How perk decks, the graveyard and progression work

Four progression categories, not one

Progression is split into four distinct categories, each with its own level track. Experience earned in matches or in the story mode is applied across them. Reaching the maximum in any one category allows a prestige, which resets it for additional rewards.

Levelling is what unlocks additional playable civilians, new Michael abilities, extra starting items for civilians, cosmetics, new tiers of challenges and new executions. It is the reason five of the twelve civilians are not available on day one — they sit at player levels 5, 10, 25, 40 and 55.

The graveyard and the perk card system

Perks are unlocked in the graveyard using points earned from matches, and assembled into a custom deck that comes into play as a match progresses. The developers describe it as a rollable card system with decks and an earnable currency.

Michael has no cards. He picks a starting weapon and unlocks special abilities — Detection Pulse, Blackout and Reality Tear — through player level instead. That asymmetry is worth understanding before reading any loadout advice: a civilian's power is assembled before the match, and Michael's is earned across an account.

Why 'best perk deck' guides are mostly noise right now

Your available cards depend on your own graveyard unlocks, which depend on how many matches you have played. A deck someone recommends is a description of their unlock state as much as of the game's balance.

What is fixed to a civilian, and therefore comparable, is the four-stat line and the three signature traits. That is what this site compares, and it is why the Loadout Lab sorts on stats rather than pretending to rank decks.

The other thing worth knowing: match rewards include tokens, which the community understands as feeding into your odds of being assigned Michael rather than being spent in a shop. That mechanism is not officially documented, so treat it as the current community reading rather than as a rule.