Final Fantasy V Job Classes

Gladiator

Vital Statistics

"Skilled warriors who can master any blade."

Job Description

The Gladiator certainly is unique; it has the highest Strength of all Heavy Armor Jobs and ties with the Monk for game's highest Strength overall. It boasts impressive Agility as well, but the Gladiator has crap Stamina (and thus HP) for a Heavy Armor Job and accordingly is not well suited to take hits, especially magical ones, as it has neither the HP nor the Magic Defense to survive them well. The Gladiator's got the most impressive !Attack command of the game; it's also able to equip a wide variety of weapons which allows it to exploit nature weaknesses of Dragons, Magic Beasts and Aevis creatures whenever they are encountered. In addition, a Gladiator is a great character to put !Aim or !Jump on when the relevant weapon is provided; the class allows for a more powerful archer than the Ranger and a better Jumper than the Dragoon. Giving the Gladiator either a Bow with !Aim or a Lance with !Jump also boosts his survivability, since he becomes Back Row OK. The Aegis Shield is a supreme choice for the Gladiator, as it'll cover the Job's big weakness (magical attacks).

!Finisher is a gamble that is not always well evaluated; certain FAQs advocate !Finisher against everything as soon as you get it. 9999 damage regardless! The odds of this attack are 50% at best though, and when adequately prepared and normally leveled, it is often easy to match this average damage output as well as maintain a higher level of certainty. But it's hard to resist !Finisher, as it'll deal that much-coveted 9999 damage elemental attack every now and again. Plus, it looks awesome.

Job Ability Summary

Lure is a game feature, useful for grinding or when you're searching out a rare encounter or something. I have trouble finding a good use for Long Reach; the only Jobs that necessarily hold the Front Row and would do well to go to the back are the Thief, Ninja and Dancer, which may as well learn !Summon 5, !Open Fire or Equip Whips/Equip Bows by the time you actually get the Gladiator. Now, !Finisher obviously works as well on any Job as it does on the Freelancer, and is a great option to give your Thief, Bard, Chemist or Dancer a shot at some really decent damage. !Finisher works best when the Gladiator is mastered, obviously. !Bladeblitz isn't too hot; it's better to take out targets one a time with a strong elemental attack or strategic status ailment; throwing damage around is for Summoners, not physical attackers. Break Spellblade + !Bladeblitz is a fun combo though.

Transfer to Freelancer

If you want perfect stats on your Freelancer you'll have to master Monk anyway, so that perfect Strength isn't an issue. I wouldn't put !Finisher on a Freelancer so long as he/she has access to !Spellblade and/or !Rapid Fire either, and there are no inherent abilities the Freelancer assumes from the Gladiator. Useless to master, but fun to use.