Ludra opens on 4 November with a hard item level gate, and r/Aion2 spent this morning asking how much is enough. One player at 2,666 says progress has crawled. Another at 2,470 is still missing a weapon, a guard, a helmet and an earring.
Most gear score guides stop at a list of systems. This one shows how the number is built, what a real 2,800 character looks like, and what each last point costs. All figures apply to the AION 2 Global client as of the 28 October 2026 patch.
Quick answer: AION 2 gear score, shown as Item Level, is the sum of your worn pieces' item levels, +1 per Enhance level, +5 per Amplify level, +1 per Daevanion point spent, plus manastone, soulstone and Theostone lines. NC's Ludra notice sets Normal at 2,800 and Hard at 3,000 from 4 November. Reach 2,800 by moving every slot you can to item level 86 and getting Unique Arcana first, then Daevanion points, then cheap stone lines, then Amplify 1 to 3 on pieces already at +15. Skip crafting for this goal.
AION 2 - Gear Score Boost
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What is gear score in AION 2?
Gear score is the player name for Item Level, the number that gates dungeons, Transcendence, Ascension Trials and the Abyss. It isn't the same thing as strength: that's Combat Power. Gear score gets you through the door.
The game shows the total but not how it's built. Aion2Data took NC's displayed number apart for 15 characters between 1,158 and 3,063 on 22 October, and its formula matched all 15 exactly. That makes it the best public breakdown, though NC hasn't published the formula itself.
| Source | Item level added | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Worn gear | The piece's item level | A 70 to 86 swap is +16 at the same Enhance level |
| Enhance | +1 per level | Same value on every piece |
| Amplify | +5 per level | Only past +15, on eligible Unique gear |
| Daevanion | +1 per point spent | A 4-point node adds 4 |
| Manastone or soulstone line | +1, +2, +3, +4 | Common to Unique; the stat doesn't matter |
| Theostone | +3 Rare, +5 Epic | Weapon and guard; Unique value unmeasured |
| Arcana | 20, 40, 60, 80 | Common to Unique; each card level adds +1 |
| Clash Rune | 40 each | Two slots |
| Belt or amulet | 65 at Unique | Epic is 36, reached by Substance Morph at +10 |
One creator's notes list a lower Epic Theostone value, so treat that single line as the least settled in the table.
What does a real 2,800 character look like?
Three of Aion2Data's sample characters show where the points actually came from. The Daevanion and stone columns are the useful ones, because players rarely count them.
| Item level | Pieces and Arcana | Enhance | Amplify | Daevanion | Stone lines | Theostones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,103 Chanter | 1,519 | 145 | 0 | 326 | 107 | 6 |
| 2,798 Cleric | 1,908 | 216 | 40 | 470 | 158 | 6 |
| 2,805 Templar | 1,924 | 211 | 40 | 456 | 166 | 8 |
Stone lines are our conversion of Aion2Data's line counts at +1 to +4 per grade, and Amplify is levels times five. Each row adds up to its total.
Compare the Chanter with the Cleric. Of the 695 points between them, 389 came from pieces and Arcana, 144 from Daevanion, 71 from Enhance, 51 from stones and 40 from Amplify. So 56% of the climb is simply wearing better items, and only 6% is Amplify, the part players fear most.
None of those 15 characters had opened the Ariel board when sampled. If you have, you're ahead of this table by every Ariel point.
How do you get from 2,100 to 2,500?
Spend Odyle on item level 86 gear. Fire Temple Conquest and Ferocious Horn Den open at 2,100, and each piece that replaces a 70 is +16 at the same Enhance level. Claims cost 40 Odyle and pay up to 400,000 Kina.
Fire Temple and Horn Den give a Guaranteed Reward every 28 claims. That's 1,120 Odyle, or about nine days of natural regeneration at 120 a day, so one bad pick costs real time. Our Fire Temple guide covers the bosses and drop rates.
MetaBot's gear progression guide gives the rule to follow: "Replace your lowest item level piece first: total item level is what dungeon gates check, so a 46 to 54 swap on a weak slot beats polishing your best slot." Take new 86 pieces to +10 straight away. Every step to +10 is guaranteed, and it costs 775,100 Kina and 30,920 Enhance Stones.
Bracelets are the exception. MetaBot lists the item level 86 Abyssal Bracelet as a Ludra drop or voucher purchase, so you can't solve that slot before the raid. Plan around it.
How do you get from 2,500 to 2,600?
Stage 4 Transcendence opens at 2,500 and is the biggest single jump left. Aion2Data estimates about 0.95 Unique Arcana per claim there, against about 0.20 at Stage 3, for the same 40 Odyle.
Each card is worth 80 at Unique, so a Rare Chalice to Unique is +40 and an Epic card to Unique is +20. Four Epics and a Rare becoming Unique is +120 in total. Our Arcana guide covers which cards deserve the investment, and the Transcendence guide lists the stage gates.
Feed your spare cards into the five you keep, because each card level is +1. It's free item level if you've been hoarding duplicates.
How do you get from 2,600 to 2,800?
This is the slow bracket. Work through it in the order below, cheapest first.
1. Spend every Daevanion point. Levelling gives about 136 points, and regional quests and sealed dungeons bring the total to roughly 316. The 2,800 samples sit at 456 to 470, so that gap is real. The Nightmare Trade Shop sells 50 crystals at 300 Phantasmal Fragments each, and the Shugo Festival shop sells more at rising prices.
2. Fill empty stone sockets. A Common line is +1 whatever it rolls, so cheap stones are fine for gear you'll replace. The Cleric above had 63 lines. If you have empty sockets, this is the fastest cheap gain left.
3. Finish the belt and amulet. A Unique belt or amulet at +0 has 10 Enhance levels left, so that's +10 each. They need their own scrolls, from Strongholds for the belt and the Monolith for the amulet.
4. Farm Ariel, but know the clock. Hard Conquest opens at 2,600 for Krao Cave and Draupnir and at 2,700 for Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island. NC's patch notes confirm 100 Ariel Fragments make one Ariel Daevanion Crystal, up to 30 times per character, and that the amount is limited per dungeon. Players count that as 120 item level across the four dungeons.
At the 60 to 90 fragments per clear reported from client data, one dungeon's 30 crystals take about 40 clears at the midpoint. That's 1,600 Odyle: 13 days of natural regeneration, or about six on energy alone while NC's login boost adds 160 a day until 10 November. Weekly claim limits and your other Odyle spending will stretch that. Ariel won't close the gap before 4 November, but it's the best lever for the weeks after.
5. Amplify, in the right order. This is where the Kina goes. Average costs below use MetaBot's enhancement tables for an item level 86 Unique. They're averages over the published rates and pity, and Amplify Stones aren't priced in.
| Upgrade | Item level | Average Kina | Other cost | Kina per point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +0 to +10 | +10 | 775,100 | 30,920 stones | 78,000 |
| +10 to +15 | +5 | ~11.8M | ~129,900 stones | 2.4M |
| Amplify 1 | +5 | ~880,000 | ~9 Amplify Stones | 176,000 |
| Amplify 2 | +5 | ~1.7M | ~17 Amplify Stones | 340,000 |
| Amplify 3 | +5 | ~3.8M | ~32 Amplify Stones | 750,000 |
| Amplify 4 | +5 | ~6.9M | ~51 Amplify Stones | 1.4M |
| Amplify 5 | +5 | ~13.1M | ~87 Amplify Stones | 2.6M |
The table explains why +10 to +15 feels so bad: only Amplify 5 costs more per point. It's also the entry fee for the three cheap Amplify levels. A piece going from +10 to Amplify 3 costs about 18.2M Kina for +20, or 910,000 per point. If you already own a +15 piece, Amplify 1 to 3 on it comes first, and stop at 3 until every other piece has caught up.
Amplify caps depend on the piece, and the 28 October patch raised crafted gear. White and Dark Dragon crafts, Splendent included, now reach +5, and True and Star Dragon crafts reach +3. Item level 86 Expedition gear reaches +5 and item level 70 reaches +3, per MetaBot. Check each piece before you plan around it, because MetaBot's table predates the crafted change.
AION 2 - Abyss Points Farm
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Should you craft gear to reach 2,800?
No. Crafting is for stats, not gear score. Creator TheWhelps priced the Splendent White to Wise Dragon Lord weapon step at about 100M Kina for +8, in a video summarised here. Our table above buys roughly +110 for the same money.
Most replies in an r/Aion2 thread today agree. Crafted weapons can still make sense if you want the extra Soul Binding lines, but that's a damage decision.
How much Combat Power do you need for Ludra?
NC has published no Combat Power requirement, only the item level gate. Anything else is player expectation.
TheWhelps' notes put a 2,800 character at about 160,000 CP and a 3,000 character near 200,000. Early Access groups reportedly cleared the raid at around 120,000 to 130,000, but NC removed that version and says Ludra returns "with new mechanics", so don't rely on that number. Party listings will decide this, and the mood in the thread suggests first-week groups will ask for well above the minimum.
Do you need to hit 2,800 by 4 November?
No. As one r/Aion2 player put it this morning: "Ludra isnt a one day limited thing." The real date is the Ludra Hunt, which runs from 4 November after maintenance until before maintenance on 24 November PST, 25 November CET. Clearing Normal or Hard in that window earns the Ludra's Nemesis title, one of the names NC updated on 30 October.
So you have about three weeks. A player at 2,600 who runs Ariel and Amplifies steadily should be fine, while the race for ranked titles belongs to the first 20 Hard parties in each region. Details are in our Ludra raid guide, and the Odyle guide covers NC's Ludra boost and energy limits.
FAQ
What gear score do you need for Ludra in AION 2? NC lists 2,800 item level for Normal and 3,000 for Hard, both available from 4 November. Aion2Data notes the game files currently say 3,200 for Hard, so treat NC's post as the reference and recheck in-game after maintenance.
Is gear score the same as Item Level in AION 2? Yes. The game calls it Item Level, and players say gear score, GS or iLvl. It isn't Combat Power, which comes from your stats.
Do Daevanion points raise gear score? Yes, by 1 per point actually spent. Unspent crystals add nothing, so check your Cube and spend them before anything else.
Does the stat on a manastone change gear score? No. Only the line's grade counts: Common +1, Rare +2, Epic +3 and Unique +4. The stat matters for your damage, so save good stones for gear you'll keep.
Is Amplify worth it before 2,800? Yes on pieces already at +15, up to Amplify 3. Each Amplify level adds as much as five Enhance levels, and the first three are the cheapest Kina per point after +10.
Can you reach 3,000 without crafting? Creators say yes. TheWhelps' video shows a 2,879 character still wearing item level 54 earrings, with room above 2,950 from accessory swaps alone.
The bottom line
Fill slots first, spend every Daevanion point, then stones, then Amplify 1 to 3 on your +15 pieces. Leave crafting and Amplify 4 and 5 for after you're in the raid.
Next step? These AION 2 guides cover each system behind your gear score.
