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Skills and Specialties
October 9, 2026 at 12:28 AM
Added the global skill-point item name, specialty slot thresholds and a skill level priorities section
Every AION 2 class has the same skill structure: a set of mastery skills learned automatically while levelling, a set of Stigma skills levelled with shards, and specialties that change how each skill behaves. This page covers the rules that apply to every class, from NCsoft's official Korean guidebook and update notes and the global client's skill data. Each class's own skills are listed on its skill page, for example Sorcerer Skills, Spiritmaster Skills, Cleric Skills and Chanter Skills; Classes links them all.
The guidebook splits skills into two kinds. Mastery skills are the basic skills: they are learned automatically when the character reaches the required level, and they divide into active skills, which the player uses, and passive skills, which apply as soon as they are learned. Stigma skills are advanced skills that are levelled with Stigma Shards instead of skill points; see Stigma System. Most skills cost MP, some need HP as well, and a skill cannot be used without enough of what it costs. The skill screen opens with the K key.
Skill group | Per class (client data) | Unlocks | Raised with |
|---|---|---|---|
Active mastery skills | 12, including Defiance | Character levels 1 to 16 | Skill points |
Passive mastery skills | 10 | Character levels 1 to 25 | Skill points |
Stigma skills | 13 | Character level 22 | Stigma Shards, then Superior Stigma Shards from level 20 |
Skill points come mainly from character level-up rewards and quest rewards, and points already spent can be refunded for a fee. Global players know the skill-point item as the Wisdom Stone (지혜의 돌 in the client data), which quest rewards list next to Daevanion Crystals. They raise a skill to level 10; levels beyond that come from items, Arcana and the Daevanion boards, according to the guidebook, and the Daevanion boards include Skill Level Up nodes for specific skills. In the client data active and passive mastery skills go up to level 40 and Stigma skills to level 25. Since January 21, 2026 passive effects keep growing past level 30. Inside a Battlefield, mastery skills are fixed at level 20 and Stigma skills at level 25 (since July 1, 2026).
Raising a skill to set levels unlocks specialties, small modifiers that each skill has its own list of. NCsoft's patch notes number them Spec 1 to Spec 5.
Mastery (active) skills | Stigma skills | |
|---|---|---|
Unlock levels | 8, 8, 8, 12 and 16 | 5, 10, 15 and 20 in the global client; 25 as well in the Korean and Taiwanese client |
How they apply | Assigned to the skill's specialty slots on the skill screen, and can be removed again | Applied automatically once the Stigma reaches the level |
Presets | Each skill preset can hold different specialties (since January 7, 2026) | Follow the Stigma's level, which cannot differ between presets |
Specialties cover a recurring set of effects: lower MP cost or extra MP restored, faster skill speed, making a skill usable while moving, Multi-Hit, ignoring Block and Evasion, cooldown cuts, longer status effects, and extra follow-up skills. Balance passes often swap one specialty for another, which is why the class balance histories refer to them by number.
How many specialties a skill can use at once also grows with its level. Players on the Korean service report one specialty slot at level 8, where the first three options become available, a second slot at level 12 alongside the fourth option, the fifth option at level 16 and a third slot at level 20. That third slot is the main reason core damage skills are pushed to level 20.
Only the first ten levels of a skill come from skill points. Every level past 10 has to come from gear options, Arcana cards or the Daevanion boards, and those sources are limited, so where the extra levels go is one of the biggest build decisions. The usual advice on the Korean service is to pick two core active skills early and route extra levels into them until they reach 20, then repeat for the next few. At the start of Chapter 1 (level 50), endgame Korean builds typically ran two to five active skills at level 20, depending on the class.
For some classes the concentration is extreme. Community damage logs put well over half of a Gladiator's damage on Overhead Slam and of a Templar's on Judgment, so for those classes levels on that one skill outweigh most raw stats. Once the main active skills reach 20, the focus moves to each class's key passive skills, whose effects keep growing past level 30; Korean endgame players push some of them into the 25 to 30 range.
Many active skills open a follow-up skill on the same key after they are used. Flame Arrow, for example, chains into Burst and then Pyroclasm, and the Cleric's Earth's Retribution chains into Thunder and Lightning, with Discharge as a third step that only appears by chance. Specialties can add follow-ups (in the client data, Defiance's first specialty adds a class-specific chain skill for every class except the Brawler), and some skills enable another skill for a few seconds rather than chaining directly, as the Chanter's Dark Crush does. The quick slot shows each skill's chain.
Skill tooltips tag skills by how they are used. Mobile skills can be used while moving, and many specialties and balance passes have turned skills mobile. Charge skills such as Hellfire and Bolt build up to three charge levels; since March 25, 2026 each charge stage adds 40% damage instead of 20%, several charge skills were moved to a 40%, 100% and 200% PvE bonus on April 22, 2026 with +20% PvP damage at full charge, and Combat Speed speeds up charging (since December 17, 2025). Toggle skills, such as the mantras and Light of Protection, stay on until switched off.
Skill | Level | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Dodge | 1 | Evades by moving quickly in the chosen direction; Shift in combat on PC. The guidebook notes that dodging just before a hit avoids its damage. |
Defiance | 16 | Removes Stun, Knockdown, Airborne, Grab, Frost and Fear and grants Tenacity (status effect immunity) for 5 seconds; 60 second cooldown, unaffected by cooldown reduction. In the client data its first specialty adds a class-specific follow-up for every class except the Brawler. See Status Effects. |
Staggered-target skill | 5 | A skill that can only be used on a staggered boss. See Stagger Gauge. |
Assault Stigma | 22 | Each of these eight classes has one (Assault Strike, Assault Fury, Assault Ambush, Assault Smite, Assault Bombardment, Assault Terror, Assault Mark, Assault Shock): an area hit on up to four enemies with a 30% chance of a control effect (Knockdown, Stun, Blind, Frost, Fear or Root, depending on the class) and up to 20% more Defense depending on how many targets it hits. Its level 10 specialty adds MP damage. |
Survival Willpower or Revitalization Contract | 23 | Status Effect Resist plus stacking resistance when hit under control effects. Gladiator, Templar, Cleric and Chanter get Survival Willpower (which also adds damage tolerance); Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster and Brawler get Revitalization Contract (which also heals at 10% HP). |
Skill presets switch the whole skill and specialty setup at once, from the skill screen or from the main screen. The guidebook describes three presets; the Korean October 7, 2026 update raised skill presets (with equipment, wings, titles, the Pantheon, species understanding and Arcana presets) from three to five. Skill levels cannot differ between presets (since January 7, 2026).
The skill macro, added on January 28, 2026, makes it easier to chain basic and heavy attacks. Each step has its own delay, the macro runs while its hotkey is held, and manual input always takes priority. The guidebook cautions that the macro keeps trying the next step while it runs, so the step order is not guaranteed, and that mouse-button hotkeys do not work for it in the AION1 control mode. Since July 15, 2026 macros are saved per skill preset. Third-party automation is covered on Macros and Third-Party Programs.
On August 26, 2026 every skill on the Korean and Taiwanese service received a minimum cancel time. NCsoft's stated aim was to narrow the differences in skill chaining, cancel timing and damage output that came from players' different game environments.
Stigma System for Stigma slots and shards. Combat and Skill Chains for the combat loop. Status Effects for crowd control. Stagger Gauge for boss stagger. Character Stats for the stats skills scale with. Classes for the roster and links to every class's skill page.
