AION 2 class tier list: four Korean-server rankings compared

NC has not published a tier list, and no one can rank the classes on the global servers before they open for Early Access. What exists are rankings from the Korean and Taiwanese service, which runs ahead of the global one. Four independent ones are set out below, class by class, with the version each reflects. They agree on less than a single tier list would suggest.

Each column is one publication, counted once even where the same article turned up under several searches. The letters are each source’s own grades, which do not mean the same thing from one list to the next, so read across a row, not down a column.

What each ranking measured, and when

A player’s list on r/Aion2

Tiers 0 to 2 plus a do-not-pick group, posted by a player who had played the Asian version, before Chapter 1, the first big update there. It weighs PvP and gear heavily and treats support classes as a mistake, which is why the Chanter and Cleric sit at the bottom.

AOEAH

One overall grade per class for the Chapter 1 build. It marks the Gladiator and Assassin down hard for suffering on a high ping, which is what pulls them down to B+.

MMOexp

Separate grades for six kinds of content; the table shows dungeons and solo PvP, the two that differ most. It does not say which patch it reflects, and it is a Chapter 1 era article.

Kanon (YouTube)

Not letter grades but measured damage: where the top quarter of each class’s players places on damage charts, on the Korean servers, after the Templar and Chanter reworks and the newest raid. It is the most recent of the four.

AOEAH and MMOexp both sell in-game currency. That does not make their grades wrong, but neither shows the data behind them.

Where they agree

• The Ranger is never low. Tier 0, A+, S and a steady top-four damage placing: the most consistent row in the table. More on the Ranger page.
• Groups value the Templar and the Cleric. MMOexp puts both at the top for dungeons, and on the damage charts both sit low only because damage is not their job. The one dissent is the older player list on the Cleric.
• The casters have climbed. The Sorcerer and Spiritmaster go from Tier 2 before Chapter 1 to S grades and top-three raid damage in the later lists, a sign of how far patches move these rankings.

Where they split

The Assassin is at or near the top in three lists and B+ in the fourth, largely because AOEAH counts ping against it. The Gladiator runs from S+ in solo PvP to about sixth in real dungeons, with the best training-dummy numbers of any class, so it depends on what you measure. And the Chanter goes from do-not-pick to a solid A: one list dismisses support classes outright, the other credits its party buffs.

What this means for the global launch

Very little is settled. The global version is its own build, NC has not published balance notes for it, and the Launch Scale Test stopped characters at level 37, far short of where these rankings were measured; even the global level cap is not confirmed. Until people have played the global version for a while, its balance is unknown. Korean-server players also stress that gear and practice move a character’s damage more than the gaps in this table do.

So pick for role and feel, and use this page to break a tie. The best class for new players starts from what you want to do, and the Founder’s Pack weapon skin binds to one class, so the Founder’s Pack comparison is worth reading before you claim it. The ninth Korean class, called the Brawler by English-speaking fans, shows up in some Korean rankings but is not on NC’s global class list; see all eight classes.