Evade

Evade, a part of the Evade/Block/Parry defensive system against physical and bolt attacks, is a form of defense that will activate before a character makes a combat roll. With a successful evasion the attack will completely miss the target. Even if an attack is successful, evade still contributes to a character's overall defensive strength which acts to reduce damage from an attack. The possibility of evading an attack is increased through training in the dodge, agility and intuition skills, and maintaining low encumbrance, among other factors. Shields and most armor make it more difficult to evade an attack, especially larger shields and heavier armor.

The Dodge skill is a primary factor in avoiding an attack entirely. While in stance offensive, a character, singled (1 rank per level) in dodge, has approximately a 5% chance of evading an attack. A character double trained (2 ranks per level) has a 10% chance and a character triple trained (3 ranks per level) has a 15% chance for an outright evasion. These percentages increase as a character moves to more defensive stances. The chance of an outright evasion also depends on a character's agility/intuition skill bonuses, encumbrance, and certain spells such as Mass Blur (911), Mobility (618) and Song of Mirrors (1019).

There is no available formula to determine the exact chance that an attack will be evaded, but level of the defender vs level of the attacker is an important factor. Also, ranged weapons and bolts are harder to evade than melee attacks, even though there's a DS bonus against such attacks.

Evade Formula

The first step in determining the DS bonus from evade is to calculate the base value.

Dodge Ranks + (Agility Bonus) + trunc(Intuition Bonus / 4) = Base Value

The second step is to enter the base value into the Evade DS formula along with the other factors whose values are listed below.

Base Value × Stance Modifier × Shield Penalty × Armor Hindrance = Evade DS

Note 1: Truncate the integer results after each operation in the formula.
Note 2: There is a 50% bonus to the evade DS against ranged attacks.

Stance Modifier Factors

The Stance Modifier values to be used in the formula are:

• Offensive: 0.75
• Advanced: 0.80
• Forward: 0.85
• Neutral: 0.90
• Guarded: 0.95
• Defensive: 1.00

Shield Penalty Factors

The Shield Penalty values to be used in the formula are:

• Small shield: 0.78
• Medium shield: 0.70
• Large shield: 0.62
• Tower shield: 0.54

Armor Hindrance Factors

The Armor Hindrance values to be used in the formula are:

• Normal clothing (AsG 1): 1.00
• Robes (AsG 2): 1.00
• Light Leather (AsG 5): 1.00
• Full Leather (AsG 6): 1.00
• Reinforced Leather (AsG 7): 0.98
• Double Leather (AsG 8): 0.97
• Leather Breastplate (AsG 9): 0.97
• Cuirbouilli Leather (AsG 10): 0.96
• Studded Leather (AsG 11): 0.95
• Brigandine Armor (AsG 12): 0.94
• Chain Mail (AsG 13): 0.94
• Double Chain (AsG 14): 0.93
• Augmented Chain (AsG 15): 0.92
• Chain Hauberk (AsG 16): 0.91
• Metal Breastplate (AsG 17): 0.90
• Augmented Breastplate (AsG 18): 0.88
• Half Plate (AsG 19): 0.85
• Full Plate (AsG 20): 0.83

Note: Armor hindrance is equal to half the armor's action penalty.

References

• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/combatguide.asp#factors
• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/skills.asp#dodging