Aion 2 · Guides
Aion 2 skills and Stigma: ranks, specialties and what to slot
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TL;DR
- Skill Points take an active skill to rank 10. Every rank past that comes from the Daevanion boards, gear lines and Arcana.
- Active skills offer three specialty options at rank 8, a fourth at 12 and a fifth at 16. You get one specialty slot at rank 8, a second at 12 and a third at 20.
- Specialties don't equip themselves. Drag them into the slots.
- Madsin says every class has at least three main skills worth pushing to rank 20 for the third slot.
- Stigma skills open at level 22 and level to 20 with Stigma Shards. Each one adds a new effect at ranks 5, 10, 15 and 20.
- Pick the Stigma that opens your class's burst window first, then party buffs, then defensive skills.
Skill Points and ranks
The skill menu opens at level 4. You spend Skill Points from leveling to learn and rank up active and passive skills.
Skill and Stigma materials
Skill Points stop at rank 10. Higher ranks come from three places:
| Source | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Daevanion boards | One node for every active skill on each of the four PvE boards, so up to four ranks |
| Gear lines | Soul Binding can roll +1 to a skill. Rings, the weapon and the guard roll active skills; earrings, the necklace and armor roll passives (Ranger gear) |
| Arcana | Each card carries skill lines that rise as you level the card |
Madsin settles his Arcana first and then uses ring lines to make up whatever rank is still missing. He advises against spending weapon and guard lines on skills, because those slots have better stats.
aLuckyRO tells new players not to worry about the Skill Points they skip from Regional Quests while leveling. The points you get from leveling are enough to reach 45, and you can come back for the rest.
Specialties
Specialties are the perks on each active skill. The game data gives every active skill five options and three slots:
| Skill rank | What opens |
|---|---|
| 8 | Three specialty options and the first slot |
| 12 | A fourth option and the second slot |
| 16 | A fifth option |
| 20 | The third slot |
Creator tip
These perks need to be taken from here and placed manually in these slots. They don't automatically get activated.
Rank 20 is the target for your main skills, since that is where the third slot opens.
Creator tip
Every class will typically have at least three skills they want to push to level 20 in order to unlock the extra perk slot.
| Class | Skills Madsin pushes to rank 20 |
|---|---|
| Ranger | 6 |
| Cleric | 6 |
| Gladiator | 3, spending its other ranks on passives |
Kanon's Handbook makes a similar point in its Skills chapter: get your one or two key skills to 20 first.
Which specialties to take
Madsin's rule is to go for damage first:
- Specialties that reset the skill's cooldown, usually the most valuable.
- Specialties that add damage or force a Critical Hit or Multi-Hit.
- Mobility and life steal, unless you need them to survive sooner.
In solo play or a hard raid, he will swap a Multi-Hit option on a minor skill for life steal.
Each class build has the exact picks. For example, the Ranger PvE build lists the specialties for every Ranger skill.
Stigma skills
Stigma skills are a separate set of strong class skills. The Stigma menu opens at level 22, after your third Ascension. You choose which Stigmas to register, and the game lets you register more as you level. You can keep separate setups for PvE and PvP.
Stigmas level to 20 with Stigma Shards, not Skill Points. The cost per rank goes up in steps:
| Stigma ranks | Shards per rank |
|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | 1 |
| 6 to 10 | 2 |
| 11 to 15 | 4 |
| 16 to 20 | 8 |
That is 75 shards to take one Stigma from nothing to rank 20. Each Stigma gains a new effect at ranks 5, 10, 15 and 20, and all of them stay active. You don't choose between them as you do with specialties.
Which Stigmas to slot
Creator tip
For a lot of classes, one of the stigma will directly tie into the class bread and butter, opening up a burst spam window.
Madsin picks Stigmas in this order:
- The Stigma that opens your burst window. The game data confirms the examples he gives below.
- Stigmas that raise your own and your group's damage, directly or by lowering the boss's defenses.
- A manual block, if you play a melee class.
- Personal defensive and support skills. Healers may take heals or resurrection here in harder content.
Burst-window Stigmas Madsin names, checked against the game data
Keep these out of your macro. Grobs uses his burst Stigmas by hand so they don't fire on trash mobs or right before a boss mechanic. The macros guide explains the setup.
Class builds
- Gladiator PvE build
- Templar PvE build
- Assassin PvE build
- Ranger PvE build
- Sorcerer PvE build
- Spiritmaster PvE build
- Chanter PvE build
- Cleric guide
Every class's skills, specialties and Stigma effects are on the Corpus skill pages.
Explore the encyclopedia
Sources
- Madsin: AION 2 complete PvE character building overview
- SywoGG: AION 2, everything I wish I knew when I started
- TheWhelps: Complete Ranger PvE guide, skills, gear, board, Arcana, Genus
- Grobs: AION 2 macro guide, early-game setups and mouse macros
- aLuckyRO: 15 most common beginner mistakes in AION 2 Global
- Kanon's Handbook: Skills
- Corpus: Aion 2 skills
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