Summary
- Thunder Cage: Top-tier SMG in The First Descendant with high DPS and critical hit chance.
- Albion Cavalry Gun: Excellent machine gun choice for laying down a barrage of bullets.
- Divine Punishment: Ultimate tier assault rifle with solid stats and similarities to Fallen Hope.
The First Descendant represents a new generation of looter shooters, blending strategic gunplay with RPG elements, all within a live-service framework designed to keep the experience engaging over time. Players take on the role of humanity's defenders, battling against an alien species known as the Vulgus, while completing missions either solo or as part of a team.
The First Descendant: Best Submachineguns, Ranked
There are some very capable submachine guns available to players in The First Descendant.
There are 3 tiers of weapons in this third-person shooter. These are standard, rare, and ultimate. Each weapon type has a single standard weapon, several rare weapons, and 2 ultimate-tier weapons. However, some of these weapons are more useful than others, and choosing the right weapon to match the player’s preferred playing style is important.
6 Thunder Cage
Arguably The Best Submachine Gun
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 184
- Rounds: 26
- Fire rate: 666
- Critical rate: 20%
- Critical damage modifier: 2
- Reload speed: 1.4 seconds
With its impressive damage output and exceptional critical hit chance, paired with a notable critical damage modifier for an SMG, the Thunder Cage stands out as a powerful weapon. It contrasts sharply with the Ultimate tier SMG the Python, as the Thunder Cage focuses heavily on precision shooting.
For players that excel at landing accurate shots, this SMG is hard to beat in The First Descendant. However, those that prefer a different approach to combat might lean towards the Python SMG, as the choice ultimately depends on personal playstyle preferences.
5 Albion Cavalry Gun
An Excellent Machine Gun
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 168
- Rounds: 75
- Fire rate: 451
- Critical rate: 7%
- Critical damage modifier: 1.25
- Reload speed: 2.5 seconds
As with all machine guns in The First Descendant, the Albion Cavalry Gun uses General Rounds. It will take a player 4 hours to perform the research project for this ultimate tier weapon, once they have sourced the blueprint and the research materials.
With its great fire rate and good magazine capacity, the Albion Cavalry Gun is capable of laying down a considerable fusillade of bullets. The 7% critical chance stat is also quite good for a machine gun, although the critical damage multiplier is quite low. Even so, the increased chance of critical hits with this machine gun over others, is the main reason it made this list.
4 The Final Masterpiece
An Exceptional Hand Canon
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 119
- Rounds: 20
- Fire rate: 499
- Critical rate: 20%
- Critical damage modifier: 2
- Reload speed: 1.1 seconds
The Final Masterpiece claims the number one position among handguns in The First Descendant for several compelling reasons. Chief among them is its impressive 20% critical hit chance and a superb 2x critical damage multiplier.
The First Descendant: 6 Best Handguns, Ranked
There are a number of handguns in The First Descendant that stand out as being the best of the bunch.
Its reload speed is also excellent, and the 20-round magazine is quite generous. The only minor drawback is its relatively low DPS, but the outstanding performance in other areas more than makes up for it. All in all, this is the most sought-after weapons that players in The First Descendant can find in the game.
3 Divine Punishment
Top Pick Of Assault Rifles
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 175
- Rounds: 35
- Fire rate: 705
- Critical rate: 10%
- Critical damage modifier: 1.7
- Reload speed: 1.55 seconds
It is worth noting that both Divine Punishment and the ultimate-tier assault rifle, Fallen Hope, could easily have made this list. They are quite similar, and the decision between them will likely depend on which one the player happens to gain access to first.
In terms of stats, Divine Punishment closely resembles Fallen Hope, with marginally lower damage but a slightly faster rate of fire. It also has a 2% lower critical hit rate, though this difference is relatively insignificant when comparing the two. Like most non-cash shop weapons, players will need to obtain the blueprint and conduct research to unlock Divine Punishment.
2 Clairvoyance
Very Useful Beam Rifle
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 123
- Rounds: 40
- Fire rate: 399
- Critical rate: 20%
- Critical damage modifier: 2
- Reload speed: 2.2 seconds
Some players love beam rifles in The First Descendant, simply because this type of weapon is so much fun to use. Melting enemies, and doing sustainable damage against bosses. The combat mechanics for beam rifles are a little different. The longer a player fires for, the more the damage goes up, as long as they stay on target.
Clairvoyance is the best of the ultimate tier beam rifles in the game. Don’t be fooled by the low DPS stat, as this is the damage when the trigger is pulled, not the scaled damage based on how long the beam rifle has been firing. In the right hands, the damage output can be huge. The excellent 20% critical chance adds to the damage potential of this weapon significantly.
1 Afterglow Sword
A Top Of The Range Sniper Rifle
- Tier: Ultimate
- DPS: 251
- Rounds: 6
- Fire rate: 66
- Critical rate: 50%
- Critical damage modifier: 2
- Reload speed: 2.5 seconds
Obtaining the Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant involves the typical research process used for all ultimate-tier weapons. When compared to Piercing Light, the other ultimate sniper rifle, both are excellent, but each excels in different areas.
The First Descendant: Best Sniper Rifles, Ranked
First Descendant has a decent range of sniper rifles available, although some are much better than others.
The Afterglow Sword earns a place on this list due to its closer adherence to the traditional sniper rifle archetype. It boasts higher damage, a better critical hit chance, and an increased critical damage multiplier. Ultimately, the choice between the two ultimate sniper rifles comes down to the player's preferred playstyle.
The First Descendant
- Released
- July 2, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nexon Games
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Third-Person Shooter
- OpenCritic Rating
- Weak
