Evolve Dodging Strategy Guide

Evolve Stage 2 Dodging Strategy Guide by LocoPojo

Hey new players! My name is Pojo and I’m excited to report that there are more of you playing than have ever played Evolve before! Before I hop into game for the day, I thought I’d break down some basic dodging strategies for specific monsters.

First, the general:

• Jetpack is lifeblood. If you use too much jetpack getting into a fight you can be punished for trying to get out of it. Be careful to preserve a bar or two of your four bars of jetpack (marked by the pips) when you suspect the monster is going to turn. Most monsters will try to bait you into moving forward quickly to waste your fuel so they can easily combo you down.
• To dodge, doubletap space in any direction. Alternately, let go of the arrow keys and doubletap space to jump straight up. Hold the jump button a little longer to get more air.
• Height advantage gives you greater mobility on your jumps, more options, better sightlines, and less fuel burned, while making it easy to dodge some projectiles by ducking back behind the lip of a cliff. Hold high points when you can, abandon them only if the monster focuses you. He must invest significant resources to knock people off cliffs.
• Likewise, don’t get stuck in low ravines! They can be deathtraps, although they do limit the monsters abilities somewhat.
• Be careful of other players, group only for heals and shield bursts. Tight groupings are the fastest way to squadwipe in Evolve.
• Stay in sight of your medic if you’re being focused! Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but it’s the difference between life and death in most scenarios.
• Your physics are greatly affected by whether or not you are on the ground. If you want distance, jump when the monster hits you and you’ll fly further (this is a handy tip for games like Overwatch as well). If you need to stay close, keep your feet planted against melees.
• Jump Height will allow you to dodge some abilities without problems, and so will high movement speed. Getting these can save you jetpack.
• Curved cliffsides, trees, and other obstacles will block most projectiles and make it difficult for the monster to chase you – it doesn’t corner well. Run around small outcroppings and roach.
• When climbing a wall, if you hear the monster climbing behind you, you can sometimes psyche the monster out by turning around and dropping back off as you hit the top. It’s an unexpected move that’s difficult to follow.
• With most projectiles, a 90 degree angle is best to get the maximum distance from your hitbox to the projectiles AoE. For new players, that means facing the oncoming object head-on if you can, then dodging right, left or up. Timing varies on the speed and size of the projectile.

Goliath/Meteor Goliath

• Goliaths abilities all have generous hitboxes but require some commitment from it – it will try to brawl you solo. Meteor Goliaths abilities do less damage, but have higher cooldowns, wider radiuses and apply a DoT fire effect. Dodging even one can secure your life, and staying separate is key.
• The highest damage ability is Rock Throw. It’s easier to dodge from far away, and travels faster the larger the rock is (the more points he has in it). If you’re at a good distance, wait until it releases the rock, then dodge left or right while facing the Goliath. If you’re close, you need to predict when it releases the rock as dodging after it leaves its hands is too late. Some Goliaths will try to hold it until they see you burn jetpack or your shield runs out, try not to get psyched out.
• Leap Smash generates a cone of danger you can see on the ground – where it is determines where you should dodge. If you’re on the lip of a cliff, it’s difficult for Goliath to center this cone on you as it can go toppling over the edge and lose valuable combo time. Keep your terrain in mind and don’t dodge into cliffs or walls, as he’ll just hit these and knock you with the AoE.
• Fire Breath is almost impossible to dodge, but can be avoided by keeping your distance and mitigated by moving a lot. It’s one of Goliath’s best guaranteed damage tools.
• Charge has a hefty range on either side at higher levels, but if he uses it from far enough away, you can dodge around it by jumping straight up or to the side. Dodging at an angle towards or away from the Goliath will usually fail, as he can curve the charge towards you with the directional buttons.

Kraken/Elder Kraken

• Kraken likes distance, so try to maintain a close to middle range. ELDER Kraken doesn’t have a ranged attack in the air and can’t stay airborne forever, so he will try to crowd you. Keep a larger distance from it.
• Banshee Mines make a loud shrieking noise and can be popped with gunfire. The tumble they give you is a key part of his combo so coordinate with your teammates to manage them.
• Elder Krakens Banshee Missiles are lightly homing and can be dodged by getting something in front of you or just quickly jetpacking at a 90 degree angle.
• Vortex kicks you backwards and sets you up for other tumbles. It travels through terrain (except if the center point hits something) so watch for it. It’s fairly easy to dodge at a distance if you see it coming and treat it like any other projectile.
• Elder Kraken’s Vortex, the Death Spiral, is an AoE cone that mutes sound a little when you’re inside it. It will do very little damage if you get out of it as soon as he puts it down.
• Lightning Strike has a short channel that’s always the same length, but can be moved during the channel. Watch the AoE and dodge just before the channel. This can be the trickiest one to get right, IMO.
• By contrast, Elder Kraken’s Lightning Strike doesn’t move at all. It’s just big, and worth investing some energy in dodging.
• Aftershock is the Kraken’s up close ability. Good Krakens will try to drop from the sky with this using their crouch button, so if you see him channel it in the air, get out of the way. It’ll travel downwards rapidly and in the direction of his momentum.
• Elder Kraken’s Aftershock – Chain Lightning – strikes the ground, and not an area around the Kraken. Dodging it means going straight up in the air and getting ABOVE the Kraken. Also, Chain Lightning arcs to nearby teammates, doing successively more damage with each arc. Staying separate will help prevent you from getting wrecked, and the closest person will take the least damage.

Behemoth

• Tongue Grab is one of the toughest reflex dodges in the game, but if it misses, the Behemoths combo disintegrates. Dodge as soon as you hear the high pitched warbly noise – anywhere will do, it’s a very small cone. Like Goliath, Behemoth can hold the tongue, so get behind something if the sound of the tongue doesn’t immediately follow the warble. If you can predict the tongue grab, you might be golden.
• Fissure travels up walls but moves slowly. Left, right, or straight up – ninety degree angles – should all get you cleanly free. This can knock you into an aerial tongue grab, so prioritize it second.
• Lava bomb is a spherical ball that sticks to objects – avoiding the initial impact is important, but also, don’t stand in the fire as it will burn for several more seconds!
• Rock Wall deals only light damage, but which side of the Rock Wall you are on is extremely important. As soon as you see him start it, decide if you want to be in his face preventing him from feeding or safely outside of the wall healing up.

Wraith

• Warp Blast is the Wraiths heaviest damaging tool, and the one you most need to avoid. It’s a giant AoE effect around the Wraith that travels forward in a direction, stopping wherever the Wraith wants it to. Advanced techniques: If the Wraith tries to charge you directly with it, you can often get out free with a “jump-n-bump” – just get your feet off the ground, bonk that sucker with your body before it stops to explode, and ride the momentum out of the ensuing blast. Punish the Wraith for being up close, as it has very little health and you need to shred its armor to avoid being assassinated by the glass cannon of Evolve.
• Abduct has a very small cone and a very obvious channel. Any kind of dodge will get you out of it if the Wraith is at a distance, and most jumps will as well. Punish the Wraith by aiming your gun at the place where it started the channel from.
• The Decoy has a few light effects around it that indicate its not the real one. It will always charge blindly towards the Wraiths first target – burn what you need to to stay out of its way, as it can benefit from Wraiths Supernova.
• The Wraiths Supernova is an area of effect field, not just a buff! Get out of the Supernova and the Wraith can’t do the chewy damage it wants to. Don’t get caught up against walls or pinned to things as this is the prime time for the Wraith to start that sucker up.

Gorgon

• Shoot the Spider Traps. This is real tough, but it will save your teammates lives. Properly managing Spider Traps prevents a huge amount of damage to your team, and prevents the Gorgon from comboing a helpless teammate inside a spider. There’s almost always one at the base of your spawn point to practice your aim on!
• Shoot the Gorgon or the Mimic when it uses Mimic. You’ll shorten the timer and often pop the Mimic without it getting a chance to move in on you and detonate.
• Jump over and out of Acid Spit. It can coat walls, so don’t climb walls that are coated. The longer you stay in Acid Spit, the more likely you are to die. It’s got a slight radius above the ground, so get a little height.
• Treat the Webbing as you would treat a Vortex. It halfs your jetpacks efficacy and lightly poisons you when its on you (also reveals cloaked Laz), so try to prioritize this one if you’re getting focused.
• Stay separated. Gorgons abilities are all highly AoE and lightly damaging. It can’t deal well with multiple targets in spread out locations, especially if you properly manage spider traps.

Good luck, have fun, don’t die!