Steel's Swift Descent! 95 Gladiator PVE Guide

[CiferGranny]

We all know the word "practice" right? We all start from the bottom aren't we? And can I ask how to use LD properly? Does it really passes through the boss? Having difficulty in combining the combo of Ld dash kick Ld. Or there is anyway it can cancel the pass through Anyways thanks for the reply

[metier]

We all know the word "practice" right? We all start from the bottom aren't we? And can I ask how to use LD properly? Does it really passes through the boss? Having difficulty in combining the combo of Ld dash kick Ld. Or there is anyway it can cancel the pass through Anyways thanks for the reply

ds hold s(back) ldi dk hold s(back)ldi holding S makes it possible for you to be able to shorten the LD and connect both of them via dk , there is also a trick to cancel the dash slash animation buy using the swag skill look up Crunchyfrog for this trick

[CiferGranny]

Woahh thanks man. Gonna try it later.

[Xero]

So I've been back to the game for a little while now, and have been able to update my equipment a bit. And I am near getting my first genesis acc.

My question is whether I should get a ring first or a necklace based on my current acc.

[LazyKahn]

None. Not unless you can get your elemental attack beyond 100%.

[Xero]

Btw Rune Str Lgrade Neck vs a unique 90 tech for LD?

[LazyKahn]

Unique 90 tech for LD.

[Aimrizal]

Hi.....

May i ask? Is the gladiator FINISH ATTK Cd plate still giving the 9s cooldown when bubbles are full?

[LazyKahn]

Bubbles have nothing to do with Finish Attack's cooldown. And the Finish attack cd plate bug was fixed in the latest patch. Which means it is back to 14.4 seconds.

[Aimrizal]

LazyKahn....Which is better Genesis or Tech Earrings and Necks?

[Skyros]

Genesis obviously

[LazyKahn]

-to be updated when kDN's feb 2018 changes come to SEA server-

[TashaGodspell]

what do you mean turn key sorry new to glad class

[Skyros]

It's a changeable 'key' that when pressed instantly turns your character 180 degrees (to it's back simply put).

Its useful for Hyper Drive seeing as the skill path is in a straight line, you can press the turn key to instantly face the direction in where you casted the skill, thus making it more easy to successfully hit the 2nd and suceeding Hyper Drive hits.

See Settings-> Control Settings -> Turn Key to configure it.

[Rezty]

Hi new player here... decided to go gladiator... is the class beginner friendly?

[LazyKahn]

It depends on what you mean by beginner friendly. Gladiator is not meant for the faint of heart. You need to be able to adapt to any situation since it is a close-range fighter. Yes Gladiators can self-heal but it would not be enough if you cannot adapt to enemy movements. Unlike their moonlord brothers who fight from long-ranges, or the more tanky barbarians and destroyers.

[Rezty]

Thank you for the insight. Luckily, I love challenges XD

[LazyKahn]

Post kDN February 2018 changes to Gladiator skill board damages. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.

[x3Dash]

Hope someone can provide me with answers to some of the questions i have for glad.

1. Is infinity edge worth upping to max and using now? For small to medium bosses
2. Is there a point to maxing mental mastery? Especially now since parry has no MP consumption
3. if holding down directional button, which will activate 1st, side dodge or sweeping kick.
4. Will sweeping kick activate if side dodge is on CD, and you double right-click while holding BACK directional button.

[LazyKahn]

1.) No. Infinity Edge may have a high board damage value now, but the long casting animation fully deems it worthless, with its casting animation, you could have spent the time on that to cast other skills which has greater damages.
2.) Mental mastery and mind conquer are optional. Other skills still use mp so I would still take it.
3.) If using side kick => sweeping kick while holding down the back key, side dodge would be used.
4.) Yes.

[xMarv]

Guys Im currently using glad as my main (Average Gears)
i got 135k Str / 72% crit / 255% CTD (Town)
Im quite confused on
1. Heralds extra stat STR, Crit or CTD? im Currently using 2 heralds with max crit, 2 wtih max str, 2 with low str extra stats.
2. Should I just invest on u.Jades with CTD than buying heralds with extra CTD?
3. Which is better rudn neck or u.skill neck LineDrive Str (I have both, cant afford Genesis) I notice that LD revamp got us tons of dmg than before.

Thanks for the replies!

[LazyKahn]

I suggest using a simulator. But general rule of thumb is that you need to cap crit rate then crit damage.
1.)Crit Damage. 1k STR vs 45k cdmg. (Gladiators gain 3 crit damage per 1 STR. 1k+bonuses+CM1 will not get you that cdmg)
2.)Unique Jades should be atk and not cdmg. (28k cdmg on unique jades vs. 45k cdmg on heraldries)
3.)Line Drive skill necklace if you have a very low FD value.

Then again, even if you do somehow cap both crit and cdmg, without high atk, expect your damage to be low too.

[xMarv]

Hi Khan, thanks! Another question. I only got around 36% elem. Is it better to switch to determination rather than using +1 FA skill earrings? Same with fury hanger rather than +1 skill LD?

[LazyKahn]

Better go for 95 Unique Accessories if you can get 95 unique jades.

[xMarv]

Hi Kahn, can i have your professional advice? Im still working on my gladiator and now has around 900k atk, 40%+ elem, 89% crit, 279 CTD. And yet im not satisfied on comparing on other class with the same equips. First I was planning on changing to ML, then i tried using a raven. Now my choice is between Raven and Gladiator.
My question is,
1. Is it possible for a gladiator to out dps a raven(with the same stats above mentioned)
2. Is it a good choice or should i stick with my gladi?


Thanks in advance for your time.

[LazyKahn]

1.) Same stats? No. In the current meta, Gladiator will never be able to outdps a Raven since he is currently a Tier 1 DPS class while Gladiator is at Tier 2.
2.) It depends on you. I stick with Gladiator because I like the class very much. Even if Moonlord is currently Tier OP, I would never bandwagon to it.

[Lootx]

Hi LazyKahn. I wanna ask, is it worth if i changed my barb to glad if i were looking for more dps and more mobility? Because i like classes with high mobility and agile, is glad worth? Thankyou

[Lootx]

So can i say that if you can play gladi as well as barb, gladi would have more survivability than barb? (Dodging and parrying for more survivability)?

[LazyKahn]

You asked for mobility then survivability? They both would survive if you play properly enough.

[Lootx]

Okay, so maybe i will make a gladi to try his gameplay to make sure which i'm able to adapt. Thankyou

[NearLawlet]

I did some test a while ago and it seems Hacking Slash EX damage distribution is as follows:

Normal Attack
3 hits of 0.33 coefficient = ~x1 skill board damage

Special Attack
1 hit of 1 coefficient = x1 skill board damage

Max Hit Count (w/ Willpower Fragment)
45 hits of NA or x15 skill board damage
42 hits of NA + 1 hit of SA or same as above

Hacking Slash EX
379% * 2.7 (170% damage increase) = 1023.3% per skill board damage.

Max damage
1023.3% * 15 = 15349.5%

I compared this skill with Line Drive EX's 8845.2% (no heraldry and no critical) at least ten times and the ratio between the two skills is a constant 1.7, which is pretty accurate if we were to round the number up to one digit decimal.

You could probably add this to your guide once you've confirmed the result of my test.

[LazyKahn]

The current problem with Hacking Stance is that it takes a long time to execute. Sure it has high board damage thanks to its' ridiculous coefficients however it does not compensate the fact that it leaves you vulnerable for 6 whole seconds (duration of the skill itself).

Whereas [Awakened] Triple Slash with +1 from weapon costume currently has
2038% board for 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th hit
2547% board for 3rd hit. Also, this is probably still not influenced by the benefits of its EX version.

[Awakened] Front Shove has 4319%, 50% from EX.

Now, comparing Line Drive and Hacking Stance
Line Drive:
3159% x 2.8 (120% from EX, 10% x 6 wind blades) = 8845% board damage per use, reset with Dash Kick, doubles it. = 17690%.
Line Drive -> Dash Kick -> Line Drive Instant execution: roughly 3~3.2 seconds (with willpower fragment) Note: I did not include wind blades in the execution time since you can use other skills immediately before they even show up anyway.

Hacking Stance:
379% * 2.7 (170% from EX) = 1023.3% per attack (not per hit), 6 seconds execution.
45 hits (x15 attacks) with willpower fragment = 15349.5%
58 hits (x20 attacks, 19 left clicks, 1 right click) with willpower fragment + harmonize or premium stone = 20466% (Right click ends Hacking Stance, damage is equal to 1 attack.)

Side note: It would be a bit more if all the conditions were met. Willpower fragment, Premium Stone and Harmonize all stack with each other.

Summary: Hacking Stance is still too weak or too slow to be considered in the current Gladiator's skill rotation.

[NearLawlet]

I'm not saying you should add Hacking Stance EX to your rotation, because I myself have never used it in my own rotation.

But you could add this experiment result to your guide; just for the sake of information.

[LazyKahn]

1023.3% per attack for Hacking Stance with EX is pretty accurate. I tried incorporating this into my rotation and my dps decreased. The reason why I didn't include this in the guide even if it is part of the Gladiator tree, is that it is currently not relevant.

[Skyros]

Question on the last Skill Plate choice:

Since Parrying doesn't consume MP anymore, does it make sense to change the Evasion Slash MP recovery? (Maybe in GDN it does make sense to keep ES +MP)

I currently opted for Triple Slash +DMG as I find the damage better than Awakened Parry in DPS rush situations (I can also save Parrying utility in emergency situations). Any other recommendations for the last plate slot?

[LazyKahn]

Replace it with Triple Slash damage. In my experience of running GDN time attack, I only run out of mp whenever Karahan uses Green ball attack (drains all your mp.)

While in dragon stage, you will technically run out of time first before you run out of mp.

[LazyKahn]

~updated to match SEA's September 2018 update~