The First Descendant: Which starter class should you pick?

Shortly after you start The First Descendant, the opening cinematic immediately puts you in action with a short tutorial where you have to pick your starter class. You can pick only one Descendant out of Viessa, Lepic, and Ajax, and you'll be stuck with this choice for a while as you learn the other game mechanics.

You can eventually get all of them later down the line, but your starter class pick will nevertheless dictate the pace at the start of the game. It may seem a tricky choice to weigh all their skills, so we have jotted down the defining traits for each of these Descendants to help you decide.

All starter characters in The First Descendant: Abilities and playstyle

The three starter Descendants fill different niche roles (Image via Nexon)

It is common in games like The First Descendant and Warframe to have starter class choices that adhere to popular archetypes. With The First Descendant, the choice is between a crowd-controller (Viessa), a tank (Ajax), and a jack-of-all-trades soldier type (Lepic).

Viessa

Pros: The best crowd-control option you can get this early on, and ramps up in power greatly if you get lucky with an early skill module drop. Scales well in the later stages of progression.
Cons: Viessa has a slow start, and she feels weaker than other starter classes in The First Descendant up till the mid-game.

Viessa is primarily meant for crowd control, but her middling defense costs her greatly. She is a comparatively nuanced take on the ice-centric characters, a staple in hero shooters like The First Descendant.

Her ice shackles freeze enemies gradually in four stages; the first stage slows down the moving speed and fire rate, and the fourth is a hard crowd controller that freezes enemies solid.

Lepic

Pros: Solid nuke damage and good viability all the way to the late-game.
Cons: No cons that we can think of for a beginner class.

Lepic can handle almost any content the game throws at you. In a nutshell, with Lepic, you get a somewhat useful group-up tool, alongside a nuke, a skill damage buff, and an arm cannon for sustained DPS in a small area.

Like Silo from Wayfinder, his first two abilities stack up to create one of the best burst damage options in The First Descendant. Additionally, he gets a free revive when things get dicey.

Ajax

Pros: Ajax has the easiest time with the early-game, and he is the best starter class to pick in The First Descendant if you like farming defense-centric missions.
Cons: Compared to the other two starter classes, Ajax does not offer enough reliable damage output by his skillset alone. Ajax's real potential shines through in group content, not solo.

Ajax is the perfect fit for the tank archetype, sharing a good deal in common with Rhino from Warframe. He brings a series of defensive utilities: a frontal shield that blocks and reflects damage, a barrier that improves attack speed, and a leaping slam that enhances shields.

All his abilities also contribute to his passive Void Energy pool, which both decreases ability cooldown and makes them stronger.

Also read: All classes in The First Descendant on release

What's the best starter class in The First Descendant?

Lepic checks a lot of lists at once, but he is not the best in any department (Image via Nexon)

Ultimately, personal playstyle and preference should dictate what's the best starter class in The First Descendant for you. All of them bring something unique to the table, and any one can outperform the other two in specific types of content. That said, here's our two cents for what should be the best starter class in The First Descendant:

If you prefer to play solo, the best starter class is Lepic by a mile. Not only does his automatic revive give him a free health refill and immunity from crowd control, but his first two abilities also eliminate all damage issues till the late game.
If you have a co-op squad that will take care of damage concerns, Ajax is the right starter class to go with. He makes up for his lack of versatility with a skillset you can fall back on to progress through difficulty ramps - literally and figuratively.

Viessa gets the short end of the stick among starters. In a squad environment, her crowd control can really shine when a critical choke point needs to be locked down.

On her own, however, she suffers from synergy issues. Her passive Ice Sphere, as well as her second ability, Frost Roads, encourages jumping into the fray, where she can easily be outgunned. If you need an agile Descendant with crowd-clear capabilities, Bunny is much better in that regard.

About The Game

The First Descendant is the latest looter-shooter MMO-lite from Nexon, the developers behind MapleStory. This live service offering from the popular Korean studio combines elements from two of the biggest looter-shooters: the open maps from Destiny and the hero-character ideas from Warframe. The Descendants are all individual characters with four unique active abilities and a passive mechanic.

Check out other guides on The First Descendant:

Edited by Ritoban "Veloxi" Paul