Knockback Evasion

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In games where damage flings a character around, stuns them or knocks them to the ground, there is often a way to prevent this. In action games, it's usually done by hitting a certain key while being hit or Blown Across the Room. In fighting games, this is known as "teching".

Note that this trope is not about temporary or intrinsic immunity (see Immune to Flinching for that), but about actively blocking a stunning attack or stabilizing yourself after being knocked back.

In some cases, the Defend Command can block or reduce knockback even if it doesn't reduce the damage taken.

This may or may not prevent (or provide) Mercy Invincibility.

In many games, knockback is stopped if you hit a wall or object. In this case, fighting knockback-inflicting enemies near walls can be used for this.

See also Press X to Not Die.

As another way to get back in the fight, compare Recovery Attack. -- Examples only count as this if it does not avoid all damage (like dodging does), but just prevents the Knockback.

Examples of Knockback Evasion include:

Action Adventure

  • In some video games, hitting or shooting an enemy at just the right instant allows you to glitch through it without getting hit (and hence avoid knockback). This works, for instance, in Super Metroid.
  • Iji has the Hidden Skill "Teching" that does this.
  • In Level Up, this is possible.
  • The Zombie Officer soul in Castlevania Aria of Sorrow allows you to stop knockback.
    • In some Castlevania games, knockback can be avoided by crouching.
  • Viewtiful Joe has this as an ability you can buy, specifically called Ukemi. If you zoom in right when you hit the ground, you'll flip back up and negate the damage, even though you already saw it subtracted from your lifebar. It won't help against hits that don't knock you back, though.

Beat'Em Up

Fighting Game

  • Super Smash Bros. allows you to do a quick recovery when you're knocked into a wall or the floor, either flipping or rolling to your feet when hitting the ground, or keeping yourself from smacking into a wall. Officially known in the games as "breakfall" or "ukemi", the technique of shielding just before contact has come to be known as "teching" among fans. Or if your character can wall-jump, you can use that to recover when hitting a wall.
  • Soul Calibur IV allows you to Ukemi or Just Ukemi as you are knocked to the ground in order to instantly stand up or roll.
  • In the Touhou fighting game spinoffs, you can airtech by airdashing or flying.

MMORPG

  • The Dwarves of Warhammer Online have a tactic that is a partial example of this. The tactic is called "Stoutness of Stone" and it allows them to recover from being knocked down or stunned in half the time they normally would.
  • Guild Wars has a few stances, enchantments, and a ward that does this.
  • One class in Ragnarok Online - The Swordsman and its variants - has a skill that does that, and it makes lots of sense, with the sheer amount of mobs rallied in one train, or adds following the MVP boss.
  • DC Universe Online lets you use Breakout to stop being knocked back and grant yourself a brief control immunity. Unusually for this trope, this is not without cost - Breakout costs valuable energy.

Third-Person Shooter

  • Prototype lets you purchase the ability to do just that with a quick tap of the jump button. Alternately, you can just air-dash.

Other Video Games

  • In Clonk mage fights, a Good Bad Bug allows you to stop tumbling by casting a spell you started aiming before being hit by an attack.
    • In the Eke Reloaded pack, using a jetpack cancels tumbling.

Tabletop RPG

  • Mutants and Masterminds has the ability to nullify Stun, which results in Knockback, as well as a host of other ways to manipulate your stats to reduce Knockback values or increase your chances of surviving the impact.
  • Champions has two ways to do this, Clinging and Knockback Resistance.