The First Descendant lets you kick off the game with three potential character choices. But not all of them are equal. Here’s the best starting character in The First Descendant.
Who Should You Choose in The First Descendant? – Answered
Once you start the game, you’ll have a choice between three possible characters. Lepic, the AoE dealer who uses grenades to attack, Viessa, a debuffer who uses Chill at will, and Ajax, a tanker-type dealer who uses void energy.
Ultimately, you’ll be able to unlock all three Descendants, along with the other thirteen, but you can expect to get through the first few missions only using one of them. But the absolute best starting character is undoubtedly Lepic, the AoE grenade user.
Lepic’s kit is geared towards high damage, mob clearing, and sustain. And in the early game, when enemies are trash waiting to be recycled, Lepic absolutely shines. But his ability to do burst damage with Overclock and Overkill means that he won’t struggle on bosses. What really sets Lepic apart, however, is his passive ability Close Call, which will bail you out of a bad situation and make you briefly immune to death before restoring your health. Ultimately, Lepic is a straightforward character with a bombastic playstyle that almost everyone will enjoy and find utility in.
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Grenade Throw | Throws a grenade forward, inflicting AoE damage. |
| Overclock | Gains Overclock for a certain period of time. Overclock increases Skill Power Modifier and inflicts Burn on enemies damaged by Grenade Throw or Overkill. Burn deals continuous damage for a certain period of time. |
| Traction Grenade | Throws a Traction Grenade forward to pull enemies for a certain period of time. |
| Overkill | Switches the equipped weapon to Overkill. While Overkill is active, MP is continuously consumed. When MP runs out, it returns to the original weapon. Enemies hit by Overkill bullets receive AoE damage. Overkills bullets create an area of effect where they hit that deal continuous damage. |
| Passive Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Close Call | Upon receiving fatal damage, gains Close Call. While Close Call is active, becomes immune to damage and Crow Control effects for a certain period of time. When Close Call ends, recovers HP proportional to own Max HP. This effect is not affected by Incoming Recovery or Outgoing Recovery. |
If Lepic doesn’t seem like your thing, your next two options are Viessa and Ajax. Viessa requires more care and strategy than Lepic, as she’s essentially a glass (ice?) cannon. Her kit revolves around her ability to inflict Ice Shackle, a debuff with four stages. Each stage causes enemies to slow. And once they’re completely stopped, Viessa’s passive ability, Ice Sphere, will automatically begin dealing damage to nearby enemies and inflicting hit targets with Ice Shackle. This gives her a passive AoE that will be triggered more often than not and gives you the same mob clearing as Lepic, but at a much slower rate.
Slowing her enemies makes it easier for her for to survive, and she has a mobility option for either fast engagement or quick retreats in the form of her ability Frost Road, which increases her movement speed and Energy Shield. Ultimately, Viessa is notable for her mob control and AoE abilities. And while she’s fragile, the starting zones are mild enough that she’ll be able to make it through them just fine. Making her the second best pick.
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| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Frost Shards | Fires Frost Shards to deal damage to hit enemies and AoE damage to nearby enemies. Inflicts Ice Shackle on hit targets. |
| Frost Road | When cast, grants Frost Road state for a certain period of time. Frost Road increases movement speed and Energy Shield, and creates Ice Sheets where her feet touch the ground. Inflicts Ice Shackle on enemies that come in contact with the Ice Sheets. |
| Cold Snap | Spew Chill toward the front. Inflicts damage and Ice Shackles on enemies that come into to contact with Chill. |
| Blizzard | Creates a Blizzard that remains active for a certain period of time. Enemies engulfed by the Blizzard receive continuous damage, become inflicted with Ice Shackle, and their DEF decreases. When the Blizzard disappears, it inflicts AoE damage and Ice Shackle on nearby enemies. |
| Passive Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Ice Sphere | Upon using a skill to have an enemy enter a certain Ice Shackle Stage, creates an Icy Sphere that flies around nearby. The Ice Sphere that is created flies at a nearby enemy, dealing damage to the hit enemy and AoE damage to nearby enemies. The hit target is inflicted with Ice Shackle. Ice Shackle decreases the enemy’s Speed, and increases in stage when the effect stacks. When the stage increases, the Speed reduction and duration both increase. However, the Speed reduction does not apply to certain monsters, including boss monsters. |
Ajax, in some ways, is Viessa in a different font. He comes with two abilities to create shields, which will prevent enemies from attacking you, similar to Viessa. But more interestingly, his Orbit Barrier can actually reflect enemy attacks. His other two abilities create knock back and stun, which will allow you to put a pause on the enemy’s attack or give you an opening to kill them. But Ajax’s extremely high defense and max HP mean you’ll die much less as Ajax than Viessa, though you’re giving up some of her passive damage and AoE to do it. Still, I highly recommend close quarter guns with high damage, as Ajax can take the risk and come out the other side with all his limbs intact.
Ajax was also the last of the Descendants to get an Ultimate form. And while he does gain one offensive ability, he’s still ultimately a team-oriented character that focuses on debuffers like stun and support abilities like shields. He fills a niche in the incredibly community based game of The First Descendant but, for early game play, he lags behind.
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Orbit Barrier | Creates a Barrier in front. The Barrier’s stats are affected by Ajax’s HP and DEF. When hit by an enemy, the Barrier deals Reflection Damage proportional to the DMG Received and Ajax’s DEF to the attacking enemy. Using the skill while Void Energy is at maximum increases Reflection Damage even more. After creating the Barrier, gains Void Energy. |
| Void Walk | Jumps forward then deals damage on landing, inflicting Stun. When using the skill while Void Energy is at a maximum, enhances Void Walk. When using enhanced Void Walk, increases own Max Shield. When the skill ends, acquires Void Energy. |
| Expulsion | Inflicts damage and Knockback on nearby enemies. When Void Energy is at maximum, enhances Expulsion. When enhanced, increases base damage and range. When the skill ends, gains Void Energy. |
| Hyper Cube | Creates a dome-shaped Barrier. The Barrier’s stats are based on Ajax’s HP and DEF. when Void Energy is at a maximum, enhances the Barrier. The enhanced Barrier grants Barrier Enhancement to all allies within range, including self. Barrier Enhancement increases Firearm ATk. When the skill ends, acquires Void Energy. |
| Passive Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Event Horizon | When using skills, acquire Void Energy. Depending on the amount of Void Energy owned, gains Singularity per stage. Singularity decreases cooldown and the effect is boosted for each stage. When Void Energy is at a maximum, enhances the skills and grants additional effects. When using the enhanced skills, Void Energy cannot be acquired. When out of combat, for a certain period of time, all Void Energy is consumed. |
The First Descendant is available now.
