After securing a first victory over Australia in a decade, attention this week turns to Wales' next opponents Tonga with wholesale changes to the starting XV expected.
With six players in the squad and after captaining his country on tour in Argentina, Dragons lock Cory Hill will be a strong candidate to wear the armband again this Saturday, while blindside Aaron Wainwright and centre Tyler Morgan will hope for their first action of the autumn.
Tighthead Leon Brown is set to feature after having just two minutes against Scotland at the start of the month and hooker Elliot Dee will share hooker duties with Ryan Elias.
After a heavy workload in the wins against Scotland and the Wallabies, Ross Moriarty may have a breather, but could still feature amongst the replacements or be pressed into action unless someone like Josh Navidi is brought in as he was originally named on the injured list.
"We will make changes for Tonga next week, and the group that played against Australia will work hard on a conditioning week," said Gatland.
"It is always nice to get that win against a southern hemisphere team, so there is a bit of pressure on the guys who will take the field against Tonga.
"I think we will make a lot of changes and that is because we feel pretty comfortable with the depth we have created and the competition within the squad," he said.
"We didn't always get that right. When we have made those changes against a tier two nation, the performance has been poor. We have snuck home and won games pretty ugly sometimes.
"We have more strength now and I think the players who take the field will give a great account of themselves."
Everything is being done with the prize of a spot in the 31-man squad for Japan 2019 at the back of players' minds.
"There is some real momentum at the moment, and that is now seven wins in a row," said Gatland.
"There is a lot at stake in the next 10 months in terms of Six Nations and World Cup places. We feel we are in a really good place as a group and really looking forward to the next year.
