Black Ops 4 Prestige unlocks are nothing to be scoffed at. Many players may find themselves wondering, “should I Prestige?” Other players who are newer to the Call of Duty franchise may even be unsure as to what it means to reach Prestige. In either case, the answer is yes, you should Prestige as soon as you can. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Prestige details, including Prestige unlocks and rewards.
Black Ops 4 Prestige – What is Prestige?
Black Ops 4 Prestige is just like Prestige in previous iterations of Call of Duty. When players reach the max rank in Multiplayer, which is Level 55 in Black Ops 4, they will be given the opportunity to enter Prestige. When you Prestige, you go back to Level 1, but you are now First Prestige Level 1. There are ten Prestiges in Black Ops 4, followed by a Master Prestige.
It’s important to note that you don’t Prestige automatically when you reach Level 55. You need to Prestige manually.
Black Ops 4 Prestige – How Do I Prestige?
Entering Prestige is not difficult once you know how to do it. In fact, it’s relatively easy compared to previous Call of Duty titles.
In order to be eligible for entering Prestige, you need to have reached the max level. As mentioned above, this is Level 55 in Black Ops 4. Once you have reached Level 55, you’ll be able to see a new option on the objectives menu on the Multiplayer home screen called “Prestige mode available.” If you’re ready to Prestige, select this option.
You should now be on the “Progress and Unlocks” screen, which should feature another option titled “Enter prestige mode.” Selecting this will bring you to the final screen in the process of entering Prestige, which will notify you of everything that will happen once you confirm that you are ready to Prestige. Selecting “Enter prestige” once more will cause your rank to reset to Level 1, but you will now be a Prestige higher than you were before.
Although it may seem counter-productive to reset your rank, there is a lot of value in entering Prestige, including unique unlocks and rewards that can’t be obtained in any other way.
Black Ops 4 Prestige – Prestige Unlocks and Rewards
It wouldn’t be worth resetting your level and losing all of your level-tied unlocks unless there was a unique benefit attached to entering Prestige, of which there are actually several. It’s important to note that entering Prestige doesn’t reset your Weapon Level or Challenges, so even though you might not get to use the Saug 9mm until you reach Level 52 again, it will carry all of its progress across to the next Prestige.
This means that when you do unlock it, you’ll pick up from where you left off. The reason many players are usually unsure as to whether they should Prestige is to do with progress on camo and customization challenges, so the fact that this progress carries across Black Ops 4 Prestige levels means that there’s far less of an incentive to stay at Level 55.
Black Ops 4 Prestige Unlocks – Calling Card and Emblem
When you Prestige, the first thing you get is a Calling Card and an Emblem. Prestige Calling Cards and Emblems can’t be unlocked with COD points or by completing Challenges. To get the Calling Card for 7th Prestige, you need to reach that Prestige. If you really want the Emblem for 9th Prestige, there’s only one way to get it.
Although Calling Cards and Emblems are nice, they’re purely cosmetic. There are more tangible benefits associated with choosing to Prestige. Specifically, choosing to Prestige will present the player with an extra Custom Class slot and a Permanent Unlock Token.
Black Ops 4 Prestige Unlocks – Custom Class
An extra Custom Class slot can go a long way, especially at higher levels. If you need to swap to an SMG, but the Spitfire isn’t working well for you, it would be ideal to have an alternative SMG class. Perhaps it’s a Spitfire class too, but with different Perks. Maybe it’s a Saug 9mm class. The point is, an extra Custom Class gives players options. You can adapt to the playstyles of the opposing team more readily when you have a diverse range of loadouts to choose from.
Black Ops 4 Prestige Unlocks – Permanent Unlock Token
The extra Custom Class goes a long way, but the best reward players get for choosing to Prestige is definitely the Permanent Unlock Token. This allows players to permanently unlock one Weapon, Perk, or Scorestreak, meaning that they’ll have access to that particular unlockable from Level 5 every time they Prestige. As soon as players can use the Create-a-Class feature in Multiplayer, they will have access to their permanent unlocks as well as the unlocks tied to their current level. The Gunship is unlocked at Level 54, but if you permanently unlock it, you can use it from Level 5 onward every time you Prestige.
The main issue with Permanent Unlock Tokens is having to decide what to spend them on. Luckily, our Black Ops 4 Permanent Unlock Token guide has you covered on that front, advising you on the best unlocks to spend your Token on. The general rule of thumb is to consider the level tied to the unlock before all else, as there’s little to no point in permanently unlocking something that is unlocked before Level 41, which is the mid-point to Prestige in terms of experience.
The combination of extra Custom Classes with Permanent Unlock Tokens serves to almost negate the idea of things that are unlocked by reaching a certain level after a player reaches the third or fourth Prestige, as they’ll essentially have the means to create a permanent class at this stage.
Black Ops 4 Prestige – Blackout Prestige
As of now, there is no Prestige feature associated with Call of Duty Black Ops 4‘s Battle Royale mode, Blackout. However, it is known that the max level is 80. Also, there are five ranks in Blackout, known as Echelons, which are tied to level increments of 20. You start off as a Ranger and you become a Frogman at level 20. Your Echelon will change again at Level 40, Level 60, and finally at Level 80, which is the max rank and final Echelon.
It’s a little tougher to level up in Blackout, as merits are awarded for kills, wins, and placing in the top 10. Players can also earn merits by completing challenges. These merits are spent on increasing your level, which will bring you closer to the next Echelon. Although there are many other ways to level up in Multiplayer, it wouldn’t have made much sense to implement the same scoring methods in Blackout, as the game mode is entirely different.
Although there is no Prestige in Blackout, players can unlock unique and powerful in-game features by choosing to Prestige in Multiplayer. However, perhaps the greatest unlock of all is personal pride. Although all of what is mentioned above is nice and useful, there is nothing quite like beating your friends to max Prestige. The race is on, so as soon as you hit Level 55, choose to enter Prestige as quickly as you can so that you can start the grind all over again. First to Master Prestige wins.
