If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes grinding a void mission only to realize your new legendary shotgun is doing 30% less damage than your common rifle, you’ve probably wondered how does weapon proficiency work in The First Descendant. This underrated mechanic is one of the biggest hidden factors in your overall damage output, and most new players skip over it entirely until they hit a wall in the mid-game. I’ve spent over 120 hours testing different weapon loadouts and grinding proficiency levels for every weapon type, so I’m breaking down exactly how it works, what bonuses you get, and how to level it as fast as possible without wasting your time. It’s not a complicated system, but small mistakes in how you approach it can cost you hours of unnecessary grind.
Core Basics: How Does Weapon Proficiency Work in The First Descendant
Weapon proficiency is a permanent progression system tied to weapon categories, not individual weapons. That means every time you use a shotgun, no matter what rarity or roll it has, you’re earning progress toward your shotgun proficiency level, not just progress for that specific gun. Levels range from 1 to 30, with small incremental stat boosts for each level up, and major milestone bonuses every 5 levels. Proficiency bonuses are permanent for the entire weapon category, not tied to a single weapon, so even if you scrap your old common shotgun for a new legendary one, all your earned bonuses will apply to the new gun immediately.
Progression is calculated based on damage dealt and final kill shots with the weapon type, not the difficulty of the mission you’re running. You’ll earn the same amount of proficiency per kill in a level 1 story mission as you would in a level 100 endgame void raid, which is a key detail most players miss. Proficiency is also shared across all your descendants, so you don’t have to regrind it if you switch from Viessa to Gley or any other character. That makes it one of the most valuable account-wide progression systems in the entire game.
Key Milestone Bonuses You Unlock at Each Proficiency Tier
While every level gives a tiny 1-2% boost to base damage, the real value comes from the milestone bonuses you unlock every 5 levels. These bonuses stack on top of each other, and many of them apply to more than just weapon damage, giving you utility buffs that make entire playstyles viable. The exact bonuses vary slightly by weapon type, but the core structure is consistent across all categories:
- Level 5: +10% base damage for the weapon type, +5% reload speed, unlocks the ability to see hidden weapon stats in your loadout menu
- Level 15: +15% critical hit chance, +10% ammo capacity, reduces the stamina cost of reloading while sprinting by 50%
- Level 25: +25% weak point damage, unlocks a unique category-specific perk (e.g. shotguns get reduced spread when hip firing, snipers get flinch resistance, SMGs get 20% movement speed while firing)
- Level 30: +40% overall damage for the weapon type, plus a 10% damage buff to your descendant's secondary skill when using that weapon type
You don’t need to grind every single weapon type to level 30 to get value from the system. You don’t have to fully max every weapon type to get value, but prioritizing 2-3 categories for your main builds will give you the fastest power spike. For example, if you main a close-quarters build for Bunny, getting SMG and shotgun proficiency to level 15 will give you enough of a damage boost to clear all hard mode story missions without any other gear upgrades. The level 30 bonus is mostly worth grinding for endgame content like void interceptors or boss raids, where every extra bit of damage counts.
Fastest Ways to Farm Weapon Proficiency Without Wasting Time
You don’t have to grind high-difficulty missions to level up your proficiency quickly, as I mentioned earlier. In fact, running low-difficulty missions with endless enemy spawns is far faster, because you can kill far more enemies per minute than you would in a slow, challenging endgame mission. The fastest proficiency farm is running the lowest difficulty "Supply Run" story mission in the first area, which has constant enemy spawns near the first objective point. You can sit in one spot, group enemies up with a crowd control skill, and mow them down nonstop without having to run around the map to find targets.
If you don’t want to do dedicated grind sessions, you can also level proficiency passively by sticking to 2 weapon types for all your daily and weekly missions. Equip your main weapon types every time you run dailies, and you’ll gain a few levels every week without even trying. If you have any XP boosters from events or battle passes, they apply to proficiency gain too, so pop one before you start a farm session to cut your grind time in half. I once farmed shotgun proficiency from level 1 to 20 in just under an hour using this method with a free XP booster, vs the 8 hours it would have taken me running random endgame missions.
One small tip to speed up gains even more: Make sure you get the final kill shot on enemies with the weapon type you’re leveling. If you damage an enemy with a skill then finish them off with a different weapon, all the proficiency for that kill goes to the weapon you used for the final hit. If you’re farming multiple weapon types at once, swap between them every 5-10 kills to spread the progress evenly, but don’t swap more often than that or you’ll slow down gains for all types.
Common Weapon Proficiency Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest mistake new players make is trying to level every weapon type at the same time. It’s tempting to unlock all the bonuses right away, but spreading your damage across 6 or 7 weapon types means you’ll take weeks to hit level 15 on any of them, when you could have 2 types at level 30 in the same amount of time. You can always go back and level other weapon types later once your main builds are strong enough to clear content easily.
Another common mistake is writing off a weapon type as weak before you’ve leveled its proficiency enough. I’ve seen dozens of players complain that snipers are useless, only to find out their sniper proficiency is level 1, so they’re missing 40% base damage, 15% crit chance, and 25% weak point damage. If you want to try a new weapon type, get it to at least level 10 first before you judge if it fits your playstyle. Proficiency bonuses apply to all rarities of the same weapon type, so even a common assault rifle with level 30 proficiency will outperform a legendary assault rifle with level 1 proficiency in most cases.
Don’t waste time leveling a weapon type you hate using just because it’s considered meta. If you can’t stand the slow fire rate of snipers, you’re not going to enjoy playing a sniper build even if it does the most damage on paper. Level the weapon types you actually have fun using first, and you’ll have a far better experience with the game overall. You can always grind meta weapon types later if you want to tackle the hardest endgame content, but there’s no rush to do it when you’re still working through the story.
At the end of the day, taking the time to understand how does weapon proficiency work in The First Descendant is one of the easiest ways to boost your damage output without having to grind for rare weapons or perfect mod rolls. You don't have to spend hours farming it if you don't want to, even getting your main weapon types to level 15 will give you a noticeable boost for most mid-game content. If you're stuck on a tough boss or keep dying in void missions, check your proficiency levels first before you waste hours trying to get a better roll on a legendary weapon. Small, consistent upgrades like proficiency are what separate casual players from those who can clear the hardest endgame content with ease.