The First Descendant best starter class explained

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.

Shortly after you start the game, the opening cinematic immediately puts you in action with a short tutorial where you have to pick your starter. You can pick one Descendant out of these three: Viessa, Lepic, and Ajax.

With the open crossplay beta build of The First Descendant, the game immediately hard-locks you into this starter Descendant after you make the choice.

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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 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 can handle almost any content the game throws at you. In a nutshell, with Lepic, you get a somewhat useful area-of-effect for slow, 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 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.

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The First Descendant best starter character: Which Descendant should you pick?

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

In the First Descendant open beta, you might have to do a good deal of content solo. Games sessions may automatically populate a squad with random allied players, but the map is so open and wide that you will seldom run into aid from your squadmates.

From this standpoint, the best starter class is Lepic. 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.

Ajax is an equally good pick, as he makes up for his lack of versatility with a solid Descendant you can fall back on to progress through difficulty ramps.

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 clear capabilities, Bunny is much better in that regard.

Note, however, that this game is still technically under development. The full release might be subject to balance revision, and ability revamps. This preference in starters only reflects the state of the game during the open crossplay beta and may change later.