Both are melee classes and both can hold a boss. The difference: Templar is a tank by design (the tank takes the boss's hits for the group), while Gladiator is a bruiser that hits harder and tanks on the side. New to the terms? See the glossary.
Templar vs Gladiator at a glance
| Templar | Gladiator | |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | sword and shield | greatsword |
| Role | main tank | melee damage; tanks when there's no Templar |
| Solo | safe but slower | very good, heals off hits, rarely needs potions |
| Group | holds the boss, every block buffs the party | deals damage, takes the boss if no Templar is around |
| Difficulty | medium | easy |
| Damage | lower | higher (still below pure DPS classes) |
| Survivability | the tankier of the two | high |
| Group demand | first tank groups look for | always useful, but a stand-in as a tank |
| Ping sensitivity | no reports of being worse than other classes | no reports of being worse than other classes |
DPS (damage per second) is the job of dealing damage. Ping is the delay between your PC and the game server.
When should you pick Templar?
- You actually want to tank. Templar gets the Taunt stigma (+20,000 enmity in one press, so the boss turns to you) and the passive Insulting Roar for +100% enmity (aggro — who the monster targets). Gladiator has no taunt at all.
- You like playing for the group. Fury gives the whole party +5.5% damage for 20 s every time you block. couga54 calls Templar "the main tank", and Blazeon says serious content always looks for one.
- You hate dying. Shield, blocks and defensive stigmas make it the tankiest class in the game (ExitLag, Society Of Gaming, Blazeon).
- Slower solo doesn't bother you. You can clear everything alone, it just takes longer. couga54 says farming the Abyss (the PvP zone after 45) solo as Templar is inefficient — join a legion (guild) and go in pairs.
Full guide: Templar.
When should you pick Gladiator?
- You mostly play alone. Gladiator heals off its attacks (the Blood Absorption passive, plus Mocking Blade and Crushing Wave with specializations), so regular mobs don't eat your potions (couga54, Grobs, Game8).
- You want an easy first class. couga54 rates Gladiator "Easy" and Templar "Medium". Game8 also calls Gladiator easy to play.
- You want more damage than a tank and more health than a mage. Pure DPS classes like Sorcerer or Assassin still out-damage it on equal gear (Grobs, couga54).
- You don't want to tank every run. With a Templar in the party, Gladiator just deals damage. Without one, it holds the boss through damage: Keen Strike, Rending Blow and Overhead Slam all raise enmity (Grobs: "99% of the time you're the tank if there's no Templar").
- One catch: Gladiator fights from the front. Experienced Counterstrike rewards frontal hits, and aLuckyRO calls hitting from behind the "number one Gladiator mistake".
Full guide: Gladiator.
Do Templar and Gladiator work in the same party?
They can, but some buffs overlap. Both classes have a passive that buffs the party when they block, and per the in-game tooltips Gladiator's Experienced Counterstrike buff doesn't stack with Templar's Fury, and the Rage Burst debuff doesn't stack with Taunt's. That's why most groups run one or the other. Gladiator does bring a second party buff Templar can't: Lifestealing Blade (Predation, from stigma level 10).
Where do the sources disagree?
- Templar damage. Most sources say Templar hits noticeably less (Society Of Gaming, ExitLag, Blazeon). Leonis (Oct 4, Global) shows a build that tops his group's damage meter. That's more good gear and play than a rule, but a Templar doesn't have to be a punching bag.
- Is Gladiator a tank? Grobs: almost always, if there's no Templar. couga54 lists it as "Melee DPS · bruiser", Society Of Gaming as an off-tank. Everyone agrees that for the hardest fights, groups prefer a Templar.
- Solo speed. Society Of Gaming shows solo clear times from Korean servers where Gladiator is faster. We don't copy the numbers (Global has a different level cap and balance), but Global sources point the same way (couga54, Game8).
- Ping. No source says either class suffers more from high ping than others. The warnings are mostly about Sorcerer and Ranger (see Sorcerer vs Elementalist and Assassin vs Ranger).
What next?
- Still unsure? Take the which class quiz.
- Rather heal than tank? Cleric vs Chanter.
- Full guides: Templar and Gladiator — skills, hotbar, macro, gear and a 1–45 plan.