AION 2 Expeditions: Exploration vs Conquest, Every Dungeon and Reward

What are expeditions in AION 2?

Three-boss dungeons for 1 to 5 players, with a leveling mode and a gear mode. Global has six of them. Each has an Exploration version, for leveling, and a Conquest version, the level 45 gear mode in three tiers by item level. Since the patch of 21 October, the two tier 1 expeditions also have a Hard mode. Transcendence, the stage challenge mode, is separate and uses two other dungeons, Deus Research Base and Shattered Arkanis, which drop the Arcana cards.

Every Conquest version needs character level 45. The entry levels come from Fextralife’s expedition page, which agrees with expcarry’s Global guide where both list a dungeon; the bosses come from questlog.gg’s game data. The game data recommends 2 to 5 players for Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island and 1 to 5 for the rest.

What is the difference between Exploration and Conquest?

Exploration levels you up and hands out a set armor piece; Conquest is where the level 45 gear and the Kina are.

Exploration’s Odyle cost is 20 in Krao Cave and Urugugu Canyon, 30 in Fire Temple and 40 in the other three, in the game data. Fextralife describes the Conquest count as per server, resetting on Wednesday, and warns that clearing a dungeon and leaving without opening its cube still uses one; neither mode has a re-entry cooldown. The weekly reset time in your time zone is on our AION 2 reset time page.

What can you pick as each expedition’s guaranteed reward?

In every tier, one expedition is the accessory dungeon and the other the armor dungeon. Each cube you claim adds Condensed Cube Energy, Fextralife explains, and when it reaches the dungeon’s count you choose one item. These are the choices in the game data:

An armor piece here means any of the set’s breastplate, greaves, helm, pauldrons, gloves, boots or cloak. Each dungeon’s Gear Change Voucher is bound and named after it. Which of these sets players actually end up wearing is covered class by class in our gear guides; the Assassin gear guide, for example, finds most geared Assassins in Vakron or Nuakum armor.

Which expedition should you run?

The one your item level opens, pairing the accessory and armor dungeon of each tier. The item levels in the first table make the order plain:

1. Item level 700: Conquest in Krao Cave for Berk accessories and in Draupnir for Bakarma armor.
2. Item level 1,400: Urugugu Canyon for Aulamus accessories and Vakron Sky Island for Vakron armor.
3. Item level 2,100: Fire Temple for Enraged Kromede accessories and Ferocious Horn Den for Nuakum armor.
4. Item level 2,600: Hard mode in Krao Cave and Draupnir, which adds Philosopher’s Stone: Revelation to the picks and drops the fragments for the new Ariel Daevanion board.

While leveling, Exploration in Krao Cave (level 20), Urugugu Canyon (28) and Fire Temple (35) hands out armor pieces after a single claim each. Until the Halloween event ends on 3–4 November, every Conquest and Hard reward cube also holds 3 Candy Key Fragments; see our AION 2 Halloween event guide.

What does Hard mode add?

A third difficulty for Krao Cave and Draupnir, at item level 2,600. Bosses are level 68 instead of 45, enrage after 4 minutes and allow 3 revives per player. Every clear pays 160,000 Kina and 60–90 Ariel Fragments, and 28 claims unlock a pick that includes Philosopher’s Stone: Revelation. Drops, chances and boss mechanics are in our Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard mode guide.

Where does this expedition information come from?

• questlog.gg: the game client data in its database, read on 2026-10-23: each expedition’s Exploration, Conquest and Hard versions, bosses, recommended party size, Kina, Odyle Energy cost, guaranteed-reward lists and claim counts.
• Fextralife: Expeditions: entry levels and item levels, Condensed Cube Energy and the weekly cube count.
• MetaBot: the weekly Exploration reward counts, as cited on our reset time page.
• expcarry: AION 2 Dungeons: Unlocks, Item Level & Rewards (updated for the Global launch): Krao Cave and Draupnir entry requirements.
• AION 2 patch notes: Patch Notes, Oct. 20 (PDT) / Oct. 21 (CEST): Hard mode in Krao Cave and Draupnir.