Nexon has announced a comprehensive overhaul and correction plan for the character Ines and her Dark Current skill in The First Descendant. The developer released a detailed breakdown explaining a series of calculation errors, communication gaps, and unlisted changes that occurred across updates 1.3.28 and 1.3.31, culminating in a major formula rewrite scheduled for the upcoming 1.3.32 patch. This technical correction shifts the skill’s damage scaling away from MP and onto traditional Skill Power, resolving a massive discrepancy between in-game performance and official tooltips.
The First Descendant is a free-to-play, cooperative third-person looter shooter developed and published by Nexon Games, currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The latest developer clarification, published on Steam, outlines how several backend calculations were omitted or implemented improperly during recent deployment cycles. This communication follows the studio’s ongoing efforts to stabilize the game’s live service environment, which recently saw minor client-side fixes in The First Descendant Hotfix 1.3.31b.
Chronological Breakdown of Dark Current Changes
The issues surrounding Ines and her Dark Current ability began during the 1.3.28 update, where Nexon intended to shift the skill’s scaling but failed to implement the complete formula. The developer noted that during the 1.3.28 update, the transition from Skill Critical Hit Rate to MP scaling was deployed while key calculation elements were left unreflected. This created a massive discrepancy where the actual in-game output did not match the tooltips, leaving players to guess how the skill was actually calculating its damage. When Patch 1.3.31 arrived, Nexon attempted to resolve part of the issue by applying the enemy DEF calculation, but they did so without notifying players in advance, causing further confusion when damage numbers unexpectedly dropped.
| Patch Version | Applied Changes | Omitted / Missing Elements |
|---|---|---|
| Update 1.3.28 | Damage Multiplier basis changed from Skill Critical Hit Rate to MP. | Enemy DEF calculations and Arche Type calculations were entirely omitted. Tooltips failed to reflect actual behavior. |
| Patch 1.3.31 | MP damage multiplier maintained; Enemy DEF calculations were successfully applied. | Arche Type calculations remained missing. No advance notice was provided for the DEF calculation addition. |
| Patch 1.3.32 (Scheduled) | Damage Multiplier changes from MP to Skill Power; Arche Type and Attribute Power calculations added; Enemy DEF maintained. | None. Tooltips will be fully updated to match the correct formula structure. |
How Does the Dark Current Formula Work in Patch 1.3.32?
In the upcoming Patch 1.3.32, the Dark Current skill formula will calculate damage based on Skill Power rather than Max MP, while also incorporating Arche Type and Attribute Power calculations. This represents a complete structural shift from the system introduced in Update 1.3.28. By moving the scaling basis to Skill Power, Nexon aims to bring Ines back into alignment with standard character progression routes, ensuring that players do not have to build specialized, non-standard MP gear sets just to make a single ability viable.
The upcoming patch will also resolve the missing Arche Type calculation, which had been left out of both the 1.3.28 and 1.3.31 updates due to internal verification errors. Furthermore, Attribute Power calculations are being integrated directly into the formula for the first time. This ensures that elemental and attribute-specific mods equipped on your Descendant will properly amplify the damage output of Dark Current as originally intended by the combat design team.
Developer Pledges and Communication Improvements
Nexon has openly apologized for the confusion and frustration caused by these compounding calculation errors. The studio admitted that the issue was not simply a single coding mistake; rather, it was a systemic failure in how the team verifies, implements, and communicates balance adjustments to the player base. Moving forward, the developer has pledged to strengthen several key areas of its pipeline to prevent similar incidents:
- Formula Verification: Strengthening advance verification of all mathematical formulas and application structures before patches go live.
- Tooltip Accuracy: Improving the precision of patch notes and in-game tooltips to ensure they match live server behavior.
- Discrepancy Reduction: Minimizing any gaps between the actual applied state of a character and the information provided to the community.
Player Impact
The transition of Dark Current scaling from MP to Skill Power in Patch 1.3.32 will force a complete rebuild for players dedicated to Ines. Under the 1.3.28 and 1.3.31 rules, players optimized their builds by stacking Max MP to maximize their damage multiplier, a niche stat priority that will become obsolete once the update arrives. With the multiplier shifting to Skill Power and the addition of Attribute Power scaling, players must pivot back to traditional offensive stats, such as Skill Power Modifier and Attribute-specific damage modules.
In practice, this means any specialized external components or reactors farmed specifically for MP substats will lose their primary utility for this build. Instead, players should prepare to farm reactors that boost Skill Power and her specific Arche Type attributes. While the transition period might feel disruptive, aligning her formula with the rest of the roster prevents Ines from becoming a balance outlier that requires separate gear rules, ultimately making her easier to scale alongside future content updates.
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