Gladiator guide: stats, gear, skills and stigmas

At a glance

How Gladiator wins fights

Gladiator closes the gap and stays there. Wide cleaves make it one of the fastest classes through trash, lifesteal and mana-on-crit keep it swinging, and it can take pressure off the tank in a group. In PvP it's best in small fights.

• One skill carries the class. Overhead Slam can be well over half your total damage, so its skill level matters more than almost any stat.
• Gear changes the class. Most of your power comes from progression systems, not your hotbar.

Stats to prioritise

On gear, lean on Might for attack and Precision for accuracy and critical hits. Behind those:

1. Smite — a chance to deal double damage, and the strongest offensive stat in the game.
2. Front/back damage boost — its own multiplier, and a natural fit for a melee class.
3. Weapon damage boost — scales the attack on your weapon, guard, accessories and stat lines.
4. Combat speed — more swings per second, though high ping eats a lot of its value.
5. Critical damage boost — worth a little less to Gladiator, because the Murderous Burst passive already raises it.
6. Damage boost — filler; it shares a crowded bucket with PvE, boss and species boosts.

Crit chance is your last pick: Overhead Slam always crits, so a point is worth +0.20% against +0.53% for an Assassin. The stat weights guide has the rest of the numbers.

For flat attack, Attack beats Max Attack, which beats Attack Bonus. Reach the accuracy and crit targets for your content before chasing any of it — the damage guide lists them.

Skills

Active skills reach level 10 with Wisdom Stones. Every level beyond that comes from ring stat lines, Arcana cards and the Daevanion boards. Levels also unlock Specialty perks: three options and one slot at level 8, a fourth option and second slot at 12, a fifth option at 16, and the third slot at 20.

A common PvP opener is Mocking Blade, then Leaping Slam, then Rage Burst.

Once your main actives reach 20, move to your key passives. Top Korean players push their most important ones into the 25–30 range.

Stigmas

Stigmas are long-cooldown skills. The Korean client allows six equipped; global may allow fewer at launch. They level with Stigma Shards up to 20, and every perk you've unlocked stays active. Each stigma you take to 20 also earns a Superior Stigma Shard, which pushes your best stigmas toward 25.

Stigma Shards come from combining Unstable Stigma Shards, which drop across PvE content, or from spending Abyss Points.

Gear and enhancement

• Enhance Unique gear to +15 and Heroic gear to +20, then add five Amp levels. Start with your weapon and guard.
• Mana stones add random extra stats, and Theostones add a small proc to your weapon. Theostones are under one percent of your damage.
• Soul binding raises the value of your stat lines. Synch Stones reroll one line; a Soul Codex: Reset book shuffles all of them.
• Most rolls are random. Transfer a good roll onto better gear instead of starting over.

The gearing guide covers which lines to chase on every slot and what survives a transfer.

Pets, wings and Arcana

• Pet Genus (Insight). Level each board to 10 before locking lines, then reroll for Smite on lines 3 and 9. Around 2% per line is a strong result — see the Pet Genus guide.
• Wings. About three in four Korean Gladiators wear Eroded Wings for the front-attack bonuses. Talisra's Wings are the main alternative for cooldown reduction. Every pair you own adds stats, so enhance your collection toward +10 over time.
• Arcana. Global launches with five card types and two sets, Primal Vigor and Magic Armor. Early on each card's Pantheon stat beats its set bonus: favour Time (combat speed), Destruction (attack increase) and Wisdom (Smite). Later the Protected Soul set is the endgame pick.

Daevanion boards

Each tile grants stats or skill levels, and respeccing costs almost nothing.

• Skill-level tiles first, so Overhead Slam and your other key skills reach 12, 16 and 20.
• Then orange tiles, which carry the biggest stats: combat speed, attack bonus, cooldown reduction and boss damage.
• Blue tiles give active skills or percentage stats; green tiles give passives.
• Skip Multi-hit Resist and Critical Damage Tolerance for PvE. Bosses don't use those stats.

Progression order

1. Overhead Slam to level 20, using rings, Arcana and Daevanion tiles.
2. Ruinous Blade and Rending Blow to 20.
3. Enhance your weapon and guard.
4. Every Pet Genus board to 10, then roll for Smite.
5. Rage Burst, Life Stealing Blade and Zikel's Blessing to 20.
6. Damage tiles on the Daevanion boards, defensive tiles later.
7. Wings, Arcana sets, and mana stones on gear you'll keep.

PvE and PvP presets

Build the two separately.

• PvE: Overhead Slam, Ruinous Blade and Rending Blow at the core, both AoE skills, damage-first stigmas. Stack Smite, front/back damage boost and combat speed.
• PvP: keep the core three, add Mocking Blade, Rush Strike and Ankle Slice, and slot Force Restraint. Accuracy matters more, because your targets block and evade.

Sources

• kanonxo, Aion 2 PvE and progression guide (updated Aug 23, 2026) — skill levels, stigmas, wings and stat values
• A community Gladiator class guide video — skill and stigma picks
• Vortex Gaming, Gladiator PvE/PvP skill and stigma build