The First Descendant Patch 1.3.37 Notes (6th August 2026)
Nexon has overhauled Onslaught Mode's difficulty curve and reward structure, reducing early-stage punishment and shifting late-game focus away from endless swarms toward high-value target hunting.
Onslaught Mode has become the focal point of Patch 1.3.37, arriving on 6th August 2026. The overhaul addresses a specific player behaviour Nexon identified in recent data: players were abandoning runs early because they felt locked into their Arche Parameter choices from the start. That pressure to reroll for perfect parameters before committing to a full run has been the mode's hidden friction point, and the patch tackles it head-on by buffing higher-tier parameter appearance rates and weighting the probability structure so your odds improve as you progress deeper into selection phases. Least popular parameters have been removed from the starting pool entirely, which means early-game decisions now feel less like a trap.
Stage 4 has undergone the most dramatic changes. Tyrant spawns have been cut from 6 to 3, but each kill now grants 450 Amorphous Dimension Fragments instead of 300, and defeating them counts as 35 monster defeats toward your objective rather than 1. The moving battle section that interrupted combat flow has been removed, and a Commander now appears in the second wave, randomly selected from Corrupted Khulan, Corrupted Goroth, Corrupted Ledras, or Corrupted Sigvore. Cover has been added to the third combat area. Collectively, these changes shift the mode away from grinding through endless swarms toward hunting high-value targets with real strategic weight. All stages 1 through 4 have seen monster HP and shields lowered across the board, and several Enhanced Effects have been removed or modified. Stage 1 specifically lost Legion Recovery and Multi-Phase Shield Drone, whilst Stage 4 lost Survival Activities but gained Legion Recovery in compensation. Dimensional Energy value has doubled in Stage 1, from 50 to 100.
Bounty Operations and Void Intercept Battle: Extreme have also received targeted nerfs. Specific missions like Resurrected Immortality Obliviant, Seudo Engulfed by Madness, Soul Reaper Gruncah, Plaudia the Gnawing Calamity, and Hungry Abyss Scarab all have lower monster or commander HP. A weak point damage adjustment value that applied to monsters in Onslaught Mode and Bounty Operations has been removed entirely, which flattens damage scaling across these modes.
Two event windows run alongside the patch. The Descendant Rapid Advancement Mission runs from 6th August through 19th August, offering accelerated progression rewards. The Weekend Readjustment Discount Event cuts the Gold, Kuiper Shards, and Superconductive Cooling Units required for Ancestors Module Readjustment by 50 per cent every Friday through Sunday until 16th August. A separate daily free readjustment benefit has also been added through 19th August. These events are explicitly designed to reduce friction in module progression, though they are temporary.
Bug fixes address Valby's Bubble skill description display, Serena's Sacred Strike misfiring with her Archangel Transcendent Module, and a Mission restart issue in Liquefied AX Vault. UI corrections include makeup icon displays for Hailey and Luna, and a fix for party member information failing to load under certain conditions. The patch notes do not mention any forced client update size or whether progress resets occur, so client-side impact appears minimal. What remains unaddressed is whether Onslaught Mode's difficulty now feels accessible to newer players or whether the changes simply shift the grind elsewhere.
Full Patch Notes
▲ Buff▼ Nerf✓ FixGreetings, Descendants!
Here are the details of The First Descendant Patch 1.3.37.
Descendants, please reconnect to the game for smoother gameplay.
■ Patch Date
- 08.06.2026 (Thu) 00:00 PDT
- Steam, Xbox, PS5
■ Patch Details
Shops
- Added new products.
- New Event Challenge "Descendant Rapid Advancement Mission" will begin.
ㄴ Complete Missions during the Event Period and advance even faster with a variety of rewards.
ㄴ Period: After the 08.06.2026 (Thu) patch - 08.19.2026 (Wed) 23:59 PDT
(2) World Event
- A new world co-op event "Assemble Event II" will begin.
- Added "Weekend Readjustment Discount" Event.
- During weekends within the Event Period, the amount of "Gold," "Kuiper Shards," and "Superconductive Cooling Units" required for Ancestors Module Readjustment will decrease by 50%.
ㄴ Period: 08.07.2026 (Fri) 00:00 - 08.16.2026 (Sun) 23:59 PDT, from Friday 00:00 until Sunday 23:59 during the period.
(4) Dismantle Ancestors Module Event Shop
- Added " Fragment Exchange" Event Shop.
- Added the "Today's Readjustment Benefit" Event.
ㄴ You can Readjust an Ancestors Module for free once per day.
ㄴ Period: After the 08.06.2026 (Thu) patch - 08.19.2026 (Wed) 23:59 PDT
Content Improvements
(1) Onslaught Mode
- Improved Arche Parameters in Onslaught Mode
- Balance improvements for Onslaught Mode
ㄴ Onslaught: Stage 1
ㆍ Lowered Monster HP and Shield.
ㆍ Removed some of the Enhanced Effects.
ㆍ Removed "Legion Recovery."
ㆍ Removed "Multi-Phase Shield Drone."
ㆍ Increased Dimensional Energy value from 50 → 100.
ㄴ Onslaught: Stage 2
ㆍ Lowered Monster HP and Shield.
ㄴ Onslaught: Stage 3
ㆍ Lowered Monster HP and Shield.
ㄴ Onslaught: Stage 4
ㆍ Lowered Monster HP and Shield.
ㆍ Removed and modified some of the Enhanced Effects that appear.
ㆍ Removed "Survival Activities."
ㆍ Added "Legion Recovery."
ㆍ Reduced the number of Tyrant Spawns.
ㆍ Max Number of Spawns: 6 → 3
ㆍ Defeating Tyrants increases the target Monster Defeat Count Points.
ㆍ Previous target Monster Defeat Count: 1
ㆍ New target Monster Defeat Count: 35
ㆍ Increased the number of Amorphous Dimension Fragments that can be acquired by defeating Tyrants.
ㆍ Increased from 300 → 450.
ㆍ Removed Moving Battle Section that appears in combat.
ㆍ Added Commander to the second wave.
ㆍ One of the four Commanders will appear randomly.
ㆍ Corrupted Khulan
ㆍ Corrupted Goroth
ㆍ Corrupted Ledras
ㆍ Corrupted Sigvore
ㆍ Added cover in the Third Combat Area.
| # Designer's Comments
After analyzing recent data from Onslaught Mode, we found that your Arche Parameter choices have a much heavier impact on the overall gameplay experience than we initially anticipated. We noticed a trend where some players were abandoning their runs early on, assuming that the rest of the content would be too punishing if they didn't roll their desired Arche Parameters right away. To alleviate this pressure, we’ve buffed the appearance rates for higher-tier Arche Parameters. We’ve also tweaked the probability structure so that your chances of rolling top-tier parameters increase as you progress deeper into the selection phases. Additionally, we’ve removed some of the least popular Arche Parameters from the starting pool to make your early-game choices feel much more satisfying. Beyond Arche Parameters, we've heard your feedback that Emergency Mission objectives could be difficult to recognize in the heat of the moment. To fix this, we’ve overhauled the mission activation icons, making your goals much more intuitive and easier to spot at a glance. We’ve also taken another look at the overall difficulty of the mode. Across all stages, we’ve toned down monster HP and shields, and tweaked certain enemy buffs to make encounters feel less tedious. For Stage 4 in particular, we’ve removed several frustrating elements that were interrupting the flow of combat, shifting the focus toward making late-game fights more engaging and fun. Specifically, we've overhauled how Tyrant monsters function. Instead of just throwing crowds of them at you, we've reduced their spawn numbers while massively boosting their kill rewards and objective contribution. Our goal here is to shift the gameplay away from mindlessly hacking through endless swarms, and toward the strategic satisfaction of hunting down and prioritizing high-value targets. |
|---|
(2) Void Intercept Battle: Extreme
- Balance improvements for Void Intercept Battle: Extreme
- Balance improvements for Bounty Operations
ㄴ Lowered Monster HP and Shields in the "Resurrected Immortality Obliviant" Mission.
ㄴ Lowered Monster HP in the "Seudo Engulfed by Madness" Mission.
ㄴ Lowered Monster HP in the "Soul Reaper Gruncah" Mission.
ㄴ Lowered Monster HP in the "Plaudia the Gnawing Calamity" Mission.
ㄴ Lowered the Commander HP in the "Hungry Abyss Scarab" Mission.
(4) Miscellaneous
- Removed the Weak Point Damage Adjustment Value of Monsters appearing in Onslaught Mode and Bounty Operations.
- Fixed an issue where the description of the "Bubble" skill's Damage range failed to display properly when Valby's Supply Moisture Transcendent Module was equipped.
- Fixed an issue where using "Sacred Strike" would intermittently fail to fire when Serena's Archangel Transcendent Module was equipped.
(2) Equipment & Modules
- Modules
- Fixed an issue where re-playing the Axion Plains "Liquefied AX Vault" Mission failed to restart the mission instantly.
(4) UI & UX
- Fixed an issue where the icon image for Hailey's Makeup "Sapphire Pride" was incorrectly displayed.
- Fixed an issue where the icon image for Luna's Makeup "Emerald Wit" was incorrectly displayed.
(5) Miscellaneous
- Fixed an issue where the required EXP amount to reach Level 30 → 31 was displayed in the UI, regardless of the Fellow's current level, when their current EXP value was 0.
- Fixed an issue where some Party Members' information failed to be displayed in the Party UI when entering a Mission.
- Fixed an issue where, under certain conditions, the preset was replaced intermittently while a Mission was in progress.
ㄴ When switching to a preset with the same Descendant, the Descendant was re-generated.
Thank you.
Sources
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Written by
Nathan LeesGaming journalist and founder of XP Gained. Covering patch notes, breaking news, and updates across 160+ games.
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