Neither faction is stronger in AION 2: Elyos and Asmodians get the same eight classes, the same skills, and gear with the same stats. So play the side your friends play, or the story and lands you like better. What the choice does fix is your server: each server holds one faction, the game offers no faction change, and NC's server transfers, from October 14 (October 21 for launch servers), stay within your faction and your region.
Everything below comes from NC's notices and official site, read on October 8, and from the guides we cross-checked, named each time; what only one of them claims is left out. Our server list shows every Elyos server next to the Asmodian server it meets, region by region.
What differs, and what doesn't
| Elyos | Asmodians | |
|---|---|---|
| NC's motto | Guardians of Light, Wings of Grace | Forged in Shadows, Wings of Dominion |
| Homeland | Elysea | Asmodae |
| Starting map | Poeta | Ishalgen |
| Region up to level 45 | Verteron | Altgard |
| Wings | White | Dark |
| Servers | Elyos servers only | Asmodian servers only |
| Classes, skills, gear stats | All eight, the same | All eight, the same |
- Classes: all eight are open to both factions and both genders, with the same skills, Stigmas and Daevanion boards (Metabot, Game Rant). Our class guide has each class's skills by level.
- Gear: the same stats on both sides; only the item names change (Game Rant, Metabot).
- Looks: character creation offers both factions the same options (Game Rant, Showgamer). The first AION gave each faction its own features; in AION 2 the faction shows in your wings, white and feathered for the Elyos, dark for the Asmodians (Game Rant, Space4Games).
- Story: each faction has its own main quests, characters and lands, built as mirrors of each other (Game Rant, Metabot).
Two stories, two lands
NC's official site starts both stories at the same point: the war between Elyos and Asmodians ended with the fall of the Aion Tower, in what is remembered as the Last War, and the Balaur poured into both worlds.
- Elyos: the Empyrean Lords sealed Elysea behind a wall of light, the Bulwark, which consumed Siel. Beyond it, the Dragon Lords Ishtar and Fafnir set Poeta ablaze, and Daevas are hunted, bound to Surana and turned against their own kind.
- Asmodians: Asmodae was sealed in shadow. With Israphel fallen, the five remaining Empyrean Lords forged the Bulwark from their blood and souls. Beyond it, Ishtar and Fafnir crushed Ishalgen, and Fafnir shattered the Daevas' souls and locked their light in crystal prisons.
In the game, Elyos start in Poeta and move on to Verteron; Asmodians start in Ishalgen and move on to Altgard, and the main story keeps each side in that region up to level 45 (NC's maintenance notice of October 4 names both routes). Guides describe the Elyos lands as classic high fantasy and the Asmodian ones as harsher: craggy mountains, scorched canyons, volcanic ground (Game Rant, Showgamer).
Our Atlas of Atreia shows the places of both regions with NC's own descriptions and pictures, from the Dawn Legion's hidden base in Cantas Valley to Altgard's Dredgion Crash Site, and the map of Atreia shows both starting zones. Our leveling guide follows each route to 45. In Korea, the story goes on to Eltnen and Morheim; NC's Global site shows only Verteron and Altgard.
