Gladius in The Blood of Dawnwalker: Stats and the Beast of Balaur Cave

“An ancient Roman soldier’s weapon” in a 14th-century Carpathian valley — the Gladius is the legendary most explicitly built for the game’s night half, and it shares its hiding spot with a vampire skill unlock.

What Are the Gladius Stats?

Its four effects, quoted from Fextralife:

• Damage Against Untouched Multiplier: +8%
• Blood Amount Per Segment Multiplier: +15%
• Sword Crit Damage Multiplier: +7.5%
• Melee Critical Hit Chance Multiplier: +5%

Where Do You Find It?

IGN’s legendary equipment list documents the route: after the miniboss fight in The Beast of Balaur (a Boar’s Back quest in Fextralife’s quest index), use Shadowstep to reach a hidden cave area. The Gladius is in that cave — and so is a Phial of Brencis’s Blood, the item that unlocks the Piercing Shriek skill in the Vampirism tree.

Two practical notes:

• Shadowstep is required — this is a vampire-half traversal, so plan the detour for night. The day and night system guide explains what changes after dark.
• The double payout makes this one of the best value detours in the legendary route: a sword plus a permanent skill unlock from one cave.

Who Should Use the Gladius?

The +15% blood amount per segment is the only documented effect that scales blood gain — the currency of the vampiric half’s bite economy. If your build lives at night, the Gladius (64 max damage) fights above its weight; by raw numbers it trails The Purge (68), The Kingslayer (73), and the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai (78), and edges Durandal (66) only with its crit riders factored in.

The +8% against Untouched enemies rewards opening fights rather than cleaning up — a first-strike habit the combat and skill trees guide builds on.