AION 2 Season 2 Begins: Class Balance, PvP & PvE Updates, Abyss Changes, and Rewards

NCSOFT held an unscheduled live broadcast on January 20, 2026, focused on AION 2, where developers Seo Yoon-Seop and Kim Nam-Jun explained in detail the changes arriving with Season 2, which officially begins on January 21.

The broadcast was not part of the original schedule, but the team decided to go live to thank an anonymous message sent by a player and, more importantly, to clarify all upcoming patch changes, marking one of the largest updates since launch.

It was also confirmed that the upcoming maintenance will be longer than usual, due to the large number of system changes and new content being introduced.

Table of Contents

1. General combat system changes
2. Class balance adjustments
3. Compensations and retroactive rewards
4. New Season 2 PvE content
5. PvP changes and the new Abyss
6. Siege system and faction balance
7. New ranking system
8. Abyss gear adjustments
9. Equipment inheritance system
10. Wardrobe and customization improvements
11. Events, shop, and new cosmetics
12. Measures against macros and bots
13. Rewards and player compensations

General combat system changes

Season 2 introduces global adjustments affecting all classes:

• Increased damage against stunned enemies when using charged skills.
• Passive effects that restore HP on block or dodge now have their cooldown reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
• Fixed an issue where some passive skills stopped scaling correctly after level 30.

Class balance adjustments

Guardian

• “Justice” now grants additional accuracy and increased damage.
• “Pain Block” activates immediately at the start of combat.
• Improved maximum HP bonuses and overall damage.

Gladiator

• Fixed a bug that caused excessive life steal.
• “Attack Preparation” now provides damage amplification and accuracy instead of flat attack.

Cleric

• Long skill animations have been sped up.
• Resurrection skills now allow movement while casting.
• Improved percentage-based healing effects.

Sorcerer

• “Invincibility” received a slight nerf (~5%).
• In return, personal damage output and buff efficiency were increased.

Assassin

• The critical “Heart Stab” bug will be fixed on January 28.
• A deeper review of stigma and mastery systems is currently in progress.

Spiritmaster

• Buffs have been converted into direct damage amplification.
• Fixes applied to older summons and abilities.

Compensations and retroactive rewards

Players who opened pet boxes between January 7 and January 14 will receive a retroactive compensation on January 28 to balance the updated system.

New Season 2 PvE content

• New Rank 4 dungeon: Dead Dratama Nest, requiring 3000 gear score.
• Previous dungeons have been replaced with versions featuring new mechanics and increased difficulty.
• The “Nightmare” raid now includes additional bosses.

PvP changes and the new Abyss

• Opening of the mid-level Abyss with a 3000 gear score requirement.
• Faster flight time consumption, encouraging more ground-based combat.
• The number of Abyss bosses increased from 1 to 5.

Siege system and faction balance

• The losing faction receives a strong buff for the next siege and a passive bonus until the following battle.
• Mid-season siege schedules will be unified to force strategic faction splitting.

New ranking system

• Rankings are now based on best performance rather than infinite accumulation.
• Leaderboards and rewards are separated by class.

Abyss gear adjustments

• Abyss gear sets apply PvE damage penalties outside the Abyss.
• Damage bonuses are granted exclusively within the Abyss.

Equipment inheritance system

• Enhancements and upgrades can be transferred between items of the same tier.
• Up to 6 items can be inherited.
• The first 2 transfers are 100% safe.

Wardrobe and customization improvements

• The wardrobe is now shared across the entire account.
• Multiple versions of the same outfit can be saved with different dyes.
• New option to show or hide hoods.

Events, shop, and new cosmetics

• 50% discount on dyes for a limited time.
• The return of 1 Kinah items.
• New rabbit-themed costumes, including Battle Pass exclusives.

Measures against macros and bots

• Second wave of legal action against bot developers.
• Mass recovery of illegally obtained Kinah.
• Evaluation of tying chat and gathering systems to active subscriptions.

Rewards and player compensations

• 30 Combat Enhancement Scrolls.
• 10 Resurrection Stones.
• 1 Od Energy per day for one week.
• 7-day appearance change ticket.