Best Piercing Light build in The First Descendant: Best modules, Descendants & weapon stats

James Lynch

Sniper Rifles are an odd category of weapon in The First Descendant, largely thanks to their highly situational application. The major exception to that rule is Piercing Light, an impressive choice with significant DPS potential.

Though they excel at boss damage, it can be tough to track down sufficient ammo for Snipers and it’s often a better play to leave them out of your arsenal. That said, it’s worth taking the risk on Piercing Light if you know you’re going to come up against a particularly tanky enemy.

We placed it in the A-Tier of our Ultimate weapons tier list for The First Descendant and it’s more than deserving of that spot. With a solid ATK stat and effective unique ability, it’s well worth going after. Here’s everything you need to know to create the best build.

How to unlock Piercing Light Ultimate Weapon

Piercing Light in The Final Descendant

Before you can unlock Piercing Light for use, you’ll need to track down plenty of Research Materials to construct its constituent parts. To do so, you’ll need to collect the following:

  • Piercing Light Polymer Syncytium
    • 105x Repton
    • 130x Metal Accelerant
    • 6x Divided Plasma Battery
    • Piercing Light Polymer Syncytium Blueprint
  • Piercing Light Synthetic Fiber
    • 108x Silicon
    • 91x Nanopolymers
    • 9x Artificial Biometal
    • Piercing Light Synthetic Fiber Blueprint
  • Piercing Light Nano Tube
    • 72x Semi-permanent Plasma
    • 60x Compound Coating Material
    • 15x Complex Carbon Activator
    • Piercing Light Nano Tube Blueprint
  • Piercing Light Blueprint
  • 100,000 Gold

Each of the components above can be made using the materials listed below it. To farm those materials, you will need to unlock regions and complete activities like Void Intercept. Once you have everything you need, head over to speak to Anais in Albion.

Pay 100,000 Gold to unlock the Piercing Light research quest and wait four hours for it to unlock. You’ll have to wait until you reach Mastery Rank 10 before it becomes available, so make sure to grind those levels first.

Piercing Light stats

  • Stats: 
    • ATK: 404
    • Fire Rate: 48
    • Reload Time: 2.6 seconds
    • Purification of Light: On hitting a Weak Point, inflicts Dispel on the enemy with a set chance. When two or more enemies are hit by a single shot, there is a high chance to land a Critical Hit on the enemies while also increasing Critical Damage and applying this buff to the attack.

It’s important to note that the stats above are the baseline at Level 1. These stats can be vastly altered using modules, so it’s best to use the above only as a comparison point against other baseline Level 1 weapons.

Best Descendant for Piercing Light

Bunny cover art in The First Descendant

The great thing about Piercing Light is that it’s an effective choice for any Descendant in the game. The debuff it applies benefits everyone, and it’s a great damage dealer in its own right, so it’s worth trying out regardless of who you’re playing as.

If we had to pick one Descendant who suits Piercing Light the best, then we’d go with Bunny. Her advanced movement techniques and ability set should enable her to get into positions where she can hit weak points more consistently.

Best Modules

ModuleSocketDescriptionRarity
Strengthen First ShotMalachiteAfter reload, first shot Firearm ATK +100%Ultimate
SharpshooterMalachiteFirearm ATK +X%, Firearm Critical Hit Rate +X%Rare
MarksmanAlmandineFirearm Critical Hit Rate +X%, Firearm ATK +X%Rare
Fixed ShotRutileRecoil -X%, Weak Point Damage +X%Rare
Weak Point SightMalachiteWeak Point Damage +X%Normal
Weak Point InsightMalachiteWeak Point Damage +X%, Firearm Critical Hit Rate +X%Rare
Rifling ReinforcementMalachiteFirearm ATK +X%Normal
Better ConcentrationAlmandineFirearm Critical Hit Damage +X%Normal
Better InsightAlmandineFirearm Critical Hit Rate +X%Normal
Action and ReactionMalachiteFirearm ATK +X%, Recoil +X%Rare
Bullet RainXanticFire Rate +X%, Firearm ATK +X%Rare

That’s our complete guide to Piercing Light! If you’re wanting to build around this gun, then our Bunny guide is the perfect accompaniment. However, if you’re wanting a change, check out our Ajax, FreynaGleyKyleLepic, and Valby guides.