AION 2 DPS meters: how they read game traffic and what you risk

How a meter sees other players' damage

The game and the server constantly exchange packets: who hit whom, how much damage, what was said in chat. The Combat Analysis window (Ctrl+X) shows only your damage. To see the whole party, a third-party meter has to read that stream itself. There are two ways:

An important detail: the AION 2 game stream is only compressed, not encrypted. So a meter sees more than damage. The A2Tools authors state in their own source code that a full capture of the connection contains chat, GM broadcasts, names of people outside the party and account statistics.

LagoFast: a meter inside an "accelerator"

LagoFast is a paid "game accelerator" that lowers ping by routing traffic through its servers. It includes a DPS tracker for AION 2. The operator is Junyun Limited, registered in Hong Kong.

• How it turns on. You enable the tracker in LagoFast, pick a server, press Boost and launch the game through LagoFast.
• Where the data comes from. According to the vendor — straight from the "optimized" connection, with no memory injection. In other words, all game traffic passes through LagoFast's nodes and the meter parses it there.
• Rights. Installing it requires an administrator account, per the Microsoft Store listing.
• The promise. The vendor says passive network tracking won't get you banned. NCSOFT has not confirmed that, and the EULA makes no such exception.

The vendor does not document which driver LagoFast uses to intercept traffic, how it draws its overlay or what the PC version collects. The mobile app's privacy policy lists IP and MAC addresses, device identifiers and game data including chat. Whether it covers the PC client is unclear.

Shugo.GG: a companion app on Npcap

Shugo.GG is a well-known AION 2 fan site with timers, maps and character profiles; many other tools use its event schedule. It also has a separate Windows app — an in-game companion with a DPS meter, a map and a checklist. The app page says it is not affiliated with or approved by NCSOFT.

• Requirements. Windows 10/11, the Npcap driver and a Shugo.GG account — sign-in via Discord. One account works on two PCs.
• Where the data comes from. In their words, the app reads what the game receives on your own PC and never changes the game, its files or its memory. Npcap is a packet capture driver, so the data comes from the game's traffic.
• What it pulls from the traffic. A DPS meter (damage, healing, deaths, charts), PvP opponent frames, a checklist from the game's own counters, a monster radar with distance and direction, and your position on the map.
• On bans. The authors say plainly: AION 2's terms don't explicitly forbid such tools, but NCSOFT could still act against an account, up to a ban. Use it at your own risk.

The difference in tone stands out: LagoFast promises you won't be banned, while Shugo.GG itself warns about the ban risk. Technically both read the same game data stream.

Other meters

A2Tools DPS Meter, Abyss Logs, NotMeter and AionFlex use the same passive Npcap capture. A2Tools is open source (GitHub, GPL-3.0): its code shows the stream is parsed without decryption — it is only LZ4-compressed — and the standard build uploads combat logs to the project's site. An offline build without that exists. The meters differ mostly in interface and in where the logs go.

LagoFast vs Shugo.GG

What NCSOFT's rules say

The words "meter" or "packet capture" do not appear in the AION 2 Global rules. But the NC Corporation end user license agreement (revision of 20.10.2026; Steam shows it as the AION 2 EULA), in section 6 "Restrictions on and Use of the Services", forbids:

• reverse engineering — decrypting, decompiling or disassembling NC software. The protocol meters read was recovered exactly that way;
• accessing the Services with third-party tools — any software other than what NC provides;
• collecting other users' data without their consent — which party meters and log uploads with names do;
• circumventing technical protection measures.

The EULA incorporates the AION 2 Operation Policy (in force since 17.09.2026). Its sanctions table punishes "Use of Unauthorized Programs" and "Creating/Distributing Unauthorized Programs" with an integrated account ban. The company may also choose a lighter penalty or none. The Korean terms are more direct: programs not provided or approved by the company are forbidden.

A fair caveat: the Operation Policy defines an "unauthorized program" as one that circumvents protection or interferes with normal operation. A passive meter is harder to fit under that. The EULA clauses on reverse engineering, third-party tools and collecting others' data fit it directly.

In Korea NCSOFT spoke about meters openly. On the 26 May 2026 live stream the developers sternly warned operators of third-party DPS meters and log sites, promising to block data collection in the game and to take legal action. Regular players who don't run such sites were not targeted then. On 1 April 2026 an official meter — Combat Analysis — was added to the game.

Do people actually get banned?

There are plenty of bans, just not for meters. In Korea 727,748 accounts were banned in 65 waves by 20 January 2026 — for macros, bots and farms — and police complaints were filed against several macro users. On Global the first wave on 10–11 October 2026 hit about 5,000 accounts; reports put the total above 42,000 by 17 October. NC's notices name bots, gold farming, real-money trading and unauthorized programs. Meters are not named separately.

A few players claim they were banned "for a meter", but we could not confirm it: those reports coincide with the anti-bot waves. Bottom line as of 22.10.2026: no confirmed bans for meters specifically. The rules still give grounds for it, and they do not promise a separate warning before sanctions.

Risks for your PC

• Admin rights. A program with them can do anything in the system. The main risk is not the capture itself but running an unverified exe as administrator.
• The driver stays. Npcap is a kernel-level driver. It starts with Windows and stays after you uninstall the meter, until you remove it separately.
• Vulnerabilities happen. An old Npcap version (0.992) had a kernel memory bug with possible privilege escalation (CVE-2019-11490). Keep the driver updated or remove it when you don't need it.
• It sees more than damage. A sniffer with admin rights sees all traffic on the network card, not just the game. The game stream is not encrypted: chat and names are readable. Logins, the launcher and websites use TLS — only addresses are visible there.
• Fakes. Stealers are regularly spread as game "cheats" and "trainers". In June 2025 Check Point found about 500 GitHub repositories with fake Minecraft mods that stole Discord and Telegram tokens and crypto wallets. A meter downloaded from anywhere but its official page carries the same risk.

How AION2 Status works

For comparison — how our overlay works. AION2 Status does not read the game's traffic or memory, installs no drivers and needs no admin rights. It learns the server status with an empty connection to the game server — the same way the server status page checks it. Timers follow the schedule. There is no DPS meter in the overlay. More on the overlay safety page.

Sources

• NC Corporation End User License Agreement, section 6
• AION 2 Operation Policy (Global), sanctions table
• Shugo.GG: companion app page
• A2Tools DPS Meter on GitHub: README and source code
• LagoFast: AION 2 DPS tracker description
• Inven Global: AION 2 live stream of 26.05.2026, meter warning
• NC notice on AION 2 Global account restrictions
• NVD: CVE-2019-11490 (Npcap)
• Check Point: fake mods with stealers on GitHub (2025)