If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes grinding a Void Intercept boss only to die right before the final phase because your weapon tickles its health bar, you know how critical picking the right firearm is in The First Descendant. Whether you main a high-mobility attacker or a support who hangs back to buff the team, the gun you slot can make or break even the most well-planned run. I’ve sunk over 300 hours into testing every weapon type across every difficulty tier, so I’m breaking down everything you need to know to answer what is the best gun in First Descendant for your specific playstyle. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all list, because a gun that works for a sniper main will be useless for someone who prefers getting up close to clear hordes of mobs.
What is the Best Gun in First Descendant? The Short Answer by Playstyle
First off, there’s no single best gun for every scenario, but there are a handful of weapons that outperform the rest across most content, depending on how you like to play. I’ve tested every weapon at max level with maxed-out perks to narrow down the top options, so you don’t have to waste resources upgrading duds. These small details are what separate a good gun from the answer to what is the best gun in First Descendant for your playstyle. The current top tier weapons fall into four core categories:
- Best all-around gun: Voltaic Brute assault rifle – works for 90% of builds and mission types, no matter your character
- Best boss damage gun: Oblivion sniper rifle – melts single-target health bars even on the highest difficulty tiers
- Best horde clear gun: Acid Spitter shotgun – clears packed rooms of mobs in seconds, perfect for defense missions
- Best support gun: Reconstructor SMG – deals decent damage while applying team buffs and healing over time to nearby allies
You can’t go wrong with any of these picks, but it’s worth digging into why they work so well, and which one fits the content you run most often. For example, if you almost exclusively play co-op Void Chasm runs, the Reconstructor or Oblivion will serve you better than the Acid Spitter, unless you’re the team’s designated mob clearer. If you’re still unsure what is the best gun in First Descendant for your specific setup, you can test each of these options in the practice range before you commit resources to upgrading them. The practice range lets you test damage against all mob and boss types, so you can see firsthand how each gun performs against the content you run most often.
Key Stats to Prioritize When Picking Your Main Gun
A lot of new players make the mistake of only looking at a gun’s raw damage number when deciding what to upgrade, but that’s only one small part of what makes a weapon strong. I’ve seen players skip over an S-tier gun just because its base damage is 10 points lower than a C-tier alternative, and that’s a huge waste of potential. You don’t have to be a min-max expert to pick a great gun, you just have to know which stats actually move the needle for your playstyle.
First, pay attention to elemental alignment more than raw damage. Most endgame bosses and high-tier mobs have specific elemental weaknesses, and matching your gun’s element to that weakness will boost your damage by 150% or more, even if the base damage is lower. For example, a fire-aligned gun with 200 base damage will deal way more damage to a plant-based boss than a physical gun with 300 base damage.
Next, look for inherent perks that don’t require mod slots to activate. The Voltaic Brute, for example, has a built-in 20% chance to stun enemies on every hit, which gives you breathing room when you’re swarmed, no extra mods needed. These inherent perks are often more valuable than any mod you can slot, because they don’t take up space you can use for other buffs.
Finally, don’t sleep on magazine size and reload speed if you play high-intensity content. A gun that deals 500 damage per shot but only has 2 rounds in the mag and a 3-second reload time will end up dealing less total damage over a fight than a gun that deals 200 damage per shot with a 30-round mag and a 0.5-second reload. You don’t want to be stuck reloading right when a boss is vulnerable to a stagger, after all.
How to Unlock the Top-Tier Guns in The First Descendant
One of the most frustrating parts of The First Descendant is that a lot of the best guns aren’t available from the start, and the game doesn’t always tell you how to get them. I’ve spent weeks grinding the wrong missions trying to unlock certain weapons, so I’m saving you that headache here. All of the top-tier guns are farmable, so you don’t have to spend real money to get access to the best builds.
The Voltaic Brute assault rifle drops from the Void Intercept: Level 40 Frost Wyrm boss fight on normal or higher difficulty. The drop rate is around 12% per run, so you might have to run it a few times, but it’s worth it even if you get a low-roll version, because you can reroll its stats later. I got mine on my 6th run, and it’s been my main gun ever since.
The Oblivion sniper rifle is a reward for completing the "Clear 20 Hard Difficulty Void Chasm Missions" weekly challenge, or it can drop from endgame chests in the Void Rift event. Don’t waste your time running low-difficulty missions for it, because it only drops once you’re playing at level 50 or higher. It’s worth the grind if you prefer long-range play, because it can one-shot most regular mobs even on the hardest difficulty.
The Acid Spitter shotgun drops from world bosses in the Toxic Wasteland region, specifically the giant mutated beetle that spawns every 2 hours. I recommend joining a public co-op group for this fight, because it’s nearly impossible to solo if you don’t have a fully upgraded build already. The drop rate is around 18% per kill, so you’ll probably get it within 3 or 4 spawns.
The Reconstructor SMG is a craftable weapon, but you need to get its blueprint first from the reputation vendor for the Resistance faction. You’ll need to hit level 3 reputation with the Resistance to unlock the blueprint, which takes around 10 hours of doing daily and weekly faction missions. It’s a must-have if you main support characters in co-op runs, as it can cut down team wipe rates by almost 40% in my experience.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Your First Descendant Weapons
Even if you get your hands on one of the S-tier guns we listed earlier, you can still end up with a weak weapon if you make these common mistakes I see new players make all the time. Most of these mistakes come from the game not explaining its upgrade systems clearly, so you’re not stupid if you’ve made one of them before.
First, don’t waste upgrade materials on low-rarity guns before you hit level 50. Any gun you get before level 50 will be obsolete once you hit the endgame, so save your enhancement ores and mod slots for the high-rarity guns you’ll use long-term. I made the mistake of maxing out a rare assault rifle at level 20, and I ended up wasting almost 50,000 credits and hundreds of ores that I could have used on my Voltaic Brute later.
Second, don’t ignore mod synergies between your gun and your character. If you main a character that has a perk that boosts electric damage, slotting mods that add more electric damage to your Voltaic Brute will stack those buffs to deal insane amounts of damage, way more than if you slot generic damage mods. Take 5 minutes to read through your character’s perks before you mod your gun, it makes a huge difference.
Third, don’t be afraid to reroll your gun’s stats if you get a bad roll. A lot of players hold onto a low-roll S-tier gun because they think they can’t get a better one, but rerolling stats is way cheaper than grinding for a new drop, and you can get perfect stats in just a few tries most of the time. Just make sure you only reroll stats on max-level guns, because you can’t transfer rerolled stats to a new version of the same gun.
Finally, don’t force yourself to use a gun just because it’s on a "best of" list. If you hate using sniper rifles, you’re not going to play well with the Oblivion even if it’s the best boss damage gun in the game. You’ll perform way better with a lower-tier gun you’re comfortable with than a top-tier gun you hate using.
At the end of the day, the answer to what is the best gun in First Descendant depends entirely on what content you play, who you play with, and what kind of gameplay you enjoy most. The picks we listed are the strongest across the board, but don’t be afraid to experiment with other weapons if they feel better to you. If you’re just starting out, I recommend going for the Voltaic Brute first, since it works for almost every scenario and will carry you through the entire level-up process and most endgame content. Once you get comfortable with your build, you can branch out and test the other top picks to see what fits your team best. Next time you load into a mission, you won’t have to worry about your weapon letting you down when you need it most.