These are tips for new players who are either just getting started or who are having trouble. I’ve beaten glory level 8, so I have a fair idea of what works and what doesn’t work.
You’re now the coach of a gladiator team! You start out with 300 gold, and a long way to go to the top. So, how does this all work?
This game is largely randomly generated. All the items stats, gladiator stats, and costs of things in the shop will be generated randomly. All spells will, however, always function the same. If you see two copies of the same spell in the store with slightly different prices, there is no mechanical difference. All gladiator traits will always have the same stat modifiers.
The game starts with being given 300 gold to spend on gladiators and items. You can look at the next team you’ll be up against in the fight lobby. All stats on gladiators and items can be inspected before purchase.
Once you start the fight you will have 20 turns to win. The emperor will yell at you on turn 15 to hurry up if you haven’t already won as a warning. There is no additional penalty for going over 15 turns unless there is a specific emperor’s demand.
If you win the fight, you will be rewarded with money, a choice of three items/skill books/gladiators, and all gladiators that weren’t knocked out or killed during the fight will gain +1 stat point to a random stat, or +2 if they have the savant trait. If you lose, you will still receive some gold, but much less than if you had won, and you will not get any stat increases or bonus items/skill books/gladiators.
After the fight is over a random event will likely occur. There is usually a choice to be made after these random events, and the choice usually has some element of risk/reward. There is only one random event per match. After the random event is over, you will return to the regular screen and be able to recruit/retire gladiators and buy/sell items. Items sell for half of their buy price and gladiators retire for about 1/5 their original hiring price, so don’t get rid of them unless you’re sure.
Gladiator Stats
Your gladiator has five stats:
-Armor is the amount of damage subtracted from enemy attacks. You cannot directly train this stat, and it is extremely important. Choosing a starting gladiator with high armor is generally a good idea. Armor works mathematically by subtracting from physical damage. If there is a critical hit, the critical hit multiplier occurs before armor subtraction.
-Vitality is the basis of your gladiator’s health points and their chance of resisting debuffs. It is also extremely important. Each point of vitality gives your gladiator four hit points and one percentage point of debuff resistance.
-Wisdom is the god stat for everything magic. Every two points of wisdom give your gladiator a point of magic attack and a point of magic attack. Unlike action points, there is no minimum so it is possible (actually fairly common in early game) to see gladiators with slightly negative magic defense. Each point of wisdom also gives an additional four points of base mana capacity.
-Agility is the basis of your gladiator’s dodge chance, crit chance and action points per turn. Every point of agility gives your gladiator one percent of crit chance. Every two points of agility give your gladiator a percent of dodge chance. Every five points of agility gives your gladiator an action point, although they start with one. I strongly recommend that your starting gladiator(s) have at least 5 agility, or get trained or otherwise buffed to 5 agility. Otherwise, they won’t be able to move and attack in the same turn, which is crippling.
-Strength is the basis of your gladiator’s melee damage and physical damage skills. Each point of strength gives one point of physical damage and one percent chance of knockback.
-The savant, famous and greedy traits are probably the three most valuable to have on a starting gladiator. Savant will allow your gladiator to level twice as quickly, enormously eclipsing the competition by the end of the game. Famous and greedy will improve your income as you win matches, which will improve your options.
-Skills like pinpoint thrust and corrosion cloud are better than they look because they bypass defenses. Against really tough opponents, this can make an enormous difference. Pinpoint stab/thrust are even somewhat useful on magic-focused characters, as the armor bypass will allow them to do some physical damage even against heavily armored characters if they run out of manna.
-Skills like quick slash and rock throw that do reduced damage but do not consume a turn are very useful. They can be used to bait out dodges against high evasion characters. After a character dodges, they automatically get the “off-balance” de-buff, which will make your main attack more likely to hit. They can also be used to finish off low-health enemies and reserve your gladiator’s main attack for someone they won’t overkill as badly. Finally, the attacks that do not consume a turn are very useful on high crit characters because the crit multiplier still applies to these attacks.
-Undine and minotaur are probably the two best picks for a starting gladiator. Just be aware that the recharge on the undine’s javelin throw takes forever, and that minotaurs are frequently below 5 agility to start with, which makes positioning the charge tricky.
-Ranged skills in general give you a huge advantage in the early game. Ranged skills that apply a speed debuff, like breath of frost, can allow a magic-focused gladiator to “juggle” or “kite” melee-focused enemies extremely effectively.
