Ultra Ascension Strategy (2023)

This page is only for the first Ultra Ascension and just one part of an entire guide series. Visit Strategy Guide for an overview of other parts of this guide. For your second Ultra Ascension onward, visit Endgame Strategy.

So, you’re considering Ultra Ascension, and want to know how to go about it? Follow these steps to make the most out of your reset game and your brand new, shiny Stones of Time!

When you Ultra Ascend (UA), you reset almost all your game progress and gain a few Ultra Slayer Points (USP), based on your total earned Slayer Points (you can see more about those on this Sheet). Like Slayer Points (SP), each USP is more expensive than the last. These USP will then be spent on Stones of Time - called either Active or Idle - and those in turn will generate impressive boosts to your gameplay statistics. So Ultra Ascending is a little like starting over - but the game will go faster and in the end you'll be able to get further, easier.

What Should I Have Before I Ultra Ascend?

You can unlock the Ultra Ascension node in the Ascension Tree for One Million SP, and you'll then be able to see exactly how many USP you'll earn by Ultra Ascending. However, you'll want to prepare a bit before taking the plunge. Consider collecting these upgrades first:

Ultra Slayer Points

It's recommended to wait until you'll have at least 6 USP (~6.4 million Total Slayer Points) before Ultra Ascending. Once at 6, it's best to UA and use the gains to accumulate USP quicker. Some people consider 5 to be a reasonable amount of USP but 6 gives players more time to get crucial divinities (discussed below) and the extra USP point allows for 5 USP to be spent into Stone of Activity and 1 USP into Stone of Idle (crucial for later).

Divinities

Although you won’t be able to gain new Divinity Points until you re-unlock the Divinity node in the Ascension Tree, you will get access to unlocked Divinity abilities very early in the game through a new Ascension Tree Upgrade called “Blessing of Cronus” (50 SP). Because of that, make sure to unlock some of these divinities prior to UA:

• Necessary: Wind Waker - the best Divinity, and WW will change the gameplay once you unlock the bow. It doubles the souls you gain from enemies killed with bow.
• Amazing: Ultra Instinct - this is a fantastic active soul boost, and will help in the early game even more than Wind Waker. If you can only afford one of the two prior to UA, it's still best to purchase Wind Waker. It will help you accumulate the larger amounts of SP necessary to re-unlock divinities, quicker.
• Good: Master Emerald Fragments - however you consider it, having access to emeralds early in the game is very convenient.
• Nice: Big Troubles - the least important of any of the pre UA Divinities, it's just nice to have a few more Golems in Hills for early game SP gain.
• Okay: Extreme Boost - you won't remember this, but boost cooldown are sloooow. This divinity dramatically speeds up boost cooldown in the early game. This is a quality of life upgrade, for sure, but also makes coin and soul collection go quicker.

Keep in mind that as long as you have Wind Waker and Ultra Instinct, you are fine to UA

Craftables

Post UA, one of the slowest elements of the game is replaying some of the extended quests. To help speed this process, the Alternate Dimension Staff Temporary Craftable will allow you to complete active quests 10 times faster. But, in order to make use of the Staff, you'll need to do some crafting preparation.

• Necessary: Magic Bag - if you want to make use of crafts post UA, you’ll need the Magic Bag. If this is unlocked, you can collect materials and craft (and use crafted items) immediately after UA. If you’re close to unlocking this, it’s necessary to wait to UA until you can.
• Necessary: Temporary Hammer - if you have the Magic Bag, get the materials necessary to unlock temporary crafting as well. This will help a ton in questing.
• Nice: Book of Agony - in the very early game, Hills Giants will be your best source of souls. Why not increase it by 60% before UA?
• Materials: It won’t hurt to carry in a fair amount of bat wings, wood, and fairy cloth to make sure your Staff can be used.

Extras

It’s not a bad idea to set aside a few hours for active gameplay after Ultra Ascending. Obviously, it’s not necessary, but breaking through a few smaller initial walls will help with the reset process.

It’s also not a bad idea to stack up a few dozen silver boxes prior to Ultra Ascension. They’ll carry through, and can give a nice bonus to help move through the slower early game.

What is Gameplay Like After Ultra Ascending?

So, be prepared. The game is slow. You’re restarting! At the point when you’re going to UA, you’re gaining SP by the buckets, cruising with the boost, spamming purple arrows everywhere, crushing quests and earning tons of CpS. All of that will come crashing to a halt with a well-animated blue lightning bolt.

You’re restarting your game, but it’ll move at a quicker pace than before. Depending on your rate of active play, you can regain your previous total SP in a week or two.

Because you have Divinities, you won’t move in quite the same order through the Ascension Tree as before. The basic gameplay strategy remains the same, but with a few different priorities.

There Are Some New Things in the Ascension Tree

After you Ultra Ascend, take a look at the Ascension Tree. You’ll notice some new blue nodes. Areas to note are Stone of Time on the top left, Blessing of Cronus on the middle left, and Desert and Ancient Quests at the very top.

You’re Back to the Beginning! Some Warnings

• You won’t gain SP until you unlock the Soul Gatherer and the Soul Flask. Remember those? No, of course you don’t - they’re too early game! More on those below.
• We could write a whole page on this reminder: random bonus boxes do. not. hover. They move neither horizontally nor vertically, and you will miss them if you’re not careful. It is recommended to not use the boost to make hitting them easier.
• You won’t get soul bonuses, bonus stages or gemstone rushes from Random Boxes (you don’t even have gemstones, so it’s ok!).
• You’ll miss your magnet. Gotta grab those coins individually. And if you have emeralds… don’t miss them!
• Your random events are far, far shorter than before, too.
• That said, Found Coins from the random boxes will be surprisingly lucrative!
• You obviously don’t have access to your bow. It’s old fashioned sword slaying for you.
• That said, enemies also don’t spawn in the beginning. And when they finally start, they’re sloooowww. It’s ok, everything will pick up soon enough!
• You’re going to be tempted to leave Hills quickly; don’t. The Golems will be your best source of SP for a while, and you won’t be able to unlock other giants for a bit. Don’t start using the portal until you absolutely need to for questing.
• You’ll want to ascend more frequently than you’re likely used to. Use the Slowdown or Buy method: ascend whenever it feels like SP gain slows, or when you have enough to buy the next item you want.

So, What Should I Do?

Playing the game after an Ultra Ascension is similar in a lot of ways to simply starting over, but progression will be faster. And you’ll have a few different priorities. Here’s generally how to go about the game:

Starting Out

First, you’ll want to spend your USP. In order to do this, you’ll need to get coins and unlock Rookie Quests. Then, you’ll need to slay some giants and hit some boxes to unlock the Soul Gatherer and Soul Flask. Then, collect souls until you have at least 25 SP - it’s really not worth ascending until then. Buy the Soul Gatherer Bundle, Permanent Slayer, Stones of Time, and everybody’s favorite: Soul Reaper.

As soon as you have Stones of Time, spend ‘em. You can follow the distribution table here to know how to allocate your USP. With 6 USP it is best to allocate them as 5 into Stone of Activity, and 1 into Stone of Idle (keep in mind that Idle Stones increase Critical Kill damage, and that’s a big deal even for active play). Even if you're a semi idle player, the vast majority of your gains will come through active play, specifically from bow. You can follow the recommended distribution regardless of how idle you play.

Early Unlocks

Second, you’ll want to work your way down to Blessing of Cronus (as long as you have anything other than just Wind Waker), while also buying all the reasonably priced soul upgrades and Ancient Quests. Seriously - by and large, skip any CpS upgrades at this time. You’ll eventually want CpS to get gloves, but you’ll be there by the time you unlock them. You want access to your Divinities first, and the fastest way there is Blessing of Cronus.

You don’t want to use your portal quite yet, but you want Ancient Quests. The Belt of Agnis - which you unlock through hitting Random Boxes - is a huge soul bonus.

Starting the Quests and that Sweet, Sweet Bow

Third, make your way through the Legendary Belt and toward your beloved bow. Feel free to buy up various lower cost SP upgrades along the way (make sure you’re focusing on soul upgrades, though!).

It’s about this time that you’ll likely want to leave Hills in order to find jellies. You’re probably stalling out on CpS, and you’re looking to unlock the Gloves. To do that, you’ll need to unlock Novice (it’s bees - you’ve probably done it), Beginner, and Advanced Quests, and then complete the Hand Stingers quest. You’ve got to get somewhere with Jellies. You’ll have two options: Frozen Fields and Modern City. Frozen Fields is far worse actively - there are barely any jellies. And let's be honest - you hate Frozen Fields. But, if your first portal takes you to Frozen, consider staying there and trying to finish the quest. That said, once unlocking Advanced quests, you’ll also be able to complete the Hand Stingers quest in Modern City by killing bats if you happened to get there.

So, when you’re ready to handle a SP slowdown (you won’t have giants for a while), hop in the portal and head out. If you don’t get where you want to go right away, consider buying the portal cooldown Portal Traveler for 200 SP, which automatically allows you to travel again. If you end up in the Desert, consider staying for a bit to farm SP - it puts out very similar amounts of souls to the Factory. Either way, you’ll need to use the portals to get you to a place with jellies, so that you can unlock the gloves and continue on.

Straight On Till Daylight

Finally, about now you should have the bow and the gloves. You’ll get Stability and Triple Shot fairly soon and then it’ll be off to the races, spamming arrows and ascending to increase your total Slayer Bonus. Broadly, follow the Ascension Tier List from here on out, buying up the important upgrades and moving through the quests. Make sure to be in the right dimension to quickly unlock the next Quest bundles.

Later in the game, you'll find yourself grinding slowly through longer quests and taking various excursions to collect materials to power your Alternative Dimension Staff. That's ok! You'll get to cape in no time, and then working to increase your total SP far beyond what it was before. As always, remember: more SP = greater CpS and a better life in Idle Slayer.

And that's it! If you play actively and prepare well, an Ultra Ascension will be a fun step in the game as you continue to seek out achievements.