Aion 2 Leveling Priorities: What Matters Before 45

Level 45 is the cap of the EU/NA launch, and reaching it hands you a new to-do list: Item Level gates, the Abyss, Arcana, Transcendence. How ready you are for that list has little to do with how fast you got there. It depends on what you picked up on the way: skill points, Daevanion Crystals, stigma points and gear. A large share of those come from content outside the main story, and nothing reminds you to collect them.

This guide sets the priorities for that climb, for every class, with Gladiador examples where a concrete case helps. It doesn't walk the route. For that, use the zone-by-zone leveling guides or the 1–45 speedrun.

Names, numbers and unlock levels below are read from the EU/NA client. Our recommendations are marked Advice.

At a glance

1. Treat 45 as the starting line. The cap opens the endgame, and from then on you grow through Item Level, gear and boards. Levels stop paying skill points at 45.
2. Do the green quests and the Sealed Dungeons. Regional quests and the solo Sealed Dungeons of your home region are the only free sources of skill points and Daevanion Crystals besides leveling: 178 of each for one character.
3. Keep the Ascension Gauge moving. The story has score gates at about 22, 32 and 45. The story alone doesn't reach the last one, so side content isn't optional.
4. Don't miss the Ascension quest at 22. It is what lets you learn stigmas.
5. You can't max everything. One-time sources give 383 skill points against the 462 needed, and 316 crystals against the 570 the four leveling boards cost. Spend on your core skills first.
6. Item Level opens dungeons; Combat Power doesn't.

Why level 45 is the start

In the EU/NA client most of the endgame unlocks at level 45: the Abyss, Arcana, the Arena, Nightmare, the Ascension Trial, Transcendence, the Sanctuary raid, Season Missions, rankings and trading. The Conquest tiers of the Expedition dungeons open there too, but each one also asks for an Item Level: 700 for Tier 1, 1,400 for Tier 2 and 2,100 for Tier 3.

At the same time, levels stop working for you. The client's level table pays its last skill point at 45 (203 in total) and lists no more for any later level, and every gate after 45 is an Item Level. What keeps growing is what you build: gear, Arcana, Daevanion boards and skill levels.

So the race to 45 isn't the point. A character that arrives with the free points collected walks into Conquest Tier 1 with its core skills levelled. One that rushed the story arrives short of points and stuck on the last story quest (see the Ascension Gauge). Your first weeks at the cap are covered in What to do at level 45.

Where your points come from

Leveling: income by level

Each level-up adds to three pools:

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• Skill points: +1 at level 4, then +2 per level from 5 to 7, +3 from 8 to 10, +4 from 11 to 15, +5 from 16 to 30, +6 from 31 to 43 and +7 at 44 and 45.
• Daevanion Crystals: +4 per level from level 12.
• Stigma points: +1 per level from 23 to 39, then +2 per level from 40 to 45.

The running totals, with what opens at each step:

Level	Skill points	Daevanion Crystals	Stigma points	Stigma slots	Also opens
4	1	0	0	0	Skill menu
10	16	0	0	0	Regional quests, crafting, gathering
12	24	4	0	0	Nezekan board
20	61	36	0	0	Zikel board; Krao Cave (Item Level 200)
22	71	44	0	1	First stigma slot
27	96	64	5	2	Second stigma slot
28	101	68	6	2	Urugugu Canyon (Item Level 300)
30	111	76	8	2	Vaizel board; Daily Dungeon
32	123	84	10	3	Third stigma slot
35	141	96	13	3	Fire Temple (Item Level 500)
37	153	104	15	4	Fourth stigma slot
40	171	116	19	4	Triniel board
45	203	136	29	4	Azphel board and the endgame

The Daevanion menu itself opens with the story quest Lo visto entre el humo (Elyos) or Persecución tardía (Asmodians), both recommended at 13, so crystals earned at 12 wait a level. The dungeons need the party-dungeon unlock described below.

Side content that pays points

Two kinds of side content pay Piedra de sabiduría (vinculado) (1 skill point each) and Cristal de Daevanion (vinculado) (1 Daevanion Crystal each), and both pay once per character:

Source	Skill points	Daevanion Crystals	When
Levels 1–45	203	136	Crystals from level 12
58 Regional quests	58	58	51 from level 10, 7 at level 45
60 Sealed Dungeons in your home region	120	120	Solo, recommended levels 10–40
The level-45 Sealed Dungeon	2	2	Needs 3 earlier Sealed Dungeons
Free total	383	316
Shugo Festival shop (lifetime limit)	0	50	Paid in Centuryroot Tokens; no Wisdom Stones
Nightmare shop (lifetime limit)	0	50	Paid in Phantasmal Fragments, from 45
Everything one character can get	383	416	In this client build
Needed to max	462	570	All skills at rank 10 / four boards

Every launch class needs the same 462 skill points to put all its skills at rank 10, and its four leveling boards cost the same 570 crystals. The level-45 Sealed Dungeon is Ruinas de la Ciudad Ancestral de Roah; the Asmodian version has the same name.

One item looks like an extra source but isn't: Piedra de sabiduría brillante (vinculado) (worth 10 skill points) has no source anywhere in the EU data, so don't hunt for it.

Regional quests

Regional quests are the green markers on your map (the story's Episode quests are the yellow ones) and the Regional tab of your journal. They open area by area as the story moves on and stay available afterwards, so you can come back for any you skipped. Each faction has 79 that open at level 10 and 7 more at 45: browse them for Elyos or Asmodians.

Besides the 58 skill points and 58 crystals, the Elyos set pays about 6.8 million Kina (Bound) and a steady line of accessories: 35 earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces that climb from Common around level 14–16 to Rare at 22–30 and Epic from 33, such as the Elyos Anillo de peregrino. Some also give Clash Rune Chests, Rare Theostone Chests, Soul Codex: Reset and Cube Expansion Vouchers.

They pay EXP too. Before 45, Regional quests give about 784 million EXP (Elyos) or 780 million (Asmodians), more than the 754.8 million it takes to go from 1 to 45.

Advice: take each camp's Regional quests while you're there. Their EXP replaces grinding, so they cost little extra time, and they also fill your Ascension Gauge.

Sealed Dungeons

Sealed Dungeons are short solo instances, 60 in each home region: Verteron for Elyos and Altgard for Asmodians. You can enter them at any level (the client recommends 10 to 40), though some open only after you've explored earlier ones. The first clear of each, from Guarida de los Cazadores Furtivos in Verteron onward, pays:

• 2 Piedra de sabiduría (vinculado) and 2 Cristal de Daevanion (vinculado)
• 1,250 Piedra de mejora and 15,000 Kina
• 2 Pluma de ala sellada (vinculado), statue materials and a title

Over all 60 that's 120 skill points, 120 crystals and 75,000 Enhance Stones, the biggest one-time source after leveling itself. Each Sealed Dungeon also has a one-time exploration quest worth about 45 million EXP for the whole Verteron set (about 47 million for Altgard). As far as the data shows, the rewards are once per character, so an alt has its own 60 to clear.

The other faction's Sealed Dungeons, reached through a Spacetime Rift, pay only 15,000 Kina, 1,000 Abyss Points and 2,500 Enhance Stones: no points.

Advice: clear them as your route passes them, not in one block at the end. Find them on the Sealed Dungeons list and the map; the speedrun route already weaves them into the Asmodian story.

What doesn't pay points (but still matters)

• Ascension quests give no skill points or crystals. They give wings, the stigma unlock and two accessories (see stigmas and gear).
• Monoliths give no skill points and no regular crystals either. Feeding Empyrean Traces to your region's Monolith pays deity stats, Amplify Stone Fragments, Hidden Cube keys, Soul Codex: Reset and titles. The system opens with the story quest Monolito empíreo (same name for both factions) around level 16, and you can't resonate in enemy territory. Only the Ereshkigal Monolith in the Abyss pays Daevanion currency, and that is Cristal de Daevanion: Azphel (vinculado) for the level-45 board.
• Strongholds (15 in each home region) pay Kina, belt enhance scrolls and a title, and they count for the Ascension Gauge.

Advice: pick up the Empyrean Traces your route passes; their stats are permanent. Just don't plan your leveling around them for points.

The Ascension Gauge: why rushing the story stalls

The story has gates. Some Episode quests, and the Ascension quest paired with them, can only be accepted once your Ascension Gauge reaches a score. Until then the game shows "Unlocked when Ascension Gauge reaches 100%".

A fourth gate (1,740 Elyos, 1,750 Asmodians) waits after the level cap. The gates guard a lot:

• Gate 1 guards the stigma unlock and, for both factions, the party dungeons: they open with Gremio de la Brisa (Elyos, the quest right after the gate) or with El Daeva cautivo en el sueño itself (Asmodians).
• Gate 2 guards the next wing upgrade.
• Gate 3 guards the end of the leveling story and the last Ascension step, which pays the best wings and two accessories.

The score rises each time you complete an Episode, Regional or Ascension quest, or clear a Sealed Dungeon or a Stronghold. By our reading of the data each one is worth 10 points.

By our count of the client's quest list, the Episode quests before the first gate are just about enough on their own, the second gate needs a handful of side clears, and the level-45 gate needs roughly 60. A player who only follows the yellow markers hits 45 and then has to clear dozens of Regional quests or Sealed Dungeons whose EXP can no longer level them.

Advice: do side content steadily from level 10 and the gates never show up.

Skills: spend for breakpoints, not evenly

The Skill menu opens at level 4. Each skill goes from rank 1 to rank 10 with skill points. Rank 1 is free, and ranks 2 to 10 cost 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4 and 4 points: 13 points for rank 8 and 21 for rank 10. Each rank also needs a character level, and every rank of every skill is open by level 41.

Above rank 10, skill points can't help. Extra skill levels come from the Daevanion boards (+1 per board, so +4 at most while leveling), and at 45 from gear and Arcana. That puts skill level 14 as the most any skill reaches before the cap.

Skill level matters because of specialties. Each active skill has five options: three at skill level 8, one at 12 and one at 16. You equip them in slots that open at skill level 8, 12 and 20, so you run at most three. Skill and stigma resets are free, and you can keep three presets.

Advice:

1. Take your 2–4 core damage skills to rank 8 first (13 points each). That opens their first specialty slot.
2. Push those to rank 10 as your level allows, then use their blue board nodes to reach 12 and the second slot.
3. Next, the passives your build leans on.
4. Leave utility skills at low ranks. Ranks 2–4 cost 1 point each; the last three ranks cost 12.

Gladiator example: Punzada descendente reaches rank 8 at character level 22 and rank 10 at 28. Its blue nodes on Nezekan and Zikel lift it to skill level 12, which opens its second specialty slot, and its level-12 option makes its hits always critical. Vaizel and Triniel take it to 14. The cooldown-removal option at 16 has to wait for gear or Arcana at 45. The full setup is in the Gladiator PvE build, and you can test any class in the Skill Planner.

Stigmas: the Ascension quest at 22

Every class has 13 stigmas. You can learn them from level 22, but only after reaching Ascension grade 3 with Quien escucha la voz (the Asmodian quest has the same name), which sits behind the first gauge gate. That quest also pays a Esquirla de Estigma (vinculado) and wings.

Stigma slots open at 22, 27, 32 and 37. Stigma points come from levels (29 by 45) plus that one shard, so about 30 by the cap. Taking one stigma from level 1 to 20 costs 75: 5 to reach level 5, 15 to reach 10, 35 to reach 15. Each stigma gains a bonus automatically at levels 5, 10, 15 and 20. More shards come at 45 from the Abyss and Nightmare shops.

Advice: take every stigma you run to level 5 first (5 points each) for its first bonus, then push one. Thirty points cover four stigmas at 5 and one of them at 10. Resets are free, so experimenting costs nothing.

Gladiator example: the level-5 bonus of Explosión de furia cuts its cooldown from 45 to 30 seconds.

Daevanion boards: the order and what to buy

The boards open in a fixed order, the same for every launch class:

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Board	Opens at	Crystals to complete	Gold nodes (+1.5% each)
Nezekan	12	134	Combat Speed ×2, Cooldown Reduction ×2
Zikel	20	134	Damage Boost ×2, Damage Tolerance ×2
Vaizel	30	134	Critical Damage Boost ×2, Critical Damage Tolerance ×2
Triniel	40	168	Multi-Hit Chance ×3, Multi-Hit Resist ×3
Azphel	45	232 of its own crystal	PvP and status-effect stats only

Every node of the first four boards is one of four grades:

Node	Cost	Gives	Per board
Common (white)	1	A small flat stat: Max HP +100, Max MP +50, Critical Hit +5, Critical Hit Resist +5, Defense +30 or Attack +3	62 (88 on Triniel)
Rare (green)	2	+1 level to one passive skill	10
Epic (blue)	3	+1 level to one active skill	12, one per active
Unique (gold)	4	+1.5% of the board's key stat	4 (6 on Triniel)

Every active skill has one blue node on each of the four boards, and every passive has green nodes adding up to +4 across them. White filler makes up 62 of each 134-crystal board. The blue, green and gold nodes of all four boards together cost 296 crystals, but nodes must connect, so you'll buy some filler on the way. With 316 free crystals by 45, you can't have everything: choose.

Advice:

1. When a board opens, path to the blue nodes of your core skills first. They stack with the other boards and push skills toward their specialty breakpoints.
2. Then the gold corners you want: Combat Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Damage Boost, Critical Damage Boost and Multi-Hit Chance for damage dealers, the Tolerance and Resist nodes if you tank.
3. Then the green nodes of the passives you rely on.
4. White nodes only as connectors. Don't finish one board's filler while the next board's skill nodes sit empty.

Plan the route in the Daevanion Planner before you spend: a reset costs 500 Kina per node. Gladiator example: Punzada descendente has a blue node on all four boards, and Contraataque experimentado has two green nodes on Zikel and one each on Vaizel and Triniel. The Daevanion guide explains the whole system.

Gear while leveling

Item Level is the total of the item levels of everything you have equipped, and it is what dungeon entrances check. Three Expedition dungeons gate you on the way up:

• Cueva de Krao (Exploration): level 20, Item Level 200
• Cañón de Urugugu (Exploration): level 28, Item Level 300
• Templo de Fuego (Exploration): level 35, Item Level 500

Party dungeons only open after the first gauge gate (see above). At 45 the first Conquest tier asks for 700.

Where gear comes from while leveling:

• Regional quests fill your accessory slots, from Common up to Epic.
• Ascension quests give wings at levels 22, 32 and 45. The level-45 step also pays Brazalete de ascenso and Amuleto de batalla feroz.
• Sealed Dungeons pay the Enhance Stones: 75,000 over the 60. Enhancing unlocks at level 9, and Epic gear goes from +1 to +10 without a single failure (details in the enhancing guide).
• Expedition dungeons from about level 22, and the Daily Dungeon from 30.

Advice: keep every slot filled, accessories included, because Item Level counts all of them. Enhance what you wear with the stones you earn, but don't buy materials or spend Kina on leveling pieces: they get replaced at 45, and the cap is where the Kina is needed.

Common mistakes

1. Following only the yellow markers. You stall at the level-45 gauge gate with dozens of side clears still to do, and their EXP can't level you any more.
2. Skipping the Sealed Dungeons. They pay more skill points (120) than all the Regional quests (58), plus 120 crystals and 75,000 Enhance Stones.
3. Spreading skill points evenly. 383 free points can't max 462 worth of skills. Ranks 8 and 10 on the skills you press beat rank 5 on everything.
4. Forgetting the Ascension quest at 22. Without Ascension grade 3 you can't learn a single stigma.
5. Buying a board's filler while the next board's skill nodes sit empty. Each board has its own +1 for every skill.
6. Hunting skill points in the wrong places. Monoliths, Strongholds and Ascension quests pay none.
7. Watching Combat Power. No dungeon entrance checks it; Item Level is what opens doors.
8. Gearing up a character you'll regear at 45. Enhance with free stones; save Kina for the cap.

Where to go next

• The route itself: the leveling guide index, with walkthroughs for each faction starting at Elyos 1–10 and Asmodian 1–10, or the 1–45 speedrun.
• New to the game: Your first days in Atreia.
• At the cap: What to do at level 45, then the endgame PvE guide.
• Playing a Gladiador: the Gladiator PvE build.
• Leveling a second character: Alts and rerolls. The point sources on this page belong to the character, so an alt collects them all again.
• Track your dailies and weeklies in the Daily & Weekly Checklist.

The game data on Aion2.gg comes from the EU/NA game client, version 2.0.7.0 (Steam build 25926599), extracted on October 16, 2026. We re-check these numbers after every client patch.