Final Fantasy 14 Gladiator Guide
In this Final Fantasy 14 Gladiator guide, I will be giving you an overview of the Gladiator class, revealing what stats, equipment, and abilities to get, and discuss strategies for playing the class at its highest level.
Overview – Final Fantasy 14 Gladiator Guide
The Gladiator is one of the strongest classes in Final Fantasy 14. This class uses a 1-hand sword and shield, and is the only Discipline of War class that can use a shield.
This class has a lot of abilities which help reduce the amount of damage it takes, and it can also dish out some magic damage via its weaponskills. It has the highest native HP in the game as well.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Without a doubt, the Gladiator is the best tank in Final Fantasy XIV. Since it can use a shield and has such high HP, no other class comes close. Note that your shield skill gets its own level from 1-50, and as you level up your shield, you get new abilities which also help improve survivability.
The only real weakness of the Gladiator is that it does not deal as much damage as an Archer or Lancer. However, for being such a tank, it deals a surprising amount of damage – nearly as much as the offensive Discipline of War classes.
Since it does so much damage and has great tanking skills, it is one of the strongest classes for solo-play in the game as well.
Final Fantasy XIV Gladiator Guide – Equipment and Stats
As far as your equipment goes, your first priority is to find a shield as soon as you can. Your shield skill does not level up unless you have a shield equipped, so you want to make sure you are using a shield when playing as Gladiator.
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As far as weapons go, your weapon needs to be below your level if possible. If you are level 25, and have a choice between a level 20 and a level 29 sword, you always go for the level 20 item. There is a large damage penalty for using weapons higher than your level.
For armor, it seems to be the opposite effect. I have seen level 20-30 Gladiators using top-level armor and taking very little damage. just use whatever gear you can get that is high in defense and HP. Gladiator gear is fairly cheap and they can wear the heaviest of armors. Focus on maxing out your physical defense, as most enemies attack physically in the game.
For stats, your top priority on point allotment is Vitality; when that no longer helps, put points in strength and dexterity. Strength will increase your sword’s damage, particularly on your normal attacks. Dexterity will increase your accuracy. This can help hold threat.
Vitality on the other hand increases your max HP but this stat will cap out. The stat cap is 174 at level 50; so once you have 174 VIT start putting points in STR and DEX.
Class and Spell Combos
As a tank, you will need to pick up a lot of spells from other classes. As a solo player, you will need to do much less. I will cover tanks first.
For players that are planning on playing Gladiator as a tank for their guild or group of friends, you will want to pick up taunts from various classes. Gladiator has its own taunt, but you can also pick up taunts from Pugilist and Marauder. You can equip all three for maxixmal threat-generation.
Additionally, you will want to pick up the level 30 Lancer ability which increases the amount of healing you receive by 10%. Suffice to say 10% healing is a very nice amount when it comes to tanking. When leveling up to 30 in Pugilist you will also pick up Featherfoot and Jarring Strike; Featherfoot will give you a chance to dodge an attack, and Jarring Strike lets you put out a high-threat attack after dodging for just a small amount of TP.
Whether you are soloing or grouping, you will want to pick up Conjurer and Thaumaturge abilities as well. Being able to cure yourself may often save your life, especially if the healer goes down for some reason or is not paying attention. For solo play, self-healing and Shock Spikes really speeds things up.
FF14 Gladiator Guide – Gameplay and Strategy
As a Gladiator, you will be looked to tank whenever you are playing in groups. The threat system in FFXIV is a little iffy, and many times it does not make sense when you lose threat. As a result, many guilds often have 2-3 tanks on their encounters all building threat to prevent any monsters from getting lose. Due to this, the demand for Gladiators is pretty high.
Playing the class overall is simple: use your taunts and abilities to generate threat, and use your damage-reduction abilities or heals when you are low on HP. Be sure to grab all the spells mentioned in the above section if you are serious about tanking Notorious Monsters.
It is an easy class to play, just make sure you have solid gear and abilities; this is what makes a tank in FF14. Due to its high survivability, it is also a great class for those looking to play a melee-oriented solo-class.
Final Fantasy 14 Gladiator Guide Conclusion
By following the recommendations in this Final Fantasy 14 Gladiator guide, you should have no problems playing this class. It is a strong class and a very good choice for players who both want to play solo and want to group up. You can help your leveling speed by checking out the Chrono Final Fantasy 14 Guide:
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