How to Find People to Play Deep Rock Galactic With in 2026

Deep Rock Galactic is built around four dwarves who need each other. The Scout lights the cave, the Driller digs the way, the Engineer builds the platforms and the Gunner holds the line when the swarm arrives. A crew that covers each other clears a Hazard 5 Deep Dive. Four strangers who all picked Scout get overrun on the second stage. The server list will always find you a lobby. A crew you’d go back into the caves with is harder to find, so here’s how to build one in 2026.

Why a standing crew beats a random server

Joining a random server gets you into a mission. It doesn’t get you a Driller who digs the escape tunnel before the drop pod lands, or an Engineer who puts a platform under you before you fall. In Deep Rock Galactic, one player who wanders off to mine while the rest are fighting a swarm, or calls the drop pod with half the crew still downed, costs everyone.

A standing crew gets better every mission. You learn who goes for the revive and who holds the choke point, you stop arguing about secondary objectives, and you start reading the cave the same way. That’s what gets a crew through Elite Deep Dives and Hazard 5+, where the game stops forgiving mistakes.

Agree on these before your first drop

• Who plays which class. One of each is the classic split. Agree on mains before you drop, and on who switches if someone can’t make it.
• Hazard level. Hazard 3 and Hazard 5+ are different games. Pick a level everyone enjoys, and move up together.
• What you’re there for. Some crews want the weekly Deep Dives, some want to finish every secondary objective, and some just want a few relaxed missions with a drink at the Abyss Bar. Agree which kind you are.
• Mining versus fighting. Decide who collects minerals during a fight and who covers them, so nobody is left alone with a Praetorian.
• Calling the drop pod. Agree that nobody calls it until everyone’s ready, and that nobody leaves a downed dwarf behind.
• Schedule. A crew only works if people show up. Pick one regular night and stick to it before adding a second.

One of each class

Every class can play every mission, but each one does a job the others can’t:

• Scout. Lights the cave with flares, reaches high minerals with the grappling hook and picks off targets at range.
• Driller. Digs tunnels through most rock, clears routes to objectives and deals with swarms up close.
• Engineer. Builds platforms to reach and cross gaps, and places turrets to cover a position.
• Gunner. Holds the line with heavy weapons, sets up ziplines across chasms and drops a shield to protect a revive.

If your crew is three, pick the class you’re missing based on the mission: a Driller for tight caves and deep objectives, an Engineer for big open caverns. Rotate who plays what between sessions, so a crew where everyone can play two classes still works when someone’s away.

Platforms and cross-play

Deep Rock Galactic is on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation, and cross-play is split:

• PlayStation players play together across PS4 and PS5, but not with PC or Xbox. Ghost Ship ruled out PlayStation cross-play when the console version launched and hasn’t announced it since.
• Steam players play with other Steam players.
• Xbox plays with the Microsoft Store version on PC.

So when you look for a crew, look on your own side of the split. You join a crew through the server list or by inviting friends, and solo players get a drone called Bosco to help.

Hazard levels and Deep Dives

Missions run from Hazard 1 to Hazard 5. Since Season 05, Hazard 5+ sits on top of that, keeping Hazard 5 as the base and letting the host turn up four modifiers: Aggressive Enemies, Player Vulnerability, More Enemies and Tough Enemies.

Deep Dives and Elite Deep Dives are the hardest regular content: multi-stage missions where you keep your health and ammo between stages. They’re where a standing crew pays off most, because one bad stage ends the whole dive.

What’s happening this autumn

Hoxxes Halloween runs from 22 October to 5 November 2026. The flying skulls are back: shoot them down and deposit them for a Double Performance Point Bonus. Complete the Halloween assignment for the new Straw Boss headgear, and finish Last Year’s Horrors to unlock every earlier Halloween hat. The Space Rig is haunted while it lasts.

Further out, Ghost Ship is aiming to release Season 07: Contingency Protocol in December 2026, with about 20 new overclocks for secondary weapons and a reworked perk system. Season 08 follows in summer 2027, alongside the game’s first paid gameplay expansion.

If your crew wants something new, Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is Ghost Ship’s co-op roguelike spin-off for one to four players, in Early Access on Steam since May 2026.

Where to look in 2026

The usual places for Deep Rock Galactic players are the server list, Discord servers and subreddits, and they all have the same gap. There’s no good way to find regular teammates who match your platform, your hazard level and your schedule. A “need a Driller for an Elite Deep Dive, PS5” post gets buried in minutes.

That’s the gap PaxJax fills. Instead of starting over every night, you can:

• Filter players by game, platform, region and schedule, so the dwarves you find are on your side of the cross-play split and online when you are.
• Jump into Deep Rock Galactic game chat to find players who are online and looking right now.
• Send an Invite to Play directly, so getting a crew together takes one tap.
• Save a standing crew with a Looking-for-Team profile, so the same four dwarves come back for the next Deep Dive instead of starting from scratch.

Find Your Deep Rock Galactic Crew

Turn one good mission into a standing crew

When a mission goes well, because someone lit the cave before you asked, someone dug the escape tunnel and someone picked you up when the swarm hit, don’t let those players disappear. Add them, note who plays which class, and invite the same people next time. After a few nights together, you’ll have a crew that clears Deep Dives without needing to talk about it.

The teammates worth keeping are the same on every mission. They go for the revive, they don’t call the drop pod early, and they don’t leave the minerals for someone else to carry. Find three of those and Hoxxes gets a lot less hostile. Rock and Stone.

Ready to find your crew? Find Deep Rock Galactic players & crews on PaxJax →