The First Descendant: Best Ultimate Afterglow Sword Build Guide

Discover how to get the Ultimate Afterglow Sword, the best modules, best stats, and more in our weapon build guide for The First Descendant!

Best Ultimate Afterglow Sword Build Guide in The First Descendant

Afterglow Sword is an Ultimate weapon in The First Descendant. Thanks to its unique ability, Nightmare Reaper, it is most effective against single-target bosses. A single hit to an enemy Commander or Colossus immediately increases your Critical Hit Rate on the next shot. Moreover, the Death Propagation condition boosts your reload timer and weak point damage, and the effect can be stacked.

All Afterglow Sword features in The First Descendant:

• Weapon Type: Sniper Rifle
• Special Ability: Nightmare Reaper
  • On hitting a Weak Point, inflicts the unique effect, Death Propagation. On hitting an enemy Commander or Colossus, increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate and applies the effect to the attack.
• Pros: The best sniper rifle in the game when going up against Colossi, unique ability boosts Crit Hit Rate and Weak Point Damage
• Cons: Complicated to get without already having Sharen to run infiltration missions
• Best Characters: Sharen, but can be used effectively with any Descendant
• Best Mods: Rifling Reinforcement, Better Concentration, and Focus Fire

The Afterglow Sword Advanced Stats

Below are the base advanced stats for the Afterglow Sword at level 1:

• Firearm ATK – 240
• Fire Rate – 66
• Rounds per mag – 6
• Reload time – 2.5 seconds
• Crit rate – 50%
• Crit damage – 2x
• Status chance – 33.33%
• Weakpoint damage – 1.8x

How to Get Ultimate Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant

The Ultimate Afterglow Sword requires you to reach Mastery Rank Level 15 before you can craft it with Magister Anais in Albion. Additionally, once you collect all of the needed materials, you will have to pay a 100,000 credit/gold fee. Finally, the Afterglow Sword firearm will take 4 hours of research time to complete.

To Craft Ultimate Afterglow Sword you will need the following materials:

Afterglow Sword Farming with Sharen

If you have the Descendant Sharen, you can use her camouflage ability to infiltrate the Void Fusion Reactors invisibly. You can hack/shut down the consoles and immediately kill the boss the spawns. This speeds up the farm for these pieces dramatically.

• 1 Afterglow Sword Polymer Synctium
  • Fortress (Hard) zone, Defense Line: Vulgus Strategic Outpost for Amorphous Material Pattern: 122
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 122 at Fortress (Hard) zone, Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor -Fortress Defense Line
• 1 Afterglow Sword Synthetic Fiber
  • Kingston (Hard) zone, Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor – Kingston Grand Square for Amorphous Material Pattern: 055
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 055 at Kingston (Hard) zone, Fallen Theater: Vulgus Strategic Outpost
• 1 Afterglow Sword Nano Tube
  • Hagios (Hard) zone, Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor – Hagios Corrupted Zone for Amorphous Material Pattern: 110
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 010 at Hagios (Hard) zone, Void Fusion Reactor: Hagios Corrupted Zone
• 1 Afterglow Sword Blueprint
  • Intercept Battle (Hard), Devourer, with Amorphous Material Pattern: 079
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 079 at Vespers (Hard) zone, The Shelter (change Amorphous drop from operation start screen)

Afterglow Sword Farming without Sharen

• 1 Afterglow Sword Polymer Synctium
  • Intercept Battle (Normal), Gravewalker, with Amorphous Material Pattern: 002
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 002 at Kingston (Normal) zone, Magister Lab, Duty of the Descendant mission
• 1 Afterglow Sword Synthetic Fiber
  • Vespers (Hard) zone, Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor – Vespers Ruins, Void mission
• 1 Afterglow Sword Nano Tube
  • Intercept Battle (Hard), Executioner, with Amorphous Material Pattern: 056
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 056 at Kingston (Hard) zone, Magister Lab, Duty of the Descendant mission
• 1 Afterglow Sword Blueprint
  • Intercept Battle (Hard), Devourer, with Amorphous Material Pattern: 079
  • Farm Amorphous Material Pattern: 079 at Vespers (Hard) zone, The Shelter (change Amorphous drop from operation start screen)

Finding all of the materials for Afterglow Sword will require lots of different farming because the four items themselves do not drop from missions like some other ultimate materials do. Instead, you will need to first collect specific Amorphous Materials Patterns and you then use at the end of Colossi fights for a chance at the crafting piece you need. Therefore, this will take more time gather all the needed materials.

The methods we have listed above are the best grinds for each piece. However, if you wish to see all of the available options check out the Acquisition Info for Smithereens from the Journal/Social menu.

Best Modules for Ultimate Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant

Rifling Reinforcement, Better Concentration, and Focus Fire are the best weapon mods for Afterglow Sword. Rifling Reinforcement is a great overall boost to ATK that you’re going to want to have on most firearm builds. Better Concentration gives you a boost to Firearm Crit Damage, which works well with this gun’s unique ability that boosts you Crit Hit Rate. Finally, Focus Fire provides you another boost to crit damage, as well as an increase to Weak Point damage. Making this weapon extremely effective against Colossi.

Best Beginner Mods for Afterglow Sword

Below are the best beginner weapons mods for the Afterglow Sword:

• Rifling Reinforcement – Explosive ATK +12%
• Better Concentration – Firearm Critical Hit Damage +19%
• Better Insight – Firearm Critical Hit Rate +10%
• Weak Point Sight – Weak Point Damage +9%

Slot	Module
1 (First Row)	Rifling Reinforcement
2	(empty)
3	(empty)
4	Better Concentration
5	Better Insight
6 (Second Row)	(empty)
7	(empty)
8	(empty)
9	Weak Point Sight
10	(empty)

Best Advanced Mods for Afterglow Sword

Below are the best advanced weapons mods for the Afterglow Sword:

• Special Sight – Movement Speed when Aiming -8%, Weak Point DMG when Aiming +8%
• Action and Reaction – Firearm ATK +15%, Recoil +5%
• Rifling Reinforcement – Explosive ATK +12%
• Better Insight – Firearm Critical Hit Rate +10%
• Edging Shot – Firearm Critical Hit Rate +8%, Firearm ATK -4%
• Better Concentration – Firearm Critical Hit Damage +19%
• Concentration Priority – Firearm Critical Hit Damage +30%, Reload Time Modifier -8%
• Fire Rate Concentration – Fire Rate +8%, Firearm Critical Hit Damage +6.5%
• Focus Fire – Weak Point Damage +8%, Firearm Critical Hit Damage +6.5%
• Weak Point Sight – Weak Point Damage +9%

Slot	Module
1 (First Row)	Special Sight
2	Action and Reaction
3	Rifling Reinforcement
4	Better Insight
5	Edging Shot
6 (Second Row)	Better Concentration
7	Concentration Priority
8	Fire Rate Concentration
9	Focus Fire
10	Weak Point Sight

When upgrading weapon mods, be aware there is an increased cost and a max module capacity of 80. The material needed is Energy Activators, and you will get one of these after playing through the end of the campaign, or you can craft them with Anais. Therefore, you want to balance increasing mods and not attempt to max out everyone. A balanced approach to firearm ATK, critical chance, and critical damage is the best (+3 or so to each).

Best Weapon Stats for Ultimate Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant

In the First Descendant, weapon stats are randomly generated for all weapons when they drop or are created via crafting. You can change (or re-roll) them through the Weapon Readjustment system, which is covered in more detail below.

Here are the best weapon stats for Ultimate Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant:

• Weak Point Damage
• Firearm ATK
• Critical Hit Rate
• Firearm Critical High Damage

In the First Descendant, weapon stats are randomly generated for all weapons when they are picked up as loot or picked up after crafting. You can change (or re-roll) them through the Weapon Readjustment system. Each weapon has four random traits or stats that can be rerolled to find the ideal trait. These regenerated traits are also random and so is their quality. Therefore, expect to spend a lot of materials to min-max the perfect roll.

How to Upgrade Ultimate Afterglow Sword

The First Descendant provides several different avenues for upgrading and improving your weapons by using their repair station Workbench. The Workbench is located in the same general area as Anais and weapons seller Deslin on the west side of Albion.

Weapon Transmission

Each time you craft an Ultimate weapon in The First Descendant, after collecting it from Anais you will find that it is a low Level 1 firearm. However, you can easily bring it up to your current weapon level by using the Weapon Transmission mechanic at the Workbench.

Finally, you will need to reach Mastery Rank 3.

To level up Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant you will need:

• Precision Phase Exchanger
  • 250 Liquid Metal
  • 50,000 credits/gold
  • 10:00 of research time

To get Superalloy and Liquid Metal in the First Descendant you will need to dismantle many weapons you don’t want by junking them. This breaks down the weapon into crafting materials you can use to make other items. Consequently, we highly recommend breaking down all of your excess weapons instead of selling them. Credits are easier to earn just by playing the game and completing missions.

Weapon Readjustment

In The First Descendant, the Weapon Readjustment mechanic allows you to use the Workbench to re-roll your weapon stats. Moreover, you can re-roll all of your stats at once, or lock individual stats you like and only re-roll the ones you want to change.

Finally, you will need to reach Master Rank 4 in order to unlock Weapon Readjustment at the Workbench.

To change Afterglow Sword stats in The First Descendant you will need:

• Fine Adjustment Control Axis x2
  • 200 Liquid Metal
  • 30,000 credits/gold
  • 1:00:00 of research time

Enhance Unique Ability

Each Ultimate weapon in The First Descendant comes with a unique ability that gives it a powerful effect and you can enhance the power of these abilities. This is another mechanic that you will use at the repair station Workbench, and it unlocks at Mastery Rank 5.

However, unlike Weapon Transmission and Weapon Readjustment there is no unique crafting material you will need to create and use. To enhance the unique ability of Afterglow Sword, you will have to craft a duplicate. Then, take that Level 1 duplicate to the Workbench and sacrifice it to upgrade the Nightmare Reaper ability to a stronger version.

How To Use Ultimate Afterglow Sword

The Afterglow Sword sniper rifle is best used against Colossus boss fights because it’s unique ability is perfectly suited to doing high critical damage, especially when you’re striking weak points. First, simply hitting a Colossus or an enemy commander will give you a critical hit rate increase on your next shots. However, you really want to aim for the Weak Points because that gives you a chance to inflict the boss with Death Propagation. This condition will boost your reload timer and your weak point damage. Moreover, the effect can be stacked up to six times.

The true damage potential on this gun will be limited by player skill and aim, however, because you must repeatedly hit boss weak points. This sounds simple, but typically once the larger weak points of a Colossus break off it can be hard to consistently hit the smaller spots.

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