Deep Scan
Deep Scan is a mission type in Deep Rock Galactic.
| “ | Alright, listen up: Locate Resonance Crystals using your HUD-mounted Rangefinders. Call in Scanners from orbit and mount these on the crystals. These will pinpoint the location of a Morkite Geode. Inside, you will find the objective of this mission: Precious Morkite Seeds. Bring them back, Team. |
| — Mission Control |
A Morkite Geode has been detected in the area, and Management wants you to find it and collect its 
Morkite Seeds for further analysis by R&D.
Deep Scans
Players are initially tasked with performing 3 or 5 Deep Scans, depending on the mission length. This is done by finding the specified number of Resonance Crystals using the proximity-based Telemetric Rangefinder in the top left of the HUD. It features an oscillating colored bar, which at the peak of each oscillation shows the player's distance to the nearest resonance target. When within 40 meters of a Resonance Crystal, the bar is yellow. If the player is further than 40 meters, the bar is blue and indicates [DISTANT]. Next to the bar is one of three symbols: ⬥, ▲ or ▼. They show whether the Resonance Crystal is near the level of the player, above them, or below them, respectively. The crystal can still be slightly below the player's feet when the locator shows ⬥. Additionally, each Resonance Crystal emits a faint shimmering noise within a short range, which can assist in pinpointing its location.
Once a Resonance Crystal is located, it must be dug out. Below a thin layer of normal terrain, the crystal itself is surrounded by a white mineral material which has a smaller than usual carve radius when dug with a pickaxe. Once the central crystal has been sufficiently dug out, a pocket of space around it is automatically cleared. Players can then request a Resonance Scanner Pod by holding the [USE] key ("E" by default) while looking at the crystal. After the Resonance Scanner arrives, it must be connected to the crystal using the built in cable. After routing the cable to the Resonance Crystal, it must be fully connected by holding the [USE] key at the end of the cable. Once connected, a single Deep Scan is completed.
Drillevator
After the required number of Deep Scans have been completed, a Drillevator is automatically called down to a nearby location, falling similarly to the Drop Pod. The Drillevator must be started by first pressing 4 outer buttons located on its claw tracks, which triggers guard rails to rise around the edge of the platform. A final red button then extends from the central drill engine, which can be pressed to begin the drilling sequence.
While the Drillevator is digging, a constant horde of bugs spawns and attacks from above. Simultaneously, the 4 outer claw tracks gradually degrade, requiring repeated maintenance. When a claw track is close to breaking, its lights flash red and it emits a pulsing alarm sound. The Drillevator stops moving if a claw track breaks, and does not start again until it is repaired. The claw tracks can be repaired by holding the [USE] key ("E" by default). While being repaired, a claw track does not further degrade. Multiple players can cooperate to repair a claw track more quickly if it is not broken, but a broken claw track cannot be repaired faster in this way.
The Drillevator occasionally encounters a hard patch of stone, bringing it to a halt for a few seconds. Similarly, once it reaches the outer shell of the geode, the Drillevator will also stop for a brief period. Once this final pause is reached, the claw tracks stop degrading.
Turrets and shields automatically stick to the Drillevator, and follow it downward as it moves. Certain enemies such as the Q'ronar Shellback have no collision with the Drillevator. Instead, they fall through the platform and instantly die upon contact with the drill, similar to how the Drilldozer kills enemies instantly.
Morkite Geode
After its final stop, the Drillevator and dwarves are dropped into the center of the geode. Players must then find and collect 7 Morkite Seeds located throughout the geode, and deposit them into the M.U.L.E. The green Morkite Seed clusters must be destroyed to collect the seed inside, which can be destroyed directly with a pickaxe, drills, or Impact Axe. Morkite Seeds can also be collected by removing (exploding, drilling) the terrain below.
Extraction
After the required number of Morkite Seeds have been deposited, the button on the M.U.L.E becomes available to call the Drop Pod. Once the Drop Pod has been called, it always drops somewhere in the cave above the geode. The Drillevator also opens up to reveal 4 pairs of experimental Mk 2 Jet Boots, which function similarly to normal Jet Boots, but recover from overheating significantly faster, allowing players to fly up out of the geode. The Drop Pod will still wait for the M.U.L.E to arrive before opening its doors.
Enemy Spawning
- Main article: Swarm
In Deep Scan, enemies can spawn at the start of a mission, periodically throughout the scanning phase of the mission, and in announced swarms every few minutes. After all of the scans have been completed, enemies stop naturally spawning. Once the Drillevator starts, a constant swarm begins until the geode is breached. After this point, enemies again stop spawning, though enemies previously spawned during the drilling phase can continue to trickle into the geode. No further enemies spawn until the extraction phase.
Cave
The caves in Deep Scan consist of two separate parts.
The first part, where the Drop Pod lands, is a sprawling system of random caves connected by tunnels and containing all of the resources and events in the mission. The almost maze-like structure of these caves can make it difficult to find the required resonance targets.
The second part is the geode itself, which is significantly smaller than the main cave, and is uniquely composed entirely of various crystals. The geode is shaped like a very rough sphere, and is located far below the main cave.
Objectives
Primary Objective
- Perform Deep Scans
- Activate the Drillevator
- Descend to the Morkite Geode
- Collect Morkite Seeds
| Length | Complexity | Objective | Primary Payout | Secondary Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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Perform 3 Deep Scans |  600  2200
|
200 (250 for  ) 700 (685 for )
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Perform 5 Deep Scans | 1002 3674
|
334 (417 for ) 1169 (1143 for )
|
Secondary Objective
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Trivia
- Deep Scan was introduced in Season 05: Drilling Deeper.
- It is possible to manually dig to the geode without the Drillevator; see Tips & Tricks for more information.
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