What you need to know
- The First Descendant continues to aggressively push out weekly updates, and the first including major content additions is coming even earlier than planned.
- Nexon has announced that Update 5 is now arriving a day earlier on July 31, 2024, letting players access the new features sooner.
- That includes two new Descendants, new Ultimate-class gear, Descendant and gear buffs, and even a new Intercept Battle against the Colossi boss Gluttony.
- Nexon has also teased players with the first look at the new Descendants, Ultimate Valby and Luna (in an optional premium outfit).
Nexon isn't even attempting to combat "The Thirst Descendant" from becoming the new, official title of The First Descendant now that we've gotten our first look at Ultimate Valby and one of Luna's premium outfits, but I'm jumping the gun here. Players of this hit free-to-play MMORPG looter shooter have been waiting eagerly for the first major content update following weeks of rapid-fire patches, and now the wait is even shorter.
- Recommended read: Let's ignore The First Descendant review discourse and discuss how Nexon can make this game truly amazing
The First Descendant team at Nexon has announced that Update 5, which includes a ton of new features and improvements, is now arriving across Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation a day earlier. Instead of Aug. 1, players will be able to access the new content on July 31, 2024. It's not often we see developers push out games or updates early, so this was a nice surprise. Oh, and Nexon gave us our first look at some of the new content. Let's dive in.
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📢Big News: The Week 5 Update is coming to Albion a day earlierBe ready to dive into the crystal-clear waves with Ult Valby on 7/31! 🌊✨ pic.twitter.com/chXjRybAsuJuly 26, 2024
To begin, Nexon gave us our very first look at Ultimate Valby, one of two new Descendants coming in Update 5. Valby has quickly become one of the more popular Descendants thanks to her versatile area-of-effect abilities and usefulness for farming, and her Ultimate variant will have improved defensive stats and some exclusive Transcendent Modules for players to discover. She also boasts a new look, which is... A little more revealing than Valby's normal (already skin-tight) suit.
Players will likely be able to purchase Ultimate Valby with real-world money, but should also be able to earn her entirely in-game (albeit with a lot of grinding and patience). We don't know just how much stronger Ultimate Valby will be versus her standard variant, but we do know that Valby is one of three Descendants getting a buff with Update 5. AoE specialists Freyna, Blair, and Valby are all becoming more powerful and effective at taking on groups of Vulgus in the next release.
While we're talking about buffs, Nexon is also improving the potency of several Ultimate Weapons with enhanced critical rate and damage or Unique Abilities. Hopefully, these buffs won't come with all the controversial miscommunication of previous updates.
Check out Luna in her stunning new swimsuit cosmetic 🎶 Stay tuned for the next update! pic.twitter.com/PwDIHb7Vf2July 26, 2024
Next, we have Luna. Poor translation aside, this gives us a little more info on Luna as a Descendant and reveals one of her premium cosmetic outfits. Yes, it's a bikini. Yes, The Thirst Descendant is real. We do already know a little about Luna and how she plays, though. Luna is a support-type Descendant, able to buff allies with musical abilities. She will also have options to become more offensive, too, although we'll have to wait for players to experiment to see what kind of builds we'll be able to run with.
Luna did play a role in the main campaign of The First Descendant, so players weren't too surprised to see her appear as the first new playable Descendant. Sound-based abilities always have the potential to be incredibly fun, though, so I'm definitely interested to see how viable Luna is when she arrives with Update 5.
Beside the two new Descendants and their respective unique Modules, Update 5 is also bringing the Peace Mediator, a new Hand Cannon Unique Weapon, and Arche Concretion, a new Unique Module that's perfect for support-type Descendants that don't mind trading some attack potency for superior defense and support capabilities.
Nexon is adding the first new Colossi to the game, too, with Gluttony. This Intercept Battle will require players to carefully manage this Colossi's endless greed and hunger while also persevering against its brutal cooling systems. Defeating Gluttony will be how players can earn new Ultimate Weapons and components.
The First Descendant's Update 5 will also include unspecified quality-of-life improvements and other changes, so I'm interested to see what that entails. Of course, a bunch of new cosmetics are coming in this update, too, including ones that "players have been waiting for," which may refer to cosmetics that were shown off during The First Descendant beta but are not currently available in the game.
Either way, Update 5 is rolling out to all The First Descendant players on July 31, 2024, across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.
