I don't really get the point of adding a special control for a new dodge movement. You can already dodge by strafing and the controls for that are perfect : precise and easy to use, and they do exactly what you want. A faster dodge mechanic has a (a priori) very high chance of breaking the game, and replace actual skill with the ability to deal with awkward controls (that may be how RTS lovers get their kicks, but certainly not how I do). But don't think I only have a problem with how a dodge is going to be controlled. It is also completely useless in the first place to add such a move, as you can already do it and it works very well, even a little too well when you do mouse dodging in sprint mode (but that's ok since that kind of dodge is only useful to avoid projectiles, and projectile speed is getting buffed for no apparent reason, but I digress). Maybe if you want to add a more powerful dodge move, buff how current dodging works.
The knockdown defense action is a completely different issue that could turn out to be really good or really bad so I won't comment on that, at least not in this post.