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.

After a smuggler band that she was part of was disbanded by the Albion Posse, Viessa was forced to toil as a digger at the Snowfield of Dawn. She had to serve her sentence there to be reinstated as a citizen.

Her job was to dig up the Colossi buried there, but disaster struck not long after she began her sentence. A Colossus buried everyone in a deluge of snow. Viessa was barely rescued, and her Arche was triggered during the treatment that followed. Then on the condition that the sentence be commuted, she began her service in the Descendant Corps.

Viessa didn’t use to belong anywhere but is now considered a capable Descendant. If her face looks flushed, it means that a teammate has just complemented her.

Table of Contents:

• How to play 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 incentivised 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.

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.

Icon	Skill Name	Description
	Frost Shards	Fires Frost Shards to damage enemies and deal AOE damage to nearby enemies. Inflicts Ice Shackle.
	Frost Road	Increases Movement Speed and Shield, and creates Ice Sheets on the ground that inflict Ice Shackle.
	Cold Snap	Deals Chill damage to enemies in front of Viessa and inflicts Ice Shackle.
	Blizzard	Creates a Blizzard that deals continuous damage, debuffs DEF, inflicts AoE damage and Ice Shackle.
	Ice Sphere (Passive)	Inflicting Ice Shackle creates an Ice Sphere that flies to another nearby enemy, dealing AoE damage and inflicting Ice Shackle.

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.

Descendant Modules for our Viessa Build in TFD

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.

Learn here How To Farm Modules in The First Descendant for your Viessa Build. And learn here How to increase Module Capacity in The First Descendant for your Builds.

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
• Skill Extension – Improves your Skill Durations.
• Skill Expansion – Considerably increases Skill Effect Range.
• Chill Specialist – Boosts the power of your Chill Skills.
• Non-Attribute Master – Considerably boosts your Skill Power, with a smaller additional boost to Non-Attribute Skill Power.
• Dual Claws – Attack with Dual Claws during Sub Attack. Also increases your Max Module Capacity.
• Energy Collection – You leech MP from enemies.

Viessa Max Level Modules Setup

We recommend using the following modules:

• Hypothermy – 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
• Skill Extension – Improves your Skill Durations.
• Skill Expansion – Considerably increases Skill Effect Range.
• Chill Specialist – Boosts the power of your Chill Skills.
• Non-Attribute Master – Considerably boosts your Skill Power, with a smaller additional boost to Non-Attribute Skill Power.
• Dual Claws – Attack with Dual Claws during Sub Attack. Also increases your Max Module Capacity.
• Entropy Acceleration – Slightly improves Max MP and Skill Critical Hit Damage.
• Energy Collection – You leech MP from enemies.
• MP Accelerant – Slightly increases Skill Duration and Max MP.
• Skill Range Mastery – Increases Skill Critical Hit Damage, with a slight increase to Skill Effect Range.
• HP Concentration – Increases Max HP and Skill Critical Hit Rate.

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:

• Hawk-Eye – Improves your Accuracy
• Reload Concentration – Reloading is quicker, and Firearm Critical Damage is improved
• Rifling Reinforcement – Significantly improves your Firearm Attack
• Concentrate Support Ammo – You get more rounds per magazine, and slightly more Firearm Critical Hit Damage
• Action and Reaction – Improves Firearm Attack and Recoil
• Marksman – Improves Firearm Critical Hit Rate, and slightly improves Attack
• Weak Point Control – Improves Weak Point Damage and Recoil
• Weak Point Sight – Greatly improves Weak Point Damage
• Fire Rate Up – Significantly improves your Fire Rate

Nazeistra’s Devotion – Hand Cannon

Nazeistra’s Devotion is a great secondary weapon for the Viessa 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.

Afterglow Sword – Sniper Rifle

Another great secondary weapon that can help to buff Viessa’s damage if you hit enemy Weak Points. Hitting an enemy’s Weak Point with the Afterglow Sword will inflict Death Propagation, improving Weak Point Damage by 5% per stack. You’ll also get extra Critical Rate when hitting Commanders and Colossi with this weapon.

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.

One last thing to look out for is an Optimization Condition that you can easily fulfil 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.

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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