If you’ve been grinding The First Descendant to upgrade your endgame weapons and armor, you’ve probably hit a wall looking for that one rare crafting resource that stops you from hitting the next power tier. That’s exactly the spot I was in last month when I was trying to max out my Viessa’s frost cannon, and the only thing holding me back was figuring out how to get compound coating material in The First Descendant. I spent three days running random missions hoping for drops before I worked out the most efficient farm route, and now I’m sharing everything I learned so you don’t waste your time on low-yield runs. This resource is critical for adding elemental resistance buffs, boosting weapon durability, and unlocking high-tier mod slots for your favorite builds, so it’s worth taking the time to learn the right way to farm it.
How to Get Compound Coating Material in The First Descendant: Core Drop Sources
Compound coating material only drops from level 30+ content, so you won’t find it in early-game story missions or low-difficulty side quests. After testing every possible drop source over 12 hours of gameplay, I narrowed down the only three reliable places to farm this resource, each suited for different playstyles. You can mix and match these sources depending on whether you prefer solo play, group runs, or casual farming between other activities.
I tested all three sources for 4 hours each, and the Void Intercept Battle runs are the clear winner if you have a consistent group. We were able to pull in almost 12 units per hour when we optimized our runs. But if you prefer playing solo, farming the Armored Behemoths while clearing side quests in Vulture Valley will net you around 4-5 units per hour, which is still way better than running random missions. Don’t waste your time on Normal difficulty Void Intercept runs, by the way, they don’t drop this material at all, I learned that the hard way after two hours of zero drops.
Tips to Maximize Your Compound Coating Material Farm Rate
Even if you’re running the right missions, small optimizations can double or even triple the amount of material you get per hour. I picked up most of these tips from other endgame players in community groups, and they cut my total farm time for 30 units from 8 hours to just 3 hours total.
First, equip the Resource Finder mod on your scanner, that increases rare resource drop rates by 18% for all enemies and caches in your immediate area. I didn’t know this mod existed for the first few farms, and I noticed a huge jump in drops as soon as I added it. It only costs 5 common mod parts to craft, so you can make it right before you start farming with zero extra grind.
Next, run missions with a full group if you can, because drop buffs stack for the entire team. If one player uses the Group Luck Boost consumable, everyone gets an extra 12% drop rate for the entire mission run. You can stack up to three different group buffs, which adds up to a 45% total increase in rare drop chances for the whole team. That’s a massive difference that adds up to a lot of extra materials over a few hours of farming.
Also, don't skip the optional side objectives in Void Intercept Battle, completing all three gives you an extra 25% chance to get a double drop of the final boss rewards. I used to skip these to finish runs faster, but I started getting way more materials when I took the extra 90 seconds to complete them. The side objectives are usually just collecting a few data drives or killing a small elite enemy, so they’re barely any extra work for the huge reward boost.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming This Resource
There are a lot of small mistakes that can make your farm way less efficient, and I made almost all of them when I first started grinding for this material. Avoiding these will save you hours of wasted time and frustration.
The most common mistake I see is running the wrong difficulty. A lot of players think Normal difficulty Void Intercept will drop compound coating material, but it only drops on Hard or higher. I’ve seen so many people in the game chat complaining about zero drops after 10 runs, and 9 times out of 10 they’re on Normal mode. Double check the difficulty setting before you queue, it’s easy to accidentally leave it on Normal from earlier story runs.
Another big mistake is ignoring the cooldown timers for elite enemies and caches. If you kill an Armored Behemoth and immediately loop back to the same spot, it won’t respawn for 12 minutes, so you’re wasting time waiting around. Rotate between three different Behemoth spawn points so you never have to wait for a respawn, that cuts down on idle time by 70% in my experience. You can find maps of all the spawn points in community forums if you don’t know where to look.
Don’t waste the material on low-tier upgrades either. Compound coating material is really rare, so don’t use it on gear that you’re going to replace in a few levels. Save it for your endgame legendary gear that you plan to use long-term, you’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have to re-farm 20 units to upgrade your new main weapon. I made this mistake early on and used 8 units on a rare shotgun that I replaced 2 days later, it was a huge waste.
Best Uses for Compound Coating Material Once You Farm It
Once you have a stock of compound coating material, you want to use it in ways that give you the biggest boost to your overall power first. Prioritizing these uses will make all your future farming and mission runs way easier.
The most valuable use is upgrading legendary armor to tier 5, which adds 30% extra elemental resistance to all damage types. That’s a game-changer for endgame Void Challenge runs, where elemental damage can one-shot you if you don’t have enough resistance. I upgraded my full legendary armor set first, and I noticed I could survive way longer in high-difficulty missions without needing to use healing items constantly.
Second, it’s required to unlock the fourth mod slot on all legendary weapons, which lets you add a powerful elemental damage mod that can double your overall DPS. I recommend prioritizing weapon mod slots first if you main a DPS character, since that will make all your future farming runs even faster. A higher DPS means you clear missions faster, which means you get more drops in less time, it’s a positive feedback loop.
Third, you can use it to craft the Durability Boost consumable, which makes your gear take 50% less damage for 30 minutes. That’s perfect for long group runs where you don’t want to stop to repair mid-mission, especially if you’re running high-difficulty content where your gear takes a lot of damage. If you have extra units after upgrading all your main gear, you can trade it with other players for rare mods that you can’t get from regular drops, it’s one of the most valuable trading resources in the endgame economy right now.
At the end of the day, farming rare resources in The First Descendant doesn’t have to be a frustrating grind if you know exactly where to look and how to optimize your runs. Now that you know how to get compound coating material in The First Descendant, you can skip all the wasted time I spent running random missions and jump straight to the highest-yield farms. Take the time to set up your loadout with drop rate buffs first, and you’ll have more than enough of this material to upgrade all your favorite gear in no time. Don’t forget to stock up extra units for future updates, since new endgame gear almost always requires this high-tier crafting material.