If you’ve spent any time running missions in The First Descendant, you’ve probably hit a point where your progression feels stuck, even after leveling up all your favorite characters and weapons. That’s almost always tied to your mastery rank, the hidden account-wide progression system that gates some of the game’s best loot, playable characters, and endgame content. I spent three weeks fumbling through random missions trying to rank up fast before I figured out which activities actually move the needle, so I put together this guide to show you how to level up mastery rank in The First Descendant without wasting hours on low-reward tasks.
How to Level Up Mastery Rank in The First Descendant: Core Basics First
Before you jump into grinding missions, it’s important to understand how mastery rank XP works, because most new players get this wrong at first. Mastery XP is earned every time you level up a new character, weapon, reactor, or external component for the first time. Duplicate level-ups don’t count toward your mastery rank, so there’s no benefit to leveling a second copy of a weapon or character you already maxed out.
All mastery XP is account-wide, so it doesn’t matter which character you’re playing when you level gear, all progress goes to the same rank. I thought it was per character at first, so I wasted a week leveling gear on an alt, only to realize it was adding to the same pool, which was a nice surprise, but also made me realize I could switch characters whenever I wanted without losing progress. Higher rarity items give more mastery XP per level, so a legendary weapon will give you 10x more XP when maxed than a common white-tier weapon.
That means if you’re short on upgrade materials, you should always prioritize leveling higher rarity items you haven’t touched yet over upgrading low-rarity or duplicate items. A lot of new players waste hundreds of materials upgrading their starter common weapon to max level, but you’ll get way more mastery progress by spreading those materials across 4 or 5 new uncommon or rare weapons instead.
Highest-Yield Activities for Fast Mastery Rank Gains
Not all missions are created equal when it comes to earning mastery XP fast. If you're looking for the fastest way to level up mastery rank in The First Descendant, focusing on these activities will cut your grind time in half, even if you only play a couple hours a day. I tested all of these myself when I was grinding from rank 3 to rank 20, and these are the only ones that gave me consistent, meaningful progress without burnout.
Void Intercept Battles on normal difficulty are accessible even for rank 5 players, you don’t need endgame gear to get legendary drops from them. I used to skip them because I thought they were too hard for new players, but I got my first legendary reactor on my third run with a random group, and leveling that gave me two full mastery ranks in one go. If you’re nervous about playing with randoms, you can even run them with AI companions, they’re not the most powerful, but they’ll get you through normal difficulty as long as you stick to cover and focus on boss weak points.
Don’t sleep on the free components you get from the mission pass either. I used to ignore those rewards because I thought they were useless low-rarity junk, but when I had 12 unleveled components saved up, I leveled all of them in 10 minutes and got almost a full rank of progress for basically no effort. Small chunks of XP add up really fast when you stack them.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Your Mastery Rank Progression
Even if you’re running the right missions, small mistakes can make your grind take 2 or 3 times longer than it needs to. I made almost all of these mistakes myself when I first started, so I’m saving you the frustration of learning them the hard way.
The biggest mistake I see is wasting upgrade materials on duplicate items. A lot of new players level up a second copy of their favorite shotgun because they think it’ll be stronger, but that doesn’t give any mastery XP, and you’re better off putting those materials into a new weapon you haven’t leveled yet. It’s okay to upgrade a duplicate if it has way better stats for your main build, but don’t do it if your main goal is raising your mastery rank.
Another common mistake is ignoring side missions that give new gear or character unlocks. Story missions give great one-time rewards, but side missions often give unowned weapons or components that you can use for easy mastery XP. You don't have to 100% every side mission, but grab any that reward a new weapon or character unlock when you see them pop up. I skipped almost all side missions on my first playthrough, and when I went back to do them later, I got enough new gear to rank up 4 times in one afternoon.
Spending all your Void Crystals on cosmetic skins first is another mistake that slows progress down a lot. Each new character you buy gives you a huge chunk of mastery XP when you level them, so it’s worth saving up for character unlocks first before you buy skins. I made that mistake early on, bought a skin for my main character first, then had to wait two more weeks to unlock a new character that would have given me 3 full mastery ranks.
Perks You Unlock As You Raise Your Mastery Rank
If you’re wondering if the grind is worth it, the rewards you unlock as you rank up make a huge difference in how fun the game is to play, especially once you hit endgame. You don’t have to rush to max rank, but hitting key thresholds will make your overall gameplay experience way smoother.
First, you unlock new character slots as you rank up. At rank 10, you get 2 extra slots so you don’t have to delete characters you already leveled to make space for new ones. That was a huge relief for me, because I hated deleting my low-level characters just to try out new ones I unlocked. You also get increased stash space as you rank up, which is super helpful because you’ll be collecting a lot of different gear to level, and you don’t want to have to delete items you haven’t gotten around to leveling yet because you don’t have space. At rank 12, you get 50 extra stash slots, which was a game changer for me.
You also get access to higher difficulty missions as you rank up. Rank 15 unlocks hard mode Void Intercept Battles, which drop exclusive legendary skins and endgame components that you can’t get anywhere else. You also get free premium currency rewards every 5 ranks, I’ve gotten almost 2,000 free Void Crystals just from ranking up, which I used to buy a premium character skin without spending any money. Mastery rank 20 is the most important threshold for new players, because it unlocks the full endgame raid content, which is where most of the game’s long-term fun lives. You also get increased resource drop rates as you rank up, so farming materials for upgrades gets even faster the higher you go, creating a nice positive loop of progression.
At the end of the day, you don’t have to spend 8 hours a day grinding to raise your progression if you focus on the right activities. I went from mastery rank 3 to rank 20 in just two weeks by following the tips I laid out here, and I barely played more than 2 hours a day most days. If you take the time to prioritize new gear and characters over duplicate upgrades, and stick to high-yield missions, you’ll be able to level up mastery rank in The First Descendant way faster than you thought possible, and unlock all the best content the game has to offer without the burnout. If you have a favorite trick I didn’t mention here, drop it in the comments below to help other players out.