Gladiator (Beta Class)

"Persistence is the key in defeating this powerhouse. You must first deplete his Energy Armor, then you can move in for the kill."

- The Reckoning Manual

The Beta Class Gladiator is an upgrade from the Gladiator found in The Reckoning with enhanced weapons and armor. The beta class Gladiator now rivals the Tank Boss and Hornet regarding health and fire power. It is only found in the final map of Unit 4 (Strogg Freighter), and the final Hub in the game where it is a common Enemy. When killed, Beta Class Gladiators may drop Mag Slugs.

On Hard+ difficulty, Beta Class Gladiators exhibit 2 unique traits:


 * 1) They fire THREE projectiles from their Phalanx Particle Cannons, instead of the usual two.
 * 2) They will go into their "pain state" upon taking their first hit. This was likely an oversight by developer Xatrix Entertainment, as enemies on this difficulty setting were specifically programmed by Id Software to NOT go into their pain states.

Energy Shield
Although not a weapon, the beta Gladiator's new energy shield is one of the key elements to its power. The energy shield increases the Gladiator’s health from the standard 400 to a massive 1,700. This gives the beta Gladiator more health than the standard Tank Boss, and almost as much as the Hornet.

Phalanx Cannon
Replacing the Rail Gun, the Phalanx fires two slugs together in a single shot (3 on Hard+), with each shot doing a massive 100 damage x 2 = 200 (100 x 3 = 300 on Hard+). This makes the Beta Gladiator one of the most powerful enemies in the game, not only because of the power of the Phalanx, but also because it, much like the player, can fire a salvo instantly with no warm up like the Rail Gun demands. It is able to launch one at the player's current spot, and then launch the second one towards where the player has jumped to dodge the first shot, thus making it a lot harder to avoid. This, compounded by the Phalanx's natural splash damage, means fights have to be handled very cautiously.

Clamp
The beta Gladiator, like the original, has a very large clamp which it will use if the player is close by, dealing 20-25 damage per hit with two hits in quick succession, dealing almost as much damage as a Rail Gun shot.

Strategies

 * This Gladiator is considerably harder than the original one. The Chaingun, Hyperblaster or Ion Ripper should be a good idea for close quarter combat; if you are far away from the Gladiator, then the Railgun or Rocket Launcher should be a good idea for this foe. At mid-range, fighting fire with fire by employing your own Phalanx is a worthy tactic.
 * Traps are extremely useful against the beta Gladiator, when the Trap is active as the Gladiator nears it and kills instantly within a second.
 * Do your best to not get cornered. Taking a full two-shot salvo head-on is the worst outcome possible during a fight there.
 * It's valid to get close to incite it to swing its clamp, but this has to be done with even tighter timing than when up against the normal Gladiator, as the beta's Phalanx can fire instantly without warm up and as such is almost impossible to dodge at close range.
 * Before combat look if there are no explosive barrels near you, or you may die very quickly.

Trivia

 * When a Gladiator (Beta Class) spots the player, they will shout something that sounds like "Prepare to Die!", or "Gladiator!".
 * Beta Class Gladiator's Phalanx Particle Cannon is one of very few instances in Quake II, where a weapon is available for the player and it can also can be seen in the hands of an enemy, but the enemy's version of this weapon is stronger than player's. Beta Class Gladiator does 100 damage with each shot, while player's phalanx cannon does only 75 per shot.