The First Descendant Update 1.4.3 adds Cradle of Evolution, new Ultimate Hailey rewards and Lounge Storage Trade. The update is listed for Steam, Xbox and PS5 in the official announcement. official Steam announcement
Cradle of Evolution starts at Mastery Rank 18
Cradle of Evolution unlocks after reaching Mastery Rank 18. Players can enter it through the Tactical Transport Control NPC in Albion or from the World Map. Public Operations require 81,580 Arche Activity, while Private Operations can begin below that threshold.
Every run starts from a random location, and the route changes with the starting position. The area contains eight Combat Zones; completing 4 allows progression to the Commander area. Extermination-based battles add the Vulgus Bombardment and Accelerate Extraction mechanics, while Commander Separated Tarvos appears as a named encounter.
Ultimate Hailey rewards depend on drop chances
Mission completion rewards include the Amorphous Material Pattern: Ultimate Hailey at a 25.7% chance. The 2 Ultimate Hailey-exclusive Transcendent Modules are listed at a 17.1% chance. These are probability-based rewards rather than guaranteed drops.
Equipping Hailey or Ultimate Hailey activates Hailey's Descendant Exclusive Quest. The update therefore ties the new character-related content to both Cradle of Evolution rewards and the act of using one of the 2 specified Descendants.
Lounge Storage Trade has rank, fee and binding rules
Lounge Storage Trade introduces asynchronous trading: other players can visit a player's Lounge and purchase listed items. Access requires Mastery Rank 15 and the Sub Quests that unlock one-on-one trading, visits to other Lounges and Lounge Storage Trade itself.
Sellers pay a 10% Trade Fee when they acquire their Sales Proceeds. Listing and purchase limits increase with Mastery Rank and reset daily at 00:00 PDT.
Transcendent Weapons have minimum trade prices of 100, 200, 400 and 600 Caliber for Quality 1, Quality 2, Quality 3 and Quality 4 respectively. Newly acquired Transcendent Weapons remain under Trade Protection for 24 hours, while weapons obtained through trade become bound. In some countries, Transcendent Weapons cannot be listed for sale or trade; the announcement does not identify those countries.
2 additional systems and 3 announcement revisions
Update 1.4.3 adds the Freezing Breakthrough Trigger Module. The Module Purchase Shop sells Normal, Rare and Ultimate Modules in exchange for Archive Shards and becomes available from Mastery Rank 2.
The official announcement also records 3 revisions dated September 17, 2026: additional Cradle of Evolution details at 03:00 PDT, revised item drops for the Hard 400% Infiltration Operation at 04:10 PDT, and revised Party Leader desertion criteria at 23:30 PDT.
For players targeting the new dungeon, Mastery Rank 18 and the Public Operation's Arche Activity requirement define access. Trading opens earlier at Rank 15, but the required quests, daily limits, 10% fee and weapon-binding rules make it a more structured system than a simple item exchange.
Also see The First Descendant game page
