Was looking up possible cmans for my rogue today and came across dirtkick on the wiki. This specific quote gave me a chortle because I've never seen anyone recommend this skill.

"This maneuver is universally available to all professions and considered vital in many training paths. "

But looking at the skill, it doesn't seem awful. Could be useful theoretically in 1v1's in non-swarmy areas.

The part that stood out to me was the EPB penalty. I'm assuming that when it says -15% it means 15% of their EPB value. So if they had a 20% block to chance they would instead have a 17% chance to block. That's rather crappy. But if it means 20%->5%, then I could maybe find use for it.

Does anyone have experience with this skill either positive or negative?

I enjoy using it when my sniping roguelet needs to hide and the critters keep being too perceptive. The stun and RT chance is a fun bonus too.

/seo, wheels and skulls department/

There is also the lower attack from the dirtkick as well. If you go the full 5 ranks, I think its -50 to the AS. So even if you miss the followin ambush, the counterattack shouldn't be terrible.

Vanish is certainly useful. I have full training in shadow mastery and vanish, and it certainly can save your bacon. Two drawbacks: it's stamina intensive, and also isn't guaranteed even with 3 ranks. There is a chance it can fail, especially if you are wearing one of the heavier armors (I am in hauberk).

Possibly a combination of dirtkick and vanish might be more effective than either alone?

It probably will help; I'm 2.5x in S&H, and even in hauberk I'm getting about 75% success rate. I haven't gotten any dirtkick at all, but I have enough CMan points saved up that I could pick up 3 ranks. How much would getting that maneuver help vanish success? (The description gives some effects on critter perception but I have no idea what the practical effects are).

Dirtkick only affects one target at a time, I assume?

<Yeah I used to be 2x S&H and vanish was a 50/50 proposition. I'm hoping with 3x hiding that'll be a different story.>

My gnome is also in brig and has always been 3x in hiding (well, slightly lower for the last few levels moment but almost back to full 3x. Let it slack a bit while I picked up 404). I can't recall ever having VANISH fail for me for any reason other then having too much RT (and there have been plenty of times when undead or animal type critters are in the room). I've heard that capped critters can be way more perceptive then anything he'd have faced at his level though, if that matters (he's level 74)

Starchitin

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.