A rather noobish question.

[riggen]

So, my new rage gladiator just fought another, same race(trug), lower level, lower in every single stat except for presence which was higher and strength, which was equal.
His weapon was at around half the dps of mine (as i got lucky and got an epic weapon after killing someone), his armor was nothing impressive either.
Despite all of these, this gladiator defeated and killed mine. Is luck really such a huge thing? Or am I doing something horribly wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[sevenseas]

This happens all of the time, i'm still kind of noobish too but i think the answer lies in your fight strategy and the skills you've trained in...keep practicing.

[riggen]

Well, i get your point, but, I don't think there's really a lot of different skills i could train on a level 9 gladiator. . Same would apply to strategies i guess.

[Dainoji]

One of the great things about this game is anyone can win at anytime given the right strategies and build and as you said a little luck. All thing being equal except you have a better weapon you'll end up winning the majority of the fights if you were to fight 1000 times, but just like in a real fight a lucky hit can land and knock the better fighter out. I wouldn't worry too much about it if you are only level 9.

One thing I would say though is unless you've checked out his scouting report, you don't know if you are equal with him. It's possible he has done nothing but train his weapon and might have a lot more skill with it than your glad. Weapon skill is very important, especially early on in a gladiator's career.

[Kreegan]

Strategy is important but don't fall for that it is omnipotent - many people here greatly exaggerate its impact on the battle. The fact its that polishing your gladiator's strategy will make him fight at the best of his/her ability but he'll still lose to certain opponents most of the time. Two-handed War against a Rage with War Hammers - forget it, the War is toast, except if he's doped up with achievements and the Rage has nothing. Rages with fast bladed weapons will eat alive the Rages with hammers/axes most of the time. Rage vs. Theatrics is a very uneven fight in most circumstances which ends up with the Rage being beaten badly. The Theatrics on the other hand lose against the vast majority of the War builds because... well, I don't really know why, they just can't handle Wars and that's that. And so on. There are exceptions of course but that's the trend.
In the lower brackets though the gladiators are pretty even because they are still incompetent and often fight strike for strike. Usually the best approach is to train your weapon to at least 7-8 points before training anything else, to keep your activity relatively low (for level 9 more than 5 points are too many, I'd settle with 3-4) and your bloodlust in check - 5-6 points. Also, if you gladiator is War, the lower levels are where the Tank style is the most useful and will exhaust the vast majority of the opponents before they drop your fighter (later it becomes much less useful though). If he/she's Rage - don't run for Berserk immediately after you get access to it, you'll just get your gladiator exhausted in 2-3 rounds without achieving much. Theatrics - Signature Move and Gratuitous Violence should your first aims in most cases.
Finally - read your battle report for some insight where your gladiator is doing well and where he's messing up, this way you'll be able to modify his/her strategy accordingly.

[riggen]

Thanks for the tips guys, guess I gotta keep my chin up and get used to dieing every now and then.

[Alba Kebab]

That's the spirit, we all have glads dying every now and then, some a bit more or less...