The hardcore players in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 are already flying through the Prestige tiers. But those of us with less time to play, myself included, are probably starting to hit the level 55 cap a week in.
Prestige is a system from Call of Duty games of old, and has made its glorious return in its former form with Black Ops 6. The seasonal prestige model has made way for a more traditional experience.
One part of Prestige is Permanent Unlock tokens, gaining one each time you level up a Prestige tier. I’m a Call of Duty player of old, but I haven’t really touched it since Black Ops 4. Coupled with what I think is fairly poor in-game messaging on what’s actually going on, I got confused (I’m also not getting any younger). If you’re in the same situation, here’s how to make sense of Permanent Unlocks, what you can do, and when.
Entering Prestige in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and using Permanent Unlock tokens
When you hit level 55 and then get enough XP to hit what would be level 56, instead you’ll be given the chance to enter Prestige. You don’t have to, you could just sit at level 55. But you won’t get the additional rewards from the Prestige track, and you know, you won’t be able to brag about how high up the ladder you’ve got.
On Xbox (and the Game Pass PC version) you’ll get a decent achievement unlocked for hitting Prestige, so if you need an added incentive, there you go.
When you enter Prestige, almost all of your progress is reset. You’re back down to level 1, and all of the weapons you’ve unlocked, as well as your custom loadouts, will be reset. That means you’re back down to the weapons that you started the game with, however, your weapon levels will remain. So any attachments you’ve unlocked are still available, and your attachments will be on them as you re-acquire them.
This is where Permanent Unlock tokens come in. The idea is that you cash one in on an item of your choice, and when you move into the next Prestige tier, that item will remain unlocked to play with from level 1.
But, and here’s the kicker, you can’t just unlock anything that you’ve previously had. You need to level up through Prestige 1, unlock it again, and then spend your Permanent Unlock token. In the image above, to unlock my beloved AMES 85 with a token, I still need to get to level 19 again, unlock it on Prestige 1, then spend the token.
It doesn’t just apply to weapons, either. Literally anything that you can add to your loadout that has a level requirement can have a Permanent Unlock token applied. It’s also important to remember you’re only unlocking a single item, not everything on the level tier. In the image above, two weapons unlock at level 19, but the token still only gets you one of them.
Don’t be too hasty using your Permanent Unlocks
I’ll admit that after spending a token on the AMES 85, I had some regret. It’s only level 19, which doesn’t take too long to get to. And for my preferred build on that weapon, I need the Gunfighter Wildcard, which unlocks much further up the ladder.
It’s not the end of the world, but you also don’t want to flippantly cash it in against the first thing you see. Fortunately, it’s impossible to accidentally claim it, since you’ll have to confirm, but in the early days especially, give it some real thought.