The First Descendant: Top 10 Must-Have Mods for Every Character
Today, we’re diving into one of the most crucial aspects of the game: mods. Mods in The First Descendant are key to scaling up your damage and survivability, and with so many available, it can be a challenge to know which ones are worth your time and resources. This guide will help you understand the most valuable mods that you should consider for every character in your lineup.
Top 10 Must-Have Mods for Every Character in The First Descendant:
Why Mods Matter
In The First Descendant, mods are vital components that can dramatically enhance your character’s abilities, whether it’s through boosting damage, increasing survivability, or providing special utility. However, with so many mods to choose from, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about where to start and what to prioritize.
Quick Tip
- It’s far more effective to invest in a few high-ranked mods than to spread resources thinly across many low-ranked ones.
- The return on investment significantly improves as mods reach higher levels, offering greater enhancements per rank.
For example, the mod Action and Reaction provides only a 2.2% increase when moving from rank 6 to 7 but gives an 8% boost when advancing from rank 15 to 16. This clearly illustrates the importance of focusing on maxing out specific mods for better returns.
General Modding Tips
- Prioritize High-Ranked Mods: Focus on upgrading a select few mods to higher ranks instead of upgrading many mods to lower ranks. The cost and return in terms of mod capacity and output are more favorable at higher levels.
- Invest in Blue Mods Early On: Blue mods are often undervalued but can be incredibly effective. They serve as a solid foundation for your build, allowing you to specialize further with purple mods later. Don’t dismiss a mod just because it’s blue—some blues are best-in-slot for certain situations.
- Understand Mod Tags: Blue mods typically come with a normal mod tag, meaning they won’t interfere with your specialized purple mod tags. Use blue mods to establish a base and enhance with purple mods for specialization.
Now, let’s dive into the top 10 mods that should be on your radar for any character setup!
Top 10 Essential Mods
1. Midair Maneuvering
Type: Sub Module
Function: Enhances mobility by allowing you to move freely in the air without needing to grapple specific points.
Why It’s Great: This mod revolutionizes movement, especially during critical moments like avoiding boss attacks. For instance, against the Dead Bride’s ice attack, this mod allows you to escape the danger zone effortlessly without relying on nearby grapple points.
Drawback: As a gold B mod, it costs more to upgrade than blue mods, but the benefit to mobility is often worth the investment. Start by upgrading one in normal mode, and expand into hard mode when you have surplus Kyper.
Best Farming Location: Large Nuclear Reactor Mission. Not only does it provide an excellent Kyper farm, but it also offers a chance to obtain the Action and Reaction mod.
2. HP Collector
Type: Sustain Mod
Function: Restores 9% of your max HP upon defeating an enemy.
Why It’s Great: This mod offers the best sustain in the game. With a cooldown that can be reduced to just 2 seconds, it’s invaluable for both boss fights and mobbing. Characters like Glay and Bunny benefit greatly from this mod, ensuring they maintain high HP during intense battles.
Best Farming Location: Frontline Base Mission in Vespers Lumber Yard. With a 5% drop rate, it’s quick and efficient to farm.
3. MP Collector
Type: Sustain Mod
Function: Recovers Mana as you defeat enemies, perfect for characters reliant on ability spam.
Why It’s Great: Essential for characters like Fra, who enjoy frequent ability usage, this mod ensures that mana-dependent skills can be used more frequently, maintaining high DPS output and utility.
Best Farming Location: White Knight Gulch – Border of the Line of Truth. Alternatively, hard mode Devour is an option if you’re comfortable with the difficulty.
4. MP Conversion
Type: Cooldown Reduction Mod
Function: Reduces cooldowns by 36.5% at the cost of reducing your mana pool by 15%.
Why It’s Great: This mod significantly shortens cooldowns, making it a powerhouse for ability-focused builds. Pair it with Nimble Fingers to further amplify the cooldown reduction and keep abilities like Valby’s ultimate on a short leash.
Best Farming Location: Derl Covert – Vulgus Strategic Outpost with a 30% drop chance.
5. Time Distribution
Type: Cooldown and HP Mod
Function: Offers cooldown reduction and increased max HP, perfect for balancing offensive and defensive needs.
Why It’s Great: For those who value HP as a defense mechanism, this mod is ideal. It provides a dual benefit of survivability and faster skill usage, making it versatile across various builds.
Best Farming Location: Heavy Equipment Entry Path in the Agna Desert, with a 20% drop rate.
6. HP Amplification
Type: Health Mod
Function: Significantly boosts max HP at the expense of reducing your shield.
Why It’s Great: While some players prefer shields, HP Amplification shines for aggressive playstyles. It allows for more extended periods of damage dealing without the need to take cover, suitable for characters who thrive in close combat.
Best Farming Location: Fortress – Frozen Valley Vulgus Strategic Outpost, with a 27.5% chance to drop.
7. Action and Reaction
Type: Damage Mod
Function: Increases firearm attack at the cost of increased recoil.
Why It’s Great: This mod is universally applicable across all weapon types, offering a solid 20% damage increase. The recoil is negligible for many players, making this a staple in almost every loadout.
Best Farming Location: Large Nuclear Reactor in SAR Lands, with a 30% drop chance alongside Midair Maneuvering.
8. Mental Focus
Type: Damage Mod
Function: Increases damage the longer you sustain fire with a weapon, stacking up to 150%.
Why It’s Great: Mental Focus is perfect for weapons like the Tamer LMG, which already boasts high DPS. The trade-off in fire rate is easily mitigated by pairing with other mods or characters like Glay.
Best Farming Location: Ransacked Village in Haggos, with a 5% drop chance from bosses, making it a challenging but worthwhile farm.
9. Concentration Priority
Type: Crit Mod
Function: Boosts crit damage significantly, albeit at a cost to reload time.
Why It’s Great: Essential for crit-based builds, this mod allows you to hit those massive damage numbers by maximizing crit potential. Pair it with a reload mod to counteract the downsides effectively.
Best Farming Location: Tethered Energy Position in Haggios. Despite its broad availability, this mission provides a targeted approach.
10. Front Lines
Type: Skill Crit Mod
Function: Elevates skill crit potential with added crit rate and damage.
Why It’s Great: Front Lines shines for skill-based builds, enhancing abilities that rely on crits. It’s particularly useful for characters like Frina, who benefit from the boost in crit rate and damage.
Best Farming Location: Seed Vault – Echo Swamp. Though it’s a lengthy mission, the 30% drop rate makes it worth the effort for such a potent mod.
Conclusion
These mods form the backbone of any robust build in The First Descendant. Whether you’re aiming to maximize damage output or bolster your survivability, these top 10 mods provide the necessary tools to elevate your gameplay. Focus on prioritizing high-ranked mods and understanding the synergy between blue and purple mods to create a setup that best fits your playstyle.
FURTHER READING
