In Cookie Clicker, ascension allows you to reset your game progress in exchange for permanent bonuses like Heavenly Chips and prestige levels, which increase your cookies-per-second (CpS) permanently. Here is when you should consider ascending:
- The minimum requirement to ascend is to have baked at least 1 trillion cookies, which grants you your first prestige level. However, ascending too early yields very little benefit.
- Popular advice is to wait until you have around 100-200 prestige levels before ascending. This grants a decent amount of Heavenly Chips that can be spent on permanent upgrades, boosting your cookie production in future runs.
- A common general rule is to ascend when you have surpassed about 440 prestige levels, which equates to baking roughly 85.184 quintillion cookies. At this point, your CpS is increased by 440% permanently, which significantly speeds up subsequent runs.
- Ascending before reaching a substantial number of prestige levels results in minimal progress and slows down overall growth.
- After ascension, you retain achievements and unlock Heavenly Upgrades using Heavenly Chips earned through prestige levels.
To ascend, you click on the "Legacy" tab and then the "Ascend" button when ready. So, the best practice is to wait until you build up a large number of prestige levels, generally over 100 and up to around 440, before triggering ascension to maximize your benefits and progression speed in Cookie Clicker.
