velocity. |
| Cold Blood | When taking damage, you transfer +20 Cold Damage to nearby enemies |
| Critical Hit chance | +7% Critical Chance. |
| Critical Burn | Critical hits get +50% Heat. |
| Defibrillation | Revive other players +50% faster. |
| Duck and Weave | +15% Dodge Chance when sprinting. |
| Hot Feet | Spawn flames while moving. Flames last +2 seconds & deal 7-28 Fire Damage per second and 10% slowdown. |
| Magazine-Routed Heat | Do +1% Heat per 1% ammo missing from your magazine. |
| Provoking | While your health is above 25% you attract +30% enemy aggro! |
| Oozing Arsenal | Reloading or overheating emits a toxic pulse in a +4m radius, dealing 10% Poison per 10% magazine spent or heat built up. |
| Poison Aura | Spawn poison clouds while moving. Clouds last +2s seconds and deal 50 Poison Damage per second and 30% Slowdown. |
| Snapfire Extraction | Scoring two Weakpoint Hits in a row on the same target makes it drop +1 red sugar (20 HP). 0.5 Second Cooldown. |
| Ticking Bomb | Deal +500 Explosive damage in a 5m radius after suffering 50 damage total. |
| Wayward Sparks | While armor is active, auto-fire +1 homing bolt that deals 20 Electricity Damage. Bolt Rate Of Fire scaled per % of armor active. |
Epic Upgrades
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| 8-FF Booster | When an ally is within a +5m radius, you both recover 1 Armor every second. |
| Ability Booster | Using your class ability within +10m of allies reduces yours and theirs active ability cooldowns by 25%. |
| Air Jump | +1 Jumps while Airborne. |
| Armor Boost | +24 Armor. |
| Better Red Sugar | Gain 100% Health from Red Sugar. |
| Blood Rush | +3% Damage per 10% current Health. |
| Cooling Unit | For every 10% Armor active, you deal +2 Cold Damage to enemies within a 4m radius per second. |
| Critical Hit Chance | +10% Critical Chance. |
| Critical Shot | Weakpoint hits get +30% Critical Chance. |
| Cryo Drain | Frozen enemies within 5m take +10 Damage per second and recover your Armor by 1. |
| Damage Dam | Taking Health damage gives you 100% damage reduction for +1s. |
| Decoy | When your health goes under 25%, you spawn +1 decoy. |
| Defensive Fighting | Dealing Melee Damage makes you invincible for +2s. Has a 3-second cooldown. |
| Exposing Shot | Critical hits make the target take 2x damage for +1 second. |
| Gun-Link | When within 5m of another Player, you Both Deal +33% Damage. |
| Magazine Overdrive | Every 1% ammo missing in your magazine adds +1% damage. |
| Magnetic Propulsion | For every 10% active Armor you gain +5% Sprinting Speed and 2% less gravity. |
| Precision Regen | Recover +5 Armor when scoring two weakpoint hits in a row. |
| Shock Charger | Being within +3m of electrified enemies regenerates 1 Armor per enemy every second. |
| Warden | Being within 5m of an ally below 25% health makes you both heal +3% max Health every second. |
Legendary Upgrades
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Armor Battery | While below 20% Armor, restore +1 Armor every second when not taking damage for 3 seconds. |
| Armor Boot | +30 Armor. |
| Better Red Sugar | Gain 150% Health from Red Sugar. |
| Bio Energy | Convert 1% target max health into ammo on kill. |
| Bio Charge | Killing an enemy refills your armor by 2. |
| Critical Hit Chance | +15% Critical Chance. |
| Exposing Strike | Dealing melee damage makes the target take 200% Damage for +3s. |
| Immunity Buffer | Gain 2 seconds of immunity after using your suit ability.Every hit received during this time recovers +5 Armor. |
| In The Zone | +25% Crit Chance and Crit Damage for 5 seconds after scoring a Critical Hit. |
Artifacts
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Adrenaline Booster | Do +100% damage when below 20% health. |
| Bastion | +50% damage and +50% Damage reduction while standing still |
| Brawler | +250% Power Attack Recharge Speed. Dealing Melee Damage awards 2-18 Stone Skin, depending on the Damage dealt. |
| Caching | +100% overkill damage is transferred to the next damage you deal |
| Ceramic Defence | Gain +40% Damage Reduction.-1% Damage Reduction for each percent of missing Health |
| Critical Dodge | +10% Critical Hit Chance. 50% of your Critical Hit Chance is added as Dodge Chance. |
| Combat-Ready | When a wave spawns, you get +99 Stoneskin & +25% Damage, Fire rate, Reload Speed, Cooling rate and Interaction Speed for 30 seconds. |
| CQC Protocol | Every 1% Max Ammo missing per weapon gives +1% melee damage. |
| Elementalist | Every time you reload or overheat, the weapon gets imbued with a random +50% elemental bonus. |
| Extreme Vigor | +50 Health Regeneration Threshold.-2s Health Regeneration Delay.+1000% Health Regeneration Rate. |
| Fountain of Youth | Recovers +1 HP every 2s. |
| Frenzy | Killing targets adds +20% Damage Dealt |
| Frontline Medic | When everyone but you is down, you get +50% revive speed and +99 Stoneskin. 5-minute cooldown. |
| Glass Cannon | Adds +150% Damage.Reduces Max Health by -90%. |
| Heavy Landing | Every time you land, you do damage in an area instead of taking damage yourself. The harder you land, the more damage you do. |
| Lightweight | Adds 55% Movement Speed. Reduces Movement Speed by -10 for each piece of Gear carried. |
| Pro | +10% Reload Speed.+5% Crit Chance. +10% Max Health. +10% Sprint Speed. |
| Rampage | +1% Damage per kill.Getting hit reduces the bonus by 5%. |
| Safety First | +50% Max Health. |
| Sniper’s Mark | Hitting a target’s weak point at a distance of +12 meters grants 100% Critical Chance against it for 5 seconds. |
| Symbiotic | Being within 10m of an ally increases both of your Damage Resistances by 15%. |
| Super Strapped | +100% Max Ammo.+100% Max Grenade Count.-10% Movement Speed. |
| Tarred Hands | +50% Reload speed |
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is still in early access; new upgrades arrive in patches and player feedback from Steam, Reddit threads, and Discord channels often surfaces the clever combos that formal patch notes miss. I’ll keep these tables current as changes land, and I’ll annotate the ones that shift the meta.
I keep two simple rules when I’m choosing: pick what reduces failure chance first, then what amplifies your role. Decisions here can feel like flipping a coin in a lightning storm—thrilling, dangerous, and occasionally profitable. If you had to bet one Expenite on the next run, which upgrade would you grab and why?