What is Weapon Proficiency in The First Descendant?

As you progress through The First Descendant, you’ll power level a lot of gear in the quest to become as strong as possible. Descendant levels are the easiest to understand since each level upgrades a ton of stats and levels up one of that Descendant’s abilities. However, one type of level-up is seemingly shrouded in secrecy, as it consistently appears in the chat window. Here’s what Weapon Proficiency is in The First Descendant.

What are Weapon Proficiency levels in The First Descendant?

Weapon Proficiency is the overall experience you’ve gained with that weapon. You gain experience simply by using it to kill enemies and should get levels quite quickly. These levels start at zero if you’ve never used the weapon before, and climb to 40 before stopping. From there, you need to prestige the weapon with a Crystallization Catalyst to start leveling it again.

What does Weapon Proficiency do?

Weapon Proficiency is useful in two key areas. The first is Mastery, which is granted for every Weapon Proficiency level for the first 40 levels of that weapon. From there, you’re safe to delete the weapon if you don’t like it. Using it longer won’t help you unless it’s a weapon you want to keep using. This Mastery will help you toward the next Mastery rank, which can grant bonuses such as storage space, Descendant/Weapon Module Capacity, and Consumable Inventory slots. Ideally, you want to get as much Mastery as quickly as possible.

The more interesting of the two uses, however, is for Module Capacity. Each level with the weapon increases the Module Capacity, allowing you to install more and better Modules to increase the weapon’s power. Reaching level 40 with the weapon also allows you to install a Crystallization Catalyst. This resets the weapon to level one, but makes a chosen slot lower the cost of any Module put into it. If you’ve played Warframe before, this is quite similar to Forma.

How to farm Weapon Proficiency

While it’s suggested that you farm Weapon Proficiency while doing whatever else you need to do in The First Descendant, a great place to farm strictly that is in any Special Operation across any region. These typically put you up against large and consistent waves of enemies, allowing you to easily rack up a ton of Weapon and Descendant XP. Special Operations for each region are unlocked upon completing that region’s main missions.