The First Descendant Guide | Best Serena Build

Here's a guide on the best Serena Build in The First Descendant.

Game Guide by TauxicPandA on Aug 11, 2025

This guide will help you make Serena's build better so that you can easily beat tough bosses like the Ice Maiden.

It's more critical to maximize skill power damage in this build than to maximize gun damage in the usual way in The First Descendant.

The First Descendant Guide, Best Serena Build

Understanding the Core Mechanics

Ascension, Serena's second skill, now works right with a variety of weapons. If you hit an enemy with your first ability's Repentance curse while using High Power Rounds, you have a 50% chance to deal skill power times 393 as fire damage in The First Descendant.

This exchange didn't work before, but now it does. This makes it possible to build in entirely new ways.

To get the best chance of activating this skill power proc, you should pair Serena with a weapon that fires quickly and a lot of bullets at once.

It might look like you're doing a lot of damage with your gun, but most of it is coming from these skill power procs from Ascension.

Serena Build Setup

Your build should be based around Serena's second ability and how it works with High Power Rounds.

You should implement quality of life changes that ensure consistent performance while also maximizing the power of your skills.

Serena's fourth skill scales with HP, so focus on HP for damage and survivability. Since your second ability does more damage as skill power goes up, you should focus on building up all of your skill power instead of sharing it between HP and skill power in The First Descendant.

You should have Dangerous Ambush in your Mods so that when the Colossus dies, your skill attacks will be stronger.

Make it stronger by adding Singular Amplification, Fire Amplification, Singular Specialist, and Power Increase.

When you use these Mods, they add more damage increases to your skill power procs.

The First Descendant Guide, Best Serena Build

Fire Specialist does less damage total than Power Increase because Power Increase multiplies your skill power instead of just your fire skill power.

Power Increase is a better choice since Fire Amplification already gives you a lot of fire skill power in The First Descendant.

On the other hand, Fire Specialist might be more reliable when Dangerous Ambush is running and the boss isn't down.

Add quality of life Mods like Nimble Fingers to lower the delay and Skill Extension to make your Repentance buff last longer.

Reduce the delay so you can dash instead of reloading when you need to, and lower the cost of skills to stay airborne. When Ascension isn't operational, you do no damage, so staying airborne is very important.

Add Fire Nihilium to boost your fire skills; this is more useful than general damage increases when you're focused on fire-based skills.

Ancient Knight Setup

The Ancient Knight should primarily be used to destroy weak spots quickly in The First Descendant.

You could use a sniper weapon or a Restored Relic instead, but the Ancient Knight works well with Serena because it deals fire damage and can hit multiple times.

Build the Ancient Knight to get more hits and do more damage. Its fire rate and extra fire damage will help you do this. Since running with Serena counts as a reload, add a rank one.

Firing Fiesta mod. As the fight starts, your goal is to break all three weak places while Firing Fiesta is up.

You can dash again and keep shooting if you don't break all weak points during the first Fiesta proc.

When rolling the Ancient Knight's weapons, fire attack, firearm attack, and fire rate should come first.

For the stat rolls against Colossus, pay attention to multi-hit damage, multi-hit chance, fire attack, and extra fire attack.

The First Descendant Guide, Best Serena Build

Executor Shotgun Build

For your primary weapon, you can pick between Smithereens and Executor. Executor shoots more pellets per shot, which means there are more chances to deal skill damage.

Smithereens, on the other hand, fires faster but with fewer pellets. Executor was chosen for this build because it has more pellets, which means it has more chances to proc.

Because the weapon is used for skill damage procs, the Executor build is more about utility than straight damage in The First Descendant.

You want the Executor to be able to fire quickly, do fire damage, and reliably switch hits. When it hits more than once, you have a better chance of dealing skill damage.

While you're in the air, your chance of getting multiple hits should be higher than 100%.

Multi-Piercing Trigger gives you an extra 15% chance to hit more than once, Multi-Percussion Sight gives you more shots and a chance to hit more than once, and Multi-Trigger Support gives you more chances to hit more than once.

Add Shell Up to unlock additional processes and gain more space in The First Descendant.

Add fire damage Mods like Fire Conductor for more gun attacks, Fire Priority for fire attacks, Fire Enhancement for more fire attacks, and Action and Rifle Reinforcement because they make attacks stronger.

You can trade some damage Mods for better quality of life changes like bigger magazines if you'd rather, but Serena's ability to reload makes this less important.

Aim for fire rate, weapon attack, fire attack, multi-hit chance, and multi-hit damage when you roll as an Executor. The most crucial role for getting the most out of your skill damage procs is still multi-hit chance in The First Descendant.

The First Descendant Guide, Best Serena Build

Reactor and Components

When you attack a Colossus, your reactor should pay attention to the fire skill power boost ratio, the single skill power boost ratio, and the skill attack damage.

Make sure you have shotgun mounting on because it changes how often your skills do damage when you use the Executor.

For external parts, using more than one set can work well. When an enemy has the Fire Brand set, their fire protection drops by 30%.

The Shell Crusher set effectively boosts the fire rate. The Volcanic set gives you fire skill power and the ability to stack skill power.

The Slayer set gives you more skill power and more ammo space in The First Descendant.

To keep from running out of MP during a fight, the parts you choose should focus on max MP and MP recovery in battle.

If the set you like doesn't have these numbers, consider switching to one that does.

Inversion Reinforcement

When you're in the air, choose Aerial Maneuvering Raider to improve your chance of getting multiple hits.

As an extra gun or fire move, use Fire Focus Rounds. Add Strike Point Amplification to do more damage to weak spots.

Arche Tuning Board

If you don't have a Mutant Cell, put points into skill power nodes and get all the skill power boosts that are possible in The First Descendant.

Use Defense Neutralization on a Mutant cell to make it resistant to fire and remove its defenses.

As you play, pay attention to the left side of the board to increase your chances of getting multiple hits. For even more chances, use Enhanced Multi-Hit.

There are also 500 skill power nodes and skill cost reduction places where you can spend points. When you spend one point, the purple nodes that offer 500 to 600 skill power are a great deal.

The First Descendant Guide, Best Serena Build

Combat Strategy

Start each battle by using your Hover Power. Once you're in the air, use your first ability, then your fourth ability, and finally dash.

While Firing Fiesta is going on, use your Ancient Knight to attack weak spots.

Once you've destroyed all of the weak spots, switch to your Executor shotgun and keep firing while staying in the air.

With a high chance to hit multiple times, skill power scaling, and the Ascension proc, Ice Maiden will be quickly killed in The First Descendant.

Remember that the amount of damage you do depends on keeping the Repentance debuff from your first ability and staying in the air to keep Ascension alive.

Without these conditions, your damage drops by a lot, so make uptime control a top priority during the fight.

Also, check our The First Descendant Review and other guides below: