Krao Cave is the first Conquest expedition you can get into in AION 2: entry starts at level 45 and item level 1,000, you can run it solo or as a party of five, and a single run drops up to 300,000 Kinah. Most players, though, walk away with only a third of that, because they kill the final boss and leave the two side bosses alone. This guide shows you how to do better: the route, the bosses along it and where runs most often fall apart.
All the numbers below were read from the game client during our own run on Normal difficulty (3 September 2026, Taiwanese version). This is about AION 2, not the original AION from 2009; the cave with the same name works differently in the two games.
The key facts in five points
- Entry: level 45, item level 1,000, 1 to 5 players, Normal and Hard difficulties. You can get into Krao Cave earlier than any other Conquest expedition.
- Three bosses, not one. Neglected Gadioton, Enhanced Harcon and the final boss, Ultimate Berk. Each has its own set of rewards.
- 100,000 vs. 300,000 Kinah. Ultimate Berk alone gets you a hundred thousand, all three get you three hundred thousand. The side bosses are not optional fun; they are two thirds of the income.
- Without Odyle Energy you leave empty-handed. Opening the chest at the end costs energy, which recharges by ten every three hours.
- Ultimate Berk kills on the third charge. You survive the first two by hiding behind a rock, but by the third the boss must be dead or staggered, otherwise the whole team gets one-shot.
Where to find Krao Cave and what you need for it
Krao Cave is in the Expedition menu under the Conquest tab. Besides Conquest, the menu also has Exploration, Ordeal and the Trade Shop, where the reward currencies go. Conquest is the part where you play for gear.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Character level | 45 |
| Item level | 1,000 |
| Number of players | 1–5 |
| Difficulties | Normal, Hard |
| Run time limit | about an hour |
| Kinah for killing all bosses | 300,000 |
| Cost to open the chest | 40 Odyle Energy |
These numbers are low on purpose: Krao Cave is the gateway to Conquest. For comparison, the hardest entry on the same list in the Taiwanese client, Consumed Deus Research Base, requires level 50 and item level 3,800, is run with two to five players and the weekly reward there is 1,005,000 Kinah. The global version has a level cap of 45. In between are Citadel of the Fallen Daeva, Azure Breath Island, Hall of Illusion, Cradle of Nihility, Dying Dramata’s Nest, Ferocious Horn Den, Fire Temple, Vakron Sky Island, Urugugu Canyon and Draupnir. Where each dungeon fits and how the modes differ is covered in our overview of dungeons in AION 2.
Krao Cave comes in two difficulties in the Expedition menu. Exploration opens at level 20 and is the first Expedition you run into while leveling. Conquest, the version this guide covers, unlocks at level 45.
The way to level 45 is described in our leveling guide. Item level 1,000 is a low bar for a level 45 character, but if you are short of it, the answer is upgrading your gear through enchanting.
The route through the instance: three zones, three bosses
Krao Cave is split into three sections, with one boss in each. The route is linear and you can’t get lost: named passages connect the zones, and the quest tracker on the right always shows your next objective.
| Order | Zone | Boss | In-game title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Weathered Testing Ground | Neglected Gadioton | Disposed Krao Test Subject |
| 2. | Red Cavity | Enhanced Harcon | Enhanced Krao Test Subject |
| 3. | Sealed Cave | Ultimate Berk | Self-Liberator |
You move between zones through the marked passages To the Red Cavity and Sealed Cave Entrance. The regular enemies along the way are called Krao Mutant, Krao Magic Test Subject and Enhanced Krao Test Subject. The whole cave is really an abandoned laboratory, and the bosses are experiments that broke out of it.
The second boss goes by two labels in the game: in the tracker the objective is called Defeat Krao Seal Guardian, but the enemy you take down is Enhanced Harcon. Once you kill it, the objective switches to Defeat Ultimate Berk and the entrance to the final zone opens.
Positional damage is enabled in Krao Cave, and you will see it right away in the damage numbers: the game distinguishes hits from the front and from behind (FRONT, BACK, FRONT PERFECT CRITICAL). How to work with it is covered in the article on the combat system; in practice, it means the tank turns the boss so its back faces the party and everyone else hits it from behind.
Rewards: why rushing straight to the final boss doesn’t pay off
Krao Cave doesn’t reward you for completing the instance; it rewards every boss kill separately. If you take away only one thing from this article, make it this.
- You kill only Ultimate Berk → 100,000 Kinah
- You kill all three bosses → 300,000 Kinah
- On top of the Kinah, each boss also gives you its own item roll, so up to three times the chances at a drop
The side bosses cost a few extra minutes in total. The difference between a quick run and a thorough one is 200,000 Kinah per run, and that is an amount you will notice in your balance, as the article on the in-game economy and Kinah shows.
How to read the reward table in the game
On the Obtainable Rewards screen, each boss has its own tab listing a series of reward pools with a chance and a number of rolls. The final boss has better odds than the side bosses, so the order of importance stays the same; it just doesn’t pay to skip the side bosses.
| Reward Pool | Ultimate Berk | Neglected Gadioton |
|---|---|---|
| Pool 1 (the rare one) | 0.5% · 1 roll | 0.25% · 1 roll |
| Pool 2 | 15% · 1 roll | 7.5% · 1 roll |
| Pool 3 | 100% · 2 rolls | 100% · 1 roll |
| Pool 4 | 100% · 3 rolls | 100% · 1 roll, 50% · 1 roll |
Pool 1 holds the reason people run the instance again and again: the heroic Ancient Spirit Helm and Ancient Spirit Necklace, each taking half of that chance. The necklace has item level 98, which makes it noticeably stronger than the unique Enraged Kromede Necklace at item level 84.
Pool 3 on Neglected Gadioton looks like this: Soul Codex at 40%, Amplify Stone Fragment at 20%, Artwork Scrap: Krao Cave at 12.5% and Balaur’s Essence at 4%. These are progression materials, not gear, and that is exactly why people keep running Krao Cave even after the first heroic piece drops.
The actual result of one run on Normal: 300,000 Kinah, Artwork Scrap: Krao Cave, Amplify Stone Fragment, two Soul Codex, seven Silentium, two Refining Stone, Wrathful Mind and two Black Fragment Wing Featherdown feathers.
Odyle Energy: the real limit on how many runs make sense
At the end of the run there is a chest that you can only open with Odyle Energy. Getting in is free, leaving with a reward is not, and if you forget about it, you clear the whole cave and walk out with nothing.
- In the Taiwanese client, the base pool is capped at 560, charged energy at 2,000.
- It recharges on its own: 10 energy roughly every three hours.
- Energy is deducted based on how many times you use the Odyle Energy Cube. The base pool is drained first, the charged one only after that.
- With a membership, the Taiwanese client recharged 15 instead of 10 per cycle. For the global version, NCSOFT lists two Odyle Energy benefits of the membership: a higher maximum capacity, and putting energy into a reward Cube twice instead of once. NCSOFT has not said how much the capacity goes up.
The membership is the optional Special Quai Membership, $14.99 for 30 days, which also gates the Market. What you get for it and whether it is worth it is covered in the article on price, the cash shop and the free-to-play model. You can play without it just fine; the grind is only slower.
Ultimate Berk: the mechanics that decide the fight
The final boss has three things that can kill you, and all three are about movement, not damage. Beyond those, a simple rule applies: the faster the boss goes down, the fewer mechanics it gets to use.
The charge and the rocks
The boss winds up and charges forward. The solution is to hide behind a rock; anyone behind one is safe from the charge. On Normal difficulty it is simple: there are plenty of rocks and they stay where they are.
On Hard, however, all the rocks except one crumble, and you have to guess the right one before the charge comes. We haven’t been able to figure out how to tell which one it is yet. If you have a method, post it in the comments under the video and we will add it both here and to the video.
The third charge is lethal
You can survive the first two charges by hiding. For the third, hiding is no longer enough: the boss starts casting an ability that one-shots the entire team. By then it has to be either dead or staggered (interrupted). Nothing else helps, not healing and not defense.
The ground spin
The second ability that gets people killed: the boss starts spinning in place and deals damage all around it. This is not a mechanic you tank through; it is a mechanic you run from. As soon as it starts, get out. Anyone who stays standing in it dies practically instantly. After clearing Krao Cave, your wardrobe deserves a reward too – check out the AION 2 merch at the GamersTogether shop.
Party roles are split the same way as in the rest of the endgame content: the Templar holds the boss and turns it, the Cleric heals, and everyone else deals damage. It works solo too: in our recording, Krao Cave on Normal was cleared by a single level 48 character.
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FAQ
Krao Cave has two difficulties. Exploration opens at level 20. The Conquest version covered in this guide requires level 45, and in the Taiwanese client also item level 1,000. One to five players can enter.
Killing all three bosses gets you 300,000 Kinah. If you kill only the final boss, Ultimate Berk, you get 100,000, because each boss counts separately. So the side bosses are not an optional bonus but two thirds of the income from the whole instance.
Yes, a single character can handle it on Normal difficulty; in our recording, a level 48 character cleared it solo. The main obstacle is not the bosses’ health but Ultimate Berk’s mechanics: without a party, you have to hide behind the rock and interrupt the third charge all by yourself.
The chest at the end is opened with Odyle Energy, and if you don’t have any, you clear the instance for nothing. Energy recharges on its own, roughly ten units every three hours, or fifteen with a membership. Check your balance in the top right corner before you go in, not when you reach the chest.
The main difference is the charge mechanic: on Hard, all the rocks except one crumble, so hiding behind the nearest one is not enough and you have to pick the right one. The rest of the run stays the same; the bosses just hit harder and forgive fewer mistakes.
Hold Alt to show the mouse cursor, then click the door icon with an arrow (Out) to the right of the minimap. That takes you out of the instance.
Information verified as of 3 September 2026 on the Taiwanese version of the game. The global version has been out since 5 October 2026, free on PC, after early access for Founder’s Pack holders that started on 30 September. Its level cap is 45, and the numbers in the global client may differ. You will find more guides in our AION 2 guide.