Black Ops Cold War Prestige System Explained: Everything You Need To Know

Gamers around the world have started getting their hands on Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War and like any previous COD title in the past, it’s creating quite the buzz. The game is not only getting integrated with the franchise’s current titles Warzone and Modern Warfare but is also bringing back the Prestige system of progression.

What is Prestige in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Prestige is a leveling system in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War that grades players on the basis of their multiplayer performance. Upon reaching new levels in the Prestige system, players will be unlocking unique rewards (Weapons, Scorestreaks, Perks, Wildcards, Field Upgrades, equipment, and more), new challenges to unlock, and more milestones to reach in the future.

Related: Best Gun in CoD Cold War

The new Prestige system will be applicable across all three active titles on Call of Duty including the Black Ops Cold War, Modern Warfare, and Warzone. Players will have their levels reset when the new season starts in December and all their progress will count toward their Seasonal Prestige.

Your player progression begins when the preseason starts at level 1 and continues till you reach the highest Military rank. After you level up beyond that, you will be upgraded to Seasonal Prestige levels and will get to unlock Create-A-Class items.

When will you reach a new Prestige level?

During the initial days from the release of the game, players in the Black Ops Cold War will be able to play the Preseason before Season 1 commences. In this preseason period, you will have to grind levels 1 through 55 in the Military ranks to get to reach the first Prestige which is labeled ‘Season Level 1’.

This is essentially your first Prestige and all your progress beyond this point will count toward your Prestige level, meaning you can forget about the military ranking the moment you reach Season Level 1.

What do you get upon getting to a new Prestige level?

When you get through the military ranks and then to the first Prestige, you will unlock the Create-A-Class items and you will get to keep them even after your level resets. These include new Weapons, Scorestreaks, Perks, Wildcards, Field Upgrades, equipment, and more.

Upon reaching a new Prestige level, that is Season Level 1, Season Level 50, and so on, you will get a Prestige key and a sticker/emblem to mark your progression. The game’s developer Treyarch has revealed a new weapon labeled ‘Nightfall’ at Season Level 50.

What’s the farthest you can reason in Pre-Season?

During Pre-Season, you can gain up to three Prestiges which can be achieved at Season Level 1, Season Level 50, and Season Level 100. Prestige 3 is the farthest you can reach in the Pre-Season period between launch and the beginning of Season One.

Prestige 1 at Season Level 1
Prestige 2 at Season Level 50
Prestige 3 at Season Level 100

Related: SBMM in Cold War?

How many Prestige levels can you gain every season in Season 1 and after?

When Season 1 kicks in during December 2020, the level that you attained during Pre-season will be reset but in such a way that you do not lose the Prestige that you achieved previously. You can gain a total of 4 Prestiges in Season 1 and every season after that.

In season 1, you can attain the following Prestiges:

Prestige 1 at Season Level 50
Prestige 2 at Season Level 100
Prestige 3 at Season Level 150
Prestige Master at Season Level 200

The farthest you can reach in one season is Prestige Master which you will attain at Season Level 200. You can continue to earn more XP and level up all the way to Season Level 1000 every Season. No matter which Prestige level you are at, you will continue to receive rewards at every 50 levels along the way.

After Season 1, the level that you attained during Season 1 will be reset but you will be at the highest Prestige you achieved previously. Treyarch says you can achieve a total of 25+ Prestiges across all Seasons and up to 6 Prestige Master titles when you reach Season Level 200 every season.

What happens when you reach Prestige Master level in one season?

You can reach Prestige Master when you gain enough XP to get to Season Level 200 in one season. When you reach level 200, your Prestige Level color will change to indicate that you have gained Prestige Master status and you can now personalize your Prestige Icon with Legacy Prestige Icons that you may have unlocked in older Call of Duty game titles.

You can earn the Prestige Master status in every season with a total of six that can be collected at the time being. The ability to change the Prestige Icon to another color means others would know that you’re a Cold War champion.

Once you reach Prestige Master, your progress doesn’t stop there. You can play more games and get more XP to reach up to Season level 1000 in Season 1 and after. You will also get rewards every 50 levels.

Does my Prestige level reset when a season ends?

There are 4 Prestiges and 200 Season Levels to achieve every season. When one season ends and the next one begins, you will be reset to Season Level 1 no matter what. However, you get to keep the Prestige you were on at the end of last season.

For instance, say you reached Prestige 2 Level 120 in Season 1, when Season 2 begins, you will start at Level 1 but will have the same prestige which is Prestige 2 and you can aim to get to Prestige 3-6 in the upcoming season.

For those of you buying the game a little later, you wouldn’t need to worry about this progression system as you will have to go through the Core (Military) levels 1-55 to get to Prestige 1 Season Level 1 and then continue to level up to the next Prestige.

Tips to become a Prestige Master in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Below are some tips that we recommend you follow if you wish to reach Prestige Master in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Check and play as many Multiplayer Challenges as possible: During any given season, you will be offered a set of daily challenges based on different game modes. Since your aim is to achieve as much XP as possible, performing these daily challenges can help you maximize your XP earn rate.

Take part in Objective Game Modes: Games with a specific objective tend to offer more XP than taking part in traditional Team Deathmatch games. These objective game modes include Domination, classic 6v6 core, 12v12 Combined Arms, massive squad-based Fireteam: Dirty Bomb; all of which let you tally up more XP to level up your Prestige.

Rotate your weapons: We all have our favorite weapons that we are comfortable with but some weapons work best when it comes to a specific scenario. Changing your weapons all helps stay unpredictable against enemies and keeps you informed about the weapons that your enemy owns so that you can use one against themselves.

Master Zombies mode: This year’s Call of Duty game equips a co-operative Zombies mode which comes with its own set of unique challenges that get you more XP as well as Calling Cards.

Make the most of Double XP opportunities: During some period within the game, Treyarch will offer weekends or days which can let you earn Double XP points. This should help you edge closer to the Prestige Master level.

Prestige key: What is it? What does it do?

Besides unlocking Prestige Icons at every new Prestige level, you will also earn Prestige Keys at every 50 Season Levels. You can use a Prestige Key at the Prestige Shop to unlock Legacy Prestige Icons. Prestige Shop can be opened when a player attains Season Level 1 in Season 1 and will remain unlocked for all subsequent seasons.

How to use Prestige key in Cold War

Now that you have established that you can get one Prestige Key every time you pass the 50th Season Level. Once you’ve earned a Prestige Key you can go to the Prestige Shop to unlock more Legacy Prestige Icons. However, the Prestige Shop is currently unavailable as it is set to go live when Season 1 commences. You can learn more about how to use the Prestige key once the Prestige Shop opens on December 10.

Cold War Prestige level bug

Many players are reporting that there’s a bug in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War which causes the XP progression to happen very slowly. Because of this, neither your XP nor your weapon’s XP seems to increase when you level up.

Users are shown that they’re at a higher level when a match just ends but that level drops the moment they go back to the game’s lobby. This will also affect the way you will reach Prestige as it would take way too long than it usually would to get to level up.

Prestige levelling bugged out. from blackopscoldwar

This also seems to be the case for the weapons you upgrade inside the game. When you try to upgrade a weapon using weapon XP cards, the weapon upgrades to the next level but when you return back to the main menu, the weapon resets to the level it previously was before upgrading.