The First Descendant: Hailey Build Guide

Along with Ultimate Freyna, Hailey is the new hot commodity in The First Descendant.

Hailey has already cemented herself as a top-tier boss killer, able to knock down the toughest Collosi in seconds. She’s incredible but needs specific investments to shine. With this in mind, let me show you everything you need to know.

How to get Hailey in The First Descendant

Let me quickly explain how to acquire Hailey in The First Descendant because her Blueprints are locked behind specific activities that no other character requires.

You can only obtain Hailey’s materials from Hard Mode Invasions (pictured above) and Hard Mode Dungeons. You get far more materials from the Invasions, but they are limited to four clears daily.

Thanks to the restriction, it’s unrealistic to assume you can get Hailey in a single session. Invasions are much easier than they were at launch, but you’ll still need a well-built Descendant to beat them.

You can’t go wrong with Bunny in most situations, but whoever you use, ensure you’ve maxed out your survivability Modules.

I wouldn’t rely on Dungeons unless you’re desperate, as the drop rate is pretty lousy. Once you have all the required materials, you can construct Hailey as usual in Albion.

Alternatively, you can purchase Hailey from the Premium Shop with Calibur.

Best Weapons TFD. Gley and Ultimate Weapons

The First Descendant: 10 Best Weapons Ranked

Spend your Energy Activators here!

Hailey Boss Killer Build

Hailey close up The First Descendant with Beret

Hailey can technically be used for mobbing with her Storm Snare Ability, but she’s more commonly built for her outrageous boss-killing potential. We’re fully investing in Hailey’s Zenith ability, which locks her in place while she draws a massive Sniper Cannon.

A few aspects of Zenith are tied to our primary weapon, which I’ll cover after the Modules. I’ve included one of Hailey’s new Transcendent Modules in the build, but it’s ultimately optional.

Supercooled Kuiper Round makes the first shot of Zenith deal less damage than usual, but it increases with each consecutive weak point hit. Zenith can fire four shots; if each one hits a weak point, you will deal more damage overall.

With the Transcendent Module, Hailey also recovers Shield whenever a weak point is hit, which is a lovely QoL bonus as she’s static while using Zenith.

Module	Effect at Max Rank
Supercooled Kuiper Rounds	Decreases Unique Weapon Firearm ATK but increases Weak Point Damage on consecutive hits. Weak point hits restore Shields instead of MP.
Multi-Maneuvering	Increases Grapple Charges from 2 to 3. Slightly nerfs Range and Cooldown.
Increased HP	Max HP +218.5%
Increased Shield	Max Shield +151.9% (Only equip if you’re using Supercooled Kuiper Rounds)
Stim Accelerant	Max HP +234%. Max MP -15.0%
Dangerous Ambush	+24.9% Skill Power when enemy isn’t targeting you. +49.8% Skill Power when enemy is Imobilized.
Emergency Measures	Skill Critical Hit Rate +64.6%. Skill Critical Hit Damage +27.7%
Front Lines	Skill Critical Hit Rate +27.7%. Skill Critical Hit Damage +64.6%
Skill Concentration	Skill Critical Hit Damage +115.4%
Skill Insight	Skill Critical Hit Rate +115.4%
Chill Specialist	Chill Skill Power +81.2%
Glacial Synctium	Critical Hit Resistance +15.1%. Chill Skill Power +10.2%

If you don’t want to use Supercooled Kuiper Round, consider replacing Increased Shield with Spear and Shield, which boosts DEF and Skill Power.

Increased HP and Stim Accelerant give Hailey a chunky boost to HP, which she needs as enemies love targeting her the moment she pulls out Zenith.

The rest of our Modules buff our damage profile. Skill Insight and Skill Concentration boost our Critical Hit Range and Damage. Front Lines and Emergency Measures do the same.

Finally, we use Chill Specialist and Glacial Synctium as Hailey’s Skills are all Chill-based.

You need a ton of Crystallization Catalysts to build Hailey fully, but you’ll see results when you start piling on those sweet Critical Modifiers.

Best Weapons for Hailey in The First Descendant

Piercing Light rifle stats The First Descendant

The Piercing Light Sniper Rifle is the ‘best in slot’ weapon for Hailey’s Zenith build. Afterglow Sword is a close second but deals slightly less damage overall.

The difference is slight, so if you’ve already invested in the Afterglow Sword, you’ll still have a great time using it with Hailey.

We use a Sniper Rifle specifically as Zenith uses some characteristics of your held weapon. With this in mind, ensure your Piercing Light is equipped when you use the ability.

Unlike Ultimate Gley and her Executor build your Reactor Mounting matters for this build. Ensure you have a Chill Reactor with either a Piercing Light or Afterglow Sword Mounting to suit whatever rifle you’re using.

Will Hailey get an Ultimate Variant in The First Descendant?

Every Descendant will likely get the Ultimate treatment eventually, but I doubt we will see an Ultimate Hailey for at least a year.

At the time of writing, two Descendants have had Ultimate versions added post-launch: Valby and Freyna. Both Descendants are from the base game and featured in the campaign.

My money is on Sharen or one of the male Descendants as the next Ultimate. We’ve got many original Descendants to get through, and Sharen is prominent in Ultimate Freyna’s story.

If Nexon decides to give us a male Ultimate Descendant, I reckon we get Blair, as who doesn’t like the flame-wielding chef?