Prestige Run

A Prestige Run is a method of group leveling designed to reach max level as fast as possible. It consists of five people using experience boosting items as well as gear enchanted with Mystic Enchants to kill mobs quickly. This is typically done by hitting level 15 as fast as possible then continuously doing dungeons to reach max level.

Prestige runs are more common on Draft servers, as the nature of the mode necessitates players prestige if they get a build they don’t like. Although prestige runs can be done on Free-Pick servers, it is much less common.

## Basic Steps

In essence, most prestige runs follow these steps:

1. Prestige your build at Chromie and roll the starting abilities you need.
2. Activate the Skill Cards you need for your desired max level build (if playing Draft).
3. Find a prestige group.
4. Load a leveling build from the Hero Architect according to the role you will be playing.
5. Go to Ratchet and take the Raptor Horns, WANTED: Baron Longshore, and Southsea Freebooters quests.
6. Pay the owner of the Aura of Experience the cost they advertised (or collect payments equal to the price of the Aura divided by 5 from each player if you own it).
7. Use a potion of experience and complete the three quests you picked up earlier.
8. Equip the gear that you have prepared before the run.
9. Start queueing dungeons as 5 and equip your gear as you rise in level and unlock the ability to equip it.

## Finding a Group

Typically, groups are advertised in World Chat using a format similar to this—

> "LF2 DPS 1-60 70g split bring swaps, REs, pot"
>
>

Here, the advertiser is looking for 2 DPS, asking all members of the group to contribute to a pot called the “split” in order to cover the cost of an Aura of Experience, asking all group members to bring “gear swaps” at specified level brackets with Mystic Enchants on them, and reminding them to bring a Potion of Experience.

## Requirements

There are a variety of items and prerequisites you must have before beginning a Prestige Run.

### Experience Boosting Items

Prestige runs require two experience boosting items: each player should possess a Potion of Experience, and one player must have an Aura of Experience, with the cost being divided equally among all players. Both items can usually be purchased on the Auction House.

Usually, the gear and loot bags you acquire throughout the run is enough to cover the cost of the Aura of Experience and part of the Potion of Experience if you vendor all of the items (you should choose strength gear as the gear you receive, as plate armor tends to vendor for a higher price).

### Gear

Typically, all players start with, at the very least, two Damaged Hourglasses (level 1 trinkets purchased from Nozdormu) with their Legendary Mystic Enchant applied to one and another important Mystic Enchant on the other. Optionally, players can also use Heirlooms at level 1.

Players should have at least one gear set with a level range from 15-25 to swap to. This gear should be enchanted with Mystic Enchants pertaining to your build.

Optionally, a player can also bring another set of gear that’s around level 40. This is mainly a quality of life option for going very fast and is usually not expected of the average player joining a Prestige Run. If you do decide to bring a level 40 gear swap, keep in mind that PvE power does not apply until you’re level 60, so you should not consider it when choosing what gear to bring along.

You can find gear relevant to your build by searching https://db.ascension.gg/?items&filter=na= and filtering for items with the stats needed for your build. You can buy the gear off the Auction House or preserve gear from earlier leveling runs to use for your prestige.

## Builds

Before starting a prestige run, you should activate a leveling build from the Hero Architect so talents are automatically chosen for you and you don’t have to waste time choosing them. Most builds that are common for prestige runs have a build in the “Leveling Builds” section of the Hero Architect. Alternatively, you can create your own leveling build to cater to your own preferences.

As many leveling builds use Mystic Enchants that grant the skills to be used, you don’t need to be concerned that a prestige run will affect your build, as you can start and take any skills you want without impacting the run. Once at max level, you can use a talent purge to reset your talents and play your desired build. However, some builds listed below use either one or two starting skills, so keep that in mind when choosing a build.

### DPS

There are two builds used by DPS: Arcane Explosion and Fan of Knives. Both builds are focused on maximizing AoE damage on the move, and build around using their respective abilities as much as possible.

### Healing

The primary build used for healing is Healing Touch / Overflow. Healers usually have to keep up with the tank and pay close attention, as most tanks will be taking a lot of damage from the vast amounts of mobs they will be pulling.

### Tank

Tanks are responsible for the pacing of the run and are required to pull and be able to withstand the damage of lots of enemies. The best build for this is Mana-forged Barrier, but other options are available.

 Healer
 Tank
 Bulwark | Bulwark requires 2 starting skills, Defensive Stance and Shield Block, and tanks through the “Shield Block - Bulwark” ability. As this build requires you to take two starting skills, it is only recommended if you plan to play a shield tank.

### No Tank Runs

If a group is having trouble finding a tank for a Prestige Run, they can instead opt to run 4 DPS and 1 Healer. In this case, the DPS using Arcane Explosion should run the Righteous Zealot Mystic Enchant instead of Unbounded Spell Slinger. This allows for extra healing to compensate for the loss of a tank.

## Leveling Routes

Typically, a prestige route begins in the neutral town of Ratchet. However, some players opt to start in the human starting zone, as it’s slightly faster than a Ratchet start. This, however, requires all members of the run to be Alliance.

### Ratchet Start

For a Ratchet Start, all members of the run take three quests: Raptor Horns, WANTED: Baron Longshore, and Southsea Freebooters.

Run following the route shown, completing the quests along the way. Once you complete the route by collecting five Raptor Horns, jump off the cliff and attack a mob to commit suicide. Then release your spirit and resurrect to the closest town to respawn back in Ratchet. Turning in the quests should get you well over level 15, at which point you start spam queuing dungeons with your group.

Make sure that the player that used the Aura of Experience has suicided and respawned before you turn in your quests, as an aura of experience is not active is the player is dead.

If another group started around the same time as yours, you may find that quest mobs are already dead. If this is the case, run into Northwatch Hold and kill the soldiers in there. Once finished, return to the route and complete the quests.

### Alliance Start

In this start, you kill wolves and kobolds in the Human Starting Zones until you reach level 15, then start queuing dungeons.

## Optional Items

Some optional items are available to speed up the process, though they aren’t required for a fast run.

### Wondrous Wisdomball

The Wondrous Wisdomball, sometimes referred to as “Head,” is a portable Donation Item that acts as a quest-giver for all quests within a dungeon. This is particularly useful in dungeons like Stockades where all available quests can be turned in for a large amount of experience.

### Battle Horn

The Battle Horn, or just Horn, is a Donation Item that aggros all enemies within 40 yards. This can be useful to clear a dungeon room slightly faster.

### Lootbot 3000

The Lootbot 3000 is a Donation Pet that can be deployed to follow you and automatically pick up any loot from mobs that are killed. This is useful for picking up quest items without having to search each and every mob that’s killed.

## Tips for the Run

* Before the run, remember to activate your Skill Cards and use a Potion of Experience.

* Keep moving, it’s important to go as fast as possible, and learn abilities during downtime or after you’ve reached max level. The run will likely be moving fast, so keep up with the group.

* If you die, do not wait for someone to resurrect you, just respawn immediately. This is because you do not gain experience while dead, causing you to fall behind the group in levels. You also gain a speed boost after respawning so you will not lose much time.

* You can obtain free Potions of Experience by going to https://ascension.gg/user/account-overview and doing the actions under “Account Security” for 50 free LP. You can use this LP to buy Soulbound Potions of Experience under the “LP Items” category in the store.

* If you see a popup telling you that you’re not in this instance’s group after accepting a dungeon queue, DO NOT leave the dungeon. This is a bug that results from queuing into the same dungeon that you're in and will cause you to receive the “Dungeon Deserter” debuff, preventing you from joining any dungeon for 15 minutes. If this happens, you should instead use your Hearthstone to teleport out or wait the timer for the dungeon to kick you out, and then use the “Teleport to Dungeon” option on the dungeon icon on your minimap.

* If you’re a tank, try to keep in mind where the healer is positioned to avoid accidentally breaking their line of sight and preventing them from healing you.

* If you’re a healer, try to remain as close as possible to the tank to avoid them accidentally breaking your line of sight.