Key Takeaways

• The First Descendant
  offers a wide selection of unique Descendant characters, allowing players to have different experiences and playstyles.
• Each Descendant in
  The First Descendant
  has their own set of skills and abilities, making team compositions and mission outcomes customizable.
• The game features a diverse range of Descendants, including all-rounders, tanks, damage dealers, and support characters, offering something for every player’s preference.

The First Descendant has stayed on a lot of players’ radars thanks to its modern graphics, grappling hook mechanics, and being a shooter with a free-to-play model. The game features many different characters to explore, each playing in their own unique way. This means finding that the ideal character might require playing through a handful of the other options first.

The game comes with a wide range of different damage dealers, tanks, and support characters. People who enjoy playing support don’t need to be healers but can instead keep their allies supplied with ammo to let them be more aggressive with their firepower. Likewise, those looking for damage will have many different approaches to choose from in how they contribute.

Updated by Chad Thesen on October 6th, 2024: Adding and tweaking characters is a very important aspect of any live service, and these characters’ abilities might change over the life cycle of the game. Two additional Descendants have been added since the original date of this article’s publication: Luna and Hailey. Luna is a new Support character that will help her allies by buffing the power of their Skills, regenerating their MP, and reducing their cooldowns. The other Descendant is Hailey, a skilled sniper who will deal more damage by keeping far away from her enemies. Hailey is perfect for players who love to be a long-ranged DPS that can deal even more damage with a well-executed skill rotation.

1 Lepic

The Final Grenadier

• Role: DPS
• Descendant Attribute: Fire
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

Lepic is able to make use of his prosthetic arm and grenades to deal out a great deal of damage in a short amount of time. Players who have played some of the best third-person shooters around and want a familiar feel to their character will be right at home with Lepic. When he receives fatal damage, he can instead experience a brief period of ignoring damage and recovering HP. This passive has a lengthy cooldown, so players should not rely on it.

He can throw grenades, buff his attack, corral enemies close together, and fire out a shell that will constantly deal damage. Lepic is a straightforward character who will be perfect for newcomers wanting to learn the game while also being an effective DPS member of their squad.

2 Ajax

The Liberated Guardian

• Role: Ranged Tank
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

The tank archtype in shooters is a common occurrence and one that many fans prefer to use. Ajax is the perfect choice for players looking to mitigate damage coming their way, while also mitigating it for their allies. Ajax will be charging up with a substance known as Void Energy, which will enhance their active skills while in combat.

Ajax can place down a rectangular shield, place down a shield dome for his squad, release a massive burst of energy to knock enemies back, and can leap through the air to come crashing down at his enemies’ location. A good tactic is to place down a shield for allies, then leap over enemies to flank them from both sides.

3 Viessa

The Cold-Blooded Hunter

• Role: Debuffer
• Descendant Attribute: Chill
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

Viessa is a great option for players who want something a little less simple. Players who like to debuff enemies in order to deal out more damage are going to find their ideal playstyle with Viessa. Her active skills are ice-themed and make use of a mechanic known as Ice Shackles to freeze her foes in place.

Viessa is able to fire a straight beam of icy energy, coat her surroundings with an area of effect, release a wave of damage, and create a blizzard — all of which will apply Ice Shackles to foes affected by them.

4 Jayber

The Genius Engineer

• Role: Ranged Utility Dealer
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Jayber is the game’s go-to turret user. He will be able to make use of both an Assault Turret and a Medical Turret but will receive an increase in his attack while both of them are deployed at the same time. Each of these turrets is deployed with a different active skill and can be enhanced through the use of the Multi-Purpose Gun active skill.

Jayber is able to use his final active skill to recall all deployed turrets to inflict damage on nearby enemies, but will then be able to summon them back out in their enhanced forms. This allows for a massive amount of damage, healing, and mana recovery.

5 Sharen

The Assassin In The Shadows

• Role: Close-Range Dealer
• Descendant Attribute: Electric
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

When it comes to playing top-notch assassins in games, players will need to deliver optimal damage output. Sharen will make use of stealth and massive close-range damage to threats in combat. Her passive will cause her to deal an increased amount of damage to enemies who are not targeting her, so players should always be aware of what each enemy is focused on.

Once she enables Active Camouflage, she will hide from enemies but will be revealed should she try attacking. When Active Camouflage ends, she will receive a damage buff. Sharen will make use of her Electircute and skill to stun enemies while Active Camouflage and ambushing are not in place. This makes her a character who will take a lot of getting used to.

6 Gley

Hope Seeker

• Role: Utility Dealer
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

Gley is not for everyone, as she will be using her own life as a resource in her playstyle. Playing a vampire character can be tricky, as running out of life can be the player’s own fault for not managing this resource correctly. She will be able to consume part of her life for a buff that will raise both weapon damage and penetration — this will also have Gley enter a Berserk state.

Gley will also be able to use an active skill to damage nearby foes to regain health, which is even more powerful than Berserk. Her passive will have her gain life spheres from killing enemies. This allows her to heal up, encouraging players to press the advantage and make the most of her active skills for optimal damage. Staying on top of Gley’s current state while using her active skill will result in higher damage, infinite ammo, and stunning her foes.

7 Blair

Deadly Cook

• Role: DOT Dealer
• Descendant Attribute: Fire
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

DOT damage dealers is a term many MMO fans will be familiar with. Players who love having damage consistently applied over a set duration will want to turn their attention to the battle chef known as Blair. His passive will allow him to deal increased critical hit damage to enemies who have been set ablaze by what are called Stoves.

Blair can use his active skills to place Stoves on the battlefield, but he can also recall them to increase his mana and give himself a defense buff when there is no cover available. Blair gets the most from his recalling of Stoves with well-managed skill rotation.

8 Bunny

The Speedster

• Role: Nuker
• Descendant Attribute: Electric
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

Bunny has the honor of having the Nuker role. The term “Nuke” in tabletop gaming usually means unleashing an utterly devastating amount of damage all at once in a targeted area. Bunny will speedily dash about the battlefield, gathering energy to release all at once on her target of choice. When she lands after a double jump, she will discharge energy to damage enemies at her point of impact.

To make these landings even more impactful, her active skills synergize very well with this speedster run-and-gun game plan. She can increase her sprint speed, drop electric orbs to deal damage to enemies before zipping away, and shock enemies she passes by while charging up to finish off on a return trip.

9 Freyna

Dominator Of Venom

• Role: DOT Dealer
• Descendant Attribute: Toxic
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Freyna is another DOT damage character, but unlike Blair, her focus on continuous damage output uses venom instead of poison. Having solid mechanics for a system involving poison to chisel away at an opponent’s life or debilitate them in some way can make for a fun and engaging gameplay style in a lot of games. Her active skills will involve a state called Room 0 Trauma, and players will need to adapt their playstyle to this mechanic to master Freyna.

Her active skills will increase her defense, poison her enemies, form an area of effect that will constantly damage foes, and even give her a special weapon to use against her enemies. Freyna’s passive will have her inflicting more damage based on the number of enemies who are affected by her poison.

10 Valby

The Shape Of Water

• Role: Constant DPS
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant features an ultimate variant.

Valby is the perfect option for players who love staying in the action and being relentless in combat. Valby’s passive skill lets her consume less mana while she is standing on water, and she has several active skills to help with that. Her Bubble Bullet will fire a projectile that will create a small body of water at its point of impact. Enemies who touch this water will suffer continuous damage. Plop Plop will let her create a body of water at her current location, then travel through it to come out at a new position, which will also get a body of water.

This is best used while currently surrounded by enemies and then coming up near another group of enemies to maximize damage output. When things become harrowing, she can turn herself into a liquid form with buffs to her defense and speed — giving her the ability to move freely through enemies while creating damaging pools of water. Her final active skill gives her a special weapon to optimize one of her unique mechanics called Laundry, which will be applied thanks to her other active skills.

11 Kyle

The Controller

• Role: Bruiser
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Players who really want to play a tank but are not feeling Ajax should turn their attention to Kyle. Like Ajax, Kyle will be acquiring a resource he can use over time as he uses his active skills. Kyle is able to close the gap quickly on his foes thanks to a dash skill, which will also have him build up a Magnetic Force. This Magnetic Force can be used to soak up damage in place of health and be discharged to deal additional damage. He can place down a shield that will build up even more Magnetic Force from enemy attacks.

Just like Bunny, Kyle is able to expend all of his stored Magnetic Force resource all at once using his Superconductivity Thrusters skill. This temporarily lets him fly up into the air and then come down to release all of his stored Magnetic Force on his enemies.

12 Esiemo

The Explosives Master

• Role: Burst DPS
• Descendant Attribute: Fire
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Esiemo is all about explosives, making him the perfect pick for a player looking to play a demolition-style character. Esiemo will perpetually be throwing out bombs to detonate at just the right time for maximum damage output — even having a passive that lets them drop a bomb at the moment of complete shield depletion.

His Active skills include detonating bombs at will, throwing out bombs that can stick to surfaces and enemies, placing landmines that will home in on enemies, and even a fast-moving charge attack that can inflict knockback while removing buffs from foes — with the last mentioned skill causing him to enter a state known as Madness.

13 Enzo

The Best Quartermaster

• Role: Support
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Enzo is a support hero who can ensure his allies never run low on ammo. He accomplishes this by increasing the maximum amount of ammo of his squad members while also calling in special supply drops to dispense bullets. Allies who stick close to Enzo will receive an increase to their maximum ammo capacity, with this passive offering an increase in its efficiency with the number of Enzo players in the same squad.

Enzo can call in a supply unit at a targeted location, which will dispense bullets to his allies and will be destroyed once each of them has used it. Enzo is also able to send forward an explosive drone to deal damage and call in a Shield Recovery Comm to restore his shield. Lastly, he can call in a small ship that will dispense ammo, attack enemies, and end with an explosive missile attack.

14 Yujin

The Gruff Medic

• Role: Support
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Just like Enzo, Yujin is one of the few characters designated as a Support role, and he accomplishes this by also using special drones. While Enzo supports his allies by giving ammo, Yujin will be providing healing effects. His passive grants him a much faster rate of rescuing allies and will come with a boost to their health to keep them from going down again.

Yujin can call in a Recovery Drone to heal allies and increase their attack, but this can help turn any ally into a pseudo-tank when paired with Restructure Serum. Restructure Serum causes enemies to receive a defense debuff, but it will also cause nearby allies to heal as those enemies take damage — and provide even more healing to any ally who lands the killing blow. The support does not end there, as Yujin can also give nearby allies a buff to reduce the damage they take and can create an area of effect that will constantly heal them. This area of effect will also remove and prevent any debuffs targeting these allies.

15 Luna

The Mad Artist

• Role: Support
• Descendant Attribute: Non-Attribute
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Luna is a music-inspired support character with a big focus on buffing her allies. Players will want to make use of Passionate Stage to boost the effects of both their own Skills and the Skills of their allies. Luna makes use of an Inspiration gauge that she can fill up by hitting Notes using Skills or her Synthesizer Gun. Once full, Inspiration can be used to boost the effects of other abilities.

Her Stage Presence Skill will cause her to swap out her current weapon for her Synthesizer Gun. While equipped with this special gun, Luna can use Relaxing Act to recover MP by hitting Notes while her allies also recover MP for its duration. Lastly, Luna can reduce the cooldowns of her allies using Delightful Stage, which will also help her fill up her Inspiration Guage. All of these Skills can be enhanced with a full Inspiration Gauge.

16 Hailey

Glacial marksman

• Role: Ranged DPS
• Descendant Attribute: Chill
• This Descendant does not feature an ultimate variant.

Hailey is a Chill-focused Descendant just like Viessa, with fewer debuffs and more direct damage. Hailey deals more damage the further she is from her targets, making her the perfect character for players who want to hang back and let enemies focus on her allies instead. Furthermore, her Cryo Round will cause her enemies to take even more damage. Conversely, Hailey deals less damage to enemies that are close to her, meaning it is best to keep targeting far away enemies while fleeing for maximum DPS.

Hailey does have a trick up her sleeve for enemies that are trying to close in on her in the form of Storm Snare. This ability will knock back her targeted enemy while flash-freezing other nearby ones. While at a safe distance, she can reduce her movement speed to up her critical hit rate and become immune to knockdown. Hailey’s most impressive Skill is Zenith, which will cause her to pull out a unique weapon that deals increased Chill and Penetration while recovering MP for every weak spot hit with it. This Skill will have its cooldown reduced depending on how many bullets are fired.