Greetings, fellow fashionistas of Tyria! Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Threads!

Ever since launch, the way most armor pieces look on charr characters has bothered me immensely. It’s no secret that the charr got seriously snubbed by ArenaNet in terms of armor model quality and tailoring, and for those of us with charr characters, finding the right look has always been limited to a handful of ingame armors. Most charr players end up purchasing expensive tier 3 cultural armor or Gem Store outfits just to keep themselves from looking laughably absurd! In particular, I’ve noticed that charr players who wear light armor suffer from this debilitating lack of wardrobe options even more than medium and heavy players, so I decided that I would take it upon myself to think up a decent looking and affordable alternative to the cliche Citadel of Flame armor, cultural armor, and Gem Store outfits worn by most light armored charr players.

When designing this ensemble, I wanted to go for something that would not only look at home on a charr, but also resonate with their cultural background and lore. Thus was born the Gladium Warlock.

In charr culture, gladiums are soldiers who have lost their warband in some way. To the charr, warbands are held in equal regard to immediate family, and to either desert one’s warband or leave them to die is the epitome of dishonor and disgrace. Charr who find themselves without a warband, even if it was through no fault of their own, are branded gladiums: aimless wanderers outside the chain of command, rejected by charr society.

The Gladium Warlock is a seasoned traveler, ragged and worn, with no flashy baubles or gaudy adornments festooning their clothing. He or she is a skilled mage and is deadly in combat, their prodigious skill born from years of fending for themselves in the wilderness. I will warn you, this outfit does have a small bit of clipping on the shoulders, so if that’s a deal-breaker for you this outfit probably won’t be your jimmy-jam. That being said, check it out:

Components

Head: Diviner Helm – This is one of the few charr headpieces available through in-game means that does not hide the player’s horns. Fortunately, it is quite cheap! The Diviner Helm can be purchased from an Armor Master for 88 silver + 150 Badges of Honor. Armor masters can be found on each of the World vs. World Borderlands maps and on the Eternal Battlegrounds map. The Armor Master will be located at your server’s staging area.

Shoulders: None! – What?! No shoulder armor? That’s right! The Diviner Helm will override any equipped shoulder skin (except Nightfury, which consequently goes well with this outfit should you be able to afford it!), so wear what you wish in your shoulder slot.

Chest: Winged Tunic – This tunic can be crafted by Tailors who are at least level 225. It will cost 1 Linen Coat Lining, 1 Linen Coat Panel, and 1 Linen Insignia of the player’s choice to craft, which equates to about 30-50 silver depending on the price of linen.

Hands: Whisper’s Secret Gloves (Light) – Whisper’s gear has a habit of cropping up in great looking ensembles, and there’s a reason: because Whisper’s gear is fantastic! These gloves will only set you back 1 gold 12 silver and can be purchased from Armor Requisitioner Betje on the second level of the Chantry of Secrets. Remember, you must be on a character that has joined the Order of Whispers to buy these, but once bought, they can be skinned to any character you like.

Legs: Primitive Legwraps – Apart from the badass skull that hangs from the belt of these leggings, their most obvious advantage is that they split along the leg on each side, creating more of a roughspun loincloth look. When compared to the typical hoopskirt aesthetic most light armor leggings provide on a charr model, these paint a much more vicious and intimidating picture. The easiest way to obtain these leggings is to buy the Tactical Leggings Skin from an Armor Master in World vs. World for 40 Badges of Honor.

Feet: Path of Koda – These boots round off the vagabond look we’re going for nicely. They feature an iron-banded leather boot, and their design suits both our vision and the charr in general very well. However, they will probably require the most effort out of all things on this list. They can be purchased from Dungeon Armor and Weapons in Lion’s Arch for 180 Symbols of Koda, which can be earned by running the Honor of the Waves dungeon. This is one of the easier dungeons in the game, and thus these boots should not be too difficult to obtain. Furthermore, they don’t cost any actual gold!

Dye Scheme

If you like the dye scheme I’ve used for my setup, feel free to use it! Below is an image of the dyes with a color key below the image (all dyes can be purchased on the trading post for less than 2 gold):

Key

W – Walnut

C – Clay

B – Blood

MR – Midnight Rust

The reason I designed this outfit was because I was tired of seeing nothing but Gem Store outfits and cultural armor on charr characters, particularly light armor ones. While this may not be the best looking option across the board, it certainly looks fantastic for the value, and those who appreciate a more subtle, gritty appearance will get the most out of this setup! Enjoy!