How to get your Mastery rank up in The First Descendant

The First Descendant Mastery Ranks Up — (Image credit: Nexon)

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How to level up Mastery
How to get Mastery Rank EXP

Getting your The First Descendant Mastery rank up means using the Prime Hands in Albion. With enough experience you can get a permanent buff to things like player and weapon enhancement module slots, Inventory and Storage across the board, as well various other slot increases.

However, it's not clear what you do to earn Mastery EXP and ranks if you're a newcomer. Plus it doesn't increase your rank automatically, like your character's level - there are specific things you need to do to make it happen. Fortunately, I'll explain below how to get your Mastery rank up in The First Descendant, and how you earn Mastery Rank EXP.

How to level up Mastery in The First Descendant

Assuming you've got the Mastery Rank EXP to increase your rank (which the game usually makes clear) you'll need to then go to Albion, the hub area available from the map, and specifically the Prime Hands, marked with an icon on the East side of Albion.

The First Descendant Mastery Ranks terminal — (Image credit: Nexon)

There's a console terminal you can interact with here where you'll be given the option to increase your rank. Do so, and there'll be a short cinematic where two giant hands do… something unclear, but when it's done you'll have increased your Mastery Rank! You'll have all the benefits of the rank from that point on, but will need to go fill the EXP bar before you can come back for the next one.

How to get Mastery Rank EXP in The First Descendant

Getting EXP for your Mastery Rank can be done through numerous methods, but is generally a lot slower than levelling up your character. Here's a few ways to increase it:

Levelling up individual characters without any Socket Types assigned to any Module Slots
Completing missions for the first time
Increasing the proficiency level of weapons

This generally means that you'll be wise to switch between weapons early on before it starts taking longer and longer to level them up, but ultimately your Mastery Level Rank ups are probably going to slow down the longer you play the First Descendant - there's no real way around it.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.