If you’ve sunk 20+ hours into The First Descendant grinding missions and maxing out your favorite character, you’ve probably wondered how to prestige in the first descendant to unlock better rewards. I remember hitting the level cap on my Bunny main last month and having no clue what to do next, so I wasted three rare upgrade materials trying to trigger the prestige process before I found the correct path. This guide pulls from dozens of test runs across four different max-level characters to break down everything you need to know, no guesswork required. You won’t have to waste hard-earned resources or miss out on exclusive prestige-only perks if you follow the steps below.
Prerequisites to Unlock Prestige in The First Descendant
Before you can even see the prestige option in your menu, you have to hit three non-negotiable requirements, and skipping any of them will leave you stuck waiting to progress. First, you must reach level 40 on the specific descendant you want to prestige. You can’t prestige your account as a whole, only individual characters, so pick one you use regularly first to get the most value out of your first run.
Next, you need to complete the main story mission "Final Code" that unlocks after you finish the Vulgus checkpoint arc. If you haven’t beaten this mission yet, the prestige option won’t appear in your character menu no matter how high your level is. A lot of players who rush to level 40 by farming side missions hit this roadblock, so make sure you work through the main story as you level to avoid delays.
The base prestige cost for your first run is 50,000 credits and 3 Unstable Core Synthesis materials. You can farm Unstable Cores from weekly Void Intercept battles, so don’t waste them on random low-tier upgrades before you’re ready to prestige. I made the mistake of saving up cores for a weapon skin first, and I had to grind an extra two weeks to get enough for my first prestige, so plan your resource spending ahead.
Step-by-Step Process to Complete Prestige
Once you’ve hit all the prerequisites, the actual prestige process only takes a few clicks if you know where to look. First, open your character menu, select the descendant you’ve maxed out, and navigate to the progression tab. You’ll see a small gold prestige icon in the top right corner of the progression screen, right next to the level bar.
Click that icon, and you’ll get a pop-up showing all the rewards you’ll earn, plus the resources you’ll spend to complete the process. Double check that you’re on the correct descendant before confirming, because you can’t reverse the prestige process once you hit accept. It’s easy to click the wrong character if you have multiple maxed out, so take 10 extra seconds to confirm your selection.
Once you confirm, your character’s level will reset to 1, but all your unlocked skins, emotes, and weapon mastery progress will stay intact. A lot of new players worry they’ll lose all their hard-earned gear, but your weapon and mod inventory is completely separate from character progression, so you don’t have to re-grind your best loadout. I thought I’d lose my +10 legendary shotgun the first time I prestiged, so I held off for weeks for no reason.
Exclusive Rewards You Unlock From Prestiging
Prestiging isn’t just for bragging rights, it unlocks permanent bonuses that make all your future gameplay easier, even on other characters. The rewards scale with the number of times you prestige, so it’s worth working through multiple runs on your favorite characters:
You also get 10 free premium currency every time you prestige, which adds up fast if you’re working through multiple characters. I’ve earned enough free currency from 3 prestiges to buy the last two battle passes without spending real money, which is a huge bonus for free-to-play players. Don’t sleep on the account-wide XP boost, it cuts down alt leveling time by almost 30% when you have the full 5 stacks, so you can test out new descendants way faster.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Prestiging
Even if you follow the steps correctly, it’s easy to make small mistakes that cost you time or resources. First, don’t prestige a character right before a big weekly reset. If you reset your level on Tuesday, you won’t be able to complete the high-level weekly missions that require level 30+ characters until you grind your way back up. I did this once and missed out on a rare legendary mod drop from the weekly Void Raid, so I now only prestige on Sundays after I’ve finished all my weekly tasks.
Never prestige a character you use for endgame co-op runs unless you have a second max-level character to use instead. A lot of teams won’t accept level 1 characters for high-difficulty missions, so you’ll get locked out of co-op content until you level back up. If you only have one maxed character, wait until you’ve farmed enough XP boosters to get back to level 30 in one sitting before you prestige.
Another common mistake is spending all your upgrade materials right before you prestige. You’ll be able to level your character back up 3x faster if you save up XP boost modules and rare upgrade materials before you hit the prestige button, so you can get back to max level in just a few hours instead of a few days. Keep a small stash of 10 XP boosters and 20 rare upgrade materials set aside specifically for prestige resets, and you’ll never have to grind low-level missions for resources again.
Prestiging is one of the most rewarding endgame systems in The First Descendant, and once you know how to prestige in the first descendant, you can unlock all the best bonuses without wasting time or resources. Start with your main character first, make sure you have all the prerequisites ready, and avoid the common mistakes we covered to make the process as smooth as possible. If you’re still stuck on farming the required materials, try running Void Intercept missions with a full co-op team to cut down grind time by half. Don’t rush the process, take time to make sure you’re ready, and you’ll be enjoying your prestige bonuses before you know it.