Advanced Tips for The First Descendant

Discover an advanced guide for The First Descendant: animation canceling, weapon load-outs, farming locations, Void Intercept tips, and more.

Advanced Tips for The First Descendant

Welcome to the ultimate tips guide for mastering The First Descendant! Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting, this guide will provide advanced tips and strategies to elevate your gameplay. We’ve got you covered, from optimizing your characters and understanding the intricacies of world content to perfecting your weapon load-outs and maximizing your mastery rank. Dive into the details of farming locations, operations, and the crucial Void Intercept missions to ensure you’re always one step ahead.

Descendants and Characters

In The First Descendant, each player should ideally have three Descendant characters tailored for different aspects of gameplay: one for fun, one for farming, and one for boss void intercept battles. Farming means quickly gathering materials or completing quests as fast as possible. Void Intercept Battles are all about damage and survivability, and depending on the boss, they can be done within seconds with the right build. Lastly, fun is just what you like to play, regardless of whether it is a meta build.

Best Farming Descendants (characters):

• Bunny: is the fastest, with massive AOE, and your number one unlock to aim for when starting the game. She’s also capable of soloing most boss fights and gives you dual usage.
• Valby: unlike Bunny, Valby can lay down puddles of water and pre-damage mobs as they appear. This gives her a unique advantage for farming over Bunny in specific locations.
• Sharen: best character for farming patterns due to infiltration mission bonus.
• Enzo: he’s very good for farming code breakers, which regard massive Kuiper shards.

Best Bossing Descendants (characters):

• Lepic: best burst one-shot boss damage with Overkill skill.
• Gley: best-sustained damage descendant.
• Ajax: useful tank whose damage is low, but survivability and utility are high.
• Yujin: is a true healer who helps when encountering high damage, and you cannot burn the mechanics.

Below are the order of Descendants characters you should unlock in order The First Descendant:

1. Lepic – starter character for bosses
2. Bunny – farming, and campaign completion
3. Sharen – infiltration and patterns
4. Enzo – Encrypted vaults
5. Gley – sustained DPS

World Content

In The First Descendant, engaging with world content is crucial for efficient material gathering and progression. It is the best source for acquiring essential items such as void shards, equipment, reactors, and weapons. You can gather valuable resources to enhance your characters and gear by exploring various areas and completing world missions. Below are some advanced tips for engaging in World Content in the First Descendant:

Set to Private: When farming content you want undisturbed, set the world to private. You or anyone in your team will have the entire instant to yourself. This is helpful when doing infiltration missions, as someone can interrupt, and it eliminates the possibility of bonus rewards.

Find Drops: to find the best reactor drops, go to your map and press F for difficulty rewards. Each zone will specify gold reactors and which weapon type they drop. If you use Lepic and want a Fire and Tech reactor for your Greg’s Reversed Fate, you must find a Fire and Tech zone with Special Rounds. This allows you to min-max your reactor for your specific weapon loadout.

Zone Bonuses: In the bottom left of your map screen, each zone has one enemy bonus and one enemy debuff. This allows you to swap weapons, mods, or reactors to take advantage of each zone’s mechanics.

Icons and Time: another advanced tip is to look at each mission icon and the time required. Ideally, you want to farm missions for 5 minutes and green materials, while 15 or 30 minutes are likely operations and more time-consuming. Additionally, some normal mode missions give the same rewards and are much faster to complete, so swap from hard to normal to check.

Farming Locations and Tips

Farming efficiently is key to advancing in “The First Descendant.” Certain locations are particularly effective for gathering resources and gaining experience. The Bunny Cave is renowned for providing excellent XP, while Sterile Lands offers a well-rounded farming experience. Valby is another versatile location that is good for everything except XP farming. For new players or those who prefer not to solo, Echo Swamp provides a great XP boost. Knowing where to farm and how to maximize your resource collection will greatly enhance your gameplay. Below are the recommended farming locations and advanced tips in the First Descendant:

• Valby Grind—This grind is found in the Fortress, Recon Mission Vulgus Strategic Outpost near the Defense Line. It is good for materials but low in experience. It uses Valby to pre-load damage with her puddles and instantly kill enemies, collecting massive Kuiper Shards and Gold.
• Bunny Cave – Located in the Fortress, Void Fragment mission in the Fallen Ark Region. Bunny Cave is designed just for Bunny, who can quickly activate the electric void destructible item and kill the enemies quickly. This grind is the best for Void Fragments and XP but lacks modules, weapons, and reactors.
• Sterile Lands – the Sterile Lands grind is the best overall providing great XP, materials, weapons, and modules. You can find this in the Rockfall zone, mission Anticipated Ambush Point. Make a counterclockwise circle and destroy the enemies quickly for a big gold reward at the end.

Operations

There are two types of operations in the First Descendant: special and Infiltration. Operations are the instanced-based four-player content, with Special Operations being waves of enemies while Infiltrations are “dungeon” designed.

Special Operations: these help farm specific patterns and stabilizers. However, it’s not the best way to farm patterns, but it rewards a decent experience. Moreover, the Echo Swamp Resource Defense is the best farm for XP if you are new, have low survivability, and are a solo player. There are always other players queuing for this activity, and it can help get your Descendant level and weapon process leveled up quickly.

Infiltrations: these are done at normal or hard mode difficulty. The biggest advanced tip is to look at the battery rewards in the top left of the UI. You can change the patterns that drop, but you must manually select them. This is a helpful tip because the access info will sometimes display amorphous material patterns in infiltrations, but they won’t be selected by default. Moreover, you can add modifiers to increase your skill score. The kill score is related to the pattern drop chance, and having a higher score gives you a better chance at rare patterns or stabilizers. However, the max scores are difficult to obtain and may require you to delay infiltration progression to kill more enemies.

The last advanced tip on Infiltration operations is that they are a primary source of Transcendant Module collection. Use the access tab to find your missing transcendent module, which will likely be a Hard Mode Void intercept boss or within an Infiltration operation.

Void Intercept

Void Intercept missions are boss battles with a single target enemy and present unique challenges and rewards in The First Descendant. Below are advanced tips for defeating bosses in the First Descendant:

Immunity: A third bar will appear under the boss’s shield, and a red health bar will look purple, causing immunity to become “frenzied.” The bar fills up as players do non-weak point damage to the boss. Once the bar is full, the boss will enter a state of invulnerability, and you’ll need to shoot a canister, destroy barrels, or use some other mechanic to resume damage. The best tip for handling immunity is focusing on weak point damage and grappling the shoulder to delay the immunity phase.

Weak Point Damage: to find a weak point, look at the User Interface before jumping into the battle. This will give you spots on the individual boss susceptible to damage. When frenzied, You will see destructible, removable, and destructible parts. You always aim to damage destructible parts and grapple on weakened parts. A powerful tip for grappling with bosses is that it prevents the immunity bar from filling while you are atop the boss. Moreover, if you destroy the part, the boss will become vulnerable for a few seconds, allowing for free damage.

Grappling

Grappling: look for a yellowish weakened removable part, typically the shoulder. Players can then attach a grappling, preferred for long-distance maneuvering, to the part. A yellow meter will appear on your right and a red meter above the player. You want to hang on as long as possible and destroy the part at the last second. This will give your team optimal damage and a free phase.

Resistance: Each boss will have resistance to elements and weaknesses. Therefore, it’s helpful to bring not only Descendants that exploit the boss’s weakness but weapon modules like Toxic, Fire, Chill, etc. to inflict additional elemental damage.

Weapon Loadouts

Optimizing your weapon load-outs is vital for tackling different aspects of The First Descendant. Create specific load-outs for single targets, boss battles, and mobbing scenarios. Balancing long-range and close-range options, adjusting base weapon stats, and managing elemental swaps can significantly impact your effectiveness in combat. Consider the positives and negatives of mods, readjust them as necessary, and lock in the best combinations to ensure your load-outs are always ready for any situation you encounter. Below are advanced tips for weapons in the First Descendant:

Weapon Stats: Each weapon has a base stat that you can see without modules equipped and by selecting the tab key. This gives you an idea of what to build into. For instance, the Thunder Cage submachine gun has a 20% critical hit rate and 2x critical hit damage. Meanwhile, the Python submachine base stats are 5% critical hit rate and 1.3x critical hit damage. Therefore, it’s best to build the Python for weak point damage and the Thunder Cage for critical hit and damage.

Swap Elements: Depending on the encounter and boss battle, swap out elemental mods like chill, electric, toxic, and fire.

Negative Traits: Action and reaction are such powerful modules that taking increased recoil is okay.

Readjustments: to save resources, readjust your weapons until you get two powerful bonuses like Firearm ATK, Critical Hit Rate, or damage against Colossus. Then lock them in, which increases the cost but still allows you to get close to minimum on minimal resources.

Catalyst: don’t catalyst every module slot in your weapon because you will likely change 1-2 per encounter. Equipping a module in the wrong socket will double your cost, and thus it’s best to leave one spot free.

Descendant Modules Tips – The First Descendant

Modules are critical for enhancing your descendants’ abilities in “The First Descendant.” Transcendence mods can significantly boost your performance, while skill changes and reactor adjustments allow for greater customization. Focus on achieving a skill power over 100% and manage your HP and DEF to ensure survivability. Below are some Descendant Module advanced tips in the First Descendant:

Skill Power vs. Skill Power Modifier: when optimizing for damage, look for skill power modules if your skill has over 100% skill power. However, if the skill has below 100% skill power, look for skill power modifiers.

Transcendence: these are the most powerful endgame modules but also change your skill function. An advanced tip is these change your skill types as well. Therefore, ensure the proper reactor is equipped based on the skill and descendant attribute changes.

Shields: Shields are a poor defensive stat and should generally be avoided. This is partly because they require downtime to recharge, and unlike health, there are no health bricks to pick up, and shields automatically restore huge portions of health.

HP and DEF: every build can benefit from at least one HP and DEF increase module. Unless the boss is burning, look to equip two each until familiar with the content to increase survivability.

HP Collector: One of the best mobbing modules is HP Collector. This module gives back health upon kills and allows you to be aggressive.

Damage Reduction: if you still struggle with survivability, look for damage reduction modules like Safe Recovery. This doesn’t need to be upgraded and still provides -4.5% damage reduction at only 4 module capacity.

External Components Tips

External components offer valuable bonuses that can enhance your gameplay in “The First Descendant.” Understanding the 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses and how to farm for specific setups will give you an edge in battle. Customize your components to align with your playstyle and character needs, ensuring you maximize the benefits of these powerful enhancements. Strategic use of external components can significantly improve your performance and adaptability in various combat scenarios. Below are some advanced tips for External Components in the First Descendant:

Double Two Pieces: you don’t need a four-piece set for optimal stats. For instance, Tomb Vanguard provides a 25% increase in DEF for only two pieces and can be combined with two-piece annihilation for increased skill duration. Most of the ultimate quality external components are designed for one specific character; however, 2/2 pieces are considered viable and sometimes optimal options.

Farming: swap out your external components when farming vs. bossing. Item acquisition, equipment drop rate, EXP gain, Kuiper Shard drop, Gold drop, and firearm Proficiency gain are the most important bonuses for grinding and farming.

Reactor Bonuses

Regarding reactors, an advanced tip is to select the best bonuses on your four reactor slots optimally. There are diminishing returns on the DEF stat around 40,000, so Max HP is typically sought after as the best stat. Then, you can get another Max HP on Auxiliary Power and Sensor, while Memory and Processor can have DEF and shields. Lastly, the third bonus should be elemental resistance of some type, giving you well-rounded defensive stats. Below is a chart with advance tips for reactor bonuses in the First Descendant:

Auxiliary Power	Sensor	Memory	Processor
Max HP	Max HP	Max HP	Max HP
Max HP	Max HP	DEF	Max Shields
Fire Resistance	Chill Resistance	Electric Resistance	Toxin Resistance

Reactor Tips

Reactors are pivotal in boosting your character’s abilities in The First Descendant. The stats at the bottom of reactors can make a huge difference in your effectiveness. Understanding the nuances between skill damage, attack boosts, and specific bonuses like Legion of Darkness is crucial. Mass deconstruction can help manage your reactors efficiently, and knowing when to use gold for upgrades will ensure you get the most out of your equipment without unnecessary expenditure. Below are advanced tips for reactors in the First Descendant:

Rare vs. Ultimate Reactors: when selecting the right reactor, decide if you’re using mainly one weapon or multiple. Ultimate or gold-colored reactors are good for one weapon usage because they only provide the mounting condition when the weapon is active. Therefore, if you swap weapons frequently, you won’t gain the bonuses on others, and you will be required to swap back to your main weapon or lose out on bonuses. However, purple or rare reactors can be just as powerful for multiple weapon setups, requiring only a weapon to be equipped. It won’t have the same raw power, but the bonuses will remain active.

Reactor Stats: Another advanced tip is that reactor stats on the bottom are critical for optimizing your build. Rare or ultimate bonuses such as critical hit rate or specific descendant attribute power (fire, electric, etc.) should be sought after. Don’t just pay attention to the weapon or condition; make sure the bottom bonuses aid your build as well.

Mastery Rank

Achieving a high mastery rank is essential for unlocking and leveling characters in The First Descendant. Use low-quality guns while leveling to maximize your experience gains, and focus on unlocking and leveling characters strategically. Each weapon and descendant has a specific capacity contributing to your mastery. Prioritizing the leveling of characters and weapons to 40 will ensure you have a strong foundation and the skills to tackle advanced content effectively.

Mastery rank 20 is the maximum for module capacity; beyond this point, the levels are mere convenience. Until now, equip junk weapons you never intend to use in your second and third slots. You will gain EXP for weapons even when they are not equipped, and reaching rank 40 with weapon proficiency will help your mastery rank. Moreover, once you’ve reached 40, do not socket the weapons to start the levels over. You only gain mastery rank EXP once, whether it be descendants or weapons.

Access Info

The Access info tab allows you to sift through nearly all the material in the game. However, it’s hard to understand, specifically relating to Amorphous Material Patterns or weapon blueprints. When looking at the Access Info tab in the First Desecenadnt, an advanced tip for you is to find the highest percentage and quickest method patterns.

When farming ultimate weapons, typically, the top pattern is related to a hard mode boss. The pattern acquisition mostly comes from Infiltration Operations or Defense Special Operations. Therefore, you cannot reliably or quickly farm these patterns, and they require you to kill a boss afterward. However, if you unlock Sharen, you can do Infiltration missions by stealing and deactivating consoles. This method often produces a similar pattern with a higher chance of dropping the weapon blueprint without running a mission for 30 minutes.

Therefore, check each pattern before setting out and see which grants the highest percentage drop. The difference can be massive, 10% vs 32%.

Animation Canceling

Animation canceling is when you dodge to “clip” or end the animation, thus saving you time. You can do this when reloading a weapon. A grey bar will appear under the ammunition and fill up over time. You dodge at or about 75-80% full, which immediately ends the animation and gives you a reload. This advanced tip can save you time, thus increasing your DPS.

Additionally, animation canceling can be done with long-duration skills like Lepic’s Overkill skill. Overkill summons a weapon out of Lepic’s arm, and there is around a two-second delay before the user can fire with it. However, if you activate the ability, you can dodge immediately, canceling the long-duration animation, freeing you up to fire additional rounds and increasing your damage. This advanced tip can be used on any character in the First Descenadnat, though it will take some practice.

---

Looking For More?

Thank you for reading the Advanced Tips for The First Descendant Guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, Fallout 4, Destiny 2, ESO, and more. Also, watch me play games on Twitch or visit my YouTube channel!

• The First Descendant: Best Builds – All Characters
• The First Descendant Guides
• The First Descendants Best Characters (Classes): Tier List
• The First Descendant: Bunny Character and How to Play the Class Guide
• You can support our Website by Linking Account (affiliate): deltia#9684