If you’ve just jumped into Nexon’s fast-paced free-to-play looter shooter, you’ve probably already messed around with a couple of starter characters and wondered how far you can expand your playable roster. One of the most common questions new players search for right after finishing the prologue is how many descendants can you have in The First Descendant, and it’s easy to see why. Each descendant comes with a completely unique ability kit, elemental alignment, and playstyle, so collecting more opens up entirely new ways to approach missions, boss fights, and co-op runs. This guide breaks down exactly how many characters you can unlock, what you need to get them, and how to build a roster that works for every type of content you want to tackle.
How Many Descendants Can You Have in The First Descendant At Launch and Post-Launch
As of the latest game update, there are 13 total playable descendants available for all players, with 2-3 new characters added every seasonal update that runs every 3 months. The best news for free-to-play players is that there is no restriction on owning every descendant released — you never have to delete, trade, or give up a character you already unlocked to make space for a new one. A lot of new players assume there’s a hard limit because of the 3-slot quick loadout feature, but that only controls which characters you can swap between mid-mission, not how many you can own permanently. Even paid battle pass exclusive descendants are added to your permanent collection once you unlock them, and they never expire or get removed from your roster. For players that stick around for multiple seasons, it’s entirely possible to have a roster of 20+ descendants within a year of regular play, with zero extra cost if you grind seasonal events and unlock battle pass rewards for free.
Key Requirements to Unlock Every Available Descendant
All non-starter descendants require a set of specific materials to unlock, which you can farm from in-game activities without spending real money in almost all cases. The three starter descendants (Viessa, Ajax, and Bunny) are added to your roster automatically as soon as you finish the 30-minute prologue, no extra work required. For all other descendants, you’ll need to farm the following materials before you can add them to your collection:
- 10 units of the descendant’s unique core, dropped from their dedicated Void Intercept Battle boss fight on any difficulty level
- 50,000 credits, earned from completing daily missions, selling excess loot, and turning in seasonal event tokens
- 20 pieces of Advanced Elemental Ore, farmable from open world resource nodes in all three main map regions, or purchasable from the in-game credit shop for 2,000 credits each
- 5 copies of the descendant’s blueprint, earned from story progression for core characters, or repeatable event side quests for limited-time characters
Limited-time seasonal descendants do have a temporary unlock window, but they always rerun in the in-game shop 3-6 months after their initial release for regular credits, so you won’t miss out permanently if you can’t grind enough during their launch event. You don’t need to spend real money to unlock 90% of the current descendant roster, and the only paid exclusive characters have minor, non-combat benefits like extra event currency gain or unique cosmetic skins that don’t affect gameplay. I missed the first seasonal descendant Freyna when she launched last year, and I was able to pick her up from the general shop a few months later for only 150,000 credits, which I earned from a week of daily missions.
How to Optimize Your Descendant Roster For All Game Modes
Even though you can collect every descendant available, you don’t need to level all of them up right away to get the most out of your roster. Focusing on a small set of well-rounded characters first will let you clear all content faster, and you can grind for more niche picks once you have a solid core team set up. You should prioritize unlocking at least one descendant for each of the three main roles first (DPS, tank, support) before you chase after limited-edition or niche characters that only work for specific content types. For example, if you main a high-damage DPS character like Bunny for solo farming, unlock a tank like Ajax first for high-difficulty Void Intercept Battles where you need to soak up damage for your team, then pick up a support like Viessa for co-op runs where you need to heal and buff teammates. The 3-slot quick loadout lets you swap between three descendants mid-mission, so you can adjust your playstyle on the fly if you run into a boss that’s resistant to your current character’s elemental damage, or if your team needs a different role to fill a gap. I usually keep a DPS, tank, and support in my quick loadout for all co-op missions, and that setup has worked for every endgame mission I’ve run so far, even the hardest Void Battle difficulty levels.
Common Misconceptions About Descendant Limits Debunked
There’s a lot of outdated information floating around from the game’s closed beta that still confuses new players, so we’re breaking down the most common myths to clear up any confusion. The first big myth is that you can only have 5 descendants at a time, which was a temporary limit during the 2023 closed beta that was removed entirely for the full launch. There’s no limit to how many you can own now, even for free-to-play players. The second myth is that paid battle pass descendants are significantly stronger than free characters, which is not true at all. All descendants have the same base stat caps once fully upgraded, and the only difference for paid characters is a minor 5% bonus to event currency gain that doesn’t impact combat performance at all. The third myth is that you have to beat the entire story mode to unlock all descendants, which is also false. Player level is the only gatekeeper for most descendant unlocks, and you can unlock almost all core characters as soon as you hit player level 15, which only takes 4-5 hours of casual play even if you ignore most story missions. I unlocked my 8th descendant before I even finished the second act of the main story, so you can prioritize grinding for new characters first if you don’t care about pushing through story content right away.
At the end of the day, the answer to how many descendants can you have in The First Descendant is simple: every single one that’s been released, with no hard ownership limit for free or paying players. You don’t have to spend real money to build a large, well-rounded roster, and the only temporary limits are for seasonal characters that always rerun a few months after their initial launch. Take time to experiment with different ability kits as you unlock new characters, and don’t feel pressured to level every descendant right away — focus on building a core team that fits your playstyle first, then expand from there. You might be surprised by which niche character ends up being your go-to main for endgame co-op runs.