Leveling up your chosen descendant in The First Descendant is the best way to improve your character’s stats. The leveling system in this game is pretty simple, at least for leveling up your descendant and not your mastery rank or weapon level. If you want to level up your descendant quickly, I have some tips for you!
The best ways to level up your Descendant in The First Descendant
Since you can level your Descendant up to level 40, it’s best to find a good middle ground between leveling quickly and doing so in a way that’s still fun. With these five basic leveling strategies, you’ll be able to enjoy the game while maxing out your Descendant’s level:
5. Defeat the bosses
Bosses have yellow titles when you’re completing quests on the battlefield, as opposed to the red titles of regular Vulgus enemies. When you’re completing dungeon-style quests (for more on these quests, scroll down to number two on this list), they have red titles but much more health and can heal themselves two or three times. They’re much harder to kill, and it’s best to team up with other players during quests to defeat them faster.
Since they are bigger and meaner enemies, you will get more EXP for killing them than for killing Vulgus. However, it is not the best technique, because the time lost in killing some of them is ridiculous.
4. Defeat the Vulgus
Vulgus are one of the main enemies you’ll see in The First Descendant. They appear in the wild and during each mission. You’ll get XP for each one you take down (read: kill). You don’t need to worry about playing missions in public, there are plenty of Vulgus that will appear during each mission for all players working with you.
That being said, I recommend figuring out which of your weapons you’re most comfortable with and practicing with the new ones you get to find your favorites. You’ll shoot better with some weapons than others, especially if you don’t usually play shooting games.
3. Complete missions all over the map.
There are several missions you can complete on the map, including some that you can play repeatedly. Missions do not automatically trigger unless you happen to land in the mission area and someone else is already running that mission. In that situation, you will become part of the mission and play it with the other people in the area.
Before you start your own quests, you can check how much EXP you will get from them in the “main reward” section. As you can see in the screenshot above, the Kingston Communications Relay quest gives you 1,070 EXP for each playthrough. This quest is one you can repeat and takes place nearby, so it’s a good one to do to gain EXP quickly. There are usually other people in the area, so it’s rare to be alone on quests like this, which are the ones near transport points or in main areas.
2. Complete dungeon style quests.
The First Descendant has a few quests that play out in a dungeon style. These quests can be started solo or you can join them publicly and wait for a group to form. From what I’ve seen, you’ll end up with three or four players running the same quest together.
You can tell you’re about to start one of these larger quests because when you interact with the quest’s starting point, you’ll be taken to a new screen that asks you if you want to complete it privately or publicly. The example I have for you here is the Slumber Valley quest, which offers 1,200 EXP When completed, these larger quests also give you a bigger and better variety of rewards!
1. Repeat the Kingston Resources Defense Mission
The Kingston Resource Defense mission is a wave-by-wave enemy encounter mission. You can find it by going to the Special Operations Terminal in Albion, finding the Kingston region on the map, and selecting the Kingston Albion Resource Defense mission.
The waves of enemies get stronger as the quest progresses, but each wave you defeat will grant you EXP and other rewards. Because it’s set up to grant you EXP after completing each part of the quest, it’s the best way to gain EXP in the game and level up your Descendant faster.
I highly recommend this strategy for leveling quickly in The First Descendant. My team of four only made it through the first seven waves and still went from level 11 to 16.
How to level up your mastery rank in The First Descendant
Your Mastery Rank is completely independent of your Descendant Level. Both are separate leveling systems with their own benefits. While your Descendant Level affects your stats (such as your HP and Attack), your Mastery Rank improves your storage and module capacity.
You will level up your mastery rank organically as you play, but you need to go and use the Main hands of the Arche factor manipulator Back to the hub in Albion to rank up. If you don’t go and use your hands to rank up, you won’t be able to earn additional points for the next rank.
Enter the room where the hands are, interact with the terminal, and click to level up. You’ll see a slightly strange cutscene where your Offspring is standing between the giant hands to gain more power. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be the next Mastery Rank and can start accumulating Mastery Rank EXP again.
The EXP Mastery Rank can only be obtained by completing quests for the first time or by leveling up without filling any of your Descendant’s module slots.
Want to read more pro game guides for The First Descendant? Try our guide on how to fix the Caliber not showing issue in The First Descendant or how to unlock all trophies in The First Descendant.