[Guide] Escape Artist and Agile Mind

Those two feats are our main source of anti-cc, and a life savers in pvp situations – especially in 1v1. The guide was written for Lotus assassins, but to some extend it also applies to both Hybrid and Corruption

EA and AM usage should be wise and as a rule of thumb you should use them at the right time, not just when CCed.

Escape artist
This feat allows to escape any root and snare effects thrown at you with just a few exceptions – one being stagger effect (applies when you are hit in the back). Do not try to “dispell” stagger, it won’t work.

How to use it
You can use escape artist at any given moment – the root or snare doesn’t need to be applied. When clicked the EA will break any effects and give you 2 s immunity to them. Yes, after those 2 s you can be rooted and snared again so keep that in mind.

Cooldown
Fully feated EA will have 1m cooldown which allows for frequent usage. Save it for right situations, but do not be afraid to use it – 1m is not really all that much.

Timing in root

a) rooted by melee - when your opponent gets you rooted he will most likely move to your back, buff up and unload his hardest hitting combo. You cannot allow that to happen. Break the root with EA as soon as he moves to your back and strafe left or right to avoid the combo. Never just run forward because combo might still reach you.

b) rooted by ranger – he will try to gain distance and then get his hardest hitter on you. Since he wastes few seconds to run consider using Cat’s paw to avoid the combo and active blocking to reduce its damage if it lands. After the root expires you will be granted immunity to it and still have EA for the snare. Rangers do not try to hit you to the back because it would take too much time for them to run pass you, turn around, get his combo steps up etc.

c) rooted by casters – similar to Rangers (running away), but with very important difference – spells will land on you. You have two options: either try to outheal the caster (HP pot + Golden lotus), or pray for Lotus overload proc to bail you out.

Timing in snare:

a) snared by melee – when snared by melee consider what class you are against. Players often follow snare with a knockback because it is much easer to land. If you see him doing the knockback animation, use Excellent Balance and wait it out – Barbarian’s knockback take forever to do and the damage dealt by it is marginal. After he did his knockback do yours, or use EA to bail. If you see that he is circle strafing to land combo on the back, bail ASAP.

b) snared by ranger – happens all the time. If he himself got snared with your GC, do not use EA, let him slowly get away while you slowly chase after him. The distance he will gain is marginal. As he runs away quickly use Impede life – do not worry about landing an opener – it has quite a reach and damage even with combo step missed! The other option is preloading the GC asap and breaking the snare as he is about to run to snare him back.

c) snared by casters – just like in root, either try to wait it out, or break the snare and counter with Snap Kick.

Agile Mind
This feat allows to escape any fear or charm effect .

How to use it
You can use AM only when the fear or charm affect have been applied to you. If you click AM without being feared or charmed it will do nothing and won’t go on cooldown.

Cooldown
Fully feated AM will have 3m cooldown (1 point = 9m, 2p=6m, 3p=3m) which is a lot. Never ever put in AM less than 3 points – either go all the way or forget it. With 1p the AM will have ridiculous cooldown of 9m and that’s just not fitting for any regular pvping.

Timing in fear or charm:

a) feared by melee – when feared you will turn your back on your opponent which means smackdown on your back resulting in massive damage and most likely – stagger effect. Break the fear the very second you get it and strafe left or right to avoid combo. Other possibility is breaking the fear and using snap kick,

b) feared by ranger – you will run around like a headless chicken, but the combo will land on you anyway. Break the fear the second you get it (ranger applies only when forced to melee) and apply snare to prevent running.

c) feared by caster – exactly the same as ranger, respond with instant breaking and snapkick

When in group pvp the fear will fly around, use AM only if you are certain you can secure your kill.