Which ascension perks are still worth a slot in Stellaris 4.5, now that patches 4.3 to 4.5 have reworked several of the old favorites? Most tier lists you will find online were written for older versions of the game. As such, they still give Technological Ascendancy a flat research bonus and Eternal Vigilance free defense platforms, and both of those have changed. Below, you will find how the perk slots work, how the perks rank in 4.5, what to take first for your empire type and what you can do about a pick you regret.

Checked against the game files of Stellaris 4.5.1 (Cygnus).

For most empires, the best opening in 4.5 is Technological Ascendancy first, then Transcendent Learning or Imperial Prerogative, and your ascension path as the third perk. Imperial Prerogative is the one to take if you are expanding quickly, but it does little for a small empire, and MegaCorps cannot take it at all.

Later in the game, Galactic Force Projection and a planet perk like Arcology Project, Hive Worlds or Machine Worlds are the strongest additions. You can get up to 8 ascension perks in one game, one for each of the 7 tradition trees you finish and one from the rare Ascension Theory technology.

How ascension perks work

How many ascension perks you get

You will get at most 8 ascension perks per game. Seven slots are tied to tradition trees, since every tree you finish adds one slot and you can adopt up to 7 trees. The eighth slot comes with Ascension Theory, a rare tier 4 society technology.

Rare technologies will not show up in every research draw, so if you have finished all 7 trees and still sit at 7 slots, you are simply missing Ascension Theory and will have to wait until it appears among your society research options.

The perks themselves do not cost anything. As soon as a tree is finished, you will get an alert that you can select a new ascension perk, and you pick it in the Traditions tab of the society screen. The tree you get from an ascension path counts as well, so finishing it is going to add a slot just like any other tree.

Perk tiers and requirements

Not every perk is open from the start. Many of them need one, two or three other ascension perks first, and that is what tier lists mean when they talk about tier 1 to tier 3 perks. The tier 0 perks, such as Technological Ascendancy, One Vision, Imperial Prerogative, Interstellar Dominion, Transcendent Learning and Executive Vigor, can be taken as your very first pick.

Several perks also need a technology, an ethic or a civic. Master Builders and Galactic Wonders need Mega-Engineering, World Shaper, Hive Worlds and Machine Worlds need Climate Restoration, and Arcology Project needs Anti-Gravity Engineering. These are the perks you are going to wait on.

You can leave a slot empty until the technology arrives, but an empty slot won’t give you anything in the meantime, so unless the technology is close, a tier 0 perk is probably going to do more for you than waiting.

Ascension paths need an empty tradition slot

Almost every ascension path needs two other perks, and every one of them needs an empty tradition tree slot, because the path adds a new tradition tree to your empire. Players miss the second part all the time. If you have already adopted 7 trees, the path will stay greyed out with the note that it requires an empty tradition tree slot.

If you plan to ascend, take the path before you adopt your seventh tree. Your 7 tree slots will then be filled by 6 normal trees plus the path tree, and since the path tree also gives a perk slot once you finish it, you can still reach all 8 perks.

Perks and Colony Ascension

Your perk slots also set the limit for Colony Ascension (often called planetary ascension), the tiers you can add to individual planets. A colony can only be ascended once you have 3 unlocked perk slots, and from then on the maximum tier is your number of unlocked slots minus 2, which means 3 slots allow tier 1, 5 slots allow tier 3 and so on. Once all 8 slots are unlocked, the cap gets a bonus of 4 tiers, which brings it to the hard cap of 10.

Each tier adds 10% to that planet’s designation effects and lowers its empire size by 5%. Before 4.3 a tier was worth 25%, so older advice will overstate what a single tier gets you. The cost rises with your empire size and with the total number of tiers across your empire.

Since the cap is based on unlocked slots, this is one more reason to finish tradition trees even when the perks on offer do not excite you.

Ascension perk tier list for 4.5

The table ranks the perks that most empires can take, from strongest to weakest. The verdicts are based on the 4.5.1 numbers and on how each perk has held up since the economy changes of 4.3. Perks that only one empire type can take, like Machine Worlds, Hive Worlds, Universal Transactions, Mechromancy and Wanderlust, are covered in the empire section further down.

The strongest picks

Technological Ascendancy is the safest pick in 4.5. Its own modifier is a 50% higher chance to draw rare technologies, and it enables the Research Focus policies.

If you leave those policies on General Studies, you will get +10% research speed in physics, society and engineering, which is the old research bonus in a new place. You can also set one category per area as your focus instead, which gives +10% research speed and +25% draw chance for that category only. Additionally, the Science Nexus technology will get nine times its normal weight in your research options.

Transcendent Learning gives you two more scientists, 25% more leader experience and 15% cheaper leader upkeep. Two extra scientists in the early game will mean more science ships out surveying at the same time, and the experience bonus will push your council leaders to high levels sooner. It has become a regular first pick.

Imperial Prerogative cuts the empire size from colonies by 25% and adds 2 to your official cap. Since a lower empire size keeps your technologies and traditions cheaper, the perk is going to get better with every planet you add, which makes it one of the strongest early picks for a wide empire. Older guides still list -50% here, which is outdated. It does fairly little for a small empire, and MegaCorps cannot take it at all.

Galactic Force Projection and Arcology Project are mid-game picks, since both need two earlier perks. Galactic Force Projection gives +150 naval capacity, +20% command limit, one more commander and +2 max influence from power projection. That makes it one of the best perks for any empire that is going to fight a lot. If you are unsure which ships to fill that capacity with, the fleet composition post goes into that.

Arcology Project lets you turn a planet into an Ecumenopolis. The planet will lose its generator, mining and agriculture districts, but in return it gets more housing, production and pop growth plus special Arcology districts, and that is usually a good trade once you have enough other planets producing the basic resources. For regular empires it is the planet perk to aim for once you have Anti-Gravity Engineering.

Split verdicts

One Vision is the perk players disagree on most, and since 4.3 more and more of them rate it as weak. It gives +10% unity and +50% attraction for your governing ethics. Some still take it early for a quick start on traditions, while others call +10% unity too small for a whole slot and see little use in the ethic attraction.

I would say it is still a decent first or second pick for a unity-heavy empire, but it is no longer the automatic choice that older lists make it out to be. Machine Intelligence empires cannot take it at all.

Galactic Wonders is harder to rate. The Ring World and the Dyson Sphere are strong, but Mega-Engineering arrives late, and by then an Ecumenopolis from Arcology Project may already be giving you more. Check its requirement before you plan around it: you need Mega-Engineering and a megastructure that you have fully built or repaired, while in 4.5.1 there is no requirement for earlier perks at all.

Eternal Vigilance used to be a favorite because it built free defense platforms around your starbases. Since 4.3 it does not do that anymore.

What is left is +25% starbase damage and hull, +25% damage for military stations, +5 defense platform capacity, half upkeep for small military stations, +20% fire rate for your ships in home territory and an extra commander. That is solid for a defensive empire next to an aggressive neighbor, but it will do a lot less for you if you plan to do the attacking.

Best first three perks

There is no single auto-pick in 4.5 anymore. What you take first depends on how many planets you plan to own, on your origin and on your civics.

In almost every case, your ascension path is going to be the third perk. It needs two others plus an empty tradition slot, and ascending early will give you the most time to use it.

Default empire

If you do not know yet where the game will take you, start with Technological Ascendancy. It helps every empire. Take Transcendent Learning second if you want faster exploration and stronger leaders, or Imperial Prerogative if you are already expanding quickly. Then pick your ascension path as soon as it becomes available.

Wide empires

A wide empire will feel empire size more than anything else. Imperial Prerogative cuts the size from colonies by 25%, while Interstellar Dominion cuts the size from systems by 25% and makes starbases and claims 20% cheaper in influence.

Together they let you keep grabbing space without your research and traditions slowing down as much, and once your ascension path is done, Transcendent Learning is a good fourth pick for the extra scientists and the faster leader experience.

Tall and unity empires

A tall empire gets less out of the size perks and more out of perks that make each planet better. Mastery of Nature fits this best. Its decision costs 100 influence and 2,000 energy per planet and gives that planet +2 max districts and 50% more resource districts from planetary features, which adds up quickly when you only have a handful of worlds. Pair it with Transcendent Learning or One Vision in the first slot.

Under One Rule

For the Under One Rule origin, Executive Vigor is the usual first pick, mostly because of its +15% council agenda speed. The +100 edict fund on top will help in the early game. Transcendent Learning works well as the second pick for a leader-focused origin like this one.

Spiritualists with Consecrated Worlds

Consecrated Worlds was reworked in 4.5 and is now one of the better spiritualist picks. You can consecrate up to 3 worlds, and the empire-wide bonus grows with each one:

• 1 consecrated world gives +10% unity, +5% amenities and +10% spiritualist attraction.
• 2 consecrated worlds give +20% unity, +10% amenities and +20% spiritualist attraction.
• 3 consecrated worlds give +40% unity, +20% amenities and +40% spiritualist attraction.

The jump to the third world is by far the biggest. The perk is at its best when your origin or your neighborhood gives you 3 valid targets, and which planets count is explained in detail in how Consecrated Worlds works. Psionic ascension through Mind Over Matter is the usual path for a spiritualist empire.

Slavers

Authoritarian and xenophobe empires, as well as gestalts, can take Nihilistic Acquisition. It unlocks the Raiding bombardment stance, which lets you abduct pops from planets you besiege and resettle them on your own worlds. Taken first, it will turn every early war into a source of extra pops. Barbaric Despoilers and empires with the Your Ladder To The Sky origin cannot take it.

Picks by empire type

Regular empires

Regular empires have the widest choice. The tier list above is mostly written for them. Go for Technological Ascendancy, Transcendent Learning and Imperial Prerogative early and take your path third. After that, add Arcology Project once you have Anti-Gravity Engineering, and Galactic Force Projection when wars start to matter.

With a xenophile empire and several species, Xeno-Compatibility is worth a look as well. It gives +20% pop growth on colonies with at least 2 species and pools their growth together.

Machine Intelligence

Gestalt machines lose a few options. Machine Intelligence empires cannot take One Vision, and the organic ascension paths are closed to them, so your path will usually be Synthetic Age. With The Machine Age DLC, Synthetic Age starts the Transformation situation, which leads to the Modularity, Virtuality or Nanotech tree.

With Shadows of the Shroud you can go psionic instead, but for synthetic empires that path is called Interdimensional Processing and needs three earlier perks. Driven Assimilators can also take Organo-Machine Interfacing.

Machine Worlds is the planet perk to work toward. It needs two perks and Climate Restoration, although the Resource Consolidation origin skips the technology. Machine Worlds will replace rural districts with Nexus districts and increase housing and jobs from all districts. World Shaper is closed to Machine Intelligence, with Rogue Servitors and Driven Assimilators as the exceptions.

Technological Ascendancy is a strong early pick for machines, and Grasp the Void with its +5 starbase capacity helps if you want a lot of starbases. With the Necroids DLC, Mechromancy gives +15% damage for L, X and T slot weapons and a 33% chance for purged biological or lithoid pops to come back as cyborg zombies.

Individualist machines follow different rules. They do not count as Machine Intelligence, so they can take One Vision. They can take Synthetic Age as well, while psionic ascension needs Shadows of the Shroud and three earlier perks.

Hive Minds

Hive Worlds is the perk most hive empires will build around. It needs two perks and Climate Restoration and lets you terraform planets into Hive Worlds. A Hive World has unlimited hive districts and gets more housing and jobs from every district plus a bonus to pop resource output, while its rural districts are removed. Lithoid Devouring Swarms and Wilderness empires cannot take it.

For the path, hives can go Biomorphosis or Organo-Machine Interfacing, which gives them the Cybernetics tree. Psionic ascension is only open to hive minds with Shadows of the Shroud, and World Shaper is not available to them at all.

MegaCorps

MegaCorps cannot take Imperial Prerogative, so that early slot goes elsewhere. Universal Transactions is their own perk. It gives +1 official cap and 15% cheaper branch offices, and it lets you propose commercial pacts without an embassy and keep them without paying influence. With the Nomads DLC, Wayline Pacts become free to maintain too. Criminal Syndicates cannot take it.

Lord of War is open to most regular empires with the Overlord DLC and is another option here. It gives +1 enclave capacity, +25% naval diplomatic weight and more frequent dividends from mercenary enclaves under your patronage. Arcology Project works for a MegaCorp just like for any other regular empire.

Nomads

Nomadic empires from the Nomads DLC get their own versions of several perks, while the settled-only perks are closed to them. That includes Consecrated Worlds, Master Builders, Galactic Wonders, World Shaper, Arcology Project, Hive Worlds and Machine Worlds.

Wanderlust is the nomad first pick, and it works in two stages:

• As soon as you take it, you get +1 max district on artificial colonies and -10% leader upkeep.
• Once you have completed at least one exploration category, and 4 of the 8 categories are either completed or do not exist in your galaxy, you get another +1 district, another -10% leader upkeep and -10% tradition cost.

The eight categories are ancient wonders, antique threats, enclaves, galactic landmarks, marauders, natural spectacles, precursors and space ecology, and you complete them by visiting those systems with your arkships. The tracking starts when you take the perk, so visits from before that will most likely not count.

Categories that do not exist in your galaxy count as done. That is why the second stage is a lot easier to reach on smaller and sparser maps.

Eternal Vigilance has a separate nomad version that needs Advanced Wayline Logistics or a finished Expansion tree. It gives +25% hull to all your ships, +25% arkship fire rate, +25% waystation hull, +25% waystation armor hardening, +15% waystation shield hardening, 25% cheaper waystations in alloys and an extra commander.

The hull bonus for every ship alone makes it a strong pick for nomads, even though the settled version is only situational. The game is going to swap the two versions automatically when a nomadic empire settles or becomes nomadic again.

A few other perks change for nomads as well. Imperial Prerogative gives +15% job efficiency for elites plus 2 officials instead of the empire size reduction, and Voidborne gives +2 arkship districts plus cheaper arkships and arkship upgrades in place of the habitat bonuses.

Wilderness

The Wilderness origin changes some perks too. One Vision gives Wilderness empires -10% Colony Ascension cost instead of the ethic attraction.

Hive Worlds, Voidborne, Xeno-Compatibility, Nihilistic Acquisition, Organo-Machine Interfacing and Mind Over Matter are closed to them, while World Shaper stays open. Biomorphosis with BioGenesis will only lead to the Purity tree for a Wilderness empire, and three of the ambitions (Galactic Nemesis, Cosmogenesis and Galactic Hyperthermia) are not available.

Ascension paths

An ascension path is the perk that sets your empire on one of the big transformations. You can only take one per empire, each needs an empty tradition slot and, in most cases, two earlier perks (three for Interdimensional Processing), and empires with the Natural Design civic cannot take any of them. Every path also unlocks a council agenda that adds its technologies as research options. Biomorphosis is the current name of what older guides call Engineered Evolution.

Which path is the strongest is a debate of its own and deserves a separate guide, so for picking perks the practical rule is simply to take the path that fits your empire. Spiritualists usually go psionic, materialists tend to go cybernetic or synthetic, and machines have Synthetic Age.

Patch 4.3 made Cybernetics a little bit stronger and toned down some runaway production bonuses of the psionic and biological paths. Then 4.5 cut the time Biomorphosis takes to complete roughly in half. I would say that speed-up makes Biomorphosis the easiest path to recommend for a biological empire in 4.5, since you will be using its genetic upgrades much sooner than before.

The Clone Army origin is an exception to the perk rule. It can take Biomorphosis without two earlier perks, but only after it has unlocked fertility or full potential for its clones.

Ambitions and crisis perks

Ambitions are the endgame perks. Each one needs three earlier ascension perks, you can only follow one of them per game, and each will start a long progression of its own that is going to shape the rest of your campaign. The crisis ambitions are not available to subjects, the Galactic Custodian or the Galactic Emperor.

• Galactic Nemesis needs the Nemesis DLC and turns you into an endgame crisis yourself. Xenophile, pacifist, Rogue Servitor and Wilderness empires cannot take it. Older guides call it Become the Crisis.
• Cosmogenesis is part of The Machine Age and is built around manipulating time, gravity and space. Wilderness empires cannot take it.
• Behemoth Fury is the BioGenesis ambition and needs an empire that uses bioships. Xenophiles and pacifists cannot take it.
• Galactic Hyperthermia belongs to the Infernals DLC and is closed to xenophile, pacifist and Wilderness empires. A special discovery at a Red Giant can lift the three-perk requirement.
• Defender of the Galaxy works differently depending on your DLC. With Nomads it is a five-level ambition where you progress by cooperating with other empires, taking the Galactic Custodianship and forming the Galactic Defense Force. Without Nomads it is the old perk with +50% damage against endgame crises and +200 opinion from empires capable of regular diplomacy. Either way, fanatic xenophobes, Inward Perfection empires, Barbaric Despoilers and genocidal empires cannot take it.

Defender of the Galaxy and the crisis ambitions exclude each other in both directions. A Galactic Custodian with Defender of the Galaxy also cannot proclaim the Galactic Imperium, so only pick it if you are happy to stay on the side of the galaxy for the rest of the game.

Perks to skip or take only situationally

Some perks look good on paper but will rarely beat the options above, while others are strong in one specific situation and wasted in every other game, so you should know which is which before a slot opens up.

• World Shaper needs a perk and Climate Restoration, which tends to arrive late, and it only gives -25% terraforming cost and Gaia terraforming. Arcology Project, Hive Worlds and Machine Worlds give you far more for the same slot.
• Detox lets you terraform toxic worlds that are marked as terraforming candidates. Its value depends entirely on how many of them are inside your borders, and the perk tooltip shows that number, so check it before you commit.
• Master Builders gives +50% megastructure build speed and one more megastructure you can build at the same time. It is only worth it if you plan to build several megastructures in parallel, like a few Ring Worlds.
• Eternal Vigilance no longer builds free defense platforms. Take it as a defensive perk if you expect to be attacked, but do not treat it as a general pick.
• Galactic Contender only appears once you have contact with a Fallen Empire, and it needs three perks. The +33% damage against Fallen Empires, Awakened Empires and the Gate-builders and +20% diplomatic weight are great if you plan to deal with a Fallen Empire by force, and close to useless otherwise.
• Voidborne is excellent for habitat-heavy builds, but habitats are a poor fit for a wide empire, so do not take it just because you own a few.
• Colossus Project needs three perks and the Titans technology. It is mostly for total war and for planets you would rather destroy than invade, such as crisis worlds. It also gives -15% war exhaustion and -5% ship upkeep.
• Hydrocentric is meant for aquatic species with an Ocean preference, although Waterproof robots and species with Mutagenic Habitability qualify too. It makes ocean terraforming 25% cheaper and gives aquatic species 50% more benefit from ocean worlds, but the penalties on other worlds are amplified as well. The 4.5.2 patch notes have announced that it will also open to aquatic species using the Wet Climate Mods preference.
• Galactic Weather Control lets your science ships create Cosmic Storms. It can be fun in a storm-focused game, but it gives no direct economic bonus.
• Shared Destiny and Archaeo-Engineers are fine when you have the vassals or the dig sites to use them, and weak picks otherwise.

Can you change or remove an ascension perk?

Stellaris has no way to change, refund or remove an ascension perk in a normal game, so once you pick one, it is permanent. The only time the game removes a perk by itself is when a nomadic empire settles or becomes nomadic again, and it swaps the settled and nomad versions of Eternal Vigilance for you.

If you are looking for where to pick perks in the first place, you will find them in the Traditions tab of the society screen. A new one becomes available every time you finish a tradition tree or research Ascension Theory.

Outside of Ironman, some players fall back on the console or on editing their save file to get rid of a perk. This was not tested for this guide, so treat it as player-reported. Players also report that perks which fire events when you pick them, such as the ascension paths or the Colossus Project, are not fully undone that way. In Ironman the console is not available at all.

The safe approach is to treat every pick as final. Before you fill your early slots, check the requirements of the perks you want later, so you don’t end up without a free tradition slot or without the right technology.

What changed in 4.3 to 4.5

Here is what the last three major patches changed for perk picks.

• 4.3 removed the free defense platforms from Eternal Vigilance and added +20% fire rate in home territory.
• 4.3 lowered the Colony Ascension bonus from 25% to 10% designation effect per tier.
• 4.3 changed Galactic Force Projection from a flat command limit bonus to a multiplier, which is +20% in 4.5.1.
• 4.3 made the Cybernetics path a little stronger and toned down some production bonuses of the psionic and biological paths.
• 4.3.6 moved Utopia and Synthetic Dawn into the base game, so ascension perks and paths no longer need those DLCs.
• 4.4 (Nomads) added Wanderlust and turned Defender of the Galaxy into an ambition. A later 4.4 patch made part of the Wanderlust bonus apply immediately and the rest after 4 categories.
• 4.5 reworked Consecrated Worlds into fixed bonuses for 1, 2 or 3 consecrated worlds.
• 4.5 cut the time Biomorphosis takes to complete roughly in half.
• Announced for 4.5.2: Hydrocentric will also be available to aquatic species that use the Wet Climate Mods preference.

Outdated advice you will still see

• “Technological Ascendancy gives +10% research.” The +10% now lives in the Research Focus policies that the perk enables, as their default option.
• “Imperial Prerogative gives -50% empire size.” In 4.5.1 it is -25% from colonies, plus 2 officials.
• “One Vision reduces amenity usage.” It gives +10% unity and +50% governing ethic attraction, with nothing for amenities.
• “Eternal Vigilance builds free defense platforms.” It stopped doing that in 4.3.
• “Galactic Force Projection gives a flat command limit.” It gives +20% command limit and +150 naval capacity now.
• “Interstellar Dominion halves the empire size from systems.” It is -25%.
• “Galactic Wonders needs two or three perks.” It needs Mega-Engineering and a fully built or repaired megastructure, with no perk count.
• Old names like Become the Crisis and Engineered Evolution. Today these are Galactic Nemesis and Biomorphosis.
• Defender of the Galaxy as a plain damage perk. With the Nomads DLC it is an ambition.

Conclusion

Technological Ascendancy, Transcendent Learning and Imperial Prerogative are the safest early picks, your ascension path should follow as the third perk, and the mid-game belongs to Galactic Force Projection and your planet perk. Of the old automatic picks, Eternal Vigilance is now situational and One Vision is a split pick at best.

Remember that a perk cannot be taken back once you pick it. Before you adopt your seventh tradition tree, check that you still have room for your ascension path.