When you start playing The First Descendant, you’ll be asked to pick one out of three characters: Ajax, Lepic, or Viessa. It will take a while until you can research and use another Descendant or Class. Because of that, you need to pick a starting character that can blast you through The First Descendant missions, but which one is the best?
Ajax: The Best Starting Character for Solo or Group
In my personal opinion, Ajax is the best starting character whether you’re playing solo or with a group in The First Descendant. For the simple fact that Ajax comes with balanced Skills and just being very tanky.
Ajax has two Skills where he can deploy a stationary shield, which durabilities scale to his HP and DEF:
- Orbit Barrier: His main Skill. Deploys a stationary shield in front of him.
- Hypercube: His Ultimate Skill. Deploys a dome-shaped stationary shield.
In a looter shooter game like this, such an ability is very useful to create a gap between you and the enemies shooting at you. For crowd control, all you need to do is just pop a Void Walk and stun the Vulgus troops surrounding you. This will give you plenty of time to mow them down or fall back and take a breather. Meanwhile, the Event Horizon passive plays right into Ajax’s character archetype.
Aside from his Barrier Skill, Ajax is called a Tank character because, well, he can tank quite a lot of damage. This The First Descendant starting character’s durability can then be buffed even more via Event Horizon. Every time he is hit by enemy projectiles, Ajax will store Void Energy, which increases his damage and Skills in return. When full Void Energy makes your shields reflect projectiles at enemies.
In short, Ajax works great as a Tank but can cover almost every role when needed. Solo players can easily utilize Barriers and Void Energy when surrounded. In a group, an Ajax can support their teammates by stunning mobs and providing protection.
Viessa: The Best Character for Crowd Control
Viessa is mostly designed for dealing with crowd control and dishing area-of-attack damage. As a mid-range Support Debuffer, her Skills culminate with slowing down and even freezing enemies in their places. When using Frost Road, she can also improve her movement speed and Shield for 19 seconds while leaving ice puddles behind.
Nevertheless, when used and built right, Viessa can also freeze tougher elite enemies and melt them down. However, as you can expect, you have to really know what you’re doing when playing as her. Knowing the cooldown and Ice Shackle timing of this The First Descendant starting character are the difference between life and death. Especially when casting her Ultimate Skill, Blizzard, which deals a huge amount of damage but has a short range and long animation. If you can’t effectively use Viessa’s skillset then you will have to look for a group to cover your back.
During the Open Beta, only Viessa and Lepic have the Ultimate Descendant versions. The Ultimate characters are equipped with better stats and Transcendent that can radically change their playstyles. For that reason, playing their base version might help you get used to the Ultimate version. Of course, Nexon might release more Ultimates for other Descendants when the game has been officially launched.
Lepic: The Easiest-to-Pick-Up Starting Character
If you don’t want to think about when to use a shield or when to freeze enemies, then Lepic is your best choice. This The First Descendant starting character’s playstyle is best described as “point and shoot.”
Lepic comes with Grenades that flush out enemies from cover and one that pulls enemies. Overkill, his Ultimate Skill, turns his arm into a grenade launcher. Dealing area-of-attack damage and leaving damage-over-time pools around the battlefield. Because of his simple playstyle, Lepic also has the biggest damage potential out of the default three.
However, he’s also the squishiest of the three, but not by much since he’s more designed as a long-range attacker. For that reason, you might want teammates to help you out in a pinch.
In spite of that, Lepic is still a versatile character. His Close Call passive makes him invincible for 5 seconds and heals him afterward in near death. You don’t have to worry too much about being ganged up by Vulgus troops.
The First Descendant is currently in beta for PS4, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.
