Are gladiators useless now?

I am a rank 47 gladiator, and I have heard that with the many tweaks and changes done in 1,19 has made gladiator the lesser class compared to marauder and pugilist. Is this true?

It's not useless. It makes an excellent sub for your 50 MRD.

Joking aside, GLA is more than capable of tanking single target NMs such as Ifrit - with it's main advantage being slightly higher base HP than the rest. If you got to 47 already, you might as well finish it.

However, GLA cannot compete with MRD in AoE tanking - which is the norm in exp/spiritbond parties nowadays. Storm's Path is probably the best WS in the game now. Against bosses, MRD deals significantly more damage and generates more enmity than GLA. MRD survivability isn't really compromised either since parries seem more effective than blocking to reduce damage and they have access to the same armor.

PUG is an exceptional single-target tank if fighting something you can evade. However, it's lack of a spammable high TP WS, lack of AoE WS, low base HP, and poor selection of armor keep it from being as useful as MRD for tanking or LNC for damage dealing.

1.18 was the era of the ARC. 1.19 is the era of MRD and LNC. Maybe 1.20 will be the era of GLA and PUG.

I've put mine on the shelf for the time being. The nerf to shield blocking makes skills like Aegis Boon/Deflection almost worthless as you're lucky to get more than 1 proc off in the 30 seconds they are up.

GLA can still work just fine, however. Not only do they now have the most HP (MRD had ~270 more pre 1.19) they also have a much larger MP pool over MRD.

Glad is still viable on 1 vs 1 mobs they, if you give them time to get hate, are still the best tanks. Highest dmg mitigation and hp.

On multiple mobs/fast killing mobs MRD just slaughters Glad in tanking due to massive quick hate gain that glad lacks, and the ability to deal large amounts of dmg to all mobs in Aoe radius.

Atm honestly Glad needs a buff, because glad is now a limited job. Everything glad can tank so can mrd, and mrd can also tank the things glad can't and be a respectable dmg dealer at the same time.

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Originally Posted by Lebannen

I am a rank 47 gladiator, and I have heard that with the many tweaks and changes done in 1,19 has made gladiator the lesser class compared to marauder and pugilist. Is this true?

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glad probably needs a rebalance, the auto block thing basically made them a lot weaker, and their dmg potential is extremely low, they probably have slightly better dmg absorbing ability, but their enimity isnt that great especially compared to the loss of DD of mrd.

Pugilist isnt really a tank any more, they took away its acess to high defense armor, it almost always has to use the all jobs/disciples of war/10 job average gear. Its hp is also now the same as lancers. I think in most situtions lnc is just as survivable if not more so. Single target dmg wise, i hear its about even with lnc, but ehhh being even with lnc on single target, and inferior on multiple targets, basically equals not as good DD.

Yup, useless.

Any more, what little HP advantage they have over a MRD, MRD more thank makes up for it in the dps/aoe enmity generation department, as well as access to more useful class specific skills. Riot Blade was useful still up til 1.19a when paired with Contagion, capable of leaving an enemy pacified for 15+ seconds, but now any enemy where such a tactic would be useful is almost guaranteed to resist it. What that leaves gladiator as is a sub par single target tank with non-existent damage output, comparable damage mitigation to a MRD, and a longing for the days when that hunk of metal on your left arm actually served a purpose.

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Originally Posted by kro

1.18 was the era of the ARC. 1.19 is the era of MRD and LNC. Maybe 1.20 will be the era of GLA and PUG.

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PUG was 1.0, remember when you would have a random chance of SP per contact with the mob? CON and THM getting no SP regularly, etc. PUGs ranked faster than any other class at launch.

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Originally Posted by Physic

glad probably needs a rebalance, the auto block thing basically made them a lot weaker, and their dmg potential is extremely low, they probably have slightly better dmg absorbing ability, but their enimity isnt that great especially compared to the loss of DD of mrd.

Pugilist isnt really a tank any more, they took away its acess to high defense armor, it almost always has to use the all jobs/disciples of war/10 job average gear. Its hp is also now the same as lancers. I think in most situtions lnc is just as survivable if not more so. Single target dmg wise, i hear its about even with lnc, but ehhh being even with lnc on single target, and inferior on multiple targets, basically equals not as good DD.

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True. Biggest indicator of this: +Enmity materia goes on GLA and MRD weapons only. . .

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Originally Posted by Lebannen

I am a rank 47 gladiator, and I have heard that with the many tweaks and changes done in 1,19 has made gladiator the lesser class compared to marauder and pugilist. Is this true?

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GLA is in a pretty bad place. The good news is that you can tank effectively on it and you have a massive HP pool. The bad news is, MRD tanks just as well if not better and does way more damage, so there's no point in using a GLA over a MRD. They have yet to get shield right since launch, so don't hold your breath for a fix until 1.21 at the earliest when we get PLD.

Yeah I sure hope Paladin rocks, because Gladiator does kinda suck unless you can get good hate at the start on a single mob. Based on the emnity calculations, other jobs just blow by you too fast in the damage category (especially with materia gear).

Example- in Ixali camp party, I'm not using emnity gear because spiritbonding, but am using every other emnity action I have. I loose hate in about 2 secs to lancers and marauders (even PUG). If I use taunt II ,it goes back to yellow. If I use Taunt II AND Provoke II it goes back to flashing read and lasts about 2-3 secs before losing it again. When the other jobs are doing 1K+ weaponskills so its a bit hard to keep up with that.

There are ways to keep hate (hate materia yes theres accomplice and cover etc) but overall I think that Provoke and Taunt just need to be adjusted to give a higher emnity number.

SE just hasn't figured out how to make a tank job viable in both XP parties and raids without making it OP. When they discover the secret, things will get better.

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Originally Posted by GreyJorildyn

SE just hasn't figured out how to make a tank job viable in both XP parties and raids without making it OP. When they discover the secret, things will get better.

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hmmmm but marauder does that fine

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Originally Posted by Radiator

Yeah I sure hope Paladin rocks, because Gladiator does kinda suck unless you can get good hate at the start on a single mob. Based on the emnity calculations, other jobs just blow by you too fast in the damage category (especially with materia gear).

Example- in Ixali camp party, I'm not using emnity gear because spiritbonding, but am using every other emnity action I have. I loose hate in about 2 secs to lancers and marauders (even PUG). If I use taunt II ,it goes back to yellow. If I use Taunt II AND Provoke II it goes back to flashing read and lasts about 2-3 secs before losing it again. When the other jobs are doing 1K+ weaponskills so its a bit hard to keep up with that.

There are ways to keep hate (hate materia yes theres accomplice and cover etc) but overall I think that Provoke and Taunt just need to be adjusted to give a higher emnity number.

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The enmity system is so bad in this game. It's a huge turn off for me at the moment. Anyone who thinks that Curing to get and maintain hate is a good system for tanking in these games is retarded I'm sorry. People wanted specialized roles, why do I have to heal? Why do the hate skills not have the correct scaling considering the GLA lower damage potential?

Thing is a mess and it's only the players ingeneuity that has even made it tolerable up to this point.

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Originally Posted by Physic

hmmmm but marauder does that fine

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If you actually consider what a party of 5 MRD and 3 Mages could do in an materiapo party at level 50, you'd probably come to the conclusion that MRD is OP :p

I've leveled Thaumaturge from 1 to 44 in the past two days partying and I would just like to say that I only remember the "good tanks" being Gladiators. I'm not saying there weren't any good Marauder tanks, because there were, I'm just saying that the special ones that I had memorable moments in partying with were all Gladiators.

GLA fix is simple, Make parry work with shield (dunno if it was intentional but it seems like it was a mistake) up block rate signifigantly. However GLA is fundamentally flawed in the class system itself the same way CON is. It is my understanding that classes have defined roles but are supposed to be able to be flexible in way that allows them to bend the rules. I've seen some talk about GLA dual wielding and two handing weapons but putting that aside thier main role is to be the toughest SoB in the group. Holding hate isn't the problem with them it's dmg output vs damage mitigation and recently they lost alot of both. So here's to hoping 1.20 brings a fix to the parry and block rate issues and we see GLA's taking the frontline for thier dmg mitigation skills since MRD will always be desired for it's dmg output in situations where it's more effective.

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Originally Posted by Taylor_Morris

I've leveled Thaumaturge from 1 to 44 in the past two days partying and I would just like to say that I only remember the "good tanks" being Gladiators. I'm not saying there weren't any good Marauder tanks, because there were, I'm just saying that the special ones that I had memorable moments in partying with were all Gladiators.

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thats because mrd dosent get Storm's Path till 46
that changes everything

Also Wardrum II wouldn't be a bad idea.

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Originally Posted by slipmac

thats because mrd dosent get Storm's Path till 46
that changes everything

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Yes, I remember one of the Marauders in my party earlier saying "I'm finally useful now!" after hitting level 46. Quite a statement. He was literally just standing around watching battles prior to that.

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Originally Posted by Taylor_Morris

Yes, I remember one of the Marauders in my party earlier saying "I'm finally useful now!" after hitting level 46. Quite a statement. He was literally just standing around watching battles prior to that.

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u can have all the aoe voke you want but without any actual damage it wont stay there for long with the current system

They should be fixing skills for all the classes in 1.20 so all classes should be set from there. I hope.

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Originally Posted by Molly_Millions

PUG was 1.0, remember when you would have a random chance of SP per contact with the mob? CON and THM getting no SP regularly, etc. PUGs ranked faster than any other class at launch.

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actually mages got he most sp if they knew what they were doing. remember when they made that official letter asking mages to report their sp abuse and that theri sp was gonna be rolled back. lol, what a joke.

I didnt do it cause i just recently lvled mage, but i believe the trick was to keep casting debuffs on the mobs fore huge sp gains.

Yes they are useless, more like they been nerf. I read all of this and the only positive thing I heard from people respond is that "They have more HP then all the class" Really? The different is actually not that much, they have like 400 ore more HP then Marauder. Marauder + Gladiator skill combine = Better tank. Gladiator got nerf with damage, their DPS is now even more laughable. Their skill hit for 120 - 200 while Marauder Skill go off for 450 - 680 and it AOE hit everything. But Gladiator have shield!! But Shield have been nerf too. Auto block don't go off that often, but when it finally does the damage reduce is very little to be worth it. Gladiator depend on shield skill to make them better tank then any other class, but with the shield nerf too most of their skill is useless. Not only that their provoke is broken. Cure will generate more Enmity then it, and other DPS class you will continue to loose Enimity.

I just hope Paladin is better because right now Gladiator is a big insult of a class right now.

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Originally Posted by kro

It's not useless. It makes an excellent sub for your 50 MRD.

Joking aside, GLA is more than capable of tanking single target NMs such as Ifrit - with it's main advantage being slightly higher base HP than the rest. If you got to 47 already, you might as well finish it.

However, GLA cannot compete with MRD in AoE tanking - which is the norm in exp/spiritbond parties nowadays. Storm's Path is probably the best WS in the game now. Against bosses, MRD deals significantly more damage and generates more enmity than GLA. MRD survivability isn't really compromised either since parries seem more effective than blocking to reduce damage and they have access to the same armor.

PUG is an exceptional single-target tank if fighting something you can evade. However, it's lack of a spammable high TP WS, lack of AoE WS, low base HP, and poor selection of armor keep it from being as useful as MRD for tanking or LNC for damage dealing.

1.18 was the era of the ARC. 1.19 is the era of MRD and LNC. Maybe 1.20 will be the era of GLA and PUG.

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I'm currently at 31 Pug and enjoy my class. My Gla is at 19 with meh gear. Further down the line and higher in levels, what's it like with selections of gear and abilities?

Will you predict pug counter attacking and gla taking dmg more to improve as tanks ?

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Originally Posted by Ottovonawesome

GLA fix is simple, Make parry work with shield (dunno if it was intentional but it seems like it was a mistake) up block rate signifigantly. However GLA is fundamentally flawed in the class system itself the same way CON is. It is my understanding that classes have defined roles but are supposed to be able to be flexible in way that allows them to bend the rules. I've seen some talk about GLA dual wielding and two handing weapons but putting that aside thier main role is to be the toughest SoB in the group. Holding hate isn't the problem with them it's dmg output vs damage mitigation and recently they lost alot of both. So here's to hoping 1.20 brings a fix to the parry and block rate issues and we see GLA's taking the frontline for thier dmg mitigation skills since MRD will always be desired for it's dmg output in situations where it's more effective.

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Before the BETA had ended, they've mentioned that Gladiator was capable to going down multiple paths including that of a tank. The other is obvious: a Damage Dealer.

As gladiator has the potential of sword and shield, do you think it'll have the potential of Katana or do you think that'll be an entire other class?

Beastmaster! It's like a warrior/ summoner hence a pet class. I'm sure it'll take the path of a support job one day.

Here is some problem. People often use rampage of Gladiator as buff to help other class and it's quite easy to get; you just need to be level 4 gla; So it seem that MRD could tank all the the others the same as GLA since they have rampage + defender or at least with rampage they have higher def and dont have to worry about losing atk power; however if you put defender from MRD to GLA; and including rampage + obsess ; no class can over tank GLA, and please dont tell me that you guys use obsess in a group ?

I dont understand much about block rate; but i believe that i often get 4-5 block during 30 sec.

Beside that if you use Luminous Spire i believe that you can survive event if 1 vs 5 same level

Gladiator's biggest problem right now is they cannot block Ifrit's attacks at all from what I hear.
And while equipped with a shield, they do not parry or evade (or it is greatly reduced.)

Attacks they can block, skills they cant, might as well take off the shield at around 70% of ifrit's health. Gla does evade, about as much as a brick wall is expected to, but it cannot parry >.>

Eh, in the end, they are both made for different tanking purposes.

Gladiators excel at tanking a single, heavy hitting target. Paladin will expand on this even more.
Marauders excel at tanking groups of less damaging enemies. Warrior will expand on this even more.

I think Gladiator is more efficient at reducing damage and keeping the focus of a single mob. On the flip side, I think Marauder's AoE damage is better suited to keeping groups of enemies on them.

When it comes to Ifrit, I would prefer a Gladiator. For an EXP party, a Marauder would probably be better.

Apples and Oranges.

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Originally Posted by Alerith

I think Gladiator is more efficient at reducing damage and keeping the focus of a single mob.

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The shield, believe it or not, makes gladiator superior to marauder defensively. its an extra materia slot if nothing else, slap on a defense materia and try for a specific veil and you'll boost your stats beyond what a marauder can with full affinity to defender. However with patch around the corner things may change, once jobs hit things will definitely change.

Ive given up on glad til they fix it. i can do allot more damage on ifrit and speed the battle up for more wins on MRD. Im just glad i have both because i don't think they'll ever balance it out if they only do balancing ever3-4 months.

I also noticed after some minor tweaking to my action bars, that shield buffs give defense to frontal attacks, not sure if this was added recent or when patch first hit, but this now makes shield buffs beneficial to do throughout the ifrit fight as well as any fight even if you can't block, and makes gladiator the king of the defensive tanks since they are tied to having a shield equipped.

could be problematic if you're trying to lvl up though, GLA might need to carry some kind of DD gear just to lvlup, unless they fix it sufficiently enough with the coming update.