Evasion skill

Evasion is one of the three primary defensive skills. It is the measure of how well you can avoid attacks by dodging. Evasion is one of the most important combat skill. Your ability to evade attacks can be hurt by high hindrance and encumbrance.

When you are attacked in combat your evasion will be checked first regardless of how your stances are set up. Your evasion will absorb as much of the attack as it can, only after that does it check shield OR parry followed by armor. Obviously, if the incoming attack can be absorbed completely by your evasion alone then you will have successfully dodged the attack.

If you are having trouble learning parry or shield you always have the option of adjusting your evasion stance down a bit in order to allow the rest of the incoming attack to be picked up by your other defenses. Be careful not to stance evasion down too low or you may put yourself in unnecessary danger.