The First Descendant: Ajax Build & Best Loadout

Welcome to The First Descendant Ajax Build Guide.

In this guide, we will explain how to create a powerful build for the Ajax Descendant. We’ll cover how the skills work and which weapons, stats and modules you need to create the most powerful build for Ajax. Visit The First Descendant Builds page for more TFD Character Builds.

Ajax displays excellent leadership, but rarely reveals his true feelings.

Table of Contents:

How to play Ajax
How to unlock Ajax
Skills Explanation

Orbit Barrier
Void Walk
Expulsion
Hyper Cube
Event Horizon (Passive)

Descendant Modules
Best Weapons & Weapon Modules
Reactor
External Components
Ajax’s Story

Here is a quick list of the pros and cons of the Ajax Build for The First Descendant.

How to Play Ajax in the First Descendant

Ajax is a very tanky Descendant who can create barriers that protect allies and deflect damage back at enemies.

The most important thing to learn to get good at playing Ajax is how the Void Energy mechanic works, and how you can harness it.

All of Ajax’s skills have a normal and an enhanced version. Casting skills in their normal version will save up Void Energy. Casting a skill when your Void Energy is full will cause the skill to become enhanced, granting additional effects.

We strongly recommend familiarising yourself with the normal and enhanced versions of Ajax’s skills and trying to form the habit of being tactical about which Enhanced skill to use when your Void Energy is full. This will take a bit of practice to master, because it’s a somewhat different playstyle to the other Descendants in TFD. Don’t worry if you make a few mistakes to begin with.

Other than the Void Energy mechanic, try to play into Ajax’s strengths as much as you can. You can create cover for yourself and allies in locations of your choosing by using Ajax’s barrier skills, and you can use Void Walk to leap into battle and stun nearby enemies when you land, dealing AoE damage. This makes Ajax a great team player who can spearhead attacks and keep teammates alive.

We also ranked Ajax’s kit and playstyle and added him to our The First Descendant Tier List – Best Characters.

How to Unlock Ajax in The First Descendant

Let’s take a quick look at how to unlock Ajax in the First Descendant. To unlock Ajax, you have to select him in the tutorial, purchase him from the store, or research him. You need the following items to research Ajax:

1x Ajax Enhanced Cells

430x Silicon
303x Hellion
35x Artificial Biometal
1x Ajax Enhanced Cell Blueprint
200k Gold

1x Ajax Stabilizer

386x Hardener
408x Ceramic Composite
30x Compound Carbon Activator
1x Ajax Stabilizer Blueprint
200k Gold

1x Ajax Spiral Catalyst

239x Compound Coating Material
462x Shape Memory Alloy
42x Positive Ion Particle
1x Ajax Sprial Catalyst Blueprint

1x Ajax Code

Intercept Battle: Common Executioner: Amorphous Material Pattern 019
Intercept Battle: Hard Swamp Walker – Amorphous Material Pattern 096
Location 3: Vespers Hard – Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor – Vespers Moonlight Lake
Location 4: White-night Gulch Hard – Abyssal Void Fusion Reactor – White-night Gulch Hatchery

400k Credits

When you visit Magisters Anais at the Research Institute you can hover over each item. Then click on Acquisition Info and it will tell you where this specific item drops. You can also view our in-depth guide on How to unlock Ajax in The First Descendant.

The First Descendant Ajax Skills Explained

In this section, we are going to explain the skills available to our Ajax Build in the First Descendant, how each skill works and the best ways for you to use them.

Orbit Barrier

Creates a shield in front of Ajax. Durability increases proportionally to Ajax’s HP and DEF.

Orbit Barrier Skill Description:

Non-Attribute – Dimension
Creates a Barrier in front. The Barrier’s stats are affected by Ajax’s HP and DEF.
When hit by an enemy, barrier deals Reflection Damage to the DMG received and Ajax’s DEF to the attacking enemy.
Using the skill while Void Energy is at maximum increases Reflection Damage even more.
After creating the Barrier, you gain Void Energy.

How to use Orbit Barrier:

Orbit Barrier grants you and your team a safe location from which to fire at enemies. It also helps to damage enemies by reflecting their shots back at them.

Whether you’re playing solo or with team mates, you can use Orbit Barrier to gain temporary cover and safety in a location of your choosing, and to gain a small reprieve from enemy attacks.

Void Walk

Leaps into the air and lands on the ground to strike nearby enemies, stunning them.

Void Walk Description:

Non-Attribute – Tech
Jumps forward then deals damage on landing, inflicting Stun.
When using the skill whole Void Energy is at maximum, also increases own Max Shield.
When the skill ends, acquires Void Energy.

How to use Void Walk:

Void Walk is a handy mobility skill that is also great for spearheading attacks. It allows you to close the gap to enemies, dealing AOE damage and stunning them when you arrive. If you have enough Void Energy to enhance the skill, it also significantly increases your Shield temporarily, allowing you to survive more easily in the thick of the fighting.

You can make things much easier for your team by using this skill to disrupt groups of enemies at the beginning of an engagement.

This skill is best used for starting an attack or retreating if you’re in a tight spot.

Expulsion

Strikes nearby enemies, knocking them back.

Expulsion Description:

Non-Attribute – Tech
Inflicts damage and Knockback on nearby enemies.
When Void Energy is at maximum, increases base damage and range.
When the skill ends, gains Void Energy.

How to use Expulsion:

Expulsion can work as an excellent follow-up to Void Walk. It deals a lot of damage to enemies close to Ajax, knocking them back in the process.

Hyper Cube

Creates a dome-shaped shield. Durability increases proportionally to Ajax’s HP and DEF

Hyper Cube Description:

Non-Attribute – Dimension
Creates a dome-shaped barrier. The Barrier’s stats are based on Ajax’s HP and DEF.
When Void Energy is at maximum, grants Barrier Enhancement to all allies in range, including self.
Barrier Enhancement increases Firearm ATK.
When the skill ends, acquires Void Energy.

How to use Hyper Cube:

Another great defensive skill, Hyper Cube is more versatile than Orbit Barrier because the barrier is dome shaped, protecting against attacks from all directions. It can also provide an extra damage buff to allies, which is even more potent for those using Explosive weapons.

We highly recommend saving up maximum Void Energy before using this skill so you get the enhanced version, since its longer cooldown and high MP cost makes it more important to get the best possible value from Hyper Cube.

Event Horizon (Passive)

The ability to store Void Energy during battle. Void Energy can be used to enhance skills with additional effects.

Event Horizon Passive Description:

Non-Attribute
When using skills, you acquire Void Energy.
Depending on the amount of Void Energy owned, you gain Singularity per stage.
Singularity decreases Cooldowns and the effect is stronger with each stage.
When Void Energy is at maximum, enhances the skills and grants additional effects. When using the enhanced skills, Void Energy cannot be acquired.
When out of combat for 10 seconds, all Void Energy is consumed.

How to use Event Horizon:

Event Horizon is Ajax’s passive skill, which means it is always active and cannot be manually activated or toggled. As a beginner Ajax player you can let this passive work in the background and you’ll get some benefit from it and do just fine. But to master playing as Ajax, you need to stay aware of how much Void Energy you have and make sure you spend it on enhancing the most valuable or useful skill for a given situation.

Most of the time, a safe bet for this is Hyper Cube, since enhancing this skill gives you and your allies a strong buff to Firearm and Explosive damage. But in some situations you may want to enhance a different skill instead. Familiarise yourself with the basic and enhanced versions of Ajax’s skills, and try to keep the Event Horizon passive under your control so you can take full advantage of Ajax’s enhanced skills.

Ajax Build Modules for The First Descendant

In this section, we will explain the recommended Descendant Modules for this Ajax Build in the First Descendant.

Important! When equipping Modules on Ajax, make sure that as many modules as possible are in a slot with a matching icon (top left corner on tooltip). This will half their Module Capacity Cost.

Your Module Capacity Cost limits how many modules you can equip, and can be upgraded as you level up your character. Different modules have a different Capacity Cost, which generally depends on how powerful the Module is. This is a balancing system to prevent players from only equipping the strongest modules and having a totally overpowered character.

Module Guides:

Module Basics – The First Descendant
How to Level Up Modules in The First Descendant
How To Farm Modules in The First Descendant
How to increase Module Capacity in The First Descendant

Ajax Leveling Modules Setup

You should be able to get the following Ajax Leveling Setup with approximately level 25-30. This is a good base setup to have before preparing to farm the max-level Ajax Build for The First Descendant.

Increased DEF – Increases your DEF significantly
Increased HP – Considerably increases your HP
Skill Expansion – Improves your Skill Effect Ranges
Increased Shield – Boosts your Max Shield
Dual Claw – Increases Module Capacity, and changes your Sub Attack to a dual claw attack.
Tech Specialist – Boosts the power of Tech Skills
Flexi Slot – You can put anything you like here, for example if you’re expecting to deal with a lot of fire damage then you could use something like Fire Resist Maximization.

Ajax Max Level Modules Setup

We recommend using the following modules:

Matrix Recomputation – Modifies Expulsion to cast a buff that helps allies to survive.
Increased DEF – Increases your DEF significantly
Shield Conversion (MP) – Increases your Max MP, slightly reduces your Max Shield
Increased HP – Considerably increases your HP
Skill Expansion – Improves your Skill Effect Ranges
Increased Shield – Boosts your Max Shield
Dual Claw – Increases Module Capacity, and changes your Sub Attack to a dual claw attack.
Skill Range Mastery – Increases Skill Critical Hit Damage, with a slight increase to Skill Effect Range.
DEF Accelerant – Improves Skill Duration and DEF
Tech Specialist – Boosts the power of Tech Skills
Flexi Slot – You can put anything you like here, for example if you’re expecting to deal with a lot of fire damage then you could use something like Fire Resist Maximization.

Best Weapons & Weapon Mods for our TFD Ajax Build

In this section, we will explain the best weapons for our TFD Ajax Build and the ideal weapon mods for them. Ideally, we want to use the Python, Nazeistra’s Devotion, and the Albion Cavalry Gun for Ajax. To max out all the mods listed here your Weapon module capacity must be maxed. If you don’t have enough slots yet, make sure to follow the prioritization queue.

How to get modules: Go to your map and then select Access Info on the top of your screen. Select Modules and type in what module you want to search for. Next, click on Acquisition Info and you will see where those have a chance to drop.

We recommend using the following weapon for Ajax in the First Descendant:

Python – Submachine Gun

The Python Submachine Gun is an Ultimate weapon.

The firearm debuffs the DEF of enemies when you hit their Weak Point, allowing you and your allies to damage them more easily.

This is a high DPS weapon with a quick fire-rate that adds the Prey effect on enemies.

We are using the following weapons mods for the Python Instinct weapon:

Concentrate Support Ammo – More rounds per Magazine, and improved Critical Hit Damage.
Lethal Finish – Once per 15 seconds, an additional round with 30% higher Crit Rate is fired. Defeating an enemy with the additional hit reduces the cooldown by 10 seconds.
Action and Reaction – Improves Firearm Attack, slightly increases recoil.
Concentration Priority – Improves Critical Hit Damage and Reload Time.
Rifling Reinforcement – Improves Explosive Attack.
Weak Point Control – Increased Weak Point Damage.
Fire Enhancement – Adds Fire ATK equal to a portion of Firearm ATK.
Weak Point Sight – Improves Weak Point Damage.
Reload Priority – Increased Reload Speed.

Nazeistra’s Devotion – Hand Cannon

Nazeistra’s Devotion is a great secondary weapon for the Ajax Build. It works especially well if you’re good at aiming and are confident at hitting enemy Weak Points.

Hitting an enemy’s weakpoints with Nazeistra’s Devotion reduces their Defence by 30% for 3 seconds, indirectly buffing the damage of all of your attacks. A carefully-aimed shot from Nazeistra’s Devotion therefore makes for a great opener when fighting strong single targets.

Albion Cavalry Gun – Machine Gun

The Albion Cavalry Gun is a useful situational weapon for The First Descendant Ajax Build.

This weapon grants you a damage bonus when you attack Stunned enemies, which is well-suited to Ajax due to his ability to stun enemies in an AOE. There’s also a chance to extend the Stun duration if you land a Critical Hit on a Stunned enemy.

Best Reactor Stats for Ajax in The First Descendant

Your Reactor is a very important item that determines your skill damage and can also include extra modifiers that buff certain aspects of your build. The better your Reactor is, the more damage your skills will deal to enemies.

We recommend prioritizing using a Reactor with a high Skill Power and Sub Attack Power. Secondly, look out for a Reactor that buffs Tech and/or Non-Attribute skills, as most of Ajax’s skills fall into these categories. After that, look out for Reactors with a boost to your Skill Critical Hit Damage, which will improve the amount of damage dealt when you land a critical hit.

One last thing to look out for is an Optimization Condition that you can easily fulfil with your Ajax build. For example we have a Reactor that requires an equipped Hand Cannon to meet the Optimization Condition. Meeting the condition increases the Skill Power of your reactor, so it’s important to meet this whenever possible.

External Components

Finally, we have the best External Components for the Ajax build in the First Descendant.

With your External Components, you will be somewhat subject to RNG, at least until you’ve played the game for long enough to find basically every possible combination with good stat rolls.

For this TFD Ajax Build, we recommend prioritizing components with Max HP and DEF, as Ajax’s barriers scale from these stats, so boosting them as much as possible will make them stronger.

Ajax’s Story in The First Descendant

A tanker-type dealer who utilizes Void Energy. Coordinates his team with a forcefield that protects allies while deflecting enemy attacks. 

Ajax was a Descendant who left active duty to fulfil his longtime desire to become a professor at the Albion Military Academy. But on his first day at the job, he regretted his decision. This was because a voice recording was forwarded to him, containing an urgent request for assistance from Aisha, his former comrade-in-arms. The mission that Aisha had been deployed to was a reconnaissance-in-force deep into the Void. If he hadn’t retired, Ajax himself would’ve been sent on that mission.

Eventually, Ajax donned the Raley Mk.5 Battlesuit, a piece of equipment used exclusively for Void exploration, which was still a work in progress at the time, and set out to find Aisha. Since ten squads of Descendants on active duty couldn’t have stopped him anyway, taking out the equipment and launching into the Void was easy.

However, finding Aisha’s squad in the depths of the Void would prove to be a difficult mission, even for this powerful Descendant. To make matters worse, the suit that should have shielded him from the Void’s environment malfunctioned, absorbing Void Energy. This caused Ajax, who was barely holding on in continuing the search, to collapse in the end.

Just as he was about to give up on everything, something unexpected happened. Aisha’s form emerged from the Void storm and enveloped Ajax, while simultaneously triggering the return protocol. In an instant, Ajax dropped down to the center of the Descendant’s zone, and everyone acted as if they were seeing a ghost. As it turned out, what seemed like a few days spent in the depths of the Void turned out to be a decade passed in Ingris.

When the situation settled down, Alpha visited Ajax and tore up his casualty listing, consoling him. He told Ajax that since he was now free of death and the Void, he had prepared documents for him to return to teaching. But Ajax ripped up the papers Alpha handed him and declared his desire to return to the Descendant Corps. For it was only his physical body that was freed; his mission to protect his teammates was far from over.

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