Templar

The Templar is AION 2’s tank. NCSOFT’s official announcement of 4 June 2025 gives it the "Core tanking role" in those words — the class whose job is to hold the front and take what the group cannot. That makes it the one class in the roster whose value is not measured in damage, and the one a group notices immediately when it is missing. NCSOFT has not published which weapon the class uses, so this page does not name one. Every claim here carries its date: AION 2 launched in Korea and Taiwan on 19 November 2025, all classes were reworked on 25 March 2026, and the Korean service received a class-care pass on 4 September 2026 — the longest list of changes of any class that day.

The rework of 25 March 2026 is the last full rework on record for this class (official NCSOFT announcement, same date). It gave the Templar a new Stigma skill, "Battlefield Banner". Two of the general changes announced that day bear directly on tanking: two new defensive mechanics were introduced, Perfect Shield Block and Perfect Parry, and "Immune and Immortal effects can no longer be applied consecutively within a 30-second window". Alongside these, "The maximum number of Stigma slots has also been expanded to five", and "PvP and PvE damage calculations have been separated, and balance adjustments have been made to reduce damage gaps between certain skills". A narrower change followed on the Korean service: a class-care pass announced by an official AION2 notice on 3 September 2026 and applied with the maintenance of 4 September 2026. For the Templar, written 수호성 in that notice, it is the longest list of any class. The skill written 방패 강타 becomes usable while moving, with a reworked animation. One family of strikes gains 20% PvE damage, and its fourth specialisation now shortens the cooldown of the skill written 비호의 일격 instead of the one written 징벌; a second family loses 7% PvP damage; the skill written 심판 gains 5% in PvE, loses 7% in PvP, and now activates while invulnerable. The 집행자 buff associated with 징벌 lasts 20 seconds instead of 10, while the skill 징벌 loses 10% PvE damage, and the cooldown of 비호의 일격 rises from 25 to 30 seconds. The notice exists only in Korean, so nothing from it is quoted here, and it concerns the Korean service, not the Western launch. The class’s earlier lineage in the wider AION series is not covered by any source this page can date.

The defensive half of the 25 March 2026 announcement is the part to read closely (official NCSOFT announcement, same date). Perfect Shield Block and Perfect Parry were introduced as new mechanics, and "Immune and Immortal effects can no longer be applied consecutively within a 30-second window" — so defensive cooldowns that were previously chained now have to be spaced out. Five Stigma slots give more room to carry both a defensive and a utility option, and "Battlefield Banner" is the class’s new candidate. The same announcement introduced Chaotic Abyss, where "players are divided into West and East forces at the server level, engaging in large-scale battles regardless of race alignment", while "Spacetime Rift will continue to operate under the current race-based matchmaking system". NCSOFT published no values for any of these mechanics, so none are stated here.

The classic mistake is picking the Templar because "tanks always find a group", then finding the class slow when playing alone. The publisher’s own description is narrow and worth taking literally: NCSOFT’s announcement of 4 June 2025 assigns it the "Core tanking role" and says nothing about solo performance — and where the publisher is silent, this page does not fill the gap. If you want a class built to solo, the same announcement points elsewhere: it describes the Spiritmaster as "Optimized for solo play". Pick the Templar if you want the group to depend on you and if holding a fight together is the part you enjoy. Do not judge it on any ranking written before 25 March 2026: two new defensive mechanics arrived that day and the consecutive use of Immune and Immortal effects was restricted, so older comparisons describe a different class. And note the caveat that applies to every class page here: NCSOFT has not announced what content the Western early access on 30 September 2026 opens with.