Gladiator

[SephYuyX]

Mod Edit: Updated 8/30/10, credit for the 30+ abilities goes to Gulkeeva.

The Best Defense

Gladiators specialize in the handling of all manner of one–handed blades, from daggers to longswords, be they single– or double–edged, straight or curved. A defining characteristic of the guild is its emphasis on diverse combat tactics, training its members to bring their martial skills to bear in any situation.
As such, there are practitioners who marry sword with shield, seeking to defend their fellow companions. Others opt for an empty off hand, choosing instead to focus entirely on their sword arm. The gladiator’s proficiency with blades also extends to those hurled at range, such as throwing knives.




Abilities(Sword)
● Light Stab (Rank 1 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: Instant )
◦ Attack with your sword, dealing piercing damage.

● Light Slash (Rank 1 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: Instant )
◦ Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage.

● Rampart (Rank 4 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 5m )
◦ Fight to protect yourself, increasing defense and magical defense.

● Provoke (Rank 10 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 20s )
◦ Gesture threateningly, increasing enmity and temporarily focusing the target's attacks on you.

● Still Precision (Rank 14 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 90s )
◦ Steady yourself, increasing accuracy and reducing evasion.

● Obsess (Rank 18 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 45s )
◦ Focus on a single enemy, increasing defense against the target while reducing defense against all other targets.

● Cover (Rank 22 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Come to the aid of another, positioning yourself between the target and an enemy to redirect damage to yourself instead.

● Cadence (Rank 26 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Control the pace of battle, increasing the power of your next attack while in battle regimen mode.

● Ambidexterity - Possibly bought with guild marks (Rank 30 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 5m )
◦ Focus on your off hand, halving stamina cost of your next action.

● Rampart II (Rank 34 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 5m )
◦ Fight to protect yourself, increasing defense and magical defense.

● Sentinel (Rank 36 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Thwart attacks to fluster your enemies, reducing damage dealt to you and slowing loss of enmity.

● Provoke II (Rank 40 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 20s )
◦ Gesture threateningly, increasing enmity and temporarily focusing the target's attacks on you.

● Still Precision II (Rank 44 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 90s )
◦ Steady yourself, increasing accuracy and reducing evasion.

● Tempered Will (Rank 46 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 90s )
◦ Harden your resolve, increasing magic resistance and removing bind and heavy effects.

● Obsess II (Rank 48 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 45s )
◦ Focus on a single enemy, increasing defense against the target while reducing defense against all other targets.

Abilities(Shield)
● Guard (Rank 1 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: Instant )
◦ Guard with your shield.

● Aegis Boon (Rank 10 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Recover behind the safety of your shield, increasing defense against frontal attacks and converting blocked damage into HP.

● Shield Bash (Rank 14 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 500 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 30s )
◦ Slam an enemy with your shield, dealing blunt damage. May interrupt cats and temporarily render the target unable to cast again for sveeral seconds.

● Outmaneuver (Rank 20 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Strategize for survival, increasing defense against frontal attacks and increasing TP generated by blocks.

● War Drum (Rank 30 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 45s )
◦ Create a clamor, increasing enmity.

● Aegis Boon II (Rank 40 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Recover behind the safety of your shield, increasing defense against frontal attacks and converting blocked damage into HP.

● Shield Bash (Rank 44 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 500 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 30s )
◦ Slam an enemy with your shield, dealing blunt damage. May interrupt cats and temporarily render the target unable to cast again for sveeral seconds.

● Deflection (Rank 50 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 0 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 60s )
◦ Focus on your shield arm, increasing defense against frontal attacks and negating a portion of blocked damage.

Weapon Skills
● Red Lotus (Rank 2 - MP Cost: 10 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Invoke the power of flame and strike, dealing fire damage.

● Circle Slash (Rank 6 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Spin your weapon fiercely, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

● Phalanx (Rank 8 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 250 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 5s )
◦ Strike from behind the safety of your shield, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity. Can only be executed following a block.
◦ Note: Requires equipped shield and use of Guard ability.

● Spinstroke (Rank 12 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Feint and then strike, dealing slashing damage to the target. Increases attack power when the target is not engaging you.

● Howling Vortex (Rank 16 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Sound a haunting howl with your weapon, dealing slashing damage and temporarily lengthening the target's cast times.

● Onion Cut (Rank 16 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 40s )
◦ Feign weakness and then attack, dealing slashing damage.

● Luminous Spire (Rank 24 - MP Cost: 20 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Imbue your blade with brilliance, dealing astral damage and reducing the target's magic defense. Blinds other nearby enemies.

● Red Lotus II (Rank 28 - MP Cost: 10 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Invoke the power of flame and strike, dealing fire damage.

● Rage of Halone (Rank 30 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: 5s - Recast: 10s )
◦ Halone guides your weapon, dealing piercing damage. Increases attack power in the proportion to the amount of damage sustained while readying.

● Circle Slash (Rank 32 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Spin your weapon fiercely, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

● Phalanx II (Rank 38 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 250 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 5s )
◦ Strike from behind the safety of your shield, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity. Can only be executed following a block.
◦ Note: Requires equipped shield and use of Guard ability.

● Spinstroke II (Rank 42 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 1000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Feint and then strike, dealing slashing damage to the target. Increases attack power when the target is not engaging you.

● Riot Blade (Rank 50 - MP Cost: 0 - TP Cost: 2000 - Cast Time: Instant - Recast: 10s )
◦ Unleash a shockwave, increasing attack power and dealing slashing damage at range. Increases enmity and renders the target incapable of using weapon skills for a short time.

[Aratharn]

So let's talk about Gladiator.

In phase 3 I was 21 gladiator 25 phys. Also leveled Pugilist to 11.

Found it near impossible to hold hate, especially from mages using Cure.

However, I learned the ability Taunt (basically Provoke) from Pugilist at rank 10 and also bought Heavy Slash with my Gladiator Guild Marks.

With Provoke, Taunt, Phalanx, and Heavy Slash I have no problem holding hate anymore. Now my biggest enemy is the delay in combat, pressing an action key and having it either not go off or go off 5-10 seconds later.

[Loaar]

This is the most complete skill listing I have from phases 2 + 3.

They are all incomplete in some way, so if you see anything wrong or have info I don't, let me know and I'll correct them.

Skills & Traits you buy with Marks:

Spoiler: show

A note on the skills/traits:
The skills that increase an Attribute temporarily on the gathering classes cannot be used on the combat classes.
So far, each combat class has 2 skills, a level 20 one and a level 40 one. The skills cost zero TP, zero MP and cost no Action Points to equip.
The skills that say "Increase TP generation" do less damage than a normal attack but give 150-200% more TP.
The traits that grant class affinity are designed to increase the effectiveness of your cross class skills. Equipping the CON affinity trait on another class will boost the effectiveness of the Cure spells for example.
The Attribute swap traits can be used to reduce the diminishing returns penalty when buying your stats.

For example:

You buy the +10 STR to +10 INT trait.

Your STR is 40, your INT is 15.

If you put 10 allocation points into STR your STR will now be 45 (it costs two points to raise a STAT beyond 40).

However, if you put 10 points into INT, and equipped the trait, your STR will be 50, and your INT still 15.

You get 5 more points of STR for the same allocation point cost, and have the advantage of already having some INT should you swap to a mage class.

The skills:


Gladiator 1-26

Spoiler: show

Known Skills and Traits (Subject to change)

1: Light Slash
TP Cost: 0
Action Cost: 0
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Gladiator
Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage.

1: Light Stab
TP Cost: 0
Action Cost: 0
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Gladiator
Attack with your sword, dealing piercing damage.

2: Red Lotus
TP Cost: 1000
MP Cost: 10
Action Cost: 1
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Invoke the power of the flame and strike, dealing fire damage.

4: Rampart
TP Cost: 1000
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: 5mins
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Protect yourself, increasing defense and magical defense.

6: Circle Slash
TP Cost: 1000
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Spin your weapon fiercely, increasing attack power and dealing slashing damage to nearby targets.

8: Phalanx
TP Cost: 250
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Move deftly from defense to offense, increasing attack power and dealing slashing damage. Increases enmity. Can only be executed following a block.

10rovoke
TP Cost: 0
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown 20secs
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Use a threatening gesture to increase enmity.

12: Spinstroke
TP Cost: 1000
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Feint before attacking, dealing slashing damage to the target. Increases attack power when the target is not engaging you.

14: Still Precision
TP Cost: 0
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Steady yourself, increasing accuracy and reducing evasion.

16: Howling Vortex
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Sound a haunting howl with your weapon, increasing attack power and dealing slashing damage. Lengthens the target's cast times.

18: Obsess
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Focus on a single enemy, increasing defense against the target while reducing defense against all other targets.

20: Onion Cut
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Feign weakness and then attack, dealing slashing damage.

TBC?: Red Lotus II
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic
Call upon the power of the flame, increasing attack power and dealing fire damage.

22: Cover
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Come to the aid of another, positioning yourself between the target and an enemy to redirect damage to yourself instead.


24: Luminous Spire
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Imbue your blade with brilliance, dealing astral damage and reducing the targets magic defense, blinds other nearby enemies.

Note: You can keep using this weapon skill 3 times in a row and deal more damage each time because its reducing magic defense while dealing astral damage.

26: Cadence
TP Cost: TBC
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Controls the pace of combat, increasing the power of your next attack while in battle regimen mode.

Skills & Traits you buy with Marks:

Spoiler: show

Skills

Heavy Slash
Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity

Heavy Stab
Attack with your sword, dealing piercing damage and increasing enmity

Traits
Self Preservation
Increases the lenght of the guard ability by 50%

Swordsmanship
Increases your affinity with gladiator based actions by 10, up to a maximum of 100

Mind over Matter
Converts DEX +5 into MND +5

Asceticism
Converts VIT +5 into PIE +5

Muscle Memory
Converts STR +5 into INT +5

Mind over Matter II
Converts DEX +10 into MND +10

Asceticism II
Converts VIT +10 into PIE +10

Muscle Memory II
Converts STR +10 into INT +10

Shield 1-10

Spoiler: show

10: Aegis Boon
TP Cost: 0
Action Cost: 3
Cooldown: TBC
Requires: TBC
Cost is 75% of your Stamina Bar. Works in the same manner as Guard, however you absorb a % of each attack you block as HP.

[Gulkeeva]

Shield lv 14 (bought from marks I imagine)
Sheild bash
Slam an enemy with your shield, dealing blunt damage. May interrupt casts and temporary render the target unable to cast again for several seconds.
Cast time 0
recast time 30
MP cost 0
Tp cost 500

Shield lv 20
Outmaneuver
Strategize for survival, increasing defense against frontal attacks increasing TP generated by blocks.
Cast time 0
Recast time 60
Mp cost 0
TP cost 0

Shield Lv 30
War Drum
Create a clamor, increasing enmity.Cast time 0
recast time 40
mp cost 0
TP cost 0

[Aratharn]

Swordsmanship
Increases your affinity with gladiator based actions by 10, up to a maximum of 100


Anyone know what that means?

Thanks for the clarification on the skills/traits swap ..

[miokomioko]

I could be wrong, but I believe those traits (one for every mage/melee class) just enhance your otherwise gimped Gladiator abilities/actions when you set them on other classes. I don't know how much an ability from a different class is naturally nerfed down, but "100 affinity" sounds to me like you would get the full effect.

[Gokulo]

^ exactly.
Those traits enhance the effect when you cross-class abilities. Having Conjury affinity will make your Cure work better on Thaumaturge or any other job.

[Callisto]

Updated. Will finish updating the other classes tomorrow.

[Callisto]

No differences between P3 and OB based on Gulk's list.

[Ratatapa]

For Glad I guess you should upper

STR VIT and DEX or some mnd too?

[aru]

For Glad I guess you should upper

STR VIT and DEX or some mnd too?

Yes, this has been my approach to it. I'm going heavy str and vit, slightly reduced dex and minimal mnd until we start fighting stuff that has dangerous magic attacks (I haven't really encountered any at this point in Ul'dah).

Has anyone noticed any tricks to ranking up shield skill? I started at lvl 1 GLD with a shield but it is skilling so much more slowly than sword that it's really quite frustrating. I'm rank10 sword but only rank5 shield and I'm worried about having it fall too far behind and losing potential benefits or sitting at rank50 sword and rank25 shield and having to sit at sword cap and tediously skill up shield to match.

Edit: Also, has anyone heard of an explanation on what "Wield Rate" and "Blocking" stats determine/affect?

[Dein]

I'm pretty sure they screwed up or intentionally lowered the rate shield levels up in Open Beta as I'm only rank 6 and I never seem to get above 200 shield skill per fight. The best way to level it though is to let a mob beat on you that isn't dangerous, and this works best during guildleves. It'd be much easier though to gauge how well your shield skill is going if they'd show us skill gains from blocks/parries again like in the beta.

[Aratharn]

Odds they will ever give GLD cure? Or will we have to level up Conjurer and put in 5000 guild marks to get that 100 affinity so it's worthwhile? As of now I had leveled Conj to level 2 just to get Cure and it's completely worthless at higher levels... at level 21 GLD taking the 8-9 seconds for the cure to go off just isn't worth the 117 hp I get back. Second Wind is my only life saver now if I am solo and with the recast you can't rely on it.

I know it's a new game but I can't help wanting GLD to be just like PLD in FFXI

[Lucavi]

Glad gets cure from aegis boon, giving them HP for successful blocks. If you're asking if glad gets the actual "cure" spell, then they probably will not, since no job has any ability that outright mirrors another ability.

We'll have to see down the road if SE starts overlapping spells and abilities, but for right now, I like the idea of each job getting completely separate abilities, as it really stresses the whole multi-classing thing.

[aru]

Anyone else annoyed that they cannot block mob weapons skills or ranged attacks?

[Ikarys]

I know it's a new game but I can't help wanting GLD to be just like PLD in FFXI

Highly unlikely. Even as a Paladin in XI, your cure was never as effective as a white mage. So, rather than having to get some of the functionality in one job class, you will most likely have to do exactly what you said and level CON for an effective cure, then use guildmarks to buy up the potency to 100%. Ideally, however, this would result in a more effective curing tank than Paladin ever was, because you are devoting a significant amount of action / trait space and guild marks to curing functionality, rather than just taking what you can get from the job.

[Ratatapa]

Can you get shield skill up without using Guard? or you have to guard to get skill ups?

[solracht]

Can you get shield skill up without using Guard? or you have to guard to get skill ups?

I don't think I've seen a single shield skillup without using Guard. I don't want to say I'm 100% sure since I have my shield up more often than not, though.

Also, Cure sucking at 21 is more than expected. There's Cure II at 20.

[aru]

Can you get shield skill up without using Guard? or you have to guard to get skill ups?

No, but you can still occasionally block, however this generates sword skill not shield.

[solracht]

No, but you can still occasionally block, however this generates sword skill not shield.

Pretty sure that's parrying, not blocking. You get skill ups for whatever weapon you use to parry (sword, hand to hand, axe, etc).