Which class to pick when you start

AION 2 launches in the West with a class choice you cannot easily undo, and most of what you will read about it is out of date. This page gives you the publisher’s own one-line description of each class, the date it was written, and the one change that invalidates every guide older than March 2026. It does not give you a tier list, because NCSOFT has published no numbers that would support one — and a ranking without numbers is someone’s opinion wearing a table.

NCSOFT described the eight classes in a single release on 4 June 2025: Gladiator "Powerful, wide-area skill attacks", Templar "Core tanking role", Assassin "Precision-based melee specialist", Marksman "Long-range scout class", Sorcerer "High burst magic damage", Spiritmaster "Optimized for solo play", Cleric "Now featuring improved damage capabilities", Chanter "A versatile support role with multiplayer utility". Marksman is now called Ranger, and Spiritmaster appears as Elementalist in the announcement of 25 March 2026 — three official names for two classes.

The date that matters is 25 March 2026. On that day every class received a new Stigma skill, the maximum number of Stigma slots rose to five, two new defensive mechanics arrived, defensive effects stopped being chainable within a 30-second window, and PvP and PvE damage were split into separate calculations. A class comparison written before that date does not describe these classes. And a ninth class, the Brawler, exists on the Korean service since 6 July 2026 — with Gauntlets, a Rage resource and a Rampage state — but NCSOFT has published nothing about its presence at the Western launch, so this site carries no page for it.

The honest way to choose, given what is actually published. If you want to fight several enemies at once, in melee: Gladiator. To hold the front and have the group depend on you: Templar. To delete one target and accept that positioning is the price: Assassin. To fight at range and scout: Ranger. To decide fights in short windows and be fragile between them: Sorcerer. To play mostly alone: Spiritmaster, the only class the publisher describes that way. To keep the group alive and still deal damage: Cleric. To shape a fight for others rather than do one job well: Chanter. What no source supports: any statement that one of them is stronger than another. NCSOFT has published no balance figures, before or after the rework.