Gladiator (Interlude) guide — Gladiator

Gladiator class guide for Lineage 2 Interlude: how to get the class, which skills to take, what to wear and where to level.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Pros and cons 3 Class advantages 4 Class disadvantages 5 First steps and equipment 6 1-20 lvl 7 40-52 lvl 8 52-61 lvl 9 61-75 lvl 10 76-80 lvl 11 Skills 12 Offensive 13 Toggles and self-buffs 14 Tattoos (dyes) 15 Olympiad 16 Prerequisites for entering the Olympiad 17 Battle tactics against specific classes

Introduction

• The Gladiator is a member of the Human race. Choosing this class, you start your path as a simple Warrior and can eventually become a formidable Duelist.
• Gladiators are considered an attacking class (damage dealers), i.e. they deal heavy damage to the enemy. Their main weapon is dual swords ("duals"). The Gladiator is a very strong class, effective both in one-on-one and in mass battles. This class has several skills that deal damage in an area.
• Equipped with dual weapons, Gladiators literally shower the enemy with a rain of blows.

Almost all of the Gladiator's active skills deal a series of hits in one beat (using a series of skills in the shortest possible time).

• This Gladiator guide Lineage 2 aims to give you the basic recommendations on leveling, various gear options and so on. Perhaps, with experience, you'll find your own way, but for a newcomer these tips can be very useful.

Pros and cons

• As a DD class it has the following "traditional" strengths: (traditional here meaning mentioned in dozens of different guides)

Class advantages

• A large set of attack skills, including a stun. (By the way, not always a plus: you need to know exactly which skill to use against whom and, most importantly, when, and the stun, damn it, is on a blunt, so prepare and double-check 3 times your weapon-swap and stun macros (you'll have to change your weapon type during combat).
• Some of the most crushing skills in the game, which can kill almost any combat mage in one volley. In short, if you've managed to get into melee range of the enemy, the rest is easy. :)
• Indispensable self buffs for attack, attack speed, immunity to sleep, root, paralysis and stun, increased damage against certain monster types, and also healing (it's hard to call BR healing, but fine, we'll survive somehow).
• The Final Frenzy passive skill.
• A passive skill for heavy armor and for light armor too.
• Lots of HP and its regen.
• More CP. (be happy, TH, with your lethals — if you're a lucky TH, of course. :D)
• A gorgeous appearance
• A fairly unconventional fighting style — aggressive and complex.
• Has haste and Celestial.
• Little dependence on full buffs, since the Gladiator deals most damage with skills, and they're almost independent of buffs.
• One of the most useful warrior domes. This one is an indisputable "+".

Class disadvantages

• Because Gladiators can wear heavy armor and have lots of HP, they're limited in speed, hence the Gladiators' common nickname "tin can". The situation is somewhat improved by the Sonic Move (an analog of Dash - a lunge, a rush), which uses the bigger half of our maximum charges.
• Again, because of the skills' great power, they need to be charged with Sonic Focus before each use.
• Low magic defense — a drawback of the Human race plus no M. Def. passives.
• To stun you need to swap to a blunt-type weapon (crushing/hacking).
• Hard to control and not enough buttons on the shortcut bar. Macros help here.
• An undefined specialization, which leads to useless abilities and skills, and also maintaining extra gear sets is quite expensive financially.
• Remember that any skill damage is better dealt with full Sonic Focus charges, otherwise the skills simply don't pay off. (this is our curse and our trademark)

First steps and equipment

1-20 lvl

• After appearing in the starting location, kill a couple of gremlins, and once you reach level 5, you can start various quests that will get you to level 20. This will take 30 to 60 minutes. Having reached level 20, go take the 1 class quest. Once you get the Warrior class, it's time to think about gear.
• Armor: Brigandine.
• Weapon: Claymore or Titan Hammer.
• Leveling: Once geared up, head to the nearby territories — Gludio (Windmill Hill) or Dion (Dion Hills) to reach level 26. After that you'll need to register for the quest Seven Signs and go to the catacombs. There you can develop your character to level 35–40, then complete the second class quest or buy it.

40-52 lvl

• So you've reached level 40 and got the Gladiator class. Now it's time to change your gear again. One of the best options at this stage is C-grade weapons and armor.
• Armor: Plated Leather. (Don't turn your nose up, son, like "ew, light armor". It gives +4 STR and takes only -1 CON. See the benefit?)
  • Or Full Plate Armor.
• Weapon: Raid Sword*Raid Sword.
  • Or Katana*Katana.
  • These weapons give 4% Atk. Spd when enchanted above +4.
• Leveling: you can go to Dragon Valley (easy, x1 mobs) / Cruma Tower (x2-x3 mobs, good % to your EXP).

52-61 lvl

• C-grade gear won't last long, and quite soon you'll have to look for better equipment.
• Armor: Blue Wolf Breastplate.
• Weapon: Samurai Long Sword*Samurai Long Sword.
• Leveling: you can go to Frozen Labyrinth / Silent Valley, or gather a party in Necropolis and Catacombs.

61-75 lvl

• Armor: Tallum Plate Armor.
• Weapon: Tallum Blade*Damascus.
  • Or Keshanberk*Keshanberk.
  • These weapons give 8% to Atk. Spd when enchanted above +4.

76-80 lvl

• So the sleepless nights and days of leveling are behind you, and you've finally reached level 76!
• The need for gear has arisen again — no wonder, our A grade has grown badly outdated in 15 levels.

Armor: Imperial Crusader Breastplate.

• • The set is quite decent, especially since it's the only one, but if you have a well-enchanted TM heavy (from +6), better keep it.
• Weapon: Tallum Blade*Dark Legion's Edge.
• Leveling: if you leveled to 76 on your own, I don't think you'll have questions here. I'll just say that for high-level locations like ( Imperial Tomb / Forge of the Gods) you'll need a party.

Skills

Offensive

• Triple Slash - doesn't require charges; usually used as an addition to a combo, or not used at all.
• Sonic Blaster - directs a sonic impulse at the enemy to hit it at range. The main ranged skill, which you should always use. Used with a sword, blunt or dual swords. Overhit possible. Requires Sonic Focus, level 2. Critical hit possible. The main skill in PVE and used in PVP.
• Double Sonic Slash - turns sonic energy into a powerful sword strike. An excellent skill up to level 80 and beyond. Used in PVP. The gladiator's second strongest strike. Used with dual swords. Overhit possible. Requires Sonic Focus, level 3. Critical hit possible.
• Triple Sonic Slash - the gladiator's main attack skill. Always used. Ignores shield defense. Requires dual swords. Overhit possible. Requires Sonic Focus level 4 or higher.
• Sonic Buster - not used at low levels, but after the 3 class it's always used. Doesn't consume charges. Crits often. Hits nearby enemies. Consumes 3 Momentum Stones. Used with a sword, blunt or dual swords. Overhit possible. Requires Sonic Focus, level 2. Critical hit possible.
• Sonic Storm - a ranged skill, similar to Sonic Wave; consumes 3 energy stones and no charges. Used with a sword, blunt or dual swords. Overhit possible. Requires Sonic Focus, level 2. Critical hit possible.
• Hammer Crush - simultaneously stuns for 9 seconds and deals melee damage. Since it requires a blunt, the skill is inconvenient, but it can be used in the Olympiad.

Toggles and self-buffs

• Vicious Stance - increases critical power by 609. Depending on the level, a certain amount of MP is consumed while it's active. (usually used when you have a support class or consumables that restore mana.)
• War Cry - increases physical attack by 25%. We always use it, i.e. while leveling and in PVP and PVE.
• Lionheart - increases resistance to hold, paralysis, sleep, stun and buff removal. Use it against stunner classes and debuff classes.
• Sonic Focus - a charge for using sonic skills. The main source of charges up to level 78
• War Frenzy - increases resistance to stun and sleep attacks. While active, a certain amount of MP is spent depending on the level. Used against stunning and sleeping classes.
• Sonic Move - for 15 sec increases the character's speed by 66. Requires sonic power level 3 and dual swords. If you need to catch someone, use it!
• Duelist Spirit - For 1 minute increases dual sword attack speed by 12%, as well as damage from normal attacks and PVP skills by 10%. Used while leveling, in PVP, PVE.
• Riposte Stance - uses the weapon to reflect attacks. Reflects 30% of damage received and, with a 30% chance, reflects buffs/debuffs (excluding damage from skills and ranged attacks). Lowers Movement Speed by 10%, Attack Speed by 20% and Accuracy by 4. While active, MP. is consumed depending on the level
• Sonic Rage - attacks the enemy by releasing sword energy and gathers soul energy. Can be raised up to level 7. Critical hit chance. Overhit possible.
• Sonic Barrier - for 10 sec. creates a protective barrier that protects against normal attacks, skills and debuffs. Requires dual swords and a level 5 Sonic Focus.

Tattoos (dyes)

In practice, Gladiators use only two types of tattoos:

• Greater Dye of STR (Str+4 Con-4) and Greater Dye of STR (Str+1 Con-1) - This option is for a Gladiator's everyday life, for IC/Tallum/Draconic sets.
• Greater Dye of CON (Con+4 Str-4) and Greater Dye of DEX (Dex+4 Str-4) - This option is for a Gladiator's life under tough Olympiad conditions. In other words, when going to the Olympiad, add the tattoo: +4 CON +4 DEX; this is done to increase the "thickness" of an already far from skinny character.
• Another build - Greater Dye of STR (Str+4 Dex-4) and Greater Dye of STR (Str+1 Dex-1) and Greater Dye of CON (Con+4 Dex-4). (Mostly used at the Olympiad).

Olympiad

Prerequisites for entering the Olympiad

• Staff of Evil Spirits Blessed Body - Gives the buff Blessed Body level 5 (with a 20% chance when using a beneficial skill.)
• Hell Knife Mental Shield - Gives the buff Mental Shield level 4 (with a 50% chance when using a beneficial skill.)
• You need to buff Noblesse Blessing on yourself with one of the items listed above equipped, until the buff lands on the character.

Battle tactics against specific classes

• Mages - an absurd accident, blown into the general Olympiad by who knows what wind; free points and nothing more. Of all possible mages in the Olympiad only Necromancer is dangerous, because of Anchor, Curse of Doom and Summon Reanimated Man. Got a necro? Run as fast as you can; better not to get distracted by the summon, it will die on its own.
  • Tactics: 5 sec before the fight starts use Sonic Move, run right up to the necro, hit him with Sonic Buster, Triple Sonic Slash, Triple Slash (at this point the necro usually flees from the gladiator in horror), the ranged AoE Sonic Storm, the ranged single Sonic Storm. That's enough for the average necro; if not, hit him with the duals until the ranged sonics come off cooldown and repeat the ranged AoE and ranged single. Victory!
• Archers - not even funny?
  • Do the same as with mages, only in the IC set; don't forget to use the stun resists - Lionheart, War Frenzy.
• Daggers - pathetic chest-openers. At the Olympiad they can do practically nothing. The chest-opener has only 2 ways to win.
  • 1 - Lady Luck smiled on the dagger: the lethal landed!
  • 2 - the Gladiator (you stepped away for a smoke).
  • Of all daggers the greatest (though minimal) danger is Plainswalker, because of their Evasion, but skill cooldowns in the Olympiad are pretty long; you can deal so much damage that Plainswalker will still owe you - 1-2k HP.
  • In short it's simple: IC set Imperial Crusader Breastplate, use stun resists, and just hit him with every possible skill, more mass ones, and watch your charges. The simplest combo, provided all skills land.
• Tanks - perhaps the Gladiator's favorite opponents. At the Olympiad, a fight with them is long, tense, interesting, sometimes unpredictable. :) Naturally Imperial Crusader Breastplate. In a fight with tanks it's important to save MP and get them down to a sliver quickly, good luck.
  • Paladin - if it's a competent paladin, he'll start fighting merged into the icon. Don't be particularly afraid of that, and even less run from the paladin - under the icon he'll catch you. At the start of the fight use Lionheart against stun, and forget about War Frenzy right away - we're saving mana, remember? Since the paladin has a high chance of landing Doom, you can turn on Riposte Stance at the start of the fight, but only briefly, since mana must be saved by any means. In the fight, forget about AoE strikes right away - they hit tanks weakly and use a lot of mana.
  • The paladin will interrupt your abilities with stuns; the stun itself will hardly land on you under the resist, but it will interrupt the ability - no big deal, the mana isn't spent. If a stun interrupted your TSS Triple Sonic Slash, immediately hit the cheeky guy with DSS Double Sonic Slash, then charge up to 7 charges and use the ranged single. Bring the tank down to UD and run to a distance out of bow range. Restore CP and, if needed, HP ( Staff of Evil Spirits Blessed Body). If the paladin catches you in roots and stands next to you in UD, turn on UD in response, hit him with a couple of skills and run when the root effect ends. Don't forget to watch the cooldowns of Lionheart (1k CP) and War Cry (P. Atk); use them on cooldown, the main thing is not to get interrupted by a stun.
• WarCryer - an absolutely harmless opponent for a gladiator. It's simple - Imperial Crusader Breastplate, use War Cry, Duelist Spirit, Lionheart, and into battle. :)
  • There are two tactics against this opponent, close and long range:
    • Close range is good because at close range the Gladiator has the most crushing skills, and bad because at close range WarCryer will hit with a dagger and restore HP through vampirism. If WarCryer starts hitting you with an Arcana with vampiric, it's not scary - while you have CP he only deals damage without restoring his HP. In any case, he has very little MP.
    • Long range is good because it doesn't let them restore HP WarCryer with a dagger, bad because your long-range abilities are weaker than the close-range ones.
    • The ideal option is to start with a ranged attack and finish in melee. A rough combo: ranged AoE, ranged single, press Sonic Move and then use the combo we know.
• OverLord - This class is really dangerous for you; if the Overlord has Necklace of Valakas and at least one Empower, you can just step away from the computer and go about your business. ;)
  • But even here victory is possible; we hope for crits and get to it: Duelist Spirit, War Cry, Lionheart.
  • Start in melee; it will gradually turn into a ranged fight anyway. Everything depends on the Overlord: if he's well geared, he may try to debuff you, which is dangerous for him because he may run out of mana for vampirism, but if he has a Valakas necklace and Empower, he'll have plenty. That's exactly why, if we start in melee, we turn on Riposte Stance - if the Overlord debuffs himself, he's in trouble. Here it's important to control your CP: as soon as your CP runs out, the Overlord will start restoring his HP with vampirism; use Lionheart on cooldown and Sonic Barrier as soon as CP is around 2k. And may holy RNG help you. :(
• Summoners - dangerous if they have skilled hands and decent gear. Though the dark summoner isn't dangerous; we won't even cover him separately — hit him with all skills like a Necro, only in the Imperial Crusader Breastplate set.
  • Cats, horses: the horse breeder is the most dangerous for a gladiator. If you get a summoner, he will summon a horse or a cat marked Animal, i.e. one you have Detect Animal Weakness against. Use Detect Animal Weakness for animals, Duelist Spirit, War Cry, Sonic Move.
  • There's only one tactic - hit the summoner. Hitting the horse/cat is pointless if they are the right cats/horses. They have a huge P. Def; while you hit the summon, the summoner heals it and, as a last resort, puts it in UD, you drain all your mana and that's it. Start by catching up with the summoner and giving him our "combo" (by this point you most likely won't have Sonic Move, Duelist Spirit, and you may also have debuffs on you), and hit him with ranged AoE and single attacks, remembering to glance at the summon from time to time. As soon as the summoner gets too carried away healing his beloved self and forgets about the cat/horse, switch to it sharply (luckily it's always running around next to you) and throw our "combo" at it - most likely the summon will die. After that, even if the summoner manages to run off and summon a new one, no big deal - it will be without the buff; repeat the procedure. Victory!