The First Descendant Best Afterglow Sword build guide

The Afterglow Sword might be the most powerful and popular sniper rifle in The First Descendant. While the name might be misleading, don’t be fooled: It’s an incredible sniper rifle that uses high-powered ammo to obliterate targets. Many players have found ways to one-shot bosses with this gun by targeting weak points. This is thanks to the Nightmare Reaper power, which adds Firearm Critical Hit Rate when hitting an enemy Commander or Colossus.

The Afterglow Sword is arguably one of the best Ultimate weapons in The First Descendant, and in the right hands, is absolutely devastating. It takes some work to unlock it, but it’s more than worth adding to your collection.

How to unlock the Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant

You have a long grind ahead of you to get this sniper rifle (Image via Nexon)

The Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant is one of the more challenging weapons to unlock. It does require you to go into Hard Mode for some of the parts, and unlike the Fallen Hope Ultimate Weapon, you have to farm the various blueprints and parts, instead of getting the parts directly.

You also need to be Mastery Level 15 before you research it, so it’s likely going to take some time. It will be worth it, especially if you’re a fan of powerful sniper rifles. You’ll need the following parts:

Afterglow Sword Polymer Synctium Blueprint

Ceramic Composite x102
Hellion x76
Common Carbon Activator x4
Blueprint, dropped found at one of the following locations:
Grave Walker Intercept Battle (Amorphous Material Pattern 002)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Fortress - Defence Line - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 122)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Sterile Land - Repository - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 062)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (White-night Gulch - Observatory - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 100)
50,000 Gold

Afterglow Sword Synthetic Fiber

Flectorite x73
Carbon Crystal x139
Pure Energy Residue x10
Blueprint, found at one of the following locations:
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Agna Desert - Vermillion Waste - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 089)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Agna Desert - Vermillion Waste - Normal) (Amorphous Pattern 026)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Kingston - Grand Square - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 055)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Vespers - Vespers Ruins - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 071
50,000 gold

Afterglow Sword Nano Tube

Shape Memory Alloy x115
Reverse Charging Coil x114
Cooling Metallic Foil x9
Blueprint, found at one of the following locations:
Intercept Battle - Executioner (Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 056)
Intercept Battle: Molten Fortress (Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 127)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Hagios - Hagios Corrupted Zone - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 111)
Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor (Echo Swamp - Musket Swamp - Hard) (Amorphous Pattern (Amorphous Pattern 081)
50,000 Gold

Afterglow Sword Blueprint

Found in one of the following locations:
Intercept Battle: Dead Bride (Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 066)
Intercept Battle: Devourer (Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 079)
Intercept Battle: Swamp Walker (Hard) (Amorphous Pattern 094)
Intercept Battle: Obstructer (Hard): Amorphous Pattern 107)

It will take two hours of research per part, and the 50,000 gold cost as well. The Afterglow Sword itself will take 4 hours and 100,000 gold to craft in The First Descendant. Now that you have it, here’s what you can do with it.

The best Afterglow Sword loadout in The First Descendant

Here is the baseline, must-have Weapon Modules (Image via Nexon)

Also read: Everything we know about Luna in The FIrst Descendant

While there are plenty of ways you can build Afterglow Sword in The First Descendant, this loadout is designed to obliterate enemies in one shot. If you can land a blow on a weak point easily, you can use these Weapon Modules to completely delete a target. The below build is the baseline mods that you absolutely want:

Action and Reaction
Weak Point Expansion (or Strengthen First Shot)
Weak Point Sight
Concentration Priority
RIfling Reinforcement
Focus Fire
Better Concentration
Better Insight

You also want to include an Elemental Weapon Module - a slot has been left open to make sure you cover the weakness of the boss you're trying to kill. You should also consider an elemental Gunbarrel mod (EG: Electric Gunbarrel and Electric Enhancement), to make your single-target numbers really shine.

These Weapon Modules help enhance the Afterglow Sword’s Weapon Perk Ability, Nightmare Reaper. It does the following:

“On hitting a Weak Point, inflicts the unique effect Death Propagation. On hitting the enemy Commander or Colossus, increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate and applies the effect to the attack.”

With these modules, it won't take much to start melting targets with one of the best sniper rifles in the entire game: The Afterglow Sword.

Check out our other The First Descendant pieces

Edited by Ritoban "Veloxi" Paul