Evade

An in-game screenshot of evading an attack.

Evade is mechanic which prevents attacks (including many Area of Effect attacks and traps) from hitting a character for a short duration. Evading can be achieved by a carefully timed dodge an instant before the blow lands, but can also be achieved using some skills or effects. In both cases, the word Evaded! appears on the screen in white text when you successfully evade an attack.

For the skills that grant evasion, the duration of the evasion window is shown in the skill's tooltip – typically around 0.75¾ seconds, approximately the time of a dodge. This is the time, after activating the skill, during which you will evade all attacks which would have hit you otherwise.

The attacker will see an Evaded! message on their screen in red text, and the failed attempt may still count as an attack for traits and skills which affect a certain number of attacks, such as Spider Venom.

Skills that allow evading will either cause quick retreat by a backwards roll or flanking by quickly positioning the character to the side or behind an enemy. Being immobilized does not prevent the evading of attacks, but it does prevent dodging and movement in general, except for teleportation.

Timing

Dodge, or use an evasion skill, just before being hit (taking into account the activation delay of the skill.)

To successfully time an evasion, you need to predict the instant at which the attack will hit you (given knowledge of the attacker's skill animation, weapon swing or projectile speed, etc.) The "Evade" duration listed on your evasion skill is the time during which you have to activate the skill before you expect the hit to land. The shorter that time, the longer you must wait until the hit has almost landed, before dodging or activating the skill. Needless to say, practice makes perfect.

The following is true for evading caused by dodging as well as by the use of skills:

• If an attack would hit you during the skill's evade duration (i.e. you correctly timed your action), you will successfully evade it.
• If you attempt evading the hit too early, you will be hit by the attack when it lands, unless the dodge or skill moved you out of its area of effect, but then you have not technically evaded the attack. (Note that the "point" of impact can be a large area for AoE and cone attacks, as well as many weapon swings).
• Obviously, if you attempt evading after the hit has landed, you will have been already hit, but can still evade recurring damage from area effects such as Lava Font.

Related skills

Weapon skills that evade

•   Unrelenting Assault — Sword
•   Phase Smash — Hammer
•   Surge of the Mists — Staff
•   Whirlwind Attack — Greatsword
•   Brutal Shot — Rifle
•   Knot Shot — Harpoon gun
•   Rocket Charge — Hammer
•   Stalker's Strike — Dagger
•   Hornet Sting — Sword
•   Serpent's Strike — Sword
•   Counterattack Kick — Greatsword
•   Swoop — Greatsword
•   Quick Shot — Short bow
•   Death Blossom — Dagger
•   Flanking Strike — Sword
•   Pistol Whip — Sword
•   Disabling Shot — Short bow
•   Flanking Dive — Spear
•   Shadow Assault — Spear
•   Debilitating Arc — Staff
•   Vault — Staff
•   Burning Speed — Dagger, when attuned to fire
•   Earthen Rush — Dagger, when attuned to earth
•   Updraft — Dagger, when attuned to air
•   Burning Retreat — Staff, when attuned to fire
•   Mud Slide — Dagger, when attuned to water and earth
•   Steam Surge — Dagger, when attuned to fire and water
•   Fiery Frost — Scepter, when attuned to fire and water
•   Earthen Vortex — Sword, when attuned to earth
•   Riptide — Sword, when attuned to water
•   Blurred Frenzy — Sword
•   Illusionary Riposte — Sword
•   Evasive Strike — Spear
•   Phantasmal Mariner — Spear
•   Axes of Symmetry — Axe

Bundle skills that evade

•   Sohothin Blossom — Sohothin
•   Burning Retreat — Conjured Flame
•   Fiery Whirl — Fiery Greatsword

Transform skills that evade

•   Voracious Arc — Harbinger Shroud

Healing skills that evade

•   Withdraw — Trick

Utility skills that evade

•   Roiling Light — Physical
•   Riposting Shadows — Legendary Assassin Stance
•   Battle Dance — Legendary Alliance Stance, Kurzick
•   Bull's Charge — Physical
•   Dragonspike Mine — Armament
•   Lightning Reflexes — Survival
•   Griffon Stance — Stance
•   Roll for Initiative — Trick
•   Twist of Fate — Stance
•   Sand through Glass — Deception

Elite skills that evade

•   Dagger Storm — Trick

Profession mechanic skills that evade

•   Flowing Resolve — Virtue
•   Full Counter — Burst
•   Sky Circus — Tool belt, Mech Command
•   Devourer Retreat
•   Smoke Assault
•   Branch Leap — Stolen skill

Pet skills that evade

•   Consuming Flame — Juvenile Fire Wyvern
•   Devourer Retreat — Devourer
•   Retreat — Devourer
•   Smoke Assault — Juvenile Smokescale, Smokescale

Racial skills that evade

•   Hidden Pistol
•   Swoop — Become the Raven

Common skills that evade

•   Balthazar's Feint — Avatar of Balthazar
•   Belly Flop — Nuhoch Tonic
•   Branch Leap — Branch, Ancient Cudgel, Driftwood
•   Burning Barrel Roll
•   Burst of Speed — Dune Roller
•   Burst of Speed — Unoccupied Dune Roller
•   Celestial Dash
•   Centaur Dash — Centaur Banner
•   Charge
•   Dash — Siege Weapon Supplies
•   Dash
•   Dash
•   Distort — Dimensional Anchor
•   Dive Roll — Keg, Keg (keg brawl training)
•   Dogfight or Flight — Gliding
•   Dragon Cancel
•   Dragon Surge
•   Dragon Surge
•   Enhanced Reflexes
•   Escape
•   Explosive Disengagement
•   Ezoola's Retreat — Ice Core Collector
•   Flee
•   Flee
•   Flee
•   Headbutt
•   Horse's Gallop
•   Leap — Dragonfly (bundle)
•   Light Dash
•   Light Dash
•   Lightning Pull
•   Lightning Pull
•   Lightning Whip — Illusory Essence
•   Lunge
•   Play Dead
•   Pounce — Dune Roller
•   Pounce — Unoccupied Dune Roller
•   Ram's Advance
•   Reverse Blossom
•   Ride the Ley Line — Gliding
•   Shadow Assault — Statue's Sword
•   Shroom Jukes
•   Slash — Starfish
•   Sohothin Charge — Sohothin
•   Sohothin Tornado — Sohothin
•   Sohothin's Grace — Sohothin
•   Sohothin's Speed — Sohothin
•   Speed of Light
•   Speed of Light
•   Spirit Surge
•   Sun Break
•   Sun Break
•   Sun Break
•   Tactical Strike — Seanan's Bandit Disguise
•   Teapot Tornado — Dropped Items
•   Vine Pull — Vine Whip (A Sly Trick)
•   Whirling Spin — Whirling Gyroscope

Related traits

Trait skills that evade

•   Bound (Bounding Dodger) — Leap into an area, and deliver a massive blow to enemies.
•   Dash (Unhindered Combatant) — Remove conditions and gain swiftness, then rush forward and evade attacks.
•   Impaling Lotus (Lotus Training) — Evade attacks and hurl damaging daggers, dealing multiple conditions to enemies.

Traits that improve evasion

• Unwavering Avoidance (Retribution) — Gain vigor when successfully evading an attack.
• Wrought-Iron Will (Renegade) — Evading an attack inspires you with Kalla's Fervor and grants boons to nearby allies.
• Primal Reflexes (Skirmishing) — When you successfully evade an attack, gain vigor.
• Strider's Defense (Skirmishing) — Evading an attack grants quickness. Sword skills gain reduced recharge.
• Feline Grace (Acrobatics) — Gain vigor upon successfully evading an attack.
• Swindler's Equilibrium (Acrobatics) — Successfully evading an attack while wielding a sword or spear recharges Steal. Swords and spears deal increased damage.
• Upper Hand (Acrobatics) — Gain initiative and regeneration when you evade an attack.
• Escapist's Fortitude (Daredevil) — Gain health when you successfully evade an attack. Remove a condition whenever you evade an attack.
• Flow like Water (Water) — Deal increased strike damage when your health is above the threshold. Blocking or evading an attack heals you.
• Evasive Empowerment (Catalyst) — Gain Elemental Empowerment and vigor while evading an attack.
• Evasive Mirror (Dueling) — Reflect projectiles after a successful evasion.
• Mental Defense (Inspiration) — Cast Lesser Phantasmal Defender on your attacker when you successfully block or evade an attack.
• Duelist's Reversal (Virtuoso) — Blocking or dodging an attack grants boons.
• Psychic Riposte (Virtuoso) — Blocking or dodging an attack stocks blades and causes your next Bladesong to be unblockable.

Related equipment

Upgrade components that apply conditions on evade

•   Superior Rune of the Mirage (rank 6) (4 seconds of torment on successful evade)

Upgrade components that grant boons on evade

•   Superior Rune of Evasion (rank 6) (6 seconds of swiftness on successful evade)

Notes

• Certain skills and effects cannot be evaded, they include:
  • Skills with area denial purposes: Line of Warding, Ring of Warding, Dragon's Maw, Unsteady Ground, Static Field, Slick Shoes, Spectral Wall, Temporal Curtain's crippled, and others.
  • The pull skill for Guardian (the chain skill of Binding Blade) and Hunter's Verdict for Dragonhunter (the chain skill of Spear of Justice) are also not able to be evaded.
  • Passive effects that trigger when the enemies are attacked are for example Auras.
  • Certain environmental traps/events/objects.
  • Prototype XJ-1's AoE.

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Skill types and profession mechanics