The First Descendant confirms Dia release time, skills, and Gley improvements

The First Descendant Season 3 Episode 3 is imminent. In December, developer Nexon shared its 2026 roadmap through the summer, revealing that Season 4 has been delayed until after May. While the postponement of Season 4 is disappointing, the good news is that the release time for Dia is right around the corner, and Nexon has revealed all of her skills alongside significant improvements to Gley.

What time does Dia come out in The First Descendant?

The release time for when Dia will come out in The First Descendant is 7AM PST / 10AM EDT / 2PM GMT on February 5.

Ahead of Dia’s arrival, the servers will shut down for maintenance at 9PM PST on February 4 (12AM EDT / 5AM GMT on February 5). While maintenance could take longer than expected and result in a delay, no changes have been announced as of this writing.

✨ Excited to meet Dia?
Let’s go meet her right after the update👀

Server Maintenance Notice (02.04 (Wed) 22:00 – 02.05 (Thu) 07:00 PST)
🔗https://t.co/KwafzjkI6y#TheFirstDescendant #TFD #S3EP3 #Dia pic.twitter.com/48SPUawd6K

— The First Descendant Official (@FirstDescendant) February 4, 2026

Nexon first teased Dia as a potential playable character in March 2025. She debuted in Season 2 Episode 2 as a villain, and during a Discord AMA, Nexon revealed that it had “considered making Dia a playable Descendant and had prepared her story”.

Fortunately, less than a year later, players now only have one more day to wait for Dia’s arrival. Dia is the daughter of fellow The First Descendant hero Gley and was believed to be dead before Season 2 Episode 2. That season’s storyline centered on rescuing Dia and reuniting her with Gley.

The First Descendant Dia skills

Below are the skills for Dia as revealed by Nexon during the Season 3 Episode 3 livestream preview:

• Passive – Frozen Delight:
  • Gain ‘Delight’ through Glacial Clash and Avalanche. Dia’s skill power increases proportionally to the amount of Delight. 
• Glacial Clash / Glacial Breakthrough:
  • Thrusts a spear forward, damaging enemies within range. Holding the input for Glacial Clash transitions it into Glacial Breakthrough, allowing movement while dealing damage to enemies for the duration of the skill. 
• Ice Wall:
  • Using Ice Wall grants the ‘Ice Wall’ effect to yourself and damages enemies within range. Additionally, the movement speed of ‘Glacier Breakthrough’ increases. 
• Avalanche:
  • Launches an ‘Avalanche’ forward. The Avalanche continuously moves forward, towing enemies toward it. 
• Frost Storm:
  • Launches a Frozen Spire forward. The Frozen Spire continuously moves forward, dealing damage. 

And below are Dia’s Transcendant Modules:

• Blooming Ecstasy:
  • ‘Glacial Clash’ is changed to ‘Snowflake Clash’. ‘Snowflake Clash’ tows colliding targets and applies the Snowflake effect to enemies. 
• Chill Brand:
  • Attacking enemies with skills has a chance to apply Chill Brand. Attacking enemies with Chill Brand deals additional damage based on the number of Chill Brands.

Gley improvements

Seeing as Gley is the mother of Dia, it’s fitting that Nexon has chosen Gley to receive significant improvements such as buffs to her abilities. Below are all of the changes listed by Nexon:

• Passive – Thirst:
  • ‘Life Spheres’ generate by chance when attacking enemies. 
• Frenzied:
  • When entering Frenzied state, health decreases steadily, but Gley gains stronger buffs. Health recovers more smoothly when not in Frenzied state.
• Life Siphon:
  • Increased health recovery compensates for the health loss during Frenzied state. 
• Increased Sensory:
  • Extended duration to ensure sustainability. 
• Massacre:
  • Instead of consuming stamina, skill power increases proportionally to expended amount of Power of Life. When firing at enemies, projectiles bounce between them. 

Gley Skill Module Changes:

• Massive Sanguification:
  • Using Life Siphon while in ‘Frenzied’ state grants more Power of Life, while in non-Frenzied state grants more HP recovery. 
• Hyper Senses:
  • Using ‘Life Siphon’ attacks the nearest enemy within range and restores health. 
  • Using ‘Increased Sensory’ increases movement speed, weapon critical hit damage, and weakness damage. 
  • Using ‘Massacre’ deals massive damage to a single target and inflicts higher damage on enemies with the Bleed debuff, proportional to the stack count. 
• Predator Instinct:
  • Enhanced effects and added multiple hit chance and multiplier stats. 
• Blood and Iron:
  • Changed to a setting that enhances synergy with melee weapons. 
• Explosive Life:
  • Generates Power of Life more frequently and consumes less Power of Life when using Life Siphon. 
• Demonic Modification:
  • Using Demonic Modification makes Gley stronger in proportion to the Power of Life spent. Aiming the signature weapon reduces Gley’s health but allows for more powerful attacks.

Before Season 3 Episode 3 arrives, Nexon recently added a trading system in Episode 2. Right now, trading is only possible through spending gold. Nothing is official as it’s not mentioned in the roadmap, but Nexon has let it be known they will “decide on” item-to-item trading after monitoring the performance of the current trading system.