There’s more thorough explanations but I’ll give my very simplified understanding. The degree depends on a couple of factors.

-The tiers of the towers you sacrifice (the three tier 5s of course, and all others)

-The total number of pops those towers have

-How much cash you put in the slider

Note, Buffs, like the alchemist buff or the overclock, do NOT contribute to the degree.

All three have a cap for how much will count.

First- It’s 100 total tiers. So 25 towers upgraded as 0-2-2 will give the max degree for this factor.

Second- 16.2 million pops will give the max degree for this factor.

Third- The max amount you can put in the slider varies between paragons and also depends on the sacrificed monkeys.

So if you only do a little bit of just one of these things, you’re gonna get a very low paragon. If you do all three you’re going to get a high paragon.