Everything new in The First Descendant Season 1 'Invasion'

The First Descendant's first Season, 'Invasion', went live on August 29. While the Pre-Season defined its progression and general looter-shooter grind, the ongoing Season 1 will has set the tempo for its late-game. There has already been a pre-Season content update with the release of Luna and Ult Valby, but Season 1 has more in store than granular additions like new characters.

In this article, we will explain everything expected to come to the game with The First Descendant's Season 1, 'Invasion'.

The First Descendant Season 1 Release Timeline, explained

The First Descendnant Season 1 is close (Image via Nexon)

The First Season 1 update alongside the Hailey Descendant releases on August 29, but it won't contain all the upcoming content. The Season was originally scheduled for a three-stage update, but after some backlash, it has been readjusted to two phases:

Season 1 Update phases	Release Date	Contents
Season 1 Launch	August 29	Hailey (New Descendant), Hailey Cosmetics, Invasion Dungeons, Inversion Reinforcement (Seasonal Mechanic), Excava (New Ultimate Weapon), Season 1 Battle Pass
Update 2	October 10	Ult Freyna, Freyna Exclusive Story questline, Ult Freyna red mods, Hailey red mods, Highest Difficulty Invasion Operations, Death Stalker (New Intercept Battle), Frost Watcher (New Ultimate Weapon), New Ultimate Skins and Ultimate Descendant Exclusive Spawn Effects

Below is a detailed explanation of what some of this new stuff entails.

Everything coming to The First Descendant with Season 1: Invasion

The First Descendant's Season 1 will bring two new characters (one Ultimate), new story quests, bosses, dungeons, weapons, and more. Here's a breakdown of everything we know.

New Operation type: Invasion Dungeons (Coming August 29)

Invasion Dungeons will be a new end-game mechanic to drop with this new Season. At random, two Infiltration Operations will be chosen daily as an 'Invasion'. Rather than the usual kill-centric scoring system, these dungeons will reward efficiency. The faster you hit the finish line, the more rewards will await.

These puzzles do not bode well (Image via Nexon)

Invasion Dungeons are solo-only, with some unique challenging mechanics to spice things up. Other than new Invasion Dungeon puzzles, the Vulgus legions can inherit three defense mechanisms:

The Quantum Field: Enemies with this buff are impervious to physical attacks. They can only be damaged by Fire, Chill, Toxin, or Electric.
Resonant Shatteres: Enemies with this buff will cause massive explosions around them when they die.
Kuiper Tile Encryption Device: Certain enemies will have a protective shield around them that only dispels when you stand on specific pressure plates in the level.

A player can only clear two Invasion Dungeons within a daily reset cycle, each of them for two successful runs.

Also Read: The First Descendant tier list: Best characters to play

New Seasonal Mechanic: Inversion Reinforcement (Coming August 29)

Diablo 4-like seasonal features incoming (Image via Nexon)

The Pre-Season rewards were completely tied to the Battle Pass payouts and some Supply Coin purchases here and there. With Season 1, players will have a much more tangible sense of 'seasonal growth' in The First Descendant. A new 'Inversion Reinforcement' mechanic will let you get various stat boosts on your characters as you carry out seasonal goals.

Inversion Reinforcement will reset at the end of Season 1, meaning it won't carry over to the next season.

Inversion Reinforcement will have its own dedicated menu (Image via Nexon)

Inversion Reinforcement points can be claimed using Ironheart Particle, a new object obtainable from Invasion Dungeons, and sometimes from Hard Mode field missions. You can unlock all of them as per their progression requirements, but only three can be active at a time.

Furthermore, collecting all points of a type will grant a 'Collection Effect', a season-long passive buff that will persist throughout Season 1. In other words, the maximum amount of Inversion Reinforcement effects you can have is up to three effects selected from the table, and up to five additional Collection Effects.

New Character: Hailey (Coming August 29)

Hailey will be the new Chill-based Descendant making her way to the game with Season 1. Her kit seems to be a hybrid between Sharen and Viessa, with a 'storm snare', and a signature 'ani-material sniper rifle' that doubles as a laser cannon.

Here's everything we know about Hailey in more detail.

The new character has both ice and spice (Image via Nexon)

New story quest and Ultimate: Freyna (Coming October 10)

A new Ultimate Descendant seems to be the tradition with these seasonal updates. For this one, it's Freyna's turn to get this upgrade. On top of this, Season 1 will also introduce her own story quest that all players can experience.

Freyna gets her own quest (Image via Nexon)

In the Pre-Season, only Bunny has an exclusive story quest tied to her. Freyna's cinematic questline will also follow the same path, detailing the 'Room 0 Incident', where Freyna receives her potent Arche at a cost too great.

New Void Intercept Battle: Death Stalker (Coming October 10)

The First Descendant's Season 1 update will add the tenth Hard-Mode Void Intercept boss, Death Stalker. The only speculation we can make is that this new boss might deal Toxin-based attacks that go through your Shields. There will also be expanding chain barriers on the ground, a reused mechanic from the Pyromaniac boss fight. The finer details remain 'shrouded in mystery'.

The latest boss will be called the Death Stalker (Image via Nexon)

New Ultimate Weapons: Excava & Frost Watcher

The Season 1 'Invasion' will add two new Ultimate Weapons to the game:

Excava (Assault Rifle, General Rounds) : An otherwise ordinary assault rifle that can charge an 'energy grenade' with kills. Obtainable through the Battle Pass even without Premium Upgrade. Coming on August 29.
Frost Watcher (Scout Rifle, Impact Rounds) : Shots reduce Chill Resistance and increase Chill skill damage. Coming on October 10.

QoL Improvements on August 29 patch

The update 1.1.0 shipped with Season 1, bringing the following QoL changes:

Special Operations will grant more Void Fragment.
Void Reactors won't initially consume the Void Fragment cost. Instead, it will be a requirement to use the Reconstructed Device afterwards.
Public Matchmaking will be made possible for Hard Infiltration Operations through 'presets'. The presets offer three options: 0%, 125%, and 250%, and Descendants who choose the same preset can play together in Public matchmaking.
Now, once you assign a Socket Type with Crystallization Catalysts, the Socket Type granted to that slot is permanently saved, so you can easily change it to the previously granted Socket Type at any time. For example, if a Descendant changes an Almandine Socket to a Malachite Socket, you can easily choose between Almandine and Malachite in that Socket afterward.
Dismantling items during combat will be allowed after this patch.
First, a feature to designate random options has been added to the External Components Junk Filter and Reactor. This allows you to conveniently designate items that don't have the needed random options as Junk.

Expand Tweet

This list is not exhaustive, but only a highlight of the features we are aware of. There is more to The First Descnedant's Season 1 update, including a 'mysterious trade agent' coming to Albion.

Check out our other guides on The First Descendant:

Edited by Niladri Roy