The First Descendant Patch 1.3.36 Notes (30th July 2026)

Sacred Strike's conversion to ground-targeted placement marks the most substantial mechanical shift in Patch 1.3.36, changing how players position and execute the ability. Previously point-and-click, the skill now requires deliberate ground placement, which trades immediate responsiveness for tactical control. The accompanying critical hit rate increase from 20% to 100% compensates by guaranteeing every hit lands as a critical strike, making the ability's damage floor predictable. This rebalance targets players relying on Sacred Strike as a consistent damage source, particularly in builds where critical hit scaling matters. The shift also suggests the developers identified positioning as the real limiter of Sacred Strike's usefulness, not raw damage output.

Two character-specific fixes address recovery mechanics that have quietly broken builds. Serena's "Holy Fire" from her Transcendent Module "Archangel" now properly recovers HP, restoring a healing avenue that was simply non-functional. Blair's "Extinguish" from "Truly Deadly Cuisine" receives the same fix. These are not balance adjustments; they are corrections to abilities that were never working as intended. Players who invested in these modules have been operating with crippled kits for an unknown duration, making this patch a restoration rather than an improvement. The Supply Fortress Trigger Module also gains ground here, improving Rounds recovery from 5% to 7% when paired with Barrier-type skills, which opens a modest survivability path for defensive builds.

Onslaught systems receive two separate fixes that affect how players track and engage with the mode. Thunder Cage effects no longer stack, eliminating a scenario where overlapping skill interactions created unintended scaling. The completion count display now shows combined totals across all Stages per player, shifting from individual stage tracking to an aggregate view. This change makes progression feel more continuous and visible, though it also obscures how many completions came from specific stages. For players grinding Onslaught for rewards, this is a quality-of-life clarification rather than a mechanical shift.

Terrain interaction bugs round out the patch. Vulgus Drop Pod auto-targeting now correctly accounts for elevation differences, preventing weapons and skills from hitting the lower section and whiffing due to map geometry. Frost Walker in Void Intercept Battle: Extreme no longer fails to face the Descendant after certain skill uses, fixing a boss behaviour that likely caused frustrating attack patterns. These are friction removals that smooth out existing content without adding new systems.

The patch also corrects a widespread tooltip omission where "Cannot be acquired by any means other than the skill effect" was missing from skill summaries in non-Korean languages, and fixes display errors in the Inversion Reinforcement Effect category, Mission icons, and the Accelerate Research Event timer. What remains unaddressed is any mention of balance changes to underperforming Descendants or modules beyond Sacred Strike, suggesting this patch prioritises mechanical fixes and quality-of-life improvements over broader rebalancing.