🔗 Share this article

If you've played the popular action RPG, or most other 3D action game, chances are you're acquainted with the wonderful mechanic called the “rolling dodge.” This avoidance maneuver allows your character to perform a front, lateral, or rearward somersault to evade all incoming damage and create distance from opponents. Seems useful, doesn't it?

This rolling move, though, has attracted significant backlash, and not only as a result of the somersault; it's been labeled foolish, a cop-out, and an unbelievable technique — and occasionally, I see the point. You should see me somersaulting past local Doppler gangs in The Witcher 3 — can't touch this Geralt! But this game's rolling dodge represents the evasion to top all dodge rolls dodge rolls, and I'll tell you why.

For this particular game, the designers identified an excellent method to address all opinions suggesting the technique is overly simple: just grant each opponent unreasonable strength, increase it further, and every Tarnished who ventures close them will feel immensely thankful because of their evasion move, me included. With so much on the line, pulling off a perfect dodge comes across as a triumph, rather than a cheap trick.

No other evasion method in Elden Ring comes close to this feeling of accomplishment and consistency, because swift moves offer limited distance and guard stances are readily overcome by strong enemies. Someone once recommended jumping as a go-to game avoidance strategy, but aside from not providing perfect repositioning, I didn't see how getting my skull smashed in would improve my chances of defeating bosses (lack of skill, maybe).

Learning the Move

Although this evasion move grants reprieve in a famously difficult title, it requires practice. First of all, the game's evasion move merely initiates a period of immunity after you stop pressing the roll control, which hinders a quick, panicky escape from perilous circumstances. Additionally, even though it can transport you away from enemies, it's much better to employ it as a chance to advance, preferably behind the opponent, and land some hits. Lastly, you must still understand and anticipate foe assaults, because rolling prematurely of a long charging animation may end your invincibility prior to the hit connecting… resulting in severe damage.

A Well-Designed Feature

While dodge-rolling in rapid sequence might seem rather absurd (credit to Geralt once more), this isn't practically possible in Elden Ring. Of course, that still doesn't make it a plausible combat move — which is precisely why it would be dreadful to experience it in a product like Kingdom Come: Deliverance — but this is a spectacular magical game we're talking about, so who cares?

Similar to any respectable evasion move, the game's dodge motion is spruced up with a brief tumbling leap at the start, offering a lively impression as opposed to plopping the player on the floor. Based on your equipment, the move can feel super agile or relatively slow, but it remains swifter and more seamless than the rolling dodges used in the previous titles. True, you may embed your oversized sword on the floor when wielding such equipment, but that's your own fault for not just playing a crossbow (In jest — steer clear of the game with a crossbow).

The Perfect Balance

The game's dodging mechanic establishes an ideal equilibrium between difficulty and chance, providing prospects of success while endangering that very prospect at the smallest error. Learn this skill, and you'll obtain not just victory, but satisfaction.