Stellaris 3.12 Ascension Perks Tier List

Stellaris Ascension Perks explained and ranked into a tier list. Lets look at all of the Ascension Perks available in Stellaris, work out their benefits and drawbacks, then compare them.

Lets dive in!

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Chapters:
0:00 What Are Ascension Perks?
1:16 F Tier
8:23 C Tier
13:12 B Tier
20:26 A Tier
26:11 S Tier

Stellaris Version 3.12

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[Konzon]

The real endgame crisis is the empire that took xenocompatability. If they don't get defeated fast enough, the galaxy gets destroyed by lag.

[Banter]

I can’t believe he forgot to mention xeno compatibility

[cjwarrington]

I wish there were more ascension perks that were situationally the absolute nuts. Like, eff it, make Archaeo-engineers -90% artifacts cost and +50% archaeotech weapons damage. Have it grant access to a special ship class or hull configuration. Make me want to pick that perk whenever I randomly find myself sitting on a bunch of minor artifact deposits. It would still be garbage 9/10 games, but that one game where it absolutely pops off would be so much more memorable.

[classreductionist]

Fun fact: You can hire a Large Marauder fleet for 10k energy credits and then convert them into a Mercenary fleet in your empire saving yourself 50 Fleet Cap worth of alloys.

[aptspire]

The only way to pull a large archeofleet is by putting a Dyson Swarm around the "Message in a Bottle" star. It gives 60+ minor artifacts monthly.

[NuggetWorkshop]

F TIER
1:35 Archaeo-Engineers
3:36 Executive Vigor
4:31 Detox
5:21 Interstellar Dominion
5:51 Shared Destiny
7:01 Transcendent Learning
7:40 Enigmatic Engineering

C TIER
8:32 Consecrated Worlds
9:57 Hydrocentric
11:06 Mastery of Nature
11:55 Universal Transactions
12:42 Grasp the Void

B TIER
13:22 Eternal Vigilance
14:05 Lord of War
15:13 Mechromancy
16:03 Voidborne
17:05 [REDACTED]
18:57 World Shaper
19:44 Galactic Contender

A TIER
20:45 Galactic Wonders
22:09 Imperial Prerogative
23:13 Nihilistic Acquisition
23:50 Technological Ascendancy
24:14 Galactic Force Projection
25:18 Engineered Evolution

S TIER
26:47 One Vision
28:05 Arcology Project
29:11 Hive Worlds
29:35 Machine Worlds
30:09 Master Builders
30:55 Colossus Project
32:30 Defender of the Galaxy
33:40 Cosmogenesis
^ Galactic Nemesis
35:15 The Flesh is Weak
^ Organo-Machine Interfacing
^ Mind over Matter
36:03 Synthetic Evolution

[MrDeflador]

Important thing for Consecrated worlds. If you are next to the spiritual Fallen Empire, I think this perk goes up to b, maybe even a because you cannot have a colony on these worlds anyway and they give a ton of Unity.

[blahmasterk]

Remember that Crisis ships and nanite ships don't need minor artifacts, so archaotech weapons are completely free for those builds. That is the real context I would give for a scenario where archao engineers is good.

[DarthChratis]

Anyone remember back when mastery of nature was a broken auto pick?
It gave you all of the blocker techs instantly and for free, letting you skip an entire tech lvl and removing a buch of dud techs from the pool.

[Cybermarth]

The Archeo-Engineers are in my opinion only worth the trouble when you get the event/digsite on the sun that gives you 1-3 Artifacts. Then make a Dyson Swarm around it and it is at least a thought as a ascension perk.
Edit: I forgot one detail: The idea is that the dyson swarm array enhance extremly the production of your star. NOW when you have minor artifacts on the sun they also get enhanced and yes I had twice already fun with +93 Artifacts from that one star.

[Argenomius]

I need to point out that Mastery of Nature does reduce the cost of blockers on Shattered Ring, but can't increase the number of districts once you repair the Ring completely

[timothypeterson]

I'd suggest one caveat on Grasp The Void. As a gestalt consciousness it's a good grab early because you can use it to subsidize your energy with solar then later into a nice little navy boost so I'd say for gestalt it's up to B for it's flexibility. But for normal empires certainly. I'd like to say it's very... Compatible with gestalt empires.

[WillCarter]

The only xeno compatibility in my playthroughs, is how compatible the the xeno flesh is with our flamethrowers!

[RagnellAvalon]

Something to be mindful about with Consecrete World is that if you are next to the Holy Guardians Fallen Empire, choosing to consecrate one of their Holy Worlds will give you a **+30** opinion buff with them for each one you consecrate, which can get them completely on your side. If you were thinking about unity rushing anyway this is a huge boost, but in niche scenarios it might be worth doing just to get periodic gifts, especially since they can include rare technologies.
I don't think that makes it better than C tier but it's an interesting opportunity that can be compatible with a lot of styles, since only the situation matters.

[gvmdxjq]

Xeno compatability: for those who don't want to thrust an ascension on their entire species, but would still like their entire species to thrust on another.

[themeerkat]

virtual is so broken, literally allows you to instantly get the most powerful resource in the whole game: pops

[chaincat]

Interstellar Dominion is basically opportunity cost: the perk. You take it first or never. And if you should take it first depends on a lot of factors. Are you racing other empires for systems? Are you doing under one rule with the goal of keeping the luminary? Do you want to go wide and are in any way time pressured? However you answer these questions determines how good Interstellar Dominion is and again, only for your first perk. It can be very hard to justify picking it first but it does have a niche.

[TC-cqoc]

I think there was a patch where cosmogenesis is now completely in-compatible with galactic custodian. In my most recent playthrough, I was barred from proposing a resolution to make myself Custodian - though perhaps I could have become custodian still if another empire proposed it.

[caffize]

If you go for Whisperer of the Void + Subterfuge + Enigmatic Engineering, you can get stealth level 6 or 7 battleships and titans, which can be really powerful.

[DustyChapter]

Will say, there is *one* situation i love Interstellar Dominion for. If you have alot of territory to gobble up earlygame when playing "Under One Rule", it can be a great way of getting a bunch more starbases built for the sake of the Luminary Buff.