The First Descendant’s diverse roster of heroes is one of its biggest strengths, with each character bringing unique abilities, playstyles, and team roles that completely change how you approach missions, whether you’re playing solo or running endgame raids with friends. A lot of new players get stuck early on wondering how to unlock characters in The First Descendant, especially the rarer S-tier options that don’t come with the initial starter pack. I’ve put over 80 hours into testing different grind paths, event routes, and material farming tricks, so I’ve broken down all the most efficient ways to get every hero you want without wasting hours on pointless tasks.
Core Methods for How to Unlock Characters in The First Descendant
There are three main paths to unlock every permanent character in the game, and none of them require you to spend real money to get access. You don't have to spend real money to unlock any permanent playable character in the game — premium currency only applies to skins, cosmetics, and quality-of-life items, so you never have to worry about pay-to-win locks for playable content. The three core unlock methods are:
Story unlocks are the easiest to get, with three free characters handed out just for playing through the first five chapters of the main campaign. Story-unlocked characters are just as viable as endgame grindable ones for most early and mid-game content, so you don’t have to rush to unlock rarer heroes before you’re ready. For mid and endgame characters, you’ll use the Operation Desk in the main hub, where each character has a list of required materials you can farm from specific missions, Void Intercept Battles, and world bosses. Event characters are the simplest to unlock if you catch their event window: you just complete daily and weekly event challenges to earn points you can exchange for the character outright, no extra material grinding required.
Efficient Grinding Tips to Cut Down Unlock Time
Most new players waste hours farming the wrong missions or difficulty levels when they’re working through how to unlock characters in The First Descendant, so small adjustments to your farming routine can cut your total grind time in half. First, always check the material drop location before you start farming: hover over the required material in the Operation Desk unlock menu, and it will tell you exactly which mission drops it, and what difficulty gives the highest drop rate. Run missions on Hard difficulty whenever possible for 2x the material drops, even if it takes a few extra minutes per run, the doubled drop rate means you’ll finish far faster than running repeated Normal difficulty runs.
Group up with three other players for co-op missions whenever you can, too. Not only do full squads clear missions 30-40% faster than solo players, but you also get a 15% bonus drop rate for all materials when you run with a full team. I was trying to unlock Bunny a few weeks ago, and I wasted two hours running solo Normal difficulty missions before I switched to Hard mode with a random squad, and I got all the required polymer materials in 45 minutes flat. Don’t forget to claim your daily login rewards either, as they often include rare crafting materials you’d otherwise have to grind for hours to get.
What to Do After Unlocking a New Character
Unlocking a character is only the first step, and there are a few small tasks you should complete right away to get the most out of your new hero. First, every new character comes with a short 5-minute introductory mission that walks you through their core abilities, combos, and team role. Always do this mission first, as it also gives you a free 3-star weapon that is perfectly tuned to their playstyle, so you don’t have to waste time grinding for a new weapon right away.
Take 10 minutes to test the character's abilities in the Training Room before you bring them into high-difficulty missions, so you don’t waste revives or let your team down because you don’t know how their skills work. You don’t have to grind all new gear from scratch either, as most weapons and mods can be transferred between characters. If you unlock a new support character, for example, you can move the health regen and shield boost mods you used on your previous support hero over to them to get them up to endgame ready in minutes. Each character also has their own passive skill tree that unlocks as you level them up, so run a few easy story missions first to get them to level 10 before jumping into difficult Void Battles.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Unlocking Characters
After helping dozens of new players build their rosters, I’ve seen the same small mistakes cost players hours of extra grind over and over again. First, don’t waste your in-game gold on low-tier materials from the in-game shop. Those materials are marked up 3x their actual farming value, and gold is far better saved for upgrading mods and weapons later in the game, when the costs get much higher.
Never skip side missions that give character unlock materials as rewards, these are often faster than grinding repeat missions, and they give extra account XP and gold at the same time. Don’t try to unlock multiple characters at once either, as you’ll spread your material farming too thin and end up with three half-unlocked characters you can’t actually play. Focus on one character at a time, so you can get them unlocked and playable before you start working on the next. I made this mistake early on, when I tried to unlock three different characters at the same time, and I ended up going a full week without any new playable heroes to test. Also, don’t ignore limited-time events: event characters are often some of the strongest in the game, and if you miss the event window, you might have to wait three or more months for them to come back around.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to unlock characters in The First Descendant doesn’t have to be a confusing, grind-heavy process if you follow the right steps. Focus on farming the correct missions on the right difficulty, prioritize one character at a time, and don’t sleep on limited-time events to get the strongest heroes faster. Every character brings a unique playstyle to the table, so don’t be afraid to test out different options to find the one that fits how you like to play, whether you prefer running support for your team or dealing massive damage as a frontline DPS. You’ll have a full roster of powerful characters before you know it.