The First Descendant Ultimate weapons tier list

The best Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant all have abilities that provide unique gameplay experiences, but they can take a lot of time to unlock through research.

There are 22 Ultimate weapons to choose from, and it can be really overwhelming to know what to use with which Descendant while you’re playing. We’ve already had a look at the best Descendants in the game, now here’s a tier list of all Ultimate weapons.

Best Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant – tier list

Tier	Weapon
S	Python Instinct, Clairvoyance, Perforator, Executor, Albion Cavalry, Thunder Cage
A	Nazeistra’s Devotion, Divine Punishment, Secret Garden, Enduring Legacy, Afterglow Sword, Blue Beetle
B	Piercing Light, Wave of Light, Restored Relic
C	King’s Guard Lance, Smithereens, Final Masterpiece, Fallen Hope,
D	Sigvore’s Proof, Greg’s Reversed Fate, The Last Dagger

Best Ultimate weapon in The First Descendant

The best Ultimate weapon in The First Descendant is the Thunder Cage SMG. It’s most likely going to be the first weapon you unlock, and the versatility and unique ability you get makes it the best Ultimate weapon choice.

Thunder Cage plays well with Descendants who need to get within melee range to get value and gives those who need range between them and enemies an extra bit of protection with Overcharge. It has a quick fire rate and pretty good range for an SMG, too, so there’s a good flow with any kind of playstyle.

Tiers explained

We based our rankings of the best Ultimate weapons on versatility, how easy it is to use, and how good their different unique abilities are.

Each Ultimate weapon gives a new way to play the game, so it’s not to say that any one of them is bad. Some work best with all Descendants, which is important in deciding whether or not its worth researching because you might not play with a character that works with a specific weapon.

S Tier

Python Instinct SMG

• Best character: Freyna
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 21
  • Fire Rate: 923
  • Reload Speed: 1.5 seconds
  • Effective Range: 23m
  • Python Instinct: On hitting an enemy’s Weak Point, inflicts the unique ability Prey on the target enemy.

Python Instinct is an incredibly powerful SMG, especially when you use it with Freyna, because of the Prey unique ability. This reduces DEF stats on a target, but it also lowers resistance to toxic damage by 10% per stack. 

Overall, it’s an excellent weapon to use, especially considering it’s got pretty high damage and a very quick fire rate. This means you can consistently stack Prey if you hit weak points on your enemies. 

Clairvoyance Beam Rifle

• Best character: Viessa
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 23
  • Fire Rate: 399
  • Reload Speed: 2.2 seconds
  • Effective Range: 35m
  • The Thing Beyond: Hitting an enemy with a Stage 2 Beam inflicts Void Gaze on the target. Hitting an enemy with a Stage 3 Beam inflicts Appalled Calling on the target. This effect is considered to be the same effect as Frostbite in some modes.

If you can maintain precision attacks on targets, this is especially the weapon for you. It synergizes especially well with Viessa because of the Frostbite effect, which can stack with her Ice Shackle, but it’s a strong weapon to use with most Descendants. 

The Thing Beyond special ability essentially lets you slow enemies while doing some massive damage, and it has a nice range so you don’t have to get too close for it to be effective. 

Perforator Hand Cannon

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 141
  • Fire Rate: 99
  • Reload Speed: 1.6 seconds
  • Effective Range: 20m
  • Detect: On hitting a Weak Point, inflicts damage to the enemy’s Shield in proportion to their Max Shield at a set chance. The higher the Firearm Level, the closer this damage reaches the Max Limit. When damage is dealt to the enemy completely depletes the target enemy’s Shield, inflict Stun with a set chance.

Perforator is by far the strongest Hand Cannon in the game due to its ability to break enemy shields and stun them with its Detect ability. It’s a versatile weapon that synergizes well with all Descendants, granting it an S Tier rating. 

I found that my best use with this weapon was with Kyle, giving him the opportunity to stun enemies and switch to a higher damage alternative to finish them off. 

Executor Shotgun

• Best characters: Bunny, Sharen
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 16
  • Fire Rate: 109
  • Reload Speed: 1.85 seconds
  • Effective Range: 9m
  • Impending Judgement: Hitting enemies will all bullets grant Executor’s Exaltation. Highest stage increases Firearm ATK on hit and inflicts Electrocution on the target enemy. On hitting an Electrocuted enemy, increase Firearm ATK and apply this buff to the attack.

This Shotgun is an excellent weapon choice for Descendants who need to get in close to the enemy, like Sharen and Bunny, because it increases your accuracy with each hit.

These hits also proc Electrocution in enemies and increase damage when you hit them in this state. Overall, it’s an S Tier weapon because it gives you the upper hand when you get in close, synergizing really well with a high-risk, high-reward playstyle.

Albion Cavalry Machine Gun

• Best characters: Ajax, Sharen, Blair
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 30
  • Fire Rate: 451
  • Reload Speed: 2.5 seconds
  • Effective Range: 45m
  • Cavalry: After hitting a stunned enemy, increase Firearm ATK. Hitting a Critical Hit on a stunned enemy inflicts stun.

Albion Cavalry is an overall fantastic weapon because of its high fire rate and special ability. With characters like Ajax who thrive when stunning enemies, you can essentially continuously have them in this state while increasing your damage.

It’s not to say that the weapon itself doesn’t have high damage either, and it’s easily one of the best machine guns in The First Descendant right now.

Thunder Cage SMG

• Best characters: Bunny, Kyle, Lepic, Sharen, Valby
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 18
  • Fire Rate: 666
  • Reload Speed: 1.4 seconds
  • Effective Range: 23m
  • Overcharge: Defeating an enemy unleashes an electric shockwave, dealing firearm ATK to nearby enemies within 3 meters.

This SMG remains a solid choice for many Descendants, and it has a great fire rate with high damage output, making it the perfect weapon for fast-paced combat.

As a result, Thunder Cage is best used with characters that rely on getting in close to the enemy, like Bunny, Kyle, and Sharen. Overcharge means that you can get a bonus to ATK while also unleashing electric damage on enemies, and all you need to do is kill them. 

A Tier

Nazeistra’s Devotion Hand Cannon

• Best characters: Jayber, Yujin, Ajax
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 81
  • Fire Rate: 150
  • Reload Speed: 1.5 seconds
  • Effective Range: 25m
  • Fanaticism: On hitting an enemy’s Weak Point, inflicts the unique ability Devotion Mark on the target enemy. On hitting an ally, that ally’s shield is restored at the cost of your MP.

This Hand Cannon is a great option for support characters like Jayber and Yujin because of its ability to help allies gain their shield back. It’s got high damage and a good fire rate and reduces DEF in enemies when you hit their weak points. 

Overall it’s a solid Hand Cannon, but I found that it can be difficult to maintain value with. Fanaticism can drain your MP and become overall a little useless when using it to restore ally shields if you don’t have MP. You’ll have to manage it really well to get the best value out of this weapon. 

Divine Punishment Assault Rifle

• Best characters: Jayber, Yujin
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 23
  • Fire Rate: 705
  • Reload Speed: 1.55 seconds
  • Effective Range: 30m
  • Prayer: Granting a buff to allies will grant the unique ability Meditation to yourself. Recovering an ally’s (HP/Shield/MP/Resources) will grant the unique ability Praise to yourself. Inflicting a debuff on an enemy will grant the unique ability Glory to yourself.

Divine Punishment is possibly the best weapon for support characters like Jayber and Yujin, given that it grants a lot of buffs to you when you help out your teammates. 

It falls a little short because it’s not the most versatile weapon, and is only really a relevant option for support characters. Plus, if you don’t manage your skills well, then you won’t get the value you need from it. 

Secret Garden Tactical Rifle

• Best characters: Ajax, Kyle, Blair, Viessa, Jayber
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 62
  • Fire Rate: 199
  • Reload Speed: 2 seconds
  • Effective Range: 35m
  • Gardener: When using a Dimension skill, recovers Custom Resource with a set chance. When using a Tech skill, grants the unique ability Pest Control with a set chance.

Secret Garden gives characters that use Tech and Dimension skills a significant ATK and skill power boost when using those skills, making it a great choice for Descendants with these skill categories. 

It falls slightly short of S Tier because of this same reason, though. It relies heavily on skill usage to get the most value out of it, and you’ll have to manage your resources well to achieve the maximum effect. 

Enduring Legacy Machine Gun

• Best characters: Blair, Freyna, Jayber
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 28
  • Fire Rate: 571
  • Reload Speed: 2.7 seconds
  • Effective Range: 40m
  • Craftsmanship: On hitting an enemy, increase Status effect Trigger Rate corresponding to the element (Fire/Chill/Electric/Toxic) and inflict the unique ability Quenching to the target. On hitting a Burned enemy, increase Firearm ATK and apply this buff to the attack.

Enduring Legacy’s Craftsmanship unique ability is what makes it a strong choice for characters like Freyna and Blair who use elements to do their damage. Quenching can stack and decrease fire resistance on the enemy. 

This is why it falls slightly short, though, because if you are not using element attacks, then proccing Quenching won’t do much for you, making it slightly less versatile than other Ultimate weapon options. 

Afterglow Sword Sniper Rifle

• Best characters: Gley, Kyle, Lepic, Valby
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 240
  • Fire Rate: 66
  • Reload Speed: 2.5 seconds
  • Effective Range: 55m
  • Nightmare Reaper: on hitting an enemy’s weak point, inflicts the unique ability Death Propagation. On hitting an enemy commander or collossi, increase firearm critical hit rate and apply the effect to the attack.

Afterglow is specifically made for taking down tough enemies and bosses, and Nightmare Reaper means you do more damage and increase reload speed the more you hit weak points. It’s an incredible weapon to use in higher-level activities like Void Intercept Battles. 

When I first used it, I realized that it would take some time to master, making it fall short a little because that time to learn slightly outweighs the reward. It’s best used with Descendants who don’t need to get in close to get value, also cutting down slightly on versatility.

Blue Beetle Scout Rifle

• Best characters: Bunny, Valby, Gley, Jayber, Viessa
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 62
  • Fire Rate: 199
  • Reload Speed: 2 seconds
  • Effective Range: 35m
  • Arcane Wave: when using a Fusion skill, grants self the unique Arcane Energy with a set chance. When using a Singular skill, it grants the self the unique ability of Purification with a set chance.

Blue Beetle is a great option for Descendants who use Fusion and Singular skills because it grants two buffs with Arcane Wave when using these skills. This Unique ability also gives you a faster trigger rate and drastically increases your DPS, making it a solid choice for high-damage output. 

It falls out of S Tier, though, because it relies quite heavily on skill usage to get full value, which can get frustrating. Overall, it’s a good choice, especially if you want something lighter than a Sniper Rifle for long-range. 

B Tier

Piercing Light Sniper Rifle

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 404
  • Fire Rate: 48
  • Reload Speed: 2.6 seconds
  • Effective Range: 55m
  • Purification of Light: On hitting a Weak Point, inflicts Dispel on the enemy with a set chance. When two or more enemies are hit by a single shot, there is a high chance to land a Critical Hit on the enemies while also increasing Critical Damage and applying this buff to the attack.

Piercing Light is a solid Sniper Rifle because of its unique ability that removes buffs from enemies and high damage. It also has an interesting mechanic where crit damage is increased if you hit multiple enemies. 

That same reason is why it’s landed in B Tier, however, because you must be precise with this weapon to get value out of it. It takes a ton of time and skill to master, and it may not be worth the effort at the end of the day. 

Wave of Light Scout Rifle

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 76
  • Fire Rate: 249
  • Reload Speed: 2.2 seconds
  • Effective Range: 40m
  • Splendor: After reloading, grants the unique ability Solar Halo. On hitting an enemy while Solar Halo is active, inflict Lunar Halo on the target enemy with a set chance.

Solar Halo reduces recoil and increases your critical rate, while Lunar Halo reduces enemy regeneration by 50%, making Wave of Light a great versatile weapon that can help you out of many difficult fights. 

It does, however, require constant reloading to be effective. Given that it has one of the slower reload speeds of Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant, it can also prove to be your demise if you don’t manage it well. 

Restored Relic Launcher

• Best character: Lepic
• Stats:
  • ATK: 230
  • Fire Rate: 60
  • Reload Speed: 2.5 seconds
  • Effective Range: 5m
  • Ancient Technique: Fires a Guided Round with a set chance. On hitting an enemy with a Guided Round, inflicts Ancient Fire to the target enemy with a set chance.

Restored Relic is not the strongest weapon in The First Descendant, but it remains a powerful choice for Descendants like Lepic. Ancient Technique boosts Fire damage and damage over time, which also makes this weapon a nice pick for Blair and Freyna. 

Trust me when I say that you need to be precise with this weapon to get value out of the Guided Round, though. It’s an awesome weapon to use with Lepic, but because of this I found it was also a nice choice for Esiemo. Overall, it’s solid, but it can be difficult to get value out of it.

C Tier

King’s Guard Lance Beam Rifle

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 16
  • Fire Rate: 545
  • Reload Speed: 2.1 seconds
  • Effective Range: 27m
  • Guardian: Aiming activates Preview Mode. When firing while aiming, deploys the unique ability Guardian Lance on the terrain, dealing constant damage to enemies and consuming a set amount of ammo upon deployment. Hitting Guardian Lance increases duration and range.

King’s Guard is an excellent weapon for crowd control, and the Guardian Lance’s range and duration can be increased every time you hit it. It presents an interesting playstyle that can be used in many different missions and scenarios. 

It falls short, though, because it takes a long time to set this up and it can use up your ammo quite quickly if you don’t manage it well.

Smithereens Shotgun

• Best characters: Sharen, Bunny, Gley, Valby
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 20
  • Fire Rate: 150
  • Reload Speed: 1.6 seconds
  • Effective Range: 10m
  • Fearlessness: On hitting the enemy with all bullets, increase the Firearm Critical Hit rate and Firearm Critical Hit Damage of this attack. Upon landing a Critical Hit on an enemy, grants the Firearm’s unique ability Amplification.

Smithereens is a great choice for Descendants who thrive on close-quarters combat, and if you want to focus on a build that amplifies critical damage. Amplification also increases your fire rate, making it solid for players who like getting in the faces of the enemy. 

The big flaw with this shotgun is that your aim recovery speed is reduced by a massive 70%, making it very difficult to master and control. 

Final Masterpiece Handgun

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 19
  • Fire Rate: 499
  • Reload Speed: 1.1 seconds
  • Effective Range: 15m
  • Masterpiece: After reloading, grants one of three unique abilities at random. If the granted effect is the same as the existing effect, the effect stage is increased. If a different effect is granted, the effect stage is reset to Stage 1.

The Final Masterpiece is a solid choice for all Descendants, as it has a chance to increase weak point damage, critical hit rate, and fire rate with the Masterpiece unique ability. And, if you get the same effect in a row, it stacks. 

The problem is that the effects you get are random, which means you never know what you’re going to get and it could not be useful in every given situation.

Fallen Hope Assault Rifle

• Best character: Freyna
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 27
  • Fire Rate: 600
  • Reload Speed: 1.7 seconds
  • Effective Range: 35m
  • Perdition: On hitting a Poisoned enemy, increase Firearm ATK. On defeating a Poisoned enemy, the defeated enemy will trigger an Explosion with a certain chance, inflicting additional damage and Poison to nearby enemies.

Fallen Hope is a fantastic weapon choice for Freyna, but I didn’t find that it excelled in the hands of other Descendants, making its lack of versatility a reason for it being so low on this list. 

Additionally, it’s not really a great weapon if you aren’t facing hordes of enemies. Perdition is a solid Unique ability for crowd control with its Poison effects, though, so it remains a good choice if you know you’re going to be facing large groups.

D Tier

Sigvore’s Proof Launcher

• Best characters: Sharen, Bunny, Blair
• Stats:
  • Explosive ATK: 4404
  • Fire Rate: 79
  • Reload Speed: 2.8 seconds
  • Effective Range: 5m
  • Mad Bomber: Fires a Sticky Bomb when shooting while aiming. The Launched bomb will automatically detonate after a certain period of time. When aim is canceled, the attachment bombs will detonate at the same time. Sticky Bombs inflict Burn.

Sigvore’s Proof’s strength is the massive amount of damage you can get out of it with Mad Bomber, and you have the chance to be deliberate when your bombs detonate. 

Its main downfall is that you need precise timing and superb aim control to get value out of this weapon. You also need to be really good at aiming to get the Sticky Bombs on enemies, which is a strange requirement for a weapon in the Launcher category.

Greg’s Reversed Fate Tactical Rifle

• Best characters: Blair, Enzo
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 33
  • Fire Rate: 342
  • Reload Speed: 1.4 seconds
  • Effective Range: 55 meters
  • Shaping Destiny: On hitting an enemy with a Max Shield, proc Bombardment on the enemy’s location with a set chance. Inflict Burn on enemies hit by Bombardment.

The best thing about Greg’s Reversed Fate is that it procs burn on enemies when you hit them with a Max Shield, and as a result, I had a lot of fun with it when using it with Blair.

The main issue with this Tactical Rifle is that hipfire accuracy and aimed shots are both reduced by 20%, which makes it incredibly difficult to handle. Overall, it’s one of the weakest Ultimate weapons because its punishment outweighs the reward.

The Last Dagger Handgun

• Best characters: All Descendants
• Stats: 
  • ATK: 24
  • Fire Rate: 600
  • Reload Speed: 1.2 seconds
  • Effective Range: 18m
  • Ultimatum: Defeating an enemy grants Patience. On hitting an enemy while at Max Stacks, fires Enhanced Rounds. On hitting an enemy with Enhanced Rounds, the Patience effect is reset, and the enemy is stunned.

Last Dagger is a solid choice because of its Ultimatum unique ability allowing you to increase your critical hit rate and Fire attack. Plus, Enhanced Rounds can let you stun enemies. 

The major downfall is that you need to stack these buffs to get the maximum benefit out of the handgun, and there are Ultimate weapons that do something similar for less. 

How to unlock Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant

You can unlock Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant by researching them with Anais in Albion or earn them through the Battle Pass. 

Just like Descendants, you’re going to need a range of materials to research Ultimate weapons. It’s also worth remembering that you need to level up your weapon rank before you can research them, as most have a level cap you need to reach before you can do so. 

Void Intercept Battles are one of the best ways to farm materials for Ultimate weapon research. Once you have what you need, be sure to know the best build for characters like Bunny, Freyna, and Gley.