Summary
Stellarisoffers many diverse avenues for its players to customize their empires and grow their power, with ascension perks being one of the most significant. Once a player finishes any tradition tree, they’ll unlock a slot for an ascension perk of their choosing that can define an empire’s vision and ambitions, or even the fate of their civilization.
Due to the limited number of ascension slots, and the amount of time and effort it takes to unlock them, it’s prudent for players to think over their choices carefully before making their decision. Depending on the player’s priorities and the direction they want to take their empire in, certain perks may prove indispensable in the long run, while others may give them a head start on their goals inStellaris’early game.
Updated Jul 14, 2025 by Evan Arnoldi:Thanks to the constant updates, patches, and downloadable content that Stellaris receives throughout its lifetime, the viability of Ascension Perks has been increased to enable numerous gameplay styles and roleplaying for both newcomers and diehard veterans of the game.
Many of the newer additions can be said to be game-changing enough that they can enable a player to catapult ahead of their empire’s neighbors, and some others can be classified as being revolutionary in terms of enabling specific gameplay. It is always worth checking whether the Ascension Perk is more viable than the others due to the limited amount that a player can pick through a single save game.
1Interstellar Dominion
Take Over The Galaxy With Rapid Border Expansion
In the early game, one of the most useful perks a player can choose is likely the Interstellar Dominion ascension perk. Empires with this perk will have a20% reduction to the influence cost of both star bases and claims, whichfor empires just starting out(or are low on influence) will prove to be highly advantageous.
This is especially true for the very early game when expanding quickly is a necessity to make sure an empire gains its footing before it can be out-competed by its neighbors, or closed in after they failed to claim a choke point in time.
2Galactic Contender
A Necessity To Challenge Greater Powers Of The Galaxy
As an empire grows stronger, other spacefaring empires might prove to be trivial enough to be subjugated, making it trivial to conquer the galaxy. However, there are alwaysgreater powers in the galaxyto keep these upstart empires in check. One of these powers exists in the form of Fallen Empires, which can awaken during the end-game crisis.
To challenge them, taking the Galactic Contender Ascension Perk will be crucial. This perk allows an empire to deal more damage against the greater empires in the galaxy. Moreover, taking the Ascension Perk will allow players to be more dominant in the Galactic Community, as it increases their diplomatic weight by a respectable amount.
3Galactic Force Projection
Project Strength Of An Empire With Massive Fleet
No matter how much they try to avoid it, every empire eventually finds themselves in a position where they’re forced to go to war (or are forcing others, depending on the role players take). As a result,making sure there’s enough fleet powerto defend themselves is something every empire should prioritize as they develop and expand through the galaxy.
For anyone looking for a way to get a leg up over other empires, Galactic Force Projection is definitely worth looking into, as it adds +20 to the fleet command limit and +80 to naval fleet capacity.
4Shared Destiny
Rule The Galaxy With Numerous Subjects
Sometimes, it is inevitable for a player toattack their neighbors and vassalize them, as there are no areas left to explore and expand to progress further as an empire. In these cases, too many vassals can affect the player negatively, as the vassals can gain negative modifiers to their loyalty, therefore making them rebellious.
In this case, Shared Destiny is the perfect Ascendancy Perk to get as it allows the player to hold multiple vassals without them suffering loyalty losses. It is possible to gain huge amounts of resources and technological advances in this way, as it can be more efficient to keep vassals rather than just outright integrate them into the empire.
5Master Builders
Hoard Megastructures, Gain Superiority
Megastructures are always one of the most important buildings to build in the late game, as resources become scarce and additional measures are needed to hold off hostile empires and extradimensional invaders alike. Simple resource generation does not simply cut it any longer, and players will need tobuild multiple megastructures to survive the late game.
Moreover, those megastructures often need to be done quickly and efficiently. The Master Builders ascendancy perk enables exactly those options, as players will be able to build multiple critical megastructures all at once without losing precious time, provided that they have sufficient resources for them.
6Archaeo-Engineers
Reverse-Engineer Ancient Technologies Of The Past
The wisdom of the ancients is quite crucial for leaders to heed, especially when one is trying to lead an empire to prosperity in the vast galaxy. The Ascension Perk Archaeo-Engineers will enable an empire to focus more on esoteric technologies.
By acquiring the Ascension Perk, the field of Archaeostudies will be boosted. Various technologies acquired from the field, such as Ancient Pulse Armor and Ancient Rampart, receive stats bonuses. Moreover, strong Archaeotech weapons such as the Ancient Nano-Missile Cloud Launcher will receive a huge damage bonus, making them deadly enough toslay ancient Guardiansin the galaxy.
7One Vision
Consolidate An Empire Standing To Stand Unified
For any unity-focused empire, the One Vision ascension perk is an incredibly good choice as it gives not only a10% bonus to unity but a 50% bonus to governing ethics attractionas well, making the populations far more likely togravitate toward the empire’s ethicsas opposed to unrelated or incompatible ones.
Additionally, the One Vision perkreduces the population’s amenities usage by 10% across the empire, making this perk incredibly useful for empires that don’t have access to things like robotic populations that would’ve reduced the amenity usage otherwise.
8Imperial Prerogative
Expand Colonies Without Worrying About Limitations
One issue that every expanding empire will eventually run into and have to strategize around is that of empire sprawl. At a certain point, if the empire’s size exceeds the administrative capacity of that nation, things like researching new technology,adopting new traditions, and issuing edicts will become far more difficult and costly.
For that reason, Imperial Prerogative can be an incredibly useful ascension perk to take, as itreduces the empire size from colonies by a whopping 50%. For players frequently hindered by empire sprawl penalties, that 50% reduction will prove useful throughout the game.
9Mind Over Matter
Harness The Power Of The Mind To Control The Galaxy
For empires that have unlocked or pursued psionic theory technology, taking the Mind Over Matter ascension perk is essential for any who wishes to pursue psionics as the path of their empire, and will find advantages to doing so. Taking the Mind Over Matter perk most notablygives the primary species the latent psionic trait, in some of its population, which will grantvarious bonuses depending on their jobs.
Admirals with the psychic ability gain a10% bonus to weapons damage and a 15% bonus to evasion, which can be a major advantage in mid-game and remain useful into late-game. Whether the empire uses these abilities for mental enlightenment, or in advancing their tech, the psionics unlocked by Mind Over Matter will prove both flexible and powerful.
10Nihilistic Acquisition
Kidnap Other Empires; Populations To Strengthen The Workforce
Most ofStellarisgameplay revolves around surviving the harsh galaxy andits hostile inhabitantsby consolidating resources, which includes populations (“pops”) from all of an empire’s planets. These pops, in turn, can produce crucial resources to keep the engine of an empire working. This is crucial during all stages, including the early game. However, earning pops can be tricky. They are slow to earn, even with various beneficial traits to keep the growth speed up.
With the help of Nihilistic Acquisition, an empire can hasten its production by kidnapping pops from other empires during a war. In turn, these pops will be inserted seamlessly into the giant cog of production within the empire. They can either produce crucial resources, or work jobs that can keep a planet’s prosperity afloat.
