There’s nothing more frustrating than pulling a shiny new Legendary rocket launcher from a Void chest, only to find it barely scratches even basic mid-game enemies. If you’ve ever found yourself wasting dozens of rare materials just to get a small damage bump, you’re not alone. Learning how to level up weapons in The First Descendant is one of the most underrated skills for new players, and it can cut your grind time in half while making every mission feel far more rewarding. You don’t have to spend 10 hours a day farming to get your favorite weapons to max level either – you just need to use the right strategies, avoid common mistakes, and prioritize resources for the gear that actually fits your playstyle.
Core Rules to Follow When You Level Up Weapons in The First Descendant
Before you start dumping materials into every weapon you pick up, there are a few basic rules that will save you hours of wasted grind later on. First, don’t feed higher rarity weapons as XP fodder unless you already have a maxed copy of that exact weapon. A lot of new players see a duplicate Epic weapon and feed it to their main for a quick XP boost, but dismantling it will give you far more valuable ascension materials and premium XP modules you can use for Legendary gear later. That small XP bump you get now is never worth the materials you’ll lose for endgame progression.
Second, weapon level caps are tied directly to their rarity, so you don’t want to invest too much into low-rarity gear early on. Common (white) weapons cap at level 10, Uncommon (green) at 20, Rare (blue) at 30, Epic (purple) at 40, and Legendary (orange) at 50. If you’re still in the first 5 hours of the story, it’s fine to put a few levels into a Rare weapon to get through early missions, but stop at level 20. You’ll get far better weapons as you progress, and you don’t want to waste materials you’ll need for higher rarity gear later.
The third core rule is that you don’t have to get kills with a weapon to earn XP for it. Any weapon you have equipped will get full XP for every enemy you or your team kills, even if you never fire a shot with it. That means you can bring three weapons you want to level on a single run, swap between them every few minutes if you want, and get XP for all of them at the same time. It’s a small detail, but it cuts your weapon farming time by two thirds if you use it right.
Fastest Ways to Farm Weapon XP Without Wasting Time
Now that you know the basic rules, you can start grinding weapon XP efficiently, instead of running random missions that barely give you any progress. The best missions for weapon XP are short, have high enemy density, and give bonus XP rewards for completion. You don’t want to run 30-minute story missions if you can run three 10-minute Void Intercept runs that give you twice as much XP total. If you want to level up weapons in The First Descendant as fast as possible, these missions are your best bet.
Void Intercept missions on medium difficulty are by far the best option for most players, especially if you’re running with a team. They spawn hundreds of enemies over 10 minutes, and the completion bonus gives 2x weapon XP for all equipped weapons. If you’re playing solo, you can use a maxed main weapon to clear enemies fast, and keep the weapons you want to level equipped to leech XP. You don’t even have to swap to them if you don’t want to, as long as they’re in your equipped weapon slots, they’ll get full XP.
These are the three highest-yield missions for weapon XP right now, based on community testing and my own runs:
So if you have a handful of weapons you want to level fast, block off 30 minutes to run these missions, and you’ll see way faster progress than you would grinding story chapters. Just make sure you don’t bring more than three weapons at a time, since you only have three equipped slots, and any weapons in your storage won’t earn XP.
How to Use Weapon XP Modules and Ascension Materials Efficiently
When you’re trying to level up weapons in The First Descendant fast, XP modules are the easiest shortcut, but you need to use them strategically to avoid wasting rare ones. Modules come in four tiers: green (common), blue (uncommon), purple (epic), and gold (legendary). Save gold and purple XP modules for Legendary weapons only – using them on Rare or Epic weapons is a total waste, since you’ll replace those weapons long before you hit their level cap, and you can get more than enough green and blue modules from dismantling low-rarity weapons.
You’ll also need to ascend your weapons every 10 levels to unlock their next level cap. Ascension requires different materials depending on the weapon’s rarity: Rare weapons need common metal scraps, Epic weapons need alloy plates, and Legendary weapons need void cores. Void cores are extremely rare, only dropping from world bosses and high-level Void Intercept runs, so you never want to waste them on a Legendary weapon you don’t plan to use long term.
I learned this the hard way my first month playing. I had three Epic assault rifles that I liked for different builds, so I ascended all of them to level 40, using up almost all my alloy plates. A day later, I pulled a Legendary shotgun that perfectly synergized with my main descendant’s fire damage abilities, and I had no alloy plates left to ascend it past level 20. I ended up having to grind Supply Raids for three straight days just to get enough materials to get it to a usable level. It’s not a mistake I’ll make again, and you shouldn’t make it either. Only ascend a weapon if you’ve used it for at least a few missions and know it fits your playstyle perfectly.
Mistakes to Avoid That Slow Down Your Weapon Progression
If you’re new to learning how to level up weapons in The First Descendant, it’s easy to fall into these traps without even realizing it. The most common mistake new players make is leveling every new weapon they pick up. It’s tempting to dump a few levels into a new Epic assault rifle you just pulled, but if it doesn’t fit your current build, it’s a total waste of materials. Only level weapons that fit your active build, or that you plan to use for a future build once you have extra resources. If you main an ice damage descendant, there’s no point leveling a fire damage sniper rifle just because it’s Epic – you’ll never use it.
Another big mistake is selling weapons instead of dismantling them. Selling gives you a small amount of credits, which are super easy to farm from almost any mission. Dismantling gives you XP modules, ascension materials, and mod components that you can’t get anywhere else as easily. I dismantle every single weapon I don’t plan to use, and I never run out of green and blue XP modules for mid-rarity weapons. It’s a small habit that makes a huge difference long term.
The last mistake I see all the time is ignoring max level proficiency bonuses. When you level a weapon to its max cap, you get a permanent account-wide bonus for all weapons of that type. For example, maxing a Legendary assault rifle gives you a 2% damage boost for all assault rifles on all your descendants. You don’t need to max every single weapon, but it’s worth maxing at least one of each weapon type once you have extra materials, since those bonuses add up to a lot of extra damage in the endgame.
At the end of the day, how to level up weapons in The First Descendant doesn’t have to be a complicated, grind-heavy process. If you follow the core rules, farm the right missions, use your materials strategically, and avoid common mistakes, you can get all your favorite weapons to max level in a fraction of the time it takes most players. Don’t be afraid to hold onto materials until you find a weapon you really love, and remember that small efficiency choices add up to big progress over time. Once you have your core weapons maxed, you’ll be able to clear even the hardest endgame content with ease, and you’ll have way more time to test out new builds and playstyles.