How to Clear the Invasion Dungeons in The First Descendant

With Season 1 of The First Descendant almost reaching its second half, it’s a great time to discuss how to challenge the latest content in the game, the Invasions, which now has received major updates and adjustments to its content. This guide will help you get through all three major factions’ Invasion Dungeons by knowing each faction’s mechanics, what strategies to use, and what Matchmaking settings are the best for consistently getting the Gold time rewards. Let’s begin.

Nexon released The First Descendant on July 2, 2024, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and recently launched the Season 1 Invasion Update on August 29, 2024.

If you are looking for more guides and content on The First Descendant, then you can read them here on KeenGamer through the links below:

• The First Descendant: Hailey Build Guide | Best Modules, Weapons, and Reactors
• The First Descendant | Ranking the Ultimate Descendants from Best to Worst
• The First Descendant | How to Beat the Frost Walker Void Intercept Boss
• The First Descendant | How to Beat the Dead Bride Void Intercept Boss
• Everything You Need to Know About The First Descendant Season 1 ‘Invasion’
• The Best Starting Character to Pick in The First Descendant

What Are Invasion Dungeons in The First Descendant?

Invasion Dungeons are the latest content in The First Descendant that arrived with the game’s Season 1, aptly named ‘Invasion’. This tough challenge for all Descendants is designed to provide players with new sources of rewards, with the main prize being the latest Descendant to join the game, Hailey. Additionally, tons of gold await the players who successfully beat an invasion dungeon, making this seasonal content more enticing.

In total, all players must face three major Vulgus factions during either the story or when fighting them in Invasion Dungeons. They are the Order of Truth, Legion of Immortality, and Legion of Darkness. Each faction has its strengths and mechanics that must be solved, ranging from collecting Artificial Brains and destroying Phase Separation Veils to stepping in the correct Arche Tiles and correctly identifying the Arche Drones to fend off the Order of Truth’s horrors.

Fighting an Invasion Boss.

Order of Truth Invasion Dungeons

Starting with the Order of Truth, a faction that specializes in using Poison attacks and has potent Toxic Attribute affinity, making them a deadly force that can kill your characters in The First Descendant if you don’t have enough HP and DEF stats to countermeasure their attacks. Here is the summary of the faction, paraphrased from the in-game description:

The Order of Truth plans to cause a massive explosion using containers filled with Arche and Ancestors drones powered by Inversion Energy. The Descendants must stop this by fighting the Order’s most terrifying bio-weapons.

When fighting Order of Truth Invasion Dungeons, you should be ready to fight against Toxic Attribute attacks, which means that having some Toxic Resistance is nice for clearing them smoothly. However, it is not quite mandatory, unlike when you’re fighting Void Intercept Bosses such as Devourer, Swamp Walker, or Obstructer. Generally, there are some striking traits that you need to be aware of within an Order of Truth Invasion Dungeon:

1. A section within the Order of Truth Invasions will always have 4 Storage Containers, each containing a symbol resembling the PlayStation controller’s symbols: Square, Triangle, Circle, and Cross. The locations of these symbols are important; the top-most symbol represents the top-most symbol in Arche Drones, and so forth until the last symbol, which sits in the fourth column of a Storage Container.
2. Once you reveal at least two Storage Containers’ symbols, it is imperative to find the associated Arche Drone quickly. Usually, there are three Arche Drones, and two of them can contain the same symbol in the same place, meaning that you have to look for two symbols before selecting an Arche Drone.
3. A section within this faction’s Dungeons is locked with Malignant Tumors, which can only be removed using Inversion Energy Emitter, a super-weapon that you can use once you locate the right Arche Drone. Be careful, though, as its bullets are only enough to shoot all Malignant Tumors six times, so if you miss even a shot, you need to restart that section.

Lastly, we have curated some major pointers to ensure that your runs against the Order of Truth Invasions are smooth and can obtain that Gold time rewards easily:

• Use Ultimate Bunny/Freyna/Hailey: Currently, these three Descendants are the best characters to use for clearing out the Invasions. Ultimate Bunny and Freyna, when built properly, can shred through any Vulgus enemies that stand in their way, while Hailey can chip the Bosses’ HP like hotcakes thanks to her Zenith ability.
• Careful Observation: Revealing a symbol from the Storage Containers may not be enough, as sometimes the game gives you a decoy Arche Drone to throw you off. Instead, try to reveal two symbols first before analyzing which Drone has the correct symbols in the right order.

Order of Truth Invasion Dungeons.

Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeons

For the second Vulgus faction in The First Descendant, let’s move on to the Legion of Immortality, which focuses its powers on energy sources and laser-based weaponry. Here is the summary of the faction, which derives from the in-game description of Legion of Immortality:

The Legion of Immortality uses energy weapons powered by Ancestors’ technology and Inversion Energy. These weapons isolate targets from external influence, rendering them vulnerable. However, to maintain this, they need a computing unit connected via Vulgus Artificial Brains. A weak point in the system has been identified.

When fighting Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeons in The First Descendant, there isn’t any major obstacle that is worth noting, as the faction’s dungeons serve more as DPS checks rather than actual puzzling content. Generally, there are some striking traits that you need to be aware of within a Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeon:

1. A section within the Legion of Immortality Invasions will always have a Computing Unit, which acts as a storage for the Vulgus’ Artificial Brains that you can obtain from the fallen enemies. 
2. To fully charge the Computing Unit, you need to collect a total of 20 Vulgus Artificial Brains, as each brain fills up 5% of the Computing Unit’s meter. Most, if not all enemies during the regular sections are very fragile and you can defeat them quickly with characters like Ultimate Bunny or Freyna.
3. Once you overwhelm the Computing Unit, you now have access to the Phase Separation Veil Generator that is either blocking the door to the next section or protecting the Invasion Boss. Destroying the generator is fairly simple, as each node will go down in less than 3 seconds by using a properly built weapon like Thunder Cage, or just by using Ultimate Bunny’s enhanced Skill 3 by using High Voltage Transcendent Module.

In addition to these details, we have curated some major pointers to ensure that your runs against the Legion of Immortality Invasions are smooth and can obtain that Gold time rewards easily:

• Use Ultimate Bunny/Freyna/Hailey: Currently, these three Descendants are the best characters to use for clearing out the Invasions. Ultimate Bunny and Freyna, when built properly, can shred through any Vulgus enemies that stand in their way, while Hailey can chip the Bosses’ HP like hotcakes thanks to her Zenith ability. This rule applies within all Invasion Dungeons.
• Quick Gathering: While the Vulgus enemies are abundant in numbers throughout the sections within Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeons, you should never forget to collect the dropped Artificial Brains and store them in the Computing Unit. It is recommended to collect 10 Artificial Brains twice to maximize efficiency within a section.
• Utilize Public Matchmaking: Fighting a Legion of Immortality Invasion Boss is tougher when compared to the other two factions, especially if the arena is in a larger open space that has many spawn area possibilities, making them harder to beat. To counter this, it is wise to join a Public Matchmaking to ensure that you can take down the Invasion Boss comfortably, as there will be four DPS sources instead of just one.

Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeons.

Legion of Darkness Invasion Dungeons

The last faction within The First Descendant right now is the Legion of Darkness, which resorts to their massive numbers of troops to overwhelm you, though that strength is not apparent until you meet a Legion of Darkness Invasion Boss. We have summarized this faction, which is taken and paraphrased from the in-game description:

The Legion of Darkness deploys weapons developed by the Ancestors and enhanced by Vulgus technology. These weapons emit Inversion Energy to protect targets from damage, powered by ancient Arche. To disable these weapons, players must sever the energy connection.

When fighting Legion of Darkness Invasion Dungeons in The First Descendant, there isn’t an immediate problem during every section before the Invasion Boss room, as your main focuses are the Arche Tiles, but here are the major points that you should be on the lookout for:

1. Legion of Darkness Invasion Dungeons will contain five Arche Tiles with the composition of three correct tiles and two wrong tiles, and the way to see which ones are right is by stepping on the Floating Arche Tile and looking at the gate that is blocking your way.
2. Once you step on the Floating Arche Tile, the gate will reveal three symbols (similar to the symbols from the Order of Truth’s Storage Containers), alongside all the Arche Tiles below you. To continue through the next section, simply find the symbols on the Arche Tiles and stay inside it for approximately 5 seconds per tile before continuing to the next Arche Tile. Do it correctly three times, and the gate should unlock for you.

Just like the previous two factions, facing off the Legion of Darkness also needs some tips to ensure that your runs against them are always smooth without failing:

• Use Ultimate Bunny/Freyna/Hailey: Currently, these three Descendants are the best characters to use for clearing out the Invasions. Ultimate Bunny and Freyna, when built properly, can shred through any Vulgus enemies that stand in their way, while Hailey can chip the Bosses’ HP like hotcakes thanks to her Zenith ability. This rule applies to all Invasion Dungeons.
• Utilize Public Matchmaking: Just like Legion of Immortality, the Legion of Darkness’ Arche Tiles are easier to complete when there are more people to do it simultaneously, especially true when you reach the last part of the dungeon and fight the Invasion Boss, as there might be more than one Arche Tile to step on during this area, giving you double the efficiency through numbers.

Legion of Darkness Invasion Dungeons.

Solo vs. Multiplayer Invasion Runs

When it comes to fighting Order of Truth Invasion Dungeons, it is better to play it on Private Matchmaking for several reasons. The first major reason for doing this faction’s Dungeons solo is due to how the Arche Drones work. There’s always a risk that an impatient player might trigger the correct Arche Drone prematurely without waiting for others to also get into safety, thus slowing down and potentially jeopardizing your entire run. Another reason is that once the right Arche Drone explodes, it provides you with an Inversion Energy Emitter, which only has 6 rounds, enough to take down the Malignant Tumors blocking a door, which, if the player wielding the weapon is not careful, will force you to restart that area’s whole process again, therefore wasting precious time that might hinder you from getting a Gold time.

Meanwhile, Legion of Immortality Invasion Dungeons are straightforward even during Private sessions, and with the introduction of Public Matchmaking, it has become even easier. Legion of Immortality’s main puzzle is about collecting Artificial Brains from the Vulgus you’ve defeated in an area and placing them in the Computing Unit. The recommendation for challenging these dungeons is by playing them through Public Matchmaking.

Lastly, four players guessing and stepping inside the correct Arche Tiles significantly boosts the clear time for Legion of Darkness, compared to having just one person reach the Tiles individually. This is why challenging the Legion of Darkness Invasion Dungeons through Public Matchmaking is recommended. However, you must still consider the time limit when facing the Invasion Boss, as its durability increases massively in a Public Invasion Dungeon setting.

Once you manage to get enough resources for Hailey’s parts from the Invasion Dungeons, you can then proceed to research her at Anais in Albion, thus giving you one of the best characters in The First Descendant right now, capable of destroying Void Intercept Bosses in seconds.

The Main Prize, Hailey.

And that’s everything you need to know about Invasion Dungeons and how to beat them in The First Descendant.