IncreKnight Beginner Guide: How to Get Started & Reach Prestige 3 Fast (2026)

Key Takeaways

• Knight of Flame is the best starter class and tbh I don't think it's close. The fire DoT ticks during AFK time and nothing else in the early game matches its combined output.

• Prestige at Level 50. I don't care what anyone tells you. That 2x damage multiplier means everything on your second run takes half the time.

• Gold goes into the Forge. Not weapons, not accessories. The Forge. Every 10 levels is +25% permanent weapon damage and you feel every single upgrade in a way that's hard to overstate.

• Pets scale off YOUR stats, not their own level. A Level 1 Phoenix on a Level 200 knight hits harder than a Level 100 pet on a Level 50 knight. I mean, read that again — it changes how you think about pet investment completely.

First 10 Minutes

You spawn at Level 1 with a rusty sword and 100 gold. The tutorial tells you to go kill monsters. Ignore that for 60 seconds.

Buy the Iron Sword for 50 gold. The starter weapon is genuinely embarrassing — you'll be slapping enemies with what feels like a butter knife. The Iron Sword doubles your base damage and you'll feel the difference on literally the first enemy you hit.

Pump Strength to 10 immediately. Do not touch Speed. Do not touch Vitality. Damage equals faster kills equals faster levels. This is the one thing every single veteran agrees on, no exceptions.

Unlock the Forge the moment you hit Level 5. It's free. From this point until well past Level 100, the Forge is where 90% of your gold goes. I'm not exaggerating.

I spent my first hour spreading stats everywhere and buying shop gear, wondering why everything felt so slow. You don't have to make that mistake.

Picking Your Knight at Level 10

At Level 10 you choose your class and honestly this decision shapes your entire first week of play.

Knight of Flame gives you +50% fire damage over time. The DoT keeps ticking whether you're actively playing or idling. For a game where half your progression happens while you're away, that passive is everything. Plus fire damage synergizes with Forge upgrades later in a way that feels almost unintended.

Knight of Thunder gives +15% crit chance. This is the endgame speed-farming class but it needs gear you don't have yet. Around Prestige 3-4, once your crit damage stat is stacked, Thunder pulls ahead. Before that, you're leaving damage on the table.

Knight of Frost gives +30% slow on hit. Useful for pushing difficult content where survivability matters more than raw speed. The slow gives you breathing room against tough dungeon bosses. But for pure progression pace, it's the slowest of the three — kind of ironic given the name.

Pick Flame. Thanks to the developer room, you can switch classes at prestige without hassle. Frost and Thunder will be waiting when you need them.

The Forge Is Your Best Friend

The Forge is the single most important progression system for your first 100 levels. Here's why: the Forge multiplier applies BEFORE weapon damage, element bonuses, and crit damage. Everything downstream gets amplified. A Level 80 Forge (3x multiplier) with a common sword outperforms a Level 20 Forge with an epic weapon. I tested this. It's not subtle.

Your gold priority through the first two prestiges:

Forge first, always. Push it to breakpoints at 10, 20, 30 and so on. Weapon upgrades only when the Forge cost gets too high and you need something to bridge the gap. Accessories and potions only with leftover gold, if any exists.

I see new players at Level 15 with a Forge at Level 3 and a shop full of shiny gear they bought. They're making the game 3x harder for themselves and you know what, I did the same thing on my first character. We all do. But now you know better.

When to Prestige (And Why Waiting Hurts You)

Prestige resets your level, gold, gear, and map progress. You keep prestige bonuses, pets, guild membership, and unlocked classes. Here's what you get:

First prestige at Level 50: +100% damage. This alone cuts your second run time roughly in half.

Second prestige at Level 75: +50% gold find. Suddenly gold stops being the bottleneck and you can actually afford things.

Third prestige at Level 100: +25% XP gain. Combined with the other bonuses, you fly through levels at a pace that makes the first run feel like slow motion.

Prestige at the absolute minimum level. The #1 new player mistake — and I mean the number one, the one that costs actual days of progress — is sitting at Level 55 thinking "I'll just farm one more upgrade." The math: every level past 50 before your first prestige takes longer than re-leveling to that same point with the 2x damage multiplier. You are literally deleting hours of your life by delaying.

Most players hit a wall between Prestige 3 and 5. That's where optimization matters instead of just grinding. Push through. Prestige 5 unlocks gear enhancement and the pace picks up again.

Your First Build Roadmap

For your first prestige run, here's the stat path that works:

Strength to 50 first (the breakpoint is massive). Then Strength to 100 (the 99-to-100 jump is worth more than 1-to-99, I'm serious). Speed to 75 after that for the attack speed threshold. Crit Damage everywhere else.

Ignore Vitality unless you're dying constantly. Damage solves most problems in IncreKnight before they become problems.

For pets, keep it simple. Phoenix for pushing dungeons (free revive saves boss attempts). Gold Dragon for farming sessions (gold boost stacks with prestige bonuses). Void Cat for pure DPS when you outgear the content.

And there's this thing — the Developer Room. At the main menu, type "devroom" on your keyboard. Inside you get +50% XP for 24 hours, free stat respec, and challenge board pets. Once per prestige. I didn't find this until my fourth prestige and I'm still kind of annoyed about those wasted hours.

FAQ

Q: Should I start over if I picked the wrong class?

A: No. Unless you're below like Level 20, it's faster to just push to Prestige 1 and switch then. Prestige resets your class choice anyway.

Q: How long to reach Prestige 1?

A: About 4-6 hours of active play with Flame Knight and proper Forge management. Maybe a bit longer if you're learning boss patterns. If it's taking much longer, check your Forge level.

Q: Is this game actually idle or do I need to play actively?

A: Both, tbh. Active play is faster because you're manually fighting through dungeons. But AFK gains cap at 8 hours with 75% efficiency, so you're always making progress offline. The pets and DOT effects keep working while you're away, which is kind of the whole point of the Flame Knight pick.