The Black Cloud Merchant is an hourly rotating shop in AION 2. Press H to open the Shop, then look in the upper-left corner. It shows a small slice of about 2200 items and sells pets and skins, plus a Special tab with Theostones. You pay with Kina. The offers refresh every hour for free and a manual refresh starts at 500 Kina. Every character gets a different rotation.
What You Will Read:
Quick Answer
| Quick fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| Location | Shop (H), upper-left corner |
| Unlock | Available from the start |
| Factions | Elyos and Asmodians |
| Refresh | Every hour, free |
| Item pool | About 2,200 items |
| Tabs | Special, Pets and Skins |
| Rotation | Different for each character |
| Currency | Kina |
What Is the Black Cloud Merchant in AION 2?
It is not an NPC you hunt down on the map. The Black Cloud Merchant sits inside the shop interface and shows only a few items from a big pool. About 1,100 of those are Special items. Pets make up about 200, and skins are the rest.
The offers change on their own every hour. Discounts are randomized across the shop, so two rotations can look very different. You can ignore the merchant for a week and lose nothing but a chance at a good roll.
Where to Find the Black Cloud Merchant
Press H to open the Shop. The Black Cloud Merchant label is in the upper-left corner.
It looks like a page title and not a button, so a lot of players walk right past it. Click it and you can switch between the tabs. You do not need Membership, and there is nothing to find on the world map.
How the Hourly Refresh Works
The offers refresh once an hour, and that reset costs nothing. Check the shop when you log in or when the hour rolls over.
Manual Refresh Costs
You can refresh early with Kina, but each paid refresh costs more than the last one.
| Refresh | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1st | 500 Kina |
| 2nd | 1,000 Kina |
| 3rd | 2,000 Kina |
| 4th | 3,000 Kina |
| 5th | 4,000 Kina |
| 6th | 6,000 Kina |
| 7th | 8,000 Kina |
| 8th | 10,000 Kina |
| 9th | 12,000 Kina |
| 10th | 15,000 Kina |
Ten refreshes add up to 61,500 Kina. I would not pay that to hunt one pet or one skin. The free hourly rotation is another roll with no price, so waiting is better unless the item matters a lot to you.
What the Black Cloud Merchant Sells
The shop has three tabs: Special, Pets and Skins.
Special Tab
Special holds utility and progression items, including Bound Theostones. Boxes and some outfits can show up here too, so check this tab and the Skins tab both.
A Theostone lands in your inventory first. Right-click it to add it to your enchantment page, then put it on your weapon or guard for an extra effect.
Pets
The pet pool is about 200 pets, and pet boxes can appear too. Most pets unlock with five Souls from the matching monster, so look at the acquisition source in the Pet menu before you spend Kina. If the pet you want shows up at a price you like, you skip the farming.
Skins
Skins are cosmetic appearances, and there are about 880 of them in the pool. Dungeon looks such as the Kromede appearances can show up, which is a nice way around the drop and extraction luck.
Select the smaller item icon and click the eye icon to preview a skin before you buy it. Items you already own are marked Owned. A skin you buy goes straight into your Closet, with no extraction roll.
Skins also add stats as your collection grows, so even a skin you do not plan to wear can help.
Check the Black Cloud Merchant on Alts
Each character has its own rotation. Your main and your alt can see different items in the same hour, so every extra character gives you another shop rotation to check.
- Main character: one rotation.
- Alt character: a separate rotation.
- Pets, skins and dyes: shared across the server.
- Kina: not shared between characters.
The catch is Kina. An alt that cannot afford the item can only window-shop. Unbound Kina in server storage can pay for the purchase, so I would move some there before I go looking.
What Is Worth Buying From the Black Cloud Merchant?
- Skins you already want: the best use of the shop. A dungeon appearance saves you repeated runs and the extraction roll.
- Pets you were already farming: buy one if the price feels fair. Otherwise farm the Souls.
- Theostones: compare first, because you can get them in other ways.
- Repeated paid refreshes: skip them.
Check the price before you click. Listings can reach 864,000 Kina.
I would also hold off on big purchases early on. Kina is tight when you need gear upgrades, and you may pick up that pet while you quest anyway.
At heart the shop is a Kina sink. That is fine if you enjoy collecting skins and pets. If you only care about progression, open it once an hour and look for a Theostone or a skin you want.
Is the Black Cloud Merchant the Same as the Black Market?
Some players refer to the Black Cloud Merchant as the Black Market, especially when looking at pet sources. However, the official name of the shop in AION 2 is Black Cloud Merchant.
If you search for Black Market, you are usually looking for this same shop.
