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With many weapons, we share the 10 best weapon types for The First Descendant and which are the must-have guns in each category.
In the First Descendant, your weapon type determines your base stats, ammunition used, range, and overall power. Regardless of weapon rarity, each weapon category has similar characteristics. Take Sniper Rifles. These weapons use High-Impact Rounds. They prefer range, with scopes and magnification perfect for burst damage. Meanwhile, submachine guns use general rounds and are best for clearing packs of enemies.
Each weapon type, based on their ammunition, has a variety of different types of mods that they can use. An example would be the Spray and Pray ultimate module used in Special Round weapons like Greg’s Reversed Fate. This mod removes round consumption for three seconds after a critical hit. Therefore, our top 10 best weapons ranking will consider base stats, ammunition, availability, and mods for what ranks the best and worst.
What are the Best Weapon Types in TFD?
Machine Guns are the best weapon type in the First Descendant because of their magazine size, rate of fire, and ability to adapt to any content in the game. The Machine Guns are known to be boss killers using Mental Focus and Expanded Magazine mods to increase rounds before reloading and damage for each hit. This combination gives them unmatched damage while holding the trigger for long durations. However, the secondary choice is submarine guns, which are close-range, have a high rate of fire, and are meant for enemy kills with constant reloads. You can take mods like Firing Fiesta, aiding in reloading, and one of the strongest weapons to choose from.
Below are the best 10 weapon types in The First Descendant are listed below:
- Machine Gun
- Submachine Gun
- Hand Cannons
- Sniper Rifle
- Tactical Rifle
- Assault Rifle
- Scout Rifle
- Shotguns
- Handgun
- Launcher
10. Launcher
When it comes to flashy animations and graphics, Launchers are the best in the First Descendant. Outside of that, there is not much else Launchers offer in terms of burst damage. Launchers, both missile and grenade, use high-powered rounds designed for explosive AOE. The downside to these weapons is that there are only a few mods that increase Explosive ATK. Unlike Firearm ATK, launchers and explosives are relegated to limited mods, making their overall power significantly weaker than others on our list.
The two notable launchers are Vestigial Organ and Sigvore’s Proof. Gley can use the Vestigial Organ to spam rocket attacks and forgoing ammunition with her increased sensory skills. This makes the Vestigial Organ a powerful weapon choice when combined with Gley, but it only works with her as the Descendant. The downside, however, is other options are much better for this combination for a Gley user like Afterglow Sword or even the Thunder Cage. Moreover, other High-Powered Rounds provide more damage, and the Launchers fall off in power as soon as you hit the end-game and acquire new ultimate weapons.
9. Handgun
The Handgun is a general round close-range burst weapon. The major downside is the weak base stats, 15-meter effective fall-off, and simply better ultimate weapon options from other weapon types. To put it simply, Handguns are some of the worst general-round weapons to use. Hand Cannons, however, provide better base stats, improved ultimate variations, and use Impact Rounds. Therefore, players can use a Machine Gun like Tamer or the Submachine Gun Thunder Cage as their general weapon, with a burst Hand Cannon as a secondary weapon.
The two best ultimate Handguns are the The Final Master Piece and the The Last Dagger. Both of these weapons have odd proc conditions, which require complex activation and seem clunky. Moreover, the rare weapons are weak overall, and we recommend players generally shy away from Handguns as one of the weakest from our 10 Best Weapon Types list for the First Descendant. However, the Rose of Aisha can be used as a general weapon if you rely on Impact or Special Round weapons.
8. Shotgun
Using High-Powered Rounds, Shotguns are close-range burst weapons helpful when in close-quarters range. Shotguns have low critical hit rate and critical hit damage, and are geared towards hitting enemies with every pellet. Unlike a Sniper Rifle using weak point damage, Shotguns tend to benefit from raw damage mods like Rifling Reinforcement, Bullet Rain, and Electric Enhancement.
The Shotgun has an Auto-Reload exclusive mod that can be helpful when hot-swapping weapons. The Two notable shotguns are the Smithereens and Subconscious. Smithereens’ ultimate weapon is easy to obtain and gains a unique ability called amplification. Once you land all bullets on a target, you gain a 100% critical hit rate, and when you hit a target with a critical, you gain more shells and duration on the buff. Therefore, you can stand up close and spam the Smithereens and trigger critical and extra rounds before reloading. The Subconscious is a good alternative if you’re looking for a rare Shotgun with decent base stats.
While there are better choices on our 10 best weapons list in the First Descendant, using a shotgun on the Devourer mechanic can be a lifesaver.
7. Scout Rifle
Scout Rifles are longer-range single-shot marksmen-type weapons using Impact Rounds. While Scout Rifles are staples in most shooters, in The First Descendant, these weapons lackluster due to the ultimate weapon choices. The Blue Beetle and Wave of Light are the two currently. Blue Beetle is an exceptional choice because it can trigger skill critical hit rate or removal of a debuff. However, this is the only weapon with a powerful unique ability and is applicable to Fusion and Singular type of builds.
Base stats, range, and damage aren’t a problem when it comes to Scout Rifles. What holds the weapon type back from ranking higher on our list in the First Descendant is weak ultimate weapon choices outside of Blue Bettle. Therefore, you find yourself using Tactical Rifle, or Hand Cannons with your non-general ammunition due to the sheer availability of alternative weapons.
6. Assault Rifle
Assault rifles are powerful general-round weapons with good base stats and powerful weapon choices. The Fallen Hope and Eternal WIllpower make great choices and both are easy to gain. The strength of the Assault Rifle is the high fire rate combined with decent ammunition size and range.
Moreover, the Fallen can be combined with Freyna for a one-two combo with Toxic skills. The Toxic Conductor can boost damage for enemies inflicted with Poison. However, the downside of this combo is it’s limited to mainly Freyna and not as widely used on other Descendants. In that case, we recommend players take the Eternal Willpower as a great all-around general-round weapon with versatility.
5. Tactical Rifle
Tactical Rifles are Special Rounds weapons, similar to Scout Rifles, but they fire three-round bursts. This gives them slightly more damage than a Scout Rifle, but also more recoil and accuracy issues if you aren’t careful after a three-round burst. The main benefits of Tactical Rifles are increased range giving you the ability to play at range and consistent damage. However, the safety of the range comes at the cost of reduced damage and fire rate.
The best tactical rifle is Greg’s Reversed Fate which does explosive AOE and triggers the burn status effect on hitting enemies. The AOE is 3 meters, triggering status effect burn, overall producing some of the highest single shot damage in TFD. One mod we recommend is Spray and Pray, which forgoes ammunition after landing a critical hit. Therefore, you build into critical hit chance and critical hit damage, allowing more rounds and more bombardment procs with Greg’s.
We’d rank Tactical Rifles higher on this 10-best weapons list in the First Descendant if the base damage were higher and the recoil wasn’t an issue. However, every player should collect and use Greg’s Reversed Fate on their builds, especially for a ranged weapon with AOE.
4. Sniper Rifle
The most dominant ranged-damage weapon is the Sniper Rifle, which uses High-Powered Rounds at maximum distance. Sniper Rifles offer the advantage of range, precision, and high damage at the cost of low ammo capacity. The benefit of Sniper Rifles is built in stats around weak point damage. You’re meant to do critical damage on weak points, and even trigger elemental status effects for even more damage.
The two notable Sniper Rifles in the First Descendant are Afterglow Sword and Piercing Light. The Afterglow Sword has a specific bonus applying to Commander or Colossus bosses, increasing firearm critical hit rate after hitting a weak point. This bonus stacks, thus you can maintain high critical hit change, and burst down bosses with ease.
What holds the Sniper Rifle weapon type back from being best on this list is that its versatility is limited to long-distance combat. This means you won’t be using the High-Impact Round weapon for general content and mainly for boss encounters requiring burst and distance. Outside of that, we recommend a Sniper Rifle on your kit for most general usage, as it’s one of the 10 best weapon types in the First Descendant.
3. Hand Cannons
The most versatile weapon in the First Descendant is the Hand Cannon, which uses impact rounds and has a plethora of choices. Hand Cannons have high damage per shot and good base stats, providing a great all-around weapon. Unlike other choices on this list, the Hand Cannon weapon type has three ultimate weapon choices and a great rare weapon, Assassin’s Edge.
The Nazeistra’s Devotion is an all around great weapon to use for any content. The unique ability debuffs the enemy’s DEF after hitting a weak point. Once fully updated, you gain a huge boost to DEF reduction and duration. Thus, this weapon not only does good damage independently but helps you and your team increase overall damage production. Swapping to this weapon when your Machine Gun ammo is depleted, allows you to maintain high DPS for you in your team.
The Submachine Gun and Machine rank higher than Hand Cannons because they are masters at their roles. Submachine Guns make the best mob clear in the game, while Machine Guns destroy bosses. Outside of that, we consider hand cannons one of the 10 best weapon types and recommend them as the third best on our The First Descendant list.
2. Submachine Gun
The second best weapon type in the First Descendant is Submachines because of their general ammunition, fire rate, and gun choices. Submachine Guns have a very fast fire rate offering high damage per second per magazine. Also, they allow for some of the fastest movement speed while holding and aiming the weapon. Lastly, the Thunder Cage submachine gun can be argued as the best overall weapon in the game due to its ease of access, damage, and unique ability to explode and kill multiple enemies.
If you’re using a Submachine Gun for add clear, consider the Sweeping Squad ultimate mod. You gain a stacking bonus to Firearm ATK when killing enemies. Once fully upgraded, you gain 100% chance to trigger the extra Firearm ATK. Therefore, you gain a stacking buff while clearing mobs and quickly moving through content. Moreover, this weapon is perfect for Bunny build, giving her even more AOE damage, and high mobility.
If it weren’t for the better boss-killing potential of Machine Guns, we’d rank the submachine gun as the best weapon type in the First Descendant.
1. Machine Gun
The best weapon type in the First Descendant is Machine Gun due to its magazine capacity, available mods, and boss melting potential. Moreover, Machine Guns are great for all activities. Due to their 100+ round magazine capacity, they will spend less time reloading and more time dealing damage.
The Tamer and Enduring Legacy are the two best machine guns to collect. The Tamer will help you clear bosses until you unlock the Ultimate Enduring Legacy, which will do more damage and debuff the boss. We recommend the Mental Focus mod, which stacks Firearm ATK +1% for firing. With this mod, you build for high magazine capacity and fire rate to gain the stacks as fast as possible. Keep your gunplay simple, hold the trigger, avoid damage, and nuke bosses. And this is why we recommend machine guns as the best of the 10 weapon type in the First Descendant.
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