The First Descendant: Best Characters [Tier List]

In The First Descendant, with over a dozen Descendants to unlock, some characters naturally are the best. Although almost any character can be effective with the right build and strategy, choosing the best ones early can significantly ease the endgame grind.

Here, we’ll rank every character in The First Descendant based on their combat effectiveness against large enemy hordes, their performance in boss fights, and the utility they provide to a team with a tier list.

While you’re here, you should read more of The First Descendant Guides:

1. The First Descendant: Advanced Neural Circuit Farming
2. The First Descendant: Best XP Farm Locations
3. The First Descendant: Best Thunder Cage Build
4. The First Descendant: How to Get & Use Amorphous Material

The First Descendant Character Tier List

In The First Descendant, characters are ranked in a tier list from D (the worst) to S (the best). This ranking considers their abilities, effectiveness against enemies and bosses, how well they support teammates, and how easy they are to use in battle.

S-Tier

These are the best characters in the game, known for being easy to play while dealing incredible damage. They offer a level of efficiency that you won’t find in other characters. Some players might even say that these characters are too powerful and possibly overpowered.

Bunny

Bunny

Bunny is one of the fastest and most powerful characters in The First Descendant, serving as a Nuker in the game. She continuously deals damage while sprinting and releases powerful waves of electricity. Additionally, she has a special resource called Electricity that you earn based on how far you travel, allowing her to excel in a move-and-shoot playstyle. The longer she sprints, the more electrical energy she builds up, increasing the range of the shockwave from her Active ability.  She can take out groups of enemies by running around and using her Lightning Emission ability. 

Bunny can also summon an Electro Orb, which is highly effective for electrocuting nearby enemies. However, her standout ability is moving around and electrocuting enemies as she goes, making guns unnecessary. Her electrical power alone is strong enough to wipe out large waves of enemies, including the tougher ones.

Gley

Gley

Gley is considered the best Utility Dealer in The First Descendant and takes the S-Tier because she offers a unique gameplay experience. Unlike other characters who focus on charging their ultimate skills, Gley heals herself with each kill, boosting her Frenzied state. In her normal state, her damage output is average and less effective against enemies.

However, when her Frenzied state is activated, her attack damage significantly increases, though she recovers less health during this time. Additionally, her Increased Sensory ability grants her unlimited ammo for a short period during Frenzy, allowing you to unleash powerful weapons without worrying about running out of ammo.

In conclusion, she uses a high-risk, high-reward approach that relies on aggression and getting kills outside of Frenzied to regain health. The advantage of Gley is her ability to activate a skill that reloads ammunition, letting her use a launcher and hold down the trigger for maximum damage. However, she must be optimized and played properly to be effective. While she can be a powerful boss killer, her playstyle is quite different from what most players are used to.

A-Tier

These Descendants are strong and well-established in the meta. They offer excellent damage, good clearspeed, and are generally easy to play. While some may need more investment, with practice, all of these characters can compete with those in the S-tier category.

Viessa

Viessa

Viessa is one of the starter characters in The First Descendant that players can choose early in the game. Among the three, she’s considered the weakest and serves as a Debuffer. Viessa excels at controlling enemies by freezing them and slowing down large waves during missions.

However, her damage output is lower compared to other Descendants, and she’s mainly focused on crowd control between missions. Her abilities, though, can create openings for teammates to launch high-damage attacks. Players who prefer to stay behind the front lines can use Viessa to support more aggressive teammates in battle.

Lepic

Lepic

Lepic is a DPS character in The First Descendant and one of the three starter characters available at the beginning of the game. His attacks focus mainly on Area of Effect (AoE) damage, thanks to his Grenade throws, and he also has several self-buff skills.

While Lepic isn’t the best at team support, he can still help in tough situations by throwing powerful shells and Traction Grenades when teammates are surrounded by enemies. His AoE attacks are among the best in the game, making him a solid choice for players who enjoy a damage-dealing playstyle.

Ajax

Ajax

Ajax is the top Tank in The First Descendant and an ideal starter character. His defensive abilities are outstanding, allowing him to create barriers, shield bubbles, and protective defenses for the team, making him a great support for planning attacks.

Though his damage output is relatively low, Ajax can be very fun to play and is extremely useful during difficult missions. He also features a stomp ability that lets him leap into the air and slam down, stunning nearby enemies and giving your team the chance to take them out.

Freyna

Freyna

Freyna is a damage-over-time (DoT) dealer like Blair from The Final Descendant, but she uses Poison instead of fire. She can deploy Poison Clouds to damage enemies over time and create Toxic Swamp puddles for significant area-of-effect (AoE) damage to large groups.

Although her DoT damage is severe, her lack of immediate damage makes her less effective as a team asset. While she does inflict damage over time, it’s not as powerful or instantaneous as Bunny’s burst damage. Like Blair, Freyna excels in prolonged damage rather than quick, high-impact attacks, which makes her great against bosses.

B-Tier

These are some strong Descendants that are held back by weaker base kits or long cooldowns. With the best build, these characters can perform on par with A-tier Descendants and even challenge those in the S-tier. These characters have solid potential and can be enhanced with specific player skills, making them highly customizable. Their ranking can improve based on how you develop and build them.

Valby

Valby

Valby is underrated in The First Descendant, excelling as a Constant DPS character with impressive AoE damage capabilities. Her abilities are centered around water, allowing her to create puddles that inflict continuous damage to enemies. Additionally, she can transform into a liquefied state, moving through enemies and leaving a damaging water trail behind her.

To maximize Valby’s potential, it’s crucial to master positioning and strategically plan your attacks. Doing so will make you an invaluable support to your team.

Luna

Luna

Luna is a dedicated buffer and healer in The First Descendant, excelling in healing but lacking in offensive power. While she’s highly effective at providing buffs to her allies from a distance, her abilities require a high level of skill to master.

Luna is more of a crowd-control character, depending on the team’s DPS players, and she uses her musical abilities to enhance their damage and skills. If you’re familiar with rhythm games like Guitar Hero, you’ll likely find it easier to master Luna’s abilities.

Blair

Blair

Blair is a Damage over Time (DoT) character in The First Descendant who excels at dealing massive fire damage to enemies. He’s a blast to play, capable of setting the ground ablaze and absorbing the flames to boost his defense during missions.

However, despite his ability to inflict great damage over a wide area, Blair’s low HP makes him more vulnerable than other Descendants due to his weakened defense. Additionally, his slow ability cooldowns can be frustrating, especially when teammates are consistently pushing the attack.

Jayber

Jayber

Jayber is an underrated character in The First Descendant, often overlooked by many players. However, once unlocked and played, his ability to summon Turrets proves to be incredibly powerful, making the use of guns almost unnecessary.

As a Utility Dealer, Jayber relies heavily on his Turrets, with their effectiveness depending on placement. Properly positioned Turrets can provide significant support to your team during tough battles while you focus on healing teammates. Jayber is also useful for locking down areas in defense missions, offering valuable assistance to your team.

C-Tier

These Descendants have issues in their abilities that can’t be resolved with upgrades, making them difficult to recommend except in specific situations. While they might perform well in certain areas, their awkward abilities keep them from competing with the A and B-tier Descendants.

Sharen

Sharen

Sharen is the rogue or assassin character, ideal for players who enjoy stealth gameplay. Her build focuses on attacking enemies who aren’t targeting her, allowing her to benefit from her passive ability, Assassinator. With Active Camouflage, you can turn invisible and capitalize on this passive, although it requires being within melee range, making it less reliable than other characters.

Despite this, Sharen is one of the coolest and most interesting characters in The First Descendant, offering an excellent burst damage option for stealth enthusiasts.

Yujin

Yujin

Yujin is an outstanding Healer in The First Descendant and a top-tier Support choice for any team. His main role is to heal teammates and revive them when they’re downed during missions. Being revived by Yujin gives you a significant HP boost that lasts for a while.

He can also summon a recovery drone that heals characters on the move, which is one of his most valuable abilities. This drone is especially useful for healing and boosting the attack damage of characters like Ajax, complementing a team with a strong Tank playstyle.

Additionally, Yujin’s Restructure Serum has a surprising effect, debuffing enemies and enabling your support units and attackers to unleash powerful attacks. Having a healer is crucial when playing with friends, but his abilities depend heavily on Skill Power to be effective. A healer shouldn’t require so much investment to be useful, which makes Yujin nearly ineffective.

Enzo

Enzo

Enzo in The First Descendant is a supporting character focused on resupplying teammates with ammo. His passive abilities increase allies’ max ammo capacity, which can make solo play less enjoyable.

What sets Enzo apart from other support characters is his combination of a damage skill and a defensive shield skill for himself. Unlike Yujin, Enzo can support allies while also staying alive and dealing moderate damage. His main skill provides ammo, keeping heavy ammo levels nearly full and significantly boosting the team’s damage output.

Enzo’s effectiveness relies on playing with a team, as his skills are designed to enhance and sustain team performance, whether in defense missions or raiding outposts.

D-Tier

Characters in the D Tier need major changes or reworks because they are less effective or redundant compared to other options. They are considered outclassed and offer little to no useful utility in the current meta, making them less viable for the battlefield.

Kyle

Kyle

Kyle is a tough character with a powerful Ultimate that can deal significant damage and a solid set of abilities. His Barrier absorbs damage, and another skill provides both great survivability and damage. However, he lacks Ajax’s utility since his Barrier can’t be placed on the ground and must be channeled, and he doesn’t have Hyper Cube for challenging boss fights.

Despite his potential, Kyle’s abilities are often inconsistent and prone to bugs. While he should theoretically be strong, these issues with his skills make him nearly ineffective in battle, making him a weaker alternative to Ajax.

Esiemo

Esiemo

Eisemo is a Burst DPS character in The First Descendant who uses bombs to inflict damage, similar to Lepic. He places detonators and bombs on enemies, detonating them strategically to cause widespread damage.

His passive ability lets him drop a bomb when his shield is depleted, but his other abilities are fairly standard, involving placing landmines and other bombs. Playing with Eisemo can become frustrating over time, so it’s generally advisable to avoid this character.