The First Descendant Breakthrough: 5 things to know if you're coming back after Season 1

The First Descendant Season 3: Breakthrough is less than two weeks away, and the developers have promised it will be the game's biggest update to date. It is set to feature story expansion along with a new open-world zone, campaign, weapon archetype, and several quality-of-life changes. If you are a returning player and planning to give the game another try, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Since Season 1, there have been a lot of improvements within the game, and this guide will help you catch up with some of the most important changes.

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The First Descendant made big changes after Season 1

Here are some of the biggest changes you’ll notice in the game if you haven’t played since Season 1:

1) Arche Tuning and Mutant Cell

Arche tuning board with Mutant Slot on each corner (Image via Nexon)

Season 2 introduced the Arche Tuning board for each Descendant, which allows you to build your character towards a certain gameplay type. The board contains several nodes that increase various stats like critical chance/damage, ability cooldown, etc. While it may seem tempting to unlock everything, you only get a maximum of 40 points, which can be acquired by leveling up the Unique Arche Factor XP.

Apart from certain nodes, everything can be unlocked with one point each. As you progress to the far side of the Arche Tuning board, you will come across a special slot for a Mutant Cell. These are a special type of mod that provides various bonus effects.

Also Read: The First Descendant Season 3 Demo: How to play and what to expect

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2) Weapon and External Components Cores

Weapon core can make a significant improvement in stats (Image via Nexon)

Enhancement Cores are a new way of increasing weapon damage and providing bonus stats to your External Components. Weapons can equip five cores that can provide a stat boost like critical damage/rate, increased attack, etc., or passive effects like sprint speed or grappling hook recharge for the Descendant.

External Components can equip up to two cores, which provide defensive stats to the Descendants. Once equipped, a core cannot be extracted, but you can override the slot with a new core, destroying the old one in the process.

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3) Void Abyss battles

Void Abyss isn't the only new thing on the map (Image via Nexon)

Throughout the second season, the Void Intercept boss fights saw a lot of changes. Several bosses in the hard mode were nerfed and can now be defeated solo. However, to bring back the challenge aspect for players, the developers introduced Void Abyss.

Void Abyss is a completely different Void Intercept battle featuring bosses at Level 150. The fights are challenging, but they can be done solo with enough effort. It is also the only source of acquiring Quality Certified ETA Vouchers.

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4) New weapon, Descendants, and modules

Serena is currently one of the strongest Descendants (Image via Nexon)

Being a hero looter shooter, The First Descendant added multiple new weapons and characters since its release. The game now features 28 Descendants (including ultimate variants) and 29 unique weapons. New characters like Serena and Ines quickly became fan favourites due to their bossing and mobbing abilities.

Along with them came new modules that provided more build variety. Characters received new Transcendent modules, while weapons received a new stat called multi-hit, which helps build weapons with low crit rate. Furthermore, characters with low crit rates received mods that increase damage in exchange for minimizing ability crit values.

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5) Reactor and External Components enhancement

Reactor enhancement window (Image via Nexon)

A huge quality-of-life improvement during the second season was the ability to upgrade your Reactors and External Components. The First Descendant is a looter shooter at its core, and it’s not uncommon to get a god roll, only for you to find it’s not of the highest tier.

To solve this issue, the devs added the ability to upgrade the god roll to the highest tier on both Reactors and External Components. Along with that, you can change the bonus weapon requirement to increase the Reactor power level to 160% without swapping weapons.

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Other feature updates after Season 1 in The First Descendant

ETA-0 exchange shop (Image via Nexon)

Here are some other notable changes worth mentioning:

• Farming components are much easier with the introduction of Advanced Shape Stabilizers, which can increase the acquisition chance of items within the Amorphus Material.
• ETA-0 shop provides increased weapon slots and inventory space, along with upgrade materials and components every week.
• Jiggle physics is now present in the game.

Season 3: Breakthrough promises even more changes favouring players, so if you are planning to give the game another go, now might be the best time. There is an ongoing 1st anniversary celebration that can help you get up to speed.

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Check out more related articles:

• The cost for The First Descendant's eight-man raid? Last-gen console support
• Best The First Descendant graphics settings for low-end PCs
• Why does The First Descendant have mixed reviews on Steam?

Edited by Adarsh J Kumar