How to play against Gladiator (Guide)

[KiraTheUnholy]

Well it seems like a lot of people still have trouble with learning how to play against Gladiator. So I thought I'd make a short guide on how to effectively play against Gladiator players, and raise your winrate against them.

EDIT: You can find the guide on the "Guides" page here. This discussion post is just a signal-boost.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1145764323

Picking your Hero

First thing is first. There are some heroes that CANNOT effectively counter Gladiator. Like many heroes Gladiator has good matchups and bad matchups. I'll list his matchups below.

Favored Matchups
• Lawbringer
  
• Conqueror (Worst)
  
• Warlord

Gladiator is especially good at dealing with characters that make heavy use of turtling. This is mostly due to the speed of his toestab and lights, as well as his punches and zone mixups.

Good Matchups
• Warden
  
• Nobushi

Gladiator is good against these characters, as they all still make use of turtling to some extent.

Even Matchups
• Shugoki
  
• Highlander
  
• Centurion
  
• Shinobi
  
• Raider
  
• Gladiator (Mirror match, obviously)

These characters do an average of job of fighting against Gladiator. The match could go either way for them.

Unfavorable Matchups
• Valkyrie
  
• Berserker
  
• Kensei

When played right these characters do a good job of shutting down Gladiator. Fast attacks are very difficult for Gladiator to react to as his reflex guard has a delay and it means you have to commit to your defense.

Hard Counters
• Orochi
  
• Peacekeeper (Best)

If two players of equal skill encounter eachother, one playing Gladiator and one playing one of these characters.. it is very unlikely the Gladiator will win. Due to the flicker on Orochi and PK it is very hard for Gladiator to react to anything in these character's movesets.

Your Strategy

Alright so I'm going to list off the list of Gladiator's openers, followed by the combos they will try to follow them up with... and how YOU as a player should react to them. Hopefully this will give you some insight into how to effectively play against him.

Heavy Feint Mixup

First mixup a Gladiator may try to do is feint a heavy into either a light or a toe-stab. If he does go into a light he will probably go into a toe-stab afterward. He could also go into a zone attack though, if he does this all 3 actions warrant the same reaction. Dodge before the toe-stab, or dodge before the zone.

Many people would recommend you dodge to the side to get a free gb off of him. However his toe-stab's cooldown is so high that you don't need to gb him. If he misses the zone he'll have a brief cooldown so if you dodge backwards you can punish both of these options with a heavy attack. (Unless he feints the zone... there's a reason the Zone is busted)

Skewer Feint Mixup

Sometimes if you let a Gladiator light attack you he'll go into his skewer. I'm saying this now 95% of the time if you're playing against a good Gladiator he will NOT let it go, so while you should watch it for the parry timing... you should not fear it. I let the skewer go maybe once every 15 skewers. The thing I see is this: People almost ALWAYS try to parry it. This is a mistake.

If you're a character with a dodge attack, I would recommend you wait until the correct timing and use your dodge attack to avoid this skewer. This also makes you invulnerable to a guard-break, which is one of the mixups used after the skewer. The other mixups are the same as the heavy mixup. So keep that in mind the next time a Gladiator throws a skewer at you. (Inexperienced Gladiators will let the skewer go far more often... if you know a Gladiator is inexperienced then you should go for the parry... it's a 900ms attack and extremely reactable!)

Random Toe-stabs

Sometimes if a Gladiator is looking to lower your health randomly... or get a bit of last moment damage he'll throw out a random toe-stab. It's important you're always on the lookout for this as it is quite hard to react to... but definitely possible in most scenarios. (Timesnap can make it buggy)

If you do manage to dodge it you get a free gb, or a free heavy. (If you dodged backwards and your timing is good enough... does not work with characters with super slow heavies)

Random Zone

Unfortunately I can't say this move is exactly balanced. It's the one part of his kit that everybody agrees kind of needs a nerf.

However that won't stop me from trying to help you out with it.

The best way to avoid a random zone attack is to be expecting it. The only characters that can get a guaranteed punish when they see this come out are characters with dodge attacks. All other characters will have to hope he commits to it and doesn't feint the zone when he dodges away from it. For the characters that don't have dodge attacks... ensure you are dodging backwards instead of to the side. You can still get hit if you go to the side.

Sucker Punch Mixup

The sucker-punch mixup is an essential part of Gladiator's kit. He can dash in any direction and throw out a stun that doesn't guarantee anything... but it does blind the enemy and reduce their stamina slightly.

The best way to avoid this is to see it coming and dash out of it. In this case you can either dash-attack them if you're a character with a dash attack... or you can wait to see if they throw out the heavy after the stun. If they don't (After a couple hundred milleseconds...) then you can safely gb them for free. You can also try to gb them when they feint the heavy as most Gladiators will do this in an attempt to lessen their recovery frames.

Let's say you do get hit by the punch mixup though... it's not the easiest thing in the game to avoid after all... fair enough.

If you get hit by the punch mixup your first priority should be watching where their heavy animation is coming from. You will NOT be able to see the indicators, so you simply want to defend in the direction you see the animation coming from.

At the same time you also want to be looking out for an orange glow to indicate toe-stab or zone attack. I know it may be difficult to react to this... I'm not calling it easy. If you can react to it though as I've described Gladiator will become far easier to fight against.

Unfortunately I can't offer any advice for avoiding the light attack after sucker-punch. Unless you have really good ideas and god-tier reactions avoiding the light is mostly a game of luck and chance. This is why you should try to avoid getting into the sucker-punch mixup in the first place.

General tips against Gladiator

• Watch for his dodge-attacks. They deal an extra bit of damage and come out fairly fast. However if you block any of them you get a free guard-break off.
  
• His out-of-stamina toe-stab comes out far slower than a regular toe-stab. There is currently a glitch with it though if you run out of stamina mid toe-stab it will slowdown halfway through the animation and knock you down. This also goes vice-versa though. If you get stamina back halfway into his OOS toe-stab he will speed-up and it will not knock you down. I believe this to be a bug.
  
• Aggressive play is far more effective against Gladiator than defensive play. This is why characters reliant on turtling are so poor against him.
  
• Gladiator's lights are the same speed as most other assassins (500ms) however his light chain goes from 500ms to 600ms, so it is not advisable for him to use more than one light at a time. So don't expect it.
  
• Gladiator despite what it looks like is an incredibly short range hero. If you need some breathing room backing off and retaining spacing will usually make him harmless to you for a few moments. (He might try to dash-attack but remember you can block this for a free gb)
  
• Gladiator has a sprint attack that looks similar to his forward dash attack. It's important to learn the difference and differentiate them as you don't get a free gb if you block his sprint attack.
  
• Gladiator can chain his lights into heavies, but not his heavies into lights. This means if he does a heavy and you block it.. you should expect him to either go into a skewer or end his combo with a toe-stab. Otherwise he has no more options from that.
  
  Well, in conclusion that's the best way to fight against Gladiator. If you fight like this I'm sure you'll improve your winrate against Gladiators both good and bad.
  
  Sources
  Frame timings: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wwr17AtTDFU3BZY_81axLVMKdHdNZuV0wGOb589VKgc/edit#gid=1037667970
  Everything else: My own experience (https://gyazo.com/1873044a0f69c0e65bd960cb11da440f)

[Trippy Drug]

Exemplary job but shouldn't you be posting this on guides?

[KiraTheUnholy]

Цитата допису CybermΩnk:

Exemplary job but shouldn't you be posting this on guides?

In the process of doing so. Posting it in discussions is just a signal-boost. I'm also not familiar with the guides section so it may take a little bit.

[.]

Much appreciated; Glad is the bane of my existence and while I knew that it's better to attack him rather than turtle against him, I really had trouble with predicting either the zone or the toe stab, let alone punishing it in the midst of battle, as well as his infuriating lights that guarentee a toe stab if you move the stance but miss the block.

Now I know that dodging back as soon as you see either will stop both of them. Again, much appreciated.

[KiraTheUnholy]

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Цитата допису CybermΩnk:

Exemplary job but shouldn't you be posting this on guides?

In the process of doing so. Posting it in discussions is just a signal-boost. I'm also not familiar with the guides section so it may take a little bit.

Official Guide page is up.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1145764323

[DirtyDog]

Characters that Glad is excellent against: All.

Characters that have an even chance of beating him: Gladiator.

[KiraTheUnholy]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Characters that Glad is excellent against: All.

Characters that have an even chance of beating him: Gladiator.

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

[DirtyDog]

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Characters that Glad is excellent against: All.

Characters that have an even chance of beating him: Gladiator.

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

[KiraTheUnholy]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

So you're the type of player that would rather Ubisoft nerf anything you can't play against than actually (god forbid) learn and progress as a player?

[.]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

We all know that Glad needs a nerf to his zone; it's completely ridiculous design and practically the entire community near universally agrees upon this. But that's all that needs nerfing.

[DirtyDog]

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

So you're the type of player that would rather Ubisoft nerf anything you can't play against than actually (god forbid) learn and progress as a player?

Yeah duh. If you can't play against it it's broken, fundamentally.
You wanting a lightsaber jedi in the next release by any chance? Cause you won't be able to beat that but by your logic it's all good.

[DirtyDog]

Цитата допису Dr. Legend:

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

We all know that Glad needs a nerf to his zone; it's completely ridiculous design and practically the entire community near universally agrees upon this. But that's all that needs nerfing.

Toestab.

[.]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Цитата допису Dr. Legend:

We all know that Glad needs a nerf to his zone; it's completely ridiculous design and practically the entire community near universally agrees upon this. But that's all that needs nerfing.

Toestab.

The tracking is very wonky, and I personally wouldn't mind seeing a slight reduction to it (a bit like the first headbutt nerf where the tracking was changed to lock in earlier so it didn't follow you so hard). I can't think of anything else about it that calls for attention though.

[KiraTheUnholy]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

We all know that Glad needs a nerf to his zone

Agreed, I even mentioned it's broken in the guide. It will likely be nerfed since the community seems to agree on this.

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Yeah duh. If you can't play against it it's broken, fundamentally.
You wanting a lightsaber jedi in the next release by any chance? Cause you won't be able to beat that but by your logic it's all good.

I was just suggesting you should try to learn before dismissing things. The point of this guide was to help people like yourself.

You chose to act salty about it without even reading it and make a snarky comment. You don't want to try and learn at all.

Perhaps if learning to counter things isn't your style you shouldn't be playing fighting games... and this is where I'll stop replying.

[Trippy Drug]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

It amazes me how every letter in your sentences screams of confidence yet not even one thing you said is true.

First of all,just the fact that you came here,leaving these comments,without doing the obvious-giving the guide a shot-is stupid.You refuse to even think about the possibility that you may be wrong and instead prefer to say,in the most arrogant way possible,that Gladiator is op,and nothing people will say will change that.

I hope that at the very least,you will read the guide at some point.Gladiator is powerful,but he can be countered.Hell,I've won mutliple times against Gladiators as Lawbringer,who really are in a disadvantage against Glad.

[Starwight/ttv]

Цитата допису DirtyDog:

Цитата допису KiraTheUnholy:

Did you just read the title and come here to make a snarky comment with no actual facts or evidence, or even actual criticisms of my guide?

Bravo!

I came here to make a snarky yet offensively truthful (to you) comment.

No facts or evidence.. aside from the Gladiator himself? He's very self explanatory. Play win and win again without losses.

The crits in the pudding, Gladiator needs nerfing and your guide reinforces he doesn't. So ye in my own interest i'll put your guide down.

Spotted the guy that obviously sucks at the game or he would realize your guide is spot on. Probably whines about Shinobi too