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PvP and the Abyss - Version 27 vs Version 28
Oct 15, 2026, 02:33 PM
Added the first global Abyss rules from the October 14 patch and events, and the October 14 Korean PvP damage and Assault skill changes
Oct 26, 2026, 10:44 PM
Clarify the illustrated Abyss entry and Artifact map controls.
11PvP in AION 2 is built around two pillars: large-scale open-world faction warfare in the Abyss, and instanced PvP modes such as the Arena and the Battlefield. Both factions, Elyos and Asmodian, contest the Abyss continuously, and the open-world layer is where most of the IP's faction-war identity lives.22Several companion pages split this one up. Reshanta covers the Abyss as a place, layer by layer; Battlegrounds covers the instanced and scheduled modes that run outside it; PK and Duels covers the PvE and PvP mode switch and same-faction duels; and Abyss Bosses covers the bosses of the lower and middle layers.44Unless a section identifies the global service, the layer rules, event times, reward values and dated balance changes below describe the Korean and Taiwanese service.66The Abyss Layer88The Abyss, in-world Reshanta, is the contested middle layer of Atreia. It is split into multiple sub-maps with different rules:1010LayerFlightNotesLower ReshantaAllowed, with flight circles next to the strongholdsOpen since launch. Three Artifacts, the Guardian Lord Nahma and other field bosses.Middle ReshantaNone since April 8, 2026; wind paths and updrafts insteadRemoved a week after launch, reopened on January 21, 2026 and rebuilt as a chaos layer on April 8, 2026. Three Artifacts and the Enraged Guardian Lord Nahma. Four islands added on May 27, 2026 are reached by updrafts and hide player positions from the minimap.Chaotic Upper ReshantaNot stated in the patch notesAdded July 1, 2026. Only characters at item level 4,300 or below, or combat power 400K or below, can enter. Up to 300 per side, with no Artifacts or bosses.1212The game client labels the three fields Chaotic Lower Reshanta, Chaotic Middle Reshanta and Chaotic Upper Reshanta; NCsoft's English announcements have called the first two Lower Abyss Reshanta and Middle Abyss Reshanta, and the middle one also Middle Reshanta. The official guidebook describes the lower and middle layers as fields of floating rock and the remains of fortresses destroyed in the last war. In some parts of the middle layer player positions are hidden: neither enemies nor allies and party members appear on the minimap.1313Season 3 Abyss Overhaul1515The Season 3 update on April 8, 2026 reshaped the Abyss on the KR and TW build. The hotspots that had been added to four Abyss islands on March 25 were deleted, and the old middle layer was replaced by a new chaos version, Middle Reshanta, in which flying is not possible. It kept its Artifacts and the Enraged Guardian Lord Nahma, and new duty and directive quests replaced the old ones. Wind paths were added on April 15 together with a much higher fall-death altitude, and since April 29 riding a wind path has given immunity to movement-control effects.1717Weekly season missions tie rewards to the layers:1919Ruler of the Lower Layer and Ruler of the Middle Layer are weekly Abyss season missions, one for each layer, added on April 22, 2026.Lawless Zone, added on May 27, 2026, asks for 60 and then 120 kills of enemy players in the Abyss and pays Abyss Potential Amplification Stones and Abyss Points. A third step followed on June 17.2121Every server rematch resets Artifact ownership and the Abyss Corridors, a rule the patch notes have repeated with each rematch since February 11, 2026, so control of the map never carries across a matching cycle. Since April 22, 2026 the artifact battle has run on Wednesdays and Saturdays, followed by a boss event in both layers, and since July 1, 2026 the rewards for both are paid by contribution rankings per class. The September 30, 2026 patch set the start to 9:20, 9:50 or 10:20 PM Korean time depending on the matching group. See Artifacts for the full schedule history and Abyss Corridor for the corridors.2323Abyss Equipment Potential2525The Season 3 update on April 8, 2026 added a Potential system to Abyss equipment on the Korean service. Potential is raised with Potential Amplification Stones and Abyss Points, and each stage adds a PvP bonus that depends on the slot:2727SlotPer stageTotalStatWeapons and guards+2.5%10%PvP damage amplificationArmor+0.5%2%PvP damage resistanceAccessories+0.5%2%PvP damage amplification2929Abyss Potential Amplification Stones drop from Abyss monsters. The Heroic and Unique versions stopped dropping in the Abyss Corridor on April 29, 2026; the Unique version is paid by the Lawless Zone season mission (May 27, 2026), and both can come out of the merit boxes from Abyss bosses; since September 16, 2026 Abyss monsters also drop tradeable Heroic and Unique versions.3030Later Live-Build Tweaks3232Follow-up patches inside the Season 3 window tightened how the Abyss plays on the KR and TW build. The April 29 patch removed the acquisition limit on the PvP damage amplification and PvP damage tolerance stats, set a floor of 20% on the damage those formulas can reduce a hit to, and renamed the event versions of two Abyss bosses to tell them apart from their field versions, and added painting drops to the bosses that follow the artifact battle. The May 13 patch disabled item crafting inside Abyss zones and made the players who damaged an enemy killed near a Dimensional Core or boss gain contribution on that Core or boss.3434The May 20 patch went further: dealing damage or healing allies during PvP near a Dimensional Core or boss now builds contribution in real time, and the June 17 patch raised the contribution those PvP actions earn.3636The late-May Sanctuary patch added more structural changes to the Abyss. A new island area opened in the Middle Reshanta, reachable by riding Updrafts, where a player's position no longer shows on the minimap so that ambushes and flanking plays are harder to track. The patch also increased the stats of Abyss boss monsters and Artifacts, and it added a new gear line, the Archon Praetorian Captain Weapon and Guard plus an Elite Archon Praetorian Captain Weapon, available through the Abyss shop and Succession Crafting.3838Open-World Faction PvP4040In the Abyss, players of the two sides can attack each other at any time: the official guidebook describes it as a special zone that both factions can enter, and the combat state setting does not apply there. The Artifacts, and the Dimensional Cores and bosses that appear around them, drive territorial control, and the artifact battles and boss events run on a fixed evening schedule. The main reward is Abyss Points, earned by killing Abyss monsters and enemy players and spent in the Abyss exchange shop. Entering costs a small amount of Kina, the number of players inside is capped, and elite bosses appear around the layers; see Abyss Bosses.4242Since March 25, 2026 the Korean service has also matched servers of the same faction against each other in the Abyss, so the two sides there are the West and East forces (the Western and Eastern camps in the Korean notes) rather than strictly Elyos and Asmodian. NCsoft's English announcement calls this system the Chaotic Abyss. Spacetime Rifts still match only opposing factions, and the pairings NCsoft announced for the global servers set one Elyos server against one Asmodian server. See Server Matching.4444Battlefield4747The instanced Battlefield is a queued team mode on a map that changes with the seasons. Since the Chapter 1 update on July 1, 2026 it has run as Battlefield: Siege: ten against ten, with every participant's stats equalised, capturing three zones for points. On the Korean service it has opened daily from 11:00 to 14:00 and from 20:00 to 22:00 since April 8, 2026. See Battlegrounds for the other instanced and scheduled modes.4949Arenas5151The Arena covers smaller fights. It runs a solo arena and a cooperative arena, which has been five against five since July 1, 2026 and forms teams regardless of faction since August 12, 2026. Arena rankings have been based on class ranking since April 8, 2026.5353Combat State and PvP Flagging5656PvP outside the Abyss is opt-in on the Korean service. Every character starts in PvE mode and can switch to PvP mode from level 45 with the PvE button next to the mount icon; each change starts a 70-minute cooldown, and the setting cannot be changed in the other faction's territory. A character in PvP mode can fight enemies who are also in PvP mode but not those in PvE mode, and enemies in PvP mode are shown in red. Attacking a player of the other faction, an enemy NPC or a Kisk forces PvP mode on for ten minutes, and since January 14, 2026 a party or force member who turns PvP on pulls every member in range into PvP for ten minutes. The Abyss ignores the setting and is always PvP. See PK and Duels for the full rules, the PvP titles and duels.5858Tips for New PvPers6060Travel in groups. Solo Daeva in the Abyss are the easiest target on the map.Budget your Abyss time. The base allowance on the Korean service is seven hours a week, and the middle layer has its own seven hours a week, recharged an hour at a time with middle-layer rift stones.Know your matching group. The artifact battle, the Abyss bosses and other Abyss events start at slightly different times for each matching group.Learn the wind paths. Middle Reshanta has no flight, so wind paths and updrafts are the quick way across, and riding a wind path makes you immune to movement-control effects.6262New and Upcoming PvP Modes6464NCsoft has rolled out several new PvP modes on the Korean and Taiwanese build. The Abyss Rift Zone, Battlefield: Siege, Chaotic Upper Reshanta and Spacetime Rift: Domination are live. Outlands, a battle royale mode, was announced as Chapter 1 content but had not appeared in any Korean patch note as of the October 7, 2026 update. The rules of modes that have not shipped may change before they do, and before they reach the global servers.6666ModeTypeStatusNotesAbyss Rift ZoneUp to 300 per factionLive since June 17, 2026 (tuned June 24)Large-scale faction battle on a shared field where bosses spawn in phases over the session. It is open to characters at level 45 and item level 3000 or higher, runs Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 PM, and capped entry at 400 players per faction at launch, cut to 300 on July 15. Points are scored on boss kills, and rewards pay out per class-contribution ranking to the faction that lands the final blow; it does not affect Abyss rankings; weekly and season Abyss Rift Zone missions were added on September 9, 2026. The June 24 patch raised boss health, adjusted boss spawn positions and counts, and let PvP within 100m of a boss also score points.Battlefield: SiegeStat-equalized battlegroundLive since July 1, 2026A sports-style battleground where every participant's combat power, stats, and skills are normalized to the same level, so the outcome turns on play rather than gear. It shipped with the Chapter 1. Lands of Sand and Snow update.Chaotic Upper ReshantaContested Abyss fieldLive since July 1, 2026A new open PvP field added with the Chapter 1 update, with restricted item levels and no bosses or artifacts, so fights turn on player skill rather than gear checks.OutlandsBattle royaleAnnounced, not shipped as of October 7, 2026A battle-royale mode reported to support around 100 players. It was previewed at the June 14 Summer Festa and listed in NCsoft's English announcement among the Chapter 1 content, but it has not appeared in any patch note since.Spacetime Rift: DominationAttack and defense over strongholdsLive since September 2, 2026A scheduled faction battle on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays in which one side attacks strongholds in Verteron or Altgard and the other defends. Entry requires level 50, item level 4,500 and combat power 500,000.6868The Abyss Rift Zone launched at the June 17, 2026 maintenance and was tuned on June 24. Battlefield: Siege and Chaotic Upper Reshanta shipped with the July 1, 2026 Chapter 1. Lands of Sand and Snow update, and Spacetime Rift: Domination followed on September 2, 2026. Alongside these, the open-world Abyss layers, the Arena and the Battlefield are the established live PvP content.6969Recent PvP Balance7171The Korean and Taiwanese build keeps tuning PvP on the weekly patch cycle. The July 8, 2026 patch note says that PvP damage for all classes is reduced by 30%. It is a separate line in the note's common class changes, listed after the Defiance skill changes, and applies to every class. The same patch adjusted some base stats inside the Battlefield.7373Older rules still frame every fight. Since January 14, 2026 critical hits in PvP deal 1.25 times damage instead of 1.5 and Double Chance hits 1.5 times instead of 2, and the PvP damage values tied to the item level gap were lowered (the base from 100% to 80%, the minimum from 40% to 35%). Since April 29, 2026 PvP damage amplification and resistance have no acquisition cap, and the damage left after both are applied never drops below 20%. See PK and Duels and Character Stats.7575Abyss Rift Zone Rework (July 15, 2026)7777The July 15, 2026 patch on the Korean and Taiwanese build reworked how the Abyss Rift Zone fills. The mode moved off server-versus-server matching and onto faction-wide integrated matching, so players are pooled by faction rather than by which server group they were matched into that week.7979Cap cut to 300 per faction, down from 400 against 400, with boss health lowered to match the smaller turnout.Overflow opens a new channel instead of refusing entry, so a full field no longer locks players out.Entry closes when the preparation phase ends. Once the event is underway, no one else joins.Players are redistributed after preparation to balance the channels. If a channel still totals under 200 players across both factions, or the two sides remain badly lopsided, that channel's event is cancelled.Start time is fixed at 10 PM for everyone, with no staggered delay by matching group.Parties and forces are dissolved on entry, and an event chat filter lets players coordinate with their whole faction inside the zone.8181The same patch made players standing at their own team's resurrection point invulnerable in battlegrounds, closing the spawn-camping window. The August 12, 2026 patch then replaced that spawn-point invulnerability with a defense boost strong enough to cut incoming damage to almost nothing, with clearer visual feedback on the buff.8383Battleground Matching Rework (August 12, 2026)8585The August 12, 2026 patch on the Korean and Taiwanese build restructured how instanced PvP queues fill:8787Co-op arena and battleground teams are now formed without regard to faction, so Elyos and Asmodian players can land on the same team.Battleground queues accept only solo players or full five-player groups. Premade fives match other premade fives; solo players match solo players, with a class-balance correction applied across the two teams.Players who stay out of combat for too long inside a battleground are force-ejected.The entry debuffs that used to apply on joining a battleground (reduced healing received and reduced potion recovery) were folded into the baseline stats that apply inside battlegrounds. Potion recovery is unchanged against the old values, but healing received is 30% lower than before.8989As with every balance entry on this page, these are live-build rules on the Korean and Taiwanese service and may be retuned before or after they reach the global build.9191Abyss Rebalance (August 26, 2026)9393The August 26, 2026 patch on the Korean and Taiwanese build pushed Abyss rewards and difficulty up together. Abyss bosses and dimensional cores gained stats, and the patch note flags those numbers as provisional and open to further adjustment. The damage amplification carried by Abyss equipment set bonuses rose at every breakpoint:9595Set PiecesBeforeAfter210%15%512.5%20%815%30%1220%40%9797On September 9, 2026 the set bonus, which the patch note lists as PvE Abyss damage amplification, started to depend on the grade of the Abyss gear, and on September 16, 2026 the 12-piece values were raised. The values after September 16:9898Abyss gear grade2 pieces5 pieces8 pieces12 piecesDecanus15%20%NoneNoneCenturion15%20%25%NoneTribunus20%25%30%45%Legion Commander25%30%35%50%Praetorian Captain30%35%40%55%100100The same patch reset artifact occupation and the Abyss corridor to follow a round of server rematching, surfaced corridor opening times inside the artifact panel on the HUD, and started paying out partial rewards when a rift-zone match fails to fill.101101Server Structure and Abyss Matchmaking at Global Launch103103For the global release, NCsoft has stated that Elyos and Asmodian servers are separate and that the two factions meet in shared PvP spaces such as the Abyss and the Spacetime Rifts while their home servers remain faction-separated. During the Advance Access period from September 30 to October 4, 2026, Abyss matchmaking ran between Advance Access servers only, and NCsoft said that after launch servers would be paired on how far along and how strong each one is. See Servers and Regions for the server layout.105105The day before Advance Access opened on September 30, 2026, NCsoft published the first pairings, one Elyos server against one Asmodian server in each region, and said the pairings would be updated periodically to keep the factions balanced. The enemies met in the Abyss and in the Spacetime Rifts come from the paired server.107107NCsoft published the pairings for the launch servers on October 4, 2026, the day before the free-to-play launch. Its notice explains that every Elyos server is paired with an Asmodian server for a limited time and that the players met in the Abyss or any other cross-faction mode come from the paired server; the full list is on Servers and Regions. Beyond the few global rules below, NCsoft has not published Abyss schedules or reward tables for the global servers as of October 15, 2026, so the rest of this page describes the Korean service unless a line says otherwise.109109The October 13 PDT / October 14 CEST global patch changed the maximum accumulated time for Abyss entry to 7 hours, added Abyss Entry Stone rewards to two weekly Abyss Season Missions (Spend 1 Hour in the Abyss; Defeat the Boss Guardian Lord Nahma Once), adjusted standard stats in the Battlefield to bring combat duration to an appropriate level and reduced stutter in large Abyss battles. The Conquerors of the Abyss event sells a Lower Abyss Rift Stone (7 Days) (Bound) for 50,000 Kina, seven per character a week at level 45 or higher, which recharges Lower Abyss time by one hour, until before the October 27 PDT / October 28 CET maintenance. Server transfers carry each character's Abyss time and Abyss Corridor usage, and its Season Rank Points for the Abyss and the Arena.111111The first global livestream in August 2026 added two more launch-side details: the instanced battleground mode at global launch is an objective-based 10v10 with stat normalization, and a PvP toggle flag is available from the start everywhere except the Abyss, which runs faction-versus-faction PvP by default.113113How the Chapter 1 PvP Modes Work115115NCsoft published English descriptions of both Chapter 1 PvP additions on July 6, 2026, which settles the naming that earlier coverage rendered several ways. Battlefield: Siege is an objective mode in which teams capture three zones to accumulate points, and every team starts under identical conditions rather than carrying gear advantages in. Chaotic Upper Reshanta is a contested Abyss field where item level and combat power are capped and no bosses or Artifacts spawn, so it resolves on positioning and coordination instead of progression.117117Both sit alongside the existing Abyss layer rather than replacing it. Note that Artifact occupation and the Abyss Corridor are reset whenever the live build re-matches servers against one another, so control of the map is deliberately impermanent across a matching cycle. The fourth Chapter 1 server matching took effect with the August 12, 2026 maintenance, resetting Artifact occupation and the Abyss Corridor for the new server groups.119119Abyss Time and Entry121121On the Korean service each character has seven hours of Abyss time a week, doubled to 14 by a Korean membership. The middle layer has its own seven hours a week, recharged an hour at a time with middle-layer rift stones, and Chaotic Upper Reshanta has a base use time of its own. NCsoft's announcement of the global Special Quai Membership lists no Abyss time bonus; see Monetization and Memberships.123123On the global service the maximum accumulated Abyss entry time is 7 hours since the October 14, 2026 patch; the patch notes list it as a fix and do not give the previous value.125125To locate the Abyss in the illustrated PC menu, press Esc and choose Abyss. Its entry panel separates Basic Usage Time and Added Usage Time. In the map's Artifact Siege tab, selecting an Artifact opens Travel and Corridor controls; the ownership, location and combat restrictions described above still apply.127+When a layer is full, characters with at least 1.5 million earned Abyss ranking points who are also in the overall top 200 can still enter (since April 8, 2026). Teleporting is blocked for a while after combat ends in the Abyss (since December 24, 2025), and item crafting is disabled there. Healing received in the Abyss is reduced: by 50% from March 25, 2026, 40% from May 20, 30% from July 1, and 20% since August 12, 2026 (the Abyss page of the official guidebook, last updated September 23, 2026, still gives 30%).127129Abyss Bosses129131Besides the bosses that follow the artifact battle, the layers have field bosses of their own. The names below are the game client's English names; NCsoft's English announcement of Season 2 also used Guardian Lord Nahma. See Abyss Bosses for locations, history and rewards.131133BossLayerSchedule on the Korean serviceGuardian Lord NahmaLower Reshanta (three since January 21, 2026)Fridays and Sundays at 10 PM since April 22, 2026. The current October 7, 2026 matching results place groups 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20 at 10:30 PM, while groups 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 start at 11 PM. Groups 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 19 start at 10 PM.Enraged Guardian Lord NahmaMiddle Reshanta (two)Same schedule as the lower layer's NahmaWatcher KairaLower ReshantaEvery four hours from 01:00 at a random point, with a 100% spawn chance since early September 2026Argo, the Spirit KingLower ReshantaA 24-hour respawn as of December 2025Executor Kaira, Executor Argo, Executor TamasaLower ReshantaBoss event after the artifact battle, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9:45, 10:15 or 10:45 PM by matching groupExecutioner Dramos, Turncoat Ducal, Ravager MarakhaMiddle ReshantaSame boss event schedule133135Abyss field bosses leave 30 minutes after appearing (since April 22, 2026). Their rewards are paid by contribution rank in items that convert into merit medal boxes, and players who die within 100 m of the boss are still rewarded by contribution (since February 25, 2026). Since September 23, 2026 every player on the map receives a battlefield buff while a lower or middle layer boss is up.134136Changes in September and October 2026136138DateChange on the Korean serviceSeptember 2, 2026Spacetime Rift: Domination launched. Abyss boss and Dimensional Core stats, and the contribution earned through PvP near them, were raised sharply. Watcher Kaira became a guaranteed spawn every four hours.September 9, 2026Server rematch reset Artifacts and Abyss Corridors. Abyss Rift Zone bosses were strengthened and Rift Zone missions returned to the Abyss season missions. Abyss gear set bonuses (PvE Abyss damage amplification) began to vary by gear grade.September 16, 2026Abyss monsters began dropping tradeable Abyss Potential Amplification Stones. A new [진]-tier Praetorian Captain weapon and guard were added to the Abyss exchange shop. Merit medal rewards from Abyss bosses, the artifact battle and Domination were raised.September 23, 2026Server rematch. The battlefield buff now applies to everyone on a lower or middle layer map while a boss is up. PvP damage amplification began to apply at a set ratio against Monoliths and guards in every Abyss area and in Domination, and Abyss boss and Dimensional Core HP was raised; a temporary maintenance the same day lowered that ratio, raised the HP again and started the Decline of Power debuff on lower and middle layer bosses after eight minutes instead of ten.September 30, 2026New artifact battle times (9:20, 9:50 or 10:20 PM by group) and a debuff on Dimensional Cores not destroyed within eight minutes. Boss event and Nahma times moved for some groups.October 7, 2026The eighth Chapter 1 server matching reset Artifacts and Abyss Corridors. A character that exceeds the Chaotic Upper Reshanta entry limit after entering now dies instantly, and expulsion and a one-hour deduction from Abyss usage time still apply. Large-battle stutter was optimised in the upper, lower and middle layers and the Abyss Rift Zone. The faction that did not land the last hit on a Dimensional Core is now also rewarded. The Abyss shop added a Stigma Shard product and a Daevanion Crystal: Azphel listing at a lower Abyss Point price than before.October 14, 2026The October 14 note's common class changes cut PvP damage by about 30% for all classes. Each class's Assault skill now gives up to 80% more Defense and all elemental resistances for 5 seconds, scaled by the number of targets hit (previously up to 20% Defense), and no longer benefits from cooldown reduction. Block and evade skills gained a 0.3-second cooldown reduction on a successful block or evade; a temporary maintenance the same day cut it to 0.1 seconds and stopped the block reduction from applying to passive attacks. The hit areas of the Abyss bosses Kaira and Argo were slightly enlarged.138140Related Pages139141Abyss PointsAbyss RanksArtifactsAbyss CorridorChaotic Upper ReshantaSpacetime RiftsServer MatchingBattlegroundsArenaAerial Combat and FlightWorld and RegionsGear and ProgressionTranscendence SystemFactions: Elyos and AsmodianClasses