AION 2 Patch Notes — July 1, 2026: Chapter 1

The July 1 update opens Chapter 1. Land of Sand and Frost — the largest content patch since launch. It raises the level cap, adds a new class and two new regions, introduces the Pendant equipment slot, and carries the full class-balance pass that was postponed from June 24.

New regions

• A new Elyos territory, Eltnen, is added.
• A new Asmodian territory, Morheim, is added.
• Completing the Verteron / Altgard hero quests spawns a teleport portal in your territory that travels to the new regions. Using it requires meeting level, item-level and Combat Power thresholds.
• Eltnen / Morheim are split into a Chapter 1 and a Chapter 2 section that unlock sequentially.

New class: Brawler

A new class, the Brawler (revealed pre-launch as the “Fistmaster”), and its exclusive weapon type, the Gauntlet, are added. The Brawler is a bare-fist martial artist with the new Rampage skill set (Flurry, Roundhouse, Whirlwind, Ground Smash, Ascending Blow, Exploding Fist, Chain Fist).

Level expansion & stats

• The level cap is raised to 50. From level 45, each level-up grants an Advanced Stigma Shard (Soul-bound).
• New Frontal stats are added: Frontal Damage Amplification, Frontal Damage Resistance, Frontal Attack, Frontal Defense, Frontal Critical, and Frontal Critical Resistance. Frontal stats apply additionally through Soul Engraving, Pet Understanding, and manastones / godstones.
• The maximum cap is removed from many stats — all Daevanion stats (Nezekan, Vaizel, Kaisinel, Yustiel, Siel, Zikel, Triniel, Lumiel, Marchutan, Israphel), Power/Agility/Knowledge/Health/Accuracy/Will, all the +Attack/Defense/Accuracy/Evasion/Crit/Crit-Resist/Block lines, and every Damage Amplification and Damage Resistance line.
• Because amp/resist caps are removed, the maximum damage reduction from Damage Resistance is limited to 80%.
• New caps are set for some stats: Movement Speed max 150%, Cooldown reduction max −60%, Mana-cost reduction max −60%. The Critical stat's max applied probability is described as raised from 50% to 80%.

Stigma

• Stigma skill max level expanded 20 → 25. From level 20, Advanced Stigma Shards are consumed to raise the skill level.
• Advanced Stigma Shards: 1 per level-up from character level 45, plus 1 for taking a Stigma skill to level 20 (reset that skill and the shard is refunded).
• Stigma reset cost is now free.

Party / Force

Party and Force sizes change to a maximum of 5 and 20 respectively.

Nightmare

• Dream Layer IV opens with a new boss; the boss's new decoration is added to [Nightmare – Exchange Shop – Statue].
• Nightmares with no unlock condition can now be challenged straight to stage 10 without clearing prior stages; unlock-gated Nightmares can likewise jump to stage 10 once unlocked. Clearing a higher stage also grants the first-clear reward of the stages below it.

Awakening Battle

• A 'Doom' difficulty is added to Awakening Battle.
• Two new Awakening Battles are added: 'Bedchamber of the Dead' and 'Forgotten Storehouse'.

Expedition / Transcendence / Sanctuary

• Reward-count and final-boss-kill caps are removed from Expedition and Transcendence. Instead, leaving after a clear without collecting the reward now decrements a weekly count; at 0 you can no longer enter (resets weekly). The count is shared across characters on the same server.
• Normal/elite monster rewards inside Expedition/Transcendence are removed, and existing 'Challenge Ticket' / 'Recharge Ticket' items in inventory and warehouse are removed.
• You can now ride pets inside dungeons (restricted during boss fights and special-play areas).
• With party size now 5, Expedition/Transcendence become 5-player and Sanctuary becomes 10-player; some boss patterns were lightly adjusted to match. Expedition Conquest (Normal/Hard) boss kills now drop Odyle Energy for 5 players, totaling 15.
• Expedition (Conquest) and Transcendence dungeon lists are re-sorted to show the most recently added first.

Expedition — Citadel of the Fallen Daeva

• Hard difficulty consumes 60 Odyle Energy; rewards scale up with the extra energy and the guaranteed-reward count is adjusted.
• Some dungeon Kinah becomes Soul-bound Kinah: Conquest Normal 'Fire Temple' & 'Ferocious Horn Den' Kinah becomes Soul-bound; 50% of 'Dying Dramata's Nest' & 'Cradle of Nihility' Kinah becomes Soul-bound. Conquest Hard 'Krao Cave', 'Draupnir', 'Urugugu Canyon' & 'Vakron Sky Island' Kinah becomes Soul-bound; 50% of 'Fire Temple' & 'Ferocious Horn Den' Kinah becomes Soul-bound.

Transcendence — Abyssal Horn Den

50% of the Kinah earned in 'Submerged Life Temple' becomes Soul-bound Kinah.

Sanctuary

• Challenge-count caps are removed from 'Abyssal Forge: Ludra' and 'Corroded Decontamination Facility'; the reward-count condition becomes final-boss-kill count.
• Every Sanctuary's final-boss-kill requirement drops from 2 to 1, and rewards are doubled. Accordingly the kills needed for guaranteed rewards are halved, and existing accumulated guaranteed-reward counts are halved (rounded up if odd). Sanctuary-clear achievement targets will be lowered on July 8.
• Sanctuary Odyle Energy cost changes 40 → 80.
• For 'Abyssal Forge: Ludra' and 'Corroded Decontamination Facility', mid-boss kill rewards are removed and all rewards now come from the Odyle Energy that appears on the final boss kill. Every Sanctuary's time limit becomes 2 hours.
• A new blueprint lets you convert 4× 'Equipment Change Ticket: Ludra (Soul-bound)' + 50,000,000 Kinah into an 'Abyssal Forge: Weapon Selection Box (Soul-bound)'.

Shugo Festa / Dimensional Invasion

• Events that used to run in the field phase now play on separate, dedicated maps (same rules). Entry is immediate — no NPC dialogue — and you return to your last position on exit, so no Return Scroll is consumed to enter.
• The minimum contribution to earn 'Shugo Merchant Protection' rewards is set to 1,500 points. Monster-cube opens by ranking are raised: even the lowest rank now opens at least 2 (non-subscriber) / 4 (subscriber) cubes; Shugo Merchant Protection top rank (1st–2nd) opens 3 / 6.
• New Shugo Festa 'Shugo's Dilemma' is added — gather exactly the number of players shown on randomly generated tiles to score. It grants a new reward, 'Shugo's Dilemma (Afterimage: Masterpiece) (Soul-bound)'.

New gear slot: Pendant

• A new Pendant equipment slot is added. Rare and Heritage pendants and their enhancement materials come from Eltnen/Morheim quests.
• Unique-grade and above pendants are enhanced with Kinah, Breakthrough Stones, 'Draconic Essence' and 'Radiant Draconic Essence'.

Draconic materials

The Horn/Hide/Scale Draconic materials from Expedition and Sanctuary are consolidated into 'Draconic Essence' and 'Radiant Draconic Essence'. You can material-convert to and from the essences and the processed Draconic materials used in crafting.

New Arcana slots

• New Arcana slots are added: Key, Hourglass, Dice, and Lantern. This Transcendence yields Key and Hourglass arcana; Dice and Lantern arrive in a later update.
• Arcana are added to the Prelude of Punishment, Protected Soul, and Indomitable Dedication sets. These can be synthesized with 500,000 Kinah and 'Pure Crystal (Soul-bound)' to lock one option.

Abyss

• Three tradable Medal Boxes are added to the Abyss, obtainable from Chapter 1 Abyss boss merit boxes or the new 'Abyss Battle Directive: Middle Stratum (Soul-bound)'.
• 'Abyss Battle Directive: Middle Stratum (Soul-bound)' is added, performed in 'Chaotic Reshanta Middle' by killing enemy-faction players; rewards include various Soul-bound medals and tradable Medal Boxes.
• Server rematching resets Artifact captures and the Abyss Corridor — see CM Hideout for server-matching info.

New Abyss — Reshanta Surface

• Only characters at or below item level 4300 or Combat Power 400K may enter. Exceeding the entry condition during play forcibly ejects you and deducts 1 hour from the surface's base usage time.
• Up to 300 players per faction (600 total) can enter; unlike the lower/middle strata, the surface has no Artifacts.

Rankings, missions & supply

• Class-based ranking rewards: Abyss boss-kill and Artifact-capture rewards move from overall-contribution ranking to per-class ranking, so more players receive rewards; contribution medal amounts are raised somewhat.
• Season Mission medal rewards are raised and some missions are added.
• Supply Requests: 'Abyss Point' and 'Enhancement Stone' amounts increased; 'Soul Crystal (Soul-bound)' added to the 'Season: Craft' and 'Season: Boss' tabs.

New gear

• New top-tier Draconic crafted armor — the 'Genesis Dragon Lord' and 'Nemesis Dragon Lord' sets (plus their Splendent variants) — is added, crafted using the existing top-tier Dragon Lord armor as inheritance material. The craft material 'Runaway Terror Aura: Armor (Soul-bound)' comes from converting 'Lava Heart' armor or the Equipment Change Ticket from the new Expedition's guaranteed rewards.
• New Abyss armor 'Guardian/Archon Guard Captain' is added to the Abyss shop, with a blueprint to inheritance-craft 'Guardian/Archon Legion Commander' armor into it.
• Heroic-grade Belt of Nobility, Amulet of Revelation, and Amulet of Battle are added. A blueprint converts a Unique +10 Amulet/Belt into the Heroic version; buy 'Amulet of Battle Enhancement Scroll (Soul-bound)' from the Abyss shop to enhance Heroic amulets.

Inheritance

• The inheritance count cap is removed and inheritance now succeeds at 100%. Because success is now guaranteed, materials previously lost to failed inheritance will be retroactively refunded from play logs starting July 8.
• The Advanced Inheritance count cap is removed and its max cost is fixed at 50,000,000 Kinah.
• New inheritance-craft blueprints: Unique → Heroic Draconic gear (upgrading the existing Dragon Lord armor tiers), and Unique → Heroic Abyss gear ('Guardian/Archon Centurion' → 'Guardian/Archon Legion Commander').
• Material Conversion: the 'Stigma Shard (Soul-bound)' conversion blueprint (from 'Unstable Stigma Shard') has its conversion level restriction set to 45.

Arena / Battleground

• Co-op Arena becomes 5v5; Battleground becomes 10v10.
• New Battleground type 'Sandstorm Temple' is added ('Cradle of Odd Shards' ends).
• Inside Battlegrounds all players' stats are equalized, and learned Mastery skills are forced to level 20 and Stigma skills to level 25 (no learning new skills inside).
• Battleground victory/participation Abyss Point and medal rewards are raised, and victory adds 'Fragment: Aspel's Trace (Soul-bound)'.

Monolith & Field Boss

• New Monoliths are added to Eltnen and Morheim — resonate the scattered Empyrean Lord's Traces to raise the Monolith level for rewards. A blueprint converts a Unique +10 Amulet of Revelation into the Heroic version, enhanced with the 'Amulet of Revelation Enhancement Scroll' earned from Monolith level-ups.
• New field bosses with new portraits and exclusive gear are added to Eltnen/Morheim. All contributors now receive extra rewards — a box that can yield 'Attunement Stone Fragment (Unique) (Soul-bound)' and gear, plus the boss's 'Afterimage of the Masterpiece', usable to convert each boss's portrait.

Hidden Cube & Black Cloud Trading Company

• Hidden Cube rewards are reworked — new appearances, new wings, mid/high manastones and godstones, 'Radiant Gathering Material Selection Bundle (Soul-bound)' and 'Lucky Kinah Box (Soul-bound)' are newly obtainable, and rates/quantities for Spirit Stones of Resurrection, Soul Books, Mind Potions, Life Crystals, godstones and scrolls are raised.
• The Black Cloud Trading Company adds a 'Radiant Appearance Box' (higher Unique-appearance rate than the standard box), and overall prices are cut.

Wardrobe, pets & convenience

• Past-season (Season 2) ranking-reward titles and Pantheon decorations keep their appearance but lose their stat effects.
• A Membership Event Pass is added — earned each time you subscribe or extend Kwairing Premium (server-managed, queued if one is active). Existing subscribers receive passes based on remaining time (remaining days ÷ 28, rounded up).
• Special-grade appearances and special-race pets become server-wide shared across your characters; duplicates are refunded as exchange tickets. A pendant weapon tab (Gauntlets) is added to the wardrobe and brokerage. A free character slot is added, plus head accessories and a new pet from Eltnen/Morheim.
• Legion Hideouts are placed in Eltnen/Morheim; rental/extension state is shared across a legion's hideouts by region, with portals to move between them.
• A Sprout Badge is added for new/returning users (activated via the 'New Ascension' growth support + Kwairing Premium): grants PvP-assist buffs, and clearing target dungeons (Expedition/Transcendence/Sanctuary) alongside a Sprout user grants normal users 'Small Odyle Energy (Soul-bound)', up to 14 times weekly per server (max 2 per run).
• Daeva Express items instantly clear a region's uncleared Garrison / Sealed Dungeons or collect all of a region's Empyrean Lord's Traces.
• Daevanion: the Nezekan, Zikel, Vaizel and Triniel boards are expanded and re-composed (free board resets provided). A 'Learn All Nodes' convenience option and shortest-path node routing are added.

This is the full balance patch that was postponed from June 24. Skill and class names are mapped through the game data; percentage arrows read old ▶ new.

The July 1 note carries a large slate of events with lengthy reward tables. They are summarized below — see the official note for the full day-by-day and item-by-item lists.

• Kwairing Premium Membership Event Pass — 8 mission types, each with 1–4 stages; cumulative completion (10/15/20) grants extra rewards. Runs 28 days per subscription, once per server.
• The Start of a New Adventure — a 14-day attendance event (Jul 1 – Jul 22), resets daily at 00:00.
• AION2 Growth Support — four new supports ('An Exciting First Step', 'New Ascension', 'New Continent Explorer', 'Slow and Steady'), with coins sold for 0 Quna; new/returning Daevas can activate on up to 2 characters. Runs Jul 1 – Nov 4.
• New Breath — a 28-day attendance event (Jul 1 – Aug 5), resets daily at 00:00.
• Daeva Look Change Week — styling cost cut 50% (200 ▶ 100 Quna), Jul 1 – Jul 15.
• (Ended) Daevanion Marchutan Boost-Up — the Apr 8 – Jul 1 event ends; bonus 'Fragment: Marchutan's Trace (Soul-bound)' drops in the listed Expedition/Transcendence dungeons revert.
• Promotions — new armor appearances (Angel & Devil set, Lovely Heart Angel, Sexy Chic Devil, After-Rain Raincoat), new helms/accessories, new pets (Fluffy Sheep, Blue Flame Gumiho), the Sunlight Wings, an AION2 Chapter 1 Starter, and new Daeva Pass subscriptions ('Legacy of Flame', 'Hero's Invitation', 'First Meeting of Illusion'). See the source for prices and contents.

Improvements

• HUD Edit: fixed unselected UI reverting to a previous size when clicked, so size changes to unselected UI persist.
• Main Target UI: fixed some target info (name, level, insignia, HP) not showing in Purple Streaming mode.
• Pantheon: registering a decoration via an item now auto-equips it if the current preset has at least one empty slot. Colossus Guardian General Nahma's effect is raised — Justice[Nezekan], Time[Siel], Destruction[Zikel] 50 → 55.
• Contribution: the minimum contribution needed for Odyle Energy Cube rewards in Expedition/Transcendence is lowered from 3% to 1%.
• Quests: teleports are added to some Poeta/Verteron/Ishalgen/Altgard steps; Verteron & Altgard episode and region quests are eased somewhat; the Verteron region quest 'Non-mainstream Profit Formula' journal location is corrected to 'Drana Plantation'.
• Combat Power Meter: UI simplified; an auto-measure mode is added (auto-starts on attacking a boss), recording up to 100 entries.
• Boss direction markers: the rear-marker option now supports front/rear display (both / front only / rear only / none).
• [Journal – Mission – Task] now shows up to 15 missions at once.

Fixes

• Expedition 'Dying Dramata's Nest – Hard' boss 'Decaying Durvati': fixed using 'Rising Venom Swamp' before 'Venom Swamp' when HP dropped very quickly.
• Sanctuary 'Corroded Decontamination Facility' boss 'Terminator Bargott': the 'Bargott blows it all up!' pattern no longer wipes the party when only one bomb remains.
• The 'Seed of Insight' drop rate from Shugo Festa is lowered from 100% to 70%.
• Abyss Point acquisition limit adjusted to units of one million.
• 'Burn' from 'Terminator Bargott' and 'Iscariel', and 'Armor Break' from 'Agonizing Bakarma' and 'Solemn Balken', are now removed immediately when the respective boss is killed.