My suggestion is to remove kicking from the game. No offense to players who use it so well, because I know it isn't easy and it's taken me some time to work my way around it (it now being actually the best opportunity for me to kill players who are better than me by keeping distance when they want to kick), so it's not that the effect annoys me so much. It's just too silly. Stick your leg out to me in a fight while I have a sword, and I will slash it. Moreover, assuming you've actually managed to land a good kick, the opponent wouldn't usually be so staggered to be entirely vulnerable for the next hit. It just breaks the immersion for me. In Native it is nice because it's so obviously a game, but I always play Vikingr because I get more immersion than in Native. People who get into close combat shouldn't rely on their kicking ability or their ability to avoid it.
I would suggest replacing the 'E' with the shieldbash perhaps such as the one in Brytenwalda, but I think I recall that animation or something not working in this mod. Maybe something else can be thought of, I don't know. I just hate the sillyness of kicking and wish it wasn't part of this mod.