In AION 2, nearly every weapon or armor craft calls for Refining Stones. Their rarity must match the gear being made: Common stones cannot fulfill an Epic recipe. Many activities award stones, but yields differ sharply, so choosing the right source matters more than simply grinding longer.
Quick answer: Prioritize Shugo Festival and Dimensional Invasions while they are available; use Expeditions and Sanctuary Dungeons between events, and buy one missing rarity from the Market instead of farming for it.
The four Refining Stone tiers and what each one crafts
The set contains four stones, with one assigned to each gear rarity. For recipe use, a stone’s required level refers to your character’s level; it does not indicate the level at which the stone can drop. Players can trade every tier, making the Market a viable choice later on.
| Stone | Grade | Required level | Sells for |
|---|---|---|---|
 Refining Stone | Common | 15 | 16 Kina |
 Expert’s Refining Stone | Rare | 25 | 160 Kina |
 Artisan’s Refining Stone | Epic | 35 | 1,600 Kina |
 Artisan’s Ultimate Refining Stone | Unique | 40 | 1,920 Kina |
Figure out the tier your target gear needs before you farm anything. Collecting the matching rarity is the whole game here, not hoarding the largest number of stones you can find.
The fastest repeatable sources, ranked
If stockpiling is the goal, lean on activities that hand stones out as structured rewards rather than random open-world drops. Here is where each option actually lands.
| Method | Speed | How stones arrive |
|---|---|---|
| Shugo Festival | Fastest | Direct minigame rewards |
| Dimensional Invasion | Fastest | Monster Cubes after each invasion |
| Expeditions | Reliable | Boss drops on clear |
| Sanctuary Dungeons | Reliable | Clear rewards, on par with Expeditions |
| Market | Situational | Buy the exact rarity you need |
| Open-world enemies | Low | Quest and exploration drops |
| Field bosses | Low | Slow weekly kills |
Shugo Festival and Dimensional Invasions
While either event is active, put it ahead of repeatable activities because its availability is brief. The Shugo Festival awards Refining Stones directly through its minigames, making it the most concentrated source during its run. Reach the highest rank and reveal all available cards to collect a batch of materials at once; playing also advances other reward tracks.
Dimensional Invasions offer a similar pace through a different reward. After clearing one, choose from the Monster Cubes; their contents vary, and some can include Refining Stones alongside other loot. Both events are worth doing even without considering the stones.
Expeditions and Sanctuary Dungeons
When events are inactive, Expeditions and Sanctuary Dungeons provide a steady supply. Defeating an Expedition boss awards stones, while Sanctuary Dungeons yield them at a comparable rate. You can queue for either from the dungeon menu. Rotating between them grows your supply while progressing the rest of your character, making them a better use of time than killing open-world mobs solely for one material.
Dungeon bosses that guarantee the Common stone
If you would rather kill specific enemies, a handful of dungeon end bosses drop the Common Refining Stone on every kill. Each of these dungeons also lists the Artisan’s Refining Stone and Artisan’s Ultimate Refining Stone among its loot, so you bank higher tiers while clearing for gear.
| Boss | Dungeon | Common stone |
|---|---|---|
 Divine Auldor | Urugugu Canyon | 100% |
 Transcendent Bakarma | Draupnir | 100% |
 Ferocious Horn Nuakum | Ferocious Horn Den | 100% |
 Ultimate Berk | Krao Cave | 100% |
 Vakron | Vakron Sky Island | 100% |
 Eternal Ludra | Abyssal Forge: Ludra | 100% |
A second ring of mid-dungeon bosses drops the Common stone at 53.7%, roughly one every three kills. That group includes Phantasmal Lakshmi and Predator Saraswati in Draupnir, Enhanced Harcon and Neglected Gadioton in Krao Cave, Guardian Captain Raur and Judge Urahum in Urugugu Canyon, Red Spark Ignus and Black Smoke Murute in Fire Temple, Tiere and Thamon on Vakron Sky Island, and Watchdog Kwapo and Necromancer Duanka in Ferocious Horn Den.
The Artisan’s Ultimate Refining Stone is especially difficult to obtain this way. The same bosses have a drop chance of less than one percent per kill, so buying that highest tier from the Market is usually more practical than hunting for a Unique drop that may never appear.
Field bosses and their spawn windows
Several field bosses award multiple lower stone tiers with every kill. This is the slowest method, since you need to find a boss, wait for it, and defeat it. Their weekly appearances follow fixed schedules in Chaotic Reshanta, so you can plan around them.
| Boss | Level | Location | Spawn (server time) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Guardian Lord Nahma | 65 | Chaotic Lower Reshanta | Sun, Fri 21:00 |
| Enraged Guardian Lord Nahma | 80 | Chaotic Middle Reshanta | Sun, Fri 21:00 |
 Executor Tamasa | 65 | Chaotic Lower Reshanta | Mon, Thu, Sat 21:30 |
In Verteron and Altgard, the level 48 field bosses share the same drop table in their respective zones. High Commander Lagta and Soul Ruler Kashapa each have a 46.7% chance to drop the Refining Stone, an 11.7% chance for the Expert’s Refining Stone, and a 5.8% chance for the Artisan’s Refining Stone. Each boss also awards a bound loot chest guaranteed, so every kill yields something even if no stone drops.
The Reshanta bosses may not be live on every server yet, so confirm they have appeared before you build a route around their spawn times.
Buying the exact tier on the Market
Because all tiers can be traded, the Market can cover a small shortage of a particular rarity. You can get the tier your recipe needs directly instead of relying on a lucky drop while farming. Check the listings before buying, since prices fluctuate, and save this option for a specific gap rather than using it to supply every craft.
Turning spare stones into Abyss Points
Any Common stones you are not saving have a second use through Supply Requests. Handing in 5 Refining Stones returns 470 Abyss Points and 120 Enhance Stones, which is worth doing with surplus that would otherwise sit untouched in your cube.
What Refining Stones craft, and the Ultimate stone bill
Refining Stones are ingredients in weapon, armor, and other equipment recipes, with the required stone rarity matching the gear’s rarity. They appear in dozens of crafts, including early Orichalcum weapons and jewelry from Blacksmithing and Handicrafting level 3 onward. As equipment upgrades raise Combat Power, these stones become part of most gearing goals.
Demand is especially high for the Artisan’s Ultimate Refining Stone. Every Dragon Lord Greatsword is Unique grade, requires level 45, and uses one Artisan’s Splendent Orichalcum Greatsword as its base. The number of Ultimate stones needed increases with the weapon’s item level.
| Greatsword | Item level | Ultimate stones | Max Attack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Dragon Lord | 62 | 4 | 365 |
| True Dragon Lord | 62 | 4 | 365 |
| White Dragon Lord | 78 | 5 | 460 |
| Dark Dragon Lord | 78 | 5 | 460 |
| Wise Dragon Lord | 94 | 6 | 557 |
Every step up the ladder, from item level 62 to 78 to 94, adds one more Ultimate stone to the recipe while Max Attack climbs from 365 to 460 to 557. The Wise Dragon Lord Greatsword’s 557 is the 2nd highest Max Attack among the 83 greatswords in the game, behind only the 604 shared by Ludra’s Blade of Extinction, the Splendent Ebony Dragon Lord Greatsword, and the Splendent Wise Dragon Lord Greatsword.
You need more than stones for this craft: the level 62 item recipe calls for 22 Fine Thick Balaur Horn, 10 Wrathful Mind, 9 Radiant Orichalcum Ore, and 5 Radiant Odyle. Its base success rate is 67.5%, and its combo chance is 25%. If the attempt fails, all materials used must be gathered again; plan for four to six Ultimate stones at a time and keep extra in reserve in case of a failure.
The level 62 greatswords remain tradable until soulbinding and bring 30,906 kina when sold to a vendor. At item level 78, they become bound upon acquisition and have a vendor value of 53,102 kina. The item level 94 Wise Dragon Lord Greatsword is bound on pickup and sells to a vendor for 91,239 kina.
A reliable approach is to make the most of events while they run, then use Expeditions and Sanctuary Dungeons in the gaps. Consider open-world and field-boss drops an extra, not something to grind for. If one tier alone is keeping a craft out of reach, buy it on the Market instead of running another dungeon.
