What weapon does the Gladiator use?

A greatsword. Across the public Gladiator builds on questlog.gg, the Spiritforged Greatsword is the most common pick (17% of builds), followed by the Enraged Kromede Claymore and Earthly Authority (11% each).

Is the Gladiator a tank in AION 2?

Partly. Grobs, an experienced Gladiator creator, notes that the game treats the Gladiator as a tank in PvE, and without a Templar it will hold the boss. It has no taunt: its main attacks generate Enmity, so it keeps aggro by dealing damage. Most players build it as a damage-focused off-tank.

What stigmas do most Gladiators use?

Lunge Stance (93% of builds), Rage Burst (93%), Zikel’s Blessing (92%) and Focused Block (55%), counting the stigmas on the skill bar in 462 public Gladiator skill builds on questlog.gg. Lifestealing Blade (35%) is the most common alternative for the fourth slot.

How many classes are there in AION 2?

Eight on the Global server: Gladiator, Templar, Assassin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, Cleric and Chanter. A ninth class, the Brawler, exists in the Korean and Taiwanese versions but is not confirmed for Global. Gladiator and Templar are the two tank classes; the Templar is the dedicated tank.

AION 2 Gladiator Build Guide (Global): Best Builds & All Skills

What is the best Gladiator build in AION 2?

The build most Gladiators run puts its damage into Rending Blow, Overhead Slam and Ruinous Blow, with Rage Burst, Zikel’s Blessing, Lunge Stance and Focused Block as stigmas. Across the 462 public Gladiator skill builds on questlog.gg that slot stigmas, those are the four most-used stigmas, and the three core skills are on more than 95% of skill bars.

The details depend on what you are doing, so each part of the build has its own guide:

Guide	What it covers
Gladiator PvE build	Skill levels, specializations, the four stigmas, the one-button macro and the boss opener
Best Gladiator build	The most-liked community builds compared, and which fourth stigma fits your role
Gladiator gear guide	What geared Gladiators wear in every slot, the item-level upgrade path and stat priorities
Gladiator Daevanion build	What each of the five boards gives, node costs and the order to buy nodes in
Gladiator PvP build	Coming soon

If you are still choosing a class, see how the Gladiator compares with the other seven on our classes page. For other classes’ builds, go to the builds directory.

How does the Gladiator play?

The Gladiator is a greatsword bruiser. It cleaves groups, knocks enemies down and punishes them while they are down, and heals itself through its passives. Its core rhythm comes from three mechanics:

Cleaves and Enmity. Rending Blow, Keen Strike, Crushing Wave and Ruinous Blow all hit up to four enemies. Rending Blow, Keen Strike and Overhead Slam also generate Enmity, so the Gladiator holds aggro without a taunt.
Knockdown follow-ups. Mocking Blade knocks a target down for 3 seconds, which opens Overhead Slam and Aerial Snare. Bosses cannot be knocked down, so against them Overhead Slam has a 7% chance to trigger on hit, and Rage Burst enables it for 10 seconds.
Stagger windows. Most skills fill a boss’s Stagger gauge. While the boss is staggered, Sword Aura Rampage can be used over and over, and the Destructive Impulse passive adds extra damage.

Survival comes from passives rather than a healer. Blood Absorption heals you on hit and gives a big instant heal below 50% HP. Protection Armor heals you every time you block, and Survival Stance adds Max HP and damage tolerance. For mobility, Leaping Slam covers 20 meters and Rush Strike dashes in after a dodge.

Grobs — The Only Gladiator PvE Guide You Need

Which stigmas do most Gladiators run?

Three stigmas are on almost every skill bar: Lunge Stance, Rage Burst and Zikel’s Blessing, each in more than 90% of builds. The fourth slot is the only real choice: Focused Block in about half, with Lifestealing Blade the main alternative for sustain and Blade Toss and Wave Armor as niche picks. These shares count only the stigmas placed on the skill bar: many public builds also list stigmas they have levelled but not equipped, or none at all. On 2026-10-11, 462 of the 785 public Gladiator skill builds on questlog.gg had at least one stigma on the bar, and 408 of them had exactly four.

Stigma	Share of 462 builds	What it does
Lunge Stance	93%	+20% Combat Speed for 10s
Rage Burst	93%	Damage, lowers enemy Attack, raises your PvE Damage Boost and enables Overhead Slam for 10s
Zikel’s Blessing	92%	+20% Attack and +100 Accuracy for 10s
Focused Block	55%	Guaranteed parry with 100% Block Damage Reduction; restores MP and Stamina
Lifestealing Blade	35%	Hits up to 4 enemies and absorbs 10% HP
Blade Toss	15%	20m throw; −30% Defense and −50% Incoming Heal on the target for 10s
Wave Armor	11%	Damage over time to up to 4 enemies around you for 10s
Tenaciousness	6%	3s of immunity to damage and status effects

The remaining stigmas (Armor of Balance, Wrath Wave, Forced Restraint, Fracturing Rush, Assault Strike) each appear in 3% of builds or fewer. To see how the top four work together, read the Gladiator PvE build.

Which active skills do Gladiators use most?

Ruinous Blow, Overhead Slam and Rending Blow are on 97% or more of these skill bars, and the two gap closers follow close behind. Keen Strike, your mana generator, is on 82%. The crowd-control skills drop off from there, and Defiance is the least common at 46%.

Active skill	Share of 462 builds
Ruinous Blow	98%
Overhead Slam	97%
Rending Blow	97%
Leaping Slam	97%
Rush Strike	92%
Keen Strike	82%
Sword Aura Rampage	79%
Ankle Slice	61%
Mocking Blade	61%
Aerial Snare	60%
Crushing Wave	56%
Defiance	46%

What does every Gladiator skill do?

The Gladiator has 35 skills: 12 actives, 13 stigmas and 10 passives. The descriptions below summarize the Global client data. Damage numbers are left out because they scale with skill level. Specializations change several of these effects; the PvE build covers the ones that matter.

Active skills

Skill	Effect
Rending Blow	Hits up to 4 enemies within 4m and generates Enmity. Your main filler attack.
Keen Strike	Hits up to 4 enemies within 4m, generates Enmity and restores 100 MP.
Crushing Wave	Hits up to 4 enemies within 5m around you.
Ruinous Blow	Rushes 7.5m to hit up to 4 enemies and grants Prepare for Battle for 20s (+20% PvE Damage Boost, +100 Critical Hit, +15% Status Effect Chance).
Overhead Slam	Hits a knocked-down target within 4m and generates Enmity; 7% chance to trigger against crowd-control-immune targets.
Leaping Slam	Leaps to a target up to 20m away.
Ankle Slice	Hits up to 4 enemies within 4m with a chance to Root (always roots NPCs).
Defiance	Breaks Stun, Knockdown, Airborne, Grab, Frost and Fear, then grants 5s of status-effect immunity.
Sword Aura Rampage	Hits a Staggered target within 4m; usable repeatedly during the stagger window.
Mocking Blade	Hits a target within 4m and knocks it down for 3s.
Aerial Snare	Hits a knocked-down target with a chance to launch it Airborne for 3s (always launches NPCs).
Rush Strike	Dashes 10m to a target after a dodge or while flying, with a chance to knock down (always knocks down NPCs).

Stigma skills

Stigma	Effect
Rage Burst	Hits a target, lowers its Attack by 10% (Wounded), raises your PvE Damage Boost for 10s and enables Overhead Slam on it for 10s.
Zikel’s Blessing	+20% Attack and +100 Accuracy for 10s; later specializations add Stagger damage, PvE Damage Boost and Multi-Hit Chance.
Lunge Stance	+20% Combat Speed for 10s; at level 20, crits can shave 1s off all cooldowns.
Focused Block	Guaranteed parry with 100% Block Damage Reduction; restores 110 MP and Stamina on parry.
Lifestealing Blade	Hits up to 4 enemies within 4m and absorbs 10% HP.
Wave Armor	Damage over time to up to 4 enemies within 3m for 10s.
Blade Toss	Hits a target up to 20m away, cutting its Defense by 30% and Incoming Heal by 50% for 10s.
Tenaciousness	3s of immunity to damage and status effects, then extra damage tolerance for 3s.
Wrath Wave	Hits up to 4 enemies within 5m with a chance to knock down (always knocks down NPCs).
Armor of Balance	+50% Impact-type Resist for 10s.
Fracturing Rush	Charges 10m, hitting up to 4 enemies on the path with a chance to Root.
Forced Restraint	Hits a target within 4m with a 75% chance to Seal it for 5s (always seals NPCs).
Assault Strike	Hits up to 4 enemies around a target 20m away, with a chance to knock down and a Defense bonus per target hit.

Passive skills

Passive	Effect
Survival Stance	More HP, Max HP %, Natural HP Regen and damage tolerance.
Protection Armor	More Block, and heals you on every block.
Blood Absorption	Chance to heal on hit, plus a large instant heal when you drop to 50% HP or lower (60s cooldown).
Identify Weakness	More Critical Hit and Perfect Chance.
Attack Preparation	More PvE Damage Boost, Defense and Accuracy.
Impact Hit	More Impact-type Chance and Double Chance (a chance for a hit to deal double damage).
Destructive Impulse	Extra damage against Staggered targets and targets under an Impact-type status.
Experienced Counterstrike	Front-attack damage boost, and a 20s PvE Damage Boost for you and your party whenever you block.
Survival Willpower	More Status Effect Resist, and extra damage tolerance while you are crowd-controlled.
Murderous Burst	Every hit builds Menace; at 5 stacks it deals area damage and raises your Critical Damage Boost for 3s.

Is the Gladiator good for solo leveling?

Yes. The class has several traits that suit solo play:

Most of its attacks hit up to four enemies.
With its level 8 specialization, Leaping Slam resets its cooldown whenever you defeat an enemy, so you can jump straight from one target to the next.
Its passives heal it constantly, so you rarely stop to recover.

Ulfhednar highlights the Leaping Slam reset for speed-farming, for example when grinding toward the daily Kinah cap. Grobs suggests making Lunge Stance your first stigma while leveling, because it speeds up every attack.

Where does this Gladiator data come from?

Skill descriptions: the Global game client data in questlog.gg’s skill builder (checked 2026-10-08).
Usage statistics: all 785 public Global Gladiator skill builds on questlog.gg, counted on 2026-10-11. Stigma and skill shares count only skills placed on the skill bar, in the 462 builds that have at least one stigma there. Weapon shares come from questlog.gg’s Gladiator class page (checked 2026-10-08). Shares will shift as more players publish builds.
Playstyle: Grobs’ The Only Gladiator PvE Guide You Need and Ulfhednar’s AION 2 Gladiator PvE DPS Build.