Dear GGG: Evasion rating doesn't feel very graceful! Here's why!

Compared to all of the weird "elusive" themed defensive stats PoE1 tried over the years I'd say PoE2's straightforward evasion system is conceptually the best. The problems with PoE2's evasion system right now are thankfully all scaling related and can be smoothed out rather easily once understood.

Evasion chance is currently insanely easy to stack to extreme levels beyond what makes sense for investment, but due to not having any effect on AoE hits is simultaneously completely useless in many cases. This is completely flipped with the Acrobatics keystone too. Acrobatics is unfortunately mandatory right now if anyone wants to make a purely evasion reliant build, but is also a detriment without severe investment.

I'd say the current problem with evasion is that it's too 'all or nothing' when it comes to scaling against strikes/projectiles vs. AoE hits and this is further pushed by the Acrobatics keystone.

What I recommend in order to make evasion feel more reliable and balanced:

Evasion rating should innately also apply to AoE hits at a reduced ratio compared to strikes and projectiles. Meanwhile, the overall value of evasion rating should be slightly lowered to somewhat compensate the power budget.

If the above change were to happen then the Acrobatics keystone should also be re-balanced to match. Acrobatics could increase the effect of evasion for AoE hits to be on par with strikes and projectiles. Since the upside of Acrobatics would be less relatively impactful the downside of 70% less evasion rating could be massively toned down.

Overall these 2 adjustments would make investing into evasion feel more consistent and reliable than the current scaling which feels lopsided and far too 'all or nothing' currently.

I also have a more in depth posts covering armour:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3667538
...and resistance scaling:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3629096

Evasion will never feel "reliable" as long as the entropy formula exists. Evasion can only ever be "reliable" when combined with something else, because the formula for evasion guarantees that you WILL get hit for full damage. Even at maxed out 95% evasion, it only takes 20 hits to break through and kill you, which is nothing in the PoE world.

But yes....it is a bit ridiculous that it does nothing against AoE, which is like 80% of all damage you'll ever take in the game. It "makes sense" why it wouldn't work for AoE since you can't "evade" fire if you are standing in the middle of it, but is that real-ness more important than providing an actual functional defense?

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

Evasion will never feel "reliable" as long as the entropy formula exists. Evasion can only ever be "reliable" when combined with something else, because the formula for evasion guarantees that you WILL get hit for full damage. Even at maxed out 95% evasion, it only takes 20 hits to break through and kill you, which is nothing in the PoE world.

But yes....it is a bit ridiculous that it does nothing against AoE, which is like 80% of all damage you'll ever take in the game.

I have heard that the entropy mechanic from PoE1 was removed for PoE2, but this is not confirmed information and could be wrong.

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LVSviral#3689 wrote:

I have heard that the entropy mechanic from PoE1 was removed for PoE2, but this is not confirmed information and could be wrong.

It's currently on the PoE 2 wiki, but that could be a holdover. If that's true and it was removed, then yes....evasion has more reliability in some ways. I just....wouldn't ever build it (my personal taste: I don't like luck-based defense).

Also...and this I'm not totally sure about....as long as monsters can get the "hits cannot be evaded" modifier, evasion will have zero reliability. Even overwhelm is not as bad as that is.

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Also...and this I'm not totally sure about....as long as monsters can get the "hits cannot be evaded" modifier, evasion will have zero reliability. Even overwhelm is not as bad as that is.

Yeah those kinds of mods that completely invalidate a players' defensive layers are bullshit design. Imagine how bad it would be if there were also mods like that for damage? "players nearby have 0% increased damage" lmao this game would be dead in a weak.

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LVSviral#3689 wrote:

"players nearby have 0% increased damage" lmao this game would be dead in a weak.

They already sort of do exist, and aren't much of a problem. They would never introduce a "you deal zero damage" mod, monsters can't be literally invincible. But there are plenty of mods that cut off almost all of your damage potential in certain situations.

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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LVSviral#3689 wrote:

"players nearby have 0% increased damage" lmao this game would be dead in a weak.

They already sort of do exist, and aren't much of a problem. They would never introduce a "you deal zero damage" mod, monsters can't be literally invincible. But there are plenty of mods that cut off almost all of your damage potential in certain situations.

Yeah there are mods that lower damage for sure, but they don't completely cancel out all of a players investment from a single mod. Those ones are fine as is thankfully. (although enemy life regen can make killing something impossible under certain circumstances which is wild, but niche.)

Evasion as far as avoid hits goes is perfectly fine, Acrobatics is meant to be used if you are going pure EVA. If you are not then you need to combine EVA with some kind of DR like armor/block

Your suggestion to make it avoid ALL hits at a reduced rate would make it FAR too powerfull. I mean Acrobatics is already extremley strong as far as defences go.

If you are concerned about taking a big hit if you don't evade then you need to make sure you have the HP/ES pool to survive and the regen to sustain.

I currently run a ranger with 5k ES in my MF gear and 6.5k in my top gear and 45% EVA with Acrobatics and the difference the EVA makes compared to some of my caster classes is actually massive.

I also do not think that EVA currently has DR running my ranger through breaches I do not seem to find at any point I am constantly taking damage. Unless I am missunderstanding how this works.

**EDIT**

My ranger is Gas Arrow so while it kills reasonably fast it is more prone to taking a hit or two than say a Lightning Arrow off screen clear.

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Your suggestion to make it avoid ALL hits at a reduced rate would make it FAR too powerfull. I mean Acrobatics is already extremley strong as far as defences go.

You may have misunderstood what I wrote. I think the effectiveness of evasion rating should be globally reduced, but also apply to AoE by default at far less effectiveness than it does for everything else.

I wasn't saying evasion should be purely buffed or that your chance to evade AoE attacks should be as effective as your chance to evade strikes and projectiles by default.

I don't want evasion to be purely buffed or nerfed. I want evasion to have a more smooth scaling progression that isn't as lopsided and inconsistent investment wise.