Once you hit the maximum level on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, you’re faced with a quandary: You can either stay put on your current rank or lose it all for the chance to win it back with extra rewards.
Take the plunge and unlock Prestige, the upper echelon in the game’s progressional system. This comes with new skins, weapon blueprints, calling cards, and emblems.
But, is it worth upgrading or should you stay put? Here’s all you need to know about Prestige.
What is Prestige?
Black Ops 6 marks the return of the classic Prestige system after a six-year absence. For newcomers, this means that instead of the level cap increasing with every new season as in Modern Warfare 3, it stops when you complete level 55.
At this point, you can enter Prestige and start all over again…sort of. Your level will be set to Prestige 1, most of your weapons and items will be relocked, and your loadouts will be reset to default.
The resulting wipeout will leave you with just your base operators and emotes; weapon progression, camos and reticles (which are virtually useless until you unlock your arsenal again); and owned weapon blueprints and skins (including the items from the Vault Edition and the store).
With this process repeating across 10 regular Prestige levels, each with rewards based on past Call of Duty games, it’s one hell of a grind. But, at least you get many exclusive goodies, including Prestige icons that show everyone you’re a cut above. When it’s over, you’ll unlock Prestige Master, with another 1,000 levels to progress through uninterrupted.
With that in mind, entering Prestige can be intimidating, especially for new players. It’s the game’s way of saying “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.” After all, you made it to level 55, right? You should be able to amass kills and wins regardless of the weapons you use.
Still hellbent on moving up? This is how you do it.
How do you enter Prestige?
The quickest way to enter Prestige is to complete the daily challenges — and grind your backside off during double XP weekends. For more information on how to level up faster, check out our Black Ops 6 tips and tricks guide.
Sticking to only the multiplayer mode took us around 24 hours of play to reach Prestige. However, you may be able to do it in less time by playing Zombies.
Irrespective of how you reach the top, the main thing you need to know to avoid confusion is that simply hitting level 55 doesn’t automatically unlock Prestige. You need to complete that level first and then manually choose to enter Prestige.
There are two ways to do this: agreeing to unlock Prestige from the introductory pop-up message or going into Barracks > Progress > and selecting Prestige. Hold down either the X or Triangle button depending on your console and you should be good to go.
Still undecided? Don’t fret; you don’t have to level up straight away. You can play as normal until you’re ready for the promotion.
What happens when you unlock Prestige?
However, to tempt you into making the jump, the game offers a few incentives alongside the additional rewards.
Firstly, you’ll earn extra XP for completing daily challenges, which can help you progress through Prestige faster. Plus, you’ll get a Return of the King trophy or achievement, which is ultra-rare at the time of writing.
More importantly, there are some instant rewards up for grabs. As soon as you unlock Prestige, you’ll snag the Nacht Raider skin for Weaver. Like the rest of the treats in Prestige 1, this is an homage to the origins of Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War.
But, by far the most useful reward for new Prestige members is the permanent unlock token.
What is a permanent unlock token?
This single-use consumable lets you grab one item from the level unlock inventory (including weapons, field upgrades, perks and Wildcards) that you can keep across all Prestige levels.
To give you a helping hand on your journey, you’ll get one of these tokens each time you hit a new Prestige. Choose wisely and you should have a handy little loadout by the halfway point.
What should you unlock first? We’d recommend grabbing the Perk Greed Wildcard immediately because it gives you a game-changing extra perk slot. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until level 54 to get your hands on it.
What are the Prestige rewards?
Alongside the permanent unlock tokens, here’s the full list of rewards that await across all 11 levels of Prestige, including Prestige Master.
Prestige 1 (inspired by World at War Zombies):
Prestige 2 (World at War Death Cards) :
Prestige 3 (Black Ops campaign):
Prestige 4 (Black Ops Nuketown map):
Prestige 5 (Black Ops 2 Menendez drone attacks):
Prestige 6 (Black Ops 2 Zombies):
Prestige 7 (Black Ops 3 specialists):
Prestige 8 (Black Ops 3 AI and Frozen Forest):
Prestige 9 (Black Ops 4):
Prestige 10 (Black Ops: Cold War):
Prestige Master:
Upon reaching Prestige Master, players unlock:
Additionally, Prestige Master players can continue levelling up to 1,000, unlocking Legacy Prestige Icons from past Call of Duty games at specific levels:
