The First Descendant is all about the grind, and you either love it or you hate it. There are many research materials to be found in the game’s many playable areas. Here’s all the reseaerch materials and how to get them in The First Descendant.
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All Research Materials & How to Get Them
This is going to be a very long list of materials, broken up by region, with one group at the end for materials that are not tied to physical locations in the game. The easiest way to use this list is to search it by using the Ctrl+F function on PC.
On Android, you can hit the More option (the three dots at the top right) and then select Find in Page. On iPhone, you can type the resource or material you want to find in the search bar, then select “On This Page.” All options will highlight any instances of the word on the page and allow you to jump directly to them.
Important note: A common term used in The First Descendant and this guide is “mission monsters”. These are rare yellow bar enemies that will spawn during the mission. If the source of a material is one of these enemies, you must run over the spot where they die to pick up the loot. As it drops from their body like a weapon or reactor, it does not automatically appear in your inventory like a mission reward.
Kingston Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Repton | Obtained by destroying Resource Boxes or opening Munitions Boxes in Kingston. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Monad Shard | It is obtained by destroying Resource Boxes or opening Munitions Boxes in Kingston. |
| Organic Biogel | Gotten from yellow bar “mission monster” enemies in the following missions in Kingston: Kingston Communication Repeater Vulgus Field Generator Kingston Surveillance Radar |
| Low-carbon Activator | It is gotten from the mission monster in Fallen Theater: Vulgus Strategic Outpost in Kingston |
| Insulated Metalic Foil | It is gotten from the mission monster in the Magister’s Lab (Fallen Theater) or the Slumber Valley (Grand Square) Special Operations in Kingston. |
Sterile Land Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Superfluid | It is obtained by destroying Resource Boxes or opening Munitions Boxes in Sterile Lands. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Metal Accelerant | It is obtained by destroying Resource Boxes or opening Munitions Boxes in Sterile Lands. |
| Artificial Biometal | Can be obtained from mission monsters in normal Sterile Land missions such as Anticipated Ambush Point, Deception Transmitter, and External Reactor. Anticipated Ambush Point is definitely the best farm for this. |
| Fusion Plasma Battery | Obtained from the mission monsters in the following missions: Rockfall: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Classified Area: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Murky Energy Residue | Farmed from missions monsters in: The Forgottense (Restricted Zone) Unknown Laboratory (Classified Area) |
| Negative Ion Particle | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in the Sterile Land. |
Vespers Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Semi-permanent Plasma | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Vespers. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Hardener | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Vespers. |
| Data Processing Neural Circuit | Drops from mission monsters in Frontline Base, Ruins Courtyard, Destroyed Temple, Captured Base, Lakeside, or Ancient Giant Tree. |
| Inorganic Biogel | Obtained from the mission monsters in the following missions: Lumber Yard: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Lost Supply Depot: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Common Carbon Activator | Farmed from missions monsters in: Sepulcher (Lost Supply Depot) The Shelter (Timerfall |
| Conductive Metallic Foil | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in Vespers. |
Echo Swamp Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Silicon | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Echo Swamp. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Compound Coating Material | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Echo Swamp. |
| Encrypted Neural Circuit | Gotten from mission monsters in Hazy Swamp, Environment Contamination Zone, Abandoned Zone, Arche Motion Sensor. |
| Macromolecule Biogel | Gotten from the mission monsters in the following missions: Muskeg Swamp: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Derelict Covert: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Complex Carbon Activator | Farmed from missions monsters in: Seed Vault (Abandoned Zone) The Chapel (Derelict Covert) |
| Thermal Metallic Foil | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in Echo Swamp. |
Agna Desert Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Nanopolymers | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Agna Desert. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Monomolecular Extractor | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Agna Desert. |
| Positive Ion Particle | Gotten be gotten from mission monsters in Rock Cave Base, Previous Construct Team Quarters, Commanding Ground. |
| Synthesized Artificial Biometal | Gotten from the mission monsters in the following missions: Void Fusion Reactor – The Storage in Agna Desert Miragestone: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Vermillion Waste: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Divided Plasma Battery | Farmed from mission monsters in: The Asylum (Vermillion Waste) Caligo Ossuary (The Mining Site) |
| Mixed Energy Residue | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in Agna Desert. |
White-night Gulch Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Ceramic Composite | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on White-night Gulch. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Flectorite | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on White-night Gulch. |
| Advanced Neural Circuit | The mission to grind is the Border Line of Truth in the Mountaintops region. |
| Crystal Biogel | Gotten from the mission monsters in the following missions: Void Fusion Reactor ā Mountaintops area Shipment Base: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Hatchery: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Compound Carbon Activator | Farmed from mission monsters in: Mystery’s End (Moongrave Basin) Bio-Lab (Hatchery) |
| Cooling Metallic Foil | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in White-night Gulch. |
Hagios Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Carbon Crystal | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Hagios. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Shape Memory Alloy | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Hagios. |
| Anode Ion Particle | Gotten from mission monsters in Vulgus Blockade, Deep Digger, Broadband Fleet Beacon, and Ruins Guard Facility. |
| Specialized Biometal | Gotten from the mission monsters in the following missions: Dune Base: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Forward Base: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Heat Plasma Battery | Farmed from mission monsters in: The Haven (The Corrupted Zone) Old Mystery (Starfall Road) |
| Highly-concentrated Energy Residue | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in Hagios. |
Fortress Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Hellion | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Fortress. Use your scanner to find them, as they will be marked by white chevrons on the screen. |
| Reverse Charging Coil | Is obtained from opening Resource or Munitions boxes on Fortress. |
| Polyatomic Ion Particle | Gotten from mission monsters in Munitions Loading Dock, Frozen Shipyard, Giant Hangar, Destroyed Base. |
| Deformed Biometal | Gotten from the mission monsters in the following missions: Frozen Valley: Vulgus Strategic Outpost Convertor Facility: Vulgus Strategic Outpost |
| Balanced Plasma Battery | Farmed from mission monsters in: Heart of the Fortress Quarantine Zone |
| Pure Energy Residue | Is obtained from Encrypted Vaults in Fortress. |
Non-geographic Research Materials
| Material | How to Obtain It |
|---|---|
| Superalloy | Obtained from dismantling rare and standard weapons. Common drop. |
| Liquid Metal | Obtained from dismantling rare and standard weapons. Common drop. |
| Multi-Composite Receivers | Obtained from dismantling standard, rare, and Ultimate weapons. Is quite a rare drop. |
| High Precision Exchange Components | Obtained from dismantling standard, rare, and Ultimate weapons. Is an extremely rare drop. |
| Superconductor Core | Obtained from dismantling standard, rare, and ultimate reactors. Common drop. |
| Nano Compound | Obtained from dismantling standard, rare, and ultimate reactors. Rare drop. |
| Void Organism | Obtained by dismantling all tiers of Sensors, Memory, Processors, and Auxiliary Power units. Common drop. |
| Solenoid | These are drops from Void Fragments and Void Fusion Reactor completions at Normal difficult. |
| Quantum Crystal | These are drops from Void Fragments and Void Fusion Reactor completions at Hard difficult. |
And there you go, every material in The First Descendant and how to get it. I’ll be returning to this list a lot over the coming months, adding any new materials and refining details around specific farms that I discovered that have very high yields for specific resources.
The First Descendant is available to play now on PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, and Steam.
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