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Expedition Dungeons
October 9, 2026 at 06:51 PM
Linked the Global practical guides and clarified service scope
Expedition is the five-player instanced tier, the middle rung of AION 2's dungeon ladder between solo content and the ten-player Sanctuary raids. It is where most group play happens: the roster is the widest of any tier, the gear it pays out feeds the rest of progression, and it is the tier the global marketing puts in front of new players.
Follow Global Progression Walkthrough for entry gates and equipment order. The current Global playbooks on Deus Research Base, Shattered Arkanis, Vakron Sky Island and Ferocious Horn Den pair visible boss cues with responses, failure consequences and party responsibilities.
Element | Detail |
|---|---|
Party size | Five players. Expedition ran with parties of four until the Chapter 1 update on July 1, 2026 raised it. |
Modes | Exploration, and Conquest split into Normal and Hard |
Entry cost | Odyle Energy rather than a ticket. Entry tickets and charge tickets were removed in the Chapter 1 update, and existing ones were deleted from inventories and storage. |
Gating | Character level plus a minimum item level , set per dungeon and per mode |
Pets | Pets can be ridden inside dungeons, except during boss fights and in spaces built around special play |
Weekly limits | The weekly reward and final boss kill limits were removed on July 1, 2026. Leaving a cleared run without taking the reward uses up a weekly allowance shared by the characters on a server, and entry is blocked when it reaches zero. |
Unlocking Conquest | Conquest unlocks after clearing the same dungeon's Exploration mode |
Factions | Elyos and Asmodians can party together and chat in the waiting room and dungeon since March 11, 2026 |
Disconnects | 10 minutes to reconnect without losing the entry (one minute until January 28, 2026) |
Contribution | Players below a minimum contribution receive no Odyle Energy Cube; the threshold was cut from 5% to 3% on December 17, 2025, to 1% on July 1, 2026 and raised back to 5% on August 12, 2026 |
Roles | The waiting-room recruitment filter lists Templar and Gladiator as tanks, Cleric and Chanter as healers, and Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster and Chanter as damage dealers |
On the Korean and Taiwanese build the Citadel of the Fallen Daeva shows the shape of the cost curve: Exploration and Conquest Normal each ask 40 Odyle Energy at item level 3,800, while Conquest Hard asks 60 at item level 4,500 and pays out more in return.
NCsoft's own global material puts four Expeditions in front of players as the tier's showcase, each described as a dungeon for up to five players.
Expedition | Setting | Boss |
|---|---|---|
A cave once used as a laboratory by the Lepharists. Treasure-hunting tomb raiders reopened it and woke its dormant security systems along with what was sealed inside. | Berk, a combat-type experimental subject left over from a forgotten war | |
A divine realm hidden deep in Tolbas Forest, guarded for ages by the Aullaeu tribe. | Auldor, a legendary divine bird that soars the canyon sky | |
A temple built by the gods deep in caves where lava pulses, past traps and Watchers, ending at a mirror with a will of its own. | The shadow of the desire that consumed Kromede | |
An unknown Abyss that swallowed the Draupnir Caves. | Transcendent Bakarma, once a Dragon High Commander, remade by a power he met inside the Abyss |
The Korean and Taiwanese live build carries a wider roster on top of those four, added over successive patches.
Expedition | Korean name | Added (KR/TW) | Reward tier | Bosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
크라오 동굴 | Launch, November 19, 2025 | One star | Neglected Gadioton, Enhanced Harcon, Ultimate Berk | |
드라웁니르 | Launch, November 19, 2025 | One star | Predator Saraswati, Phantasmal Lakshmi, Transcendent Bakarma | |
우루구구 협곡 | Launch, November 19, 2025 | Two stars | Guardian Captain Raur, Judge Urahum, Divine Auldor | |
바크론의 공중섬 | Launch week | Two stars | ||
불의 신전 | Launch, November 19, 2025 | Three stars | ||
사나운 뿔 암굴 | Launch week | Three stars | Watchdog Kwapo, Necromancer Duanka, Ferocious Horn Nuakum | |
죽은 드라마타의 둥지 | January 21, 2026 | Tier 4 | Broodkeeper Nayatman, Manager Nasium, Decaying Durvati | |
무의 요람 | February 11, 2026 | Tier 4 | Multiverse Veltiras, Solemn Valkan, Afflicted Bakarma | |
환영의 회랑 | April 8, 2026 | Tier 5 | ||
푸른 숨의 섬 | April 22, 2026 | Tier 5 | Wise Baumnute, Expanding Xyrepe, Awakened Alturadon | |
타락한 데바의 성 | July 1, 2026, with Chapter 1 | Level 50 | Willful Turgen, Forbidden Hexbeast Griosa, Basilus the False | |
잠식된 데우스 연구기지 | August 12, 2026 | Level 50 | Atiel of Arrogance and Gromkas |
The star tiers come from NCsoft's December 17, 2025 drop-rate tables, which group the six launch Expeditions in pairs; its May 13, 2026 announcement names Dying Dramata's Nest as Tier 4 and Hall of Illusion as Tier 5 content.
Where NCsoft has published an English name, the table uses it: Vakron Sky Island, Dying Dramata's Nest, Cradle of Nihility, Hall of Illusion, Citadel of the Fallen Daeva and Consumed Deus Research Base all come from NCsoft announcements. Ferocious Horn Den, Azure Breath Island and most boss names are the game client's English data.
The Expedition Ordeal (Korean 시련) is a custom-difficulty mode on one Expedition at a time. You set the conditions yourself and take a harder fight for better rewards. The first Ordeal ran on Vakron Sky Island from July 15, 2026, and Fire Temple replaced it on September 23, 2026.
Setting (game client name) | Effect | Vakron Sky Island stages | Fire Temple stages |
|---|---|---|---|
Time Limit | Shortens the time allowed | 1 to 4 | 1 to 3 |
Revival Limit | Caps how often the party can be revived | 1 to 4 | 1 to 3 |
Boss Enhance | Strengthens the bosses | 1 to 4 | 1 to 8 |
PC Weaken | Weakens the player characters | 1 to 4 | 1 to 2 |
The chosen stages add up to a difficulty between 4 and 16. Each difficulty pays its Tokens of Overcoming once a week, resetting on Wednesday.
The mode runs through the Expedition interface and is aimed at players who have already cleared the standard tiers.
Expedition drops feed the standard gear chain and the Draconic crafting materials, delivered through Odyle Energy Cubes at the end of a run. The September 9, 2026 patch on the Korean and Taiwanese build redistributed those materials: the older Expeditions now drop bound materials only, while the newer four drop the full set in both bound and tradeable form.
Kina earned in several Expeditions was also converted to bound Kina, which is NCsoft tightening the flow of tradeable currency out of instanced content rather than a change to the dungeons themselves.
Tier | Expeditions | Final boss Unique / Hero (Normal) | Mid-boss Unique / Hero (Normal) | Final boss Unique / Hero (Hard) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
One star | 15% / 0.5% | 7.5% / 0.25% | 20% / 1% | |
Two stars | 10% / 0.5% | 5% / 0.25% | 20% / 1% | |
Three stars | 10% / 0.5% | 5% / 0.25% | 20% / 1% |
These are the Conquest drop rates NCsoft published on December 17, 2025, when it raised Conquest Normal rewards and added Hard. On February 11, 2026 it doubled the Hero and Unique Sync Stone Fragments from Expedition cubes and added extra bound Draconic materials that scale with the star tier.
Kina from Expeditions comes in two kinds, regular Kina and bound Kina. NCsoft's guidebook, updated September 23, 2026, lists bound Kina for every mode of the eight older Expeditions and for the Exploration mode of the four newest, whose Conquest modes pay regular Kina:
Expedition | Exploration | Conquest Normal | Conquest Hard |
|---|---|---|---|
Krao Cave, Urugugu Canyon, Fire Temple, Draupnir, Vakron Sky Island, Ferocious Horn Den, Dying Dramata's Nest, Cradle of Nihility | Bound | Bound | Bound |
Hall of Illusion, Azure Breath Island, Citadel of the Fallen Daeva, Consumed Deus Research Base | Bound | Regular | Regular |
In some dungeons Kina income also tapers with the number of cubes opened in a week. The guidebook gives these thresholds:
Mode | 100% Kina | 80% | 60% | 40% | 20% | 0% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exploration | Up to 7 cubes | None | Up to 14 | None | Up to 20 | 21 or more |
Conquest | Up to 84 | Up to 105 | Up to 126 | Up to 147 | 148 or more | None |
Date (KR/TW) | Change |
|---|---|
November 19, 2025 | Reward limits on the launch Exploration dungeons lifted for a period after launch |
December 17, 2025 | Conquest Hard added to Krao Cave, Draupnir, Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island; Fire Temple and Ferocious Horn Den followed on December 24 |
January 21, 2026 | Weekly final boss kill count of 35 for the six launch Conquest dungeons, recharging on Wednesday at 05:00 |
April 8, 2026 | Weekly Expedition reward charges cut to 14; Exploration of Draupnir, Vakron Sky Island, Ferocious Horn Den, Dying Dramata's Nest and Cradle of Nihility set to 40 Odyle Energy with a one-time bonus for the first three clears |
May 13, 2026 | Weekly Expedition rewards raised from 14 to 21 |
July 1, 2026 | Reward and final boss kill limits removed, tickets deleted, party size raised to five, and Conquest bosses drop 15 Ode for the party |
August 12, 2026 | Minimum contribution for a cube raised from 1% to 5% |
September 9, 2026 | Draconic materials redistributed; players can commend a party member after the final boss |
October 7, 2026 | The Expedition Exchange Shop sells a top-grade refining stone; Expedition painting remnants can be converted into Enhancement Stones and Soul Crystals |
In an October 8 correction to the Korean October 7 notes, NCsoft said it would restore Expedition painting remnants previously sold or deleted, using play logs. Kina earned by selling them to an NPC shop would be reclaimed before the remnants are restored.
Dungeons for the full content ladder
Sanctuary Raids for the ten-player tier
Transcendence System for the staged tier
Odyle Energy for the reward currency