Key Takeaways
- The First Descendant has various XP farms; switch between them to avoid burnout.
- The Hard Mode Magister Lab is a quick and accessible farm providing a high amount of XP.
- Block Kuiper Mining in Sterile Land is an active farm offering good rewards for XP and Gold.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it; The First Descendant is a grindy game that rewards repetition. That said, some activities shower you with XP if you know where to look.
Your gaming time is precious, so let me show off the best XP Farms to rank up Descendants and weapons Bunny fast!
I’ve loosely ordered these XP farms from worst to best, but I urge you to add a few to your rotation. You will quickly burn out if you just run the same one on repeat, and that kind of monotony may kill the game for you.
10 Hard Mode Moonlight Lake Void Fragment
Old, But Still Useful
Mission Type | Void Fragment |
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Location | Vespers: Moonlight Lake |
Clear Time | 10 Seconds |
I used to run this activity a lot, although there are better options now. It’s still a decent Descendant XP Farm, hence its inclusion.
This farm is a little cheesy, so I recommend running it in Private mode so you don’t ruin anyone else’s experience. Start the Void Fragment with any Non-Attribute Descendant, like Gley, and wait for the first wave of enemies to spawn.
A Huge mob will appear near the Fragment. Defeat them, then abort the mission and restart. You can do this very quickly with a bit of practice and quickly amass a ton of XP with minimal effort.
9 Kingston Special Operation: Defend Albion Resource
Perfect For New Players
Mission Type | Special Operation |
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Location | Kingston |
Clear Time | 20 Minutes |
Kingston is a decent XP Farm that you can easily complete at a low level. Enemy spawns are predictable, and the fastest way to complete the mission is to kill enemies the moment they arrive.
The only real downside to Kingston is how long it takes. You can’t speed the farm up, as enemy spawns are fixed. Beyond that, the gameplay loop is incredibly dull and monotonous.
Ultimately, it’s a worthy XP Farm, but I’d spend my time in other locations on this list. If you don’t have Hard Mode unlocked, this is arguably your best option for XP.
8 Hard Mode Echo Swamp Environment Contamination Zone
Quick And Easy
Mission Type | Battlefield Mission |
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Location | Echo Swamp: Abandoned Zone |
Clear Time | 40 Seconds |
Environment Contamination Zone is a Battlefield Mission, and I often see other players doing it when I’m on Echo Swamp.
The quest is in the Abandoned Zone to the East and is a straightforward elimination mission. There’s no load time in between attempts, and you can finish everything in under 40 seconds.
You get a small amount of Gold and Kuiper along with your XP, but that’s not the point. The Environment Contamination Zone is perfect for when you need a small dose of XP quickly, and the mission path is like a small loop that takes you straight back to the entry beacon.
Invasions are also decent for XP in general, but the mechanics are unpopular enough that they don’t have a place on the list.
7 Hard Mode Caligo Ossuary
Make Sure You’re Prepared
Mission Type | Infiltration |
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Location | Agna Desert |
Clear Time | 10 Minutes |
The Caligo Ossuary is an Infiltration mission in the Agna Desert that takes roughly 10 minutes to complete.
If we’re looking at raw XP gain, Caligo Ossuary offers some of the highest rates in the game, but your team must be solid to make the Infiltration worth it. The final boss is a pain unless you have decent HP and Defense values, and it’s not unusual to see players go down in the fight.
I like running Caligo Ossuary as a palate cleanser, as better farms exist. That said, the XP is solid, and Amorphous Materials 096 and 097 are up for grabs, provided you can beat Hard Mode Swamp Walker.
6 Hard Mode Sepulcher
A Solid Weapon XP Farm
Mission Type | Infiltration |
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Location | Vespers |
Clear Time | 4 Minutes |
Sepulcher is an Infiltration Operation on Vespers that rewards a decent amount of XP and materials upon completion. You can complete the Operation with a random team in under 4 minutes, and it’s a relentless kill-fest from start to finish.
As mob density is so high, Sepulcher is a great place to earn weapon XP, too.
You can also get Amorphous Material 076 from Sepulcher, which has a 6% chance of dropping the Ultimate Gley Stabilizer Blueprint. She’s arguably the hardest Ultimate Descendant to get, but is also one of the best.
5 Daily Descendant Tasks
Don’t Sleep On These
Mission Type | Daily Tasks |
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Location | N/A |
Clear Time | N/A |
While not strictly for XP, there are Daily Tasks in The First Descendant, which are oddly hidden away in the menus.
Hold Start to bring up the Pause Menu, and you’ll find Descendant’s Daily Tasks under the event tab. You can earn 200,000 Kuiper and 20 Fine Adjustment Control Axis from simple objectives. A 30% Descendant XP booster is up for grabs, which is essential for a hard grinding session.
We’re blurring the lines of “farming” for this one, but the rewards are decent and easily missed.
4 Hard Mode Asylum
One Of The Best XP Farms In Season 1
Mission Type | Infiltration |
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Location | Agna Desert |
Clear Time | 6 Minutes |
The Hard Mode Asylum in Agna Desert takes a little longer to complete than other missions on the list but rewards a ton of Descendant XP. You can finish the mission in roughly 6 minutes if your team is pulling their weight, and the high enemy density makes it serviceable for weapon XP, too.
The Asylum is an easy mission and offers a welcome break from other farming locations if you’re bored of them.
You can also get Amorphous Material 094 AA from here, which has parts for the Afterglow Sword, Luna, and Ultimate Ajax.
If you’re noticing most of these XP farms are Infiltrations, that’s because the developers significantly buffed rewards in these activities for Season One, along with many other changes.
3 Hard Mode Bio Lab
Huge XP Gains
Mission Type | Infiltration |
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Location | White-night Gulch |
Clear Time | 5 Minutes |
Hard Mode Bio Lab in White-night Gulch gives one of the highest Descendant XP yields in the game. You can level up all the way from 1 to 16+ in a single run, and it’s pretty fast in a group.
An average clear takes just over 5 minutes, although it does depend on who else shows up.
I prefer the Magister Lab to Bio Lab as it’s faster, but this farm is great for mixing things up.
You can also target farm Amorphous Material 106 and 107 for a shot at the Ultimate Bunny Code, Ultimate Viessa Stabilizer Blueprint, and Energy Activators.
2 Hard Mode Magister Lab
The Best And Most Accessible XP Farm
Mission Type | Infiltration |
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Location | Kingston |
Clear Time | 3 Minutes |
Magister Lab is the first mission in the game and one of the best XP farms once you unlock Hard Mode.
You can complete Hard Mode Magister Lab in under 3 minutes, even without a Bunny on the team. The mission is quick and easy, and you get a mountain of XP.
It’s important to note that most of the XP is earned from defeating the boss at the end. If you bring a Level 1 Descendant into the quest, you will likely climb 12+ ranks by the end, which is huge.
You can also grind Amorphous Material 057 here for a 6% chance at an Energy Activator from the Hard Mode Executioner fight.
A Bunny always helps with fast clear times, but as long as you’re rocking something powerful, like a Thundercage, you can contribute.
1 Sterile Land Special Operation: Block Kuiper Mining
A Top-Tier Farm For XP And Much More
Mission Type | Special Operation |
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Location | Sterile Land |
Clear Time | 12–15 Minutes |
Block Kuiper Mining is easily my favorite farm in the game. It’s more active than the Kingston farm and gives a ludicrous amount of XP. Most importantly, you also earn a respectable amount of Weapon XP on top of Descendant XP, so you can double-dip.
There are so many enemies that you will often find Marks of Arrest (consumables that give Gold). You will also find a steady supply of Void Shards.
The only downside is some players will join to leech off your kills without contributing. If it happens to you, report them and leave to find a better group. Even with the odd player not pulling their weight, The Sterile Land Special Operation has it all: Heaps of XP for weapons and Descendants, Gold, and it’s pretty quick considering the rewards.
There have been huge positive changes to XP farming and rewards since release. The developers boldly claimed The First Descendant was to be the “next generation of looter shooters.” While the title may not be there yet for most people, they may be heading that way with solid balance patches and content drops.
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