If you’ve ever jumped into a looter shooter only to realize half the fun is tackling hard missions with people you know, you’re probably already looking for how to play The First Descendant with friends. I spent my first two hours with the game clicking every menu button trying to invite my college roommates to a run, only to realize I’d skipped a critical step that locked all social features. After 20+ hours of co-op runs across all difficulty levels, I’ve put together all the tips, fixes, and strategy you need to get your squad up and running without the same headaches I dealt with.
How to Set Up Your Lobby to Play The First Descendant with Friends
The first thing most new players miss is that you can’t access any social or multiplayer features until you finish the opening prologue. You have to complete the full introductory mission and unlock the Albion hub area before the friends list and invite buttons will show up in your main menu. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen new players post in forums asking where the invite feature is, only to find out they quit the prologue halfway through to play with friends.
Once you unlock the hub, adding friends is straightforward if you know what ID to use. For same-platform players, you can search for their platform-specific username directly, but cross-platform players need to use the full Nexon ID, including the four-digit number after the # symbol. You can find your own Nexon ID in the top right corner of the main menu, so make sure to send that to friends on other platforms instead of your console or Steam username.
When you’re ready to start a run, head to the mission board, select the mission you want to run, and choose the “private lobby” option to keep random players from joining. You can send invites directly from the lobby screen by clicking the empty player slots and selecting friends from your list. Make sure every player in your group has updated to the latest game patch before you start, as version mismatches are the number one cause of failed invite and connection errors.
Best Team Comps for Co-op The First Descendant Runs
Once you’ve figured out the basics of how to play The First Descendant with friends and got your squad in the same lobby, the next step is building a team that can handle whatever mission you throw at it. My group made the mistake of running four damage dealers on our first hard mode Void Intercept run, and we wiped three times in a row before we swapped two players to support and tank roles. A balanced team makes even the hardest missions feel manageable, while an unbalanced one will leave you frustrated even on low-difficulty runs.
You don’t have to stick to a strict meta, but covering these four core roles will make every run go far smoother:
If you only have two or three players in your group, you can combine roles easily. For example, Freyna can act as both a tank and secondary damage dealer, while Gley can pull double duty as a healer and support CC. The only non-negotiable for groups of any size is at least one player with some form of healing or revive buff, as you will get knocked down during boss fights no matter how good you are.
Common Co-op Issues and How to Fix Them Fast
Even if you have the perfect team comp, you might run into snags when learning how to play The First Descendant with friends, especially if you’re playing across different platforms. Most of these issues have simple fixes, so you don’t have to waste an hour troubleshooting like my group did our first week playing.
If you get a “failed to join lobby” error, the first thing to check is that cross-platform play is enabled for everyone in the group. You can find this setting in the Gameplay tab of the options menu, and it’s turned off by default for some console players. If that’s already on, try having the lobby host close and remake the lobby instead of spamming the join button – 9 times out of 10, that fixes the issue immediately.
If voice chat isn’t working, you don’t have to stick to the game’s built-in voice system, but if you want to use it, make sure you’ve selected the team chat channel instead of the general hub channel. A lot of players miss that the game defaults to hub chat when you first log in, so your friends won’t hear you even if your mic is working perfectly. For cross-platform groups, most players prefer using external voice chat anyway to avoid the game’s occasional voice glitches.
If a player gets disconnected mid-mission, don’t restart the entire run. The game has an auto-rejoin feature that lets disconnected players jump right back into the same mission within two minutes, no lobby restart required. My group used to restart runs every time someone got kicked for a bad internet connection, and we wasted so much time before we realized this feature existed.
Exclusive Co-op Rewards You Can Unlock Playing With Friends
One of the biggest perks of learning how to play The First Descendant with friends is getting access to exclusive rewards you can’t earn playing solo. The game actively rewards group play, so you’ll progress faster and get better loot running with friends than you ever will grinding solo.
First, there’s a built-in group bonus that gives you extra gold, experience, and drop rate for every friend you have in your squad. A full four-person group gets a 30% boost to all rewards, which adds up fast when you’re grinding for rare mods or upgrade materials. Co-op exclusive weekly challenges also give out premium rewards like legendary mod chests and rare character skins that you can’t get from any solo content. My group usually knocks out all our weekly co-op challenges in one two-hour play session every weekend, and we’ve earned dozens of rare items we never would have gotten playing alone.
There are also exclusive co-op achievements that give out unique titles, profile banners, and weapon skins. The “Unstoppable Squad” achievement, which requires you to clear 10 hard mode Void Intercept runs with the same group of friends, gives a legendary weapon skin that’s one of the most sought-after cosmetics in the game. You also build up friendship levels with players you run with regularly, and higher friendship levels give you even bigger reward boosts, up to an extra 5% legendary drop rate at the maximum friendship level.
You can also trade common materials and mods with friends you’ve had added for more than seven days, which is a huge help if you’re missing a specific material to upgrade a weapon or mod. I was stuck grinding for a rare fusion core for three days before my friend, who had three extra sitting in his inventory, traded it to me, saving me hours of boring grind runs.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to play The First Descendant with friends doesn’t have to involve hours of troubleshooting or frustrating failed runs. Once you get your squad set up and sorted through any initial connection kinks, you’ll find the game’s co-op content is some of the most fun looter shooter gameplay available right now. Don’t be afraid to experiment with team comps and playstyles that fit your group’s vibe – after all, the point is to have fun with people you enjoy playing with. If you have a go-to team comp or a fix for a co-op issue I didn’t mention, feel free to drop it in the comments to help other players out.