If you’ve been grinding to build a top-tier frost Viessa loadout or unlock the fan-favorite Cryo Ripple heavy cannon in The First Descendant, you’ve almost certainly hit a wall looking for one elusive rare material. I spent three hours running random low-level missions and opening every chest I found last week before I figured out where to find cooling metallic foil in The First Descendant, and I’m saving you all the trial and error with this tested breakdown. No more wasted time on runs that give zero drops, no more guessing which missions actually have the material in their loot pool.
Where to Find Cooling Metallic Foil: Core Drop Locations
Cooling metallic foil only drops from frost-themed content that unlocks once you hit player rank 25, so don’t even bother searching for it before you hit that threshold. There are three consistent locations you can farm, each with different drop rates and time commitments to fit whatever playstyle you prefer.
The most accessible spot is the Frostvein Gorge free roam zone. You’ll need to complete the marked Cryo Outpost side objectives scattered across the map, and the special locked chest at the end of each outpost has a 15% chance to drop 1-2 pieces of cooling metallic foil. You can run through 6-8 outposts per 20 minute free roam session, so you can expect 1-3 drops per run if you’re playing solo.
For faster drops, run the Level 30 Void Intercept Frost Wyrm boss fight. S-rank clears for this fight have a 75% chance to drop 2-3 pieces of foil, and the run only takes 7-10 minutes if you’re in a coordinated squad. Never waste your time running low-level story missions for this material, it doesn’t appear in any loot pool for missions below player rank 25, no matter how many chests you open.
The most reliable source is weekly frost resource bounties from the Central Base crafting vendor. Each completed bounty guarantees 2-4 pieces of cooling metallic foil, and there are 3 new frost bounties available every weekly reset. You can knock all three out in 45 minutes if you prioritize them first, making this the best option if you only have a small amount of time to farm each week.
Pro Tips to Speed Up Your Cooling Metallic Foil Farm
Even if you’re running the right missions, small tweaks to your farm setup can cut your total grind time in half. I tested all these tips over the past two weeks, and they helped me go from getting 3 foils per hour to 11 foils per hour consistently.
- Run the Frostvein Gorge free roam in a full 4-player squad to double the number of side objectives that spawn per run, and share all loot drops with your team to cut farm time by 60%. Every outpost chest drop is shared across the whole squad, so you don’t have to fight over loot.
- Prioritize S rank clears for the Void Intercept Frost Wyrm fight: you’ll get 2 extra cooling metallic foil drops if you finish the fight in under 8 minutes with no party wipes. Bring at least one support Descendant to keep the team alive, and focus fire on the boss’s frost core weak point to take it down fast.
- Save your weekly frost bounties for double resource event weekends, when every bounty reward gives twice the usual number of rare crafting materials. I got 18 foils from 3 bounties during the last double resource event, which was enough to craft the full Viessa endgame build in one sitting.
Equip a loot rarity increase mod on your backpack before you start farming, it boosts the chance of rare drops from chests by up to 30%. You can buy these mods from the Central Base vendor for 5,000 credits each, and they’re worth every penny if you farm rare materials regularly.
You can also stack loot boost buffs from the Central Base canteen for an extra 15% drop chance, which only costs 1,000 credits per 30 minute buff. I always buy three of these before I start a long farming session, and they’ve paid off with extra foil drops almost every time.
What You Can Craft With Cooling Metallic Foil
This material is used almost exclusively for high-tier frost builds, so it’s only worth farming if you plan to main a frost-focused Descendant or want one of the meta frost weapons for endgame content. The most popular craftable items require different amounts of foil, so you can plan your farm around exactly what you want to build first.
Viessa’s signature Cryo Weave chest armor requires 8 pieces of cooling metallic foil to craft, and it gives 40% extra frost damage and 25% resistance to ice attacks. This is a core piece for any endgame Viessa build, and it makes her almost unkillable in frost-themed missions. If you plan to main any frost-based Descendant, you’ll need at least 30 cooling metallic foils to fully kit out their best build and mod loadout.
The Cryo Ripple heavy cannon requires 12 pieces of foil to craft, and it’s one of the best AoE weapons for horde clear in Void Rift missions. It shoots ice projectiles that freeze groups of enemies for 3 seconds, and it deals extra damage to frozen targets. I crafted this weapon last week, and it cut my level 35 Void Rift clear time from 15 minutes to 9 minutes flat, so it’s absolutely worth the grind if you run a lot of endgame horde content.
You’ll also need 3 pieces of foil to craft each frost resistance mod, which are required for the upcoming Volcanic Crater endgame zone that has constant fire damage. These mods reduce fire damage taken by 20% each, so you’ll want 3 of them to survive the zone’s constant environmental damage.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming This Material
I made almost every possible mistake when I first started farming this foil, so I’m listing the most common ones here to help you avoid wasting your time. Even small mistakes can add up to hours of lost grind time, so it’s worth keeping these in mind before you start your farm.
The biggest mistake I see new players make is running Frostvein Gorge and opening random chests instead of completing the Cryo Outpost side objectives. Random chests in the free roam zone don’t drop cooling metallic foil at all, no matter how many you open. Only the locked chests at the end of marked Cryo Outpost objectives have the material in their loot pool.
Another common mistake is running the Void Intercept Frost Wyrm fight solo. The drop rate for solo runs is only 35%, compared to 75% for full squad runs, and you have to use the same limited entry ticket no matter how many players are in your squad. Void Intercept entry tickets are limited to 3 per week per player, so don't waste them on solo runs if you're only farming for cooling metallic foil.
Always check the weekly bounty rotation before you start farming, sometimes there are bonus missions that give extra foil rewards for completing 3 Frostvein Gorge runs in one session. I missed out on 6 extra foils last week because I didn’t check the bounty rotation before I started farming, so I didn’t complete the bonus objective requirements.
Don’t forget to turn in your bounties before the weekly reset either. Uncompleted bounties disappear when the reset hits, and you’ll lose out on all the guaranteed foil drops you could have earned. I set a phone reminder every Tuesday to turn in my bounties before the reset, and it’s saved me from losing rewards multiple times.
At the end of the day, figuring out where to find cooling metallic foil in The First Descendant doesn’t have to be a frustrating grind if you stick to the right locations and use the farming tips we covered. Spend most of your time on S rank Void Intercept runs and weekly bounties, and you’ll have enough foil to craft all your desired frost gear in no time. I’ve tested every single method in this guide over the past two weeks, and the full squad free roam + boss run combo gives me 10-12 foils per hour of play, which is way faster than any other method I tried. If you have a favorite farming spot we didn’t mention, feel free to drop it in the comments below to help other players out.