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THIS GUIDE IS OUT OF DATE DUE TO A CHANGE IN THE SKILL TREES AND GAME ON 1/12/2013. GENERAL INFO MIGHT STILL BE USEFUL BUT ANYTHING PERTAINING TO STRATEGY OR SKILL BUILDS IS LIKELY OUT OF DATE.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

[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 ?