If you’ve spent any time running endgame missions in The First Descendant, you’ve almost certainly seen Sharen in action. This frost-focused support descendant can freeze entire hordes of invading enemies in place, turn boss fight wipe mechanics into trivial encounters, and make even the hardest open world bounties feel like a breeze. If you’ve been wondering how to unlock Sharen in The First Descendant, you’re in the right place. I’ve tested this process across three separate accounts to cut out all the guesswork and confusing, unwritten requirements that leave many players stuck for hours. Best of all, you don’t have to spend any real money to get her, just a bit of targeted grinding and a few hours of playtime.
Prerequisites You Need to Meet Before You Can Unlock Sharen in The First Descendant
You can’t jump straight into Sharen’s unlock quest as a new player, but the prerequisites are fairly straightforward and you’ll hit most of them naturally as you progress through the main story. You don’t need to have any other specific descendants unlocked to access her quest, which is a common misconception I see floating around community forums. You also don’t need to reach max account level, which is a nice bonus for mid-game players looking to expand their roster.
Make sure you check off all the following requirements before you head to the command center to pick up her quest, or you won’t see the option to start it:
- Player account level 22 or higher
- Completed the main story quest "Operation Frost Veil"
- Unlocked Void Intercept Battle: Frost Wastes difficulty 2
- At least 150,000 credits saved for crafting and quest fees
If you’re still stuck on Operation Frost Veil, focus on upgrading your starting descendant’s primary weapon to level 20 first. The mid-boss in that quest has a lot of health, but it takes extra damage from electric weapons, so swapping to a rare grade assault rifle with electric affinity will cut your fight time in half. You can farm the required upgrade materials from the first open world zone’s daily bounties in less than an hour.
Required Materials to Craft Sharen After Completing Her Unlock Quest
Finishing Sharen’s unlock quest only gives you access to her crafting blueprint. You’ll still need to gather a set of specific materials to actually add her to your roster, and most of these drop exclusively in the Frost Wastes zone. I recommend gathering these as you work through the unlock quest steps to save time, instead of waiting until you have the blueprint to start farming.
Sharen’s Core Fragment is the rarest material on the list, with a 12% drop rate from the final boss of Void Intercept Battle: Frost Wastes difficulty 2. It does not drop from difficulty 1 runs, so don’t waste your time grinding the easier mode for it. I’ve had runs where I got the core on my second attempt, and other runs where it took me 11, so don’t get discouraged if your luck is bad at first.
Next, you’ll need 40 Frost Essence Shards, which drop from every enemy type in the Frost Wastes open world. You’ll almost certainly collect enough of these just from running the required Void Intercept battles, so you won’t need to do extra farming for them unless you skip open world encounters entirely. You’ll also need 25 Advanced Mech Parts, which you can either buy from the in-game credit shop or get from dismantling rare grade or higher weapons you don’t use. The last material is a single Ancient Ice Rune, which you can get guaranteed by completing the short side quest "Lost Research Notes" from the NPC at the Frost Wastes outpost, no random chest farming required.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough to Complete Sharen's Unlock Mission
Once you meet all the prerequisites, head to the main command center in Albion and talk to the NPC Lena, who handles all descendant unlock quests. She’ll give you the "Recover Frost Core" side quest, which is the official Sharen unlock mission. The quest has three core steps, and none of them are particularly hard if you come prepared.
The first step sends you to the Frost Wastes to collect three research samples from abandoned lab sites scattered across the zone. The sites are marked clearly on your map, but each lab site is guarded by an elite frost enemy that is 100% immune to frost damage. I made the mistake of bringing my frost build to these sites on my first run, and it took me 10 minutes to take down a single elite, so save yourself the frustration and swap to a fire or electric weapon before you head out.
Once you bring the three samples back to Lena, she’ll ask you to complete three runs of Void Intercept Battle: Frost Wastes difficulty 2. These runs count even if you don’t get Sharen’s Core Fragment as a drop, so you can knock these out while you farm for the rare core. After you finish the third run, go back to Lena and she’ll give you Sharen’s permanent crafting blueprint. From there, just head to the descendant crafting station, turn in all the required materials, and Sharen will be added to your roster after a 10-second craft time.
Tips to Make Unlocking Sharen Faster and Less Frustrating
There are a few little-known tricks that can cut the time it takes to unlock Sharen almost in half, and most new players don’t find out about these until they’ve already wasted hours grinding. I use these every time I help a friend unlock her, and they make the process way less of a slog.
Run the Void Intercept battles with a full 4-player squad whenever possible. Not only does a full squad make the final boss fight way easier, but the game gives you a 30% higher chance to get rare drops like Sharen’s Core Fragment when you run the mission with other players. You can find full groups in seconds using the in-game matchmaking tool, or join community lobbies if you want to run with more experienced players who know all the boss mechanics.
While you’re in the Frost Wastes collecting research samples or waiting for Void Intercept lobbies, pick up the daily Frost Wastes bounty quests from the outpost NPC. These bounties give you extra credits, and they often reward Advanced Mech Parts as completion bonuses, so you won’t have to spend extra credits buying those from the shop later. If you’re really short on materials, you can also dismantle any duplicate weapon mods you have sitting in your inventory for extra mech parts too.
If you’re struggling to beat the Void Intercept D2 boss, focus all your fire on the glowing weak point on its chest. It takes 2x damage there, and if you stun it right before it fires its full-map frost beam, you get an extra 10 seconds of guaranteed critical hits on that weak point. Most players waste time shooting the boss’s limbs, so targeting the chest will cut your run time by a third at least.
Now you know exactly how to unlock Sharen in The First Descendant, with no hidden steps or unwritten requirements to trip you up. Once you get her, spend a bit of time testing her abilities in low-level open world content first to get a feel for her playstyle. Her frost field ability can freeze entire waves of enemies in place for 8 seconds, making her one of the most valuable supports for endgame raid content, and her ultimate ability can wipe out entire groups of elite enemies in one go. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the core fragment on your first few runs, the drop rate is consistent and you’ll get it eventually. If you have any extra tips for other players grinding for Sharen, feel free to share them in the comments below.