AION 2 has two playable factions: the Elyos and the Asmodians. You pick one during character creation, so in the very first minute of play, and the choice is permanent: each faction starts in a different region and plays on separate servers. The differences are mainly story, setting and looks. Both factions have the same classes and the same stats.
This article covers AION 2. Many of the results a search engine gives you for the same query describe the original AION from 2009, and its rules do not apply to AION 2. On the first page of Czech search results for this topic there are three links to a sixteen-year-old game, one of them even pointing to a shop selling the boxed version.
One more thing you will keep running into: back in 2021, articles claimed AION 2 would have no factions. There is no point digging into that. The game launched with factions and NCSOFT has confirmed them for the global version too. The official Steam page literally says “Choose your faction, ascend as a Daeva, and fight a faction war”.
The five key points
- You choose between the Elyos (the light side) and the Asmodians (the dark side). The third party in the conflict is the Balaur, a dragon race you cannot play.
- Both factions have the same classes. Neither is mechanically stronger, and NCSOFT never claims otherwise.
- Elyos and Asmodians play on separate servers. NCSOFT did this on purpose to balance population, and it means you cannot play with a friend from the other faction.
- Your choice affects your starting region, story, and the look of your wings and armor, not your stats and not the classes available to you.
- Since 25 March 2026 there is a Chaotic Abyss mode that splits players into West and East forces by server, not by race. Everywhere else in the game, faction still matters. So far this is documented only for the Korean and Taiwanese versions.
The two factions in AION 2: what you are actually choosing
AION 2 has two playable factions: the Elyos and the Asmodians. A faction is one of the two sides of the conflict. You choose it during character creation and can never change it. The game world is called Atreia, and the two sides split it between them after an ancient catastrophe.
The Elyos are the light side, traditionally the “angelic” half of Atreia and the guardians of order. Their lands are sunny and open, and their wings are feathered in light and golden tones. The Asmodians are the dark side, traditionally the “demonic” one: survivors from the harsher half of the world, with spiky dark wings and a tougher aesthetic.
The Balaur are the third party in the conflict, but you cannot play as them. They are a non-playable dragon race and the main enemy of both factions at once. If you were expecting a third option on the character creation screen, it is not there.
The starting regions are separate. The officially confirmed starting zones are Poeta for the Elyos and Ishalgen for the Asmodians. Be careful with the homeland names Elysea and Asmodae that some international guides mention. They come from the original game and NCSOFT has not confirmed them for AION 2.
If you want to know why the two sides hate each other in the first place, you will find the full story in our article on AION 2 story and lore. For orientation, one sentence from NCSOFT’s official materials is enough: AION 2 takes place two hundred years after the events of the original game.
Elyos vs Asmodian: where they really differ (and where they don’t at all)
In AION 2, the Elyos and the Asmodians have the same classes and the same stats. They differ in starting region, storyline, character appearance and the level at which they ascend. That is the whole answer to the question most players come with. The rest is detail. Whether you side with Elyos or Asmodian, the GamersTogether shop has limited AION 2 merch with designs for both factions.
| What | Elyos | Asmodians |
|---|---|---|
| Starting zone | Poeta | Ishalgen |
| Atmosphere | Bright, sunny, “order” | Dark, cold, “survival” |
| Wings | Feathered, light and golden tones | Spiky, dark tones |
| Armor and visual style | Polished, ceremonial | Rougher, more warlike |
| Daeva ascension level | 5 | 6 |
| Available classes | Same for both factions (the eight classes of the global version) | |
| Stats and character power | No difference, faction does not affect stats | |
A Daeva is a character who has gone through ascension and gained wings, in other words, you. An Elyos ascends at level five, an Asmodian at level six. It is the only documented mechanical difference between the factions, and our article on Daeva ascension breaks down how the whole ritual works. Wings are not just cosmetic either: you can upgrade them and they add stats, see the flight and wings system.
Watch out for claims that faction changes your skills. In March 2026, u4n.com wrote that “a Templar on the Asmodian side may have different chain skill effects”. There is no official basis for this in AION 2. It describes the original game, where minor racial variants did exist. NCSOFT’s official material from 30 May 2025 lists the classes without any faction restriction.
NCSOFT has not labeled either faction as stronger, more populated or better suited to any class. No official population or balance data exists for AION 2. It is true that in the original game the Elyos were historically more numerous, and part of the community expects the same now. But that is an expectation, not a measurement.
Both factions have the same classes, so picking a side does not lock you out of any of them. For what each one does, see the AION 2 class overview. If you are just starting out, also read our recommendation on the best class for beginners. Your class is the second permanent decision you make on that same screen.
Separate servers: the biggest structural change from the original AION
In AION 2, the Elyos and the Asmodians play on separate servers. This is not a community observation but an official design decision: in its material from 30 May 2025, NCSOFT writes about “separate servers for Elyos and Asmodians to improve faction balance”.
The practical consequence is huge, and nobody says it out loud: if you pick a different faction than your friend, you will not play together. You won’t end up in the same party, the same legion or the same economy. Agree with your group before anyone clicks “create character”. This is the only decision in this article that you cannot fix later.
Why NCSOFT did it: in the original AION, faction imbalance was chronic. One side outnumbered the other, and the smaller one was practically unplayable on some servers, and the publisher spent years patching it with bonuses. Separate servers solve the problem structurally. Populations do not mix, so there is nothing to rebalance.
The price you pay: open PvP in the style of “I run into an enemy on my way to town” is gone. The faction conflict moved into dedicated content: the Abyss, rifts and battlegrounds, where servers are matched against each other and the pairings change from season to season. Where exactly the factions clash and how it works in practice is covered in our article on the Abyss, the game’s main PvP zone.
To be fair, some veterans see this as a loss. Random open-world clashes were a defining feature of the original AION, and AION 2 replaced them with scheduled content. Whether that is a plus or a minus for you depends entirely on what you want from the game.
Your guild is tied to your faction as well. In AION 2 guilds are called legions, they hold 128 members and are bound to a faction and its server. Details are in our article on legions and how to run them. Later regions are split too: Eltnen belongs to the Elyos and Morheim to the Asmodians, as described in the article on the Morheim and Eltnen regions.
Chaotic Abyss: the mode where faction doesn’t matter
Since 25 March 2026, AION 2 has a mode where players are not divided by whether they are Elyos or Asmodians, but by which server they play on. It is called Chaotic Abyss, and it is the most overlooked change in the whole game.
“The update also introduces Chaotic Abyss, a newly designed PvP system that reinterprets traditional RvR gameplay. Instead of race-based factions, players are divided into West and East forces at the server level, engaging in large-scale battles regardless of race alignment. Meanwhile, Spacetime Rift will continue to operate under the current race-based matchmaking system.”
Official NCSOFT press release, 25 March 2026
In short: instead of race-based factions, players are split into West and East forces at the server level and fight in large battles regardless of race. RvR stands for Realm vs Realm, meaning mass battles of one side against the other.
And to be clear right away, so this doesn’t give the wrong impression:
- Chaotic Abyss does not abolish factions. NCSOFT presents it as new PvP content, not as a rewrite of the game.
- Your character stays Elyos or Asmodian. Your starting region, story and appearance do not change.
- Spacetime Rift explicitly keeps race-based matchmaking. It says so in the same press release. If factions were gone, that sentence would make no sense.
One consequence is worth saying out loud: since that patch, players of the same faction can meet as opponents in the Abyss. For a veteran of the original AION this is almost heresy, because faction membership is no longer an absolute border. Details are in our article on the Abyss and the full list of changes is in the Chapter 1 patch notes overview.
One thing we can’t leave out: Chaotic Abyss is documented only for the Korean and Taiwanese versions. It does not appear in any of NCSOFT’s global materials, not on the Steam page, not in the developer account’s pre-launch FAQ, and not in the press releases. We are not claiming it will come to the global version.
When faction matters and when it doesn’t: an overview by mode
AION 2 does not have one team rule for the whole game. Each PvP mode builds its sides differently, and that is where most of the confusion about factions comes from. The overview below describes the state of the Korean and Taiwanese versions.
| Mode | Who makes up the team | Does race matter? | In effect since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spacetime Rift | Elyos vs Asmodians | Yes | Unchanged, confirmed 25 March 2026 |
| Abyss / Artifact Siege | Race-based factions with server matchmaking | Yes, with balancing buffs | Buffs since Season 2, 21 January 2026 |
| Chaotic Abyss | West and East forces by server | No | 25 March 2026 (KR/TW only) |
| Battleground (Sandstorm Temple, 10v10) | Balanced teams | Irrelevant, stats are normalized | Chapter 1, 1 July 2026 |
| Open world | Factions practically never meet | Yes, but without clashes | Since launch (separate servers) |
The most important takeaway from this table: applying the rule of one mode to another is a factual error. The independent guide on aion2kina.com puts it the same way. It is the only source we could find that lays NCSOFT’s three official announcements side by side, and this exact mistake is behind most inaccurate articles about factions.
Spacetime Rift is a rift you can use to break into enemy faction territory. Artifact Siege is the fight over artifacts, the closest equivalent to the old fortress sieges. Matchmaking is the system that tells the game who to put against whom, and that is exactly where the three rules differ. What combat itself looks like and why the game offers two targeting modes is covered in our article on the combat system.
Which faction to choose
The deciding factor is not power or population, but the server, meaning who you will be able to play with. Everything else is a matter of taste and can be fixed with a new character. This cannot.
- First find out where your people will be. Faction decides your server and your server decides who you meet. If you play with a group, this is the only question that really matters.
- Then choose by world and atmosphere. You will spend dozens of hours in the starting region and its aesthetic. Bright, ceremonial Poeta or harsh, cold Ishalgen: go with what you will enjoy looking at.
- Don’t choose by class. Both factions have the same ones. Picking a side does not lock you out of any class.
- Don’t choose by population. No official population data exists, and one screenshot of a queue on a foreign server proves nothing.
If you play solo and don’t know anyone specific in the game, the choice is mostly aesthetic and you cannot get it wrong. Both sides have the same classes, the same stats and the same access to content. They differ in how they look and what story they tell you.
Once you have your faction, the second permanent decision on that same screen awaits: your class. Recommendations for your first character are summed up in our article on the best class for beginners. If you want to try a faction before the global launch, the guide on how to play AION 2 right now on the Taiwanese server walks you through it.
Do factions work the same as in the original AION?
No. The names of both factions stayed, but the rules around them changed. This is the most common source of mistakes. Search engines still serve pages about the 2009 game for AION 2 queries, and players end up mixing the two sets of mechanics together.
| Element | Original AION (2009) | AION 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Playable factions | Elyos and Asmodians | The same two |
| Servers | Both factions on one server | Separate servers for each faction |
| Skill differences | Minor racial variants | Not documented, official materials are silent |
| Open PvP | Yes, with chronic imbalance | Moved into dedicated content |
| Side split in RvR | Always by race | By server in Chaotic Abyss |
| Daeva ascension level | 9 | 5 (Elyos) / 6 (Asmodians) |
A concrete example: the Fextralife wiki says that “factions in Aion 2 are identical to those of the original game”, and Google quotes that sentence as the answer to whether AION 2 even has Asmodians. It does have Asmodians, but the factions are not identical. Separate servers are new, and Chaotic Abyss, announced two weeks after that page was last updated, moves even further away from the traditional model.
The second typical case: ask about the key differences between the Elyos and the Asmodians, and the search engine currently answers with a quote about the Spiritmaster getting a unique wind or water spirit at level fifty. That is a mechanic from the 2009 game and there is nothing to support it in AION 2.
For a full comparison of both games, including what the AION Classic brand means today, see our article AION Classic vs AION 2. A practical rule: with every guide, check the date and which game it is talking about. On this topic it is the difference between correct information and something completely made up.
What applies to the global version
The factions themselves are confirmed for the global version. Officially confirmed: two factions, Elyos and Asmodian, separate starting regions, separate servers for both factions, RvR in the Abyss, eight classes available to both sides and the Balaur as a non-playable enemy.
Still unconfirmed: whether the global build will have Chaotic Abyss, what the individual servers will be called, what the character transfer policy between servers and factions will be, and what the real population ratios will look like. NCSOFT has not said anything about any of these yet.
Dates: early access starts on 30 September 2026 and is only for Founder’s Pack owners; the full free-to-play launch for everyone is on 5 October 2026. The game runs on PC only, via Steam or the PURPLE launcher. Details are in our articles on the release date and on early access and Founder’s Packs.
Founder’s Packs give no faction advantage. All three tiers include the same five-day head start and differ only cosmetically. They don’t buy you a stronger side or a better server.
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FAQ
They differ in starting region, storyline, the look of your character and wings, and the level of Daeva ascension: an Elyos ascends at level five, an Asmodian at level six. They do not differ in available classes or stats: both factions have the same classes and the same power. The Elyos are the light side, the Asmodians the dark side.
Decide based on where your friends will play. In AION 2 your faction determines your server, and you cannot play with someone from the other faction. If you play solo, choose by the setting and visual style you like. Mechanically the two sides are the same and neither is stronger.
No, the choice is permanent and also determines the server you play on. If you want to play the other side, that means a new character on a different server, starting from scratch. NCSOFT has not yet published a character transfer policy between servers and factions for the global version, so don’t count on a transfer.
No. The Elyos and the Asmodians have separate servers in AION 2, so you won’t share a party, legion or economy. It is an official NCSOFT design decision to balance faction population. Agree with your group before anyone creates a character. Otherwise you will only ever meet as opponents.
No. Both factions have the same classes, the same stats and the same access to content, and NCSOFT has not labeled either one as stronger. No official population or balance data exists for AION 2. The expectation that the Elyos will be more numerous comes from the original 2009 game, not from any AION 2 measurement.
No, even though they have the same names. Separate servers for each faction are new, open PvP moved into dedicated content, and since 25 March 2026 there is a mode that splits sides by server instead of by race. The claim that the factions are identical to the original game is inaccurate.
Chaotic Abyss is a PvP mode where players are split into West and East forces by server, not by race. It does not abolish factions, though: it is added content, and Spacetime Rift explicitly keeps race-based matchmaking. So far it is documented only for the Korean and Taiwanese versions and is not confirmed for the global one.
The structure of faction PvP in AION 2 changed three times during 2026: on 21 January, 25 March and 1 July. The mechanics described here are based on the Korean and Taiwanese versions, which have been live since 19 November 2025. After the global launch we will go through this article again and add whatever can be verified directly in the global client. You will find more guides in the AION 2 guides section. Information verified as of 10 August 2026.