Gladiator & Moonlord Item Build Update

This is the item build update that many have been waiting for.
I’ll first start with my Moonlord
But before that please note the following:

• My Moonlord and Gladiator Shares the exact 5 piece Great Ancestor Armours between each other via the Normal Server Storage (Yes you can transfer most epic equipment). This is also why they are all crafted WIND suffix aside from the gloves as this is the best suffix to be crafted if you’re sharing your armours between 2 classes.
• My Moonlord and Gladiator Shares 3rd stat FD RARE Heraldry plates with each other
• My Moonlord gears ARE NOT as complete as my Gladiator

With the squared away here are the current gears that my Moonlord is using.

Click to Enlarge

Overall HP: 280041

Magic Attack: 11631-14735
Critical:  34687
Final Damage:   1158 (35% Damage Increase for Same Level Monster)

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

The first question that most players will ask will be this:
Why L-Grade Green Dragon Weapons? Don’t they give STR and isn’t STR for Gladiators instead of Moonlords?
To be honest I wanted to share the Great Ancestor Weapons between both characters as well since the Gladiator has them but the potentials for the GA gauntlet wasn’t perfect so that can’t be shared.
It just so happened that I managed to get both the Sword and the Gauntlet for my Moonlord as well during my Green Dragon Nest Runs.
I +12 my sword and gauntlet before the Treasure Stage was implemented which is why I didn’t actually get the GA Sword and Gauntlet for my moonlord.
Most importantly, L-Grade GDN Weapons are relatively easier to “+12″ compared to epic weapons.
This meant that in terms of raw Magic Attack increase, L-Grade GDN Weapons definitely outweigh going for Bloody Fighter or GA weapon sets.
While the suffix effect such as “Tent” is lost, the recent buff with Cyclone Slash EX will replace that though these 2 effects can be stacked but obviously Cyclone Slash EX is easier to be used for coordination between party members during “burst” dps phases in nest/raids.
L-Grade GDN Weapons are definitely more useful to Gladiators with the Extra STR from enhancement compared to Moonlords but that reason isn’t enough to totally not consider using them as Moonlords.
All in all, it is about opportunity for me which brings me to why I Went for GA Accessories on my ML.
Without using GA/Bloody fighter weapons, I needed to find a way to replace the FD that I could have gotten if I went for the weapon set bonus.
I gambled on Ancestor Jewels for a Necklace Pouch and got the INT-Based stat with 1 try.
Basically if I didn’t get the INT Based stat one, I’ll count myself out of luck and go for honourable accessories set instead
With that I bought the ring with Gold and got the 2 set bonus of 136FD (which is overall still lower than the weapon set bonus but its the cost you got to bear when not going for GA/Bloody fighter weapons)
For Skill Heraldry plates, you can consider replacing side kick action speed with Cyclone Slash Cool down plate which is definitely a great choice to have with the buffs to it mentioned above.
This brings is to the Pure PVE Skill build that I’m currently using for my Moonlord (Previously using a Hybrid, but with Skill expansion slot item, I can now dedicate a skill build to PVE)

Click to Enlarge

Things to note:

• MLS No longer level 15 because I’m not using the skill ring anymore so I had to get it to Level 16
• Half-Moon Slash Level 10 – I used a Skill Accessory to get it to Level 11
• Parrying Stance Level 1 - Don’t see a point in over-leveling Crescent Cleave EX and Cyclone Slash past 11, used the spare SP for survivability skill that is extremely useful in nests and raids
  
• Impact Wave Level 16 - You can choose to go for Circle Break if you want since most Moonlords still have decent PATK, I prefer Impact wave due to the range because skill rotations for ML usually require you to be at medium distance. Be wary of the casting animation though, it is not short but around the same as circle break.
• Triple Slash level 1 to unlock front shove for invincibility frame utility for dodging and avoiding some boss attacks
• Flash Stance Level 4 because I’m already 105/107 for Swordmaster side, you can drop it to level 2 and get parrying stance to level 3 if you want. (Can’t learn counter slash/wave due to SP Cap)
• Relieve Level 4 for 25s Cooldown instead of 35s. Faster cooldown can be life and death when facing dangerous boss poison/burn debuffs that you might find yourself getting inflicted on due to your own mistake or sometimes unavoidable to keep yourself alive in cases like forcing your way through poison prison in scorpion boss of DDN.

This build is only recommended if you are going Pure PVE. If you are not planning to purchase a skill expansion slot, continue using the hybrid build that I was using for AikawaKazu previously here
With that if you want to see how this item build performs in a Level 60 Nest environment
What has changed for Gladiator Item build?

• Skill Accessories replaced with Dangerous Desire’s Accessories Set
• 1 Extra 3rd stat FD Plate
• Some other useful 3rd Stat Plate for more survivability

Overall Stats

Current Plates

Click to Enlarge

Current Accessories

Click to Enlarge

Due to the change in accessories from skill to dangerous desires, I had to change my skill build mostly because I can’t leave Triple Slash at Level 15.

Click to Enlarge

Things to Note:

• Circle Break Level 16 – Damage and cooldown for this skill is definitely worthwhile getting it to 16.
• Line Drive Level 6 and not 10 – No skill ring to get it to 11, so not really worthwhile to get it to level 10
• Eclipse Level  6 – Decent Damage and AOE skill
• Parrying Stance Level 3 – You can drop it to 1 to have 2 SP to allocate but Extra Survivability is not too shabby either. As mentioned above, parrying stance is very useful for keeping yourself safe from simple boss mechanics in DDN such as Scorpion’s Air Stomp (doesn’t work for Manticore Storm Master Zuu take note) and Manticore’s following path explosions situations.

Similarly this is a Pure PVE Build without the usage of skill rings. If you’re using an item build that still uses skill rings continue to use the skill build that I mentioned
The question you will probably ask next will be why the change to dangerous desire’s accessories? Isn’t provoking slam +1 for 5% increase damage debuff useful for party members?
The answer to this question will be that with DD Accessories, the 223 Final Damage that I’ll get increases my damage increase via FD Exponentially.
This meant that if I didn’t go for FD Build, DD accessories wouldn’t be as useful if I had an overall FD of around 500-700.
However at around 1.3k FD previously, the extra 223 Final Damage from DD Accessories 4 set bonus gives me over 20% damage increase permanently unlike provoking slam’s 5% damage increase which doesn’t last all the time.
While the +5% Damage increase debuff will be useful to my party members, the exponential increase in my Gladiator’s damage ( via the change of accessories gives enough boost to my skills such as Finish Attack that will outweigh the +5% Damage increase debuff.
Basically before the change I was sitting at 1301 FD (46% Dmg Increase) and after the change with my extra 3rd stat FD Plate, I’m sitting at 1704 FD (83% Dmg Increase) which meant that I have an almost 40% increase with the change.
Moreover, Dangerous Desires provides decent increase in HP and Defence (via VIT) through its set-bonus and stats.
With the change, my Gladiator is now sitting at over 330,000 HP which is definitely a great boost.
However do note that you will need to find ways to replace the critical loss when not using Skill rings (I was previously using the 3554 Critical Based rings).
I was over-crit on my Gladiator in the past (was at over 38,000 critical) so I didn’t really need to replace anyway.