Combat

In this section, you will be able to find everything related to combat in Gladiator Heroes, from the different Arenas and Bosses, to strategy and tips.

## Before combat

Right before the combat starts, you will be presented with the "pre-combat screen". In this screen, you will be able to select the gladiators that you want to do battle with, as well as see the arena and your opponents' characteristics.

1.- **Reward pane**: Here you will be able to see the possible rewards of the battle you're about to participate in. This pane will only appear during multiplayer battles.

2.- **Gladiator restrictions**: If the combat you're about to participate in has any kind of gladiator restriction, it will be indicated here. It will display both class restrictions and number restrictions.

3.- **Your available gladiators**: Here you will see the gladiators that are at your disposal. Gladiators that are healing, leveling up or training will appear grey, and won't be able to fight. This pane displays the gladiator's name, the gladiator's class (the little icon in the top-left of each portrait), their health-bar and their power, alongside their active skills.

4.- **Enemy profile**: If you tap on any enemy, this information pane will pop up. It will show you all the available information about the selected enemy, including their name and class, power, detailed statistics, their skills and their equipment. Take this information into consideration when placing your own gladiators!

5.- **Thrill indicator**: The "thrill" of a combat determines the amount of experience and fame gained by your gladiators if they win. It's mainly affected by your gladiators being outnumbered or surpassed in power by their opponents.

After you have prepared your gladiators for glorious combat, the battle will begin right after you tap on the bottom-right button that says "To Combat". From this point onwards, there are many elements that will affect how the battle goes, such as initiative, the IA and your gladiators' statistics.

## Initiative

Different gladiators have different statistics. The initiative determines the order in which gladiators will move and attack, so it's strategically important to take this into account. A gladiator's initiative is mainly determined by their movement; when two gladiators of the same class need to determine who moves first, it will be the one with the highest attack. With all this in mind, we could say that the "standard" order of initiative of gladiators in approximately the same rank would be;

**Dual wielding > Lancers > Sword & Shield > Two-Handed**

Keep this in mind when positioning your gladiators in the pre-combat screen. If you wish to know more about strategies for gladiator placement, refer to our Strategy guide!

## The turn

The battle system in Gladiator Heroes is turn-based. Each gladiator's turn has different stages, which will always occur in the same order;

**1st - Movement:** The gladiator will move towards an opponent. If they get close enough, they will attack; if they don't, their turn will end here.

**2nd - Attack:** If the gladiator could get close enough to an opponent during the first stage, they will attack. Attacking an opponent can result in three different outcomes; a hit, a block or a counter-attack. If the gladiator gets blocked or counter-attacked by a Sword & Shield gladiator, their turn will end here. If the blocker or counterattacker is another kind of gladiator, you can still use your remaining attacks (in the case you have more than 1).

**3rd - Post-attack:** After managing to successfully hit an opponent, all gladiators will have the chance to get a bit more out of their turn. They will roll for post-attack bonuses, and depending on how successful the roll is, different classes will achieve different effects:

* Sword & shield: They can inflict a *Stunned* state. They can also get extra movement points, which they will use to try and gain an opponent's back.
* Two-Handed: They can inflict an *Armor break* state. They can also get extra movement points, which they will use to position themselves so they can hit several opponents next turn, or if impossible, they'll try to gain an opponent's back.
* Dual wielding: They can inflict a *Bleeding* state, and additional attacks (the additional attacks will have all the attributes of a normal attack, so they can also generate additional attacks). If they still have movement points left, they will try to retreat from their opponents.
* Lancer: They can inflict a *Crippled* state. If they still have movement points left, they will try to retreat from their opponents.

## Attack and defense

While in combat, your gladiator's statistics are one of the most important factors, as they will determine whether they hit or miss their attacks, and how much damage they inflict.

**Attack and Defense:** These value represent the offensive and defensive capacity of your gladiator. When trying to hit an opponent with an attack, your gladiator's Attack value is rolled against your opponent's Defense value in order to determine how the attack goes. Depending on how the roll goes, three things can happen;

* *Hit*: Your attacks succeeds! You manage to hit your opponent, causing them damage.
* *Block*: Your opponent manages to block your attack, so it deals no damage.
* *Counterattack*: Your opponent is so successful with their Defense roll that they earn a counterattack, which can also hit or be blocked, but never counter-counterattacked.

**Damage and Armor:** These values represent how capable your gladiators are to deal damage or defend themselves against incoming attacks. Every time your attack hits, your gladiator's Damage value is rolled against their opponent's Armor value. Depending on the outcome of this roll, the gladiator that has been hit will receive varying amounts of damage.

## Conditions

A few skills induce altered conditions in the gladiators they are used upon. Some of these altered stated are;

* **Crippled**: A crippled gladiator will have a 50% reduction penalty to his movement capacity.
* **Bleeding**: Bleeding causes gladiators to lose 10% of their total health at the beginning of each turn.
* **Poisoned**: A poisoned gladiator will have their statistics reduced by 30% (except movement, which is only affected by "crippling").
* **Stunned**: When a gladiator is stunned, they will be unable to move or attack for a few turns, or until attacked (attacking a stunned gladiator will "wake" them up).
* **Armor-broken**: If a gladiator's armor is broken, they will receive extra damage from attacks.
* **Blinded**: A blinded gladiator's combat prowess is severely affected, as his Attack and Defense statistics will be reduced by 50% for the duration of this condition.
* **Confused**: A confused gladiator will attack allies or enemies, without making a distinction, for the duration of the effect or until the confused gladiator is attacked.