Miss Chance: Dodge, Concealment and Incorporeality

Prior to Update 14, defenses were generally defined using Armor Class, or AC. The effect known as "Dodge" was then defined as an armor type, like Natural Armor. As well, effects that created a miss chance against an enemy's attack were considered identical in terms of gameplay.

But Update 14 completely revised the calculations of AC and added the Physical Resistance Rating. Most importantly, the effects of Dodge, Concealment and Incorporeality ("Ghostly") were given very important distinctions.

Update 29 improved these miss-change properties for players that need the ultimate protection.

In this chapter, we'll break down the special defenses that a Monk can utilize that doesn't absorb damage, but avoid it altogether.

Evasion

The Monk is a melee class. But unlike Fighters and Barbarians and all other classes that use weapons, the Monk cannot wear anything other than robes or outfits--no light, medium or heavy armor. As such, most Monks will have an lower AC than other melee classes (without special build direction).

The Monk shares a feat with the Rogue: Evasion, a granted feat at level 2. (This is why many other classes take 2 levels of Monk for this feat.)

With a successful Reflex save, Evasion protects you from direct attacks of certain magic spells as well as avoidance of damage against most traps. If you succeed on your Reflex roll against an attack that give half damage to characters without Evasion that saved against the effect, you'll take no damage at all with Evasion.

By Level 9 of your training, all Monks are granted Improved Evasion. With a successful Reflex save that would normally give half-damage from an attack on someone without Evasion, you'll take no damage. If you fail the Reflex save, you'll only take half damage.

Evasion can't help you against melee attacks. That's where the new changes help Monks (and other classes with Evasion) a great deal.

Dodge Bonus

Rather than absorbing damage from melee attacks, Dodge gives you a chance to avoid being hit, like Evasion. Unlike Evasion, however, Dodge bonuses simply reduce the odds of being struck. If you imagine an attack as a range, say 1-100 with an imaginary 1d100 die, and you have a Dodge bonus of 10%, the odds of being struck are reduced from 1d100 to a 1d90, or 90% chance. If the roll is 1d91 or greater, the attack misses.

Update 14 broke out Dodge as an AC bonus and redefined it as a percentage chance to avoid damage, up to 25%. Some class abilities allow a permanent or temporary increase to the Dodge cap, including the Ninja Spy's tier 2 ability, Agility (up to 3% increase to cap for a 28% Dodge cap) as well as the Ocean Stance's Meditation of War benefit, a temporary 5% to the cap, at a 10% penalty to your damage.

It is possible to get a high Dodge percentage with many Monk builds. The class gains a natural Dodge bonus increase through the Flurry of Blows feat, as long as you're centered. All Level 20 Monks will gain at least 6% Dodge Bonus as a result of their training.

Dodge percentages from feats, enhancements and spells generally stack with each other. Update 19 changed matters with Dodge bonuses from items, however. Only the highest bonus applies from any item, like enhancement bonuses.

The good news there is that many items received retroactive doubling on the Dodge percentages on items with Update 19. The Icy Raiment outfit, for example, went from a 4% Dodge to an 8% Dodge. If you owned this item before the update, you'll see this change on your existing item.

Also, new loot in Update 19 often has Dodge bonuses.

Ocean Stance adds natural Dodge percentages as your training improves.

The normal 25% Dodge cap can be raised through the Ninja Spy enhancement, Agility, bringing your cap to 28% If you belong to a guild ship with a high level, a guild ship bonus may add 2% more to your Dodge cap for a total of 30% with this ability.

At level 30, the new level cap with Update 29, characters can choose a Legendary Feat. Some of them add a +4 Dodge cap bonus and +4 to Dodge. In the case of the Ninja Spy, their enhancements, with a guild ship buff and these Legendary Feats, can give them a 34% Dodge cap.

Dodge? Evasion? What's the difference?

Monks must wear outfits and robes to use their ki-powered abilities effectively, and can't use shields. As long as you're not wearing armor, a Monk doesn't suffer any MDB penalties.

Concealment

Effects such as Dusk, Blur and Displacement are concealment effects. An enemy without the ability to see you clearly (such as the True Seeing effect) has a chance to miss you on a melee attack. This same calculation is a simple miss chance mechanic as Dodge bonuses use.

The Dusk Heart trinket gives a 10% concealment effect.

Light Monks can easily give themselves 20% Concealment using the Dance of Clouds finishing move (which has the side-benefit of adding Blur effects to NPCs as well).

For all Monks, there are items you can wear that give 20% concealment permanently through the "Blurry" quality, such as the Greater Nimble Trinket from the Crystal Cove event, noted above (which also adds to Dodge bonus).

All Level 19 Monks gain Empty Body, which emulates the Shadow Walk spell. It gives 50% concealment and a sizable movement speed boost, but distorts your vision, and the concealment disappears if you interact with anything or are attacked.

The best Green Steel crafting can create a clicky that gives you Displacement, or 50% concealment against physical attacks. A Green Steel shuriken with 2 Displacement charges could be handy in a pinch. You need only take this formula to Tier 2 for this rare benefit, available only to some mages. (Be careful if you create more than 2 non-weapon Green Steel items and attempt to use them simultaneously. The Taint of Shavarath on non-weapon items will quickly kill you. Weapons aren't subject to this, thus the use of a throwing star.)

Craft, say, a helmet to its highest level and you'll get a permanent 20% Smoke Screen concealment when wearing the helm, with 2 Displacement charges for crunch times.

Epic players can find a handful of items that provide Lesser Displacement, or 25% Concealment.

Concealment effects rarely work against bosses, who are often gifted with a True Seeing effect that negates concealment.

Concealment effects don't stack. Only the highest percentage effect applies. If you're wearing an item with 10% concealment, a Light Monk's Dance of Clouds 20% effect will override this to give you 20%, not 30%.

Ninja Spies should also take advantage of Flash Bang and the dark finisher Falling Star Strike, which cause Blindness on enemies, which is effective Displacement or 50% Concealment.

Like many other miss-chance effects, don't rely on Concealment when confronting Champions and some Red Named enemies.

Incorporeality

When you attack ghosts and wraiths, you'll often find yourself striking air: They are incorporeal--without body. Without a Ghost Touch or Ethereal effect on you, you'll miss them 50% of the time. Incorporeality uses the same miss chance mechanic as Dodge and Concealment.

Being ghostly in any degree is advantageous as most enemies do NOT have Ghost Touch--the only way to bypass this coverage. (True Seeing works for concealment effects only.)

All players can take advantage of incorporeality as a defense. Unless you are a Ninja Spy Monk, however, you'll likely have to wait until at least Level 16 to attain it.

The Level 16 Cloak of Night from the Mabar Endless Night Festival (if you were lucky to attend it before the event was permanently closed) can be crafted, which adds 10% incorporeality miss chance, or "Ghostly." (As noted earlier, it also provides a Dodge bonus.) The Epic Ring of Shadows offers both Blurry and Ghostly.

The Ninja Spy tree offers Shadow Veil at level 6, which adds Invisibility and 25% incorporeality for 1 minute at at time. If you attack, you lose your invisibility but keep your incorporeality, making it handy for extra miss chance if you're detected and attacked.

Adding Ghostly or better also has an attack advantage in that your attacks will not miss against other incorporeal creatures due to their ghostliness. In short, you gain Ghost Touch properties while in any state of incorporeality, ridding you of the need for weapons with Ghost Touch.

All Monks should add Shadow Veil to their repertoire.