Last Epoch Evade Mechanic Explained

Attention, heroes of Eterra! There's an exciting Evade mechanic coming to Last Epoch, developer Eleventh Hour Games' time-traveling ARPG. It is one of the big, impactful features being added in the huge post-launch cycle update, Harbingers of Ruin (Patch 1.1). 

The feature has been highly requested by the Last Epoch community, and the developers have listened. Here's what you need to know about Evade in Last Epoch, and how it differs from traditional Dodge Roll skills.

How Evade Works in Last Epoch

On 9 July 2024 at roughly 17:00 p.m. UTC (11:00  a.m. CST), Evade will become available for all classes and transformations. It allows characters to travel short distances with fast movement, avoiding powerful attacks from bosses and really any enemies.

Read More: Last Epoch Leveling Tier List: Best Class Mastery

All player characters have Evade available from Level 1. There are two charges available with a four-second cooldown. It does not cost any mana, and as your character level increases, Evade gains cooldown recovery speed at a rate of 0.5% per level. 

The developers explain how Evade fits into current builds, stating

The most important thing with introducing the Evade mechanic is that it now allows us to assume a baseline of mobility for all characters. This doesn’t mean utilizing Evade will be essential for all builds, as many players will prefer traversal abilities. Having Evade simply means we have a “lowest level” of possible mobility every player can be expected to have. This allows us to increase the base level of difficulty in some fights, regardless if players use Evade or another movement ability.

By introducing an Evade mechanic, we also open up some build opportunities within Last Epoch. Most builds currently feel forced to include a traversal skill purely for evading incoming attacks, which has a limiting impact on potential build diversity. By providing all characters a default method to quickly avoid enemy abilities, there’s not as much pressure to include a traversal skill in every build. Of course, many will still prefer one for overall speed, but it will no longer be as mandatory for survival.

Evade does not provide any immunity or damage mitigation.

There are even some Unique items (there are 30 new ones in the Harbingers of Ruin update, after all) that completely change the Evade skill. 

Some items can add another Evade charge, while others go crazy, changing Evade to Summon Crab.

Is Evade Just Dodge Roll in Last Epoch?

The short answer is no; Evade isn't just Last Epoch's take on Dodge Roll. In fact, the developer specifically wanted to call it Evade instead of "Dodge Roll" since Dodge is already a mechanic in Last Epoch. Further, not all classes and characters have a rolling animation when using Evade. 

The developers explain how Evade works in comparison to traditional Dodge Roll in other games, stating:

It’s important to note that Evade does not grant any immunity frames. It lets you more easily avoid enemy attacks, but you are still vulnerable to damage. If you Evade but are still inside an attack area, you will still take the damage. This is why we wanted to avoid confusion with the existing “Dodge” mechanic as Evade does not provide damage mitigation. This also helps keep some of the power and identity to movement skills, as more specialized and often safer movement options.

Get hyped for the Last Epoch Harbingers of Ruin update, check out the awesome official gameplay and features overview trailer below, including showing off the new Evade mechanic for multiple classes.

Don't forget to check out our Last Epoch section for the latest guides, news, class builds, tier lists, and more.