How to Unlock Characters in The First Descendant: Every Method
The First Descendant offers several character-unlock routes: progression rewards, research at Anais and available store offers. After the Research overhaul, the old idea of finding four rare blueprints for every character no longer describes the whole roster. First identify how your particular Descendant is acquired.
Your main tools are the Library, Acquisition Info and Anais's Research menu in Albion. They connect a required item to its current source. An old guide's map can lead to a mission whose rewards have changed, so check every component rather than the character name alone.
The sections below explain all the main unlock methods and confirmed Research groups. This is a working process guide, not a promise of identical costs or every individual recipe for every added character. New Descendants and Ultimate versions follow the same inspection process with their own content and access requirements.
Check free progression unlocks first
The updated opening provides Normal Lepic, Viessa and Ajax after the prologue. The old instruction to choose one and necessarily craft the other two is no longer a universal route for a new account. Check characters already granted and your current Main Quests first.
Bunny is part of early story progression. Later, the progression reward for The Ones to Come allows a choice between an Ultimate Bunny purchase ticket and alternative resources. If Ultimate Bunny is the goal, read that reward selection carefully: resources taken instead are not an unlocked character.
Temporary events may grant tickets or materials, but they should not replace a permanent guide. Check their dates and requirements in game. Do not base an essential step on an event that has already ended.
How Research at Anais works
Find your target in the Library or Research.
Check the exact name: Normal and Ultimate are separate goals.
Expand requirements for Enhanced Cells, Stabilizer, Spiral Catalyst and Code where the recipe lists them.
Open Acquisition Info for each missing item and enable tracking.
Collect raw materials, currency or blueprints and complete intermediate research.
Check the final recipe, start the character Research and claim the completed result.
Do not confuse a finished component with its blueprint. A Blueprint can be only one requirement of an intermediate research project. The full cost becomes clear after expanding nested recipes, not by inspecting the final Code icon alone.
Research completion and claiming the result are also different steps. Once a timer ends, return to the relevant menu and collect the item. Another material run will not fix an unclaimed reward.
Albion is the hub for account development and operation preparation.
Archive Shards versus Amorphous Materials
Route | Confirmed examples | Action |
|---|---|---|
Archive Shards | Luna, Yujin, Hailey, Valby, Lepic, Viessa, Ajax, Esiemo, Jayber, Kyle, Nell, Keelan | Check Research and Anais's exchange; gather shards and the remaining recipe materials |
Archive Shards for Ultimate | Ultimate Bunny, Ultimate Freyna, Ultimate Viessa, Ultimate Lepic | Do not assume old numbered Amorphous patterns are the compulsory route |
Amorphous blueprints | Ines, Serena, Dia, Harris | Acquire the named Amorphous Material and perform Shaping |
Amorphous blueprints for Ultimate | Ultimate Gley, Ajax, Sharen, Valby, Luna, Blair, Yujin, Esiemo | Check the specific pattern's content source and Shaping reward list |
Direct components | Gley, Enzo | Follow current mission and HQ Orders Acquisition Info, distinguishing components from blueprints |
Ajax, Sharen and the other names in the Ultimate row refer to their Ultimate versions. The table shows confirmed groups after the Research change rather than replacing the live catalog of newer additions. For an absent character, start at their own page instead of borrowing another character's recipe.
A practical Archive Shard route
First establish how many shards and additional materials the selected research requires. Then choose accessible content that also advances another goal: modules, weapons or basic resources. That is more useful than repeating one mission indefinitely without understanding the remaining costs.
Archive Shards serve several goals, so separate your character budget from planned weapon research. Spending everything on a parallel project means a completed Code cannot finish a character whose other components remain missing.
Anais's interface includes an Archive Shard exchange. Inspect the current selection and the exact item immediately before spending. Old numbered patterns should not be treated as the only component source when the recipe has changed.
A practical Amorphous Material route
The overhaul associates patterns with their target items more clearly than old numbered tables did. Find the required Amorphous Material in Acquisition Info, verify access to the operation and obtain the material itself. Next inspect the possible Shaping outcomes.
Amorphous Materials can be opened through the Consumables inventory. Do not assume every material still requires the old Outpost, Void Shard and specific Fusion Reactor sequence. Use the action offered by the current interface.
Force Shape accumulates progress separately for each material type. At a full counter, the next Forced Shaping allows the desired outcome to be chosen. Check the state of your particular pattern: progress earned for another item does not guarantee a Blueprint here.
Do not promise yourself a finished character after a fixed number of runs. Even if one stage becomes more controllable, other components, resources, content access and research time remain. Track those requirements separately.
New characters and specialized operations
Raven arrived in Season 4, with a route involving the corresponding Amorphous Materials and Legion Laboratory and Sigma Sector content. Ultimate Hailey arrived later with Cradle of Evolution. Neither should automatically receive Normal Hailey's recipe or a starting character's route.
Check an operation's access conditions before committing to a long farm. If the necessary area remains locked, continue Main Quests first instead of collecting only the final accessible component and then hitting an account-progression wall.
Buying a character through an available offer bypasses that particular Research chain, but it does not produce a finished combat build. Leveling, modules, a reactor and skill familiarity still matter. Compare an offer with materials already owned and free progression rewards.
Cradle of Evolution is dedicated content connected with Season 4 progression.
Which characters should you unlock first?
One developed farmer is useful first, followed by a specialist for the task actually delaying progression. Add support, utility and elemental options afterward. Unlocking several similar characters without enough module resources often contributes less than completing one setup.
Before the next research project, confirm four things: each component source, content access, the complete budget and the character's intended role. Keep the target tracked so a break does not lead to farming the wrong component variant.
Frequently asked questions
Can characters be unlocked without paying?
Yes. The main roster has gameplay acquisition routes through progression and Research. Check each character's requirements in Acquisition Info.
Do I always need four rare blueprints?
No. Progression grants, Archive Shards and direct components also exist. Follow the current recipe for your target.
Does Normal automatically become Ultimate?
No. Ultimate is a separate acquisition goal. Progression and any permitted improvement transfer should be checked separately from unlocking it.
Why does an old route no longer work?
Rewards and Research were overhauled. Find the item itself in the Library and reopen its Acquisition Info.