Throughout your mining expeditions in the caves of Hoxxes, you may have stumbled upon the extremely rare Error Cube in Deep Rock Galactic. No one knows a lot about these weird purple & black vibrating cubes, but here is what we do know.
What Is an Error Cube Worth?
Deep Rock Galactic has dozens of resources, and many of them are pretty rare to discover. Currently, the rarest and most valuable resource in the game is the ERR://23¤Y%/, otherwise known as Error Cubes. Each Deep Rock Galactic Error Cube mined gives you a massive 4,000 XP bonus at the end of the level.
How Rare are Error Cubes in Deep Rock Galactic?
Each Error Cube in Deep Rock Galactic has roughly a 1/26 chance of appearing. This is true across all mission types and planetary regions. Compared to the second rarest resource in the game, the Bittergem has a 1/21 chance of spawning. The Bittergem only gives between 1000 and 1500 credits. And while the Bittergem has a roughly 5% chance of spawning, each Error Cube has around a 4% chance of spawning.
Where To Find an Error Cube
Error Cubes appear buried within walls like Compressed Gold, Jadiz, or Aquarq’s. The cube’s buried in reflective gray spikes that shimmer a light hue of purple. Unlike other resources, when the mineral is extracted, its spawn location stops glowing. Error Cube pockets continue to shine even when the cube is removed.
Aside from a large amount of experience each Deep Rock Galactic Error Cube gives at the end of a level, they have very few other known purposes. If you find and mine 5 Error Cubes, you will get the trophy/achievement, “What Are These Things?”. Even after obtaining the achievement, they are still incredibly worth the extra trouble to obtain for giving tons of experience for leveling quickly to Promote or getting a weapon to unlock assignments faster. Sadly, the experience gained from the Error Cube isn’t affected by the Hazard Level Bonus, giving the same 4000 experience across any difficulty.
The Mystery of the Deep Rock Galactic Error Cube
Aside from the turn-in reward, the Error Cube’s purpose remains unclear, even to the miners of Deep Rock Galactic. Marking the cube with a laser pointer, the dwarfs will respond with questionable remarks such as: “What the heck is this” or “I wonder if it’s edible.”
In the game files, the Error Cube is referred to as a Precursor Artifact. Its appearance is highly related to the Error Helixes. Error Helixes are also extremely rare like their related cubes but are structures that also no one knows about. Helixes have been reported to have a higher spawn chance in Radioactive Exclusion Zones but can spawn in other biomes. Usually, Error Helixes spawn in groups of 2-5 and are jet black and seem to absorb light, including from flares. When aiming a laser pointer at the helix, the tooltip reads, ERR://19%T#/, which is like the cube’s, ERR://23¤Y%/.
Other Easter Eggs
If you have upgraded your beer license and have access to the Smart Stout, there is one additional in-game reference to the Error Cubes. After drinking the Smart Stout, there is a chance a dwarf will mention the purpose of the cubes before the effect wears off and they lose the thought.
Ghost Ship Games has made several hints that the Error Cube may be connected to some unrevealed DRG lore. The jokes and hints continue with one of the screens in the Space Rig showcasing the Employee of the Month from Deep Rock Galactic’s Discord. One of the few messages shown when showcasing a community member is the message: “Secretly knows what the Error Cube is for. Won’t tell anyone.”
Perhaps the Error Cube is tied with the new Rival Tech faction in Season 2 of Deep Rock Galactic. The Error Cube & Error Helix could be what the robots are mining for or even possibly made with. The speculation around the Error Cubes could be revealed in the future, or perhaps we will never know.
