The Abyss (Reshanta)

33:11 The Abyss, also called Reshanta, is the realm of floating islands between Elysea and Asmodae in Aion 2, and the main place where Elyos and Asmodians fight each other. NC's global team explained on its PvP showcase of Sep 11, 2026 that the Abyss formed between the two halves of the split world and holds the life sources the Daevas need, which is why both factions struggle to control it. NC's Korean material of September 2025 describes it as "a competitive battlefield where players fight over field bosses, artifacts, and Abyss Points", with unrestricted race-based PvP (NC). Its main modes have their own pages, Artifact Siege and Chaotic Abyss; PvP as a whole is on PvP.

Quick facts

Origin

27:16 In the history of the original game, as Azphel retells it, the Abyss was a by-product of the Cataclysm. The broken Tower of Eternity left a fragment in each half of the world, Aether flowed away through the rift between the two, and that flow created the Abyss. About 250 years after the Cataclysm an Elyos legion under Deltras passed through a rift into the unknown realm and met a Balaur army there; the first clash between Elyos and Asmodians that followed began the Abyss War, which in the original game went on for centuries between the two factions and the Balaur (Azphel, at 20:42). The wider history is on Story and Lore.

Entering the Abyss

The Abyss opens at level 45, together with arenas, battlegrounds and rifts (NC stream, Sep 11, 2026, at 1:08:24). On the global servers it has been open since the first day of Advanced Access on Sep 30, 2026, and to free players since the launch of Oct 5; NC's release lists the PvP modes of that first day as including battlegrounds and rifts (Inven Global).

34:26 Players enter from the game menu and are teleported to their faction's base. There are two, one Elyos and one Asmodian, on opposite sides of the map, each with storage managers, merchants and Shugo craftsmen for last-minute preparation. The base is a safe zone; everywhere beyond it is open to attack.

37:22 On the global version, PvP out in Atreia can be switched on or off from the start, but the Abyss is always a PvP zone, NC's team said on Aug 7, 2026. Players do daily and weekly quests there, starting from their own side, and the quests draw the factions towards each other.

4:37 According to Anders, the global version starts with one Abyss map, the Chaotic Lower layer of Reshanta, which needs level 45 and item level 1,000. Korea has three more: Chaotic Middle Reshanta, which needs item level 3,000, allows gliding but no flight, and adds three Artifact nodes; Chaotic Upper Reshanta, where a character above item level 4,300 or 400,000 combat power is removed at once and loses an hour of Abyss time; and the Abyss Rift Zone, an event map not confirmed for the global version. The Rift Zone is also where Korea's biggest battles happened, and even there the scale shrank: the Jul 15, 2026 update cut the maximum from 400 against 400 to 300 players per faction (NC). NC has not published a per-faction limit for any global Abyss map. Its first global patch notes, of Oct 6, 2026 (PDT), are the first NC text for the global version to name the layer: they raise the drop rate of Raw Leather from monsters in "Chaotic Lower Reshanta".

6:31 On the global build the main story itself leads there. In Anders's leveling guide of Sep 25, 2026, the story sends a character into the Abyss after the Draupnir Exploration dungeon, and the Abyss has a gear-score requirement of its own; finishing the main story also pays a Unique weapon (Leveling).

5:31 Time in the Abyss is limited. Anders gives seven hours a week for a free-to-play player, with 14 hours for Membership holders in Korea; he said the same Membership benefit had not been confirmed for the global version, and NC's revised list of global Membership benefits (updated Sep 28, 2026) still does not include Abyss time (NC; Membership). Each map has its own timer, and a craftable item extends it.

36:09 Flight works differently from the mainland. Rings hang in the air across the Abyss, and flying through one gives a burst of speed and refreshes the wing timer, so flying through them keeps a character airborne for longer. NC's pre-launch material confirmed that the Flight Circles of the original game would return (NC). See Flight and Wings.

Layers added in Korea and Taiwan

The Korean and Taiwanese Abyss has been rebuilt several times since launch on Nov 19, 2025:

Sources: NC, Jan 7, Mar 11, Mar 25 and Jul 6, 2026; Korean update notes of Jul 15, Aug 26, Sep 9 and Sep 30, 2026. NC has not announced the Korean changes from July to September 2026 for the global servers.

3:21 aLuckyRO filmed the rebuilt Chaotic Middle layer in April 2026: an Asmodian and an Elyos base, three Artifacts (all held by the Elyos when he recorded), and no flying, only gliding. He welcomed the change, arguing that ground fighting lets players kite and makes a fall a real danger.

What players do there

37:01 The Abyss mixes PvE and PvP. Monsters, among them creatures that can be collected as pets, share the islands with players of the enemy faction. Players complete quests, farm monsters and collect Abyss Points, which are spent on consumables and other items.

6:11 Anders counts the Abyss among the best places for progression: Abyss Points buy extra Stigma skill points, and medals, which are harder to come by, buy PvP gear. He lists weekly Abyss command scrolls, season missions for defeating players, field bosses and Artifact sieges as the ways to earn them. Field bosses appear in the Abyss as they do on the mainland, but the enemy faction wants them too, and the party that deals the most damage gets the most rewards. See Skills, Stigmas and Macros.

7:19 The mass battles favor some classes. XifanGG, an Assassin with more than 5,000 hours on the Taiwanese servers, ranks classes for the global launch by format: in large-scale fights of hundreds against hundreds around an artifact or an Abyss boss, ranged classes "simply have a much better environment", so he puts all of them at the top, and the Assassin and Gladiator near the bottom (Classes).

8:06 The system has its critics. Grobs, reviewing the Korean version after 250 hours in December 2025, found that killing other players in the Abyss was by far the best source of PvP currency, so players who played a great deal early on, or paid a lot, bought stronger PvP gear sooner and pulled further ahead.

Artifacts and the Abyss Corridor

47:51 The Artifact battles are the Abyss's large set-piece fights. NC's team said they decide how many Abyss Points each side gains through the week, and that they run about three times a week at each server's prime time, announced in advance with on-screen notices and timers.

7:55 In Anders's description, both factions try to destroy an Artifact boss before the other does, and the winner holds the node until the next siege. Holding nodes boosts Abyss Point collection and opens the Abyss Corridor, a short instance where players have two minutes and ten seconds to farm as many Abyss Points as they can from surrounding monsters; the number of entries depends on how many nodes the faction won. See Artifact Siege.

Servers and matchmaking

0:24 Elyos and Asmodians play on separate servers, so the Abyss is the main point of contact between the factions. In Korea and Taiwan NC has repeatedly re-matched Elyos and Asmodian servers against each other, weighing combat activity, Abyss kills and siege performance, and the ExitLag Tips guide warns that the system may still change for the global version.

The global version pairs servers the same way. NC's matchmaking post of Sep 29, 2026 explains that each server holds one faction and that each Elyos server is paired with an Asmodian server "for a limited time": every Asmodian of a paired server who enters the Abyss meets that server's Elyos, and NC "will update server pairings periodically to keep the factions balanced" (NC on Steam). During Advanced Access the early access servers were matched only among themselves; after launch, NC's notice of Jul 17, 2026 says servers are paired by how far along and how strong each one is (NC; Gamevu). The pairings and server lists are on Servers.

By Oct 12, 2026, a week after the free launch, NC's list held 52 such pairs across the five regions, each newly opened server arriving already matched with a partner, such as Nathara against Tassin in Europe on Oct 8. NC had announced no re-pairing of global servers by that date. The server transfers that open on Oct 14, 2026 do not cost a character its Abyss progress: NC's notices of Oct 9 list Abyss Points, the Abyss season rank points and the remaining Abyss time, Spacetime Rift time and Abyss Corridor entries among the things that move with it. Two limits apply. A character cannot apply for a transfer while it is inside the Abyss, and the Abyss Corridor is open on the new server only if that server's faction has captured it.

9:02 The Abyss was not part of the Launch Scale Test of Sep 17 and 18, 2026. The test capped characters at level 37, below the level 45 the Abyss requires.

Frequently asked questions

At what level can you enter the Abyss? Aion 2's Abyss opens at level 45, the level that also unlocks arenas, battlegrounds and rifts. Anders adds an item level requirement of 1,000 for the first global map.

Can you turn PvP off in the Abyss? No. On Aion 2's global version the PvP toggle applies out in Atreia, but the Abyss is always a PvP zone.

Can you fly in the Abyss? In most of Aion 2's Abyss, yes, with rings that refresh the wing timer. The rebuilt Chaotic Middle layer in Korea allows only gliding.

How long can you stay in the Abyss? For Aion 2, Anders gives seven hours a week for players without Membership, with each map on its own timer. Korea's Membership doubles that, but NC's list of global Membership benefits (updated Sep 28, 2026) includes no extra Abyss time.

What are Abyss Points for? In Aion 2, Abyss Points buy consumables and other items, extra Stigma skill points and, together with medals, PvP gear.

Was the Abyss in the Launch Scale Test? No. The level cap of Aion 2's September 2026 test, 37, was below the level 45 needed to enter.

Which enemy server do you meet in the Abyss? In Aion 2 you meet the Asmodian or Elyos server yours is paired with. NC changes the pairings periodically; during Advanced Access the early access servers were paired only with each other, and after launch servers are matched by progress and strength.

How many players fight in an Abyss battle? NC has not given a number for the global version. In Korea the largest map, the Abyss Rift Zone, has allowed up to 300 players per faction since Jul 15, 2026, down from 400.

Which Abyss map does Aion 2's global version have? One at launch, the Chaotic Lower layer of Reshanta, which Anders says needs level 45 and item level 1,000; NC's patch notes of Oct 6, 2026 call it Chaotic Lower Reshanta. The Middle and Upper layers and the Abyss Rift Zone exist only in Korea and Taiwan as of Oct 12, 2026.

Do Abyss Points carry over in a server transfer? Yes. NC's transfer notices of Oct 9, 2026 list Abyss Points, Abyss season rank points and the remaining weekly Abyss time among what moves with an Aion 2 character. The transfer cannot be requested from inside the Abyss.

Is the Abyss open to free players in Aion 2? Yes, since the free launch of Oct 5, 2026. It needs level 45, not a Membership or a Founder's Pack; according to Anders, players without Membership get seven hours a week.

How often are Abyss server pairings changed? NC says only that it will update pairings "periodically to keep the factions balanced". As of Oct 12, 2026 it had announced no re-pairing on the global version; in Korea it re-matched servers eight times during Chapter 1, between Jul 1 and Oct 7, 2026.

Sources

• Aion 2 Launches in Korea and Taiwan on November 19, NC, Sep 12, 2025
• Aion 2 Unveils Season 2 Roadmap for 2026, NC, Jan 7, 2026
• Aion 2 Introduces New Sanctuary Dungeon, 'Corroded Decontamination Facility', NC, Mar 11, 2026
• Aion 2 Introduces Major Class Overhaul and Unveils 'Chaotic Abyss', NC, Mar 25, 2026
• Aion 2 Rolls Out 'Chapter 1. Lands of Sand and Snow' Update, NC, Jul 6, 2026
• Aion 2 Early Access Explained: Servers, Markets and PvP Rules, Aion2 Hub (fan site), updated Jul 22, 2026
• 7/15(수) 업데이트 노트, 8/26(수) 업데이트 노트, 9/9(수) 업데이트 노트 and 9/30(수) 업데이트 노트, NC (Korean update notes), Jul 15 to Sep 30, 2026
• Early Access: How It Will Work, NC, Jul 17, 2026
• 엔씨 '아이온2 글로벌' 9월 30일 얼리 액세스, 정식 출시 10월 초 전망, Gamevu, Jul 23, 2026
• [Notice] 8/18 (Tues) New Product Info: Special Quai Membership (Updated 9/28), NC, Sep 28, 2026
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• Aion 2 PvP: How the Abyss, Factions and Matchmaking Work, ExitLag Tips, Aug 25, 2026 (video)
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• "New Server and Matchmaking Information", NC, Oct 4, 2026, as updated by Oct 12, 2026