Combat power and item level in Aion 2, explained

Aion 2 gives you two numbers for how strong your character is, and new players mix them up because they rise together. Item level, which players also call gear score, is the one the game checks when you try to enter a dungeon. Combat power is the bigger number that groups ask for when they recruit. You need both, but for different reasons.

New to the game? Start with your first week in Aion 2.

Item level: the number that opens doors

Item level adds up three things:

Your gear: Everything you wear across 20 slots. Those are your weapon and guard, seven armor pieces including the cloak, seven accessories, your amulet and belt, and two rune slots. Each piece's enhancement level and the Manastones in it count too.
Daevanion points: Every point you put into a board adds one to your item level, so spend them as they come.
Arcana cards: From Transcendence, later on. A card adds 20, 40, 60 or 80 by grade, from Common to Unique, plus one for each enhancement level on the card.

Each enhancement step on a piece adds one item level, which is why enhancing 20 slots to +10 is worth about 200 on its own. Nothing else counts: your skills, stigmas, titles and wings don't change your item level, which is why two players with the same item level can play very differently.

Item level has a second meaning in Aion 2: each piece of gear has its own item level, such as 54 for the first Conquest gear, 65 for a Unique amulet and 70 for Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island drops. Your character's item level is the total across everything, so a piece's item level tells you roughly how much a slot can give.

Combat power: the number groups ask for

Combat power includes everything in your item level and then adds the rest of your character: your skill levels, your stigmas, your titles and your wings. It's the game's estimate of how much you contribute, so a player who has pushed every skill to level 10 and filled every stigma slot has more combat power than one at the same item level who hasn't.

That's why groups ask for it. Entry gates can't see whether you've spent your skill points, but combat power can. Across players, combat power rises by roughly 45 for every point of item level, so when a party listing asks for a combat power your item level can't explain, the difference is usually unspent skill points, empty stigma slots or stigmas that were never upgraded.

Where the game shows them

Both numbers are in your character profile: item level sits under your character level, and combat power is in the profile's header. Dungeon entry panels show item level too, next to the level they need.

What each gate checks

Every entry requirement in the game is an item level. These are the ones that matter in your first weeks:

Content	Item level
Exploration Expeditions while leveling: Krao Cave, Urugugu Canyon, Fire Temple	200, 300 and 500
The first Conquest pair, Krao Cave and Draupnir, and Draupnir's Exploration chest	700
The Abyss, and the Ascension Trial on Easy	1,000
Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island	1,400
Ascension Trial on Normal, Hard, Challenge, Insane and Hell	1,500, 2,000, 2,500, 3,000 and 3,500
Transcendence stage 1	1,600
Transcendence stage 2	1,900
The third Conquest pair, Fire Temple and Ferocious Horn Den	2,100
Transcendence stages 3 and 4	2,200 and 2,500
Hard mode Krao Cave and Draupnir	2,600
Hard mode Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island	2,700
Ludra raid, Normal	2,800
Ludra raid, Hard	3,000

Nightmare works differently: it's a ladder of 26 bosses with 10 tiers each, and every tier shows a suggested item level rather than a hard gate. Fortress Guardian Notun at tier 2, for example, suggests 1,750.

For the gear each dungeon pays, see Aion 2 dungeon item levels and rewards.

The cheapest item level, in order

Not every item level costs the same. Early on, the permanent upgrades give the most for the least, and none of them is lost when you replace your gear.

Source	Item level	Where it comes from
Daevanion points	1 each	Sealed dungeons: 61 in your home region, worth 122 points. Region quests and the Shugo Festival shop add more.
Two Clash Runes at +1	about 80	Region quests. Stop at +1, a higher upgrade can destroy the rune.
Abyss Empyrean Traces	about 50	Collecting the Traces in the Abyss, from 1,000.
Amulet and belt to Unique	up to item level 65 each	Empyrean Traces and strongholds, then Substance Morph.
Five Artisan's Splendent accessories	over 100 together	Handicrafting at mastery 30 to 40, from gathered materials.
One Unique item level 70 piece	30 or more on a weak slot	Vakron Sky Island's Exploration chest after three runs.
Five green Arcana cards	about 200	Transcendence stage 1, from 1,600.

Enhancing sits in between. Up to +10 it can't fail, and across 20 slots it is the biggest single step between 1,400 and 1,600. Past +10 the odds drop from 65% at +11 to 20% at +15, so save that for Unique gear, whose levels Enhancement Transfer can move to the piece that replaces it. The item level guides walk through this climb in order: 1,000, 1,400 and 1,600.

Raising combat power

The parts of combat power that aren't gear are mostly free, and most of them are things you should be doing anyway:

Spend every skill point. Skill points raise a skill to level 10. Beyond that, skills grow through Daevanion boards, Arcana and soul binding.
Fill and upgrade your stigmas. Slots open at levels 22, 27, 32 and 37. Stigma shards level them up.
Equip a title. Titles come from achievements and events, and their stat effects count.
Collect wings. Every pair you own adds Flight Power, and your wings count toward combat power as well.
Choose Daevanion nodes that strengthen your core skills. The points count once for item level either way, but the right nodes raise your damage, and your combat power with it.

Which number to watch

Picking a dungeon: Item level. If the gate says 1,400 and you're at 1,380, nothing else gets you in.
Joining a group: Combat power. Close the gap by spending skill points and upgrading stigmas before you farm more gear.
Deciding what to upgrade next: Item level per resource. Permanent upgrades first, then enhancing to +10, then dungeon gear.

Once you're at 45 and not sure where to start, what to do at level 45 puts these steps in order.