Tips for a stuck gladiator?

[Topler]

In my goal of getting all steam achievements I've started to push higher ng+s with all classes but I'm currently stuck with gladiator at ng+7.

My pressing issue with him is my inability to clear fodder specifically in the castle where if I get careless (which I do) they can charge & 100% - 0% me in a mere moment.

My current setup is the following,
Items: Lucky Hat & Heartseeker
Drinks: Markham's Moonshine, Incendiary Demise, Overflowing Physique, Crazy Eye, Groovy Ghost
Statues: Ozreth, Calis, and I mix up the last between Wylmir and Phalarath
Chapel: Defender, Blessing of mind, Life steal, Divine Blast

Any tips for this class is much appreciated!

[RichRuzz]

I'm there with you but I'm stuck WAY earlier in NGs, are titles making the difference?

[Mawdesty]

I'll give a look sometime soon. Currently beating NG with other classes so I haven't used glad much at all. Since you're going heavy primary crit you could try Kyra for faster attacks. Divine blast might not be doing you favors if fodder are overwhelming. Divine strike would give a ranged option that falls in line with the buffs. Pretty easy to safely kite then but that can be slow going till you thin the herd. Blessing of mind might be unnecessary cause overflow physique kills your mana constantly. If you need skills that much you can keep it but you could easily take blessing of intellect to let more magic damage through. Just some first impressions.

[2bizzyTOULOUSE]

First off, I do assume that you have your town and heroes fully upgraded, and did also attune the most important items (crit, health, armor pen etc).

Items: Heartseeker and Lucky Hat
Drinks: Frenetic Eruption, Wicked Sickness, Homemade Hazard, Crazy Eye, Mind Control
Chapel blessings: Path of Defender, Blessing of Might, Symbol of Essence, Divine Strike
Statues: Kyra, Ozreth, Bolgarth
Fountain: Expanded floors, Gentle Traps, Ace Key, Glass Walks, Treasure Hunt, Spicy Potions, Enemy Overseers, Miners' Strike

Most important to look at here are Kyra and Divine Strike, since they allow you to be a bit farther away from your enemies which is specially useful in acts 4 and 5.


If you are halfway decent in kiting enemies, have some patience and are not completely new to the game you can use this exact setup to get all the achievements for the following classes: Ranger, Paladin, Sorcerer, Wizard, Gladiator, Witch Hunter (Warlock, Priest).
Thief is a bit different but also fairly easy.

[Mawdesty]

Originally posted by 2bizzyTOULOUSE:

Thief is a bit different but also fairly easy.

More like Thief is stupid easy. I don't even have statues and Thief did the tower better than just about every other class. A couple NG above all the others.

Interesting choice to go for wicked sickness over markhams moonshine. Is combo that important to gladiators damage? Not that you'll have a nova until you find two spheres.

[2bizzyTOULOUSE]

Originally posted by junkbarrage:

Interesting choice to go for wicked sickness over markhams moonshine. Is combo that important to gladiators damage? Not that you'll have a nova until you find two spheres.

You get the combo bonus nearly instantly because of Frenetic Eruption + attuned Heartseeker and Lucky Hat. The Combo Nova is just a nice side effect for minor extra damage, but you get a flat doubling of damage with Wicked Sickness, and when in combo you can use all skills without being slowed down or having to stand still, which is the huge downside you get when using Markham's Moonshine.

[Mawdesty]

You say that but markhams moonshine outshines wicked sickness after 40 items. Maybe less if you found a few orbs. Usually I get the same value as wicked sick some time by the third area. Is always on and can further grow unlike wicked+frenetic which may give windows of vulnerabilities to the player. Talking about that half damage and 20% bonus incoming damage. Doesn't even require any additional items or drinks to max the benefit so very low maintenance in that regard. The move speed buff is like the only saving grace of combo but that's why I usually use incendiary demise anyway. Can't use some skills and move at the same time but for primary attack builds it's largely unneeded having any skills.

[2bizzyTOULOUSE]

Fair points, and I will definitively try out Markham's Moonshine soon to see how powerful it is for high NG's.
Just keep in mind I have collected all achievements recently with that build in the current meta, so it did work for me:)

[Mawdesty]

Ah, I did wonder what the meta was. No clue what High NG counts as but my personal strategy seems to fair well at NG7 which would fit the need for the achievements. Incendiary burn keeps rising so I do wonder if at a certain point the fire debuff alone will be enough to take me down.

Oh, side note, I currently lack statues which is a powerful tool that could certainly change some of my builds for the better. If I had a high level Bolgarth constructed it'd become much less likely for combo to fall off in general and I'd have that extra explosion. That's definitely the game changer in the wicked versus moonshine. Thinking on it your advice probably works better at higher NG than mine but I did say mine was low maintenance so it is easier to have access to. No grind required to build up statues. Heh, oh well. just means I gotta get statues sometime soon.

[2bizzyTOULOUSE]

Oh if you want to see proper high NG with the meta around the statue of Calis I can highly recommend the following youtube channel, where you can also find current builds for all classes:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxX1PanBZkT7amrC5pjCnGQ

[Mawdesty]

I don't need any meta builds. Honestly I'd pick up Kyra and Bolgarth for my primary builds and my skill builds might use Ozreth. If I build all three statues for a single character I'd get Calis as well for primary. A lot of my skill builds tend to be the same though so not sure what i'd use there outside of putting in cedric. Just my own theory crafting here. I tend to to do gimmick strats.

[Topler]

So quick update I beat it.

I swapped out the moonshine build for combo & added Bolgarth as my third statue, the additional movement speed & aoe faff was more useful then I originally assumed.

I can imagine in higher ng+'s I'd want to run moonshine for the additional damage but that's a problem for later & not one I have to worry about anytime soon.

Originally posted by RichRuzz:

I'm there with you but I'm stuck WAY earlier in NGs, are titles making the difference?

Assuming you have your town max with all character upgrades then I find it's mostly the build and statues that have the greatest impact. Titles do help but I see them as the icing on top more then anything.

[Mawdesty]

Congratulations.