New to Gladiator, one question: Guard.

[SeraviEdalborez]

all my gear is no more than 5 levels higher than mine, and i always keep guard up but it feels like i never block...

1st: When dealing with gear, either have it at your rank or lower, or extremely high. Having it even only slightly above your rank makes the penalty harsher than the raw stat bonus can cover for.

2nd: Use Aegis Boon, (maybe) Outmaneuver, and (much later) Deflection over regular Guard when possible. Use a shield with a high Blocking stat: this is your % chance of blocking a hit. Having a shield with high wield numbers doesn't matter much if it never blocks for you. As I said in the post above yours, go for one of the Square Shields if possible. I wouldn't use anything with less than 80 Blocking, 70 at worst. As far as I know durability only drops on shield when you're actually using it so even a max rank one won't decay extremely fast.

And aside, class rank is the most major factor in damage calculations, much much moreso than gear or stats. If the CON was 3-4 ranks over you that'd be a large part of why they seem to take hits like a pro. Durability between classes only really differs on A) can I use a shield? and B) max HP.

[Fixy]

1st: When dealing with gear, either have it at your rank or lower, or extremely high. Having it even only slightly above your rank makes the penalty harsher than the raw stat bonus can cover for.

2nd: Use Aegis Boon, (maybe) Outmaneuver, and (much later) Deflection over regular Guard when possible. Use a shield with a high Blocking stat: this is your % chance of blocking a hit. Having a shield with high wield numbers doesn't matter much if it never blocks for you. As I said in the post above yours, go for one of the Square Shields if possible. I wouldn't use anything with less than 80 Blocking, 70 at worst. As far as I know durability only drops on shield when you're actually using it so even a max rank one won't decay extremely fast.

And aside, class rank is the most major factor in damage calculations, much much moreso than gear or stats. If the CON was 3-4 ranks over you that'd be a large part of why they seem to take hits like a pro. Durability between classes only really differs on A) can I use a shield? and B) max HP.

Thanks, do you happen to know under what setting in the chat log "Your shield arm falls" is under? It's not showing up for me and it's just a guessing game at the moment when to redo guard, sometimes letting an attack slip in for no reason. I really have looked all over chat log but cannot find it.