Cookie Clicker Prestige Guide: Heavenly Chips, Real Upgrade Prices and When to Ascend
Ascending is how Cookie Clicker turns one long run into a loop of faster and faster runs. You give up your cookies, buildings and normal upgrades, and in return you get prestige levels and heavenly chips to spend on permanent upgrades. Every number on this page is taken from the game’s own code (version 2.058), so you can plan your first ascension with real prices instead of rumours.
How heavenly chips are calculated
Your prestige level depends on all the cookies you have ever baked, across every run. The game takes that total, divides it by one trillion, and takes the cube root:
- 1 trillion cookies baked = prestige level 1
- 1 quadrillion (1015) = level 10
- 1 quintillion (1018) = level 100
- 1 sextillion (1021) = level 1,000
Because of the cube root, each new level needs more cookies than the last: going from 100 to 1,000 levels takes a thousand times more baking. When you ascend, the levels you gained in that run are also handed to you as the same number of heavenly chips, which is the currency you spend in the heavenly upgrade tree.
What your prestige level does (and the catch)
Each prestige level is worth +1% cookies per second, but only the share you have unlocked counts. With no unlock it does nothing. Five heavenly upgrades unlock it step by step:
| Upgrade | Price (chips) | Prestige potential unlocked |
|---|---|---|
| Heavenly chip secret | 11 | 5% |
| Heavenly cookie stand | 1,111 | 25% |
| Heavenly bakery | 111,111 | 50% |
| Heavenly confectionery | 11,111,111 | 75% |
| Heavenly key | 1,111,111,111 | 100% |
So 200 prestige levels give +10% CpS with only Heavenly chip secret, and the full +200% once you own Heavenly key. Heavenly chip secret costs just 11 chips, which makes it one of the first things to buy.
The cheap upgrades for your first ascension
Everything in the heavenly tree starts from Legacy (1 chip), the upgrade that unlocks the system in the first place. These are the low-priced branches and what they actually do:
| Upgrade | Price | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy | 1 | Unlocks heavenly chips and the upgrade tree |
| Twin Gates of Transcendence | 1 | Keep baking while the game is closed: 5% of your CpS for the first hour, then 0.5% |
| Heavenly cookies | 3 | +10% CpS, permanently |
| Angels | 7 | Offline production +10% (15% in total) |
| How to bake your dragon | 9 | Lets you buy the crumbly egg (Krumblor) after 1 million cookies |
| Heavenly chip secret | 11 | Unlocks 5% of your prestige bonus |
| Starter kit | 50 | Start every run with 10 cursors |
| Heavenly luck | 77 | Golden cookies appear 5% more often |
| Permanent upgrade slot I | 100 | One normal upgrade of your choice stays active across runs |
| Heralds | 100 | +1% CpS per herald; the herald count comes from Orteil’s Patreon and is 0 on this site, so skip it here |
| Persistent memory | 500 | Research (the grandma upgrades) is 10 times as fast |
Prices you may see elsewhere are often from older versions. Persistent memory costs 500 chips, not 5, and Heavenly chip secret is still in the game at 11 chips.
When should you ascend the first time?
There is no magic number. The practical way to decide is to look at what your next ascension would buy. Hover over the Legacy button: it shows how many prestige levels you would gain if you ascended now.
- About 32 chips buys Legacy, Heavenly chip secret, Heavenly cookies, Twin Gates, Angels and How to bake your dragon: +10% CpS, 5% of your prestige bonus, offline baking and the dragon.
- About 260 chips adds the four biscuit tins (25 each) that lead to Starter kit, plus Heavenly luck, so every run starts with 10 cursors and more golden cookies.
- About 360 chips adds Permanent upgrade slot I.
- About 860 chips adds Persistent memory on top, which mostly matters once you do the grandma research chain every run.
Waiting longer always gives more chips, but because of the cube root the gain per extra hour shrinks. A short first run followed by a longer second one usually beats one very long first run.
Bigger goals for later runs
- Lasting fortune (777) — golden cookie effects last 10% longer.
- Golden switch (999) — a toggle that gives +50% CpS while golden cookies are turned off, useful for idle play.
- Season switcher (1,111; you must own Heralds to reach it) — start any seasonal event yourself, for a price. Essential for collecting Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Valentine’s upgrades.
- Heavenly cookie stand (1,111) — the next step of the prestige unlock, from 5% to 25%.
- Starter kitchen (5,000) — also start with 5 grandmas.
- Kitten angels (9,000) — more CpS the more milk you have.
- Synergies Vol. I (222,222) and Vol. II (2,222,222) — upgrades that boost two buildings at once, appearing at 15 and 75 of both buildings.
After you ascend
- Spend your chips in the heavenly tree, then click Reincarnate to start the new run.
- Your achievements, sugar lumps and building levels stay with you; cookies, buildings, normal upgrades and Krumblor’s level reset, so the dragon has to be trained again each run.
- If you own Permanent upgrade slot I, put your strongest kitten or cookie upgrade in it before you ascend.
- Buy the cheapest buildings first again; with the prestige bonus and Heavenly cookies the early game goes by in minutes.
Keep your progress safe
An ascension cannot be undone, so it is a good moment to back up. Use Export save in Options, or click ☁ Sign in to save at the top of the game so your bakery is also kept on our server.