WoW Rookie: Effective crowd control basics
by Michael Gray 
Jan 13th 2011 at 4:00PM
Ladies and gentlemen who run dungeons in 2011, if I could offer you only one tip for the successful instances, crowd control would be it. The healing and tanking benefits of crowd control have been proven by thousands of PUGs and guild groups, while the rest of the internet's sea of elite advice is the theoretical ravings of armchair quarterbacks. They will dispense that advice daily. Some is true, some is probable, but not all of it is absolute. But trust me on the crowd control. There is very little you can do to improve your dungeon experience than execute crowd control and not stand in fire. Today, we will focus on crowd control.
In the days of yore, crowd control mostly meant Sap and sheep (which is to say, Polymorph). But as content patches and expansions grew over the years, the concept of crowd control has grown as well. Now, you have slows, snares, traps, debuffs, fears, and every combination you can imagine. Every class has some form of crowd control.
Essentially, the job of crowd control is to slow down or keep a mob from doing the damage it wishes to your group.
Setting it up
Your dungeon guide should probably be the one to set up the marks for crowd control. Alternatively, you should consider having your tank do so. Whoever sets up the marks should be the person who can recognize what the enemy mobs do and how the pull will go. It's just part of the overall strategy.Obviously, make sure to designate which crowd control marker belongs to who and for which effect. For example, I'm accustomed to seeing the moon mean "sheep this."
As a very general rule, healers and tanks don't do a great deal of crowd control. That's because once the fight actually starts, they'll be exceedingly busy keeping everyone alive. The few seconds it takes to cast crowd control will take them away from that work and possibly lead to a wipe. That's not to say they shouldn't help crowd control when circumstances permit. As a general rule, they simply won't be able to CC.
Crowd control mid-fight
If you have crowd control, try and use it in the middle of each fight. Why not? It slows down incoming damage and helps everyone focus to such a degree that'll make the fight go faster. If your Polymorph runs out of time, re-cast it. If you have the ability to stun a mob, go for it. (Some tanks might ask you not to do that; I'm not one of them.)
There are millions of people who will tell you to eke out every point of damage you can or how to get your GearScore a little higher. However, what makes people absolute superstars isn't an extra 100 DPS. Who cares about that? What makes someone awesome is when he Silences that mob 20 paces away, forcing the mob to run into range of the tank. What makes someone awesome is when the healer's low on mana, so the rock star mage sheeps one of the mobs, lightening the healing load for the duration.
Anyone can do DPS. But the people who are fast and reliable on crowd control are the jedi masters of this game.
Interrupts, silences, and stuns There are few fights that absolutely require that particular spells get interrupted. However, even those fights whose mechanics don't revolve around a single interrupted ability would be a great deal easier if everyone in the group uses their stuns, silences, and interrupts.
Using these abilities will cost you DPS. Do it anyway. Interrupt spells, stun mobs as they whirlwind, and issue silences when you can. If someone spams his or her damage meter in a party, respond with your interrupt meter.
There are some tanks who might ask you not to stun; this is because they need to position enemies in a certain way. That happens, and you should work with your tank. But at any given time, if you have the option to lessen the amount of damage your group is taking, why would you ignore it?
The CC options by class
Death knight
- Army of the Dead Summons a bunch of ghouls to fight for the death knight. It isn't CC in a traditional sense, but in a pinch, it will lighten the damage load off the healer and tank.
- Chains of Ice Reduces a target's movement by 60% for 8 seconds. Great for delaying when a mob reaches the tank.
- Hungering Cold Traps all enemies around the death knight in blocks of ice for 10 seconds, but damage will break it. It's a great panic button but not as strong for an initial pull due to its short duration and long cooldown.
- Cyclone A very brief CC that keeps a target from moving, casting spells, or acting in any way. It doesn't last very long, but works great.
- Entangling Roots Holds a mob in place for 30 seconds but does not keep it from acting.
- Hibernate Puts an animal to sleep for 40 seconds; only works on beasts and dragonkin.
- Freezing Trap Traps a single target in a block of ice; can be broken by damage.
- Wyvern Sting Puts a target to sleep for a short time. Hunters do have to spec into survival to get this.
- Polymorph Turn your target into a critter for up to 1 minute. You can spam this ability over and over, but any damage to the target breaks it.
- Repentance Forces a target to sleep for up to 1 minute. Paladins must spec into retribution to get this talent.
- Mind Control The priest's player takes control of a target, making it an ally for a short term. This brings the side benefit of decreasing the number of mobs in a pack, since the other NPCs will instantly kill the mind control target.
- Shackle Undead Only works on -- you guessed it -- undead.
- Sap Renders the target unable to act for up to 1 minute.
- Bind Elemental Renders a target unable to act for up to 50 seconds; only works on elementals.
- Hex Turns the target into a frog for up to 1 minute; damage can break it.
- Banish Renders a target incapable of acting or being affected for up to 20 secondsl only works on demons and elementals.
- Fear The target runs around in fear for up to 20 seconds, unable to control its own actions.
- Seduction Prevents the target from taking any action for up to 20 seconds; actually cast by the warlock's Succubus.
- Intimidating Shout All enemies around the warrior flee in terror for up to 8 seconds.
Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from how to control your character and camera angles when you're just starting out, to pulling together enough cash for mid-level expenses such as mounts, to dungeoneering and travel tips for lowbies.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
quasarsglow Jan 13th 2011 4:10PM
Spriests have Silence and two brands of fear, when glyphed that just freeze the targets in place for a short time. While its short, that can be enough. I know it's saved my clothie butt while questing.
rice2007 Jan 13th 2011 4:23PM
Yeah. Most priests won't have those but theres a spriest in my guild that rolls with this in 5 mans. It can be really useful as glyphs are nothing more that a consumable now.
Stray Jan 13th 2011 7:44PM
Just to clarify on shadow priest CC:
The Silence and "second brand of fear" must be talented into and have, in the past, been considered PvP builds (I personally have always had both. Silence is a blanket silence (unlike the mage's counterspell, unless talented into), and Psychic Horror is a disarm/fear. Psychic Horror has the wonderful effect of removing the enemy's weapon even after it can move again (not sure how far this affects PvE, but it's one of the few things that can screw a Bladestorming warrior).
Psychic Scream is an AoE fear and can be glyphed to keep the targets trembling in place instead of scurrying about. I've decided to keep this even in my PvP build, lord knows how many times I've feared an enemy into running in the direction I'm attempting to flee in, or sending a flag carrier closer to his or her destination, helping them rather than helping me.
It's a good idea to know the cooldown timers on these effects, especially for boss fights that require interrupts. Talents and Glyphs can reduce the cooldown timers on many of these. Not every shadow priest will bring the same timer or even some of these CC moves.
For everyone, I'd advise taking into consideration your party's interrupt timers, especially on boss fights like Lady Naz'jar. From there, try to co-ordinate an interrupt order, so two players don't waste CDs by both firing off on the same shock blast. I find it best to order shorter CDs first so they'll be back up again. I also know I've had many instances where I've fought her on my mage and volunteered to sheep the left caster, and ended up having to switch to the right caster because the tank happened to be better able to pick up the one I was assigned to due to positioning. Having a plan but being able to improvise can save the day.
wutsconflag Jan 13th 2011 4:14PM
You forgot two other forms of CC for Hunters:
Scatter Shot
Scare Beast
A good Hunter could CC all three of the pups during the Beauty encounter, all by himself.
John Jan 13th 2011 4:55PM
Hell, he doesn't even have to be a good hunter, just semi cognizant. And really a hunter should be able to CC 3 things at once anyway with the way freeze traps cool down staggers with the duration. Trap lasts 1 minute, cooldown 30 secs. Kite the second mob until your 30 sec are up and hit the second trap. Add that to a Wyvern Sting and thats an easy 3 mobs CCed.
Hunters are just awesome that way!
iceveiled Jan 13th 2011 4:58PM
I tend to save Scatter shot for an interrupt. Duration is so short and cooldown is long, it's hardly worth a CC, but can be used for CC if a mob is about to smash your healer and you want to buy the healer some time for the tank to pick up the mob, of for you to put a trap under it.
Hrothgar Jan 13th 2011 5:49PM
Important to note that hunters need to be responsible for the pull because trapping kinda needs to go first. It's much harder to trap a particular mob in a pack that is running for the mage. I also cast mis-direct before launching the trap. That way all the aggro from the rest of the pack goes to the tank.
Also hunters, if your trap breaks and you can't re-trap and the tank doesn't notice, that mob you trapped is coming for you. Deterrence, run to tank, FD or MD to the tank and get off a quick shot.
John Jan 13th 2011 6:26PM
@Hrothgar You can always Distracting shot, you don't need to pull to trap.
Also, if a trap breaks, I would be VERY weary about using a Feign Death to get the mob off you, as the next target it heads for, may be the healer, not the tank. Especially if your tank doesn't have AOE aggro abilities. And I would watch using MD without the tank being ok with that situation, as the reason it was CCed in the first place is it was more than the tank might be able to handle. You may just have to kite the mob until the tank is done with the current mobs.
Strongshield Jan 13th 2011 4:16PM
Priest Psychic Scream should be on there too if intimidating shout is.
Sonnenwende Jan 13th 2011 4:18PM
If you are using intimidating shout, make sure you equip the intimidating shout glyph too so that they tremble in place instead of scattering. If the pack of mobs runs away in fear, chances are they are going to run in the direction of the next group to be pulled, and suddenly you will be dealing with two groups being pulled at the same time.
VSUReaper Jan 13th 2011 4:53PM
Will prolly get downrated/flamed for this, but intimidating shout is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it.
I have tried using it in the past, and unless you pull anything not feared 15+ yds away from the feared mobs, there is that chance that the a DPS will get careless or an ability will accidentally reach over and hit it (t-clap + blood and thunder + critters = rend broke the CC).
Then there is the fact that it only lasts 8 seconds. Dont know about anyone else's heroics, but in the ones I have been in lately, stuff doesn't die in 8 seconds, and you then spend precious time trying to gather up the now un-feared mobs that are going to be gunning for your healer.
Intim isnt much of a CC until it can be "spammed"/refreshed or it lasts much longer.
Zhiva Jan 13th 2011 5:47PM
# intimidating shout is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. #
"Polymorph is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
"Hibernate is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
"Trap is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
"Bind Elemental is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
"Repentance is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
"<insert CC method> is not really a cc since it breaks so easily: even one point of damage will break it. "
VSUReaper Jan 13th 2011 6:36PM
@ Zhiva
I was under the impression that the other forms of CC will do at least one of the following, if not more than one:
1.) remove all dots
2.) can take some incidental damage, but not a direct attack
3.) is spam-able
Intim shout is none of these.
Cyrus Jan 14th 2011 8:39AM
"I was under the impression that the other forms of CC will do at least one of the following, if not more than one:
1.) remove all dots
2.) can take some incidental damage, but not a direct attack
3.) is spam-able
Intim shout is none of these."
Very few CCs do (1), and it generally requires glyphs. Fear effects and Entangling Roots generally do (2), but not Polymorph or Sap or any other CC that you would want to use at the start of a fight. As for (3), most CC might not have cooldowns, but that doesn't mean spamming them is a good strategy; far from it. When a tank assigns targets to be sheeped/trapped/rooted/whatever at the start of the fight, he will never, ever say "I'll tank the loose mobs in the middle of the group, so just keep spamming polymorph on that dragon and shackle undead on the ghost to interrupt their casts and maybe prevent one or two attacks. Don't worry, I can hold aggro." If he does, the group would probably vote-kick him and put up with the queue.
It's true that Intimidating Shout isn't a "major" form of crowd control, reliable and able to be used at the start of a fight to keep the target out of it for the duration, like Polymorph. It is, however, a panic button that will make mobs unable to attack for a few seconds, just like Hungering Cold, Cyclone and Blind.
Cap'n K Jan 15th 2011 5:03PM
@VSUReaper
You can check the links on the cc in the article to view each one specifically, but most cc breaks on dmg, including dots already applied, and only a few can be spammed.
There is a difference in reliability of cc that can be kept up (read: continuously applied) to a targets vs. cc that cannot. Intimidating shout would fall into the latter category bc of its long cooldown.
fyreswrath Jan 13th 2011 4:19PM
Thank you for a post on cc! As an old school lock I'm so pleased to be using my cc abilities again. My only gripe is that when tanks DO decide to cc, they just mark up and don't really discuss it, and all the cc'ers in the group pick random targets. There are some classes new to cc and are keen to try but just a little communication works. I don't know how many times another class cc's my mark! And you a right, a great player is one that will assess how the situation is, and when other's are thinking "oh crap this is bad", the experienced locks, mages and other cc'ers of vanilla wow are saving the group. :)
As we all learn to embrace cc again, please also learn what breaks it. My hubby the mage is forever lamenting "they broke my sheep!!"
DaShiVa01 Jan 13th 2011 4:31PM
Yeah, locks were one of the original CCers also, Anyone remember Garr in MC?
As for 'Tanks just assign targets and CCers randomly pick' there's actually a fairly generally agreed upon scheme for targets, although there's now more MC options than icons:
skull = kill
cross = kill when skull dies
moon = sheep
star = sap
square = ice block trap
diamond = banish
triangle = root
I suspect the first 4-6 stay pretty consistent - skill, x moon and star, the others may be reassigned depending on group composition, but if your party can use the icons as suggested above, without any reassigning, then assume that is the case.
Oh, I guess orange would be shaman frog/bind.
We've been doing fun stuff in places link grim batol where the shaman gets to cc both a frog and a bind, however, so we usually discuss icons when that stuff goes on.
Tanks (good ones) usually have a break order also, and usually the mages sheep is last to be broken, as it is so easy to refresh, but good tanks will keep their break order in mind when assigning icons out. Which is why the longest/most reliable CC usually goes on healing npcs like the adepts in throne of the tides, as they are planned to be dealt with last.
Damn Dirty Ape Jan 13th 2011 4:19PM
Blind is also a useful CC tool for Rogues as they can apply it even if they or their target are in combat. Due to it's long cooldown it isn't useful for every pull, but still quite handy in a pinch.
Hob Jan 13th 2011 5:10PM
Kick is a fantastic spell interrupt, and the glyph brings it down to 8 seconds.
Garrote is a 3-second silence + DoT. It requires stealth, but vanish + garrote is very effective in the middle of a fight. (What are you saving vanish for, anyway?)
Kidney shot is a short stun (6 seconds max), but you can damage the mob all you want without it breaking.
Shiv removes an enrage effect - not really crowd control, you definitely want it in a boss fight.
DaShiVa01 Jan 13th 2011 4:21PM
Worth mentioning that there's a polymorph glyph for mages that removes all dots from their target when sheeped. It's mid level but I use it as without it a broken sheep stays broken 90% of the time.
I've also abused it in multiple cc situations: I get assigned caster X, and shaman gets assigned caster Y: Someone dots up both of them. Sheep and Frog breaks. Sure, frogs can handle a little damage unlike sheep, but not much - and it's not worth refrogging. I sheep caster Y, then immedeatly resheep caster X, leaving the shaman with an undotted caster Y to refrog. Sound complicated? Comes in handy though.
Of course it helps to be in vent/whatever chat program to let everyone know it's safe again.