If you’ve spent even a few hours running Void Intercept Battles or grinding open-world missions in The First Descendant, you’ve almost certainly ended up with a stash of duplicate, low-tier, or outleveled guns cluttering your inventory. Figuring out what to do with extra weapons in The First Descendant isn’t just a quality of life fix—it can also give you a huge edge in upgrading your main builds and earning rare materials you’d otherwise spend hours farming. I’ve spent months testing every possible use for extra weapons across both solo and co-op runs, so I’ve broken down the most effective options that don’t involve just letting them rot in your storage.
What to Do With Extra Weapons: Dismantle for Core Upgrade Materials
First, the most common and often most useful option is to dismantle extra weapons, but you don’t want to dismantle every single spare gun you get. Different weapon rarities and tiers give different materials when broken down, so it’s worth sorting your stash first before hitting that dismantle all button. Common and uncommon weapons are almost always worth dismantling immediately if you don’t have a low-level alt build that can use them. They give large quantities of basic enhancement ores, weapon cores, and credits that you’ll burn through fast when upgrading your primary legendary or unique weapons.
Never dismantle unique or legendary extra weapons without checking their stats first, even if they’re duplicates. Some rolls have hidden perks that work perfectly for off-meta builds or secondary loadouts for co-op missions. If you do decide to dismantle a legendary weapon, you’ll get rare materials like premium enhancement cores and mod extractors that you can only get from high-level boss drops otherwise. You can also set up auto-dismantle filters in your inventory settings to automatically break down low-tier weapons as you pick them up, which saves you a ton of time after long grinding sessions.
Use Extra Weapons as Fodder for Weapon Leveling
Most new players don’t realize you can use extra weapons as leveling fodder instead of spending enhancement ores to level up your main guns. This is especially useful if you have a stack of rare tier weapons that you don’t want to dismantle, but also don’t plan to use yourself. Using same-type weapons as fodder gives you a 20% bonus experience, so if you’re leveling up a legendary sniper, feed it all your extra rare and epic snipers first before using ores. That cuts down the total number of materials you need to max out a weapon by almost a third, which adds up over time if you swap builds often.
But there is a catch here. If the extra weapon has a high-tier mod attached, you’re better off extracting the mod first before using the weapon as fodder, because the mod won’t carry over when you use it for leveling. I made that mistake once early on, and lost a 3-star critical damage mod that I’d been grinding for weeks, so don’t repeat that error. Even if the mod is one you don’t use right now, you can store it for future builds or sell it for a decent amount of credits to other players.
Trade or Share Extra Weapons With Co-Op Team Members
If you mostly play The First Descendant with a regular group of friends, extra weapons are one of the best ways to support your team without spending any real money or premium currency. The game allows you to trade unbound weapons that you haven’t equipped or modified with other players in your squad, as long as you’ve been in a party with them for at least 10 minutes. I’ve swapped so many extra legendary weapons with my squad that we’ve all been able to complete our main builds months faster than we would have grinding alone. Only trade weapons with players you trust, though, because the game doesn’t have a scam protection system for player trades right now.
If you’re playing with randoms, you can also drop extra weapons for teammates who need them during missions, which is a great way to get help with tough boss fights if you’re running a public squad. Some weapons are far more valuable to share than sell or dismantle, so prioritize these when you’re sorting through your stash:
- Unique support weapons with team healing or shield boost perks, since these are rare and useful for every squad composition
- Duplicate legendary weapons of the meta type for the current season, as these can cost hundreds of hours to farm for new players
- High-tier epic weapons with perfect stat rolls for beginner characters like Gley or Ajax, who are popular with new players just starting out
Even if you don’t have a regular squad, dropping a spare high-tier weapon for a random teammate can make their entire day, and it’s way better than dismantling it for a small handful of common materials.
Store Extra Weapons for Off-Meta Builds and Future Content Updates
It’s tempting to clear out your entire inventory of extra weapons every time you log in, but it’s smart to keep a small stash of niche weapons for future use. The First Descendant gets regular balance patches that can turn previously useless weapons into meta picks overnight, so holding onto a few unique or legendary extra weapons that have interesting perk rolls can pay off big later. Keep at least one of each unique weapon type you earn, even if it doesn’t fit your current build. You never know when a new character will drop that synergizes perfectly with a weapon you would have otherwise dismantled.
For example, a patch a few months ago buffed shotgun damage by 40% for close-range builds, and I happened to have a perfect rolled legendary shotgun I’d stored six months prior that immediately became my main weapon. I saved myself weeks of grinding just by not getting rid of it when I first got it. You don’t need to keep every single extra weapon, of course. Reserve 10 to 15 slots in your storage for niche picks, and dismantle or use the rest to avoid running out of space unnecessarily.
At the end of the day, the best choice for what to do with extra weapons in The First Descendant depends on your current gameplay goals, what resources you’re missing, and who you play with regularly. Don’t feel like you have to follow every tip to the letter—if you’d rather keep a cool looking weapon for collection purposes instead of dismantling it, that’s totally fine too. The whole point of the system is to give you flexibility, so experiment with different options to find what works best for your playstyle.