Freyna is a Poison specialist, with plenty of ways to output ridiculous amounts of damage. Let me show you the best build, weapons, loadout, modules, and more in our The First Descendant Freyna guide.
Table of contents
How to play Freyna in The First Descendant: All Abilities explained
![The First Descendant Freyna guide: Best build, loadout, weapons, modules, and more](https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/venom-baptism.jpg?resize=1200%2C675)
Weapons and Loadouts are all well and good, but you can’t expect to play Freyna to her fullest without understanding her kit.
All of Freyna’s abilities have lengthy descriptions that can be overwhelming, but her playstyle is relatively straightforward. Freyna is a Poison expert and relies on stacking tons of the DoT damage to burn away enemy health bars. Poison spreads like wildfire in The First Descendant, and Freya has several skills to make it even easier.
You can comfortably tackle tough content with Freyna, but only if your PC can handle it. Fortunately, there are ways to fix high CPU usage if you’re struggling with that issue.
The Contagious Link (passive)
Let’s start with Freyna’s passive skill, as it’s live the entire time. Contagious Link has synergy with Freyna’s entire kit, as it further debuffs poisoned enemies so they take more damage.
The passive effect becomes more potent with more enemies nearby. I prefer to keep my enemies at range, but Contagious Link rewards aggressive play.
Venom Trauma
Venom Trauma deals negligible damage but explodes targets in a poisonous cloud when they die. The cloud is pretty decent, so throw Venom Trauma at low-level or weakened targets.
Defense Mechanism
Defense Mechanism is, unsurprisingly, Freyna’s survivability tool and increases her Defense by a respectable 25%. The skill has a decent duration and is a valuable part of her kit.
Putrid Venom
Putrid Venom is a mine that spreads poison when enemies step on it. The mines deal decent damage, but you must be mindful of where you throw them.
It’s easy to waste Putrid Venom, so save your mines for narrow corridors and high-traffic areas.
Venom Baptism
Venom Baptism is a fantastic damage-dealing skill for Freyna balanced by a lengthy cooldown. You want to save Venom Baptism for large targets or champions as it’s Freyna’s highest DPS ability.
Freyna’s kit is easy to use as her abilities flow nicely together. If you ask me, Freyna is much simpler to use than Bunny, despite her popularity. Still, if you build Bunny the right way, she’s an unstoppable force.
Best Loadout and Build for Freyna in The First Descendant
![](https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/freyna-pic-2.jpg?resize=1200%2C675)
We want to lean into Freyna’s Toxic damage, and there are plenty of ways to do it. While it’s easy to stack damage, we can’t neglect Freyna’s defense stats, or she’ll quickly lose to tougher enemies.
With this issue in mind, it’s worth going for HP and Defense substats on Freyna’s External Components. In the following section, I’ll explain what sets to use, but Freyna’s Defense Mechanism will only keep her alive for so long.
Reactor
We want to use a specific Assault Rifle, and there’s a Reactor that synergizes well with it. I recommend the Toxic Mechanics Reactor for this build as it boosts Freyna’s Toxin and Tech damage.
All of Freyna’s offensive abilities count as “Tech,” so we double dip on those bonuses. The Toxin Mechanics Reactor can also have the Fallen Hope Mounting Optimization Condition, which is the Rifle we want to use.
While you can buy Reactors from Deslin in The Albion, I recommend finding them in the wild instead. You can obtain the Toxin Mechanics Reactor as a Hard Mode reward from the Vespers area of the world map. Don’t worry if you can’t access Hard Mode yet; you can always add the Reactor to your build later.
External Components
We use External Components to bolster Freyna’s survivability. It’s always down to luck, but I recommend prioritizing HP and Defense on every Component. Shield Recovery in Combat is another superb option, especially if you’re playing solo without friends to draw enemy fire.
External Components come in “sets” and reward bonuses based on how many items in the set you have equipped. Two sets synergize well with Freyna’s kit, and you ideally want the full four-piece set for both.
Swamp Recon set
The Swamp Recon set provides a few easy ways to increase Freyna’s damage. The 2 piece bonus is pretty good by itself, as it boosts Freyna’s Toxic Skill Power.
The 4-piece bonus is even better, increasing the Firearm Status Trigger Effect. That description is a little wordy, but it means that the Poison effects from our weapon will trigger more often—more on that in the next section.
We also increase Freyna’s Skill Duration by 6.6%. The percentage may not sound much, but it’s a welcome bonus.
Venom Essense Auxiliary Power set
Another decent set to shoot for is Venom Essence Auxiliary Power. The 2-piece set grants a respectable increase to Toxic Skill Power. As we’re constantly using Freyna’s poison abilities, this is a free damage increase.
The 4-piece bonus increases the Attribute Effect Trigger rate for Tactical and Assault Rifles. As we use the Fallen Hope, you can easily utilize the full-set bonus.
Best Weapons for Freyna in The First Descendant
![Fallen Hope](https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/fallen-hope.jpg?resize=1200%2C675)
The Fallen Hope Assault Rifle is an obvious choice for Freyna. The weapon’s perk feels like it’s made to synergize with Freyna’s abilities. Here’s what makes the rifle so special, and the effect changes depending on whether the target survives the attack:
Perdition
- When hitting a poisoned enemy – Increase Firearm ATK.
- When defeating a poisoned enemy – The target explodes and spreads poison to nearby enemies caught in the blast.
Freyna’s entire toolkit is based on poisoning enemies, so we constantly get value from the Fallen Hope. As for weapon attributes, I’m still farming for a God Roll, but I’m shooting for the following stats:
- Toxic Attack % boost.
- Firearm Critical Hit Damage.
- Firearm Critical Hit Rate.
The Toxic Attack boost is huge for Freyna and offers a straight DPS increase. Crit Rate and Crit Damage are almost always desirable and further amplify our damage output.
Freyna shines with a solid automatic weapon in her hands, but if you prefer to use your hands as a weapon, you may enjoy Ajax. I’m a fan of slam attacks, and he’s worth building if you’re the same.
Recommended Fallen Hope Assault Rifle Modules
![](https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/rifling.jpg?resize=1200%2C675)
Your Module loadout depends massively on your Capacity, and what you have available. Of all the Modules here, Rifling Reinforcement is the most valuable, followed by Toxic Conductor.
Here are the mods I feel are essential:
- Rifling Reinforcement: Increase Firearm ATK%.
- Toxic Enhancement: Adds Toxic ATK equal to 30% of Firearm ATK.
- Toxic Conductor: Firearm ATK% boost when attacking poisoned enemies.
- Sharpshooter: Increase Firearm ATK% and Critical Hit Rate.
Optional Modules
- Weak Point Detection: Firearm Crit Damage% boost. Deal additional damage to enemy weak points.
- Fire Rate Up: Increases Fire Rate.
- Weak Point Quick Fire: Increases Fire Rate and Weak Point damage.
- Defense Master: Defense briefly increased after defeating an enemy.
We live and die by our Fallen Hope, so feel free to fill your remaining weapon slots with whatever you like. If you’re spoiled for choice, here’s a couple of suggestions:
Nazeistra’s Devotion
Honestly, I’m dreadful with this weapon, but I chalk that up to using a controller instead of a Keyboard and Mouse. If you’re a better shot than me, the Nazeistra’s Devotion is deadly as it reduces the target’s defense when you hit a weak point.
The effect only lasts three seconds, but it’s a hefty debuff at 30%.
The Tamer
The Tamer Machine gun is another solid choice as it deals more damage on consecutive shots. This buff resets when you reload or change guns, so be careful.
You can get the Tamer with several Elemental substats, so you ideally want the Poison variant.
Descendant Modules
![The First Descendant Freyna guide: Best build, loadout, weapons, modules, and more](https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/contagion.jpg?resize=1200%2C675)
To finish off our Freyna build, let’s talk about Descendant Modules. As with our Fallen Hope Assault Rifle, these depend on what Modules you have available, their ranks, and Capacity.
With this in mind, here’s what I recommend with my favorites on top:
- Contagion: When an enemy inflicted with Room 0 Trauma is killed, it releases a contagion of Poison.
- Increased HP: dramatically increases HP.
- Increase DEF: Increases defense stat.
- Nimble Fingers: reduces Skill Cooldown.
- Toxic Specialist: increases Toxic Skill power.
- Skill Extension: increases Skill Duration.
- Tech Specialist: increases Tech Skill Power Modifier.
- Spear and Shield: Increases Defense and Skill Power.
Freyna’s Descendant Modules explained
Contagion’s wording is confusing as it mentions “Room 0 Trauma.” Every one of Freyna’s skills causes this debuff, so we get a ton of value from this Module with zero effort.
Increased HP and Increased DEF may not be the most stylish Modules, but they round off our Survivability profile. Nimble Fingers is a strong choice as it allows Freyna to use her skills more often.
As we frequently tap into Freyna’s abilities, Toxic Specialist amps up their damage, and Skill Extension makes them last longer. Finally, as most of Freyna’s kit is classed as “Tech,” we gain even more free damage from Tech Specialist.
I can’t squeeze Spear and Shield into my build, but more Defense and Skill Damage are welcome bonuses. On that note, Skill Expansion may be a decent Module to fit in, as it increases Skill Range. If you’re struggling to hit targets with Freyna’s Skills, it could be worth the slot.
Freyna is a fantastic Descendant who’s fun to play with an intuitive gameplay loop. If you build into her defenses, you’ll have a great time poisoning your foes into submission.
If all those spicy damage numbers make your PC chug, ensure you use the best Graphics settings for your rig.
Published: Jul 18, 2024 10:38 am