Swords, Dungeons, and Balance Tweaks Arrive in The First Descendant’s Season 3 Patch

Nexon has rolled out a sizeable Season 3 patch for The First Descendant, its free-to-play co-op looter shooter. The headline additions are the game’s first dedicated melee option, a pair of swords, and a new Void Vessel dungeon that taps into those close-quarters mechanics.

Season 3 Update Highlights:

• New weapon class: Swords
  • Two launch blades, Shadow and Deus Ex Manus, each with unique abilities such as Shadow Slash.
  • Dedicated sword modules and External Components aimed at building true melee loadouts.
• Void Vessel Dungeon: Medium-Sized Facility Zone
  • Normal and Hard modes, Hover Bike racing sections, and the sword-wielding Arche Slayer boss.
  • Higher drop rates for the new swords and components on Hard difficulty.
• Void Intercept Battle: Abyss, Lava Citadel
  • Fire-focused boss with mechanics that reward ice damage and precise positioning.
  • Features large flame tornadoes, expanding fire waves, and environmental hazards.
• Three Trigger Modules
  • Supply Fortress: spawns ammo and reflects damage when barriers absorb hits.
  • Wave Eruption: increases movement speed and damage while maintaining release-type skill stacks.
  • Rhythm Step (Luna exclusive): grants stacking movement and shield buffs on rhythm-type skill use.
• Quality-of-life improvements
  • Amorphous Materials openable in Albion without running intercept missions.
  • Reactor optimization conditions removed for easier build tinkering.
  • Laboratory now spawns up to 50 enemies to test wide-area skills.
• Balance adjustments
  • Kyle overhauled with longer dashes, mid-air combos, magnetic barriers, and a stronger ultimate.
  • Ajax gains higher skill power and firearm buffs.
  • Esiemo can cast skills while sprinting and clears mobs faster.
  • Bunny receives elite-monster damage buffs and a fix for slowdown issues.

The First Descendant launched earlier this year and has been slowly trying to cave out space in a crowded genre dominated by titles like Destiny 2 and Warframe. The game has been averaging ~7,100 concurrent players on Steam over the last 30 days.