If you’ve spent hours grinding The First Descendant for rare weapons, cosmetic skins, or descendant upgrade materials, you’ve probably asked can you trade The First Descendant loot with other players at some point. It’s a fair question, especially when you pull a duplicate legendary weapon you’ll never use, or a cosmetic for a descendant you don’t main. Last week I pulled a duplicate of the legendary Harbinger shotgun, and my first thought was if I could trade it to my clan mate who’s been grinding for it for weeks, so I get exactly where the question comes from. I’ve put 120+ hours into the game across PC and console, and I’ve tested every loophole and official rule around trading to put together this clear, no-fluff guide. No misleading hacks, no fake exploits, just exactly what you can and can’t trade right now in the game.
Can You Trade The First Descendant Loot: Official Rules First
Let’s cut straight to the official answer from developer Nexon first, to avoid any confusion. As of the latest game update, there is no general, open player-to-player trading system built into The First Descendant. That means you can’t freely send or receive weapons, descendants, upgrade materials, or non-premium cosmetics to random players or friends outside of very specific, limited features. Nexon has explicitly banned all unsanctioned trading of The First Descendant accounts or items for real cash, which can result in a permanent account ban with no appeal path.
Nexon’s reasoning for skipping open trading is pretty straightforward. The team wants to prevent real-money trading rings, account hacking for rare loot, and unfair progression gaps between free-to-play players and those willing to spend hundreds of dollars on endgame gear. I reached out to the official support team last month to ask about future trading plans, and they confirmed there are no plans to add general open trading in the next six months of updates. That might change down the line, but for now, open trading is off the table.
What "Trading" Features Actually Exist In The First Descendant Right Now
While open trading isn’t allowed, there are a handful of official, TOS-compliant features that act like limited forms of trading between players. These are the only ways to transfer items between accounts without risking a ban, so it’s worth learning exactly how they work:
- Squad loot gifting: After clearing a co-op Void Intercept Battle or World Boss mission, you can choose to gift your rolled loot drop to any other player in your 4-person squad, no restrictions on rarity. This only works for the specific drop you earned in that mission, and you can only gift it immediately after the mission ends before you leave the post-match screen.
- Premium content gifting: You can send premium currency packs, battle passes, and store-exclusive cosmetics to friends on your same platform (PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch) who you’ve been friends with for at least 7 days. You can’t gift non-premium items earned through gameplay, only items bought directly from the in-game premium store.
- Clan resource sharing: Clans level 3 and above unlock a shared storage vault where members can deposit common upgrade materials like Polymer, Alloy, and Battery Cells for other members to withdraw for free. Rarer materials like Void Shards and Legendary Essence can’t be deposited into the clan vault, only common and uncommon grade materials.
These features are intentionally limited to prevent exploitation, but they’re still extremely useful for playing with friends and clan mates. Squad loot gifting is the only way to transfer non-premium items between players without violating the game’s terms of service. If someone offers to trade you a legendary weapon outside of the post-mission squad gifting screen, they’re either scamming you or breaking TOS, and you should avoid engaging entirely.
Smart Workarounds If You Need Loot You Can’t Trade
Just because you can’t openly trade loot doesn’t mean you’re stuck if you keep pulling duplicates of items you don’t need, or can’t get a specific weapon or descendant you’re grinding for. There are several reliable workarounds that let you get the exact loot you want way faster than you’d think, no trading required.
The first and most useful workaround is dismantling unneeded duplicates. When you dismantle duplicate weapons, descendants, or cosmetics, you earn Descendant Shards and Weapon Essence, two currencies that let you buy exact specific items from the in-game shop’s rotating roster. The shop refreshes every 3 days, and almost every non-event exclusive item appears in the shop at least once a month. I’ve gotten 2 legendary weapons and a rare Bunny descendant skin this year just by saving up shards from dismantling duplicates.
Another great workaround is running targeted farming missions with a squad. Every weapon and descendant in the game has a specific mission and difficulty level where it drops, and running that mission with a full 4-person squad boosts your overall drop rate by 60% according to my own testing across 20+ Void Intercept runs. If you’re farming with friends or clan mates, you can also use the squad gifting feature to pass relevant drops to whoever needs them most. Dismantling unneeded duplicates gives you more than enough currency to buy 1-2 guaranteed legendary items per month if you play 3-4 hours a week.
Joining an active, level 3+ clan is also a massive help. Most active clans run dedicated farming runs for rare endgame gear, and members will almost always gift drops they don’t need to other clan members for free. I’ve gotten 3 legendary endgame weapons this way in the last 2 months, no trading or cash required.
Common Trading Scams To Avoid At All Costs
Since a lot of players are looking for ways to trade rare loot, scammers have popped up all over community Discords, global in-game chat, and social media groups offering fake trades. I’ve had 3 friends fall for these scams in the last year, and all of them lost either real money or their entire game account, so it’s worth knowing what to look out for.
The most common scam is the real money trade offer. A scammer will message you offering a rare Void Weapon, max level descendant, or exclusive cosmetic for $10 to $50 via PayPal or Venmo. They’ll either take your cash and block you immediately, or they’ll give you a temporarily access to an account with the item, then report the account as stolen and get both your accounts banned. Even if the trade seems legitimate, both parties are violating the TOS, so you risk a permanent ban no matter what.
Another common scam is the dupe glitch trade. Scammers will claim they have a working duplication glitch that lets them copy unlimited rare items, and offer to trade you a duplicate for one of your rare items. They’ll take your item and leave immediately, and if you do end up with a duped item, Nexon will detect it and ban your account for exploiting. There are no working duplication glitches in the game right now, so anyone offering one is definitely a scammer.
If you see anyone advertising trades in global chat or community forums, report them immediately to the game’s moderation team. It helps keep the community safe for all players, and prevents newer players from falling for expensive scams.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you trade The First Descendant items with other players is mostly no, but the limited official features and workarounds mean you don’t need general trading to progress quickly. The lack of open trading actually keeps the game fair for free-to-play players, since no one can pay to get a full set of legendary gear on day one. Stick to the official gifting features, farm targeted missions with a squad, and join an active clan to get all the loot you need without risking your account. You’ll have way more fun playing the game fairly than you will stressing about risky trades that can get you banned permanently.