The First Descendant: Viessa Build & Best Loadout

Welcome to The First Descendant Viessa Build Guide.

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

Viessa tends to give others the cold shoulder, because she has lost everything that once meant something to her.

Table of Contents:

How to play Viessa
How to unlock Viessa
Skills Explanation

Frost Shards
Frost Road
Cold Snap
Blizzard
Ice Sphere (Passive)

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

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

How to Play Viessa in the First Descendant

Viessa is geared primarily towards AoE and DoT damage, thanks to her Chill Skills that freeze enemies.

By default, Viessa’s ice skills apply a debuff that slows down enemy movement. However, later in the guide, we will explain a transcendent module that changes this effect into a Damage over Time effect (DoT), considerably increasing Viessa’s DPS potential.

With this in mind, you will be heavily incentivized when playing as Viessa to carefully place your skills to hit as many enemies as possible, inflicting the maximum amount of DoT damage as a result. It’s also worth remembering that this effect stacks – enemies can have up to five stacks of the move speed reduction (or the DoT, once you’ve got the upgrade) at a time, so keep freezing them as much as possible. This is made easier by the fact that two of Viessa’s skills, Frost Shards and Cold Snap, have very short Cooldowns, so as long as you have enough MP you can keep using them and keep debuffing your enemies.

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

How to Unlock Viessa in The First Descendant

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

1x Viessa Enhanced Cells

422x Repton
290x Semiconstant Plasma
40x Fusion Plasma Battery
1x Viessa Enhanced Cell Blueprint
200k Gold

1x Viessa Stabilizer

239x Compound Coating Material
499x Monomelecular Extractor
14x Common Carbon Activator
1x Viessa Stabilizer Blueprint
200k Gold

1x Viessa Spiral Catalyst

571x Superfluid
386x Hardener
99x Synthesized Artificial Biometal
1x Viessa Sprial Catalyst Blueprint

1x Viessa Code

Intercept Battle: Common Executioner – Amorphous Material Pattern 018
Intercept Battle: Common Devourer – Amorphous Material Pattern 030
Intercept Battle: Hard Swamp Walker – Amorphous Material Pattern 095
Echo Swamp Hard – Abyssal Void Fusion reactor – Echo Swamp Derelict Covert

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 Viessa in The First Descendant.

The First Descendant Viessa Skills Explained

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

Frost Shards

Fires Frost Shards to damage enemies and deal AOE damage to nearby enemies. Inflicts Ice Shackle.

Frost Shards Skill Description:

Chill – Fusion
Fires Frost Shards to deal damage to hit enemies and AoE damage to nearby enemies.
Inflicts Ice Shackle on hit targets.

How to use Frost Shards:

Frost Shards is Viessa’s most basic skill, and it’s available from level 1. Despite this, it’s quite powerful thanks to its low cooldown and ability do deal considerable damage, both single-target and AoE damage too. It also applies the Ice Shackle debuff, reducing the Movement Speed of enemies. Ice Shackle can be stacked up multiple times to increase the effect and duration.

Frost Road

Increases Movement Speed and Shield, and creates Ice Sheets on the ground that inflict Ice Shackle.

Frost Road Description:

Chill – Fusion
When cast, grants Frost Road for a period of time.
Frost Road increases your Movement Speed and Energy Shield, and creates Ice Sheets where Viessa walks.
Enemies who touch the Ice Sheets are inflicted with Ice Shackle.

How to use Frost Road:

Frost Road is a handy mobility and defense skill that also helps to put the Frost Road debuff on enemies more often. It’s probably the most low-impact out of all Viessa’s skills, but it’s still quite useful for quickly moving around while slowing your pursuers.

Cold Snap

Deals Chill damage to enemies in front of Viessa and inflicts Ice Shackle.

Cold Snap Description:

Chill – Fusion
Spews Chill damage in front of you.
Inflicts damage and Ice Shackle on enemies who come into contact with the chill.

How to use Cold Snap:

Cold Snap is another great AOE skill for Viessa that also inflicts two levels of Ice Shackle on enemies. The cooldown is really quite short for such a powerful AOE skill, so we strongly recommend using this as often as possible to maximise your damage output.

Blizzard

Creates a Blizzard that deals continuous damage, debuffs DEF, inflicts AoE damage and Ice Shackle.

Blizzard Description:

Chill – Tech
Creates a Blizzard that remains active for a period of time.
Enemies engulfed by the Blizzard receive continuous dmaage, become inflicted with Ice Shackle, and their DEF decreases.
When the Blizzard disappears, it inflicts AoE damage and Ice Shackle on nearby enemies.

How to use Blizzard:

Blizzard is a very powerful AoE skill with a fairly large radius, allowing Viessa to deal damage to large groups of enemies at the same time. It will also put a lot of Ice Shackle stacks on the enemies, considerably debuffing their move speed.

Unlike the previous skills, Blizzard has a fairly long cooldown, so it’s best to save it for situations where it will envelop many enemies. However, don’t be too reserved with Blizzard either, there’s little point having such a good AoE skill if you only use it once or twice per game.

Ice Sphere (Passive)

Inflicting Ice Shackle creates an Ice Sphere that flies to another nearby enemy, dealing AoE damage and inflicting Ice Shackle.

Ice Sphere Passive Description:

Chill – Tech
Upon using a skill to have an enemy enter a certain Ice Shackle stage, creates an Ice Sphere that flies around nearby.
The Ice Sphere that is created flies at a nearby enemy, dealing damage to the hit enemy and AoE damage to nearby enemies.
The hit target is inflicted with Ice Shackle.
Ice Shackle decreases the enemy’s Speed, and increases in stage when the effect stacks. When the stage increases, the Speed reduction and duration both increase. However, the Speed reduction does not apply to certain monsters, including boss monsters.

How to use Ice Sphere:

Ice Sphere is a passive skill, which means it is always active. It’s a handy way of dealing extra damage, since when you apply Ice Shackle with one of your skills, an Ice Sphere will be created that deals extra damage to a nearby enemy. This also effectively makes the Ice Shackle effect stronger, as it indirectly deals damage rather than just being a movement speed debuff.

Viessa Build Modules for The First Descendant

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

Important! When equipping Modules on Viessa, 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

Viessa Leveling Modules Setup

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

Nimble Fingers – Reduces your Skill Cooldowns
Increased HP – Increases your Max HP
Skill Expansion – Considerably increases Skill Effect Range.
Chill Specialist – Boosts the power of your Chill Skills.
Dual Claws – Attack with Dual Claws during Sub Attack. Also increases your Max Module Capacity.
Skill Insight – Improves Skill Critical Hit Rate
Heat Antibody – Increases your Fire Resistance.

Important: This Module should be replaced with the Chill, Electric or Toxic version when you are fighting a Colossus that attacks with those elements.

Increased DEF – Increases your DEF

Viessa Max Level Modules Setup

We recommend using the following modules:

Hypothermia – Replaces Ice Shackle with Ice Needle, which no longer slows down enemies but instead deals continuous damage to the target. The damage increases with each stack, up to 5.
Nimble Fingers – Reduces your Skill Cooldowns
Increased HP – Increases your Max HP
Skill Expansion – Considerably increases Skill Effect Range.
Chill Specialist – Boosts the power of your Chill Skills.
Emergency Measures – Increases Skill Critical Hit Rate and Critical Hit Damage
Dual Claws – Attack with Dual Claws during Sub Attack. Also increases your Max Module Capacity.
Skill Insight – Improves Skill Critical Hit Rate
Skill Simplification – Increases Skill Power, with a smaller decrease to Max MP
Heat Antibody – Increases your Fire Resistance.

Important: This Module should be replaced with the Chill, Electric or Toxic version when you are fighting a Colossus that attacks with those elements.

Increased DEF – Increases your DEF
Spear and Shield – Increases DEF and Skill Power

Important: The Hypothermy module makes a significant change to how Viessa works in combat, since the Ice Shackle effect applied by her skills will now deal damage over time to enemies instead of reducing their move speed. Please note that it might take you a while to obtain the Hypothermy module as it is quite rare, and this build will still work fine in the meantime. If you don’t have it yet we recommend just leaving the Skill Module slot empty.

Best Weapons & Weapon Mods for our TFD Viessa Build

In this section, we will explain the best weapons for our TFD Viessa Build and the ideal weapon mods for them. The Thunder Cage Submachine Gun is the only important weapon for our TFD Viessa Build Loadout.

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

Thunder Cage – Submachine Gun

The Thunder Cage Submachine Gun is an Ultimate weapon. The firearm emits an electric shockwave that creates the appearance of thunder being directed at the enemy.

Thunder Cage Description:

When defeating an enemy, the defeated enemy has a set chance to discharge Electric Shockwave that deals Additional Damage to nearby enemies.

Basic Info

Reload Speed:  -20%

Electric Shockwave

Trigger Rate : 60%
Damage Range:  3 meter radius
Additional Damage:  Firearm Damage x 150%

This is a high DPS weapon with a quick fire-rate. It suits Viessa’s Build very well in The First Descendant due to its great damage output, which augments her already strong AoE and DoT damage very nicely.

We are using the following weapons mods for the Thunder Cage Weapon:

Rifling Reinforcements – Improves your Firearm ATK
Fire Rate UP – Improves your Fire Rate
Consume Magazines – Faster Reload and a tiny bit of extra Weak Point Damage
Action and Reaction – Significantly improves Firearm Attack and Recoil
Better Insight – Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate
Better Concentration – Significantly increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage
Weak Point Insight – Increases Weak Point Damage and a bit of extra Firearm Critical Hit Rate

Subconsciousness – Shotgun

Subconsciousness is a rare Shotgun. We use this weapon for close-quarters burst damage – its shots spread out so they can be used to damage multiple enemies at a time, possibly one-shotting weaker mobs.

This weapon is ideal for situations when you’re forced to fight many enemies in a confined space, for example if you are defending an objective and your position is in danger of being overwhelmed by enemy numbers.

We are using the following Modules on the Subconsciousness weapon:

Shell UP – Improves Shell Capacity
Better Concentration – Improves Critical Hit Damage
Action and Reaction – Improves Firearm ATK, slightly increases Recoil
Focus Fire – Increases Weak Point Damage and Firearm Critical Hit Damage
Commando Marksmanship – Improves Firearm Critical Hit Damage, and slightly increases Firearm ATK
Marksman –  Improves Firearm Critical Rate, and slightly increases Firearm ATK
Insight Stabilizer – Reduces Recoil. Slightly increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate.

Tamer – Machine Gun

Tamer is a rare Machine Gun. It is ideal for fighting bosses, particularly the Colossi in Void Intercept Battles.

We recommend switching to this weapon when you need high, sustained single-target DPS. While machine guns are not the most accurate weapons in the game, their aiming is still decent, so try to aim for Weak Points as much as possible.

We are using the following Modules on the Tamer weapon:

Rifling Reinforcement – Improves Firearm ATK
Electric Enhancement – Adds Electric ATK equal to a portion of Firearm ATK

Important: This should be changed to Chill, Fire or Toxic Enhancement when fighting against a Colossus that is weak to those elements.

Action and Reaction – Improves Firearm ATK, increases Recoil
Weak Point Insight – Increases your Weak Point Damage. Slightly increases Firearm Critical Rate
Weak Point Sight – Increases your Weak Point Damage.
Fire Rate UP – Increases your Fire Rate.

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.

Please note that you can swap the Rare Weapons mentioned above for their Ultimate counterparts if you have them and want to use them, but this is not required.

Best Reactor Stats for Viessa 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 Chill and/or Dimension skills, as most of Viessa’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.

Also, look out for an Optimization Condition that you can easily fulfill with your Viessa build. For example, we have a Reactor that requires an equipped Sniper Rifle to meet the Optimization Condition. Meeting the condition increases the Skill Power of your reactor, so it’s important to meet this whenever possible.

The name of a reactor can be determined by the following. For example a reactor with the name Tingling in it means it is good for anything that deals Electric damage.

The First Descendant Viessa’s attribute is Chill and her skills use the following types:

Fusion (Frost Shard, Frost Road, Cold Snap)
Tech (Ice Sphere, Tech)

That means you want to pick a reactor with the following names:

Frozen Mixture: Boost to Chill and Fusion type
Frozen Mechanics: Boost to Chill and Tech type

Because our The First Descendant Viessa Build focuses on damage it is better to spec into skills we can use more often. Therefore, we want to select a Frozen Mixture reactor. However, any will do until you have a proper version of a reactor!

External Components

Finally, we have the best External Components for the Viessa 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.

In general, we recommend prioritizing components with the following stats:

Max Shield
Max HP
HP Recovery
DEF

Viessa’s Story in The First Descendant

A debuffer who uses Chill at will. She uses Chill to freeze enemies in place, unleashing Cold Snap-like attacks as she weaves her way between them. 

Hailing from Albion’s underbelly, Viessa was a runner for a smuggling gang that brought in banned goods from the old, abandoned lands. During those years, Viessa was known for her ability to being in items that were more luxurious and expensive than what the other gang members brought in.

Viessa’s sphere of activity was a city that was frozen a century ago by a Colossus called the DeadBride. The place was eerie, filled with frozen corpses and the fallen Colossus, but items deemed expensive have been preserved, remaining intact. Moreover, because of the cold, the other gang members couldn’t even get near it. But for her, it was her own paradise; she couldn’t understand why everyone would shiver so much in the cold.

But this paradise turned into a cold hell overnight. The Colossus DeadBride, which was thought to be destroyed, was simply lying dormant, and the slight change in temperature caused by Viessa’s presence awakened it. In the end, Viessa was forced to fight the Colossus. She was barely able to defeat it, thanks in part to the Descendant Corps, who joined her and were deployed after an anomalous energy generation had been detected. Of course, their encounter was awkward, to say the least.

5 years? 10 years? Viessa let out a frosty sigh as she contemplated her sentence in the Albion prison, but for the second time that day, she experienced something she never thought would happen in her life. Her sentence? To join the Descendant Corps. Viessa’s peculiarities piqued the interest of the Maigisters, who conducted an Arche Factor test on her and discovered that she was indeed a Descendant.

For the first time in her life, Viessa broke out in a cold sweat, but quickly regained her composure. Become a Descendant? Beats being in a prison. No biggie, let’s give it a shot.

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