Phasmophobia Ascension new item tier system, explained

Jan 18, 2024

Everything you know has changed.

Players have been embarking on ghost-hunting adventures since Phasmophobia first launched on Sept. 18, 2020, but the game is still technically under development and has changed massively since it was released. But the biggest update the game has seen set is Ascension, which completely redesigned everything about the Phasmophobia with a new tier system.

The difference between each equipment tier in Phasmophobia is the function, not necessarily the quality as you might think. For many pieces of equipment, a higher tier does mean better quality, but it also sometimes doesn’t as you may be looking for a different function that the highest tier does not offer.

A great example of this is the revamped D.O.T.S. Projector. If you aren’t sure where the ghost is yet, carrying around the tier-one version of this tool will be incredibly useful since it is the only tier that is completely mobile like a flashlight. Tier three can cover the most space overall, but it cannot be freely carried from room to room.

Generally, which tier you want to use will come down to your own personal playstyle and preferences. The size of the map you’re playing on might play a role too since mobile equipment will be needed on bigger maps while you don’t need to worry much about this on smaller maps.

With the new tier system, some items have been renamed from what they were called previously. The glowstick and UV Flashlight now fall under the larger Ultraviolet category and are the tier-one and tier-two versions of this gear. The same has been done for a few other equipment types.

All tiers cost different prices to unlock, but to actually purchase them to bring to a ghost-hunting investigation, the price is the same for each tier after you have unlocked it. This can be confusing since you’ll sometimes feel that the higher-tier items are much better than the lower ones, yet you pay the same price for each one after the initial unlock.

There’s a ton of new content in the Ascension update, and learning to navigate all the tiers can be quite confusing. So here’s everything you need to know about all of the different tiers in Phasmophobia and how they compare to each other.

Related: All Phasmophobia Cursed Possessions and their locations

Staff Writer at Dot Esports primarily covering Minecraft, Genshin Impact, MC Championship (MCC), Disney Dreamlight Valley, general gaming, and streaming. She has been avidly writing and gaming her whole life and now spends her time combining the two.Kacee graduated from San Diego State University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Certificate in Creative Editing and Publishing. She then joined Dot Esports as a Freelance Writer in 2022 before transitioning to a Staff Writer in 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys buying more books than she can read, gaming alone or with friends, drinking too much tea, struggling to keep up with all of the streamers she loves to watch, attending concerts, fangirling over movies and television, listening to music, and spending time with her family, friends, and pets, who are the most important parts of her world.