Tuesday, November 3, 2026

AION 2 Daeva Makeover Winners & Beauty of Atreia


There are players who spend hours perfecting their equipment in AION 2, carefully calculating every stat before challenging another dungeon boss. And then there are players who spend just as long adjusting the distance between their character's eyes.

NC has now demonstrated that the second group deserves considerably more respect than it usually receives.

The developer has revealed the AION 2 Daeva Makeover winners after receiving more than 1,400 submissions to its first Global character creation competition. Four characters have been selected across the Ugly, Cute, Attractive and Unique categories, with each winning entry earning 6,000 Quna.

Meanwhile, another creative competition is entering its final stage. NC has published 15 selected screenshots from Beauty of Atreia, covering landscapes, character portraits and pets. The community can now vote for its favourites on the official AION 2 Discord, with the final results scheduled for November 10.

It is a welcome change of pace for an MMORPG currently occupied with class rankings, dungeon balance and the imminent return of Sanctuary Raid: Ludra. Sometimes the most impressive achievement in Atreia has nothing to do with defeating an enormous monster.

Sometimes it involves creating a character so magnificently ugly that somebody awards you premium currency for the effort.

AION 2 Daeva Makeover Winners: Four Players Earn 6,000 Quna

Daeva Makeover ran from September 30 through October 19, inviting players to demonstrate what they could create using AION 2's extensive character customization system.

Participants submitted two screenshots from the Closet interface: a close-up portrait and a full-body view. Rather than choosing one overall winner, NC established four categories celebrating different approaches to character design.

Our earlier Daeva Makeover contest guide covered the submission rules. With the judging complete, NC has now announced the following winners:

Category Winning Character Region / Server Prize
Ugly Stretch NA East / Fregion 6,000 Quna
Cute BingBong NA West / Lumiel 6,000 Quna
Attractive Koiッ NA East / Zikel 6,000 Quna
Unique Agamennone Europe / Israphel 6,000 Quna

Each category produces a different kind of achievement. Stretch wins the Ugly award, BingBong receives the Cute prize, Koiッ takes Attractive, and European player Agamennone earns the Unique title.

These are four separate category winners, not a ranking from first to fourth. NC has not published numerical judging scores or a detailed breakdown explaining why the winning submissions were chosen.

The developer has, however, published the actual character screenshots in its official Daeva Makeover winners announcement.

They are worth examining because the categories demonstrate different possibilities within the same character creator. An appealing portrait is one achievement. Producing a memorable character through deliberately unusual proportions and features is another.

The Ugly category is particularly entertaining because it reverses the usual priorities of fantasy character creation. Players have spent decades trying to make their heroes look magnificent. AION 2 has now given somebody 6,000 Quna for heading enthusiastically in the opposite direction.

The scale of participation is also worth noting. NC reports more than 1,400 submissions, demonstrating considerable interest in an activity that requires neither high-level equipment nor participation in difficult PvE content.

That figure represents submissions, however, not a verified count of unique entrants. NC has not provided a separate total for individual participants.

There is also an important update concerning participation rewards.

The current version of NC's winners announcement published through Steam lists two bound Customization Vouchers as the participation reward. Earlier descriptions and some mirrored versions of the announcement list Dye Tokens instead.

Players checking their rewards should therefore consult NC's latest official notice and the actual items delivered to their in-game mail.

NC has scheduled reward distribution for no later than November 6 at 23:59 Pacific time, according to its announcement. That is the latest delivery deadline, not a guarantee that every participant will receive their rewards simultaneously.

The competition was available to players in Europe, North America East, North America West and South America.

For those unfamiliar with the prize, Quna is AION 2's premium currency. Its role within the Global game's economy is covered in our AION 2 Membership and Quna overview, although some systems have changed since that early report.

Beauty of Atreia: All 15 Selected Screenshots and Players

The second announcement celebrates a different aspect of AION 2's visual identity.

Beauty of Atreia began on October 5 and invited players to capture screenshots across three weekly themes: The World, Characters and Pets.

Rather than concentrating exclusively on elaborate character designs, the competition encouraged players to explore the landscapes of Elysea and Asmodae, experiment with portraits and show off their companions.

Five submissions were selected from each category, creating fifteen entries for the final community voting stage.

Here are the players featured in NC's latest announcement.

Category Character Region / Server
World Rinko Europe / Vaizel
World ImyTan Europe / Azphel
World Jeaniebeanie NA East / Azphel
World Asperatus Europe / Kaisinel
World Cyntais NA East / Zikel
Character Verity NA East / Nezekan
Character 我 South America / Zikel
Character Kalipso Europe / Nemon
Character Fit NA East / Nezekan
Character Arynavi Europe / Kromede
Pets Mooniie NA East / Siel
Pets Lokvyr Europe / Zikel
Pets Honey Europe / Kochi
Pets HecateNS NA East / Nezekan
Pets Aldricia NA East / Zikel

The names and regions above follow NC's current Steam announcement. The developer's separately mirrored notice lists a different server for Cyntais; Steam identifies the character as NA East / Zikel.

All fifteen selected screenshots can be viewed in NC's official Beauty of Atreia announcement.

The three categories reveal different qualities of the game.

The World submissions celebrate Atreia's landscapes, enormous fantasy architecture and locations that players might otherwise rush past while completing quests.

Character entries are more personal, showing the visual identities players have created through AION 2's customization tools. The Pets category turns attention towards the game's companions, giving creatures normally associated with collection and progression an opportunity to become the subject of a carefully composed photograph.

Our Beauty of Atreia Pets Contest guide covered the original rules for that third category.

Pets also have a much larger role in ordinary AION 2 gameplay, contributing to collection bonuses and permanent progression through the Genus Insight system. We explain those mechanics in our Pet and Genus Insight Guide.

But for this competition, combat statistics are irrelevant. A beautifully framed screenshot of an unusual pet can be more memorable than a perfectly upgraded companion standing in the middle of an inventory window.

The fifteen featured players have already been selected by NC's community team. They should not, however, be confused with the three final winners of the community vote.

Those results are still to come.

Beauty of Atreia Voting Runs Until November 9

While Daeva Makeover has finished its judging, Beauty of Atreia still has one final stage.

NC's original event schedule places the community vote between November 2 and November 9, with the final community favourites due to be announced on November 10.

Voting takes place through the official AION 2 Discord. Players can follow the link in the Beauty of Atreia winners notice to find the current voting instructions and review the selected submissions.

The announcement invites the community to choose a favourite from each of the three categories.

NC's originally announced rewards are:

Stage Recipients Reward per Recipient
Weekly selections 15 selected entries 2 Shop Tokens and 7 Dye Tokens
Community vote 3 final winners 7 additional Dye Tokens

These are separate rewards from the 6,000 Quna prizes awarded through Daeva Makeover. The competitions belong to the same Global launch celebration but have different formats, prizes and eligibility requirements.

The original community event overview listed November 9 as the reward delivery deadline. NC's newer Beauty of Atreia winners announcement instead states that rewards will be sent through in-game mail no later than November 13 at 23:59 Pacific time.

That later deadline should be treated as the current announced schedule.

The community competition is limited to Europe, North America East, North America West and South America. Players should also follow the instructions in the current Discord channels for the exact voting procedure and closing time.

Meanwhile, the next creative challenge is already approaching.

On November 4, the Ludra Outfit Contest begins, inviting players to design a dragon-inspired outfit and capture it in an authentic in-game screenshot.

The competition offers another 6,000 Quna first-place prize, but its rules differ from Daeva Makeover. It requires a single screenshot rather than two Closet portraits, and NC prohibits edited or AI-generated submissions.

For players who enjoy experimenting with character appearances, it provides another reason to revisit the game's wardrobe. Our October cosmetics and outfit report covers some of the more recent additions to that growing collection.

There is something particularly fitting about the timing. November 4 will see organised groups attempting to conquer Ludra's redesigned Sanctuary Raid, while other players will be searching for the perfect outfit and a sufficiently dramatic background.

Both pursuits require patience, preparation and a willingness to spend an unreasonable amount of time perfecting small details.

Only one requires a healer.

For now, the Daeva Makeover winners have been announced, fifteen Beauty of Atreia screenshots have earned recognition, and the final community vote remains open.

Together, the competitions show another side of AION 2 Global's first month. Beyond the arguments about equipment, monetization and balance, players are finding creative ways to make Atreia their own.

And if nothing else, Stretch has demonstrated that beauty is not necessarily a requirement for success.

Sometimes being spectacularly ugly is worth 6,000 Quna.

Official sources: NC – Daeva Makeover Winners Announcement, NC – Beauty of Atreia Winners Announcement and NC – Community Launch Events Overview. Current participation rewards and winner details were cross-checked against NC's Steam announcements. Information checked November 3, 2026.

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AION 2 November 4 Maintenance: Times & Ludra Events


Wednesday is shaping up to be an unusually busy day in AION 2 Global. Halloween is packing away its pumpkins, several event rewards are about to disappear, and an enormous dragon is preparing to return to Atreia with what we can only assume is a considerable grudge.

On November 4, 2026, AION 2 moves from its Halloween celebration into a new round of content built around Sanctuary Raid: Ludra. The redesigned encounter will become available after maintenance, while several accompanying events begin at 15:00 CET.

Before any of that happens, however, players have some unfinished business. Halloween Candy, Cookies, Candy Key Fragments and the three coloured Candy Keys are scheduled for removal at 08:00 CET.

Meanwhile, the usual weekly maintenance pattern suggests an expected server shutdown at approximately 08:30 CET, although NC has not yet provided a separately verified maintenance window for November 4.

That leaves players with three different things to remember: what expires before maintenance, what becomes available when the servers return, and which events begin at a fixed time later in the day.

AION 2 November 4 Maintenance Times in Europe

AION 2 Global's weekly game-server maintenance normally begins on Tuesday night in Pacific time, corresponding to Wednesday morning in Europe.

With Europe and North America now back on standard time, the established schedule points to an expected start at 08:30 CET on November 4, equivalent to 07:30 UTC and 23:30 PST on November 3.

That time remains provisional. At the time of writing on November 3, NC has not published a separately verified November 4 notice confirming the precise start, expected duration and return-to-service time.

Players should check NC's official AION 2 Global notice board before making plans around the maintenance window.

The main European deadlines currently look like this:

November 4 Activity Time (CET) Status
Halloween Candy, Cookies and Candy Keys removed 08:00 Confirmed
Weekly maintenance expected to begin Approximately 08:30 Provisional
Halloween Twitch Drops viewing period ends 08:59 Confirmed
Maintenance completion Not announced Awaiting confirmation
Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returns After maintenance Confirmed
Ludra Hunt first-clear competition begins After maintenance Confirmed
Ludra Conquest Check-In begins 15:00 Confirmed
Daeva Bootcamp begins 15:00 Confirmed
Ludra Twitch Drops begin 15:00 Confirmed
Ludra Outfit Contest begins 15:00 Confirmed

All times are Central European Time. Fixed event times come from NC's official Global announcements. The expected maintenance start follows the established weekly schedule and may change when NC publishes its final notice.

It is important not to confuse the 15:00 event start with a promised server reopening time. If maintenance takes longer than expected, players may have to wait before accessing the new in-game activities.

The recent daylight-saving changes have also made older guides unusually easy to misread. Europe returned to standard time on October 25, while most of the United States followed on November 1. Copying a maintenance time from an earlier October announcement without checking the time-zone conversion can therefore produce the wrong answer.

Before logging off, it is also worth checking regular weekly activities. Limited merchant purchases, dungeon attempts, Daeva Pass progress and unclaimed mission rewards may need attention around the reset.

Our AION 2 Weekly Reset Guide provides a practical checklist for making the most of those recurring systems.

Halloween Ends November 4: Spend Your Coins and Use Your Keys

For anyone still participating in Trick or Treat, the most urgent deadline arrives before Ludra returns.

NC's official Halloween announcement confirms that Halloween Candy, Halloween Cookies, Candy Key Fragments and the Red, Yellow and Blue Candy Keys are scheduled for deletion at 08:00 CET on November 4.

The seasonal event itself ends before the scheduled maintenance, taking the Halloween Pumpkin Coin merchant and its associated activities with it.

Players still holding Pumpkin Coins should therefore visit the event merchant before maintenance rather than assuming the shop will remain available until the item removal time.

The Special Halloween Chest costs 250 Pumpkin Coins and contains the Spooky Scary Skeleton breastplate appearance alongside 10,000 Pet Soul Crystals. Other purchases include Odyle Energy, dungeon tickets, consumables and cosmetic-related rewards.

Candy Key Fragments also need attention. Each coloured key requires 60 fragments through Substance Morph, and the completed keys must be used on the corresponding large event candies before they are removed.

Our Halloween November 4 deadline guide includes the full merchant prices, Candy Key rewards and the removal schedule.

Not every reward disappears on Wednesday. NC has assigned a later December 16 at 08:00 CET removal date to certain event-issued consumables and unopened Special Halloween Chests.

However, that later date does not extend the Pumpkin Coin shop or preserve unused Candy Keys. Players should check the exact item descriptions rather than assume everything obtained during Halloween shares one expiration date.

There is also a separate Twitch deadline.

The Halloween Twitch Drops campaign ends its viewing period at 08:59 CET on November 4. That is independent of the game-server maintenance schedule.

Previously earned Drops can still be claimed until November 18 at 08:59 CET. Players who have already completed their viewing milestones should check that the rewards have been claimed from Twitch.

The easiest mistake here would be treating Halloween as one event with one deadline. In reality, the merchant, temporary items, Twitch viewing period and reward-claim deadline follow different rules.

And an expired Candy Key is unlikely to become more useful simply because its owner has developed a sentimental attachment to it.

Ludra Returns After Maintenance, With New Events at 15:00 CET

Once the Halloween housekeeping is complete, attention shifts to Sanctuary Raid: Ludra.

NC has confirmed that the redesigned encounter returns on November 4 with new and adjusted mechanics. Both difficulties will be available immediately after maintenance, subject to their equipment requirements.

Ludra Difficulty Minimum Item Level
Normal Mode 2,800
Hard Mode 3,000

The return also launches Ludra Hunt, a regional competition rewarding the first twenty Hard Mode parties to defeat the encounter in each of five Global regions.

The leading party receives The First to Slay Ludra, while later ranked groups earn Ludra's Conqueror or Ludra's Vanquisher. Other qualifying Normal and Hard Mode clears can receive Ludra's Nemesis.

Our Ludra Hunt rankings and rewards report explains the complete title structure and competition deadlines.

The raid is not the only new attraction. At 15:00 CET, several events begin for players with very different ambitions.

Ludra Conquest Check-In offers seven sequential attendance rewards during a fourteen-day event running until November 18 at 08:59 CET. Players who complete the full track can collect 1.5 million Bound Kina, progression currencies, Abyss Points, Soul Crystals and a cosmetic helmet appearance.

No Ludra raid clear is required to participate in the attendance event. Our Ludra Conquest Check-In Guide contains the complete reward sequence and attendance rules.

Daeva Bootcamp begins at the same time, challenging players across five Global regions to contribute up to seven million eligible dungeon clears towards shared milestones.

Successful runs of Krao Cave, Draupnir, Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island on Normal or Hard Mode count, alongside all stages of Shattered Arkanis and Deus Research Base.

Ludra itself is not one of the eligible Bootcamp dungeons. If the community reaches all five milestones, the combined rewards include fourteen Instant Clear Tickets, nine Intermediate Training Arcana and 35 Resurrection Spiritstones.

We have the complete objectives and reward breakdown in our Daeva Bootcamp guide.

New Ludra Twitch Drops also begin at 15:00 CET, replacing the outgoing Halloween viewing campaign with a fourteen-hour reward track containing ten milestones. Available rewards include support materials, customization items, Odyle Energy, Pixel Glasses and the Black Conical Hat appearance.

NC revised the reward presentation on October 30, combining several items into chests without changing their underlying contents. Players following older reward lists should consult the current official announcement.

Finally, the Ludra Outfit Contest opens at 15:00 CET. Eligible players in Europe and the Americas can submit an original, unedited in-game screenshot inspired by Ludra, with 6,000 Quna available for first place.

NC prohibits edited and AI-generated submissions, so the contest requires an actual screenshot from the game rather than an elaborate piece of external artwork.

One existing promotion continues beyond Wednesday: Odyle Energy Boost. Players can receive four Odyle Energy items per account per day through in-game mail until the November 11 maintenance in Europe.

Those messages expire seven days after delivery. Our Odyle Energy Boost update explains the account-wide reward limit.

For players preparing for November 4, the priorities are straightforward. Finish the expiring Halloween activities, spend remaining event currency, claim time-sensitive rewards and check NC's maintenance notice before planning the next login.

After maintenance, the redesigned Ludra raid provides the headline attraction, while the afternoon's new events offer something for raiders, dungeon runners, collectors and players who simply want to claim their attendance rewards.

It is a rather ambitious schedule for a Wednesday.

But that has always been one of Atreia's peculiar charms. Even when the world stops briefly for maintenance, somebody is already preparing a dragon to make the rest of the day considerably more complicated.

Official sources: NC – Ludra Awakens on November 4th (updated October 30), NC – Trick or Treat Halloween Event and NC – Global Halloween Twitch Drops. Fixed event times and expiration dates follow NC's published announcements. The November 4 maintenance start remains provisional until confirmed in a separate official notice. Information checked November 3, 2026.

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AION 2 Class Rankings: Templar, Chanter and Cleric


There is a familiar ritual in almost every MMORPG. Someone publishes a class ranking, half the community celebrates, and the other half immediately explains why the entire thing is nonsense. Somewhere in the discussion, a player who defeated a Templar in a duel declares that the statistics must be wrong.

But the latest AION 2 class rankings offer something more interesting than another collection of opinions. An independent analysis of Global server leaderboards shows which classes reach the highest positions more frequently than their share of ranked characters would suggest.

And the results are rather interesting.

Templar, Chanter and Cleric lead the Transcendence rankings, while Spiritmaster sits at the bottom of the eight-class comparison. It is a striking result for a game in which discussions of combat balance so often revolve around damage output.

The figures come from gaming.tools' AION 2 Global leaderboard analysis, calculated on November 3, 2026. The database analysed more than 526,000 characters across its tracked Global activities, including 267,651 ranked characters in the Transcendence dataset used here.

However, there is an important warning before anybody abandons their Spiritmaster in favour of a heavily armoured Templar.

These rankings do not measure DPS, win rates or absolute class strength. They measure how frequently characters from each class reach the top 5% of their server's leaderboard relative to that class's overall representation.

That distinction matters enormously, particularly when the results are compared across group PvE, solo challenges and PvP.

AION 2 Class Rankings: Why Templar Leads Transcendence

The Transcendence leaderboard uses each character's best clear score. Gaming.tools then compares the percentage of top-5% leaderboard positions occupied by each class against its percentage of the ranked population.

Rather than presenting the raw number of highly ranked characters, the analysis expresses the difference as a representation index.

An index of 100 means a class occupies approximately the number of top positions expected from its population share. An index of 120 means it occupies around 20% more top positions than expected. An index of 70 means it occupies around 30% fewer.

That does not mean a class with an index of 120 deals 20% more damage or clears dungeons 20% faster. It simply appears among the leading leaderboard positions more frequently than its population share would predict.

The November 3 Global Transcendence snapshot gives us the following comparison:

Class Representation Index Share of Ranked Characters
Templar 120.4 11.3%
Chanter 116.0 17.0%
Cleric 114.6 16.6%
Ranger 95.1 13.7%
Assassin 93.4 7.8%
Gladiator 88.1 14.4%
Sorcerer 84.7 11.6%
Spiritmaster 70.2 7.8%

Source: gaming.tools, AION 2 Global version 2.0.9.0. Snapshot updated November 3, 2026 at 10:23 UTC, using leaderboard data from November 2–3. Sample: 267,651 ranked Transcendence characters. The live figures may change as the database refreshes.

The most remarkable part of this table is not the small difference between the three leading classes. It is their shared identity.

Templar is the game's dedicated tank. Cleric is its primary healer. Chanter combines melee combat with healing, buffs and other support abilities.

All three reach the highest Transcendence leaderboard positions more often than their ranked population shares would suggest.

Templar, for example, accounts for approximately 11.3% of ranked Transcendence characters, yet has an index of 120.4. That indicates roughly 20% greater representation in the leading positions than a proportional distribution would predict.

Chanter and Cleric show similar patterns, despite making up considerably larger shares of the ranked population.

But we should resist the temptation to arrange the three classes into an indisputable hierarchy.

Gaming.tools publishes 95% uncertainty bands reflecting variation across the included servers. The bands for Templar, Chanter and Cleric overlap. The evidence therefore supports the conclusion that all three are overrepresented at the top more strongly than it supports a meaningful separation between them.

Ranger and Assassin are also worth examining carefully. Their indices are slightly below 100, but their uncertainty bands overlap the proportional benchmark. Calling either class definitively underpowered on this evidence would be premature.

Spiritmaster presents a more pronounced contrast. With an index of 70.2, its representation among the highest-scoring Transcendence characters is substantially lower than expected from its share of ranked participants.

That is a real pattern in the measured dataset. What it does not reveal is whether the cause lies in class design, equipment, player experience, group composition or something else entirely.

Our guide to all eight AION 2 classes explains their different combat roles and why traditional ideas about tanks, healers and damage dealers are not always sufficient to describe the sequel's faster combat system.

There is another methodological limitation. Gaming.tools excludes incomplete or insufficiently populated leaderboards and weights server results by ranked population. Its figures describe ranked characters in the analysed datasets, not the number of unique people playing AION 2 Global.

The index is useful precisely because it corrects for class popularity. But it is not a controlled experiment in which eight identically equipped characters perform the same encounter under identical conditions.

Nightmare and Arena Rankings Tell a Different Story

If Transcendence were the only activity in AION 2, it might be tempting to conclude that tanking and support classes dominate the endgame.

Fortunately, the game gives us several other ways to put that theory to the test.

In the separate Nightmare leaderboard analysis, Templar remains at the top with an index of approximately 124. Gladiator, however, rises sharply to around 120, making it the second most overrepresented class among the leading positions.

Chanter falls much closer to proportional representation, with an index of approximately 96. Spiritmaster remains below expectations, at roughly 77.

Nightmare is a solo boss challenge rather than organised group content. Our Nightmare Dungeon Guide explains its bosses, attempts and rewards.

Without a party to heal or support, the relative value of different abilities can change. Gladiator's durability and damage potential may be particularly useful in this environment, although the leaderboard data does not isolate which abilities explain its strong results.

The important observation is that the same classes do not maintain the same relative positions across every activity.

And the differences become even more dramatic when we examine PvP.

In the November 3 Arena of Solitude analysis, Templar reaches a representation index of approximately 175, with Chanter around 150.

Ranger, by contrast, is close to 49.

That is a striking disparity, but Arena of Solitude uses ranking points rather than dungeon clear scores. The figures therefore describe a different competitive environment with different objectives and constraints.

They cannot, by themselves, establish whether a particular class has superior duelling mechanics, attracts more experienced players, benefits from different equipment choices or performs better under the current matchmaking system.

A second independent source adds useful context about organised group PvE.

According to aion2.fyi's November 2 Global boss-party analysis, Chanter appears in 90% of a sample of 4,094 top boss parties. Cleric appears in 82%, and Templar in 66%.

Those percentages measure how often a class appears in the sampled parties. They are not comparable directly with gaming.tools' top-5% representation index, and the two methods must not be merged into one numerical ranking.

Nevertheless, the party-composition data supports a useful observation: support and tank classes are common among successful organised PvE groups.

That makes intuitive sense. A party that survives difficult mechanics, maintains its buffs and keeps its tank alive may ultimately achieve better results than one built entirely around impressive damage numbers.

But that remains an interpretation of the observed patterns, not proof that the listed classes are universally stronger.

The broader lesson is simple. There is no single AION 2 class ranking that explains every type of content.

A class might be highly represented in Transcendence, close to average in Nightmare and in a completely different position in Arena of Solitude.

Anyone who claims to have discovered the definitive answer to all three activities in one eight-row tier list is probably selling certainty that the data does not provide.

What the October Balance Patch Means for Class Rankings

The timing of these leaderboard results is particularly interesting because NC introduced substantial combat adjustments just one week earlier.

On October 28, the developer increased the base HP of every Global class at level 45 and reduced several boss statistics across Expedition and Transcendence content.

Templar and Gladiator received the largest health increases, rising from 4,702 to 6,202 base HP. Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Chanter and Cleric each received another 1,000 HP, increasing their listed base values to 5,702.

We covered those changes in our October 28 HP buffs and dungeon boss balance report, based on NC's official Global patch notes.

Bosses were also made less punishing. Normal Expeditions and Transcendence Stage 1 received a 15% Boss Attack reduction, while Hard Expeditions and Transcendence Stages 2–4 received 10% reductions to both Boss Attack and Damage Boost. Boss HP was additionally reduced by 6.5% in Transcendence Stages 1–2.

These are meaningful changes for players attempting demanding content, particularly characters who must fight close to an enemy's strongest attacks.

But can they explain Templar's strong leaderboard position?

Not on the available evidence.

The November 3 rankings show how classes are represented after the patch. They do not provide a controlled before-and-after comparison that isolates its effects from changes in equipment, strategy, participation or player progression.

Gladiator offers a particularly useful counterexample. It received the same 1,500 HP increase as Templar, yet its Transcendence index remains below 100 while its Nightmare index is significantly higher.

That difference suggests that the type of activity matters, although we still cannot identify the precise causes from these statistics alone.

For players wondering whether to change classes, the practical advice is therefore less dramatic than some tier lists would suggest.

Do not abandon a character simply because its representation index looks disappointing.

Consider which activities you enjoy, what role your class performs, whether you normally play alone or in a coordinated party, and how much effort you have invested in equipment and permanent progression.

Our Fast Gearing Guide explains how to direct resources towards useful upgrades, while our Soul Binding Guide covers the secondary-stat decisions that can make two apparently similar characters perform very differently.

Dungeon progression adds another consideration. Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard Mode require Item Level 2,600, while Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island Hard Mode require 2,700.

Meeting an entry requirement is not the same as having the build, experience and understanding needed to reproduce a top leaderboard score.

And the competitive picture is about to become more interesting.

Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returns on November 4 with revised mechanics and both Normal and Hard difficulties. Its regional first-clear competition introduces another demanding environment for organised groups, as detailed in our Ludra Hunt first-clear rewards report.

That encounter may give players new opportunities to test the value of their favourite classes, although its effect on the rankings cannot be assessed before the revised raid is actually played.

For now, the November 3 data offers a revealing snapshot.

Templar, Chanter and Cleric occupy more of the leading Transcendence positions than their ranked populations would predict. Spiritmaster appears considerably less often. Nightmare and Arena rankings produce different patterns, reminding us that AION 2 rewards different abilities in different situations.

That is more interesting than declaring three winners and five losers.

A good leaderboard analysis should tell us what the numbers reveal, how those numbers were obtained and, perhaps most importantly, what remains uncertain.

And if the Templars are feeling particularly pleased with themselves today, they might want to enjoy the moment.

Ludra returns tomorrow, and the dragon has probably not been reading the class rankings.

Sources and methodology: The figures come from gaming.tools' independent Global leaderboard analysis, with comparisons against its Nightmare and Arena of Solitude rankings. Party-presence figures come from aion2.fyi. Class and boss adjustments are documented in NC's official Global patch notes. The main Transcendence snapshot is dated November 3, 2026 at 10:23 UTC. The results represent ranked characters and leaderboard positions, not unique players, controlled balance tests or official NC class ratings. Values may change as the underlying databases refresh.

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Monday, November 2, 2026

AION 2 Steam Player Count: 233,713 After Four Weeks

Four weeks after AION 2 Global opened its free-to-play gates, the extraordinary crowds of launch day have become somewhat smaller. That is hardly unusual for a new MMORPG. What makes this case interesting is how many players are still showing up, even as Steam reviews continue to tell a much less enthusiastic story.

On October 5, NC's fantasy MMORPG reached an all-time peak of 397,905 concurrent Steam players. On November 1, its daily peak was 233,713, approximately 41.3% below the launch record. Yet having more than 230,000 people playing simultaneously through Steam almost a month after release remains a substantial audience.

The reception is less straightforward. As of November 2, SteamDB records approximately 43,500 reviews across all languages, with around 55.7% positive. Steam continues to classify the game as Mixed, while its English-language reviews are only about 51% positive.

Those figures raise a more interesting question than whether AION 2 has lost some of its launch-day momentum. Can a game maintain a large active audience while a significant proportion of its reviewers remain dissatisfied?

For now, the numbers suggest that popularity and player satisfaction are not necessarily moving together.

AION 2 Steam Player Count: From 397,905 to 233,713

AION 2's Global launch was remarkable even before the game became free to play. The September Launch Scale Test reached 73,761 simultaneous Steam players, followed by 171,530 during paid Advanced Access on September 30.

When the free-to-play launch arrived on October 5, that figure climbed to 397,905. We documented the enormous opening in our original report on AION 2's nearly 400,000-player Steam record, having previously covered the 171,530-player Advanced Access milestone.

Four weeks later, the launch record remains intact, but the daily peaks are lower.

Date (UTC) Steam Concurrent Peak Change From Launch Record
October 5 397,905 All-time record
October 25 266,890 -32.9%
October 31 227,442 -42.8%
November 1 233,713 -41.3%

The October 5 record comes from SteamDB. The later daily observations are drawn from independent monitoring of Steam's concurrent-player data. Daily peaks are not necessarily recorded with identical sampling frequency across every service, so the comparison is best understood as an indication of the broader trend rather than a perfectly continuous census.

That trend is unmistakable: AION 2 is no longer operating at its extraordinary launch-day peak. The daily numbers also fluctuate, however, with November 1 finishing above October 31.

There is an important distinction between a decline in peak concurrency and a decline in the total player population.

Concurrent player counts measure how many Steam clients are running the game at a particular moment. They cannot tell us how many different people played during a day, how frequently those people return, or how many have permanently stopped playing.

A player who logs in for one hour on several different evenings may never appear in the highest daily measurement. Another who remains online for much longer may contribute to multiple consecutive samples. Neither pattern can be reconstructed from the peak number alone.

And Steam does not represent the entire Global service.

AION 2 is also available through NC's PURPLE launcher. Those players are not included in SteamDB's figures, and NC has not published a directly comparable combined Global concurrency count for November 1.

Consequently, it would be misleading to describe the 41.3% decrease as evidence that 41.3% of AION 2's players have quit. The available data does not support that conclusion.

What it does show is that Steam activity remains substantial despite a significant reduction from launch-day levels. Whether that settles into a sustainable long-term audience is a separate question.

Steam Reviews Remain Mixed After More Than 43,000 Ratings

The other half of AION 2's first-month story is considerably more complicated.

SteamDB's November 2 snapshot shows approximately 43,500 reviews across all languages, with roughly 55.7% positive and 44.3% negative. That is not a disastrous reception, but neither is it the kind of overwhelming endorsement developers generally hope for after attracting almost 400,000 simultaneous players.

The English-language picture is even more divided. Steam's store page shows approximately 51% positive English reviews, while the separately displayed recent-review figure stands around 53% positive.

These are different review populations, and their percentages should not be used interchangeably.

We examined the early reception in our October 8 analysis of AION 2's Steam reviews. At that point, English-language recommendations were approximately 60% positive, based on 8,450 reviews. The latest snapshot includes a much larger English-language sample and a lower positive share.

That comparison indicates a change in the recorded review balance, not that individual players have necessarily changed their minds. New reviews, changing player expectations and the difference between early impressions and extended play can all affect the aggregate.

The concerns raised around AION 2 are familiar to anyone who has followed modern free-to-play MMORPGs. Monetization, progression convenience and the relationship between spending money and participating fully in an online economy have been recurring subjects of criticism.

Our AION 2 Membership and Monetization analysis examined those tensions before launch. Some rules have since changed, making it important to distinguish the original proposals from the systems currently available in Global.

There has also been discussion of generative AI. NC's Steam disclosure confirms that AI tools assisted with certain Arcana card designs and icons. That is a documented fact, although it does not justify claiming that the game's entire visual world was AI-generated.

At the same time, AION 2 offers elements that clearly attract interest: its elaborate character creator, aerial combat, large fantasy environments and extensive collection of PvE and PvP activities.

Steam reviews provide evidence of divided opinions, but their percentages do not explain precisely how each system influences player activity.

Someone can enjoy a game's combat while criticising its economy. Someone else can recommend it after a few hours and lose interest later. The review score alone cannot establish either person's subsequent behaviour.

That is why the relationship between AION 2's large Steam audience and its Mixed reviews is interesting rather than contradictory. One statistic measures activity at a particular moment; the other summarises recommendations from people who chose to write reviews.

The Real Test Is What Happens After the Launch Rush

Four weeks is enough time to identify the first changes in AION 2's public reception, but not enough to declare the MMORPG a long-term triumph or failure.

NC has spent much of October adjusting its Global service. On October 28, all eight character classes received additional base HP, while several Expedition and Transcendence encounters became less punishing. We examined those changes in our October 28 class balance report.

Such adjustments may make difficult content more approachable for players still learning boss mechanics. But there is no evidence establishing that the HP increases directly caused a particular rise or fall in Steam concurrency. A patch note is not a player-retention study.

The game's economy presents another challenge.

NC reported 75,294 account restriction actions across eight enforcement announcements through October 29, including investigations involving botting, unauthorised software and real-money trading. Our report on the anti-bot crackdown explains why that total must not be mistaken for an equivalent number of unique players permanently banned.

The company also raised the gathering requirement to level 45 and introduced a daily gathering limit of 1,000 actions per server. Those measures may change the conditions under which resources enter the economy, as discussed in our guide to the new gathering restrictions.

Whether these measures improve the experience for ordinary players will depend on their effects over time. Restriction totals and stricter rules demonstrate enforcement activity, but do not by themselves prove that markets are healthier or that automated farming has been brought under control.

Then there is the coming content test.

Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returns on November 4 with revised mechanics, Normal Mode requiring Item Level 2,800 and Hard Mode requiring 3,000. The redesigned encounter will also support a regional first-clear competition, as detailed in our Ludra raid preview.

For established characters, that provides another demanding objective after the opening month's levelling and equipment progression. For players still working towards the requirements, the continuing dungeon and event updates offer other reasons to return.

However, Ludra's arrival cannot yet be credited with improving player retention. The raid has not reopened as of this November 2 report, and its effect on player activity remains unknown.

That distinction is worth preserving throughout this discussion. AION 2's early Steam numbers document a large launch, lower subsequent peaks and an audience that continues to generate considerable simultaneous activity. The review data documents substantial disagreement about the game.

What neither dataset establishes is how many individual players will still be regularly visiting Atreia in December, or whether NC's ongoing changes will improve long-term satisfaction.

For now, AION 2 has demonstrated two things rather convincingly. It can attract an enormous audience, and that audience is not universally happy with what it has found.

Four weeks after launch, the more interesting question is no longer how many people wanted to enter Atreia on opening day.

It is whether the world gives them enough reasons to keep coming back.

That is a challenge considerably more complicated than defeating another dungeon boss. There is no guaranteed loot drop, no convenient resurrection point and, unfortunately for NC, no Instant Clear Ticket.

Data sources: SteamDB – AION 2 Charts and Reviews, AION 2 on Steam, and AFK Times – AION 2 Daily Steam Player Counts. Player-count and review figures are a snapshot for November 2, 2026. They cover Steam only and should not be interpreted as total Global population, unique daily users or verified retention rates.

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AION 2 Ludra Hunt: New Titles and First-Clear Rewards


Defeating an enormous dragon is one thing. Becoming the first group in your region to do it is quite another. And if AION 2 is going to immortalise that achievement, it would help if everyone knew what the reward was actually called.

With Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returning on November 4, 2026, NC has made a last-minute change to the AION 2 Ludra Hunt titles. An October 30 update to the official Global event announcement replaces all four previously announced title names, including the exclusive rewards for the first twenty Hard Mode parties in each region.

The top-ranked party will now earn The First to Slay Ludra. Parties placing second through fifth receive Ludra's Conqueror, while sixth through twentieth earn Ludra's Vanquisher. Everyone else who completes Normal or Hard Mode during the event can qualify for Ludra's Nemesis.

The ranking structure itself has not changed in the updated notice. This remains a regional first-clear competition, with separate leaderboards for Europe, North America East, North America West, South America and Asia.

For groups preparing to challenge the redesigned raid, the important news is straightforward: the titles have new names, but becoming one of the first twenty successful Hard Mode parties is still the objective.

All Four Updated AION 2 Ludra Hunt Titles

NC's October 30 correction replaces the original reward names announced on October 23. The following table compares the previous titles with their updated versions.

Placement Previous Title New Official Title
1st Hard Mode party Conqueror of Ludra The First to Slay Ludra
2nd–5th Hard Mode parties Champion of Ludra Ludra's Conqueror
6th–20th Hard Mode parties Challenger of Ludra Ludra's Vanquisher
Other qualifying Normal or Hard clears Ludra Hunter Ludra's Nemesis

These are the titles listed in NC's current Global announcement. Older guides and promotional material may still display the previous names, but the October 30 update supersedes them.

The ranked rewards are awarded according to the finishing order of ten-player raid parties, rather than the individual performance of their members.

The first successful Hard Mode party accounts for ten ranked player positions per region. The next four parties account for another forty, while places six through twenty represent 150 additional positions.

That creates 200 ranked player positions in each region, or 1,000 across all five regions if every regional ranking is filled. Those figures describe the available ranking places, not a verified count of unique players who will ultimately receive titles.

NC also confirms that the first three title categories will feature a purple decorative effect. The universal Ludra's Nemesis title is separate from those ranked rewards.

Importantly, Normal Mode victories do not qualify for the first twenty Hard Mode rankings. Players who complete Normal Mode can still receive Ludra's Nemesis during the event period.

The official announcement does not advertise additional combat statistics or equipment bonuses attached to these titles. Their documented value is recognition, including the special decorative effect on the ranked versions.

Our earlier Ludra November 4 Raid Preview explained the original title structure. The names in that announcement have now been revised.

Ludra Hunt Dates, Regional Rankings and the Hall of Fame

Ludra Hunt starts after maintenance on November 4 and runs until the November 25 maintenance in Europe. NC lists the corresponding Pacific ending as before maintenance on November 24.

Each of the five participating Global regions has its own first-twenty ranking. A European group is competing against other European parties, not against the fastest group anywhere in the world.

The developer has also established a separate deadline for distributing the titles.

Milestone European Schedule
Ludra Hunt begins November 4, after maintenance
Ludra Hunt ends November 25, before maintenance
Latest announced title distribution December 3, 08:59 CET

The final date is converted from NC's official deadline of December 2 at 23:59 PST. It is a delivery deadline, not an extension of the time available to qualify.

The new competition also has an unusual historical background.

During Early Access, European players defeated the original Ludra encounter earlier in their overall progression than NC had intended. Rather than release the same fight unchanged for Global launch, the developer temporarily removed it and began preparing a revised version with new and adjusted mechanics.

We covered that decision in our report on Ludra's redesign and the planned First Clear race.

NC's October 5 announcement promised that the in-game Hall of Fame would be reset for the returning encounter. That allows the redesigned raid to establish a new competitive record.

However, the earlier European victories have not simply been forgotten. NC separately promised a commemorative title to players who defeated Ludra during Early Access, along with the restoration of Ludra equipment temporarily removed during the redesign and reimbursement of materials spent upgrading that equipment.

Those commitments are distinct from the four Ludra Hunt titles announced for November.

It creates an interesting moment in AION 2's young history. Some players already know what it feels like to defeat Ludra, but they will now face a reworked encounter while competing for a fresh place in the Hall of Fame.

And as any experienced raider knows, being familiar with yesterday's boss mechanics is not always particularly helpful when the developers have spent several weeks inventing new ones.

Normal and Hard Mode Requirements for November 4

Both versions of Sanctuary Raid: Ludra will become available immediately when the encounter returns on November 4.

NC has confirmed the following minimum equipment requirements:

Difficulty Minimum Item Level Title Eligibility
Normal Mode 2,800 Ludra's Nemesis
Hard Mode 3,000 Ranked titles for the first 20 regional parties; otherwise Ludra's Nemesis

These requirements place Ludra above the existing Hard Mode Expeditions. Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard Mode require Item Level 2,600, while Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island Hard Mode require 2,700.

Players still approaching those thresholds can consult our Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard Mode Guide for one of the important steps in the endgame progression ladder.

Meeting the Item Level requirement is only the beginning, however. NC confirms that Ludra will return with revised mechanics and attack patterns, but has not published a complete encounter strategy explaining every change.

Groups attempting the regional race should therefore be prepared to adapt rather than assume their Early Access strategies will work without modification.

Our Fast Gearing Guide covers efficient equipment progression, while the Soul Binding Guide explains how to improve important bonus statistics without wasting materials on equipment that may soon be replaced.

NC is also offering additional preparation resources before the raid returns.

The ongoing Odyle Energy Boost event provides four Odyle Energy items per account per day, delivered through in-game mail. The promotion continues until the November 11 maintenance in Europe, and individual event messages expire seven days after delivery.

Our updated Odyle Energy Boost report explains the account-wide restriction and how those consumables can support additional dungeon reward claims.

For players who are not aiming to compete in the first-clear rankings, Ludra's return still offers a meaningful objective. A successful Normal clear during the event qualifies for the universal title under NC's published rules, without requiring a top-twenty Hard Mode placement.

The wider celebration also includes events aimed at players who may not be ready for the raid. Daeva Bootcamp challenges the Global community to complete up to seven million eligible dungeon runs, while the separate Ludra Outfit Contest offers a first-place prize of 6,000 Quna for an original character screenshot.

The Ludra Hunt title correction may seem like a small administrative change, but it matters to the players spending their evenings preparing for one of the game's most demanding challenges.

For the first successful Hard Mode party in each region, the reward will now be The First to Slay Ludra. Four more groups can claim Ludra's Conqueror, followed by fifteen groups earning Ludra's Vanquisher.

Everyone else has a chance to become Ludra's Nemesis.

That is a respectable collection of titles for a dragon that has already been defeated once and subsequently sent back to the developers for further training.

Whether Ludra proves more successful on its second appearance remains to be seen.

At least its opponents now know what their victories will be called.

Official sources: NC – Ludra Awakens on November 4th (updated October 30, 2026) and NC – Update on Sanctuary Raid (October 5, 2026). Title names, ranking requirements, regional schedules and distribution deadlines reflect NC's announced Global rules.

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AION 2 Halloween Ends Nov 4: Spend Pumpkin Coins


Halloween is nearly over in AION 2 Global, and the most frightening thing waiting for some players may not be a dungeon boss, a skeleton or another unpleasant creature lurking in the Abyss. It may be the discovery that weeks of collected event currency have become useless because they forgot to visit a merchant.

NC's Trick or Treat Halloween event ends with the scheduled maintenance on November 4, 2026, in Europe. That means the Halloween Pumpkin Coin shop, seasonal missions and attendance rewards are approaching their final deadline.

There is also a more precise warning: Halloween Candy, Halloween Cookies, Candy Key Fragments and all three Candy Keys will be deleted on November 4 at 08:00 CET. A separate group of event rewards survives until December 16, giving players more time to use certain consumables and open their Special Halloween Chests.

With only a short time remaining, this is no longer about deciding whether to participate in AION 2's first Global Halloween celebration. It is about making sure the rewards you have already earned do not disappear.

AION 2 Halloween Deadline: What Disappears November 4?

The Trick or Treat event began on October 14, introducing Halloween Pumpkin Coins, a fourteen-day attendance calendar, weekly missions and seasonal Candy Keys. Our complete AION 2 Halloween Event Guide explains the original activities and rewards.

For the final days, however, three deadlines matter more than anything else.

Activity or Item Deadline (Europe)
Halloween event, missions and merchant Before November 4 maintenance
Halloween Candy and Cookies November 4, 08:00 CET
Candy Key Fragments November 4, 08:00 CET
Red, Yellow and Blue Candy Keys November 4, 08:00 CET
Selected event reward items December 16, 08:00 CET

The distinction is important. NC ties the Halloween shop's closure to scheduled maintenance, but provides an exact removal time for the keys, fragments and consumables. Players should not assume the merchant will remain accessible until 08:00 CET if the servers enter maintenance earlier.

Halloween Pumpkin Coins are temporary event currency, and NC states that remaining event mission rewards will be removed after the event period. There is little reason to keep coins once the merchant is about to disappear.

Players can still earn coins through unfinished attendance rewards and eligible weekly missions. The full fourteen-day attendance calendar provides 620 Pumpkin Coins, while completing all ten weekly event missions awards another 235 coins per weekly set.

The missions include Expedition and Transcendence clears, Nightmare, Shugo Festival, Abyss combat, Ascension Trial and several ordinary progression activities.

Those totals represent the full reward opportunities, not an amount that can necessarily be earned from scratch during the final days. Check your own attendance progress and completed missions before deciding whether another purchase is within reach.

Our Weekly Reset Guide provides additional help with planning limited activities before the next maintenance window.

Best Last-Minute Pumpkin Coin Purchases

If you have been collecting Pumpkin Coins without spending them, now is the time to visit the Halloween Coin Merchant.

Elyos players can find the merchant at Dawn Legion Base or Zumion Village in Verteron. Asmodian players should look at Safe Haven or Nornir Assembly in Altgard.

NC's official shop includes the following items:

Reward Coins Purchase Limit
Special Halloween Chest 250 1 per server
Odyle Energy 10 4 per server weekly
Lower Abyss Rift Stone 30 2 per server weekly
Skin Chest (10 times) 15 5 per server weekly
Resurrection Spiritstone 2 10 per server weekly
Instant Clear Ticket: Daily Dungeon 3 7 per server weekly
Nightmare Dungeon Challenge Ticket 7 3 per server weekly
Shugo Festival Reward Key 7 3 per server weekly
Life Crystal 2 20 per character
Halloween Candy 2 10 per character
Halloween Cookie 2 10 per character
Superior Power Shard 1 No listed limit

Purchase requirements differ between items. The Special Halloween Chest requires level 10, while Odyle Energy and Lower Abyss Rift Stones require level 45. The other listed products have a level 10 requirement in NC's announcement.

The Special Halloween Chest is the standout purchase for collectors. For 250 Pumpkin Coins, it contains both the Spooky Scary Skeleton breastplate appearance and 10,000 Pet Soul Crystals.

The Skeleton appearance is a breastplate skin, not a complete armour set. Nevertheless, it is the event's signature cosmetic purchase, and players who enjoy collecting unusual appearances may reasonably prioritise it before spending coins on ordinary consumables.

Pet Soul Crystals are also worth distinguishing from the Soul Crystals used for Genus Analysis. Our Pet and Genus Insight Guide explains the broader companion progression system and its different resources.

For players concentrating on equipment rather than cosmetics, Odyle Energy is one of the more practical purchases. Each item costs ten coins, with four available per server per week. A regular Odyle Energy consumable restores 40 Energy, allowing additional opportunities to claim eligible dungeon rewards.

As our Odyle Energy Guide explains, careful reward management can be considerably more valuable than spending every available resource immediately.

Nightmare Challenge Tickets and Shugo Festival Reward Keys offer alternatives for characters who regularly participate in those activities. Our Nightmare Dungeon Guide and Shugo Festival Guide explain their separate reward systems and why extra attempts or keys may be useful.

Players with only a small number of coins remaining can consider the inexpensive consumables and Superior Power Shards. However, Halloween Candy and Halloween Cookies are scheduled for removal on November 4, so buying quantities you cannot use before then would be a particularly unfortunate form of last-minute shopping.

Both consumables provide temporary five-minute effects. Halloween Candy improves offensive and defensive statistics, while Halloween Cookies provide additional HP and MP. Neither should be confused with the large coloured event candies opened through Candy Keys.

Use Your Candy Keys and Check the December 16 Deadline

The second part of the Halloween event revolves around Candy Key Fragments, obtained through eligible Expedition and Transcendence dungeon rewards.

These fragments can be converted into Red, Yellow and Blue Candy Keys through temporary Substance Morph recipes. Each key costs 60 fragments, has a listed 100% success chance and can be crafted once per server per week for each colour.

Players with enough fragments to make all three keys will need 180 fragments in total.

The three keys unlock different seasonal candy rewards:

Candy Key Main Rewards
Red 20 Growth Pet Chests and 10 Battle Enhance Scrolls
Yellow 10,000 Abyss Points and 10 Life Crystals
Blue 4 Odyle Energy and 10 Resurrection Spiritstones

Each candy also awards five Halloween Candies and five Halloween Cookies. Those smaller consumables still expire on November 4, regardless of which coloured candy provided them.

The Red Candy is particularly interesting for pet collectors, while the Blue Candy provides additional dungeon reward resources. Which one is most valuable depends on your character's progression priorities.

Unused fragments can alternatively be converted into Superior Power Shards at a rate of one fragment for ten shards. Our Substance Morph Guide explains how temporary event recipes fit into the game's wider crafting and conversion system.

What matters now is that both the fragments and completed Candy Keys are deleted on November 4 at 08:00 CET. Crafting a key without opening its corresponding candy before that deadline does not preserve the reward.

NC has also confirmed a later removal date for several Halloween items.

These event-issued items are scheduled for removal on December 16 at 08:00 CET:

  • Special Halloween Chest
  • Resurrection Spiritstone (Bound)
  • Instant Clear Ticket: Daily Dungeon (Bound)
  • Nightmare Dungeon Challenge Ticket (Bound)
  • Shugo Festival Reward Key (Bound)
  • Odyle Energy (Bound)

The Special Halloween Chest deserves particular attention. If you purchase it, open it before the December deadline. NC identifies the unopened chest as an expiring item, while the Skeleton breastplate appearance and Pet Soul Crystals inside are not separately listed in that removal schedule.

Players should still check the exact tooltips of their rewards. The removal notice concerns items distributed through this event and should not automatically be interpreted as applying to every similarly named item obtained elsewhere.

There is also a separate Halloween Twitch Drops campaign. It continues until November 4 at 08:59 CET, with earned Twitch rewards claimable until November 18 at 08:59 CET.

Our Halloween Twitch Drops Guide explains the Chubby Panda Helm and the other viewing rewards. Those deadlines do not extend the Pumpkin Coin shop or Candy Key crafting period.

Before the event ends, the practical priority is simple: collect any available attendance and mission rewards, spend your Pumpkin Coins, craft and use remaining Candy Keys, and check the expiration dates on anything you intend to keep.

Halloween has provided AION 2 Global players with an entertaining assortment of cosmetics, dungeon materials and temporary supplies. Losing them because a seasonal merchant disappeared would be a rather disappointing conclusion.

Atreia has no shortage of monsters willing to steal a player's evening. There is no reason to let a forgotten inventory tab do the same.

Official source: NC – Trick or Treat Halloween Event, October 15, 2026. Merchant prices, event recipes, rewards and removal dates follow NC's Global announcement. Always check current in-game timers and item descriptions for later changes.

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Sunday, November 1, 2026

AION 2 Ludra Conquest Check-In: 1.5 Million Kina and 7 Free Rewards


Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returns to AION 2 Global on November 4, bringing revised mechanics, demanding equipment requirements and a dragon that has already demonstrated a remarkable ability to ruin an otherwise pleasant evening. Fortunately, players do not need to defeat Ludra to take part in every celebration surrounding its return.

NC is launching Ludra Conquest Check-In, a fourteen-day attendance event offering seven rewards, including 1.5 million Bound Kina, 2,000 Centuryroot Tokens, 3,000 Phantasmal Fragments, 30,000 Abyss Points and 3,000 Soul Crystals. Completing the track also awards a Lush Leaf Tiara helmet appearance.

The attraction is straightforward: players need only seven daily check-ins during the event period. NC explicitly allows up to seven missed days, making this one of the more forgiving reward calendars in AION 2's busy November schedule.

There is no Ludra clear requirement attached to the published attendance rewards. Whether you are preparing for Hard Mode or still developing your first serious equipment set, the event offers useful progression resources without asking you to survive another raid encounter.

Ludra Conquest Check-In Dates and Rules

The event begins on November 4, 2026 at 15:00 CET and closes on November 18 at 08:59 CET. These are the European Global times published by NC. In Pacific time, the corresponding schedule runs from November 4 at 06:00 PST until November 17 at 23:59 PST.

The system follows a sequential attendance track. Each day you complete an eligible check-in, you unlock the next reward in the calendar. Your first successful check-in provides Day 1, your second provides Day 2, and the seventh completes the track.

That is an important distinction from events where a specific reward is only available on one fixed calendar date. You do not need to start on November 4 to receive the first reward, although you must leave enough time to complete seven separate daily check-ins before the event ends.

Event Detail Official Information
Start November 4, 15:00 CET
End November 18, 08:59 CET
Reward Milestones 7
Required Check-Ins 7 separate days
Missed Days Allowed Up to 7
Ludra Raid Clear Not required by the announced attendance rules

NC has not announced a paid catch-up mechanism or an option to collect several missed rewards through one login. The seven-day allowance provides flexibility, but it does not remove the event's closing deadline.

The official Ludra announcement also does not specify a separate account, character or server claim restriction for this attendance track. Nor does it give a detailed menu path or mail-expiration rule. Players should follow the event interface when it becomes available rather than borrowing the rules from a different promotion.

That distinction is particularly important because Atreia's Call is already running. Its 28-day reward calendar has its own claim conditions and December deadlines. The two attendance campaigns should be treated separately, even though their reward periods overlap.

All Seven Ludra Conquest Check-In Rewards

NC has published the complete reward sequence. The seven milestones provide several established progression currencies before finishing with a cosmetic helmet.

Check-In Reward Quantity
Day 1 Bound Kina 500,000
Day 2 Centuryroot Token (Shugo Coin) 2,000
Day 3 Phantasmal Fragment (Nightmare Coin) 3,000
Day 4 Abyss Points 30,000
Day 5 Soul Crystal 3,000
Day 6 Bound Kina 1,000,000
Day 7 Lush Leaf Tiara (Helmet) 1

Bound Kina is the largest part of the package. The first check-in provides 500,000, while the sixth awards another million. Together, those two payments amount to 1.5 million Bound Kina, a welcome contribution towards character progression.

The distinction between Bound Kina and other currency balances still matters. Players should confirm which purchases and upgrade expenses accept the event's currency rather than assume it can be used for every form of trading.

Centuryroot Tokens and Phantasmal Fragments support two different activities. The 2,000 Centuryroot Tokens awarded on Day 2 are associated with Shugo Festival, where players participate in minigames and exchange the resulting currency for items through the Festival Shop.

Our Shugo Festival Guide covers the minigames, Reward Keys and shop options. The event tokens can be particularly useful for players who do not regularly participate in the Festival but still want to make progress towards an available shop purchase.

Day 3 provides 3,000 Phantasmal Fragments, the currency earned through Nightmare's solo boss challenges. These can be exchanged for progression materials and other rewards, subject to the current Nightmare Shop inventory and purchase limits.

Players unfamiliar with the system can consult our Nightmare Dungeon Guide, which explains the boss ladder, daily attempts and the available rewards. An additional supply of fragments is useful without requiring another successful boss attempt.

Day 4 awards 30,000 Abyss Points. Abyss Points have been part of AION's competitive progression identity since the original game, rewarding participation in a world where faction conflict is practically a national pastime. Their precise purchasing value depends on the current Global shop prices and a player's existing balance.

NC's attendance notice does not promise that 30,000 Abyss Points will purchase any particular item, so players should compare the reward with their immediate PvP progression goals.

Day 5 provides 3,000 Soul Crystals, making it especially relevant to characters developing Pet and Genus Insight. These crystals are used alongside Kina in Genus Analysis, where players work towards permanent character bonuses.

That system becomes increasingly expensive when desirable statistics are locked for further analysis. Our Pet and Genus Insight Guide explains why a careful spending strategy matters more than simply rerolling until the crystal supply disappears.

The Soul Crystals complement the separate 8,000 available across Atreia's Call's full reward calendar. Players participating in both events can therefore obtain additional progression materials without relying exclusively on dungeon farming.

The seventh reward is the Lush Leaf Tiara. NC identifies it as a helmet appearance, giving collectors a cosmetic reason to complete the entire track.

The official announcement does not establish whether the tiara can be customized, whether it provides Collection Points or whether it might return in a future promotion. Those details should be checked in the live Global client rather than inferred from the promotional artwork.

Still, it is an appropriately AION-like finishing reward. Few MMORPGs are quite as comfortable with the idea of heavily armed warriors preparing to battle an ancient dragon while carefully choosing their headwear.

How to Collect Everything During Ludra's Return

Ludra Conquest Check-In is only one part of NC's November celebration. Sanctuary Raid: Ludra returns on November 4 with revised encounter mechanics and two difficulties available immediately.

Normal Mode requires Item Level 2,800, while Hard Mode requires 3,000. NC is also organising a regional first-clear competition for the first twenty groups to defeat Hard Mode Ludra.

Those requirements are separate from the attendance event. Players who cannot enter the raid can still complete the published check-in track. Our Ludra Raid Preview explains the encounter requirements and the accompanying Ludra Hunt competition.

Other events overlap with the same period. Daeva Bootcamp asks the Global community to complete up to seven million eligible dungeon runs, while the Ludra Twitch Drops campaign provides rewards for watching participating streams. These are separate participation systems, not additional requirements for claiming the seven check-in rewards.

NC also continues its Odyle Energy Boost promotion, which provides four Odyle Energy items per account per day through in-game mail until the November 11 maintenance in Europe. Those messages expire seven days after delivery.

That mail-expiration rule applies to Odyle Energy Boost. NC has not announced an identical seven-day mail rule for Ludra Conquest Check-In, and readers should not confuse the two.

For players managing several events at once, the most useful routine is simple: check the available attendance rewards, claim time-sensitive mail, then decide which dungeon, raid or other activity deserves the rest of the session.

Our Weekly Reset Guide

Collectors may also want to participate in the Ludra Outfit Contest, which begins November 4 and offers a first-place prize of 6,000 Quna for an original, Ludra-inspired character screenshot. That competition has its own submission rules and is entirely separate from the Lush Leaf Tiara attendance reward.

The most important advice for Ludra Conquest Check-In is not to overcomplicate it. Seven daily check-ins are required, and NC allows seven missed days, but the event still closes on November 18 at 08:59 CET.

A player who starts late may still complete the track if enough eligible check-in days remain. Someone who leaves everything until the final evening cannot expect seven rewards to appear at once.

For established characters, the event provides a useful selection of currencies supporting existing progression systems. For newer players, it offers materials and Kina without requiring access to the hardest encounters. And for collectors, there is a new helmet waiting at the end.

Ludra's return may demand hours of preparation, careful group coordination and a thorough understanding of what happens when a dragon becomes particularly annoyed.

Collecting 1.5 million Bound Kina and the other attendance rewards requires something rather less dramatic.

Remember to log in seven times.

Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most effective.

Official source: NC – Ludra Awakens on November 4th, published October 23 and updated October 30, 2026. Event dates, check-in requirements, rewards and the seven-day missed-login allowance follow the official AION 2 Global announcement. NC may revise event conditions.

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AION 2 Instant Clear Tickets: Is 420,000 Kina a Week Worth It?


Every MMORPG eventually reaches the point where a once-terrifying dungeon boss becomes little more than a familiar appointment. You know the mechanics, you know where to stand, and you can practically predict the moment when the creature will make its final, increasingly unconvincing attempt to kill you.

AION 2 Global now offers more ways to skip that routine. With the October 28 update, NC added Instant Clear Ticket: Nightmare (Bound) to the Wind Breeze Merchants' offerings and announced a higher weekly purchase limit for Instant Clear Ticket: Daily Dungeon (Bound).

The announced price is identical for both: 30,000 Kina per ticket, with up to 14 purchases of each type per server every week. That makes the theoretical weekly bill 420,000 Kina for one category or 840,000 Kina for both.

It sounds like an expensive way to avoid doing something that is supposed to be entertaining. But for players who have already mastered their regular content, the tickets may offer something increasingly valuable: time.

The question is whether that convenience justifies spending currency that could otherwise go towards equipment, crafting or permanent character progression.

Nightmare vs Daily Dungeon: Prices, Limits and Requirements

NC's October 28 Global patch established the following purchase terms:

Ticket Type Price Announced Weekly Limit Maximum Cost
Nightmare 30,000 Kina 14 per server 420,000 Kina
Daily Dungeon 30,000 Kina 14 per server 420,000 Kina
Combined 30,000 Kina each 28 tickets 840,000 Kina

These are purchase limits, not additional dungeon-entry allowances. Buying fourteen tickets does not grant fourteen extra attempts beyond the limits imposed by the corresponding content.

The restriction is also per server rather than per character. Players maintaining several characters on one server should not assume that each character receives an independent allowance of fourteen purchases.

There is, however, one important detail in the available sources.

NC's October 28 patch notes explicitly announce fourteen weekly purchases for both ticket types. Some current third-party item listings still display seven purchases for the Daily Dungeon ticket, apparently reflecting an older merchant configuration. Players should therefore treat fourteen as the officially announced limit but check the allowance displayed in their live Global client before budgeting for the full amount.

Eligibility matters too. The AION 2 Global item database currently lists the Wind Breeze Merchants' Nightmare ticket as available from level 45 and the Daily Dungeon version from level 30. It also associates these merchant listings with Wind Breeze Membership. Those details come from item data rather than an explicit eligibility table in NC's October 28 announcement, so the live merchant interface should be checked before assuming a particular character can purchase them.

The update also contains conflicting descriptions of the Daily Dungeon ticket's shop location. One section describes moving the item into Substance Morph, while another continues to list it under Wind Breeze Merchants. It is safer to search the currently available merchant and Substance Morph interfaces than follow an older menu path without checking.

For anyone unfamiliar with the activities themselves, our Nightmare Dungeon Guide explains the solo boss progression system, while our Odylium Repository Guide covers one of the newer Daily Dungeon activities and its shared entry allowance.

What Do Instant Clear Tickets Actually Give You?

The name suggests a simple shortcut, but the important detail is how the game accounts for the result.

The Global item descriptions for both tickets explain that, after clearing the relevant dungeon, players can use tickets to obtain additional rewards based on the quantity they possess. The description also specifies that using a ticket deducts both the ticket and the corresponding attempt count.

In other words, Instant Clear Tickets are designed to convert available dungeon attempts into rewards without repeating the full encounter. They do not create additional attempts.

That is a significant distinction for Nightmare, which already operates under its own limited entry system. Characters receive two Nightmare attempts daily and can normally accumulate up to fourteen.

Someone who has already defeated the relevant Nightmare encounter may prefer to use a ticket rather than repeat the same battle. Someone still trying to unlock a new challenge level, however, should not assume that an Instant Clear Ticket can bypass the progression requirements of an encounter they have never completed.

The wording of the item description establishes a previous-clear condition. It does not guarantee that the ticket can unlock new challenge tiers or reproduce every first-clear bonus.

Daily Dungeons raise a different question: which reward result does the shortcut actually reproduce?

The new Odylium Repository, introduced on October 28, awards Soul Crystals based on the points earned during a clear. It also shares its entry allowance with Daeva Bio-Research Base.

NC's patch notes do not explicitly explain whether an Instant Clear Ticket reproduces a previous result, uses a fixed reward tier or follows another scoring rule for Odylium Repository. Nor do they confirm ticket compatibility with every activity in the Daily Dungeon category.

That means players should inspect the available Instant Clear interface and reward preview before spending a ticket. We cannot promise that a shortcut automatically grants the highest possible Soul Crystal reward.

Instant Clear Tickets should also be distinguished from Odyle Energy. The latter controls reward collection from eligible Expedition and Transcendence cubes, as explained in our Odyle Energy Guide. It is a separate resource system with different limits and purposes.

Buying a Nightmare shortcut does not restore Odyle Energy, and holding additional Energy does not create more Nightmare attempts.

For players trying to manage several endgame activities efficiently, understanding which resource controls which reward is more useful than simply accumulating as many consumables as possible.

When Is Spending 420,000 Kina Actually Worth It?

The answer depends on two things: how much time you save and what else you could accomplish with the same Kina.

The price becomes more revealing when broken into smaller purchases:

Tickets Purchased Total Cost
130,000 Kina
390,000 Kina
5150,000 Kina
7210,000 Kina
10300,000 Kina
14420,000 Kina

These prices assume the announced 30,000 Kina cost per ticket. The maximum quantity available for purchase must still be confirmed through the live shop.

For someone with limited gaming time, buying three or five tickets may be an attractive compromise. Skipping several familiar encounters leaves more time for progression challenges, organised PvP or simply playing with friends.

For a character still struggling to afford equipment upgrades, however, the calculation is different.

Kina is required across numerous progression systems. Enhancement, crafting and other character improvements all compete with convenience purchases. Our Fast Gearing Guide

Pet and Genus Insight present another consideration. Genus Analysis consumes both Soul Crystals and Kina, with costs increasing when players lock desirable statistics. Those investments can provide long-term character benefits, as detailed in our Pet and Genus Insight Guide.

Spending 420,000 Kina on shortcuts therefore carries an opportunity cost. That money cannot simultaneously be spent improving equipment or developing other progression systems.

For perspective, purchasing fourteen tickets of one type every week would cost 1.68 million Kina over four weeks at unchanged prices. Buying the announced maximum of both types would raise that theoretical four-week expenditure to 3.36 million Kina.

Those figures are spending scenarios, not recommendations. Most players have no reason to purchase the maximum every week merely because the shop permits it.

There are also opportunities to obtain Instant Clear Tickets outside direct Kina purchases. NC's Daeva Bootcamp community event, beginning November 4, includes up to fourteen Instant Clear Tickets among its milestone rewards if Global players collectively reach seven million eligible dungeon clears.

However, the event announcement does not specify the exact ticket variant in its reward table. Those items should not automatically be counted as fourteen Nightmare tickets or fourteen Daily Dungeon tickets until their in-game descriptions can be checked.

Other seasonal progression systems also provide dungeon-related consumables. Our Prelude to Flight Daeva Pass Guide

Before spending Kina, it is worth making a simple assessment:

  • Have you already cleared the encounter? Check whether the ticket can be used for the content you intend to skip.
  • Do you have attempts available? The shortcut consumes attempts rather than creating new ones.
  • Is the reward worthwhile? Check the actual reward preview, especially for score-dependent Daily Dungeons.
  • Could the Kina improve your character more effectively? Compare the time saved with your immediate equipment and progression needs.

The weekly shop limit also makes it worth checking your other purchases before reset. Our Weekly Reset Guide

Ultimately, Instant Clear Tickets are not a replacement for learning AION 2's dungeons. They are a convenience for characters who have already completed the relevant content and would rather spend their next session doing something else.

For one player, 30,000 Kina may be a perfectly acceptable price for ten minutes of freedom. For another, that same amount may be better saved for a much-needed equipment improvement.

The important part is not whether buying all fourteen tickets is possible. It is whether buying them solves a problem you actually have.

After defeating the same Nightmare boss enough times, even the most dedicated adventurer can be forgiven for wanting a day off.

The boss, presumably, would welcome the break too.

Official source: NC – AION 2 Global Patch Notes, October 27 PDT / October 28 CET, 2026. Item descriptions and additional merchant details are available through the AION 2 Global database entries for Instant Clear Ticket: Nightmare and Instant Clear Ticket: Daily Dungeon. Check the current client for purchase limits, availability and dungeon-specific restrictions.

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