AION 2 beginner’s guide: how to start well without paying

Before you launch the game

AION 2 goes free-to-play on 5 October 2026 at 13:00 UTC (6:00 AM PDT). NC says the game is “accessible to every player with no purchase required”. It runs on PC only (Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit), takes about 100 GB and installs through Steam or NC’s PURPLE launcher. Both platforms share the same servers.

• Languages: UI and subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese and Korean; voice-over in English, Japanese or Korean.
• Accounts: linking Steam and PURPLE is optional, but handy if you want the same character on both. If you plan to do it, create your PURPLE account first: players report a blocking error when the game is launched from Steam first.
• Controller, Steam Deck, Linux: they may work, but NC does not officially support them.

Faction, server, class: decide with your friends

These three choices are the hard ones to undo. A character’s faction cannot be changed: each server hosts a single faction, Elyos or Asmodian. You pick a region first, then a faction, then a server. Dungeons are open across servers, so friends who ended up elsewhere can join you there, and the free transfers on 14 October let you regroup later within the same faction. Everything is detailed in our faction and server guide and on the Regions page.

No class is officially better than another. For a first character, here is what our class sheets say:

Compare all eight classes on the Classes page before you decide.

Your first hours, in the right order

The game is fast: expect 4 to 6 hours to level 45 on a route, 9 to 12 hours at a relaxed pace (details in our leveling guide).

1. 1

   Follow the main quest to level 10

   Take only the yellow quest: the tutorial lasts about 20 minutes. At level 5 (Elyos) or 6 (Asmodians) you get your wings, flight and gliding; the first Ascension quest makes you a Daeva.

2. 2

   Focus your skill points

   Damage comes from a few skills: raise your normal attacks and the ones in your main chain first rather than everything evenly. When a skill unlocks a specialization slot, drag an effect into it, otherwise it stays inactive.

3. 3

   Wear the best item, enhance almost nothing

   Keep the best item level you find and only enhance if you are stuck: speedrun routes stop at +5 on weapon and accessories, which you will replace soon. Extraction returns the stones, not the Kinah.

4. 4

   Take the green quests and sealed dungeons on your way

   They fill experience gaps and give gear pieces. Do not detour for the others: an Ascension gauge can block your experience before some Ascension quests, and our leveling guide explains how to fill it.

5. 5

   Aim for level 22 on day one

   It opens stigmas and Odyle Energy, which opens the reward cubes of Expeditions and refills on its own: 15 every 3 hours, about 120 a day, according to Mein-MMO.

6. 6

   At level 45, change pace

   Your item level now decides which content you can enter: belt and amulet, daily missions, Transcendence. Follow the Endgame page and your Routine.

Key takeaways: decide your faction and server with your friends, follow the main quest, focus your skill points, enhance almost nothing before 45 and pay for nothing until you need the Market.

Interface and settings to check

• Open the settings with the gear icon in the top right: language, then the key settings tab. You can also move and resize every interface frame, export it as a template and build macros by stacking skills.
• In the Combat menu, turn on “Autouse”: without it, buff food and scrolls do not trigger on their own. Use them before a boss rather than at the dungeon entrance, since they last 5 minutes.
• Open the world map (M) to teleport to a kibelisk you have already linked; each teleport uses a return scroll. With no kibelisk nearby, auto-travel (Alt + the number of the tracked quest) takes you to the objective.
• Watch your flight stamina: auto-flight stops when it runs out, with a risk of a fatal fall.
• Set your extraction filter and lock valuable pieces: destroying an item by mistake is permanent. Also set your pet’s loot filter so it does not clog your bag with gray items.
• If the white flashes bother you, switch the teleport effect color from Light to Dark in the options.

Seven beginner mistakes to avoid

1. Selling your enhancement materials. You will need huge amounts later, and extraction gives you the stones back but never the Kinah.
2. Spending your Shugo Festival keys before level 45. The rewards depend on your level.
3. Leaving specialization slots empty. Unlocking a slot is not enough: you have to drag an effect into it by hand.
4. Opening the daily missions tab before level 45. Known issue as of 2 October: the missions then only become available the day after you reach 45.
5. Confusing item level with combat power. Item level gates access to content; combat power is a separate value that also counts your talents, Pantheon and Arcana.
6. Staying without a guild. A guild brings teammates, passive bonuses and guild coins handed out every week.
7. Picking your faction or server without your friends. The faction is permanent; only same-faction transfers are planned.

Free or member: what you lose without paying

Without a membership you can play all of Season 1. You have no access to the Market (buying and selling), to personal trade or to the Kinah ↔ Quna exchange, and you get a little less comfort: remote storage, a single Odyle Energy injection per cube, 12 Shugo keys instead of 21. The Special Quai Membership costs $14.99 for 30 days and only applies on the server where you buy it.

NC states that shop cosmetics have no effect on stats and that the consumables sold (potions, resurrection stones) can also be earned in play. Player criticism mostly targets the limits: a membership tied to one server, a Daeva Pass tied to one character. See our free-to-play article and the one on Kinah.

Where to find what on Aion2 Guide

• My characterLink your in-game sheet: build, gear and goals adapt to you.
• Journey 1 → 45The five-phase route and what opens at each level.
• QuestsYour faction’s quest log: main, regional, Ascensions, runes.
• ClassesCompare the eight classes and open your own class guide.
• RoutineThe daily and weekly tasks that matter, with resets.
• MapKibelisks, dungeons, bosses and Empyrean Traces on the map.
• Game systemsDaevanion, enhancement, stigmas, Odyle Energy: explained simply.
• GlossaryGame terms in French, English and Korean.