+1 Upgrade Per Kill tiers: the Leather to MAXED ladder

Original diagram made for this wiki, not a game screenshot.

The ladder, in order

The developer's description lists the ladder as Leather → Copper → Iron → Full Diamond → Ruby → Shadow → Prism → MAXED. The table above shows the same order so you can see at a glance how far a given player is from the top.

The ladder is about gear: each step upgrades the equipment you carry into the next fight. The game uses "real armor", so expect a player several tiers above you to be harder to bring down.

What changes your Upgrade

Event	Effect	Source
You get a kill	Gear upgrades by one step	Developer description
You die	Upgrade goes back to zero	Developer description
You die with a Gear Saver	You keep your armor	Developer description
You kill a high-Upgrade player	Bonus XP	Developer description

Because a death wipes the whole climb, the cost of dying grows with every kill. A player at Prism risks far more in a fight than a player in Leather. That is the core tension of the game.

Climbing efficiently

These tips follow from the rules above; they are our advice, not developer statements.

• Take fights you can finish. One kill is worth one step whoever you kill, so a quick win against a low-tier player moves you up just as much as a long duel.
• Hunt high-Upgrade players for XP, not for steps. The description promises bonus XP for those kills, not extra upgrade steps.
• Decide your risk before a fight. Near the top of the ladder, walking away from a bad fight protects many kills of progress. Gear Saver is the only official way to keep armor after a death.
• Pick a class that covers your weak spot. If you keep dying while chasing or escaping, see the class kits.

Leaderboards tied to the ladder

The description names three leaderboards:

• Best Streak – your longest run of kills without dying.
• Top Kills – total kills.
• Fastest Diamond – how quickly you reach Full Diamond, the fourth tier.

Fastest Diamond rewards a clean early climb, so the first few fights of a life matter most if you are chasing it.

What we have not confirmed

Fan sources report an on-screen "Upgrade x/34" counter, which would mean 34 steps in total, but we have not been able to verify it or how those steps split across tiers. Weapon upgrades and per-tier stats are also not published by the developer.