The First Descendant character abilities & roles explained

The First Descendant is a looter-shooter where you can team up with other players to fight against Collosuses and other enemies to protect the last of humanity. 

There are 15 playable characters, each with a range of different roles, features, and abilities, so here is everything you need to know about them. 

All The First Descendant character roles & abilities

Lepic

• Character role: AoE Dealer 
• Feature: Prosthetic right arm and grenade
• Skills:
  • Close Call (Passive): There is a chance of surviving fatal damage during battle. 
  • Grenade: Throw a grenade forward. 
  • Overclock: Increase all skill ATK, adds burn effect to your grenade. 
  • Traction grenade: Pull enemies within range. 
  • Overkill: Fires a powerful shell that is maintained at the landing point for some time and constantly damages enemies nearby.

Valby

• Character role: AoE Dealer
• Feature: Absorbs nearby moisture to blast enemies with water attacks. 
• Skills:
  • Water Intake (Passive): Consume less Mana when standing on water.
  • Bubble Bullet: Bounces a Bubble Bullet forward to create a small puddle in impact. Enemies in the small puddle take continuous damageand are inflicted with Laundry.
  • Plop Plop: Create a large puddle and use it to teleport to a selected location, also within the puddle. Enemies in the puddle take continuous damage and are inflicted with Laundry.
  • Laundry: Valby becomes Liquefied and cannot take her feet off of the ground or use skills, but she can move through enemies with increased Movement Speed and DEF. She creates a path of water that deals continuous damage to enemies and inflicts them with Laundry.
  • Laundry Bomb: Changes the equipped weapon to the Laundry Bomb Launcher that pulls in enemies inflicted with Laundry and deals continuous damage.

Ajax

• Character role: Tank Dealer 
• Feature: Has powerful barriers that protect allies and reflects enemy attacks. 
• Skills:
  • Event Horizon (Passive): Store Void Energy during battle 
  • Orbit Barrier: Creates a shield in front of Ajax. Durability is increased proportionally to Ajax’s HP and Defense. 
  • Void Walk: Leap into the air and strike enemies, stunning them. 
  • Expulsion: Knocks enemies back. 
  • Hypercube: Created a dome shaped shield. Durability is increased proportionally to Ajax’s HP and Defense.

Kyle

• Character role: Tanker
• Feature: Creates and manipulates a strong magnetic field to release bullets and lasers. 
• Skills:
  • Experienced Technician (Passive): Obtains Magnetic Force. When Kyle’s Shield is broken, he recovers it and Magnetic Force.
  • Repulsion Dash: Charges towards the enemy, dealing damage.
  • Magnetic Bulwark: Creates a frontal Barrier to protect against enemy attacks.Magnetism Spurt: When damaged, Magnetic Force is reduced instead of HP or Shields. After a certain period of time, Magnetic Force detonates to deal damage around him.
  • Magnetism Spurt: When taking damage, Magnetic Force is reduced instead of HP or Shields. After a certain period of time, Magnetic Force detonates.
  • Superconductivity Thrusters: Allows Kyle to fly. When landing, deals damage in the area around his landing zone.

Viessa

• Character role: Debuffer
• Feature: Immobilizes enemies with cold air. 
• Skills:
  • Ice Sphere (Passive): Condenses moisture in the atmosphere around the body, lowering the temperature. 
  • Frost Shards: Fires an exploding Ice Beam that damages enemies and inflicts Ice Shackle. 
  • Frost Road: Increases Running Speed and Shield, and creates Ice Sheets on the ground where Viessa stands. When enemies touch the Ice Sheets, they are inflicted with Ice Shackle.
  • Ice Wave: Releases an arc of cold air in front of Viessa, inflicting damage and Ice Shackle.
  • Cold Snap: Creates a snowstorm that explodes over time, inflicting damage and Ice Shackle on enemies.

Jayber

• Character role: Utility Dealer
• Feature: Summons turrets for recovery and assault. Turrets can be enhanced. 
• Skills:
  • Turret Sync (Passive):  ATK is increased when assault turret and medical turret are both summoned.
  • Assault Turret: Summons an assault turret to attack the enemy.
  • Medical Turret: Summons a medical turret to heal allies and distract enemies. Restores Mana when enhanced. 
  • Multi-Purpose Gun: Changes gun to a Multi-Purpose Gun, doing damage makes turrets enhanced. 
  • Reactivate: Recalls all summoned turrets and inflicts powerful damage to nearby enemies.

Gley

• Character role: Utility Dealer 
• Feature: Uses rage to make herself stronger and defeat enemies. 
• Skills:
  • Thirst (Passive): Defeated enemies drop Life Spheres which restore HP and stacks Power of Life. 
  • Frenzied: Consumes HP to enter Berserk mode, where long distance weapon’s ATK and Penetration increase.
  • Life Siphon: Deals damage to nearby enemies and restores HP.
  • Increased Sensory: Creates an area with a special effect. In Berserk mode, bullets are not consumed within the area and in Normal mode, HP is restored while in the area.
  • Massacre: Switches gun to Nosferatu. In Berserk mode, skill damage increases and in Normal mode, attacked enemies are stunned.

Sharen

• Character role: Close-Range Dealer
• Feature: Uses camouflage to get close to enemies and ambush them. 
• Skills:
  • Assassinator (Passive): Damage is increased when attacking an enemy that is not attacking Sharen.
  • Cutoff Beam: Attack enemies to inflict damage and electrocute them. 
  • Active Camouflage: Hide from enemies. The effect ends when you attack or use other skills. 
  • Impact Rounds: Launches explosives that stun enemies.
  • Flash Shortsword: Targets enemies within aiming range, and throws multiple knives to attack and electrocute them.

Freyna

• Character role: DoT Dealer
• Feature: Can freely handle poison to deal damage to enemies. 
• Skills:
  • Unauthorized Bullet (Passive): Damage increases when attacking poisoned enemies.
  • Toxic Trauma: Throw poison to attack enemies and inflict Room 0 Trauma.
  • Defense Mechanism: Significantly increases DEF. There is a chance of inflicting Room 0 Trauma to enemies when attacking.
  • Decomposed Poison: Throws poison to create a Poison Swamp. Enemies entering the Poison Swamp are inflicted with constant damage and the ‘Poisoned Footprints’ state. When enemies in Poisoned Footprints state walk around, they leave behind footprints of poison.
  • Venomous Baptism: Switches gun to Dead Room. Enemies hit by Dead Room are inflicted with Room 0 Trauma.

Blair

• Character role: DoT Dealer 
• Feature: Swallows flames to get stronger and can use flame himself. 
• Skills:
  • Pitmaster (Passive): Critical Hit Damage increases when attacking enemies who are in Burn state.
  • Blaze Up: Shoots flame to deal damage to nearby enemies and creates Stoves. Stoves inflict constant damage and a Burn effect to nearby enemies.
  • Extinguish: Retrieve Stoves in the battlefield to restore Mana. Retrieving Stoves also increases DEF for a short period of time.
  • Burn Taste: Shoots flames forward. Enemies near the flames are inflicted with constant damage and a Burn effect.
  • Deadly Cuisine: Throw a large Fireball that splits into smaller Fireballs that explode. Explosion damage inflicts Burn effect and creates Stoves.

Bunny

• Character role: Nuker
• Feature: Runs everywhere to generate electricity. 
• Skills:
  • Rabbit Foot (Passive): Charge electricity by moving around. Landing on the ground after a double jump inflicts damage to nearby enemies.
  • Thrill Bomb: Summons an Electro Orb that attacks and Electrocutes nearby enemies.
  • Light Speeding: Increases sprint speed and the amount of Electricity generated.
  • Lightning Emission: Moving around deals damage to nearby enemies and inflicts them with an Electrocute effect.
  • Maximum Power: Shoot out electricity to inflict damage. Damage increases in proportion to skill duration.

Yujin

• Character role: Support
• Feature: Uses drones to heal allies and give them beneficial buffs.
• Skills:
  • Stop Overreacting (Passive): Significantly reduces time to revive allies, and allies revived have increased HP for some time.
  • Solidarity Healing: Summon a recovery drone to heal allies.
  • Restructure Serum: Fire a Restructure Serum that decreases enemy DEF and inflicts Allergy. Attacking enemies with Allergy heals allies.
  • Stimulant Spray: Grants Stimulation to allies, reducing incoming damage.
  • Hyperreactive Healing Ground: Heals self and allies, removes debuffs, grants immunity to debuffs, and Yujin’s ATK and skill power is increased.

Enzo

• Character role: Support
• Feature: Uses drones to supply ammo to allies.
• Skills:
  • Shoot Support (Passive): Increases maximum ammo capacity of nearby allies.
  • Start Supply: Summons a Bullet Supplying Device at the designated location.
  • Explosive Drone: Launches a drone that explodes on contact with enemy or terrain.
  • Enhance Combat Suit: Summons Shield Recovery Comms that recovers Enzo’s shield.
  • Perfect Support: Summons a small Supply Ship that provides ammo, attacks enemies, and fires a missile before it disappears.

Esiemo

• Character role: Burst DPS
• Feature: Uses explosives to deal burst damage to enemies.
• Skills:
  • Adventitious Habit (Passive): Drops a bomb on the ground when shield is depleted.
  • Time Bomb: Launch a Sticky Bomb that attaches to an enemy or terrain.
  • Blast: Instantly detonate any attached bombs.
  • Guided Landmine: Place a guided landmine that flies to an enemy within range and attaches to it.
  • Arche Explosion: Start running fast to collide with enemies and inflict Knockback. When the skill ends, deal damage to nearby enemies and remove buffs from them.

Luna

• Character role: Support
• Feature: Grants beneficial effects to allies through music. 
• Skills: 
  • Improvisation (Passive): Using any skill increases Inspiration Gauge, allowing her to use Enhanced Skills.
  • Stage Presence: Changes her weapon to her Unique Weapon. Timing the notes by using skills or hitting enemies stacks and increases the Skill Power Modifier.
  • Passionate Stage: Luna plays upbeat music, increasing her and her allies’ Skill Power Modifier. Gaining the Enhanced Effect increases the Skill Power Modifier even more. It also increases the Skill Critical Hit Rate and damage of allies.
  • Relaxing Act: Using the skill makes her play relaxing music. Hitting the enemy with a note grants an effect that instantly recovers her and her allies’ MP. Gaining the Enhanced Effect increases MP Recovery and reduces Skill Cost.
  • Delightful Stage: Using the skill makes her play delightful music. Hitting the enemy with a note increases the Inspiration Gauge and decreases the skill cooldown of allies. Gaining the Enhanced Effect increases the Inspiration Gauge even more and immediately resets the cooldown of allies.

How to unlock characters

You can unlock characters in The First Descendant by completing quests or earning them through research.

You can choose between Ajax, Lepic, and Viessa at the start, and from there, you need to collect materials to research any other Descendants you want to unlock. Once you have the materials, head to Anais, the Magister in Albion, and you’ll have the option the research them.

Bunny is the first Descendant you’ll unlock through the main quest, but others have more specific materials to gather. Be sure to check out our best build guides for Valby and Freyna once you unlock them, or if you chose Viessa first.