AION 8.6 Launch Checklist (Before March 11): What to Spend, What to Prep, What Not to Forget

Update 8.6: Raksha’s Revenge hits March 11, 2026, and this is one of those patches where a tiny bit of prep saves you a lot of “oh come on…” later.

So here’s the quick checklist you can run through before patch day.

Sources (official):

• 8.6 announcement

• Patch notes PDF

• Item deletions PSA

1) Spend these currencies BEFORE they’re deleted

Gameforge has confirmed several items will be permanently removed with 8.6. That means: if you’re holding them, use them.

Use/spend before March 11:

• Nickel Gold

• Ducat Gold

• Lord’s Sacred Water

• [Event] Lord’s Sacred Water (and bundle/chest variants)

If any of those are sitting in storage “just in case,” this is the case.

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2) Note the NPC weekly sale reset times (last-minute value squeeze)

The deletions post also mentions weekly sale limitations resetting at:

• March 6 at 18:00

• March 9 at 09:00

That’s basically your “last chance” window to convert leftover coins/tokens into something useful before patch day.

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3) Plan your week around the NEW dungeon lockouts

8.6 adds Burning Blood Fortress (Aphsaranta, level 85). The big planning detail is the weekly limits:

• Gold Pack/Veteran: 3 entries weekly

• F2P: 2 entries weekly

• Reset: Wednesday 9 AM

Because rewards are ranked by time left after the boss, you’ll want to run it with a group that can clear cleanly (don’t waste entries on chaos runs).

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4) If you care about weapons, Burning Blood Fortress is not optional

Patch notes outline an Ultimate Salvation weapon path that pulls materials from the new instance (including fragment → crystal crafting steps).

Translation: if you’re chasing that progression, start early — the grind is designed to be incremental.

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5) Put these schedule changes in your calendar

8.6 also changes a few routine windows (the kind that messes people up for a week):

• Bassen/Prades Fortress Battle time shifts to Saturday 9 PM

• Arena of Chaos windows change to: 12–2 PM, 6–8 PM, 11 PM–1 AM

• Heart of Aphsaranta entries for Gold Pack/Veteran increase to 4

If your legion plans around fixed times, this is where you avoid missed nights and confusion.

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6) Quick “don’t be that player” checklist

Before March 11:

• ✅ Spend Nickel/Ducat + Sacred Water items

• ✅ Check storage/alt characters (people always forget alts)

• ✅ Screenshot your key currencies/items if you’re paranoid

• ✅ Line up a Burning Blood Fortress group for week 1

• ✅ Re-check your weekly calendar for changed battle/arena times