Asmodian Leveling Route 1–20: Ishalgen to Altgard in AION 2

An Asmodian story starts with a break-in at a fortress, and from that moment the game hands you a thread to pull: the gold Episode quest. This Asmodian leveling route follows that thread from Ishalgen into Altgard, past the Dredgion Crash Site and the Nameless Cemetery, over Silent Hill and Tranein Highland, and up to the level-22 wall on the road toward Uruthumheim. Episode quests give roughly 97–99% of all the EXP from 1 to 45 and mob grinding pays poorly, so the route is built from quests, unlocks and one-time Sealed Dungeons rather than camps of monsters. Checked on 13 November 2026 for AION 2 Global (Season 1).

Where and what you need

Levels. A fresh Asmodian at 1, stopping at 22, where the story waits for the Ascension Gauge. Ishalgen holds levels 1–9; Altgard takes over at 10 and stays your home map up to the Season 1 cap of 45.

Class. Any of the eight. Ranger, Gladiator, Spiritmaster and Assassin are the usual picks for quick solo clears; the Templar trades speed for safety, and the Templar leveling build covers its early skills.

Server. Every server is single-faction and characters cannot change sides, so your world decides the faction for good. If your friends rolled Elyos, they want the Elyos leveling route 1–20.

Travel. Wings come at 5–6, a mount around 10. Altgard has 61 Kibelisks for fast travel, and teleporting to one is also how you get unstuck.

Hubs. Shadow Hall in Ishalgen, then Safe Haven from 10. Later in Altgard, Nornir Assembly becomes the second big hub and crafting station.

The route

The numbers match the map, a stylized sketch rather than the in-game atlas. Ishalgen's stops carry quest names, because the quests are what you follow there.

1. "Infiltrate Fafnir Fortress" (levels 1–2). Your first quest is a break-in, and it doubles as the tutorial. Settle your controls while it is quiet: AION 2 Mode gives the action camera, AION 1 Mode the classic tab-target style. The quest chain leads you to Shadow Hall, Ishalgen's first hub.
2. "Shadow Forest" and "Isolated Lake" (levels 3–4). Two Episode quests, one per level, that walk you deeper into Ishalgen. Their titles sound like places, but treat them as quests: the marker, not a map label, tells you where to go.
3. "The Being Beneath the Lake" and "Spread Your Wings" (levels 5–6). The lake quest at 5 gives you your first wings and "Spread Your Wings" at 6 teaches you to fly. V opens and folds them; the circular meter is flight endurance, it refills on the ground, and you fall when it empties.
4. "Brigade Prison Compound Infiltration Operation" to "The Longest Night" (levels 7–9). The prison raid at 7 and "The Longest Night" at 9 close out Ishalgen. Levels 1–9 take about twenty minutes when you stay on the story.
5. Safe Haven (level 10). "Finding Nemon" at 10 ends the opening, and the story's base moves from Shadow Hall to Safe Haven. The Episode quest "Gathering Essentials" lets you pick your first mount, a Fossa, an Armadon or a Tog; mounts share one base speed, so choose by looks. Crafting unlocks around 10 (Esc → Crafting), Safe Haven has a station, and three level-10 Sealed Dungeons open: Dratona Cave, Smuggler's Cave and Valka's Nest.
6. Dredgion Crash Site (levels 10–12). Altgard proper starts with "Crash Site Rendezvous" at 11. At 12 the Daevanion system opens with the Nezekan board, and you gain 4 points every level from here, so spend them as they come.
7. Calderon Canyon and Nameless Cemetery (to level 14). "Cemetery Cleanup" at 13 is the landmark quest of this stretch. From 13 you also start collecting Shugo Festival keys.
8. Silent Hill and Sanctum Outpost (from level 15). "Empyrean Monolith" at 16 and "Malice Laid Bare" at 18, which sends you into Fang Hideout, carry the story. Green Regional quests are everywhere by now; together they give under 2% of the EXP to 45, so mark them and keep moving.
9. Tranein Highland and Moslan Forest (to level 21). "Imminent Threat" at 20 and "Children of the Elim" at 21. Level 20 adds the Zikel board and opens Krao Cave on Exploration difficulty at Item Level 200; the Krao Cave Expedition guide explains the run, and remember that its reward cube is bought with Odyle Energy, which you only start earning at 22.
10. Toward Uruthumheim: the level-22 wall (level 22). The story halts here until the Ascension Gauge is full. Regional quests, Sealed Dungeons and Strongholds all feed it: clear Abandoned Memorial Room and Drana Depository, finish any level-10 caves you skipped, and take "Hugo Mercenaries: Past and Present" from Derk in Safe Haven, a Regional quest open from 10 and recommended from 16. Stigmas unlock through the third Ascension quest, "The One Who Hears the Voice" (one guide says 23), alongside Odyle Energy and Expeditions. Past the gauge, Uruthumheim and the Purifying Forest cover 22–28, and the next Episode quests are "Prison Break" at 24 and "Tangled Past" at 25.

What you get

Stretch	Levels and unlocks	One-time rewards	Watch out for
Ishalgen	1–9, wings at 5, flight at 6	Your first wings	Chasing quest titles as if they were map names
Safe Haven	10, first mount, crafting	Three level-10 Sealed Dungeons	Forgetting the caves until the gauge
Crash Site to Cemetery	10–14, Daevanion at 12	4 Daevanion points per level	Unspent points on the Nezekan board
Silent Hill to Moslan Forest	15–21, Zikel at 20	Episode quest EXP	Green quests that cost more time than they pay
Level 22	Stigmas, Odyle Energy, Expeditions	Sealed Dungeons, Strongholds	The Ascension Gauge

A Sealed Dungeon's first clear pays 15,000 Kinah (Kina in the Global client), 1,250 Enhance Stones, 2 Daevanion Crystals, 2 Wisdom Stones, 2 Sealed Wing Featherdown, 2 statue scraps and a title, and it never resets. Strongholds are one-time clears worth 15,000 Kinah and 2 Noble Belt Enhance Scrolls, the only place those scrolls come from.

Time it takes

Ishalgen is about twenty minutes. For 10–22 there is no trustworthy per-bracket timing, only the full picture: about 4–7 hours of played time from 1 to 45 on an optimized route, 9–12 hours on the main story alone, and 15 or more for a relaxed first character; another guide quotes 10–15 hours for a first character. All of these are guide-writer estimates. The weight sits at the top end: of roughly 754.8M EXP to 45, more than two-thirds belongs to levels 40–45, and level 44 alone is 160.8M. So the early levels move quickly and the only real pause is the gauge at 22. Getting there early also starts Odyle Energy, which fills at +15 every three hours up to 560.

Tips

• Treat the gold marker as the route. Leave it only for the Ascension Gauge.
• Skip mob grinding. Its EXP is poor next to the story.
• Clear each Sealed Dungeon once, when you pass it; no reset means no reason to come back.
• Put your first enchants into the weapon and stop around +5 while leveling, a speed-guide rule of thumb.
• Choose a crafting profession at Safe Haven around 10 and level it on the side; Nornir Assembly is the next station.
• Activate Kibelisks as you go, so fast travel is ready when you need it.

Running it with AionBot

In Leveling, set From 1 and To 22, set Start region to where your character stands, and keep Accept and turn in quests and Move to the next region by level on so the bot keeps to the Episode chain. Leave Grind when quests run out off, since mob EXP pays poorly, and tick Sell junk when the cube is full. In Combat, set HP potion below and Rest below MP to suit your class. The XP / hour row only means something once you are past Ishalgen.

Back in Leveling, turn on Use flight on long trips once stop 3 is done and Teleport via Kibelisks once you have activated a few; Flight time in Current status shows how much of the meter is left. Sealed Dungeons stay yours to play, just as the pulls inside an Expedition do when you queue through the Expeditions section. Finish with Save, and the next alt is one Load away; the AionBot first-run setup guide explains every option, and plans are on plans and pricing. Know the risk: automation breaks NCSOFT's rules for AION 2, the game runs its own anti-cheat (NCGuard), and NC banned tens of thousands of accounts in the October 2026 ban waves, so never bot on an account you cannot afford to lose. Bot-like behaviour also lowers the Market's hidden Trust level, which counts once the Market opens at 45.

FAQ

Where are Shadow Forest and Isolated Lake on the map?

They are Episode quest titles in Ishalgen, at levels 3 and 4, not reliable map labels. Accept them and follow the gold marker; the quest takes you to the right spot without any searching.

What fills the Ascension Gauge at level 22?

Regional quests, Sealed Dungeons and Strongholds. For Asmodians that means Abandoned Memorial Room, Drana Depository, any skipped level-10 caves and Derk's "Hugo Mercenaries: Past and Present" from Safe Haven. At 100% the story resumes.

Do I need Krao Cave before level 22?

No. Exploration opens at level 20 with Item Level 200 and is worth seeing, but its reward cube needs Odyle Energy, which starts at 22. The main story stays your EXP source either way; Sealed Dungeons give one-time extras, not repeatable EXP.