The First Descendant tier list: Best characters ranked

The First Descendant has such a wide variety of characters to choose from and in our ultimate tier list, we have ranked the best to the worst, from Bunny and Gley, to Esiemo and Enzo.

While there are only selected starter characters to choose from as you play The First Descendant, the rest can be unlocked along the way or purchased from the in-game store. Using our tier list, you can see which ones are worth grinding for.

The First Descendant character tier list

Tier	Characters
S	Bunny, Ajax, Gley, Lepic
A	Yujin, Jayber, Valby, Hailey
B	Viessa, Blair, Freyna, Kyle, Luna
C	Esiemo, Enzo, Sharen

Our tiers explained

Here is a short-hand for how each tier breakdown:

• S-tier: The best characters in the game
• A-tier: Very good characters offering an alternative to other options
• B-tier: There might be situations where these characters can perform well
• C-tier: Best to avoid unless you find yourself drawn to them

Best character in The First Descendant (September 2024 meta) – Recommended

Of the four characters featured in our S-tier, we recommend using Bunny if you want to use quick attacks on your enemies on the move and Ajax if you want to fully play a Tank build and smash through them. Both of them have emerged as top characters in the meta and in our extensive testing.

Bunny has always been the best character whether it comes to mobbing, bossing or even dealing elemental damage to enemies. With the update 1.1.0, Bunny’s “Lightning Emission” and “High-Voltage” skills have been fixed, allowing her to dish out quick damage as she sprints around the map.

Ajax can protect himself and his teammates with a Forcefield.

Ajax has also received some buffs where his “Orbit Barrier” and “Hyper Cube” barrier abilities have been improved to be affected by attribute resistances, and the barriers’ HP and DEF ratios were vastly increased. His Void Walk and Void Charge abilities were also buffed which means he’s the perfect starter character for you to begin with.

At the same time, Gley’s stats have remained almost the same as the previous update. But one character that has stepped up to S-Tier is Lepic since he’s become one of the strongest starter picks in the game.

Lepic’s abilities were buffed with update 1.1.0 as his AoE attacks deal more damage and have increased range which is great for mobbing. While Ajax is a decent pick due to his Tanking abilities, Lepic is often slept on.

His instant nuke with a short cooldown and a skill module increasing his firearm ATK are the best combos you can ask for.

Who is the best character?

According to The First Descendant subreddit and pick-rate popularity, Bunny is the best character in The First Descendant. Her elemental electric attacks are great for mobbing and clearing out an area, without even using a firearm.

Thunder Cage SMG is the best weapon for Bunny to equip.

Her builds using the Thunder Cage weapons are some of the most overpowered skills you’ll come across in the game. Bunny’s role as a Nuker in the game enables her to quickly move between enemies in an area and deal damage, while on the move, thus allowing your DPS characters to clear out zones.

Now, we’re going to do a deep dive into each character in our First Descendant character tier list, ranking them from the top to bottom.

S-Tier characters in The First Descendant

Bunny

Bunny is the fastest and the best character in The First Descendant and has a Nuker role in the game. She deals continuous damage on the move while sprinting and discharges massive waves of electricity. The more she sprints, the more electrical energy is accumulated which results in increasing the shockwave range released by her Active ability.

She can also summon an Electro Orb which is extremely useful for electrocuting enemies nearby. However, her best ability is when she moves around the area and electrocutes enemies on the move which eliminates the use of guns. Her power alone is enough to take out large waves of enemies, even the bigger ones too.

If you’d like to see the best build for Bunny, check out our guide.

Ajax

Ajax is the best Tank in The First Descendant and the best starter character in the game. He has incredible defensive prowess where he can create barriers, shield bubbles, and even defenses around the team to support them as they strategize their next attack.

While Ajax’s damage output is low, playing as him could be incredibly fun while starting out and he proves to be a massive asset to any team during tough missions. Ajax also has a stomp ability where he leaps in the air and lands on the ground to strike nearby enemies, stunning them while your team takes them out.

If you’d like to see the best build for Ajax, check out our guide.

Gley

Gley is the best Utility Dealer in The First Descendant and provides a unique gameplay experience to players. While other characters focus on filling up their ultimate skill meter, Gley restores her HP after each kill to increase her Frenzied state. In her base state, she deals regular damage and isn’t very effective on enemies.

However, once you activate her Frenzied state, her attack damage increases, and she recovers lesser health during this period.

Furthermore, her Increased Sensory ability adds an infinite ammo effect for a certain amount of time during Frenzy. During this time, you can use powerful pray-and-spray weapons in your inventory at your enemies without having to worry about running out of ammo.

If you’d like to see the best build for Gley, check out our guide.

Lepic

Lepic has now moved up to S-tier and is a DPS character in The First Descendant and is also one of the three starter characters provided to you in the beginning. His attacks are mostly AoE (Area of Effect) due to his Grenade throws and he also possesses several self-buff skills.

Although he falls short in supporting the team overall, but still helps them out of sticky situations if they’re surrounded by enemies by throwing powerful shells and Traction Grenades. His AoE attacks are one of the best ones and he’s great to begin your First Descendant journey with if you prefer a damage dealer style of gameplay.

If you’d like to see the best build for Lepic, check out our guide.

A-Tier characters in The First Descendant

Yujin

Yujin is an excellent Healer in The First Descendant and is the best Support addition to any team. His job is to heal teammates and to revive them when they’re downed during a mission. If you’re revived by a Yujin, you get a massive HP boost that stays for a while.

He also summons a recovery drone that can heal characters it’s attached to on the go. His drone is by far the best thing about his abilities which can prove extremely useful in healing and increasing the attack damage of characters like Ajax in a team that already possesses a massive Tank playstyle.

The Restructure Serum surprisingly debuffs enemies and allows your support units and attackers to launch a massive attack on enemies.

If you’d like to see the best build for Yujin, check out our guide.

Jayber

Jayber is a hidden Trump Card among the stacked roster of characters in The Final Descendant that several players will mostly undermine. But once you’ve unlocked the character and begin to play as him, you realize his abilities to summon Turrets are overpowered and eliminate the use of any guns in his inventory.

Although being a Utility Dealer and reliance on Turrets, his weakness usually comes in depending upon the placement of Turrets. If you’ve placed them in the right spots, they can massively aid your team in a tough battle as you heal your teammates. You can also use Jayber for locking down areas in defense missions and aid your team.

If you’d like to see the best build for Jayber, check out our guide.

Valby

Valby is another hidden gem who is a Constant DPS character in The First Descendant. She’s excellent at inflicting AoE damage to enemies and most of her abilities are centered around water.

She creates puddles that deal continuous damage to enemies and can even become Liquefied as she moves through enemies while dealing them damage by forming a trail of water. The best way to play as Valby is to get good at positioning and strategizing your attack toward enemies to be an excellent support to your team.

If you’d like to see the best build for Valby, check out our guide.

Hailey

Hailey was introduced as a Burst DPS in The First Descendant Season 1 and is known for delivering massive damage from a distance with her anti-material sniper weapon, as well as using her Arche talents to control and eliminate enemies via cryo effects.

She’s known for her ability to stack buff her weapons with Cold Fury and increase Firearm ATK which makes her excellent at bossing in the game. Her ability to deal damage from afar helps extremely in Void Intercept Battles, however she falls short in clearing out mobs in missions.

B-Tier characters in The First Descendant

Viessa

Viessa is another starter character in The First Descendant that players can choose from early on in the game. Out of the three, she’s the weakest one and is a Debuffer in the game. She’s good at controlling enemies as she freezes them and slows large waves of enemies in a mission.

That said, she doesn’t have a high-damage output like other Descendants and is only limited to crowd control between missions. Although her abilities allow other teammates to push through gaps and result in a high-damage attack. Players who like staying behind the lines in a battle can use Viessa to support more attack-centered players in a lobby.

If you’d like to see the best build for Viessa, check out our guide.

Blair

Blair is a DoT (Damage over time) dealer in The First Descendant and does insane fire damage to enemies. He is incredibly fun to play as and he can set the ground into flames and can absorb them to gain defense buffs throughout a mission.

Even though he’s able to dish out high damage over time across a large area, his HP is extremely low due to his nerfed defense capabilities which makes him weaker than other Descendants. Furthermore, his ability cooldown speed is really slow which can make a player impatient while their teammates are constantly pushing the attack forward.

If you’d like to see the best build for Blair, check out our guide.

Freyna

Freyna is yet another DoT dealer similar to Blair in The Final Descendant, but instead of fire, she uses Poison to damage enemies. She can create Poison Clouds to inflict damage to enemies over time and also creates Toxic Swamp puddles to deal massive AoE damage to a large group of enemies.

While her damage over time is lethal, due to a lack of less immediate damage, she falls short when it comes to being an asset to the team. Even though she does DPS damage on enemies, it’s not as powerful and instant as Bunny’s burst of power as she’s in the same vein as Blair is in the game.

If you’d like to see the best build for Freyna, check out our guide.

Kyle

If you want a gameplay experience like Iron Man from Marvel Rivals, Kyle is your guy in The First Descendant. He flies around the area and acquires Magnetic Force over time. His role in the game is of a Bruiser, which makes him a Tank like Ajax, however, isn’t as impressive as the latter.

Even though he creates barriers and also deals a ton of damage on enemies using his Magnetic Force abilities, he’s best suited for those who want to be the first line of defense for their team. Yet, keep in mind to keep accumulating Magnetic Force through skills in the game.

If you’d like to see the best build for Kyle, check out our guide.

Luna

Luna is solely a buffer and healer character in The First Descendant, excelling at healing but failing to deal considerable damage to foes. She may be highly powerful at delivering buffs to her allies from a distance, but she has a high skill ceiling that can be difficult to master.

She’s more of a crowd-control character, relying on the team’s DPS players while using her musical talents to augment their damage and abilities. If you have an ear for music and have already played rhythmic games such as Guitar Hero, you will be able to pick up Luna’s abilities quickly.

Here is our best build for Luna if you’d like to see it in more detail.

C-Tier characters in The First Descendant

Esiemo

Eisemo is another Burst DPS character in The First Descendant who uses bombs to damage enemies, similar to Lepic. He attaches detonators and bombs on enemies and detonates them at the right time to deal damage to a massive area.

While his passive ability allows him to drop a bomb when his shield depletes, his other abilities are quite ordinary where he just places landmines and other bombs. After a while gameplay with Eisemo becomes frustrating so it’s best to avoid this character in the game.

Here is our best build for Esiemo if you’d like to see it in more detail.

Enzo

Enzo is purely a support character in The First Descendant whose sole task is to resupply teammates with Ammo during a mission. His passive abilities are simply granting allies Increased Max Ammo Capacity on their weapons which takes out the fun of playing him in Solo lobbies.

His reliance on team abilities and resupplying them constantly restricts him to only playing with a team to make the most of his skills, be it a defense mission or raiding an outpost out in the world.

Here is our best build for Enzo if you’d like to see it in more detail.

Sharen

Last up on the list is Sharen who is a close-combat melee character in The First Descendant. She’s a Ninja who moves around with a Laser Sword and purely is an expert in dealing melee damage to enemies.

Even though she can turn invisible and increase damage on the following attack, you’ll only be able to focus on a single target at one time during a mission rather than switching between enemies or dealing AoE damage around you. She’s by far the weakest Descendant in the game and best if avoided during your gameplay.

Here is our best build for Sharen if you’d like to see it in more detail.

That’s our First Descendant tier list with the best characters you can use. Be sure to check out the best settings on a Steam Deck, how to Fast Travel, and PC requirements. To stay in the loop on upcoming content in the game, we’ve got everything you need in our main hub.