If you’ve been grinding The First Descendant lately, you’ve probably seen clips of Vespers melting boss health bars and clearing mob waves faster than almost any other mid-tier character. A lot of new players assume she’s a late-game unlock locked behind dozens of hours of endgame content, but that’s not actually true. In this guide, we’ll walk you through exactly how to unlock Vespers the first descendant, no overly complicated endgame grind or premium currency required.
Prerequisites You Need to Complete Before Unlocking Vespers
Before you even start farming materials for Vespers, you need to tick a few basic boxes to unlock her quest line. A lot of players skip checking these first and end up wasting hours grinding materials they can’t use yet, so make sure you confirm each of these before you start. The full list of non-negotiable prerequisites is:
- Player rank 12: You can level up your rank by completing main story missions and daily bounties, it usually takes 8 to 10 hours of casual play to hit this mark.
- Void Intercept: Coastal Ruins story mission: This is the 11th main story quest, and it unlocks the Coastal Ruins free roam area where you’ll farm most of Vespers’ required materials.
- 3 empty character storage slots: You don’t need to leave slots open in your active 3-character party, just in your overall character roster, which you can check in the main hub’s character menu.
- 10,000 in-game credits: You’ll need this to accept the unlock quest, and you can earn credits easily by selling extra gear you pick up during missions.
If you’re missing any of these, prioritize hitting those milestones first before moving on to material farming. You won’t even see the Vespers unlock quest pop up in your terminal until all of these are completed, so there’s no point rushing to farm materials early.
All Required Materials to Farm for Vespers’ Unlock Quest
Once you’ve hit all the prerequisites, you’ll need to collect three specific materials to turn in when you accept her quest. All of these drop exclusively in the Coastal Ruins area, so you can knock out the entire farm in one 2 to 3 hour session if you stick to efficient spawn routes. The materials you need are 35 Void Shards, 20 Coastal Mucus, and 15 Abandoned Tech Parts.
Void Shards drop from completing daily void rift missions in Coastal Ruins, and you’ll get around 5 to 7 per run, so you only need to run 5 or 6 rifts to hit the required amount. Coastal Mucus drops from the large slime mobs that spawn along the southern coast of the free roam area, and they have a 100% drop rate if you kill them, so you can grab all 20 in less than 20 minutes. Abandoned Tech Parts are found in the hidden chests scattered around the abandoned research facilities in the northern part of Coastal Ruins, and each chest gives 2 to 3 parts, so you only need to open 5 to 8 chests total.
Farming the same spawn routes over and over can get tedious pretty fast, so it’s a good idea to take short breaks every 30 minutes to avoid burnout. A lot of players I play with take 5-minute gaps between farm runs to reset their focus, and many of them boot up Spin777 for a quick, low-stakes distraction that doesn’t require them to leave their gaming setup or log out of The First Descendant entirely.
Once you collect all three materials, hold onto them, don’t use any of them for other upgrades or craftable items. You’ll need every single one to turn in for Vespers’ unlock quest item, and replacing lost materials will just add extra time to your grind.
Step-by-Step Guide to Unlock Vespers the First Descendant
With all prerequisites met and materials in your inventory, you’re ready to start the actual unlock quest. The entire process takes less than 20 minutes if you know what you’re doing, and you can do it solo or with a squad, whatever you prefer.
First, head to the character unlock terminal in the northeast corner of the main hub, right next to the weapon crafting station. Interact with it, and you’ll see Vespers’ quest pop up at the top of the available unlock list. Click accept, turn in your materials and 10,000 credits, and you’ll get a quest to head back to Coastal Ruins to defeat the Corrupted Warden mini-boss.
The Corrupted Warden spawns in the center of the abandoned research facility, and it has two phases you need to get through. In the first phase, it will use melee attacks and shoot slow-moving energy projectiles at you, so just keep your distance and shoot its armor until it breaks. Once the armor is gone, the Corrupted Warden’s glowing chest core will be exposed, and that’s the only part of its body that takes damage in the second phase.
Use a fire-type weapon for this fight, it breaks the Warden’s armor 2x faster than other elemental types, and it will cut your fight time in half. If you die during the fight, you can respawn right outside the facility and run back in, no need to restart the entire quest. Once you defeat the Warden, head back to the main hub, turn in the quest, and Vespers will be added to your character roster immediately.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Unlocking Vespers
Even though the unlock process is pretty straightforward, there are a few common mistakes that new players make that add unnecessary time and frustration to the process. We’ve listed the most frequent ones below so you can skip the headaches and unlock Vespers as fast as possible.
The first mistake is not checking your character storage slots before you start farming. If you don’t have 3 empty slots, you won’t be able to accept the quest even if you have all the materials, and you’ll have to either delete an unused character or buy extra slots with premium currency. That’s an easy fix, just check your roster first before you start grinding.
Another mistake is trying to fight the Corrupted Warden solo at rank 12 with basic gear. The Warden has a ton of health, and it can one-shot you if you get hit by its heavy melee attack. Using public squad matchmaking for the fight will make it way easier, and you’ll usually finish the fight in 5 minutes or less with a full squad of players.
The last common mistake is wasting Void Shards on low-tier weapon upgrades before you farm for Vespers. Void Shards are pretty scarce early in the game, and if you use all of them on upgrades you don’t need, you’ll have to grind extra rifts to get enough for her unlock. Save your Void Shards until you unlock Vespers, then you can spend any extra you have on upgrades for her or your main weapon.
Unlocking Vespers doesn’t have to be the confusing, grind-heavy process many new players make it out to be. As long as you hit the rank prerequisites, farm the right materials, and avoid the common missteps we outlined above, you’ll have her added to your roster in no time. Vespers is one of the most versatile characters in the game, with great crowd control and solid boss damage that works for both solo play and squad runs. Now that you know how to unlock Vespers the first descendant, you can start building her around your favorite playstyle to clear even the hardest endgame content with ease.