RITUZZ....

First and foremost if you’re here for a skill build guide please check this guide out first:

The abovementioned guide has the hybrid PVP/PVE skill build that I was using for my gladiator before I bought the skill expansion cash item for a 2nd skill build that I can use.

That skill build is very useful if you can’t afford the cash item but want a viable PVP/PVE skill build.

I decided to go for the skill expansion as it will mean my utmost commitment to my Desert Dragon Nest Team who is attempting to clear DDN.

Do note that the gears that I’m about to share is something that most players will not be able to acquire over a short period of time.

I used the treasure stage to get the Great Ancestor Gears that I’m currently using.

The plus point is that through the server storage, I’m able to share my GA gear with both my Gladiator and my Moonlord. In this way I’m able to showcase both classes in Desert Dragon Nest Raid with similar gears.

While the optimal hidden potentials for armours for Gladiator and Moonlords are STR/VIT/HP and INT/VIT/HP respectively for DDN (for maximized base stat and survivability), I have to go for AGI/VIT/HP so that when sharing the gears between them, both will benefit but of course at a diminished form.

Let’s first get to the overall stats that I have currently for my Gladiator. (Moonlord gears will be shared in due time when it is more complete)

Key Stats:

HP:  263578

Critical: 38345

Final Damage: 1301 (46% Damage Increase)

Attack Power: 12646 – 15540 (Effective Attack Power with FD: 18463 – 22688)

P.Defense: 14767 (50% Physical Damage Reduction)

M.Defense: 8550 (28% Magical Damage Reduction)

Currently my gears are not 100% complete. I would say I’m at around 75% with a few short fall of couple more 3rd Stat Final Damage plates and changing so of my Lv50 Enhancement heraldry plates to Lv60.

Not all of my gears are at Suffix II or even Suffix III yet. (Suffix III important for weapons now since they have decreased cooldown time for their activation effects)

Some of the hidden potentials for my armours are not optimal for my Moonlord yet as I ran out of Agate codes. They will be fixed eventually to what I mentioned above.

So why Wind Suffix?

Similar to the reasoning behind hidden potentials, wind suffix will benefit both my moonlord and gladiator instead of going for bear/intellect ones for maximized base stats.

Players going for Final Damage builds will also need to find ways to achieve their critical cap while building Final Damage.

Wind Suffix especially with Suffix II really helps to relieve the burden you need to hit the critical cap.

From my overall stats you can see that I’m around 3000 over critical cap (even more if you consider the buffs you can receive during raid)

This allows me to remove some enhancement plates usually used like Wind Plate (for more agi and more critical) and replace that plate with a trash plate that gives Final Damage or even a 3rd stat critical plate because Lv60 3rd stat critical plate gives more straight up critical compared to using a wind plate.

For Gloves I went with Will for the activation effect that will give you a 1 time chance to escape boss mechanisms like poison prison from the scorpion stage in DDN and also it gives the highest base stats compared to the other suffix that you can craft for gloves.

Accessories I’ll be using Skill Accessories for now.

With the Lv60 hell mode for nests out for awhile now, crafting skill accessories is only expensive due to the fragments that you need.

Fragments nevertheless can be farmed if you diligently clear your weekly chaos opening runs. They are also a good avenue for making gold once you have crafted your skill accessories!

Know that if you’re using skill accessories, they will play a very key role in the skill build you’re going to use.

I’m was using evasion slash skill necklace previously but changed to line drive (to get Lv11) since I changed into a pure PVE build.

Triple slash is used for that extra +1 to free up 1 SP in your swordmaster tree if you need it so that you can leave triple slash at Lv15 and then get it to 16 with the ring.

Finish attack skill ring gives you that 5% extra damage per 1% HP loss from 60% HP of the boss (up by 0.5% from 4.5%) which is definitely useful if you’re going a skill accessory set up.

Provoking Slam skill ring gives you 50% increased damage debuff on the affected monsters (up from 45%) which affects the damage done by all your raid party members.

So what else can I go for if I don’t want skill accessories?

To maximize the FD I can get, I can either go for Dangerous Desires accessories set bonus (223 Final Damage with 4 set bonus).

This will bring my Final Damage to 1542 which will give me 65% damage increase (up from 46%, a 19% increase).

19% Increase affects all the skills that I use and will outweigh the benefits using skill accessories.

2nd more expensive option will be to go for GA Accessories 4 piece set bonus which will bring my overall Final Damage to 1664 which will give me 79.2% damage increase (up from 46%, a 33% increase)

33% Increase affects all the skills that I can use and this option definitely outweighs the use of skill accessories. With just 1 more 3rd stat FD Plate for Lv60, I’ll be able to hit 1793 Final damage will will give me 93.3% damage increase overall. Reaching this stage will be about where I would say I have completed my gears.

Currently I’m not switching out yet since I can’t afford it and will slowly work my way up again 

With that I’ll stick to my skill accessories for now as they are as effective as they are especially with the rings since they give extremely high base critical.

With the skill accessories I’m using, here’s the Pure PVE Skill build tailored to this item build.

Most of you will be wondering why I have Great Wave at Level 2.

I learnt great wave for clearing dungeons since it has a decent AOE and mob clearing utility. (Especially during the completing of dailies)

Infinity Edge does decent amount of damage as well as giving you a damage reduction utility while casting it, so it is a personal preference.

If you want to free up 4SP for other purposes (like adding 1 level to counter slash and 1 more to parrying stance), feel free to do so.

Don’t forget that Lv15 Triple slash and Lv10 Line Drive are both brought up to Lv16 and Lv11 Respectively via skill accessories.

Another alternative to another skill accessory build if you don’t want to get Line Drive to Lv11 due to its board damage only achieved if you hit all 4 hits, you can go for Evasion Slash Skill Necklace instead.

With this skill build here are the heraldries that I’m currently using to support it.

Side Kick Action Speed Plate is just another personal preference.

When using a Gladiator, you get very up close and personal with bosses.

While waiting for bosses to cast certain skills so that you dodge them first before casting your main skills, side kicking is one way to get some damage done while waiting.

Having the action speed plate really helps in that aspect. I learnt this from watching a Gladiator clearing TKN Hell solo and found it extremely useful.

Line Drive 20% DMG increase is because my build has Lv11 Line drive. The plate is to further amplify its effectiveness.

Finish Attack plate options is arguable. After consulting many gladiators, cooldown is actually the proper option to go for when under the influence of cooldown reduction skill effects like beyond time and spirit boost.

20% damage is still useful in the case where the boss doesn’t have too high of a HP Pool (like in nests compared to 8-man raids), but the reason for cooldown in raids is because you don’t expect to kill the boss when it is even at 1x HP Bar (whereas in nests when you are geared, you can probably kill the boss with FA while it is at 1x-1.5xHP bar).

So if you’re gearing yourself for clearing of nests, I’ll suggest the use of the FA DMG Plate since you will not always be under the influence of cooldown reduction skill effects and you want to make your FA count such that it finishes of the boss.

For gearing for raids, 20% Cooldown plate will be recommended instead since you will be casting more finish attack over the extended period of time when fighting the stage bosses or the desert dragon itself. Over an extended period of time, Finish Attack with 20% Cooldown plate will give you higher damage per second compared to damage plate especially if you have the help of beyond time or spirit boost etc.

Well that’s all from me.

The rest of my plates as you can see is still currently a work-in-progress.

I hope this flow of the guide also helps in the understanding of the item build that I’m going for.

Pure PATK Builds with Critical is also viable (the TKN Hell solo Gladiator had no FD but 25,000 PATK and critical cap) so don’t count them out.

AikawaKazu’s Moonlord item build will be posted once it is around the same completion % as the Gladiator.