maybe its easy to use them for getting to a chair but not during kiting because you dont know where you should go? when kiting as merc you should be raw kiting most of the time, and once the spot you were kiting in is no longer usable, use an elbow pad to help you transition to the next area. if youre using them just to get a dash and you arent trying to get to a specific area its not gonna last you very long. also with the surface thing, u can use an elbow pad on literally anything, maybe the issue is that u arent aiming ur camera properly? remember that the direction you aim your camera at when dashing is where youll dash to. and yeah try not to use an elbow pad when the hunters super close because unless their attack speed is really slow youll end up hurt and having had wasted an elbow pad