Ludra, Aion2’s final raid of Season 1, set off a storm of discussion in the community on launch day. One of the most direct reactions was: is this content only meant for whale teams? The world first for Hard Mode is still held by a very small number of top-end teams, and Normal Mode is far from “just jump in with any PUG and clear it” for many players. If you are anxious because you cannot do Hard Mode, this article is here to unpack the questions of what you should prioritize, how to exchange rewards, how much Kina it takes, and whether you will fall behind.
The conclusion first: not doing Hard Mode does not mean you will have “nothing to play” by the end of Season 1, but you do need to follow the right exchange route.
The Ludra threshold is not “2,800 and you can walk in”
Ludra’s entry item level is 2,800 for Normal and 3,000 for Hard, and both opened on November 4, 2026. But the official patch notes are very clear: the entry level is only a “door requirement” and does not guarantee you can clear it smoothly.
The actual community feedback and guide-site consensus is that Normal Mode’s hidden requirement for DPS is far above the 2,800 number. The original author’s judgment was that DPS need to reach at least the 210,000 combat power range, while in Hard Mode the characters responsible for damage often need to be in the 245,000–270,000 range to have a chance at beating the enrage timer. Survival-oriented setups for healers and tanks can be somewhat lower, but “low combat power can clear” refers to support slots, not DPS slots. This is also why many veteran teams with years of raid experience are still stuck at Ludra.
What you should really focus on is not the Abyssal Bracelet drop
Ludra drops two bracelets, but their acquisition logic is completely different, and this is the first fork that determines which difficulty you should run and how you should spend your time.
The Abyssal Bracelet can drop by chance from Normal and Hard Mode and can be amplified to level 3. The Ludra’s Bracelet is the long-term goal in this progression line, can be amplified to level 5, but it does not drop directly from the raid. It can only be exchanged through the guaranteed Gear Change Voucher via Substance Morph.
In other words: do not pin your hopes on “gambling on an Abyssal drop.” For most players whose bracelet is still blue or low-tier purple, the Ludra’s Bracelet exchange route is the real reason you participate in this raid.
Exchange route: Normal vouchers are not “inferior vouchers”; they can be pushed forward
The exchange numbers themselves are not complicated, but how you combine them determines whether you “wait one extra week” or “wait three extra weeks”:
| Exchange target | Required vouchers |
| Ludra’s Bracelet | 6 Normal Ludra Vouchers |
| Ludra’s Bracelet | 3 Hard Ludra Vouchers |
| 1 Hard Voucher | Converted from 2 Normal Vouchers |
This conversion mechanism is the key to normal players not falling behind. Normal Mode gives Normal Vouchers per run, and 2 Normal Vouchers can be Substance Morphed into 1 Hard Voucher. So the route is not “if you cannot do Hard Mode, you just wait six weeks,” but rather:
Run Normal for the first two weeks → convert 2 Normal Vouchers into 1 Hard Voucher → afterward, if you can do Hard Mode, follow the 3 Hard Voucher route; if you still cannot, keep collecting 6 Normal Vouchers.
A more practical pace is: Normal in weeks 1–2, then from week 3 decide based on your team situation whether to switch to Hard. If by the end of week 2 you already have 2 Normal Vouchers in hand, switch to Hard in week 3 and get one more Hard Voucher, then get another Hard Voucher in week 4; the total cycle is about just over 4 weeks. If you go fully Normal, it is exactly 6 weeks. The actual gap between the two routes is far smaller than the pressure implied by “if you do not do Hard Mode, you are eliminated.”
Weapons and wings are worth looking at, but do not use guaranteed vouchers to exchange for them
Ludra’s weapons and Guard are in the same reward pool for Normal and Hard, drop by chance, and Normal Mode also has a chance to get them. Sealed Abyssal Waves Wings also belongs to the raid’s reward category, and for characters who have not yet finished their seasonal wings, it is a valuable supplement.
But there is a very easy wrong turn here: do not use the guaranteed Gear Change Voucher to exchange for a weapon box. Your first priority is almost always the Ludra’s Bracelet. The reason is not complicated: the bracelet is a longer-term enhancement slot at the account level, and the long-term benefit of a level 5 amplification cap is far beyond what a “transitional weapon” can replace. Unless your weapon slot is clearly dragging down the whole team’s damage and you are sure you will not touch Ludra again for a while, using vouchers for the bracelet and letting weapons drop by chance is the choice you are least likely to regret.
Where Kina is spent in this route
Ludra’s bracelet exchange itself consumes Kina. When Substance Morph turns vouchers into the Ludra’s Bracelet, in addition to the vouchers there is usually a gold cost, and the magnitude seen in community data is in the millions of Kina. After you get the bracelet, every step of amplifying it to +3 and +5 also requires Kina and enhancement materials. So if your current Kina stock is only enough for daily repairs and potions, before you start pushing the Ludra exchange, it is worth taking a separate look at your Kina budget.
Daily Kina acquisition paths include Conquest, exploration dungeons, and weekly regular content. But if your time window is tight, or you want to level an alt specifically to support your main’s bracelet enhancement, some players also put third-party Kina channels on their backup list. If you are the type who says “I know I can farm it in game, but right now I want to fill the Kina gap for the bracelet route in one go,” buy Aion 2 Kina at the MMOEXP is one of the options more frequently mentioned in the community: it splits listings by server and faction, has a Trustpilot score around 4.8, and covers EU, NA, SA, Asia, and other regions.
Priority checklist for normal players
If you can only do a few things this week, follow this order:
First, get your Normal Ludra vouchers first. Even if your team can only do Normal, even if the run is not clean, the guaranteed voucher is the anchor of your progression. Without vouchers, none of the later exchange routes can start.
Second, before the end of week 2, check whether you have 2 Normal Vouchers. If you do, you have the initiative to “convert one Hard Voucher.” Whether to convert depends on whether you can get into a stable Hard Mode team in week 3, but having the conversion option in hand is itself a kind of anti-fall-behind insurance.
Third, do not use Ludra’s guaranteed vouchers to exchange for weapons. The bracelet is the only reward in this line that is “if you do not exchange it, it is hard to replace with other content later.”
Fourth, reserve Kina in advance. If you wait until the week you complete the vouchers to scramble for gold, it is easy to be forced into a decision under unfavorable exchange ratios or third-party prices.
Ludra’s difficult design is indeed not friendly, and putting a large amount of pressure on DPS thresholds rather than pure mechanics has also frustrated many normal teams. But if you adjust your goal from “I must clear Hard Mode this week” to “use Normal Mode to steadily push forward the Ludra’s Bracelet exchange progress,” this raid has not closed the door on non-whale players. What really makes you fall behind is not failing to do Hard Mode, but failing to collect guaranteed vouchers while you can still do Normal Mode.
