AION 2 Item Level Progression Guide: From Level 45 to 2,500

This route takes you from level 45 to the 2,500 item level breakpoint without spending real money, and it builds combat power at the same pace so groups do not turn you away at endgame. Each stage below gives you the order to run content in, the point to stop, and where to spend what you earn.

Quick answer

Reach 1,000 item level after level 45

You cannot enter the Abyss until 1,000 item level, so the first stretch is about collecting every cheap point the open world offers. Daevanion Crystals are the backbone here: each one placed on the Daevanion board adds one item level. On that board, take offensive nodes such as critical hit and attack bonuses before defensive ones like MP or defense, which add far less attack power.

Wisdom Stones come from the same sealed dungeons and unlock skill breakpoints. Level 12 adds an extra slot and a skill bonus, and the stones later help push a skill to level 16.

1. Open the map and clear every sealed dungeon for Daevanion Crystals and Wisdom Stones 0:31
2. Press J and finish every regional quest
3. Upgrade the belt and the revelation amulet first — both stay equipped for a long time 1:30
4. Farm belt enhancement scrolls in the Exploration Stronghold push the stronghold meter to 67% first
5. Pluck feathers and hand them in at the Old Guard Monolith for amulet scrolls monolith at level 30 gives enough to take the amulet to legendary
6. Auto-equip each item, then raise its grade in the gear tab green to blue ≈ +15 item level, to legendary ≈ +19 · 2:26

Sealed dungeons, side quests and the upgraded belt and amulet are enough to reach 1,000 on their own.

Climb from 1,000 to 1,400 item level

At 1,000 you enter the Abyss and the main story quest hands you the gear you will build on for a while. Keep going until the quest log reads level 46, waiting for the next journey.

1. Enter the Abyss and finish the main story quest 3:25
2. Enhance the guard and the weapon to +4 right away
3. Enhance the Ascension Bracelet to +4 it stays in use until the 2,800 item level raid
4. Press J again and redo the regional side quests for two Clash Runes 41 item level in total · 3:54
5. Enhance each Clash Rune once, then stop a failed second attempt throws the gain away
6. Run the highest Nightmare dungeon level you can clear opens at 1,000, then rises in steps of 50 · 4:23
7. Spend Nightmare rewards in the trade shop under growth: 45 Daevanion Crystals in total keep the rest for Stigma Shards
8. Buy Daevanion Crystals from the Shugo Festival shop, steps one and two step three costs 200 of the currency — only if you need it
9. Farm feathers in the Abyss and turn them in at the monolith 36 item level · 5:49
10. Manastone every blue piece, then enhance any remaining slots to +4 6:17
11. Join world boss runs, above all Garuta Garuta can drop level 70 gear, equal to 1,400 dungeon drops · 6:45

The blue pieces are the best you can manastone until your first 1,400 dungeon, which is why they get the stones now. The Shugo Festival currency is better spent on Stigma Shards once the cheap crystal steps are gone, since those raise combat power directly.

Farm Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island for gear

Urugugu Canyon comes first because it drops necklaces, rings, earrings and a weapon, and the attack on that weapon converts well into combat power. Vakron Sky Island follows. The rule throughout is to take the gear change voucher at every pity rather than the item: the voucher lets you claim a guaranteed piece later, for whatever slot is still empty, instead of risking a duplicate. You can wear only one necklace, two earrings and two rings, so a duplicate is a wasted pity.

1. Run Urugugu Canyon until it pities once, then take the gear change voucher 7:42
2. Run Vakron Sky Island on Exploration, open its chest three times, and leave the guaranteed reward unclaimed 8:11
3. Switch to Vakron Sky Island on Conquest and take the voucher at each pity usually two to three pities
4. Click the percentage button in each dungeon and add up the drop chances for the pieces you still lack 8:40
5. Keep running whichever dungeon has the higher total until it pities again finish a pity rather than stopping halfway
6. Move on to Transcendence at around 10 legendaries 10:05
7. Enhance every piece to +10 and stop there, bracelets included +10 to +11 gets expensive and can fail · 11:01

The odds are better than the reward screen suggests. The chest and the bonus reward pool stack, so each run carries about a 15% chance of an item — roughly one in six or seven. An average pity run lands around three legendaries.

You can try Transcendence with nine pieces and lean harder on enhancement, but past +10 you are trading Odyle Energy savings for kinah and stones at worse rates. Ten pieces is the safer line.

Use Transcendence and Arcana cards to reach 2,500

Arcana cards from Transcendence are the largest item level jump in the route: each blue card adds 60, each green 40 and each white 20. The earlier you start, the weaker the stage you can run, so waiting for 1,900 pays off when your gear allows it.

1. At about 1,600, run each Transcendence dungeon once at the first stage and equip whatever cards drop 11:31
2. At 1,900, step up to stage 2 start here directly if your progression allows · 12:00
3. Clear Research Base once, then Arcana once Research Base is the easier of the two
4. At 2,100, run Fire Temple until it pities once 14:25
5. Switch to Ferocious Horn and stay until the drop math points back to Fire Temple 15:24
6. At 2,200, run stage-3 Transcendence until you can reach 2,500 15:53
7. Keep upgrading until every Arcana card is gold expect two to five runs

A full card set added about 220 item level and moved a character from 1,900 to 2,100 in roughly three Arcana runs. A single good Fire Temple or Ferocious Horn run can then carry you from 2,100 to about 2,220.

When choosing between the two 2,100 dungeons, take the one that raises combat power over the one that only raises item level. Ferocious Horn is much harder, so it comes second.

Choose a Manastone or Transcendence route for the 2,500 breakpoint

How close you are decides the route. A small gap is cheapest to close with kinah; a large one is cheaper in runs.

Manastones are sold in the market under consumables 24:57. They are an item level tool rather than a combat power one: a stone adds little combat power unless a blue rolls attack, and that combination is rare.

Build combat power alongside item level

Item level opens content; combat power is what other players check before inviting you. The target to hold is at least 95,000 by 2,100 item level, and most groups at that point look for 100,000 or more. Everything below runs in parallel with the item level route above.

Stigma Shards are the core of it. One shard is worth roughly 100 combat power, and the breakpoints add much more: 500 at level 5, growing at levels 10 and 15, up to 2,000 at level 20 19:41. The skill passives unlocked along the way also lift your damage, which makes clears faster. In the Shugo Festival shop, buy shards until they sell out, then spend the rest on Daevanion Crystals or Odella currency. In Nightmare, buy as many shards as you can and push the highest level you can clear before running other dungeons.

Abyss Points buy more shards in the Abyss shop, and several weekly sources feed them:

For sieges, check the siege timer in the Abyss. When it is counting down, click the left, middle or right portal to teleport in, then kill as many enemies as you can in 2 minutes 21:36. Three portals in 6 minutes come to 30,000 Abyss Points and three shards. Afterwards, buy every scroll from the command merchant nearby; it costs kinah and pays back well.

A gold Archon card needs five Mysterious Crystals. It lets you pick the gold card you want and add two extra effects, which is one way to take a skill to level 16 22:32. The crystals come from three places:

1. Grind surplus Arcana cards in the grinder for the first crystal.
2. Buy the second in the season shop under growth.
3. Earn up to three more from the Tower of Trials in Challenge Season by scoring 4,000 or higher. That needs a clear time of 3 minutes 26 seconds in Ascension Trials on hard or above, which means at least 2,000 item level and strong damage.

Keep any legendary with percentage-based effects — damage boost, combat speed, critical damage — for Soulbinding instead of dismantling it or feeding it to enhancement. In the season shop, save for the wings: they add combat power, attack bonus, accuracy, cooldown and defense bonus.

Beat the Research Base, Fire Temple and Ferocious Horn bosses

Research Base

The first boss has two mechanics. When it summons a giant red circle, jump over it or you are stunned. When it sends out wisps, collect only one colour; once you have enough, they draw a circle around you — stand in it and keep attacking 12:57.

The later boss sends a line of marching soldiers across the platform. Stay out of their path and keep near the centre, where a knockback leaves room to recover. When a blue line tethers you to another player, move apart until the chain triggers, then everyone gets into the area attack — whoever stands in it alone is killed 13:26.

Fire Temple

The final boss opens with waves, then projectiles. Dodge, then run diagonally between them for the most space. Her front swipes hit too hard for most classes to stand in, so dodge behind her 17:18.

Her most dangerous phase summons fallen angels. Their first attack usually misses; the second teleports behind you. Watch the yellow line and dodge at the last second to perfect-dodge through it.

Ferocious Horn

• Clone attack: if your circle is small, get inside it; if it is bigger, nobody enters it. Getting this wrong kills the whole party 17:47.
• Claws: they kill instantly whatever you are doing, so dodge behind them.
• Dash: the boss always dashes three times.
• Red puddles: never stand in them, and kite the boss away from them. Tanks dragging the boss into a puddle is the most common reason melee players die here.
• Black hole: at low health the boss summons one. Stand between the black hole and the boss 18:46. If you die in this phase, stay down unless the boss is on the opposite side, or you will pull your team into it.

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