Combat Guide

This is a guide to combat on The First Descendant (TFD) to help you survive during your missions. Read on and check out the tips to achieve victory on missions, and the steps to take if you can't seem to win and complete your missions!

The First Descendant Combat Guide

1. Shoot Stuff, Kill Stuff
2. Know Your Enemy's Weaknesses
3. Effectively Use Skills
4. Blow Up Gas Tanks
5. Reposition with the Grappling Hook
6. Use Subattacks

Shoot Stuff, Kill Stuff

Guns are the main source of damage in this game sine they're easily accessible, with ammo being their only limit, unlike skills which have cooldowns and require MP to activate.

List of All Weapons

Know your Enemy's Weaknesses

In general, most enemies' weak spots are their head, which you deal additional damage when hitting their heads. Bosses during Intercept Battles, however, have different weak points scattered throughout their body.

Enemy Weakness Chart

Effectively Use Skills

Skills consume MP to activate, and will be on cooldown for a duration until it's ready to be used again. Knowing when to use skills effectively will make combat easier, and knowing the right Descendants for the job will significantly make progress easier.

How to Unlock All Descendants

Blow Up Gas Tanks for AoE Damage

Lure groups of enemies near a gas tank and shoot it to explode and deal damage to the surrounding enemies, saving you ammo and effort in dealing with small fries. Keep your distance once it explodes as it can damage you too!

Reposition with the Grappling Hook

Your grappling hook is your best friend for reaching places where enemies can't reach you (unless they shoot you). You can also use the grappling hook to reposition, creating space between you and your enemies so they won't mow you down.

Utilize Subattacks

Your strong subattack can knock down enemies, giving you time to breathe, reload, or escape. Using subattacks can help you reserve your ammo for tougher opponents during a fight. This can also be used to close the gap between you and your enemy.

What to Do if You Can't Win?

1. Equip Proper Modules
2. Fix Your Loadout
3. Enhance your Weapons on the Workbench

Equip Proper Modules

Modules will increase your stats, helping you push through tougher missions as you progress. There are modules for both Descendants and Weapons, each with different stat increases. Descendant modules can increase your Max HP and Shields to make you more durable. They can also increase Firepower, reload speed, and other weapon stats to make them more powerful.

The power of modules doesn't stop at the stats mentioned; there are many other stats that can be affected, so mix and match modules to your heart's content! When in doubt, you can auto-equip recommended modules to save time from experimenting.

Modules Guide: Modules List

Fix Your Loadout

If you find yourself constantly failing missions, make sure that your equipped loadout—consisting of weapons, a reactor, and external components—has high stats and is suited for the mission.

There are reactors that synergize with specific descendants, boosting their skill power even further. There are also weapon types well-suited for specific missions. Consider fixing your loadout when doing missions.

List of All Builds

Enhance your Weapons on the Workbench

You can transfer a weapon's level to another weapon to increase its stats, but you can only transfer the level to a weapon with a lower level. You can also readjust the substats of a weapon (Firearm ATK, Recoil, Crit, etc.) at the cost of materials and gold.

The First Descendant Related Guides

Tips & Tricks

All Tips and Tricks