The First Descendant is a free, third-person shooter action RPG where you play as a Descendant with unique abilities to battle an alien invasion. The game features 14 playable Descendants, each with distinct skills and roles.
With so many unique abilities at your fingertips, choosing the right characters for your team is crucial to achieving victory!
The best character for you will depend on your personal preferences and gameplay strategy. This tier list provides a helpful guide to navigate the strengths and weaknesses of each Descendant, making it easier for you to decide which ones to invest in.
Best Characters to Play in First Descendant
With 14 unique characters to choose from, you’ll want to strategize and select the perfect mix to take down that alien invasion. While only a select few characters are free to play in the beginning, progressing the game’s story campaigns and missions will grant you access to additional characters.
In First Descendant, our top picks for characters are Ajax, Bunny, Gley, and Valby. If you prefer a speedy and agile gameplay experience with quick attacks on the move, Bunny is your girl. Alternatively, for a Tank build that excels at absorbing damage and dishing out heavy hits, Ajax is the top choice, enabling you to dominate the battlefield.
First Descendant: All Characters Tier List
A class-based RPG like First Descendant would always design its characters to have balance and suit any situation, making tier lists tricky. However, personal playstyle and build preferences can influence your favorites.
We’ve created a tier list to showcase each character’s unique strengths and roles, highlighting their value in different situations. Remember, every role is important.
| Tier | Character |
| S-Tier | Ajax, Bunny, Gley, Valby |
| A-Tier | Enzo, Jayber, Lepic, Yujin |
| B-Tier | Blair, Freyna, Kyle, Viessa |
| C-Tier | Esiemo, Sharen |
1. S-Tier
The S-Tier in The First Descendant features the game’s most elite characters, renowned for their exceptional strength and versatility. These Descendants excel in every game mode, making them a valuable investment for dedicated players seeking to dominate the game’s challenges.
Ajax
Ajax, the top Tank and starter character in The First Descendant, excels in defense, creating barriers, shields, and team defenses. While his damage output is low, his abilities, like his stomp attack and Void Energy-powered Forcefields, make him a valuable asset and one of our S-Tier characters.
His strength lies in absorbing damage and protecting teammates, making him essential for tough missions and boss battles. His shield bubbles can absorb damage, allowing teammates to plan their next move, making him a must-have character.
Bunny
Bunny, dubbed “The Speedster”, is the swiftest character in The First Descendant, specializing in the Nuker role. Her rapid movement generates electrical energy, fueling her shockwave ability and enabling her to deal continuous damage. With her Electro Orb, she can electrocute enemies on the go, rendering firearms unnecessary.
Bunny’s speed and electrical prowess make her a force to be reckoned with, capable of annihilating large enemy waves, including the most formidable foes, with ease. Her mobility and destructive power make her an invaluable asset to any team.
Gley
Gley, the top Utility Dealer in The First Descendant, offers a unique gameplay experience. Unlike other characters, Gley’s power grows as she kills enemies, restoring her HP and increasing her Frenzied state. In this state, her damage output surges, but her health regeneration decreases. To compensate, she can create Life Spheres by killing enemies and regenerating HP.
Her Increased Sensory ability grants infinite ammo for a time, allowing for unrestricted use of powerful weapons. Gley’s high-risk, high-reward playstyle makes her ideal for players who enjoy a challenging experience. Overall, Gley’s abilities make her a formidable and dynamic S-Tier character.
Valby
Valby, a water-manipulating combatant, uses her water-based abilities to deliver consistent AoE damage and excel in crowd control. By strategically positioning herself and utilizing her skills, such as Bubble Bullet and Plop Plop, Valby creates persistent water hazards that damage and disorient enemies. Her ability to liquefy herself also allows her to move through enemies undetected, dealing damage while evading enemy attacks.
2. A-Tier
Characters in the A-tier are the next best thing after the S-tier characters, offering a slight step down in power but still packing a significant punch. They prove invaluable in tackling early and mid-game operations, making them a great choice for grinding and advancing through the game.
Enzo
Enzo, a dedicated Support character, specializes in sustaining his allies in combat by providing essential supplies, including ammo. He utilizes drones to replenish ammo and attack enemies, and his Fire Support buff increases allies’ ammo capacity.
While Enzo is invaluable in co-op play, particularly for teams reliant on heavy firepower, his abilities are less effective in solo play. His sole focus on resupplying teammates makes him less engaging to play solo, and his abilities shine only in team-based missions, such as defense and raids.
Jayber
Jayber possesses unexpected strength through his ability to summon turrets, rendering his equipped weapons unnecessary. His turrets can be a game-changer in battle by securing key areas in defense missions and dealing massive damage to enemies, making him an A-Tier character in our list.
His innovative abilities as a Utility-type DPS character make him a standout, with Assault turrets raining down destruction on enemies and Medical Turrets offering a rare and valuable source of healing support to allies. However, his dependence on these turrets, which have a lengthy deployment time and limited duration, is his one vulnerability.
Lepic
Lepic is a strong starter DPS character, offering exceptional AoE damage capabilities through his grenade attacks and self-enhancing skills. Although he may not excel in team support, he proves invaluable in intense battles, using his powerful shells and Traction Grenades to rescue allies overwhelmed by enemies.
As one of the game’s starting characters, Lepic is an excellent choice for players who prefer dealing damage and boasting top-tier AoE attacks. His Overclock skill further amplifies his abilities, adding a burning damage effect to his grenades and Overkill ability, making him a force to be reckoned with in clearing enemy crowds.
Yujin
Yujin, an expert Healer, provides crucial support through healing and reviving teammates. When revived by Yujin, players receive a significant HP boost, and his recovery drone offers ongoing healing and attack damage enhancements, making him a game-changer in team play, especially when paired with Tank-focused characters like Ajax.
Additionally, his Restructure Serum debuffs enemies, allowing allies to launch a powerful counterattack. As a medic, Yujin’s unique approach involves deploying and managing drones that provide instant healing and buffs to nearby allies, with effectiveness dependent on proximity. This strategic approach makes Yujin one of the best Support characters in the game, landing him in our list’s A-Tier.
3. B-Tier
B-Tier characters in The First Descendant are respectable picks with notable strengths but also possess weaknesses that limit their versatility. While they may not be the most powerful options, they are far from ineffective.
It’s crucial to remember that tier lists are subjective and don’t define a character’s full potential. With skillful play and strategic deployment, a B-Tier character can still outperform expectations and prove valuable in specific situations.
Blair
Blair stands out as a formidable DoT dealer, inflicting devastating fire damage on enemies and offering a thrilling gameplay experience. By creating fire zones on the battlefield, he delivers sustained damage while boosting his defense and critical hit chance. However, his vulnerability stems from his extremely low HP and sluggish ability cooldown speed, making him reliant on strategic play to overcome his weaknesses.
As a deadly chef, Blair utilizes culinary skills to unleash fiery attacks, such as Blaze Up and Burn Taste, which deal damage and create fire zones that boost his defense and critical hit chance. While he’s a well-rounded damage dealer, his slow cooldown speed and low HP make him weaker compared to other Descendants.
Freyna
Freyna is a Poison-wielding DoT dealer, similar to Blair, but with a focus on toxic damage. SBy creating Poison Clouds and Toxic Swamp puddles, she delivers sustained damage and afflictions, using her venomous expertise to debilitate her foes.
However, her damage output lacks the rapid intensity of burst damage dealers like Bunny, making her a less desirable choice for situations demanding swift and decisive damage. Freyna’s potency relies heavily on precise projectile strikes, emphasizing the importance of strategic accuracy in her gameplay.
Kyle
Kyle, a formidable Bruiser, wields magnetic fields to create a protective barrier, safeguarding allies and repelling foes. As he absorbs Magnetic Force, his shields can unleash a devastating Magnetism Spurt, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. While he shares similarities with Ajax as a Tank, his abilities shine in a more offensive capacity.
With his magnetic abilities and shield, Kyle becomes a resilient damage-dealing powerhouse, capable of withstanding significant damage and leading the team’s frontline. However, his abilities rely on a steady accumulation of Magnetic Force to remain effective.
Viessa
Viessa, one of the starting characters in The First Descendant, excels as a Debuffer and crowd controller, utilizing her abilities to freeze and slow down enemies. While she lacks high damage output, her skills enable her to support teammates by creating opportunities for them to deal significant damage.
Her Ice Shackle ability, which stacks with each hit, unleashes a powerful attack that creates Ice Spheres that seek out and damage nearby enemies. Players who prefer a more supportive role in combat can utilize Viessa’s abilities to aid their teammates, providing backup and enabling more offensive-focused players to take the lead in battle.
4. C-Tier
Characters in the C Tier of The First Descendant are considered subpar and underpowered compared to others. Although they may have limitations, it’s important to note that they are not entirely useless and can still be played effectively. Rather, these Descendants may require balance tweaks or buffs to address the gaps in their abilities and enhance their overall performance.
Esiemo
Esiemo, a Burst DPS specialist, utilizes explosives to devastate enemies, similar to Lepic. Nicknamed The Explosives Master, Esiemo’s skills include Guided Landmine, which targets enemies with explosive landmines, and Arche Explosion, a charging ultimate that knocks back and debuffs enemies. He strategically attaches bombs and detonators, timing detonations for maximum area damage.
While his passive ability drops a bomb when his shield depletes, his other skills are straightforward, involving landmine placement. However, Esiemo’s effectiveness relies on precise aiming and positioning, making him challenging to play. His vulnerability and limited survivability further restrict his role, making him a character to avoid unless you match his playstyle with a good build and game-play skills.
Sharen
Sharen, a Ninja character, excels in close-quarters combat, utilizing her Laser Sword to deliver significant melee damage. Although she possesses abilities like invisibility and enhanced damage output, her range is limited, and she lacks the capability to engage multiple targets or inflict area damage.
Her strengths include dealing massive critical damage with her electric blade and short-range strikes, but her melee-focused combat restricts her to single-target attacks, hindering her overall potential. Due to her reliance on cooldowns and restricted combat range, Sharen might be a character to avoid until (and if) she is buffed in later patches of the game.
Ultimately, tier lists are subjective, as personal preferences for archetypes and playstyles are significant in determining the best characters for you.
Find your Strength. Choose your Descendant.
About The First Descendant
Embark on a thrilling adventure in The First Descendant, a free-to-play, third-person shooter action RPG powered by Unreal Engine 5. Take on the role of a Descendant, harnessing unique abilities to fight for humanity’s survival in solo or co-op missions. Join forces with up to 4 players to tackle challenging bosses, employing diverse mechanics and strategies.
With 14 playable Descendants to choose from, each with their own unique skills and roles, the battle against the alien invasion has never been more dynamic. Released on July 2, 2024, and crafted by the visionary developers at Nexon, this epic game promises an unforgettable experience.
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