War Guide

[crow]

THIS GUIDE IS OUT OF DATE DUE TO A CHANGE IN THE SKILL TREES AND GAME ON 1/12/2013. GENERAL INFO MIGHT STILL BE USEFUL BUT ANYTHING PERTAINING TO STRATEGY OR SKILL BUILDS IS LIKELY OUT OF DATE.

War Build Guide

Here is my guide for building war gladiators. There are 3 main types of war gladiators that have bled on the sands of the arena.

Offensive War Gladiator- An attack first based gladiator, still uses several defensive techniques along with his offensive arsenal to bring the pain.

Defensive War Gladiator- A parry based gladiator. His main strategy is to parry the incoming blows and hit back when his opponent presents and opening, similar to counter attack, but attacks on dropped guard. Where as counter attack, attacks immediately afterwards. He can and will go offensive when the right opportunities present themselves in the fight.

War Tank - A defensive minded gladiator that usually wins by exhausting his opponents. This is a very easy and popular way to win in the lower ladders, but becomes increasingly more difficult in the upper ladder of the game.

Hybrid War - I have not seen or come across many of these builds yet. I am currently in the early part of experimenting with this build with my 3rd and anonymous stable that I operate. I will update this when complete.

First thing to do when building a great war gladiator is to find a worthy slave with the right attributes for this task. I will do this in my order of importance.

Size - They have to be big enough to carry there armor without being encumbered too much. There is no point in having a war gladiator if you do not use the heavy armor. This type of armor is one of his biggest advantages in the game, so use it. I will not normally go any smaller than 75. (Alpha II is an exception, because I did not know much about the game at the time.)

Stamina - Because there armor is so heavy they will burn there energy a little faster then the other 2 types of gladiators. Also this is a must if you plan on running a defensive war or a war tank. An offensive war benefits greatly form this too, lets him keep attacking without stopping for a breather. I normally look for 80+ in this stat.

Strength - Your war glad needs to be strong enough to not only wear his armor, but also hit hard too. This stat I want it to be 70+

Intellect - Helps with your training and I believe a high intellect fighter brings intangibles to the fight that does not show up on the screen, but will get you a lot of wins. I believe it helps with your active skills. Hard to prove, but some of the best fighters mostly have high IQ. I want this skill 70+

Chi- this is a luxury skill, but definitely helps elevate your critical hits damage. I look for 65+ in this skill

Agility - If running a defensive war or a war tank this is not very important, since you’re are not trying to hit first and often anyways. Also with the wars skill set being built correctly you can offset others major speed advantage in many ways. We will get into that later. I look for this 65+

Presence - personally I don’t give a rats ass about this attribute.

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Skills

Weapon skill- This should be the only skill you train till you get it to level 10 in the skill. I have argued with others on this concept, but I have emphatic proof now with my 3rd stable on this. There only losses for the most part come from exhaustion, and they only use grey gear and weapons and all of them have 85% or better winning percentages. It will normally take you till your glad gets around level 19 to achieve this. They are still winning consistently in the elite and juggernaut divisions. Also DO NOT use skill points on a 2nd weapon skill this can be done more efficiently later.

Create Distance- Might be the best overall skill in the entire game. Every single war or theatrics build at the top has this skill built to level 9 or 10. At level 10 you can count on you war glad using this actively once a round, this is incredibly devastating to a 2hander that only gets a shot or 2 a round. This skill has many times been the difference maker in the arena.

Feint - Drops your opponents guard (defense value) for the hit. This is very important when fighting other war gladiators, as it helps get by there guard and through there armor a little better.

Brute Strength - I would recommend this to all types of war builds. It conjunction with feint, it really helps in hammering past a wars armor and a theatrics guard.

Barreling Attack - unless your running an attack war glad, I would not use this. If you decide to use it, I would recommend only taking it to level 5 this will do the trick and let your Death from above skill take over.

Death From Above - Boosts your war glad’s attack power when your opponent is on the mat. This does work in good combination with barreling attack. I have not taken this skill past level 7, so I don’t know how effective it can be. I will update you on this later.

Grim Determination - This skill comes in handy during a very close fight. This skill is made for those running defensive or war tanks. It allows the fight to keep going if you have an advantage. Personally I don’t use this much, but I have seen its effectiveness at high levels.

Armor movement - One of the most important skill an offensive war gladiator can have. Especially a 2hand weapon or pole arm using war glad. This skill at very high levels will let you glad get the first shot in a round many times.

War Cry- Reduces your opponent initiative to attack. Basically along with high armor movement and high war cry your glad will get the first shot in many times if he is fighting offensively

Hamstring - One of my personal favorites. This at max level 10 will reduce your opponents attacks by 75%, which a higher levels can mean game over for that particular fight. If running defensively you can always have a fight strategy set up for this. Use the I attack more strategy and hopefully it will come up for you. I wish Nate would add “Opponent is hamstrung” option.

Athleticism - Very important skill for a defensive war glad or an offensive war glad using a pole arm or 2handed weapon. It increases your chances that you will successfully land your attempted shot on your opponent. A large weapon user only gets 1 or 2 hits a round and a defensive glad the same, so you need to make your attacks count.

Combat Instincts and Battle Prowess - These 2 skills I have not been overly impressed with. Yes your attack power goes down some during the fight. But I have not noticed a huge difference in attack power from early on in the fight versus later in the fight. I usually have a few points invested here but not much.

Master of Arms - If you plan switching the type of weapon your glad uses or want to use a shield, this is the skill. Remember this skill will only be as high as your highest level attained on your weapon skill. So if you get this to level 10 and your weapon skill is 9, then your master of arms skill is still 9.

Battle Hardened- I have not attained this skill but I am currently working towards it with Cypress. This seems to be the skill to use if you are building a War tank. I will update you with my progress when I get this skill going.

Building

Offensive War glad build-

Weapon skill - level 10
Feint - Level 10
Create Distance - Level 10
Brute Strength - Level 10
Armor Movement - Level 10
War Cry - Level 10
Hamstring - Level 10
Athleticism - Level 10
Death from Above - Level 10
The other skills can be personal preference spread to either barreling attack, grim determination, Iron Jaw, or Combat instincts or Battle Prowess.
The combination of level 10 War Cry, Create Distance, Armor Movement, and Hamstring will bring the even the fastest most agile gladiators in the arena to their knees.

Defensive War - Use everything you see above but use the extra points available for either Combat Instincts and Battle prowess, maybe even Battle Hardened.

Also substitute your high level armor movement and war cry for master of arms and get a tower shield. Since your glad is not interested in striking first then you will not need the initiative boost.

War Tank- I would not recommend going outside the war skill tree. Except for 5 points of brute strength.

Weapon skill - Level 10
Feint - Level 10
Create Distance - Level 10
Grim Determination - Level 10
Athleticism - Level 10
Battle Prowess - Level 10
Combat Instincts -Level 10
Battle Hardened - Level 10
Master of Arms - Level 10 (Shield)
Brute Force - Level 5
War Cry or Armor Movement - Level 5


Strategies

Offensive War

Strategy 1- Bash or Slash or Lunge, find your “sweet spot” which is that place where your guys makes his most attacks and still hits fairly hard. Different for everyone.

Strategy 5 - Fighting other War- I would recommend when fighting other wars is to parry them. There armor is such that a lot of times it is beneficial to wait till they drop their guard then strike.

Strategies 2-4 : These are up to you, but find situations that will let you “crank up the power” and your guy won’t get pummeled for doing so.

Note: I would not recommend standing in front of a powerful Rage and try to parry their shots, they are designed mostly to smash right through your guard. And 2hand rages are the best at that.

Defensive War

Strategy 1- Parry - Bash, Slash, lunge: Again find your sweet spot in which you attack accurately and powerfully.

Strategy 2-5- Turn the table and go offensive at the right times, or tank when the situation is right.

War Tank

Strategy 1: Duhhhhh Tank baby tank!!!

Strategy 4: When opponent is moderately tired I would recommend to start Parrying the shots and start firing back.

Strategy 5: When opponent is very tired: Bash, Slash, Lunge- He is tired and not going to fight back much, now let him have it!!!

[Prinny]

Intellect - Helps with your training and I believe a high intellect fighter brings intangibles to the fight that does not show up on the screen, but will get you a lot of wins. I believe it helps with your active skills. Hard to prove, but some of the best fighters mostly have high IQ. I want this skill 70+

Agility - If running a defensive war or a war tank this is not very important, since you’re are not trying to hit first and often anyways. Also with the wars skill set being built correctly you can offset others major speed advantage in many ways. We will get into that later. I look for this 65+

Presence - personally I don’t give a rats ass about this attribute.
Intellect is used in many of the wars skills like Weapon skill, Feint, Create Distance, and Hamstring since Intellect doesn't appear often in equipment I would personally try to get it as high as possible in normal stats.

Agility is used by defensive gladiators in order to parry more so I wouldn't neglect it either.

I don't give a damn about Presence either so we actually agree on that xD


Death From Above - Boosts your war glad’s attack power when your opponent is on the mat. This does work in good combination with barreling attack. I have not taken this skill past level 7, so I don’t know how effective it can be. I will update you on this later.
Death From Above isn't very effective Laharl has had it on 10 and it doesn't make a big difference


Hamstring - One of my personal favorites. This at max level 10 will reduce your opponents attacks by 75%, which a higher levels can mean game over for that particular fight. If running defensively you can always have a fight strategy set up for this. Use the I attack more strategy and hopefully it will come up for you. I wish Nate would add “Opponent is hamstrung” option.
Simply a must have for any War Gladiator if you don't take it you might aswell have gone Rage or Theatrics xD


Combat Instincts and Battle Prowess - These 2 skills I have not been overly impressed with. Yes your attack power goes down some during the fight. But I have not noticed a huge difference in attack power from early on in the fight versus later in the fight. I usually have a few points invested here but not much.
Sadly enough true that it doesn't do alot even at level 10


Building

Offensive War glad build-

Weapon skill - level 10
Feint - Level 10
Create Distance - Level 10
Brute Strength - Level 10
Armor Movement - Level 10
War Cry - Level 10
Hamstring - Level 10
Athleticism - Level 10
Death from Above - Level 10
The other skills can be personal preference spread to either barreling attack, grim determination, Iron Jaw, or Combat instincts or Battle Prowess.
The combination of level 10 War Cry, Create Distance, Armor Movement, and Hamstring will bring the even the fastest most agile gladiators in the arena to their knees.

Defensive War - Use everything you see above but use the extra points available for either Combat Instincts and Battle prowess, maybe even Battle Hardened.

As noted earlier Laharl has had Death From Above on 10 and it isn't very effective
As for a defensive glad I think both Death From Above and Armour Movement would be useless he's trying to parry the hits not make them so Battle Hardened is a must.

Damn according to your guide im doing it wrong :D
All in all nice guide though ;)

[crow]

As noted earlier Laharl has had Death From Above on 10 and it isn't very effective
As for a defensive glad I think both Death From Above and Armour Movement would be useless he's trying to parry the hits not make them so Battle Hardened is a must.

I agree that armor movement is not very valuable for a defensive glad since he is parrying most of the time, neither is war cry for the same reason. Death from Above can be useful if you have a strategy to go offensive in the case of your opponent hitting the ground, and since you will need to put your points somewhere this would be a good place to use them, since you need 85 total skill points to make battle hardened work.



Damn according to your guide im doing it wrong :D
All in all nice guide though ;)

Laharl is doing great, he is also an interesting case study for the game. Having a completely maxed out gladiator with 8 level 10 skills and all the bells and whistles, such as having "The Olympian" achievement and others will makes him very dominate. Basically you have taken what would normally take about a 9 months to create, you did in minutes. And you have redone his skills several times, to correct some of your earlier mistakes. He is on top of the game now and I suspect he will be for a while. It will be interesting to see how he does as everyone else closes the gap as our gladiators start nearing completion.

These guides that have been created by the Veteran managers is also a testament to our mistakes we have made along the way in our trial and error from the outset of the game. So the newer managers coming up will not have to spend so much time and trophies redoing and unlearning skills, so the new breed managers if they read and use these guides will come along quicker and make for a more competitive environment in the upper ladders. I am very interested to see how the game and ladders look 1 year from now, there should be some very special warriors on the sands by then.

[Prinny]

Laharl isn't my only war there is also Etna, Yuki Onna and Shikii although those 3 all carry a pole arm or 2hander ;)
Those all have faults in them in essence their build is about the same but their strats are way different and far from perfect :P

Laharl's build may quite likely be changed again as im not happy with the results some of the skills are giving so he might get Last Stand and Signature Move at some point (Depending if Signature is stun or not) and some other skills ;)

Edit: I just sold my Rage: Prinny to buy a War: Prinny since I decided to make Shikii a 2Hander in the end ill try pull off a proper defensive 1 with this although defensive is harder :P

[CaineDeSoulis]

with 9 weapon skill and the opposition much more adept at dealing with tanks. tourach has switched from a defensive war type to an offensive Rage/war type. no longer will tourach tank for wins.

[Prinny]

with 9 weapon skill and the opposition much more adept at dealing with tanks. tourach has switched from a defensive war type to an offensive Rage/war type. no longer will tourach tank for wins.

Yay no more passing out for Etna, Shikii and Yuki against Tourach than :D

[nova1491]

Hey crow, what lvl is LaHarl when you hit your 1st lvl 10 skill?
And how long it takes to reach the 5th lvl 10?

I'm pumping skills to lvl 7 1st and slowly raising them up to lvl 5 evenly. Planning to not take part in certain challenges if i can help it to slow their lvl-ing up ability. Thinking of getting them up to better skills set 1st then go on arena to fight.

Gonna forgo the credits on arena fights unless i need gold to buy better equips when i hit certain targets or when i need to repair.

MMM and what is your take on Blue and purple items?

Sometimes, after scrolling through for a couple of pages for the past week, seems like i can get a great blue at a cheaper cost of purple weapons. But having a great purple takes time and much patience and a good eye.

[crow]

1st things first..Welcome to the game. Hope you are enjoying it. As for your questions. I don't own Laharl..he is owed by Prinny and he does not plan on selling Laharl to me :). My best glad right now is Eruption. As for your level 10 question. On average if all you concentrate on is leveling up your weapon skill to level 10, your glad will be around level 19 when he gets it. This is defintely worth it. After getting this skill, study the skills you want to get next and level them all up to level 5 one at a time then start evenly leveling them all up to 9. Then last take them to 10. going from level 8-9 usually takes about a week for me. But going from 9-10 has taken anywhere from 2 weeks all the way up to 5 weeks in a couple of cases. Getting a glad with about 8 or 9 level 10 skills, I estimate will take you anywhere from 7-9 months to complete. I am taking longer with mine due to multiple rebuilds.
As for the armor and weapons, I have a test stable that I keep quiet about and this stable I spend no money or trophies on, and my glads are only equipped in gray or anything they find along the way. I am just wanting to see how well a good build does and how far they can go without the luxury of high level epic gear. Also when it is time for you to go purple you really need to get the highest level of armory upgrade, or you will be broke most of the time from repairs. My Alpha team usually has about 200k of gold on hand, unless I get hit with protection money several days in a row. But without the fully upgraded armory I would be broke. Just something to think about.

Good luck and keep enjoying the game and tell your friends about, the more active players we have the better the game gets.

[picolog]

Thanks... this guide has caused me to win alot of games... and kill some very hated rage glads

[Narol]

What's your team name, Picolog ?

[picolog]

Wow u are the manager of bloodytigers and new tigers..... man i was so close to you in the pit

[picolog]

ok.. that was weird. but yeah i couldnt make a signature before so here it is. i had other glads in it but i sold them and forgot their names. but yeah Narol u the manager of The Tigers? I was soooooo close to you in the pit awhile ago. i think one of your glads crapped on me:p

[Kemperz]

Ok first post (go easy), my glad's name is Caramon (of the stable 'Bloodied Honor', Offensive War), I'm having some real trouble on him and he's starting to degrade as the quality gladiator I thought he was at earlier levels, he keeps losing fights and he constantly ends up being killed and bankrupting he, he gets serious wounds most every fight which are difficult to keep on top of and I cant get past the level 19 Tiny Avenger, who Caramon has had around 30 try's at now, without being able to a get single shot in..., Caramon is level 29 now and I think I must have got something like Fight Strategy wrong, can anyone help me please?

[Apoca1ypse]

To help we'll need to know your current fight strategy, weapons and skills.

Also Tiny Avenger is a monster. He's pretty hard for Wars to beat early on so dont feel bad. in his case aim for the part that has the weakest armor. if you check the link in my sig, it will take you to mostly complete arena challenge guides that could help.

[Kemperz]

[QUOTE=Apoca1ypse;7593]To help we'll need to know your current fight strategy, weapons and skills.

Caramon: Level 29 (intended) Offensive War Gladiator
Fight Strategy:
1) Start/Standby; AL 6; Slash; Torso; Torso; BL 3
2) I Am Very Tired; AL 4; Slash; Shield Arm; Torso; BL 3
3) Opponent Cannot Defend; AL 8; Shield Arm; Torso; BL 3
4) Opponent is Disarmed; AL 8; Shield Arm; Torso; BL 3
5) Opponent Attacks more; AL 10; Shield Arm; Torso; BL 3
Weapon: Polished Giant Chopper (2h)
101-169 Damage
135 DPR
Item Level: 25
+7 Strength
Skills:
2 handed Weapons: 9
Create Distance: 5

[Apoca1ypse]

Ok first thing is swap your attack from "slash" to "bash" that will mean you will swing your weapon in a more suitable manner, meaning more damage and swings that connect. (An axe acts like a bladed club for all intents and purposes when swinging)

Let us know how you go after that simple change :)


btw I like your skill choices :) once you get Create Distance to 8 or 9, start training up Armor Movement.

[Kemperz]

ok thanks a bunch Apoca1ypse

[Kreegan]

I'm yet to confirm this but the Wars seem to use two-handed swords better than two-handed axes and mauls. I have one of those, not very high basic Strength and even lower basic Agility but quite high Stamina - when equipped with a Flamberge for example he seems to deal higher damage (50-70 extra points) than with a Maul or a 2H Axe. Could be a set of coincidences but give it a try when you have enough money to switch weapons.
And if you think Tiny Avenger is problematic, wait to get to Body Snatcher. :(

[Alba Kebab]

Int helps more with swords than with axe/mauls, that's what I recently found out, and it is rather obvious when int is listed over agi as the primary attribute for blades. Or it could just be that blades are more accurate than axes/mauls to start with.

My war glad is over lvl30 and still at ragnar 3 hits, so don't worry, lol

[Kemperz]

Hm, ok thanks for all the advice, I have reshuffled the Fight Strategy a bit, but i am still having this issue of not getting enough hits in, and not hitting hard enough some times (between 40-130 is the norm), I still have failed to get a single hit on Tiny Avenger, but as for Ragnar Three Hits, I got lucky and hit him first, knocking his weapon on the floor, from which point he became a blood-filled pinata. Also, what bracket should I be in for the Arena, I've been in Juggernaut hovering around 140-70 ranking for a while now

[Apoca1ypse]

You will have a very slow swing rate with 2H weapons, and slow initiative.

Once you train up armor agility, you'll find yourself swinging a little earlier, and once Warcry is unlocked, train that up too. Warcry gives a major boost to initiative in the first round.

If you find yourself doing little damage with your swings, you may need a little more strength too, but see how you go.

[Kemperz]

My issues with Caramon have got even worse since I took your advice, and I've made several alterations of my own (e.g. getting a sword weapon), but the issues now are so bad that I'm going bankrupt, because my gladiator has a 20+ losing streak, and I deal 1-3 attacks during the course of the whole fight (around 30-70 damage each) and most every fight kills me. Here are my new stats:
Level: 31
Record: 172-174-9
Health: 766
Fight Strategy:
1) Standby; AL:6; Fighting Style: Parry Slash; Aiming: Shield Arm; Defending: Torso; BL: 5
2) Opponent is Blinded; AL:7; Fighting Style Slash; Aiming: Shield Arm; Defending: Torso; BL: 6
3) Opponent can't defend; AL:7; Fighting Style Slash; Aiming: Shield Arm; Defending: Torso; BL: 6
4) Opponent is Disarmed; AL:7; Fighting Style Slash; Aiming: Shield Arm; Defending: Torso; BL: 6
5) Opponent has an Attack power penalty; AL:7; Fighting Style Slash; Aiming: Shield Arm; Defending: Torso; BL: 6
Weapon: Brutal Flamberge:
Damage: 104-183
DPR: 143.5
IL: 29
Mods & Buffs:
+ 17 Strength
+ 4 Agility
+ 12 Presence
+ 6 Chi
+ 6 Attack Power
Skills:
2handed Weapons: 9(.4)
Create Distance: 7(.1)
Any more advice? I feel like I'm doing something really wrong, I'm losing fights to gladiators in grey gear 15 levels below me, and I'm still on Tiny Avenger (still not a single hit on him across all my goes at him).

[Dainoji]

Hmm, for starters that's a pretty sub optimal strategy you've got there. Your choice of triggers basically means your gladiator will almost never switch out of strat 1 since the triggers you've chosen don't happen that often. You would be better off using the health or endurance triggers, possibly even the activity level triggers.

Often the best thing to do in this case is disable your 3, 4, and 5 strats and get two of them working well together. For example if you are trying to tank n' spank then keep your strat 1 as it is, or switch it to tank and then set your strat 2 to trigger when your opponent is moderately tired and then go slash and crank up your AL.

If you want to go out hard and then shell up and try and exhaust your opponent, then do the reverse.

Once you have two strats working together you can add in a 3rd and then a 4th and finally the 5th.

Crow, you want to add to this, looks like he is trying to make a build like your boy Eruption.

[Kreegan]

The two-handed Wars are a bit problematic because they are - by far - the slowest fighters on the sands and can be rendered nearly immobile easily.
However your strategy is pretty bad indeed (why do you use "Opponent is blinded" at all, do you have the respective Signature move?).
The skills first. Create Distance is among the life-savers so it has to be at least on 8 (even 9) for a level 30 War. You will want to develop Armour Movement and War Cry to high levels as soon as possible (at least 8 points each, preferably 9) so you can strike first so if you haven't done so already, get to it. Hamstring is VERY important to have so it has to be developed fast too (note that it needs at least 8-9 points to have any real effect). Don't bother with Death from above, the extra damage is hardly spectacular and you can also safely ignore Athleticism, except if you are aiming for Battle Hardened. Feint could be pretty good but if you decide to develop skills from the Rage tree and particularly Brute Force, don't take it. On the other hand Barreling Attack works nicely with 2H Wars because it reduces the number of hits they get as long as the opponent is on the ground. Do NOT go for Signature move from the Theatrics tree - the only useful move for a 2H War is Stun, the rest will just consume your action without dealing damage and thus will help the opponent.
The strategies. First of all, I've never seen a 2H War attack more than once per round no matter the Agility and the activity level. I usually set something like Activity 5 - Slash (or Bash depending on the weapon) - Bloodlust 10 as my default strategy for a 2H War BUT provided that the respective gladiator already has good levels of Armour Movement and War Cry (otherwise the Rage opponents usually act first and hit hard before your guy can answer). Being on the ground is a problem for your gladiator because he'll almost stop hitting but will receive hits as usual, so set a defensive strategy for "I am on the ground" to something like 7-8 Activity - Parry-Slash/Bash - 7-8 Bloodlust (actually the bloodlust is not that important, the aim here is to parry a few strikes). You can also try to tank while on the ground but if for some reason your gladiator can't get back up, he won't strike back and will usually slowly get beaten.
Alternatively, you can try to switch between tanking and offensive. I tried that with one of my 2H Wars some time ago with somewhat good results so here's how it looks like.
1. Start of fight/Standby - 10 Activity - Tank - 1 Bloodlust (this one can actually be offensive depending on your opponent)
2. Opponent is Stunned - 8 Activity - Slash/Bash - 10 Bloodlust
3. Opponent is on the Ground - 8 Activity - Slash/Bash - 10 Bloodlust
4. Odd number of rounds - 10 Activity - Tank - 1 Bloodlust
5. Even number of rounds - 8 Activity - Slash/Bash - 10 Bloodlust.
The point here is to counter all fast fighters - especially Rages - who bring you down with a sheer number of hits. Tank will absorb a large portion of the damage if the attacker uses fast weapons with relatively low hitting power and sometimes helps even against big, hard-hitting weapons (but not always). Half of the battle you are getting little damage, the other half you are attacking (but then you are more exposed). In case the opponent gets stunned or knocked down, the gladiator switches to offense in order to avoid losing hits if he's supposed to tank during the respective round. This is well-tested, gives excellent results against fast fighters (Rages with fast blades for instance), works decently against 2H gladiators and shield-users but is generally vulnerable against Axes/Maces which are just too effective against any kind of defense.

[Kemperz]

ok thanks for the help, my skills seem really low, is the best way to improve them by just spamming the tavern as much as possible?

[Alba Kebab]

Athleticism really helped my pole-arm war to make every hit count, unless severely outclassed, he almost never miss with 8 ranks in athleticism.
Don't tank if you are not well armoured, obviously. :P
Also I think by their very nature 2h weapons are better off attacking than defending, except pole-arms.

[Kemperz]

I've checked out the boss's stats, and I've found his agility at level 19 is higher than mine at level 32...should I start stacking agility to increase my swings or not, and continue looking for strength and attack power in my armour and weapon? (I managed to get a hit on him today, for the first time ever- 32 damage!)

[crow]

With a 2-hand war, create distance is a must. You have to be able negate an opponents attack. War cry and armor movement also must be maxed, so you can get that first shot in the round, or you might not swing at all. Athleticism is also a must you have to make each swing count.

As far as high agility is concerned, even with high agility you will usually just get 1 attack per round with an occasional 2. If you train in last stand I have seen some guys get 3 attacks when this triggers. I would focus on stamina and strength in order to get the most out of each hit and to ensure your glad does not tire out too quickly as this glad's stamina burns quickly.

As for strategy I would start out swinging then go into your parrying if that is what you want to do.

[Kemperz]

I've taken your advice, and started to see an absolute explosion in my winning streak, winning most fights in the 45-90 seconds area, I am managing to hit extremely powerfully, however, I have yet to be able to increase the number of skills I have, and so I'm still struggling to get my hits in, and my opponents are usually the first to get the initiative and hit first. I believe that this is the reason why Tiny Avenger is still pasting me, however, I am starting to get some powerful shots in. The fight strategy of changing between tanking and attacking seems to be working well, thank you for all the help! :)

[Alba Kebab]

Tiny avenger is just difficult to catch, try chasing him down with AL10 BL5, see how your accuracy does on that then adjust as needed.

[Kemperz]

Ok thanks, at level 33, I feel stupid getting pasted by a level 19, when I rarely get a hit on him

[Dainoji]

Ok thanks, at level 33, I feel stupid getting pasted by a level 19, when I rarely get a hit on him

They're called arena challenges for a reason! :) I wouldn't feel too bad, most everyone is in the same boat. Those guys are tough!

[Takishima]

why are there no dual handed war guides here i am a dual hander and i would like some builds for them since i am a total and complete noob to this game.I would really apreciate it if someone posted builds for them (offensive ones preferably)

[Kastiel]

1.What is best for def war using DW maces ?
Parry - Bash
Parry - Slash
Parry - Lunge
2.Is this style good ?
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[Kastiel]

OMG parry sux soo much, with just bash I was landing pretty good red damages to my opponents and never get exhausted with activity level 8 and 5, and now I get 80% exhausted in my fights with parry=bash and lunge ... I lowered my activity lvl to 5 and 3 nothing changed wtf :mad:

[oedi]

The parry-x styles works just fine, but you need to figure out when and how to use them. To just go defensive might not be the best solution. With all my war gladiators I use all available fighting styles in combination with different triggers.
Btw with DW maces/axes you need to use parry-bash.

[Kastiel]

Like first just bash, and second strategy moderatly tired parry bash ?

[Alba Kebab]

Sure, that can work.

[Justsujoy]

Okay I got a few qestions too.....:D

(Background: started playing 2 weeks back and now I own a lvl 11 war glad and a lvl 8 rager. Stable Moksh=> 45-15-1, War: Suji => 27-8-1, Rage: Elloar => 18-7-0)

My war glad is equipped with a single blade with speed 1.55 and he gets in 3-4 attacks per round and that has been working find for me except sometimes against a 2h rage. I am training my glad to be something like a old school fencer who hits frequently and with his heavy armor can take quite a few hits. His abilities are average. Now my problem is that for my technique to work, I need to pull each battle to around 6 rounds during which if the 2h rager gets in 2-3 good hits, my glad hits the dirt. At my level Hp is around 350 and my glad does an average of 60-70 damage per round but the 2h glads hit for 140-180 damage and Suji is done in even before he starts the game. This happens around 50% of the time even against some low level opponents, even got trashed in black market fights against lvl 6 fighters.

Any suggestions?


Moreover a few posts above I read "Kemperz" having a 2h war glad who uses "slash" as his strategy. Isnt that counter productive? Cause I started my 2h rage glad with an axe and slash and he got pasted all the time. However when I took a hint from the black market fights and changed the strategy to bash and bought him a flail for his birthday, he has been owning the fights. He has 75 stamina and I can run him at activity 10 where he gets in a hit every round and so far no one class has been able to touch him. (fingers crossed)


Going on with my war glad, I have seen many people with dual weapons of the same speed but i have not really noticed anyone hitting as much as my Suji. Some knife fighters here and there but I didnt get any proper trend. So my question is that in the future if I equip Suji with another blade or a shield, will I be actually reducing the number of hits he gets in? The shields in the game are yet to impress me and in any case I will have to wait till I can get "Master of arms".


And do I really have to take "Armor Movement"? I have kept the armor in the bright green zone (<25%) and I havent noticed any initiative pentalies.


On a side thought, a 2h rage seems to be the easiest gladiator to play in the game isnt that kinda unfair?


(maybe I should have opened a new thread)

PS: Who ever own "Big Jozu", you got vendetta coming your way.

[Prinny]

2H rages are very strong and hard to beat early in the game, later in the game however they become easier to beat as the other gladiators develop more skills to counter the 2H rages massive hits. the only counter strategy early on would be to defeat the rage before he gets his second/third hit in.

Slash with a 2H works just fine with an Axe (though bash also works with it) or a Sword, with the hammer, Ball & Chain and the Flail however you will want to use Bash. my 2H war Shikii use a single strategy of 8 activity 10 bloodlust Slash with his 2H Axe and frequented the top 10 of the Primus ranking with it.

In regards to activity/bloodlust, I would advise not to put it to 10 unless your weapon skill reaches 9-10 since you will fumble quite abit.

As to your single weapons speed, what is your gladiators race? that could explain it's faster attack speed. i haven't experimented alot with single 1H weapon use so I can't say much about that topic.

If youre going for a shield in your second hand you will be experimenting ALOT with strategies before you have a strategy + skillset that works out agaisnt most builds, also you need a certain set of stats on a gladiator to make it worthwhile running this build (a war for example needs to be big, if he is going to carry a shield he should be even bigger if he wants to stay in that green zone unless you are planning on giving him 1 of the smaller shields)

The big pros of going DW with your swords or maces is that you get the attribute bonus from the second weapon, weapon speeds are combined so if you carry a 1.15 and a 3 speed blade you will make more attacks as you would with a 1,15 sword and with some luck multiple of these attacks are with the 1,15 sword. the third pro to this would be that you can never be truly disarmed, getting disarmed makes you drop your main weapon which can result in you either fighting with your fists only, picking up a gray weapon or picking up your own weapon. you will have your second weapon in hand so you won't ever be fighitng solely with your fists ;)

Armour Movement makes you attack before your opponent but is hard to learn, it isn't neccesary to learn this skill but it is advised since attacking first gives you an advantage over your opponent.

Hope that helps^^

[Justsujoy]

Thanks for the reply.

My war glad is human and has an Agility of 66. I have his strategy put to begin with an Activity of 10. So he can get in some big hits and maybe bleed the opponent or reduce his attack power. When he feels slightly tired he shifts to an activity of 4. ;) He is my starting gladiator and I will try my best to take him to Primus.

I do accept the stat advantage and disarm resistance that DW gives and that is why I am considering whether to DW him in the future. Otherwise a single weapon is also cheaper to maintain. :p

I keep my bloodlust below 5 to maintain the damage but at weapon skill of 4, I fumble maybe once per fight. That is considering that each fight has him making atleast 15 attacks with his weapon. So I dont really thing fumble is a big issue for me.

About armor movement, I know that at times getting the initiative can change the game. Especially if my opponent gets the initiative and gets a crit in bleeding me and reducing my attack power. However what I want to know is whether it is worth taking an entire skill set on considering that armor movement has been unlocked now and if I tank up on it, I might regret it later.

Oh yes I almost forgot, can flimsy blade wielders do the "barrelling attack" and 2h flail wielders do "feints" successfully? Cause in real life they would not. My war glad gets in some good hits with feint and my rage glad all but relies on "barelling attack". So I am thinking of giving both of them both the attributes.

BTW does the area that you are defending make any impact in the game?

[Prinny]

Yea Barreling Attack is great and I would advise it for any build. Feint is something I only use when im wielding Blades though there are a lot of people that use it with other weapons aswell.
I am experimenting with 1 defensive war who carries a mace + shield and 1 of my newer glads Belca is going to make use of shields later on aswell and I am getting him armour movement. the reason for this is that a war gladiator can't win solely on letting his opponent run outof endurance but instead should block the opponents attack and hit once or twice a round. to do this im planning to let him attack the opponent before they attack him giving them effects like knocked down or disarmed and so on putting a limit on their amount of attacks and blocking the ones they deal out.

It's all still hypothetical though so it's not even sure if it will work or not~

[Justsujoy]

Best of luck with your builds and I might adopt barelling attack soon.

BTW just wanted to share a recent victory:-

My war glad Suji was being beaten very badly by a certain 2h war glad "Big Jozu". By beaten I mean Big Jozu was mopping the arena with Suji. He has a size 83 v/s my 65 and being a Trug gives extra health I think. ( last fight Big Jozu had 544 HP v/s Suji's 344 his weapon does 78 damage per round v/s my 52)

So anyways it was this specific character who I wanted to counter as he represented the worst kind of enemy my fencer could get, lots of health and lots of damage. Suji worked diligently at the black market for two days perfecting his strategy and today he barely beat Big Jozu who, I might add, is one level higher than Suji.

Yeah baby its suji's birthday.

PS: Big Jozu's master no offense intended. Though I might be targeting you to see if my glad is performing up to specs.

[tex burns]

hello everyone. It's Christmas.

Thanks for making this guide.

Just saw a 944 Gold slave in the market with 85 size, thinking about making him a war, not sure what kind yet.

[crow]

Make whichever kind you want. If you have higher strength then uses axes and maces or 2hand weapons, higher agility go with blades or pole arms.

As for the war guide, it is a bit dated and in need of updating. But because of the new skill trees about to be released, this guide will be useless soon.

I hope a lot of you were able to use this guide and found it useful. I look forward to studying the new trees and design a guide for wars. Of course the skills being released will make for a lot of possibilities.

[Tarot Cards]

New skill trees are out. I really liked using this guide for my first glad, not sure how the new war will be without hamstrung any more. Hope this gets updated!

[Kreegan]

All the three classes play so differently now that the absence of Hamstring in the War tree is hardly the only thing requiring consideration. It will take some time before the new situation is assessed well enough so don't expect any guides soon.