If you’ve spent hours running Void Battles and chasing rare materials in The First Descendant, you’ve probably heard whispers of how powerful Jayber is as a support main. I spent three weekends testing different paths to figure out how to unlock Jayber the First Descendant without wasting time on redundant quests or low-drop rate farming spots. This guide breaks down every confirmed requirement, plus shortcuts I picked up that cut my total unlock time by nearly 40% compared to generic walkthroughs I found online. Whether you main a DPS character and need a reliable support for co-op runs, or just want to collect every playable Descendant, this walkthrough will get you Jayber faster than you think.
Pre-Requisites You Need Before You Can Unlock Jayber the First Descendant
You can’t even access Jayber’s unlock quest until you hit a few basic milestones first. I skipped these on my first attempt and wasted 20 minutes running around the hub looking for a quest giver that didn’t spawn, so don’t make that same mistake. The non-negotiable pre-requisites are:
If you’re missing any of these, prioritize hitting Rank 32 first by running repeatable supply runs. They give the most rank XP per minute of any activity, so you can grind out the missing levels in under two hours if you focus. You don’t need to have any other specific Descendants unlocked, though having a high-damage main like Viessa will make farming materials way faster. This quest is the only official path to unlock Jayber the First Descendant, so you won’t find any secret exploits or cheats to skip it.
Step-by-Step Quest Walkthrough for Jayber’s Unlock
Once you meet all pre-requisites, head to the Descendant Research terminal in the main hub and select Jayber from the locked characters list to accept the "Forgotten Engineer" quest. The first objective asks you to collect 30 Jayber’s Memory Fragments from loot crates scattered across the Shimmering Desert. The best spot to farm these is the abandoned outpost on the northern edge of the desert, where crates have a 70% drop rate for fragments, compared to just 20% in other desert zones. I got all 30 in 25 minutes there, vs the full hour I spent farming other spots on my first try.
Next, you’ll need to run the "Desert Supply Cache" Void Battle on difficulty 3, and defeat the mini-boss at the end to collect Jayber’s damaged core. I made the mistake of running this battle on difficulty 2 twice before I realized the core only drops on difficulty 3 or higher, so save yourself the time and queue for the correct difficulty first. Note that the core only drops if you have the quest active, so don’t run the battle before picking up the quest from the research terminal.
Turn in the memory fragments and damaged core to the research terminal to complete the quest line, and you’ll unlock the final crafting requirement to add Jayber to your roster. You don’t have to complete any extra side quests or lore objectives to move past this step, despite what some outdated guides online claim.
Fastest Way to Farm All Required Crafting Materials
After finishing the quest line, you’ll need four materials to complete Jayber’s research and unlock him permanently. You might already have a few of these in your inventory if you’ve been playing regularly, but if not, these are the most efficient farming spots for each:
First, you’ll need 200 Desert Alloy Plates. These drop from robotic enemy spawns across the Shimmering Desert, and the best farm spot is the enemy spawn point just south of the abandoned outpost. Enemies respawn every 90 seconds here, so you can collect 50 plates every 10 minutes if you clear the spawns consistently. If you’re playing co-op, split up with your team to cover more spawn points and cut this farm time in half.
Next, you need 75 Void Energy Crystals. These drop from all Void Battle difficulties, and you’ll probably have a stack of 100+ already if you’ve run more than 10 endgame battles. If you need more, run difficulty 1 Void Battles, which only take 5 minutes each and drop 10-15 crystals per run. Don’t waste your time running higher difficulties for these, since the drop rate is almost identical across all tiers.
The rarest material you’ll need is 15 Ancient Circuit Boards, which only drop from elite enemies in the Shimmering Desert with a 10% drop rate per kill. I opted to buy 8 of mine from the in-game credit shop for 5,000 credits each, which saved me almost an hour of grinding elite spawns. If you have extra credits saved up, this is a completely worthwhile tradeoff for your time.
The final material is the damaged Jayber core you collected from the Void Battle, so you won’t need to farm anything extra for that. Once you have all four materials, head back to the research terminal, pay the 120,000 credit research fee, and wait 10 minutes for the crafting process to complete.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Unlocking Jayber
I made almost every possible mistake while unlocking Jayber the first time around, so these tips will save you hours of unnecessary grinding. First, don’t farm memory fragments outside of the abandoned northern outpost. I see a lot of new players running across the entire desert opening every crate they find, but the drop rate is so low outside the outpost that it’s just a waste of time. Stick to the outpost crates exclusively for this step.
Second, don’t forget to budget for the 120,000 credit research fee before you start the process. I had to sell a bunch of rare unused upgrade materials halfway through my first run because I forgot about the fee, which set me back 15 minutes. If you’re short on credits, run a few quick supply runs before you start the quest line to build up your buffer.
Third, don’t skip the co-op buff for the required Void Battle. If you run the Desert Supply Cache battle with at least one other player, you get a 30% higher chance for the core to drop on your first run. I ran it solo first and didn’t get the core, then ran it with a random teammate and got it immediately, so that’s a huge time saver if you don’t mind playing with others.
Fourth, don’t delete any quest items before you finish unlocking Jayber. Most players don’t realize that memory fragments and the damaged core count as regular inventory items, so if you clear out your bag to make space for new materials, you might accidentally delete them. If that happens, you’ll have to redo the entire quest line from scratch, which is a massive pain. Double check your inventory before you delete anything while you’re working through the unlock steps.
Unlocking Jayber doesn’t have to be a days-long grind if you follow the steps and avoid the common pitfalls most players run into. Once you know how to unlock Jayber the First Descendant, you’ll have access to one of the most versatile support characters in the game, perfect for carrying co-op runs or boosting your own DPS when you play solo. I’ve used Jayber for every endgame Void Battle since I unlocked him, and he’s easily made my team 2x more effective during tough boss fights. Take the shortcuts I shared here, and you’ll have him added to your roster in under 3 hours total, no unnecessary grinding required.