Our AION 2 guides bring together everything you need for the global launch: beginner tips, class advice, the best settings, release and preload information, system requirements, and what to expect on your way to level 45 and beyond.
AION 2 marks the major MMORPG comeback of NC, formerly NCSOFT. The game has been live in Korea and Taiwan since November 2025, and the global PC version launched via Steam and NC’s PURPLE launcher on October 5, 2026. AION 2 is free-to-play, with Founder’s Pack owners having received five days of Advanced Access starting September 30.
I played AION 2 for around twelve hours during the Launch Scale Test and reached level 30. Since Advanced Access and the global launch, I’ve continued playing the live version and checking systems, limits, and progression directly in the global client. Our newer guides are based on that hands-on experience, including the endgame, Abyss, rankings, and weekly reset.
- Note: We regularly check our guides against the live global version and update them when patches or server changes affect the information.
AION 2 Guides at a Glance
Getting Started, Servers & Characters
| Guide | What You’ll Find |
|---|---|
| AION 2 Release Time | global launch, download, platforms, system requirements and servers |
| AION 2 Beginner Guide | leveling to 45, gear, Odyle Energy, Kina and important unlocks |
| AION 2 Classes Guide | all eight classes, roles, weapons, beginner picks, solo play, PvE and PvP |
| AION 2 Elyos or Asmodian | faction differences, server restrictions and which faction to choose |
| AION 2 Server Guide | EU servers, factions, character creation and server transfers |
| Playing AION 2 with Friends | servers, parties, channel switching and cross-server group content |
| AION 2 Best Settings | graphics, FPS, combat options, HUD, controls and keybinds |
Gear, Gathering & Progression
| Guide | What You’ll Find |
|---|---|
| AION 2 Item Extraction | what to do with old gear, Item Extraction, Transfer and upgrades |
| AION 2 Essence Extraction | gathering, talents, Od and advancing to Professional |
| AION 2 Amulet and Belt | enhancing, Enhance Scrolls and Substance Morph |
| AION 2 Pets | Souls, Genus Insight, Pet Transformation and mounts |
| AION 2 Hidden Cubes | locations, keys, respawn and rewards |
Endgame, PvP & Builds
| Guide | What You’ll Find |
|---|---|
| AION 2 Level 45 | Item Level, endgame content, Draupnir, Nightmare, limits and Kina |
| AION 2 Weekly Reset | reset time, weekly limits, daily reset and season dates |
| AION 2 Spacetime Rift | opening times, portal access, quests and enemy territory |
| AION 2 Abyss Points | earning Abyss Points, Abyss Rank and what to buy |
| AION 2 Tier List | which classes led the in-game rankings on my server shortly after launch |
| AION 2 DPS Meter | Combat Analysis, DPS values and comparing skills and builds |
Shop, Events & Monetization
| Guide | What You’ll Find |
|---|---|
| AION 2 Pay to Win? | Membership, Daeva Pass, Quna Exchange and purchasable advantages |
| AION 2 Twitch Drops | rewards, dates, account linking, claiming Drops and troubleshooting |
AION 2 Beginner Guide: Tips for Your First Hours
Faction, class, Odyle Energy, gear, and leveling: During your first few days, you’ll make decisions that either can’t be reversed later or can cost you a lot of time and resources. Our beginner guide explains what matters before your first login, how to level efficiently, what unlocks on the way to level 45, and which resources you should save for later.
AION 2 Classes: Which Class Should You Play?
Eight classes are available at global launch: Templar, Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric, and Chanter. Your class is tied to your character, and there is currently no free class-change option. That makes choosing a class one of the most important decisions you make before committing to a main character.
Our class guide explains every role and weapon, which classes are easiest for beginners, which ones work well for solo play, and what to consider for PvE, PvP, and dungeon groups.
- Compare all eight classes in our AION 2 Classes Guide: All 8 Classes & Which Is Best for You.
AION 2 Best Settings: Graphics, FPS, Controls & Keyboard Shortcuts
AION 2 has eight main settings tabs, covering everything from automatic potion use and target selection to DLSS, Frame Generation, HUD layouts, and keybinds. Spending a few minutes here before your first quest can improve performance and make the controls noticeably more comfortable.
- Optimize the game with our AION 2 Best Settings: FPS, Graphics, Controls & Keybinds.
AION 2 Endgame: What Unlocks at Level 45?
Level 45 is the global launch level cap. According to the developers, that’s where the broader endgame opens up: the Abyss as the main stage for the faction war, the Arena, 10v10 Battlefields, Transcendence dungeons, and the weekly 10-player Sanctuary raid. NC temporarily removed the Sanctuary raid Ludra for the global launch; a new date is due by October 16.
PvP is largely optional outside dedicated activities. Outside the Abyss, you decide with PvP mode whether you can be attacked. That also applies in Spacetime Rifts, but if you attack a guard there, the game forces PvP mode on for about 10 minutes. If you’re still leveling, our AION 2 Beginner Guide explains the major unlocks on the way to 45.
- What to do first at level 45 and which content opens at which item level: AION 2 Level 45: What to Do Next in the Endgame.
Once you reach the endgame, weekly limits, the Abyss and build optimization become much more important. Our Weekly Reset guide shows when attempts and rewards refresh, while the Abyss Points guide explains how to earn the currency and what to buy with it. If you want to improve your build, use the in-game Combat Analysis to measure your DPS and compare your results with our current AION 2 Tier List.
AION 2: Release, Platforms, Level Cap & Key Facts
| What | When (CEST) |
|---|---|
| Preload | September 28, 3:00 PM |
| Advanced Access, Founder’s Pack required | September 30, 4:00 PM (planned for 3:00 PM), through October 4 |
| Global launch, free-to-play | October 5, 3:00 PM |
Quick answer: AION 2 launched globally on October 5, 2026. Founder’s Pack owners were able to start five days earlier with Advanced Access on September 30.
Server transfers run in two phases: from October 14 to 21, characters can move between Advanced Access servers, and from October 21 to 28, characters on launch servers can move to launch or Advanced Access servers. The transfer itself costs 0 Quna, only extra character slots on the destination server cost 1,000 Quna. Transfers only work within the same region and faction, and each account gets one transfer run.
If you participated in the Launch Scale Test through Steam, uninstall the separate Playtest app and download AION 2 again. All progress from the test has been wiped.
- Download, platforms, system requirements and my launch tips: AION 2 Release Time: Launch, Download & Servers for October 5.
Our AION 2 Pets guide explains how to collect Souls, raise Genus Insight, unlock bonuses and use Pet Transformation.
Is AION 2 Free-to-Play? Founder’s Packs and Membership
Yes, AION 2 is free-to-play at global launch. With one of three Founder’s Packs, you could start five days early with Advanced Access. NC limited sales to October 5 at 5:00 PM CEST, and only one pack could be purchased per account:
Pack Price Contents Standard $24.99 (around €21) 5-Day Advanced Access, Vanguard of Atreia title, Daeva’s Campaign Supply Chest, 30 days of Special Quai Membership Deluxe $49.99 (around €42) everything in Standard, plus the Ascended Daeva Skin Set and Eternal Sun Weapon Skin Chest Ultimate $99.99 (around €85) everything in Deluxe, plus the Moonlit Aria Skin Set, Daeva’s Styling Chest, Black Dragon Pet, and Blazing Sun Wings
The contents are the same on Steam and PURPLE, but as far as I know they are tied to the platform where you make the purchase. Unlike in Korea, the Founder’s Pack skins are not expected to appear in the shop later.
Membership costs €12.75 for 30 days. It unlocks the Market, the exchange between Kina and Quna, Remote Storage, and other benefits while also increasing your maximum Odyle Energy. Direct player-to-player trading is disabled in the global version as an anti-bot measure, so trading takes place exclusively through the Market. There are also several Daeva Passes that apply per character, each with a free and paid track.
- What the shop sells and how much power you can buy: AION 2 Pay to Win? Shop, Membership & Daeva Pass Explained.
AION 2 at a Glance
| Game | AION 2 |
| Developer and Publisher | NC (formerly NCSOFT) |
| Genre | MMORPG |
| Platform | PC via Steam and PURPLE, console version in development |
| Release | October 5, 2026, Advanced Access from September 30 |
| Business Model | Free-to-play with optional Membership |
| Level Cap | 45 |
| Classes | 8 at launch |
| Factions | Elyos and Asmodians |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5 |
AION 2 Servers, Regions, and Languages
At launch, servers are available in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan, with no dedicated Oceania server. Servers are separated by faction. Founder’s Pack owners play on dedicated Advanced Access servers, and new servers for everyone were added on October 5. Steam and PURPLE players share the same servers.
The interface supports German, but there is no German voice-over. AION 2 is voiced in English, Korean, and Japanese. Steam lists eight supported interface languages for the global release.
AION 2 System Requirements and Download Size
AION 2 requires 100 GB of free storage space, and an SSD is recommended. My download was around 82 GB.
Minimum requirements:
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
- AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-10500
- 8 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB or AMD Radeon RX 470 with 4 GB
- DirectX 12, 100 GB storage
Recommended requirements:
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel Core i7-11700
- 16 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT with 8 GB
- DirectX 12, 100 GB storage
For Full HD, Steam recommends the Very Low graphics preset on the minimum hardware and the Low preset on the recommended hardware. DLSS and Frame Generation are supported; you can find our performance recommendations in the AION 2 Best Settings Guide.
AION 2 Hands-On: Our Launch Scale Test Impressions
Twelve hours, level 30, two test sessions: I spent the Launch Scale Test exploring the global version of AION 2. The combat impressed me, flying was the highlight, while the heavily instanced structure of the world left me more skeptical.
- Read the full test impressions in AION 2 Hands-On: Great Combat, but the World Feels Strangely Solitary.
Update Log
- 10/10/2026: Corrected the Advanced Access start time, the server transfer phases, the PvP note on Spacetime Rifts, the captions for Pets, Ferocious Horn Den and the hands-on and the term Battlefields, and softened the note on platform-bound Founder’s Packs.
- 10/08/2026: Reorganized the guide overview by topic and added Pets, Weekly Reset, Abyss Points, DPS Meter, Playing With Friends and the Tier List; updated internal links and removed outdated pre-release wording; added a note on the temporarily removed Sanctuary raid and unified terminology.
- 10/05/2026: Added the newer guides to the overview table and updated release, Membership and download information after launch
- 09/28/2026: Added the guide overview, improved internal links, and updated the hub structure for the global launch
- 09/26/2026: Guide hub published; Beginner Guide, Classes Guide, and Settings Guide added
