All Sub Attack modules in The First Descendant, ranked

The First Descendant has five Sub Attack modules that modify your melee function. These deal some damage based on your Reactor's listed Sub Attack damage, and come with some additional properties in a few cases. The melee system is not fleshed out in The First Descendant, so the main value these Sub Attack modules add is increasing your Descendant's total mod capacity when slotted.

In the vast majority of cases, you should just use the grappling hook mods in The First Descendant. These also go in your Sub Attack module slot, and provide much more utility over a clunky Sub Attack.

THat said, what if you wanted to find out what the best proper Sub Attack module in The First Descendant was? We sat down and did the math, and ranked all five Sub Attack modules based on their DPS and what little utility they provide.

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Best Sub Attack modules in The First Descendant, and how to get them

All of the stats tested here are derived from a purple-rarity Reactor. The listed Sub Attack power in this Reactor is 20577. The decoy I used was a lvl 100 Legion of Darkness grunt unit (Vulgus War-Slave). Note that lvl 100 units have high armor, so you can expect to see much better damage numbers on lower-level targets.

5) Tonfa

• Damage: 18k
• Cooldown: 8s
• 2250 DPS (approximate)

This module seems to be missing some mechanics. It deals pitifully low damage for how late into the campaign you get it, resulting in the lowest DPS of all Sub Attack modules in The First Descendant.

You'd expect a longer stun animation on enemies from that blunt-force trauma—but nothing of that sort is there. Perhaps lowering the cooldown to 6 seconds could make it more worthwhile, but as it stands, this doesn't have the numbers on its side.

Tonfa drop locations (Image via Nexon)

The Tonfa module can drop from Command Relay, Frozen Valley (Fortress).

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4) Dual Claws

• Damage: 25k, plus 600 x 10
• Cooldown: 8s
• No knockback or ragdoll, 3875 DPS

I have seen Dual Claws paraded as the default Sub Attack module of choice on a number of build guides, but I find it to be complete bait. The bleed DoT is a cool idea, but the cumulative DPS is beaten by Shock Punch. To make things worse, it has no knockdown as a tradeoff for the bleed. I wouldn't recommend spending your Kuiper Shards on maxing this out, because whatever else you're using is just as good (unless it's Tonfa).

Dual Claw module locations (Image via Nexon)

To get the Dual Claw Sub Attack module in the First Descendant, farm the Borderline of Truth mission in The Mountaintops (White-Night Gulch).

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3) Shortsword

• Damage: 25k
• Cooldown: 7.5s
• No knockback or ragdoll, 3300 DPS (approximate)

Shortsword has the lowest cooldown of all Sub Attack modules in The First Descendant. However, it does not have any built-in knockdown or ragdoll. You can still think of a use case with high-CDR builds where you utilize the grapple-melee combo, but this is an unreasonable setup in practice.

Shortsword module drop locations (Image via Nexon)

To get the Shortsword Module, you can farm the Abandoned Zone composite mission in Echo Swamp.

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2) Kick

• Damage: 31k
• Cooldown: 9s
• 3400 DPS

The Kick is a solid Sub Attack module of choice, but it's beaten by the Shock Punch module in terms of damage. If you're running any CDR mod, Kick may be worth picking up over Shock Punch, but it's a marginal difference in the current game state.

Kick module drop locations (Image via Nexon)

The Kick Sub Attack module in The First Descendant drops from the Abandoned Reconstruction Site in The Remnant (Agna Desert).

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1) Shock Punch

• Damage: 40k
• Cooldown: 10s
• 4000 DPS

We're here at the end of a ranked list, so Shock Punch should be the best Sub Attack module in the game, right? In terms of raw damage output, it is. With Shock Punch, you can expect to one-shot most grunts under lvl 70 or so.

Shock Punch is the highest DPS you can get from Sub Attacks (Image via Nexon)

That said, this only makes for the best Sub Attack module in The First Descendant in a hypothetical case where the melee mechanic is a viable way to deal sustained DPS.

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In my search to rank all the available Sub Attack modules, I came to two revelations. Firstly, the Sub Attack cooldown is affected by all cooldown reduction mods you're using. Secondly, they're not competitive in terms of DPS in the current state they're in. For now, you should stick to whatever Sub Attack module you've maxed, or better yet, get one of the Maneuvering mods.

Check out our other guides on The First Descendant:

• How to defeat the Hanged Man boss in The First Descendant
• The First Descendant Complete Bunny questline: All Record locations
• The First Descendant Thunder Cage build: Best Modules, unique trait, and more
• All Ultimate Descendants and how to get them