The best Hailey build makes the most of her single-target DPS in The First Descendant. Her sniper-based skills are amazing at nuking bosses making her the ideal pick for Void Intercept battles.
While she comes with a fair bit of AoE capabilities, Hailey is still going to be one of the weaker choices for clearing mobs. She will not be as proficient at clearing regular dungeons as that of Bunny or Viessa so you will be struggling a fair bit when it comes to leveling her up.
Here is guide one of the best builds that you can try for Hailey in The First Descendant.
How to unlock Hailey in The First Descendant
To unlock Hailey you can either purchase her from the store by using Caliber, or craft her by talking to Anais in Albion. however, to craft her you will need the following components:
| Items | Materials |
|---|---|
| Hailey Enhanced Cells | 246x Monad Shard (Break resource boxes and open Munitions in Kingston) 239x Compound Coating Material (Break resource boxes and open Munitions in Echo Swamp) 96x Polyatomic Ion Particles 1x Hailey Enhanced Cells Blueprint 200k Gold |
| Hailey Stabilizer | 363x Nanopolymers (Break resource boxes and open Munitions in Agna Desert) 455x Reverse Charging Coil (Break resource boxes and open Munitions in Fortress) 47x Negative Ion Particles (Open Encrypted Vaults in Sterile Lands) 1x Hailey Stabilizer Blueprint 200k Gold |
| Hailey Spiral Catalyst | 422x Repton (Drops from mission monsters in Kingston) 554x Carbon Crystal (Break resource boxes and open Munitions in Hagios) 14x Common Carbon Activator (Kill Elite Monsters in Seed Vault: Infiltration Operation) 1x Hailey Spiral Catalyst Blueprint 200k Gold |
| 36x Hailey Data Chips | The Hailey Data Chips needed to craft the full character can be farmed from: -The Haven (Hagios, Hard) -Mystery’s End (White-Night Gulch, Hard) |
Apart from the above materials, you will also require 400,000 Credits to research Hailey.
Hailey’s abilities in The First Descendant
Hailey is a Cryo Descendant who deals with ice-based attacks and excels at single-target DPS. The amount of damage she does also increases based on the distance that she has from the target.
Here are all of her skills:
| Skill Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Safe Strategic Retreat (Passive) | Firearm Weak Point Damage increases when Hailey is further away from enemies, but decreases when she approaches them. |
| Cryo Rounds | Fires a Cryogenic Round at enemies in front to deal damage and inflict Cryo. Enemies inflicted with Cryo receive additional damage from firearm attack. |
| Storm Snare | Fires a glacial beam at an enemy to deal powerful damage and inflict Cryo. Inflicts Knockback and Flash Freezing to nearby enemies. |
| Cold Fury | Grants Cold Fury to Hailey. This effect gradually stacks. The more it stacks, the more Movement Speed decreases and Critical Hit Rate for firearms and skills increases. Becomes immune to Knockdown while the effect is active. |
| Zenith | Equips her Unique Weapon. When hitting an enemy with the Unique Weapon, deals additional Chill skill damage with greatly increased Penetration. Recovers a portion of MP upon successfully attacking Weak Points, and partially decreases the Cooldown when the skill ends depending on the number of fired bullets. |
Best Descendant Modules for Hailey
When it comes to Hailey’s best build in The First Descendant we have focused her Module loadout around single-target DPS. With this setup, she will be able to solo most Void Intercept battles in seconds.
Here is one incredible set-up that you can try:
| Module | Socket Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| HP Amplification | Cerulean | Increases Max HP but decreases Max Shield |
| Chill Specialist | Cerulean | Increases Chill Skill Power |
| Dangerous Ambush | Xantic | More damage against Bosses |
| Spear and Shield | Rutile | Improves Defense and Skill Power |
| Skill Concentration | Almandine | Increases Skill Critical Hit Damage |
| Mid-Air Maneuvering | Malachite | With this you can grapple even air! |
| Increased DEF | Rutile | Significantly improves defense |
| Front Lines | Almandine | Increases Skill Critical hit Damage and Critical Hit Hite |
| Singular Specialist | Rutile | Increases Singular Skill Power Modifier |
| Nimble Fingers | Rutile | Reduces Skill Cooldown |
| Glacial Syncytium | Almandine | Increases Critical Hit Resistance and Chill Skill Power |
When looking to slot in Descendant Modules make sure to be aware of Hailey’s Module Capacity Limit. Remember to put the mods in the slots that are of the same type to reduce the cost by half.
Best Weapons and Weapon Modules for Hailey
There are three weapons that suit Hailey the most in The First Descendant:
- Piercing Light (Boss)
- Enduring Legacy (Boss)
- Thunder Cage (Farming)
As she primarily has a sniper-based playstyle, weapons like the Piercing Light and Enduring Legacy will be the best for her when it comes to bossing.
However, for clearing mobs and other standard content, you will need to build around a Thunder Cage.
Best Weapon Modules for Hailey’s Piercing Light build
| Module | Socket Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Rifling Reinforcement | Malachite | Increases Firearm ATK |
| Better Concentration | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage |
| Weak Point Sight | Malachite | Increases Weak Point Damage |
| Weak Point Expansion | Malachite | Increases Weak Point Damage |
| Maximize Weight Balance | Cerulean | Improves Rounds per Magazine |
| Action and Reaction | Malachite | Improves Firearm ATK and Recoil |
| Better Insight | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate |
| Focus Fire | Malachite | Increases Weak Point Damage and Firearm Critical Hit Damage |
| Concentration Priority | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage Reduces Reload Time Modifier |
| Expand Weapon Charge | Cerulean | Increases Rounds per Magazine |
Best Weapon Modules for Hailey’s Enduring Legacy build
| Module | Socket Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Rifling Reinforcement | Malachite | Increases Firearm ATK |
| Fire Rate UP | Xantic | Improves Fire Rate |
| Better Insight | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate |
| Better Concentration | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage |
| Expand Weapon Charge | Cerulean | Improves Rounds per Magazine |
| Action and Reaction | Malachite | Increases Firearm ATK Reduces Recoil |
| Fire Priority | Almandine | Improves Fire ATK Reduces Reload Time Modifier |
| Concentration Priority | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage Reduces Reload Time Modifier |
| Fire Enhancement | Almandine | Adds Fire ATK equal to 30% of Firearm ATK |
| Sharp Precision Shot | Xantic | Reduces Fire Rate While pulling the trigger, increase Fire Rare, reduce Recoil, and increase Firearm ATK by +6% every 0.5s, max 10 stacks. |
Best Weapon Modules for Hailey’s Thunder Cage build
| Module | Socket Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Rifling Reinforcement | Malachite | Increase Firearm ATK |
| Fire Rate UP | Xantic | Improves Fire Rate |
| Electric Enhancement | Xantic | Adds Electric Elemental Damage Equal to 30% of Firearm ATK |
| Edging Shot | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate Reduces Firearm ATK |
| Firing Fiesta | Xantic | When reloading, rounds are not consumed for a short duration |
| Action and Reaction | Malachite | Increases Firearm ATK Reduces Recoil |
| Better Concentration | Almandine | Betters Firearm Critical Hit Damage |
| Better Insight | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate |
| Concentration Priority | Almandine | Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage |
| Expand Weapon Charge | Cerulean | Increases round per magazine |
Best Reactor and External Components for Hailey
When it comes to picking the best reactors for Hailey you will need to focus on Singular and Dimension skills, Look fo reactors with the Chill attribute and the following keywords:
- Singular (Storm Snare, Zenith)
- Dimension (Cryo Rounds, Cold Fury)
Frozen Singular Reactor is what you need to be looking for along with the following stats:
- Singular Skill Power Boost
- Chill Skill Power Boost
- Skill Critical Hit Damage
For external components, you can look to go for the Slayer Set.
How to play Hailey in The First Descendant
If you love shooting things from a screen away then you are going to love Hailey. She has a sniper-based playstyle that revolves around taking out single targets from afar. This makes her particularly potent at nuking dungeon bosses and Void Intercept enemies.
However, while she is amazing at single-target DPS, Hailey is not as potent when it comes to clearing mobs. While a good Thunder Cage will help her out quite a bit, she is still going to struggle especially when her passive dictates that her weak point damage goes down the closer she is to her enemies.
Here are some of the pros and cons of playing Hailey in the First Descendant:
Pros:
- Best single-target DPS Descendant
- Pretty powerful even with a budget build
- Can solo every Void Intercept Battle
Cons:
- Lacks proper AoE clear
- Can’t move when using sniper skills making her vulnerable to incoming damage
