Free guide · Aion 2 Global · Elyos and Asmodian
Aion 2 Transcendence Guide: Deus Research Base, Shattered Arkanis and Arcana Drops
By nZ4Y9Fw · From the Global client, launcher version 27 · Updated
Transcendence is where Arcana cards come from. Global has two Transcendence dungeons, Deus Research Base and Shattered Arkanis, each with four stages from 1,600 to 2,500 gear score. Clearing a stage opens the next one. Each clear gives you a reward cube. Opening it costs 40 Odyle Energy, and if you killed all three bosses it pays 300,000 to 480,000 Kina and 2 to 4.5 Arcana cards.
Run the highest stage you can clear, in the dungeon that drops the cards you're missing. Deus Research Base drops the Bell and the Compass. Shattered Arkanis drops the Mirror and the Parchment. Both drop the Chalice. Aim for stage 4: it drops about one Unique card per claim, five times as many as stage 3. So from 2,200, reach 2,500 on Horn Den and Fire Temple gear rather than farming stage 3. Clear stage 3 once, since that clear opens stage 4, and run it more only if a card or two would take you to 2,500. The gear score guide has the route.
Stages, gear score and unlocks
| Stage | Gear score | Boss level | Deus Research Base adds | Shattered Arkanis adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,600 | 56 | – | – |
| 2 | 1,900 | 60 | Balance | Poison Blood |
| 3 | 2,200 | 64 | + Wrath | + Elevation |
| 4 | 2,500 | 68 | + Judgment | + Tolerance |
To open a stage, you need its gear score and a clear of the stage before it. Any rank works. Our B clear (the lowest rank) of Deus Research Base stage 1 opened stage 2, even though the game's files say you need an S. Once a stage is open, it stays open.
- Balance: when an elite (tier 3 or stronger) dies, it leaves a zone that hurts you and makes monsters in it hit harder. Kill elites away from where you'll fight next.
- Poison Blood: the same zone, but it heals the monsters in it.
- Wrath: ordinary enemies hit harder once they're below half HP. Finish them fast.
- Elevation: when an ordinary enemy dies, the ones near it hit harder. Pull smaller packs.
- Judgment: each boss hit puts a stacking mark on you. It explodes and hurts everyone near you by a share of their HP. Spread out.
- Tolerance: bosses' stagger bars are bigger. Save your stagger skills for the checks.
What your rank does
Your rank (S, A or B) depends on your clear time and your kills. It adds season ranking points but doesn't affect unlocks. The game doesn't say what time or score earns an S. One Global example: an S on Shattered Arkanis stage 2 in 13:12, with three deaths, so deaths don't rule one out.
How a run works
- 2 to 5 players, level 45. Entry is free. You pay when you open the reward cube.
- Two mid-bosses, a kill quota, then the final boss. The final boss's door opens once the party's kills reach the quota. A mid-boss counts 45 and most other enemies 2.
- The final boss frenzies at 5 minutes: it moves, casts and hits faster. Slow groups will see it.
| Stage | Deus Research Base quota | Shattered Arkanis quota |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 110 | 120 |
| 2 | 110 | 120 |
| 3 | 130 | 150 |
| 4 | 150 | 170 |
Kill both mid-bosses. Together they count for 90 of the quota, so you only need 10 to 40 more kills. Each one also adds its own Kina and drops to your cube.
Send a runner ahead
Send one player, usually your lowest-damage DPS, ahead of the group. They bind the Kibelisks near the second and last bosses while the other four clear the quota. Once a Kibelisk is bound, the party can teleport to it after each boss instead of walking. In Deus Research Base the runner can also pull the two levers that turn off the lasers on the way.
Deus Research Base has four Kibelisks, in order: Deus Research Base Entrance, Collapsed Sky Island, Pseudo-Odyle Workshop and Deus Research Base Top Floor.
Weekly limits: claims, unclaimed cubes and Kina
There's no weekly cap on claims, but three separate counts apply:
| Count | What uses it | Shared by | At the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odyle Energy | 40 a claim | Each character | No claims until it refills: regeneration pays for 21 a week |
| Unclaimed cubes | A cleared run left unclaimed | Your server | No entry to Conquest or Transcendence until Wednesday's reset |
| Weekly Kina cut | Every run | Your server | Cubes pay less Kina after 56 runs a week |
- Claim every cube. You can leave only 10 cubes unclaimed a week (the Remaining Unobtained Cube Count, on the dungeon's page).
- A wipe costs only time. The boss resets and you try again. You spend no Odyle Energy and use up no count.
- After 56 runs, only the Kina drops: cubes pay 80% of it, then 60%, 40% and 20%. Cards and materials stay the same. The Kina guide has the steps, and how to get more Odyle.
Rewards: what a claim pays
When you clear the final boss, your Odyle Energy Cube appears. Opening it costs 40 Odyle Energy. It pays out for the final boss and for each mid-boss you killed, and each boss rolls its own drops. Everyone in the party opens their own cube. With a membership, you can pay 40 more to open it a second time.
Every claim, at every stage:
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
 Enhance Stone | 2,000 |
 Silentium (Bound) | 10 |
 Soul Codex (Bound) | 1–4 |
By stage, each claim pays this Kina, plus these Amplify Stone Fragments (Unique) and Lesser Manastones or Soulstones on average, all Bound. Stages 3 and 4 also add 0.2 Intermediate Manastones or Soulstones per claim.
| Stage | Kina | Fragments | Lesser stones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 300,000 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 2 | 360,000 | 1.7 | 2 |
| 3 | 420,000 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| 4 | 480,000 | 3 | 3.2 |
Average Arcana cards per claim:
| Stage | Common | Rare | Epic | Unique | All cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 0.2 | 0 | 4.2 |
| 3 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.75 | 0.2 | 4.45 |
| 4 | 0.38 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1 | 4.38 |
These are averages, not chances. A claim has at least one Unique card about 1 time in 5 at stage 3 (19%), and about 3 times in 4 at stage 4 (74%). The final boss drops about three times as many cards as a mid-boss.
Where your Odyle goes. Per claim, stage 2 pays 360,000 Kina, more than Conquest 2★'s 300,000. Stages 3 and 4 pay more than Conquest 3★'s 400,000. From 2,600 gear score, Hard Conquest pays the same 480,000 as stage 4, plus its drops. And only Transcendence drops Arcana. The Kina guide has the run that pays most at each gear score.
Arcana drops by dungeon
Chalice
Bell
Compass
Mirror
Parchment| Dungeon | Cards |
|---|---|
| Deus Research Base | Chalice, Bell, Compass |
| Shattered Arkanis | Chalice, Mirror, Parchment |
Each card raises some of your class's skills, picked at random when it drops. A card carries 1 to 4 skill effects (Common to Unique), each from that card's own skills. The Parchment and the Compass each roll from six Active skills. The Bell and the Mirror each roll from five Passive skills. The Chalice can roll any of those 22. A card adds 20 to 80 gear score. Half the cards drop as Vigor and half as Magic, for the Primal Vigor and Magic Armor sets. Both kinds roll from the same skills.
Farming one skill? Run the dungeon that drops its card. The Chalice can carry it too, and both dungeons drop that. For example, a Gladiator after Overhead Slam (a Parchment skill) runs Shattered Arkanis. Enhancing a card adds skill effects until it has four. The Arcana guide has every class's skills by card.
Cards per 10 claims, by card and grade. "Each other card" means each of the dungeon's own two cards:
| Card | Grade | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chalice | Common | 5 | 7.5 | 20 | 3.8 |
| Rare | 0 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 3.8 | |
| Epic | 0 | 0 | 1.9 | 3.8 | |
| Unique | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | |
| Each other card | Common | 7.5 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Rare | 1 | 3.8 | 5.6 | 5.6 | |
| Epic | 0 | 1 | 2.8 | 5.6 | |
| Unique | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.8 |
Fill all five slots at stage 1, then swap cards out as better grades drop. Every 10 claims, stage 1 gives about 8 of each of the dungeon's own cards and 5 Chalices. From stage 3, every Common card is a Chalice, so feed those to the cards you keep. A Unique Chalice drops only at stage 4, about one claim in four. That's why the gear score guide crafts the Chalice first.
Deus Research Base bosses: Gelcos, Nazmun and Atiel
Route: Gelcos first, then Nazmun. Then fill the quota in the large arena and head to the centre for Atiel. All sizes and warning times below come from the game's files. The warning is how long the marker shows on the floor before the hit lands.
The diagrams show each attack to scale, in the boss's real room (traced from the game's map). Colours: damage, a shared hit (stack in it), a pull, where to stand, 
the tank. Small attacks are shown close up. Each boss is drawn facing its room's entrance, where it first stands. In the fight, its attacks turn with it.
Gelcos
- Marked player: he marks one player, dashes at them twice, then leaps at them. Each dash knocks you down, and the hit after it leaves an electric field for the rest of the fight. The marked player dodges each dash and drags the field away from the middle.
- Pull and whip: he pulls everyone within 25 metres to him, then whips 280° around himself, out to 17 metres. Only his back is safe, so get behind him as soon as the pull lands. His normal swings hit in front too.
- Vortex: his biggest area attack. It first hits within 10 metres (1.2 seconds' warning), then in a ring out to 25 metres (1.5 seconds). Run more than 25 metres away.
Nazmun
- Lasers, first: turrets sweep laser lines 20 metres long and 2 metres wide across the arena, marked 2 seconds ahead. The tank pulls Nazmun to the far end of the arena, where only one laser reaches.
- Three-hit line attack: aimed at the tank. Block or dodge each.
- High Voltage Electric Current Zone: he puts a bomb on the tank, and later on two players. It goes off 3 seconds later and hits everyone nearby, so the target walks away from the group.
- Bomb Drop: a 3-metre circle, marked 1 second ahead, on a player within 5 metres.
Atiel
- Grab: a 9-metre lunge in front of him that holds one player for 4 seconds and smashes them down. Watch for the wind-up and dodge it.
- Frontal fan: 25 metres deep and 120° wide, marked 2 seconds ahead.
- Tether and soak, his killer: he pulls the party in, links the tank to another player and roots a third for 5.4 seconds.
- Nonsynonymous Unity: the linked pair take damage until they run far enough apart to break the link.
- Share the hit: everyone else stacks on the rooted player, inside the 7-metre circle (marked 3 seconds ahead). If you ran to break the link, dash back to the stack. Shields and potions cover the rest.
Each player in the circle loses a share of their max HP. The more players in it, the smaller the share. Alone, it kills:
| Players in the circle | Damage to each |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500% of max HP |
| 2 | 80% |
| 3 | 70% |
| 4 | 60% |
| 5 | 30% |
- Waves: two rings sweep the floor, first from 35 to 60 metres out from the centre, then from 25 to 35. Each comes after a 5-second cast, is marked 2 seconds ahead, and pushes you toward the edge. A spot a wave has just hit is safe from the next, so sidestep left and right and stay off the edge.
- Breaking floor: the arena is a centre platform and two outer rings, and the rings break away during the fight. Nobody can revive a player who falls, so move inward as the floor goes.
- Charges: he dashes along straight lines 70 and 50 metres long and 6 metres wide, marked 2 seconds ahead.
- Morphic World, last: a 10-second cast. Break Atiel's guard (his stagger bar) before it ends, or the party wipes. Save your stagger skills for it, circle him and keep up the damage.
- Control: at some stages everyone is chained to Atiel, and anyone who strays too far takes damage. Stay close until the chains fade. NoBS's stage 2 clear doesn't show it.
Shattered Arkanis bosses: Siliator, Ruthilis and Talisra
Route: Siliator of Deceit first, then Ruthilis of Pain, then the quota, then Talisra of the Void. The runner binds the two Kibelisks near the second and last bosses, so the party can teleport on after each kill. In NoBS's stage 1 runs, the rest of the party had killed about 40 enemies by then, which was enough for the quota.
Siliator of Deceit
- Chasing chakrams: two players get a red line, and a chakram follows each. Lead them into each other, standing close in an X, so they collide and vanish. A chakram that hits you kills almost at once.
- Thrown and recalled chakrams: he throws chakrams at every player and then around the arena, and calls them back. Stack and move as one, or find a gap and keep a dodge for the return.
- Big red circle: a 10-metre circle on one player, marked 2 seconds ahead. Take it away from the party. Its Chain of Torment debuff cuts your Damage Tolerance by 30% per stack, up to 3 stacks, for 10 seconds.
- Front strike, then donut: a 240° swing out to 6 metres (0.5 seconds' warning), then a ring from 6 to 12 metres (0.8 seconds). Melee players stay at his back. Ranged players stand more than 12 metres away.
Ruthilis of Pain
- Opening blast: her first attack is always a 35-metre, 90° fan toward the arena's door, marked in red 2 seconds ahead. Stand away from the door before you pull. If you die, come back in along the very edge of the room.
- Leap and donut: she jumps on the farthest player and hits around them. Be ready to dodge.
- Red arena: the floor glows red from 6 to 50 metres around her, marked 2 seconds ahead. Get underneath her: it knocks you down.
- Condensed Lightning: a 3-metre strike, marked 1 second ahead. Two seconds after it hits a player, a ring spreads out from them. Watch for rings on teammates and jump over them.
Talisra of the Void
- Cone: 22 metres deep and 120° wide, marked 1.5 seconds ahead. It kills anyone inside. It's easier to dodge close to her.
- Wide sweep: 320° around her out to 12 metres, marked 1 second ahead. Only the slice behind her is safe.
- Rings: a marker covers the arena, and a ring runs out and then back in. Jump it both ways.
- Cast Fall: she raises four spears and names one in her line ("White Spear, condemn my enemies"). Break that spear, or it ends in a party-wide blast. At the same time she leaps on the farthest player, so a ranged player baits the leap while the rest break the spear.
- Beam: a player marked with a big circle is chased by a beam. Keep running.
- Mist and Water Orbs: an 18-second cast from the middle of the arena, while two kinds of orb drift toward her.
- Before the pull, give each player a kind (white or purple: 3 and 2 in a party of five), and take only yours. The two kinds cancel out when they touch.
- A collected orb leaves a barrier of its kind where you stand. A mist barrier and a water barrier that touch both disappear.
- Each orb that reaches her raises her attack by 10% for the rest of the fight.
- Then watch her staff light up in a sequence of white and purple, and stand in that colour's barrier for each blast.
- Crystal Prison: one player is locked in a crystal for up to 15 seconds and takes damage, while Refracting Spears fly at the others. Each spear that hits the crystal shortens the prison, and the third breaks it. Line your spear up with the crystal, then dodge aside. NoBS's stage 1 clear doesn't show it.
Sources: the Global client's data (launcher version 26 tables, unchanged in version 27). It gives the dungeons and stages, the gear-score gates, the clear ranks, entry, the kill quotas, the Kibelisks and levers, the bosses and their levels, the 5-minute frenzy, the modifiers, everything a claim pays (RewardOdEnergyCube, RewardItem and RewardPackage), and which skills each card can carry (ArcanaStatFilter). Cards per claim are worked out from the client's drop rates, with each boss rolling on its own and all three killed. The bosses' attacks come from the client's skill data: names, effects, hit shapes and sizes, warning and cast times, debuffs, and Atiel's shared-hit damage (Skill, SkillEffectFilter, SkillEffect and SkillAbnormal tables). The diagrams place those shapes in each boss's room as the game's own dungeon map shows it. We checked in game, on our own characters: stage 1's 1,600 gate, the Remaining Unobtained Cube Count and no other entry count, the weekly Kina cut, Atiel's breaking floor, and a B clear opening the next stage. The client doesn't say when a boss uses each attack, since the server decides that. The order, and how to answer each attack, follow NoBS Game Guides' Global clears of Deus Research Base (6 October 2026) and Shattered Arkanis (5 October 2026). The S-rank clear is from All Things How (StingcatKnight's run). Our own calls: run the highest stage you can clear, skip stage 3 where you can, pick the dungeon by the cards you're missing, kill both mid-bosses, and send a runner for the Kibelisks (as NoBS's groups do).
Four stages, from 1,600 to 2,500 gear score. Short on time?
Our pilots clear the Transcendence stage you pick on your character while you're away.
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