Questions and Thoughts

I have been playing again for a few months.I have some ideas and I am wondering if I may be on the right track.Every class has certain attributes that are more imortant,say for rage it would be strength,chi,then probly intellect or stamina,and lastly presence.If I am wondering if I am on the right track.I am also wondering how important the benefits of armor penetration and bleeding protection and the like compared to attributes.I have been trying to get the three attributes I think are most important to a class to at least 150.Am I thinking in the right direction or totally off base?

What attributes you are going to focus on depends on how you want to build your gladiator. Check what the skills you want to develop require, but:
- don't overestimate Intellect - it's expensive and does not help your gladiator fight better past certain threshold (100-110 Intellect is quite enough for a premium-tier slave in legendary gear);
- don't take much Presence if you want your gladiator to fight longer - you increase the chance of getting killed when losing but your fighter will not give up or be saved as easily;
- if you want an offensive fighter, some Chi investment is always good, no matter the class. For defensive ones pay no attention to it, except if you have some skill that needs it - like Surprise Ending.
- Stamina is always good. In the higher brackets it becomes especially important because there are many endurance-draining gladiators. On top of being the second biggest contributor to Health, it also reduces armour penalty which is great.

Apart from these general tips, some "templates" for various gladiators look like this:

Speed Rage (fast Blades) - Agility, Stamina, Chi, some Strength.
Two-handed Rage - Strength, Stamina, Chi, some Agility.
Power Rage (Axes & Maces, a bit rare nowadays) - same as the two-hander.

Offensive War (30/70 or 40/60 Rage/War skills) - depending on the weapon it would be either Agility, Stamina, Size and Chi + some Strength (for Blades and Pole Arms) or Strength, Stamina, Size and Chi + some Agility.
Defensive War (usually 100/100 trains in the War tree with Armoured Fortress as a top skill) - Stamina - lots of it!, Agility if you use Shields, otherwise lots of Strength and Size.

Speed Theatrics (fast Blades, usually Rage/Theatrics hybrid build) - lots of Agility, Chi, some Stamina and Strength. Presence is good here for lowering the opponent's initiative.
Power Theatrics (Axes & Maces) - Strength, Chi and Stamina.
Defensive Theatrics (something + Shield) - Strength, Stamina, Agility, some Presence and Chi.

Offensive Shadow (focus on damage-dealing) - depending on the weapon it would be either Strength or Agility as a main focus + Stamina and Chi.
Endurance-draining Shadow (focus on winning by exhausting the opponent) - Stamina and Agility.

Slayers I don't particularly like, too one-dimensional for my taste so I can't give advises about them.

Trixters currently suffer from terrible balance of their top tier skills. The whole tree of the class has defensive and endurance-draining focus so unsurprisingly everybody goes for Cheating Bastard and tries to win by exhausting the opponent before he/she manages to drop your guy. Stamina is not terribly important here - at least not as much as with the other classes - but still some investment in it is required. Apart from that you need Agility to boost your defense and that's pretty much it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mallafax

I am also wondering how important the benefits of armor penetration and bleeding protection and the like compared to attributes.

---

Generally, these additionals are less important than the main attributes. But could be useful for some corrections, like some armor penetration for light weapon, some extra armour for light armour in the case of defensive behavior, some extra bleeding for heavy weapon (and/or for bleeder build) and so on.
The pair of additionals: Kill -- Life Protection looks absolutely senseless. Others make sense from time to time and depending on the goal.
// But also consider the fact, some of these additionals are trigger-based, like Armor Penetration, Block, Life Protection. Others are permanent, or looks like permanent...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kreegan

The whole tree of the class has defensive and endurance-draining focus so unsurprisingly everybody goes for Cheating Bastard and tries to win by exhausting the opponent before he/she manages to drop your guy.

---

It seems, both of Trixters styles (Counter Attack, Wall of Steel) are high-expensive in the sense of Endurance consumption considering relatively low damage output. At least for low-level (i have ~ 30th).
So, it looks like Trixters are "forced" to use Cheating Bastard.
Looking for a way to avoid this...

Wow,thanks for the great answers!I really appreciate the help.I have been really getting into the game since I have been back.Trying to learn as much as possible.So thanks again.