AION 2 Crafting Guide: Professions, Leveling and Gear

This AION 2 crafting guide starts with a naming problem, because half the internet has it wrong. The global client's internal tables call two of the five professions Tailoring and Jewelcrafting, but the English game shows them as Armorsmithing and Handicrafting. That matters when you go looking for a recipe or a trainer, so we use the in-game names throughout.

Everything here comes from the global client's recipe, gathering and mastery tables, the same data behind our crafting calculator and gathering page. You'll find what each profession makes, recipe counts by category, the gear ladder from Common to item level 102, where the gathering nodes are, a mastery leveling route and an honest answer on whether crafted gear is worth it next to dungeon drops.

How crafting works in AION 2

Crafting happens at profession stations in your faction's main field map. Elyos have stations for all five professions at Dawn Legion Base and Zumion Village in Verteron; Asmodians have them at Safe Haven and Nornir Assembly in Altgard. A few rules from the recipe table shape everything else:

• Recipes unlock automatically as your mastery rises. The client has no recipe books for the standard recipe list.
• No recipe charges Kinah. The crafting fee field is 0 on every recipe in the client, including remote crafting.
• Most gear and consumable recipes have a great-success chance: 25% on most gear and potions, 30% on Cooking and 20% on some Alchemy Manastone recipes. 280 of the 512 recipes have one.
• Recipes come in two types. Normal crafts turn materials into an item. Upgrade recipes (190 of them) take an item you already own and turn it into the next tier, and they have no mastery requirement.
• Each faction has its own mirrored recipe list, so Elyos and Asmodian crafters make different-named items with the same stats and item levels.

Why great success matters: Splendent gear

On gear, a great success is not a bonus, it is the progression path. When you craft Orichalcum Longsword (Common, item level 18), a great success gives Splendent Orichalcum Longsword instead (Rare, item level 22). The next recipe, Expert's Orichalcum Longsword, asks for that Splendent sword as its first ingredient. The same pattern repeats at every tier, so climbing a gear line means crafting until the 25% roll lands, then feeding the Splendent result into the next recipe.

AION 2 crafting professions and what they make

Recipe counts by category

Across both factions the client holds 512 recipes. Upgrade recipes only exist for gear lines, which is why Cooking has none and Armorsmithing, with seven armor slots to upgrade, has the most:

Best crafting profession for your class

Weapon recipes are split across three professions, so your class decides which one makes your weapon:

• Blacksmithing: Gladiator (greatsword), Templar (longsword), Assassin (dagger) and Cleric (mace), plus guards.
• Handicrafting: Ranger (bow) and Chanter (staff).
• Alchemy: Sorcerer (spellbook) and Spiritmaster (orb).

Our pick for most players is Armorsmithing. It has the largest recipe list (72 per faction), and its seven armor slots are worn by every class, so nothing you make is wasted on the wrong weapon type. Handicrafting is a close second because necklaces, earrings and rings are also class-neutral, and it covers two weapon types. Alchemy is the utility pick: Intermediate Manastone unlocks at mastery 20 and Superior Manastone at 85, and every player sockets Manastones (our Manastone guide covers what they roll). Cooking has the shortest list (17 recipes per faction) and no gear at all, which makes it a good second profession rather than a main one.

What to craft: the AION 2 crafted gear ladder

Every gear line follows the same ladder. Here is the Elyos longsword line as the example, with the Asmodian name where it differs. Mastery numbers shift by a few levels between slots (rings start at 3, earrings at 5, necklaces at 10), but grades and item levels are the same in every line:

The Dragon Lord ladder exists for nine weapon types, all seven armor slots and the necklace, earrings and ring. Bracelets are the exception: Handicrafting only takes them up to Pilgrim Bracelet (Epic, item level 43), made from three Wind Breeze Bracelets. Belts, runes, amulets and Arcana have no crafting recipes at all. Browse the full lines on our weapons, armor and accessories pages.

What the top recipes cost

The Unique steps are where crafting stops being a gathering hobby. True Dragon Lord Longsword takes an Artisan's Splendent sword, 4 Artisan's Ultimate Refining Stone, 22 Fine Thick Balaur Horn, 10 Wrathful Mind, 9 Radiant Orichalcum Ore and 5 Radiant Odyle. Each Balaur Horn is itself a craft: 2 Balaur's Essence plus a vendor Zircon Hammer (Bound), so that one sword eats 44 Balaur's Essence. Further up, Wise Dragon Lord Longsword needs 41 Fine Durable Balaur Horn and 20 Wrathful Ego, and the White and Wise upgrades each consume another Artisan's Splendent sword on top of the piece you are upgrading.

Consumables are the other half of "what to craft". The Cooking line ends in three White Dragon dishes from mastery 60, 75 and 90. White Dragon's Chopped Steak, for example, adds 140 Max HP, 160 Defense, 3.25% Status Effect Resist and more for 5 minutes. Alchemy covers potions, serums and the Superior Speed, Courage and Benediction scrolls between mastery 65 and 75.

Crafting materials: where they come from

Crafting materials fall into four buckets, and only the first one comes from gathering:

The last row is the one that decides your pace. Artisan's Ultimate Refining Stone and the Wrathful line do not drop from field monsters at all, so the Unique tiers are gated behind dungeon runs. Our Kinah farming guide breaks down which party dungeons drop which Wrathful material, and the dungeon guide covers the runs themselves.

AION 2 gathering guide: Essence Extraction

Gathering in AION 2 is called Essence Extraction. All 27 node types unlock at mastery 1, so there is no level gate on what you can pick. Ore, gem, wood and Odyle nodes roll four grades of material from the same node (Odyle, Fine, Pure and Radiant for Odyle), herbs roll two (Aria or Fresh Aria) and cooking ingredients come in one grade, 1 or 3 at a time. Every node also lists Poko's Skin Bundle (Bound) as a bonus find.

Mastery levels pay skill points, 95 over the 100 levels plus 14 specialty points, and you spend them in a 21-skill tree. Each node group (Ore, Gem, Log, Herb, Ingredient and Odyle) has the same three skills:

• Seeker (for example Ore Seeker): shows that node type on your compass. Take the Seeker for whatever you farm most; it is the biggest time saver.
• Plentiful Harvest: "Enables the harvesting of greater quantities" of that node type.
• Appraiser (for example Gem Appraiser): "Grants a chance to discover higher-grade" materials, which is how you get more Pure and Radiant drops.
• Common skills: Delicate Touch (smaller Failure Gauge increases), Proficient Handling (bigger Success Gauge increases) and Lady Luck (a chance at a large Success Gauge jump).

Where to find gathering nodes

Our map data has 8,445 mapped gathering spawn points across the four field maps plus a small Odyle field in Chaotic Lower Reshanta. Both factions get roughly the same supply, just with different plant names:

The starting field maps carry about two thirds of each faction's nodes (2,733 points in Verteron, 2,692 in Altgard), so that is where you level Essence Extraction. The zones with the most points:

• Asmodian: Purifying Forest in Altgard has 464 points of Odyle, ore, wood and vegetables, the most of any zone. Iralcig Highland in Morheim has 345 points covering seven of the eight node types, the widest mix in the game.
• Elyos: Lankusis Highland in Eltnen has 289 points over six node types, and Ellun River Midstream leads Verteron with 217, including gems.
• Turn on the gathering layer on the interactive map to see every node before you set a route.

How to level crafting in AION 2

Mastery needs 8,809 experience to go from 1 to 50 and 82,680 more to go from 51 to 100, so the Professional half is about nine times longer than the Novice half. Gathering is much gentler: 2,127 for Novice and 5,077 for Professional. Plan accordingly. This route uses Blacksmithing as the example, and the other gear professions follow the same shape:

1. 1
   Gather while you level your character

   Every node is open at mastery 1. Pick up ore, Odyle and gems on your quest routes from day one, and put your first Essence Extraction points into the Seeker skill for the material your profession uses most.

2. 2
   Process materials first

   At mastery 1 you can turn 2 Orichalcum Ore and 1 vendor Orichalcum Solvent into an Orichalcum Ingot. At 25 a bulk version makes 10 at once from 20 ore and 10 solvent. Intermediate materials are cheap and keep your mastery moving between gear tiers.

3. 3
   Craft each gear tier until it goes Splendent

   Craft the Orichalcum line at 3, Expert's at 15 and Artisan's at 30. Keep every Splendent result: it is the input for the next tier, and Artisan's Splendent pieces are used again in the White and Wise Dragon Lord upgrades.

4. 4
   Pass the upgrade test at 50

   At mastery 50 your cap stops you. Take the upgrade quest, such as Upgrade: Blacksmithing Specialty Skill, and craft the test item, Novice Blacksmith's Hammer (Bound) (6 Orichalcum Ingots and 3 Odyle). The reward, Blacksmithing Upgrade: Professional, lifts your cap to 100.

5. 5
   Start on Balaur materials at 51

   Fine Thick Balaur Horn unlocks at 51, Hard at 65 and Durable at 80. These need Balaur's Essence, so this is the point where you start pairing crafting with dungeon runs.

6. 6
   Craft Dragon Lord gear from 55

   True Dragon Lord weapons, rings, chests, legs, helms and pauldrons unlock at 55; guards, necklaces, earrings, gloves, boots and cloaks at 60. After that, the upgrade recipes have no mastery requirement, so your materials, not your level, decide how far up the ladder you go.

Is crafting worth it? Crafted gear vs dungeon drops

Dungeon gear follows its own item level ladder: Unique gear at 54 from Krao Cave and Draupnir, 70 from Vakron Sky Island and Urugugu Canyon, 86 from Ferocious Horn Den and Fire Temple, and up to 102 from the Abyssal Forge: Ludra raid. Crafting reaches the same 102. The difference is in the Amplified Enhancement cap, which our gear enhancement guide explains in full:

For where crafted gear sits in your overall upgrade plan, our gear progression guide lays out the order slot by slot, and the enhancement calculator shows what each item level costs to push to +15.