AION 2 classes: every class and tier list

The global version of AION 2 launches with eight playable classes: Templar, Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric and Chanter. The Korean and Taiwanese version has a ninth, the Brawler, added by the Chapter 1 update on 1 July 2026. It will come to the global version later, and NCSOFT hasn’t confirmed an exact date. This class overview and tier list cover AION 2, not the original AION from 2009. Its classes have similar names, but they play differently.

If you’ve come across two different numbers, it isn’t carelessness on the part of one of those sites. Two separate services run under the AION 2 name: the Asian one since 19 November 2025 and the global one since 5 October 2026. Each has different content, and most texts online don’t say which one they’re writing about. This article keeps them strictly apart.

The key points in six bullets

• The global version launches with eight classes. These are the eight that have been in the game since the Korean launch in November 2025; the ninth, the Brawler, arrived in the Korean and Taiwanese version with the Chapter 1 update on 1 July 2026 and will come to the global version later.
• The Brawler is the newest and least explored class on the roster. It has been through fewer balance patches than the rest, so its numbers will shift more.
• Role split: one tank (Templar), three physical DPS (Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger), two magic classes (Sorcerer, Spiritmaster), one healer (Cleric) and one hybrid support (Chanter).
• The tier list below is pre-launch and only a rough guide. It’s based on Korean and Taiwanese data after the balance pass of 8 July 2026. The balance the global version will launch with hasn’t been published.
• No tier list can tell you what to play in AION 2. Balance changes week by week, but the road to endgame gear takes months, so the meta gets rewritten before you reach it. Why that is and what matters instead of tiers is covered in a separate section below.
• Every class has its own detailed guide with skills and builds. This text is a hub: it gets you to one or two candidates, and the details are in the individual articles.

Early access starts on 30 September 2026 for Founder’s Pack owners, and the full free-to-play launch for everyone is on 5 October 2026.

How many classes does the global version of AION 2 have?

Eight. Templar, Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric and Chanter, the classes that have been in the game since the Korean launch on 19 November 2025. The ninth, the Brawler, arrived in the Korean and Taiwanese version on 1 July 2026 with the Chapter 1 update. The global version starts without it, and the Brawler will arrive later; NCSOFT hasn’t confirmed an exact date.

That’s why two numbers are going around online, and each is correct for a different version.

Where you’ll see the number	Number of classes	Why
Global version at launch, material older than 1 July 2026	8	The global version starts without the Brawler; older material was written before Chapter 1, which added it in Korea and Taiwan. The most frequently quoted is the NC America press release from 21 April 2026 (“Players can pick from eight classes”)
Korean and Taiwanese version since 1 July 2026	9	The eight above + the Brawler (gauntlets, Rage and Rampage system), which will come to the global version later

Sources that say nine usually don’t mention that they describe the Korean and Taiwanese version, and a reader deciding what to create at the global launch can’t tell from the text. If you run into a contradiction over the number of classes, check which version the article is about.

The global scale test on 17 September 2026 confirmed that the global version starts without the Brawler. The class selection screen in the Taiwanese client shows nine icons, Brawler included, verified on 8 September 2026.

Overview of all AION 2 classes: eight in the global version, plus the Brawler

Each class has one main weapon and one clearly defined role. The choice isn’t tied to faction or character gender: both Elyos and Asmodians can play any class. After the Chapter 1 update, a group in AION 2 has five slots, so the typical lineup is a tank, a healer and three DPS. Whichever class from this list you pick, you can show your loyalty off-screen too – the GamersTogether shop has AION 2 merch waiting.

Class	Role	Main weapon	Who it suits
Templar	Tank	Sword and shield	Beginners, group players
Gladiator	Melee DPS / off-tank	Two-handed sword	Solo play, head-on fighting
Assassin	Melee burst DPS	Daggers	PvP, players with a feel for timing
Ranger	Ranged physical DPS	Bow	Safer solo progression
Sorcerer	Ranged magic DPS	Spellbook	Experienced players, high skill ceiling
Spiritmaster	Summoner / control	Orb	Solo play, per the official description
Cleric	Healer	Mace	Group and dungeon players
Chanter	Hybrid support	Staff	All-rounders who don’t want to wait for a group
Brawler (KR/TW only, global later)	Melee DPS / skirmisher	Gauntlets	Experienced players who want to work with timing

Sources disagree on secondary weapons (for example a mace for the Templar or a polearm for the Gladiator) and no official list exists, so the table only shows each class’s main weapon.

What the game itself says about the classes

Before you look at player ratings, it’s worth seeing how the client itself describes the classes. On the class selection screen, none of the classes has a tier or a ranking; the game only describes each one’s role. This text is in the client, so you can read it yourself after launch.

Class	What the game says on the selection screen
Templar	A classic tank with sword and shield. Exceptional defense and a range of abilities for protecting allies, indispensable as the front-line tank in a group.
Gladiator	A melee fighter with a two-handed sword. Typically front-line DPS; thanks to high HP it can also serve as a second tank.
Assassin	Uses invisibility to strike from behind. Dual daggers, high attack speed and combos with poison or stuns.
Ranger	Powerful ranged attacks with a bow. Keeping distance lets it keep track of the battlefield and react quickly to changes.
Sorcerer	A strong damage dealer with very effective magic. It pays for it with lower health and defense, which it makes up for with crowd control abilities.
Spiritmaster	Relies on summoned creatures. It leaves direct combat to its spirits and combines status effects with magic that drains health over time.
Cleric	A classic healer who restores allies’ health. Maintains maximum healing output under any circumstances and is indispensable in a group.
Chanter	Has many abilities with status effects, boosts allies’ stats and handles several roles at once, from buffer to second healer to damage source.
Brawler (KR/TW client)	An offensive class that fights with its own body. In an enraged state it overwhelms enemies with empowered abilities and breaks their formations with movement.

The Chanter deserves attention: it’s the only class whose official description says it can handle several roles at once. And the Gladiator is the only one for which the game itself mentions a second role, secondary tank.

Templar

The Templar is AION 2’s main tank. It fights with sword and shield, holds the enemies’ attention (aggro, meaning an enemy’s focus on a specific player) and protects the rest of the group. International guides repeatedly name it the easiest class to start with: a mistake in your ability rotation won’t kill a Templar, while it will kill a squishier class.

The class rework of 25 March 2026 gave it a new Stigma skill, Battlefield Banner. The balance pass of 8 July, on the other hand, weakened its passive Fury, but that’s a change on the Korean and Taiwanese versions, not a confirmed state for the global launch. A detailed point distribution, recommended setups and a breakdown of its defense are in the Templar class guide.

Gladiator

The Gladiator is a melee attacker with a two-handed sword who can also take on the role of second tank when needed. It relies on high damage, toughness and the ability to survive on the front line even without a healer, which is why it shows up in recommendations for solo play.

This class sparked the loudest debate of the whole pre-launch season: part of the community claims the Gladiator is no longer the strongest DPS class in the game. That’s an opinion, not a proven fact, and two things argue against it. The PVPBank community tier list for Season 2 ranks the Gladiator at the top of its PvP S-tier, and the balance pass of 8 July 2026 actually increased its personal damage (though at the cost of the Zikel’s Blessing buff no longer applying to the whole group). A breakdown of both sides and recommended builds are in the Gladiator class guide.

Assassin

The Assassin specializes in quick kills: daggers, invisibility, critical hits and high burst (damage packed into a few seconds). Across tier lists it stays at the top of the PvP rankings, but it’s also the least forgiving class. A badly timed attack means death before you manage to retreat.

From the class rework it got a new Stigma skill, Shadowstep; the July balance pass touched it only with minor quality-of-life tweaks and no nerfs. Full skills and PvP rotations are in the Assassin class guide.

Ranger

The Ranger fights with a bow, sets traps and lives off kiting, keeping a distance at which the enemy attacks but can’t reach you. For solo progression through the world it’s one of the safer choices: you fight most battles at a range your opponent can’t close.

The balance pass of 8 July brought the Ranger five changes, all on the Korean and Taiwanese versions. In one older release NCSOFT also used the name Marksman for this class; it’s the same class, just under a different set of names. Details are in the Ranger class guide.

Sorcerer

The Sorcerer is a classic glass cannon: a spellbook, area spells, huge ranged burst and paper-thin defense. International guides consistently call it the most demanding class in the game. It requires constant work with positioning and distance, because a single enemy getting close usually ends in death.

The balance pass of 8 July significantly raised the effect of its Element Enhancement ability from 10 to 20 percent. Whether this change carries over to the global launch hasn’t been confirmed. A spell breakdown and recommended casting order are in the Sorcerer class guide.

Spiritmaster

The Spiritmaster summons spirits that fight for it and supports them with battlefield control spells: slows, fear, distractions. It’s the only class whose solo play recommendation has official backing: NCSOFT’s press release from 30 May 2025 describes it as “optimized for solo play”, meaning built for playing without a group.

Some sources list it under the name Elementalist. It’s one and the same class: Elementalist is its internal designation in the game data, which NCSOFT also used once in a report on the Korean service. For the global version the name is Spiritmaster, as used by the official AION 2 YouTube channel in a video aimed directly at the global release. So both names have a real origin, and you can search by either. Builds and an overview of the spirits are in the Spiritmaster class guide.

Cleric

The Cleric is the group’s healer: mace, group healing, cleansing negative effects and resurrecting fallen teammates. In group content it has the highest value of all classes, because a harder dungeon can’t be done without a healer. The trade-off is slower solo progression: the Cleric takes longer to kill things than anyone else.

For readers torn between support and healing, the most important comparison is Cleric versus Chanter. You’ll find the full table of differences in the Cleric class guide.

Chanter

The Chanter is a hybrid: it fights in melee with a staff, strengthens teammates with buffs and can handle some healing too. It isn’t the best at any single discipline, but it’s usable in all of them, which makes it a practical choice for players who don’t want to wait for a group to fill up.

Some sources list it under a second name, Guardian Sage. A breakdown of buffs and the recommended balance between support and damage are in the Chanter class guide.

Brawler: the ninth class, in KR/TW only for now

The Brawler is the only AION 2 class that wasn’t in the game from the start. The Chapter 1 update added it to the Korean and Taiwanese version on 1 July 2026. The global version starts without it: the Brawler will arrive later, and NCSOFT hasn’t confirmed an exact date.

It fights with Gauntlets, fills a Rage gauge with its attacks and, once the gauge is full, enters the empowered Rampage state, in which some of its abilities behave differently. Its role is melee DPS and skirmisher, a mobile fighter who attacks and then dodges away. The public skill database lists it as high difficulty, so it’s not a class for your first character.

You won’t find the Brawler in the tier lists below, and that isn’t a flaw in them. All available ratings were made before 1 July 2026, so they couldn’t account for it. Once it arrives in the global version and the meta settles, we’ll add it here too.

A detailed breakdown of abilities, stat priorities and builds for PvE and PvP is in the article AION 2 Brawler. Everything the Chapter 1 update brought is summarized in our patch notes overview.

AION 2 tier list: PvP and PvE

Before you look at the tables, read this caveat. The tier list below is based on ratings from community sources for the Korean and Taiwanese versions after the balance pass of 8 July 2026. It may differ for the global launch: NCSOFT hasn’t published the balance the global servers will launch with, and the first Western balance patch will certainly shuffle the order.

One thing is crucial for AION 2 tier lists, and almost nobody mentions it: the balance pass of 8 July 2026 cut PvP damage across the board by 30 percent. Every rating, impression or video older than that date describes a differently balanced game. If you come across a tier list from spring 2026, it isn’t necessarily made up. It just measures something that no longer applies.

PvP tier list

Player-versus-player fights reward burst, mobility and the ability to survive the first onslaught. The table is a consensus of the two most up-to-date community tier lists, not a measurement.

Tier	Class	Why
S	Assassin	Invisibility and burst let it pick both the fight and the target. Highest ceiling, lowest tolerance for mistakes.
S	Gladiator	PVPBank ranks it first in Season 2. The July pass boosted its personal damage but limited its group buff.
S	Templar	Hard to dislodge when defending a point. It doesn’t kill fast, but it holds the spot until the rest of the group arrives.
A	Sorcerer	Highest ranged damage in the game. After the across-the-board PvP damage cut, though, it has to finish the kill, which is harder against mobile classes.
A	Spiritmaster	Battlefield control and summoned spirits break up the opponent’s coordination. On its own it kills slowly.
A	Chanter	Buffs and its own durability make it a class that walks away from a mass brawl on its own two feet.
B	Ranger	Excellent as long as it keeps its distance. Once an opponent closes in, it loses most of its value.
B	Cleric	Indispensable in a group, slow and easy to silence in a one-on-one fight.

PvE tier list

In dungeons and group content the order flips. What counts is reliability and value for the whole group, not explosiveness.

Tier	Class	Why
S	Cleric	Harder content can’t be done without a healer. The safest spot in any group.
S	Templar	The main tank. Same reason as the Cleric: a five-player group is always looking for one.
S	Chanter	Buffs raise the whole group’s performance, and in a pinch it can fill in for the healer.
A	Gladiator	Steady damage, durability and the ability to survive a tank’s mistake.
A	Spiritmaster	Spirits hold the enemies’ attention, which is valuable mainly outside a group.
A	Ranger	Safe positioning and decent damage without risk.
B	Sorcerer	Highest area damage in the game, but it needs a disciplined group and calm positioning.
B	Assassin	Top tier in PvP, but in dungeons it has to earn its spot through performance, as its strengths get less use here.

A spot in B-tier doesn’t mean a weak class. It means that in a given type of content you have to put in more effort to get the same result as someone in S-tier. None of the AION 2 classes is unplayable.

And one more thing that puts tier lists into perspective: much of a character’s final strength isn’t decided by the class you pick but by how you set up your abilities. How skills are modified and what can be rebuilt is covered in the Stigma system guide. Resetting it is also free, so a bad build path choice can be undone.

Why an AION 2 tier list won’t give you the answer you want

The tables above are the best that can be put together from the available sources. Even so, they won’t tell you what to play, and it’s worth knowing why, because in AION 2 the reason is different from other games.

Balance changes weekly, but the road to endgame takes months

This is the core of the whole problem. NCSOFT releases balance changes on a roughly weekly basis, setting a temporary meta, much like Riot does in League of Legends. But AION 2 has a long horizontal grind: reaching the gear level and Combat Power that the meta even applies to takes months. Not a week, not three.

In practice, the meta you’re picking a class for today will be rewritten several times before you reach it. And then once more. The tier list isn’t badly made; it just measures a state of the game you won’t get to for a long time.

Two tier lists on Google’s first page contradict each other on five classes

This isn’t theory. If you searched for aion 2 tier list as of 8 September 2026, the first page gave you two sources making opposite claims:

Class	Community database (overall ranking)	Google summary (from videos)
Gladiator	S	B in PvP
Templar	B	S in PvP
Cleric	B	S in PvP
Brawler	C	S in PvE
Sorcerer	B	C in PvE

And the source that claims to be data-driven, building its ranking from the official player leaderboard, had updates paused at the time because the leaderboard API had stopped working. Below its table it also warns that it runs on data from the previous season and that the leaderboard favors some classes.

Combat Power only decides things when the gap is huge

When 900,000 Combat Power faces 100,000, the outcome is clear and no tier list will change it. What’s interesting is what happens when Combat Power is comparable, say 200,000 on both sides. There the outcome is decided by three things that aren’t in any table:

• how you’ve built your macro,
• how you chain skills outside the macro,
• how well your gear is optimized for your specific class.

“Well” doesn’t mean generally better gear here, but gear that fits what your class scales with. Some classes scale with damage, some with cooldowns, some with multi-hit chance, some with frontal or rear damage. How to build your macro and chaining is covered in the article on macros and presets.

Then there’s chance. A Ranger whose abilities keep triggering stuns and roots, each with a one-in-five to one-in-four chance, wins three times in a row and then loses the fourth. A single fight tells you less than it seems.

What to take away from this

Use a tier list for what it is: a rough overview of where each class usually stands and what to expect from it. Don’t treat it as the order you should pick in. In practice, the difference between a player on an S-tier class and one on a B-tier class is smaller than the difference between a player who knows their class and a player who just picked it from a table.

And one note on roles: unlike the Chanter, the Gladiator has two basic attacks that draw enemy attention. But this mechanic doesn’t work on final dungeon bosses, so for the second tank role it makes no practical difference whether you play a Chanter, a Gladiator or a Templar.

How to choose a class in AION 2

A tier list won’t tell you what you’ll enjoy. Go through the following four questions. Afterward you’ll usually be left with one or two classes whose full guide is worth reading.

1. Do you want to be on the front line, or keep your distance from it? Close combat is for the Templar, Gladiator, Assassin and Chanter. The Ranger, Sorcerer and Spiritmaster fight at range. The Cleric adapts to the situation but most often stands behind the tank.

2. Do you want to kill, hold or heal? Damage comes from the Gladiator, Assassin, Ranger and Sorcerer. The tank is the Templar. The healer is the Cleric. Support is covered by the Chanter and Spiritmaster. If you want to do a bit of everything, go for the Chanter.

3. Will you play mostly solo or in a group? For solo progression, the Spiritmaster (the only recommendation with official backing), Gladiator and Ranger make sense. The Templar, Cleric and Chanter are made for groups, and above all you’ll be needed right away, which cuts your wait for dungeons.

4. How much room for error do you want? The most forgiving are the Templar and Cleric. In the middle are the Gladiator, Ranger and Chanter. The lowest tolerance belongs to the Assassin and Sorcerer: both reward precision and both punish every hesitation.

That leaves the question absolutely everyone asks: what should you pick if AION 2 is your first MMORPG? International sources most often agree on the Templar and the Cleric. Both classes forgive mistakes and both are always welcome in a group. A detailed breakdown, including which classes to avoid at the start, is in the article which class is best for beginners.

Whatever you choose, it pays to know how combat in AION 2 actually works. The game lets you switch between an aimed mode and a classic tab-target mode, and the mode you choose affects how each class plays. We cover it in the article on the combat system.

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FAQ

Picking a class in AION 2 is a long-term decision, not a one-evening one, so we’ll go through and update this overview again after early access starts on 30 September and after the full release on 5 October 2026. You’ll find all our other AION 2 guides in the AION 2 game guides section. Information verified as of 15 August 2026.