Arena Fights - Avoiding the unexplainable losses.

You've seen these signs before. You've got the advantage. Your gladiator has better stats AND better gear...but once the fight starts, somehow, someway, the other gladiator BEATS THE LIVING HELL OUT OF YOU!

How does this happen? 


Well How does Buster Douglas knock out Mike Tyson?

How did the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl in 2008?

Why does this always happen to my Pocket Aces on Pokerstars?










The fact is sometimes the underdog wins. I've probably participated in somewhere around 1000 arena fights in this game and I am convinced that there is some sort of random number generator that determines arena fights right at the beginning.

Now that said I think there are different versions of "Easy Win"s. If you took a gladiator with straight 100's and the best gear into Pasteum I don't think he would lose if you fought him a million times. But some of those "Easy Win"s in Capua he is probably going to lose. And you will lose your "Slight Advantage"s a decent % of the time as well.

I'll just guess at approximations based on past experience:


Easy Win - 65% - 100% win rate
Slight Advantage - 56%-64% win rate
Evenly Matched - 45%-55% win rate
Tough Match - 36%-44% win rate
Underdog - 0%-35% win rate

So how can you tell when the random number generator is working in your favor, or against? Well I think you should have a pretty good idea after the fight begins by the time you get to the first cut sequence:

By the time you see this picture there should have been 3 attacks. 

If your opponent has landed 2 attacks and blocked one of yours, that is a REALLY BAD SIGN.


Conversely if you have landed two attacks and blocked one of theirs you are likely going to win in a route.


In fact blocked attacks are a very good indicator of how a fight figures to go. In most fights the one that is blocking attacks will win. It is rare that both of you will be blocking attacks.


If you are getting very bad results like two attacks against you by the time the first cut sequence pops up, you can do what I do when I have a "bad feeling about this".

I simply press the red X button that closes the window. If I'm in an arena fight and it goes I get hit, I get hit, I get blocked I just click the X, open a new window, and try the fight again. If I get another bad result I do it again until I get a positive result.


I guess you could call it "cheating". When I do this and reopen the game it acts as if the fight had never occurred. My gladiator is back at whatever Vitality he started the fight with, and I even get my energy point back. I just like to redo the fight until I get a random number generator I like!


If you plan on trying this yourself you might experiment with a cheap gladiator in Pasteum and see if this method works for you. If you try this on a computer that is TOO FAST, it might not work for you. 

I tried this on my friends computer that was very fast and had a T1 connection and when I reloaded the game my gladiator was actually dead! 

Now that I think about it when this happened I did click the X right before the likely killing blow, and it was well after the first cut sequence, so if you have a bad feeling and X out by the first cut sequence you should be OK. 

This still could be a somewhat risky tactic if you attempt it too late in a match or if you have not experimented with it at all with throwaway gladiators. Don't lose a gladiator you have a lot invested in testing this method.