Defenses

Defenses are easily one of the most needed thing in the game, however, these must be practiced up as they're skills. There are currently 8 different defences, 3 of them are spells, the other 5 are proficiencies.

Once you gain a defense, it's a good idea to train it to the max to allow betters to increase them. Once you train a defense you have to set it to use it by typing "combat defense ". You may also type combat defense auto to use them randomly each round, however this is only good if all your defenses are around the same %.
Below is a list of all the defenses and how they work.

Acrobatics - This once was the best defense to use, however now it's just another one in the bunch. You can't use this skill while mounted and it offers no special abilities.

Combat Blink - A monk only spell, when cast it will give you 3-5 armor depending on your level and allow you to "blink" away from your attacker. To use this defense you must set your defense to either none or auto. It will work far less on auto.

Dodge - Easily the best defense in the game, dodge is given at a low class level and doesn't take alot to train it to max. Dodge also allows you to evade bites from mobs that paralyze and poison and can be used while mounted and unmounted.

Invoke Dust - This spell is given only to druids. Much like the monk only spell, combat blink, it works the same way only it doesn't give the caster any armor. You must set your defense to none or auto if you want this to work.

Magical Fade - A skill unique to faeries, it's a great skill to practice up. It works as soon as the character is created and it works quite often as the complex is extremely low. The only downside to this skill is you have to goto the faerie plane to practice it up, which is very harsh on lower level characters.

Parry - Very limited, this defense isn't really a widely used defense. You can only parry using certain weapons and you can't parry hand to hand attacks, which most mobs use. The only real purpose to using this defence is if you want to put your defense on auto.

Shield Block - This skill will allow you to block projectiles and breathes, as well as any weapon. However, it will not block any hand to hand attacks. This is a great skill to practice up and it will come in handy many times.

Telekinetic Shield - A very handy spell, and one of the best defenses. This spell can be cast while your defense is set to anything else and doubles it up, such as dodge and the spell. It will block projectiles and breathes but it won't block weapons. However, this spell costs a focusing crystal to cost and it saps spell points from you regularly.