If you’ve ever tried to take down a high-level Void Intercept Battle boss alone and got one-shot within 10 seconds, you already know co-op is non-negotiable in The First Descendant. Even if you’ve got a fully maxed out Freyna or Ajax build, some content is designed explicitly for teams of 2 to 4 players, so knowing how to create a party in the first descendant will save you hours of frustrated solo grinding and missed rare loot drops. I’ve spent the last 3 months testing every co-op feature of the game across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, so I’ve broken down every step, common bug fix, and pro tip to make your party setup as painless as possible. You won’t have to fumble through confusing menu tabs or miss out on crossplay friends once you follow this guide.
How to create a party in The First Descendant: Core step-by-step process
First, make sure you’re in the Albion main hub, not in an active mission, if you’re setting up a party from scratch. You can still invite players mid-mission, but you’ll have more customization options for your party when you’re back in the hub. Open your main menu with the escape key (PC) or options button (console) and navigate to the “Social” tab, which is marked with a two-person icon—it’s the third tab from the left, right after your inventory and before the quest log. Once you’re in the Social tab, you’ll see three sections: your friends list, recent players you’ve matched with, and recommended players with similar power levels to your current Descendant.
Click the “Create Party” button at the top right of the Social window to generate a new party lobby, with you automatically set as the party leader. From there, you can send invites to anyone on your friends list, or type in a player’s in-game ID to send a direct invite to someone you’re not already friends with. If you want to open your party to random players, you can toggle the “Public Party” setting on, which will let other players searching for teams join your lobby without an invite, as long as they meet your minimum power level requirement. If you want to create a party specifically for crossplay, you don’t have to do anything extra as long as crossplay is enabled in your main settings.
Key party settings you should adjust before inviting players
Most new players skip over the party settings tab entirely, which leads to all kinds of annoying issues mid-mission, from players joining who are 200 power levels below the mission requirement to randoms stealing all your rare upgrade materials. Set a minimum power level requirement for your party first, based on the content you plan to run—for example, if you’re running a level 50 Void Chasm mission, set the minimum power level to 900, so you don’t end up with undergeared players who can’t survive a single hit from mobs. You can also toggle loot sharing settings here: the default is free-for-all, but you can switch to round-robin loot distribution if you want everyone to get an equal shot at rare drops, which is ideal for farming runs with friends.
Crossplay is enabled by default, but if you only want to play with people on the same platform as you, you can turn crossplay off in the party settings too. I also recommend turning on the “party voice chat” toggle if you’re running high-difficulty content, even if you don’t plan to talk—you’ll be able to hear callouts for boss mechanics that you might miss if you’re relying solely on text chat. Some of the most common mistakes players make with party settings include:
- Forgetting to lock your party after all your friends join, leading to random players joining uninvited mid-prep
- Setting the power level requirement too low, leading to unbalanced teams that can’t complete the mission
- Leaving loot set to free-for-all when you’re farming rare Descendant components with a pre-made group
- Disabling crossplay by accident, so you can’t see invites from friends on other platforms
How to fix common party creation and invite bugs
Even if you follow every step perfectly, you might run into some common bugs that stop you from creating or joining parties, especially right after a game update. I’ve run into every single one of these at least a dozen times, so I’ve got tested fixes for each. First, the most common bug: you click “Create Party” and nothing happens. 9 times out of 10, this is because you’re still in a leftover mission lobby from your last run, even if you’re back in Albion. Fast travel to any other fast travel point in Albion, then open the social tab again to create your party—this resets your lobby status and fixes the issue 90% of the time.
Another common bug: you send an invite to a friend, but they never get it, even if you’re both online. If this happens, have your friend send you a party invite instead, or search for their in-game ID and send a direct join request instead of an invite. If crossplay invites aren’t working, double check that both you and your friend have crossplay enabled in your main game settings, not just your party settings—crossplay is sometimes disabled automatically after a game update, so you’ll need to turn it back on manually. If all else fails, restart your game client entirely. I know it’s annoying, but it fixes almost every lingering party bug that the fast travel trick doesn’t catch. If you’re on console, make sure your platform’s privacy settings allow you to receive game invites—many players have their console set to block invites from non-friends, which stops even friend invites from showing up in some cases.
Pro tips to make your party runs more efficient
Once you’ve got your party set up and ready to go, there are a few small tweaks you can make to get more out of every run, whether you’re farming for loot or clearing story content. Assign roles to your party members before you launch a mission, based on their Descendant’s kit—for example, have a support Descendant like Valby focus on healing and crowd control, a damage dealer like Freyna focus on boss DPS, and a tank like Ajax focus on drawing aggro away from the rest of the team. This cuts down mission time by 30% on average, in my experience, because no one is wasting time overlapping abilities or ignoring key mechanics.
If you’re running a farming party, set clear rules for what drops you’re rolling for before you start the mission, so you don’t end up arguing over who gets a rare Ultimate Component drop. You can also use the party marker system to point out secret chests, mob spawns, or boss weak points to your team, which is way faster than typing out explanations in text chat. If you’re playing with randoms, don’t be afraid to kick players who are AFK or intentionally trolling—you have full permission as party leader to remove anyone who’s making the run less fun for the rest of the group, and you can fill their spot with a new player from the search tab mid-mission if you want.
At the end of the day, co-op is one of the best parts of The First Descendant, and you’re missing out on half the fun if you only play solo. Taking 10 extra minutes to set up your party properly will save you hours of frustration down the line, and you’ll be able to clear content you never would have been able to beat alone. Now that you know how to create a party in the first descendant, you can hop in, invite your friends, and start farming those rare drops you’ve been chasing for weeks. Don’t forget to adjust your settings before you launch, and don’t panic if you run into a bug—most of them have super simple fixes that take 10 seconds or less to apply. I’ll see you out in Albion.