Prestige is the closest thing Escape from Tarkov 1.0 has to a "new game plus." You voluntarily wipe your own character back to level 1 — empty stash, reset Hideout, quests gone — in exchange for permanent profile bling and a head start that stacks for the rest of the game's life. With 1.0 killing the old forced-wipe cycle and replacing it with a seasonal model, prestige has gone from a vanity flex to the main long-term progression decision in the game, which is exactly why r/EscapefromTarkov is full of "should I prestige or not" threads right now. This guide lays out the exact Prestige 1 and Prestige 2 requirements, what you keep versus lose, every reward, and whether it's actually worth it.
Quick answer (TLDR): Prestige resets your EFT and EFT: Arena profile progress (level, stash, Hideout, quests) but keeps your Achievements, Prestige levels, Arena Armory progress, and lifetime statistics. You also choose to carry over some equipment plus a percentage of your character skills and weapon mastering, and the amount of gear you can transfer grows with each prestige. Prestige 1 needs roughly level 55, the Collector quest, certain Hideout upgrades, set skill levels, and around 2,000,000 roubles in stash (the New Beginning quest). Prestige 2 requires Prestige 1 first plus a much steeper gate (higher Hideout/skill levels and roughly 20,000,000 roubles). There are two prestige levels live today, more are planned, and every reward is permanent — it never resets with a season.
Everything below is current for Tarkov 1.0, the version that launched November 15, 2025 and swapped traditional wipes for a permanent character plus a resettable seasonal one. Crucially, prestige sits above the seasonal reset — your prestige level and its rewards stick forever, which is the whole reason it matters now.
What is Prestige in Escape from Tarkov?
Prestige is an optional, one-way reset you trigger yourself once you've maxed out a chunk of the late game. Think of it as a trophy cabinet bolted onto a fresh start: you give up your current run's power, but you bank a permanent badge of honor and a set of quality-of-life perks that make every future run a little stronger.
Battlestate Games describes the core mechanic plainly in the official Prestige developer diary:
"Each Prestige level resets the player's profile progress in EFT & EFT: Arena without resetting the Achievements, Prestige levels, Arena Armory progress, and statistics in EFT & EFT: Arena."
In other words, the grind resets, but your identity and accolades don't. That distinction is the entire pitch. There are two prestige levels available right now — Prestige 1 and Prestige 2 — with more on the roadmap, and the system spans both the main game and EFT: Arena.
What do you keep when you prestige?
This is the question that decides whether prestige feels like a reward or a punishment. Here's the split.
You KEEP (permanent, survives prestige and seasons):
- All Achievements you've earned.
- Your Prestige level(s) — they stack and never reset.
- Arena Armory progress (your EFT: Arena unlocks).
- Lifetime statistics in both EFT and Arena.
- A percentage of your character skills (Strength, Endurance, etc.) — you don't start skills from zero.
- A percentage of your weapon mastering.
- Some equipment of your choice — you select gear to carry into the fresh start, and the amount and the allowed item types increase with each prestige tier, so Prestige 2 lets you bring more than Prestige 1.
You LOSE (reset to a fresh character):
- Your PMC level — straight back to level 1.
- Your entire stash (minus the limited equipment you choose to transfer).
- Your Hideout — modules reset and have to be rebuilt.
- All quest/task progress — every trader questline starts over.
So the honest framing: prestige is a soft reset, not a hard one. You keep your accolades, a skill head start, weapon mastering, and a care package of gear — but you re-run the leveling and quest grind from scratch. That re-grind is precisely why a lot of players line up a fast roubles farm and a leveling plan before they pull the trigger.
Tarkov Prestige 1 requirements
You unlock each prestige tier by completing a quest called New Beginning — New Beginning (Prestige 1) for the first tier. The official 0.16 patch notes list the requirement categories without nailing every number, so the figures below combine the official notes with community trackers (EFT Wiki, SkyCoach); treat the exact rouble and skill thresholds as "verify in-game," since Battlestate tunes them.
Prestige 1 — the gate:
- Reach PMC level 55.
- Complete key quests, including Collector — the long endgame chain that also leads to the Kappa container. If you're chasing both at once, our Kappa container guide maps the whole Collector path.
- Upgrade specific Hideout zones to set levels.
- Hit required character skill levels.
- Have the required items plus roughly 2,000,000 roubles in your stash when you turn it in.
The takeaway: Prestige 1 isn't an early-game milestone. By the time you've cleared Collector and reached level 55, you're already deep into the endgame — prestige is the button you press after you've effectively "finished" a run.
Tarkov Prestige 2 requirements
Prestige 2 (New Beginning (Prestige 2)) is gated behind Prestige 1 and is meaningfully harder. Community trackers report the steeper requirements roughly as:
- Already hold Prestige 1.
- Reach level 55 again on the prestiged character.
- Hideout: Security level 3, Rest Space, and Intelligence Center level 2 (build these back up post-prestige).
- Skills: Strength and Endurance around level 20, Charisma around 15.
- Complete Collector and the New Beginning chain again, which can layer in tougher objectives — handing over Found-in-Raid figurines, surviving The Labs, and PMC/Raider eliminations depending on the tier.
- Around 20,000,000 roubles on hand.
That ~20M rouble wall is the single biggest barrier for most players going for Prestige 2 — it's roughly ten times the Prestige 1 buffer. Building that bankroll fast is its own project; if you want to skip the grind, buying roubles covers the buffer instantly, and a hideout upgrade boost clears the Intelligence Center / Security requirements without weeks of crafting.
Note: Because each tier resets your Hideout, you have to rebuild the required modules after prestiging to qualify for the next tier — and that includes the modules you'll lean on for income, like the Bitcoin Farm. Factor the rebuild time into your decision.
What are the Prestige rewards?
Every prestige level grants a permanent bundle of cosmetic and quality-of-life rewards. Per the official patch notes, each tier can include:
- A special icon next to your nickname marking your prestige level.
- A unique main menu background.
- Armbands and dogtag styles.
- Hideout styles and posters for Hideout customization.
- New PMC gestures and mannequin poses.
- A special melee weapon.
- +1 additional daily task and +1 additional weekly task (more reward income every reset).
- +1 Charisma skill level, granted at the start of each new season.
- A prestige-specific Achievement.
The two perks that actually move the needle are the extra daily/weekly tasks (more EXP and rewards on every character, forever) and the permanent +1 Charisma per season (better trader prices and rep, compounding for the life of your account). The rest is flex — but in Tarkov, flex you carry across every season is its own kind of progression.
Is Prestige worth it in Tarkov 1.0?
Here's the verdict, since that's what you came for:
Prestige if: you've already cleared Collector / hit Kappa, you're sitting at endgame with nothing left to chase, and you want permanent account perks (extra tasks, +Charisma) plus the prestige icon. With no forced wipes in 1.0, prestige is now the only reason to voluntarily restart — and the rewards stack permanently, so doing it sooner means more seasons of compounding perks.
Don't prestige if: you haven't finished the content you actually want to do this season, you're short on the rouble buffer, or you can't stomach re-leveling and rebuilding your Hideout right now. The skill/mastering carryover softens the reset, but level 1 with an empty stash is still a real grind back to fighting shape.
The smartest play most veterans run: prestige right after you've "completed" a run (Kappa done, key quests cleared), bank the permanent rewards, then rebuild efficiently. The faster you re-clear the level-55 / Collector / rouble gate, the faster you're back to endgame and eligible for the next prestige tier. That's where a leveling boost earns its keep — it collapses the post-prestige re-grind so you spend your time playing the endgame, not climbing back to it.
Skip the post-prestige grind with timesaver.gg:
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- Tarkov Quest & Kappa Boost — clear Collector (a prestige requirement) and the Kappa chain · skip the grind
- Tarkov Hideout Upgrade Boost — rebuild Intelligence Center & Security to re-qualify for the next tier
Can you prestige in PvE?
Historically, prestige ran on the standard online (PvP) profile only, and PvE had no prestige system. Battlestate has confirmed prestige is being added to PvE as part of making PvE a long-term, stable progression environment — it's one of the most-requested PvE features. If you're a PvE-only player, check your live client: the rollout has been arriving in stages, so availability depends on your current build. The reset/keep logic and reward set are designed to mirror the PvP system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does prestige reset with the seasonal wipe in Tarkov 1.0? No — and this is the key point. Tarkov 1.0 replaced forced wipes with a seasonal model (a permanent character plus a resettable seasonal one). Prestige levels and rewards sit above that and are permanent — they never reset with a season. Your seasonal progress resets on schedule; your prestige badge, perks, and Achievements stay forever.
What level do you need to prestige in Tarkov? Roughly level 55 for Prestige 1, completed alongside the Collector quest, set Hideout upgrades, required skill levels, and about 2,000,000 roubles in stash. Prestige 2 requires Prestige 1 first, then a steeper version of the same gate (higher Hideout/skills and roughly 20,000,000 roubles).
Do you keep your skills when you prestige? Partially. You keep a percentage of your character skills and weapon mastering, so you don't start from zero — but you don't keep them in full. You also keep all Achievements, your Arena Armory progress, and lifetime stats, and you can transfer a limited amount of equipment (more per tier).
How many prestige levels are there in Tarkov? Two are live right now — Prestige 1 and Prestige 2 — with more planned. Each is unlocked via its own New Beginning quest, and each grants its own permanent reward bundle and profile icon.
Is prestige worth it in Tarkov? It's worth it once you've effectively finished a run (Collector/Kappa done, endgame reached) and want permanent perks like the extra daily/weekly tasks and +1 Charisma per season. It's not worth it if you still have content to do this season or can't afford the rouble buffer and the re-leveling grind.
Facts verified 2026-06-12 against Battlestate Games' official Prestige developer diary / 0.16 patch notes, the Escape from Tarkov Wiki (Prestige, New Beginning Prestige 1 & 2), and SkyCoach's prestige breakdown. Exact rouble and skill thresholds are tuned by Battlestate and may shift between updates — verify the live requirement in your client before committing to a prestige. Tarkov 1.0 uses a seasonal model, not traditional wipes.
