If you’ve spent hours grinding The First Descendant trying to expand your character roster, you’ve probably wondered how to get Sharen in The First Descendant sooner rather than later. I spent three days fumbling through random missions before I figured out the exact steps to unlock her, and I’m sharing all the tricks I picked up to cut your grind time in half. Sharen is one of the most versatile support-DPS hybrid characters in the game, with abilities that melt group bosses and keep your squad alive through even the hardest Void Chasm runs. You don’t have to waste time chasing random drops or completing irrelevant side content to get her, either, as long as you follow the structured process we’ve laid out below.
Core Steps to Get Sharen in The First Descendant
The first thing you need to know is that Sharen doesn’t unlock through random world drops or paid DLC — you have to complete a specific set of objectives and turn in required materials to the Coastal Outpost NPC to add her to your roster. Before you start farming, make sure you meet all the base prerequisites first, otherwise you’ll waste hours of stamina for no reward:
I’ve found that the drop rate for Sharen's Broken Core is around 15% on difficulty 3, and jumps to 28% on difficulty 4, so it’s worth running the higher difficulty if your build can handle it. You don’t have to run the full mission every time either: if you clear the first two boss checkpoints and the core doesn’t drop, you can leave the mission and restart without losing any stamina. That saves so much time compared to playing through the entire 25-minute mission every run. If you’re farming with friends, you can also split up to clear checkpoints faster, cutting each run time down to 8 minutes or less.
Fast Farming Routes for Required Materials
Many players spend weeks grinding the wrong areas when they’re learning how to get Sharen in The First Descendant, but these routes will speed up the process dramatically. Pure Void Essence drops most often from elite Void Beasts in the Northern Wastes area, specifically around the old power plant landmark. I usually run a loop around the plant’s exterior, respawning elites every 2 minutes, and I can farm 50 essence in about 20 minutes flat. That's way faster than running random missions for essence drops, which only give 2-3 essence per 15-minute run.
For Ancient Coastal Seals, most players miss that these only spawn in chests that are hidden behind breakable rock walls in the Coastal Ruins. Keep an eye out for cracked grey rock formations along the cliff edges: hit them with a melee attack to reveal the chest behind. Each chest has a 70% chance to drop 1-2 seals, so you can collect all 20 in less than 15 minutes if you follow a pre-planned route. Don’t waste time opening regular chests, as they don’t drop seals at all. Always use a loot-scouting character like Bunny when farming seals, as their ability to highlight hidden chests cuts your search time in half.
Common Mistakes That Delay Your Sharen Unlock
I made almost all of these mistakes when I was trying to unlock Sharen, so I’m saving you the headache of repeating them. First, a lot of players think they can get her core from lower difficulty Void Rift runs, but that’s not true. The core only drops on difficulty 3 or higher, so don’t waste your stamina running easier modes hoping for a drop. Even if you play with a squad that’s running difficulty 3, you won’t be eligible for the drop if you haven’t unlocked that difficulty yourself.
Another big mistake is ignoring the main story prerequisite: if you haven’t completed the Coastal Outpost Rescue quest, the core will never drop for you, even if you run difficulty 4 runs with a friend who has the quest completed. Make sure every member of your squad has the quest completed if you’re farming with friends, otherwise only the players who meet the prerequisite are eligible for the core drop. Also, don’t trade your Pure Void Essence for other crafting materials before you unlock Sharen. It’s easy to burn through essence upgrading other characters, but you’ll kick yourself when you have the core and have to spend extra hours farming essence all over again. If you avoid these simple errors, you’ll cut down the time it takes to figure out how to get Sharen in The First Descendant by more than half.
What to Do Once You Unlock Sharen
Once you turn in all the materials to the NPC at the Coastal Outpost, you’ll unlock Sharen permanently, and you’ll want to prioritize a few upgrades first to get the most out of her kit. Now that you know how to get Sharen in The First Descendant and have her unlocked, you can experiment with different builds to fit your playstyle. Her signature ability, Void Barrier, both blocks incoming damage and deals continuous void damage to enemies that pass through it, so it’s worth upgrading that first to max level as soon as possible. Her passive ability also grants a 30% damage boost to any ally standing behind the barrier, which makes her a game-changer for squad boss fights.
Pair Sharen with a high-fire rate secondary weapon to make the most of her other passive ability, which boosts weapon damage for 5 seconds every time you deploy her barrier. She works incredibly well in both solo and squad play: for solo runs, focus on cooldown reduction mods to spam her barrier as often as possible, and for squad runs, stack support mods that extend the barrier’s duration for your teammates. I’ve used her to clear the hardest Void Chasm difficulty 5 runs with random squads, and she consistently outperforms most other support characters when built correctly. Don’t sleep on her melee attack upgrade either, as it deals extra void damage that can stun elite enemies for 2 seconds, giving you plenty of time to reposition or heal.
Unlocking Sharen doesn’t have to be a week-long grind if you follow the exact steps we’ve laid out here. Whether you’re a new player just finishing the main story or a veteran looking to expand your character roster, knowing how to get Sharen in The First Descendant will let you add one of the game’s strongest hybrid characters to your lineup far faster than most players manage. Don’t skip the prerequisites, stick to the optimized farming routes, and avoid the common mistakes we covered, and you’ll be playing as Sharen before you know it. If you have a favorite build for Sharen once you unlock her, feel free to share it in the comments below.