Your ID Card in Phasmophobia is the first thing other players see when you join a lobby. It tells them whether you're a fresh Intern who just survived their first haunting or a veteran with an animated Commissioner badge that took hundreds of hours to earn. The prestige system sits at the center of all of this, and understanding how it works makes every contract feel like it's building toward something. Here's everything you need to know about XP, prestige tiers, and every badge type in the game.
How does XP work in Phasmophobia?
According to the Phasmophobia Wiki, every player starts at level 1 with 0 XP and earns experience by completing contracts. The XP required to level up increases progressively up to level 100, then locks at 4,971 XP per level from 101 through 999. Beyond level 999, the formula shifts again, and the absolute cap sits at level 9,999.
XP comes from several sources per contract:
- Ghost identification: 100 XP on small maps, 150 XP on medium maps, 200 XP on large maps
- Objectives 1-3: 25-30 XP each for successful completion
- Media: up to 231 XP from photos and recordings
- Bone Evidence: 25 XP (small), 35 XP (medium), or 50 XP (large)
- Investigation Bonus: awarded when you correctly identify the ghost and escape alive (equals ghost ID XP plus completed objectives XP)
- Perfect Investigation Bonus: an additional 50 XP on top of the Investigation Bonus, requiring correct ghost ID, all 3 objectives completed, bone collected, and journal filled with only unique media
Blood Moon weather adds a 10% XP bonus across the board.
Post-contract XP breakdown
Difficulty multipliers change everything
The single biggest lever you have over your XP rate is difficulty. Per the wiki, the multipliers stack directly on top of ghost ID XP, objective XP, media XP, and any investigation bonuses:
There's a catch worth knowing: if you die during an investigation, the difficulty multiplier above 1x does not apply, and your total XP is halved. Dying on Insanity doesn't just feel bad, it actively tanks your progression.
Custom difficulty can push up to 15x, but if you fail to identify the ghost correctly on a custom setting, your rewards round down to the nearest default difficulty equivalent. So a 7x custom run that goes wrong drops to 6x (Insanity level).
The theoretical maximum XP from a single contract (excluding daily and weekly tasks) is 14,261. That requires a perfect run against an Obake on the highest custom multiplier with Blood Moon weather on a large map. With daily and weekly tasks during a special event on the 2nd, 11th, or 25th of the month, the absolute ceiling hits 22,861 XP in one contract.
Difficulty selection affects XP rate
What happens when you prestige?
Once you hit level 100, you get the option to Prestige. According to the Phasmophobia Wiki, choosing to prestige wipes your level, all money, and all equipment in exchange for a unique badge, a new title for your ID Card, and an additional quick-loadout slot in the shop. Your prestige level does not change the XP required per level going forward.
This is a real cost. You lose everything you've bought and earned. The loadout slot is a tangible gameplay benefit, but most players prestige primarily for the badge.
Prestiging resets your entire inventory and bank balance. Make sure you've noted your preferred equipment loadouts before committing, since you'll be rebuilding from scratch.
Prestige badge tiers
As documented by GladiatorBoost's ID Card guide, prestige badges are split into two visual categories:
- Prestige 1-9: Static background designs with unique titles
- Prestige 10-20: Commissioner ranks with animated backgrounds
The animated Commissioner badges at Prestige 10 and above are among the rarest visible markers in any multiplayer lobby. They signal someone who has reset their account at least 10 times, each time sacrificing everything they owned.
What other badge types can you unlock?
Prestige badges are the most visible path, but they're far from the only way to customize your ID Card. Based on the GladiatorBoost guide, the full badge ecosystem covers several distinct categories.
Map-specific badges
Certain maps reward unique ID Cards for mastering them specifically. These require repeatedly identifying the correct ghost and surviving on a particular location. Examples include identifying the ghost 50 times on select locations like campsites, farmhouses, or high-risk areas. These badges reward consistent map knowledge over raw XP grinding.
Achievement and challenge badges
Some of the most respected badges in the community come from high-difficulty challenges:
- Apocalypse Challenge tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold variants
- Completionist badges: earned by unlocking every achievement and trophy
- Economy-focused challenges: tied to specific money-based achievements
These represent genuine mastery of game mechanics rather than time investment alone.
Event and seasonal badges
Holiday events (Halloween, Easter, and Winter events) typically run multi-stage objectives. Completing community goals unlocks a standard badge version, while completing personal goals unlocks an animated version of the same badge. Once an event closes, those ID Cards are gone permanently.
The Cursed Hollow event has returned in previous cycles, offering another window to grab limited-time badges that most players missed the first time around.
Event ID Cards cannot be earned after the event ends. There is no catch-up mechanism. If you miss a seasonal event, those badges move to the permanently retired list.
Twitch Drop badges
Introduced in 2025, Twitch Drops added monthly exclusive ID Cards requiring you to watch eligible Phasmophobia streams for a set duration. Most drop windows expire quickly, so tracking the schedule matters if you want these.
Developer and contributor badges
A small set of badges is reserved for Kinetic Games staff, official partners, translators, and contest winners. These are not obtainable through any normal gameplay path.
What do ID Cards actually display?
Your ID Card shows your player name, platform icon (PC, console, or cross-play), current level and XP progress, selected badge or title, and active character model. You can change your character model at any time from the lobby portrait selector without any gameplay effect.
Badges are swapped through the customization menu in the top-right corner of the lobby. Every badge you've earned stays available, so you can rotate between them freely.
One detail worth knowing: when another player views your ID Card, the XP bar at the bottom doubles as a voice volume slider for that player. It's a small design choice that makes the ID Card functional rather than purely decorative.
How to level up faster
The math here is straightforward once you accept the risk tradeoff. Higher difficulties multiply everything. A clean Nightmare run on a large map earns 4x the XP of the same run on Amateur. Insanity pushes that to 6x. The problem is that dying on those difficulties cuts your XP in half and removes the multiplier entirely.
For consistent progress, the most efficient approach is:
- Play at the highest difficulty where you can reliably survive and identify the ghost
- Prioritize large maps for the higher base ghost ID XP (200 XP vs 100 XP on small maps)
- Complete all 3 optional objectives every run
- Collect the bone and fill the journal with unique media to hit the Perfect Investigation Bonus
- Play during Blood Moon weather when it appears for the free 10% bonus
The Phasmophobia 2026 roadmap with Horror 2.0 may introduce changes to how XP and progression work, so it's worth tracking what Kinetic Games has planned for the system going forward.
Prestige level has no effect on XP requirements per level. Each prestige cycle requires the same grind from 1 to 100 as your very first playthrough.
Retired and unobtainable badges
A growing list of ID Cards can no longer be earned. Past holiday events, expired Twitch Drops, and one-time promotional campaigns all feed this permanently retired pool. They remain visible on veteran players' profiles, which is part of why they carry social weight in lobbies.
If you see an animated badge from a 2023 Halloween event on someone's card, there's no path to earning it now. That history is locked in.
For more guides on Phasmophobia and other games, browse the full guides section to find strategies covering everything from ghost identification to equipment loadouts.