I spent three straight evenings grinding Void Chaser missions last month trying to get my hands on Divine Punishment, and I wasted almost half of my energy on runs that didn’t even have a chance to drop it. If you’re here because you want to skip all that frustration and learn how to get Divine Punishment in The First Descendant the right way, you’re in the right place. This powerful rocket launcher is one of the highest DPS heavy weapons in the game, perfect for melting boss weak points and clearing mobs of invading Vulgus in seconds. I’ve tested every possible farm route, unlocked it on two separate accounts, and compiled every tip I learned to make your grind as painless as possible.
What is Divine Punishment and Why It’s Worth Grinding For
If you’ve ever struggled to take down high-level World Bosses or clear the later waves of Void Intercept Battles, Divine Punishment solves almost all of those problems in one go. It’s a Void-element legendary rocket launcher with base damage that outclasses almost every other heavy weapon in its tier, plus a unique perk that adds 12% extra damage for 3 seconds every time you land a hit, stacking up to 5 times for a total 60% damage boost. That means once you get it fully stacked, even the tankiest boss shields melt in 2-3 shots. Divine Punishment also has a 20% higher critical hit chance than other rocket launchers in its class, which makes it even more deadly when paired with critical damage mods.
I’ve used it to carry three different public Void Intercept runs on hard mode, and it cuts clear time almost in half compared to the previous legendary rocket I was using. It’s especially good if you main a DPS descendant like Viessa or Ajax, since their buffs pair perfectly with its high burst damage. The only real downside is its slow reload speed, but you can fix that easily with the right weapon mod setup later on. You don’t have to worry about it being a niche weapon either, it works for every game mode from open world mob farming to endgame raid content.
How to Get Divine Punishment in The First Descendant: Exact Unlock Requirements
First, let’s get the prerequisites out of the way so you don’t waste time trying to unlock the mission too early. You need to meet three core requirements before you can even be eligible for a Divine Punishment drop: Player Rank 40 or higher, completed the main story quest “The Final Barrier”, and unlocked the Hard difficulty for Void Intercept Battle: Obsidian Fortress. The drop rate is around 8% on Hard mode and 12% on Extreme mode, so you might get it on your first run, or you might need to run it 10-15 times, that’s just how RNG works. If you follow these requirements, you’ll be eligible to get Divine Punishment the first time you run the hard mode mission if you’re lucky.
I see a lot of new players making the mistake of running the Normal difficulty of Obsidian Fortress hoping for a drop, but it doesn’t spawn there at all, so save your energy for Hard or higher. You also don’t get any extra drop chance for running it in a group, but groups do make the runs faster, so I usually recommend queuing with 3 other players if you can, especially for Extreme mode. Before you start every run, make sure you do these four things to maximize your drop odds:
Fastest Farm Route to Cut Your Grind Time in Half
Even if you have bad RNG, you can cut your total grind time down to less than 2 hours if you follow this optimized route. Use a speed-focused descendant like Bunny for the first two sections of the mission, her movement speed buffs and area attacks let you clear trash mobs in half the time you would with a slower DPS character. Once you reach the final boss, switch to your main DPS descendant if you want, or stick with Bunny if you have her built for damage, she still deals enough to take down the Obsidian Warden quickly.
During the boss fight, focus all your fire on the glowing weak points on its chest and left arm first. Breaking both weak points stuns the boss for 8 seconds, which lets you pour damage into its core without taking return fire. I’ve found that this cuts the total fight time by almost 30% every run. If you’re playing with a group, assign one person to clear the small adds that spawn halfway through the fight, so the rest of the group can keep attacking the boss without getting interrupted. You can also skip the post-fight cutscene by holding the skip button as soon as the boss’s health bar hits zero, that saves you 45 seconds per run.
I’ve had friends who got Divine Punishment on their first Extreme run, and others who took 12 runs, so don’t get discouraged if you’re on the longer end of the RNG spectrum. If you’re running the mission solo, you can complete each run in around 8 minutes, so even if it takes 15 runs to get Divine Punishment, that’s only 2 hours of total grind time. Wait for event weekends with 2x legendary drop rates if you can, I got my second copy of Divine Punishment during the last Void Festival event on my 4th run, which saved me a ton of time.
What to Do After You Unlock Divine Punishment
Don’t just equip it and jump into endgame content right away, you need to level it up and mod it correctly to get its full power. The first thing to do is upgrade it to level 50 as soon as possible, that unlocks all its base stats and its full perk potential. If you get a god roll Divine Punishment with maxed out perk stats, you won’t need to upgrade your heavy weapon for months, even as new content drops. The best core mods to use for it are Reload Speed Boost, Splash Damage Increase, Weak Point Damage Boost, and Void Damage Amplification, these four mods make it almost twice as powerful as the base version.
Once you get Divine Punishment, you’ll notice immediately how much easier endgame content feels. Even if you main a support descendant like Lepic, you can still use it effectively, just pair it with a mod that reduces heavy weapon energy cost so you don’t run out of ammo mid-fight. I use mine on my support main all the time, and I can still deal enough damage to hold my own in hard mode runs, even without full DPS buffs. You can also pick up the exclusive Punishment Overload mod from the Void Trader once a month, which extends the perk stack duration to 5 seconds, making the weapon even more consistent for long boss fights.
One common mistake I see new players make is wasting rare upgrade materials on a bad roll of Divine Punishment. If your copy has a secondary perk that increases mag size instead of the stackable damage buff, you’re better off farming for a second copy, because the stackable damage buff is what makes the weapon top tier. Duplicate copies aren’t a waste either, you can dismantle them for rare Void Forged materials that you need to upgrade the weapon to its max level.
Grinding for endgame weapons can feel tedious, but the payoff of getting Divine Punishment in The First Descendant is more than worth the effort. I still use mine every time I log in, even after 3 months of owning it, and it hasn’t let me down once, even in the hardest endgame content. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it on your first few runs, stick to the tips we covered, prioritize Extreme mode runs when you can, and you’ll have it in your inventory before you know it. Once you do, take the time to mod it properly, and you’ll be able to carry almost any group content you queue for.