The complete crowd control Guide.

[SSJrapter]

Welcome to the guide for Dungeon CC. Today, we will be reading about how to effectively manage and use CC for the best results, I will include tips and some suggestions as well as tables that will hopefully benefit you in your understanding.

What is "CC"
For the most part, CC jut means crowd control, this can include snares, stuns, slows and abilities that, for the most part, remove an enemy from being effectively in combat. For the purpose of this guide i will only focus on 2 main things: Interrupts, and Effective removal from combat.

Why is CC important
CC is important because it allows for the tank to manage his threat more effectively, creates less damage coming in to help out the healer, and allow focus fire to be more beneficial. CC is a must in heroics and should be used on almost every pull you can. Remember, this expansion is all about mitigating group damage the best way possible.

Who can CC?
Every class has at least one form of crowd control, some have multiple and some CC is more effective than others. I will go into greater detail about this later.

Who should mark for CC
While it should be the job of the tank to mark for CC, anyone can speak up and mark. It is better to have someone doing it rather than to assume the tank will. Tanks should be assertive about who has what mark for CC and what they want to use. If you see a timid tank in your group, politely ask if you can mark for CC.

Who should be using CC
Anyone who has a CC should be using it, but please utilize DPS classes CC first, then Tank CC then Healer CC in that order.


So now that we have covered some basic questions let us look at some basic CC.

There are 2 types of CC in the game, Targeted CC and untargetable CC. CC that is targeted is generally much stronger and will be the only CC i will be talking about (with the only exception being freezing trap). Targeted CC is very strong because you can select what mob you are trying to CC and make sure you get the mob assigned to you. This is exceptionally helpful on packs that move before you pull them. In addition to the two types there is CC that will bring the group into combat, and CC that will not. CC that will not bring the group into combat is limited to Sap and Freezing trap (before it activates). Another thing you need to know about CC is the ability to reapply CC. This means that during combat you will have to refresh the CC on the mobs as the fight is going on. Many people, even good players, can benefit from learning how to re-apply CC more effectively. The ability to reapply CC is part of the reason a tank shouldn't be CC'ing if there is a DPS who is able to do so. CC should be re-applied based on the situation, and depending on how comfortable you are with the duration of your CC and heartbeat resist*.

CC "on-the-fly" is also a very important skill to have. It's isn't difficult but it is very valuable. There are a few pulls in the expansion that you will utilize CC this way. This simply means you wait as the mobs are being pulled before you CC. A great example is the pull in Vortex Pinnacle, where 5 mobs are in a grounding field and unable to be affected by spells until they run out.

Some CC is not strong, in fact, there is a lot of weak CC that is in the game, but it is still pretty reliable. Most of the weak CC tends to do with cooldowns and others with how the CC works, and what happens when/if it breaks. For that reason i will list the strength of CC based on each creature type. Sheep is considered by many to be the "best CC in the game" while I would agree that it is very strong, it is no longer the best in the game because it only affects 2 types of mobs, and breaks on any damage done to it. Because not all CC is the same, you will want to setup a kill order based on this information. This will allow stronger CC to remain active as you kill the mobs in order.

Marking mobs before a pull will be crucial to the success of your group. And everyone seems to have adopted Blizzards default-UI markings for obvious reasons. There are 8 markers that are as follows.


From Left to right, top to bottom using common names: Star, Circle, Diamond, Triangle, Moon, square, X, Skull.
Image credits/source: http://www.wowwiki.com/Raid_target_icons

You can go into key bindings and set a key bind to each of the Raid icons above.

Common options tend to include F1-F12 keys. Personally i like using my numpad as you can see. As a tank I would suggest at a minimum to key bind skull, so when you switch targets you can mark skull immediately to help DPS focus down your target.

Now that we have discussed the general things, lets move on to what classes have what CC.
Below you will find a chart detailing what CC is available for each class



Given that all the CC is targetable except for trap, I will explain how trap works and how you need to use it when pulling.
Trap will launch from the hunter to a spot on the ground, once it is there the trap will become set. There is about 1.5 seconds from the time you see the trap launching from the hunter to the time the trap is set and will CC a mob. But because you can’t select a target directly with trap you will need to have the hunter use trap first, then, as soon as you see it flying through the air, start casting your CC. By the time you are done casting, the trap will be set and will be snapping on a mob. This is very important to let the hunter pull whenever there is a trap needed. The only exception is when you are planning on trapping a mob that will have no ranged attacks and you can set the trap in front of him, causing the mob to run over the trap on the way to the tank as he pulls.

The other CC that I need to discuss is entangling roots. Entangling roots is not like other CC’s where the mobs will not be able to attack; instead, it makes the mob unable to move. That is why you should only have a druid rooting a melee mob. And be sure to not stand near the rooted mobs because they will still be able to attack if you are in melee range.

Some examples of marking CC before a pull.

Here we had Circle and Triangle for rooting, Diamond was repentance, and moon was sheep.

Heirarchy of CC
All CC is not equal. To compensate for this we realize that it is important to break the CC of mobs that cannot be reapplied readily. While repentance is strong, and immune to heartbeat resist, it cannot be re-applied should something happen and the mob break, due to the long cooldown. Sap is another CC that will not be able to be re-applied once a group has been pulled. So keep this in mind when deciding what mob should be next to kill. Hex is another ability that is great, however, it will have a long cooldown should it break early, making it not as desirable as something like Polymorph.

Top Long-term CC (5 second or less cooldown)

• Fear (glyphed)
• Hibernate
• Polymorph
• Shackle Undead
• Banish
• Seduction
• Bind Elemental
• Mind Control

Good Long-term CC

• Sap
• Freezing Trap
• Repentance
• Hex

Short Term CC

• Entangling Roots
• Wyvern Sting

Least desirable CC

• Hungering Cold

• Intimidating shout

Remember, communication with your group is key. Make sure you have a system in place that everyone knows their role, and make sure people who have multiple forms of CC are capable of doing both, and know what their two marks are.


*Heartbeat Resist
Heartbeat Resist is the ability for a mob to randomly break free of CC. This chance is lowered based on how much +hit you have, but never 100%. This is why healers would be a last-resort CC, because they have 0 hit rating causing mobs to break free more often.


Tips and trips for various classes

Focus and Focus macros can be your best friend. It helps you find your CC target quickly and get back to your job. Just a simple /focus on your mark will go a long way.
CC Frequently, when you think your CC might be close to breaking, reapply, or in the case of paladins, hunters, and Shamans, CC as soon as you see your cooldown is about up.

Death Knights - Hungering cold is a great ability, if another pack gets pulled on accident you will be able to have 10 seconds to finish whatever mob you are on and get some CC on the new mobs. It also can act as an interrupt on non-bosses.
Druids - You can range all the trash in this game, or LoS them, so if you are forced to root a caster you will still be able to prevent it's damage. Sometimes this method can be tricky. Natures Grasp also allows you to have a second set of roots up at any given time, but remember that it isn't easily recast-able.
Hunter - Because you can only have 1 trap at a time doesn't mean you can not have two things trapped at once. It may be tricky but after the first trap goes off, you are able to place another trap down to get a second enemy in a freezing trap. This may take some time to get used to.
Priest - Mind control pulling is a fun way to do trash and can be very effective. This allows you to sometimes kill an entire mob by having its friends kill it then immediatly mind control another mob.
Mage - In a few situations Ring of frost can be godly. Use it in ideal situations for great control.
Rogue - Should your CC become in danger of running out you can Vanish and reapply sap on the mob before it wakes up
Shaman - Earth Elemental totem can be used in a pinch to off-tank a mob, but beware, this elemental has very bad AI.
Warlock - Your succubus is very strong, and glyphing it makes it better. This expansion you are kings of CC.


Post submission edits: Typo

[Deleted]

Great Guide. What is the best way to pull mob's right after the CC ? Rush them without breaking CC. Sometimes it can be pretty hard.

[Bairyhalls]

Nice read, really enjoyed it, being that my main is a tank just one question: can undeads be feared? cause im pretty sure they couldnt a while ago, while i havent checked up on it recently...

[Deleted]

Awsome guide...and yes indeed we warlocks have a great arsenal of CC. Did not know about the keybinding raidtarget icons though, so that was a eyeopener

[Zubius]

Rogue - Should your CC become in danger of running out you can Vanish and reapply sap on the mob before it wakes up

Rogue can't Vanich-reSap after pull. Mob is already in combat, Sap requires ooc.

[Forx]

From right to left, top to bottom using common names: Star, Circle, Diamond, Triangle, Moon, square, X, Skull.

I think you mean from left to right.

Nice guide though!

Rogue can't Vanich-reSap after pull. Mob is already in combat, Sap requires ooc.

I believe if the mob has not been taunted or w/e, and sapped before the pull, the mob will not be in combat and WILL be re-sappable. It's the same with pulling mobs past sapped targets, that sapped target will not come after you when it runs out and you're not in range, nor will it pull additional mobs.

Correct me if I'm wrong here though, but this is how I believe it works.

[dotSeed]

Somewhat handy guide, since many Wrath+ players have no idea what works on what (the number of times I've been asked to sheep Elementals and Dragonkin, yeesh). Does have incorrect/missing info though. And it should really cover all aspects of the pull, importantly;

- What types of mobs to CC
Healers and casters are often the default choices, but people forget about non-caster ranged mobs. On pulls where you can't easily line-of-sight "hunter" mobs, they force the tank to tank any non-CCed mobs in the middle of groups. This is especially annoying because many classes and specs have passive AOE. If you have any ranged interrupts, you should CC "hunter" mobs secondly, after healers, and above casters. So the pull order would on a group of 4 mobs, with two CCs: CC Healer, CC Hunter, interrupt Caster, tank picks up Caster and Melee.

- LOS seperation
When you barely have any CC, or situational CCs (like Roots), then it becomes important for tanks to range pull first. Then have CCs performed, then have the tank LOS any ranged mobs so they are pulled away. I've seen many tanks sit there as a hunter or caster with multiple spell schools just bombard the group, when there's no need for it. This isn't just a job for tanks though, as long as CCers are competent they should be doing this too. There's just more danger since they'll have less health.

- Interrupts
Casters are often CCed because, frankly, people are lazy with interrupts. Some mobs will need to be interrupted to get them away from packs, when they are not CCable (those big guys in HoO for example). Having multiple interrupts gives you much more flexibility in what you should CC and in what order.

I believe if the mob has not been taunted or w/e, and sapped before the pull, the mob will not be in combat and WILL be re-sappable. It's the same with pulling mobs past sapped targets, that sapped target will not come after you when it runs out and you're not in range, nor will it pull additional mobs.

Correct me if I'm wrong here though, but this is how I believe it works.

If the mob is linked with the group, it will be in combat. If it's not (i.e. a patrol, or unlinked) then it will not be automatically placed in combat. Any non-damaging debuff/AOE will cause it to be put in combat also, like Demo Shout.

[Kavian]

Doesn't even mention Solar Beam as either CC or an interrupt.

Kinda makes me wonder what else this winning guide missed.

[Zubius]

I believe if the mob has not been taunted or w/e, and sapped before the pull, the mob will not be in combat and WILL be re-sappable. It's the same with pulling mobs past sapped targets, that sapped target will not come after you when it runs out and you're not in range, nor will it pull additional mobs.

Correct me if I'm wrong here though, but this is how I believe it works.

I think mobs just get aggro on you while in sap or sap just gei em in combat. But need to check.

[guymn999]

would just like to say, fear does not work on undead. nice guide either way though!

[dotSeed]

I think mobs just get aggro on you while in sap or sap just gei em in combat. But need to check.

If that was true, then you wouldn't be able to re-sap a mob in a group if there's any delay in pulling them. The act of putting the group in combat puts all linked mobs in combat as well.

[Omgabear]

Doesn't even mention Solar Beam as either CC or an interrupt.

Kinda makes me wonder what else this winning guide missed.

Psychic scream from priests for instance.
But yea, very good guide!
Kudos

[Deleted]

I'm a Pally.. am i wrong or did you forget 'Turn Evil' for Undeads and Demons? AWESOME CC (especially for PvP, but still works fine in PvE)

[Anathaema]

first time I ever used raid marks on my numpad was TBC heroics, where I almost everytime was leading the group.
since then I've taught numerous people how to bind those keys for a better experience and flow

nice guide!

[Whister]

Nice guide!!

I like priest MC pulling, rlly fun to see and olmost the most powerful cc ingame!!

[Deleted]

Solar Beam, Typhoon, Wild Mushroom (+Fungal Growth) and Cyclone are never in these guides. I use them sometimes. They are not long term CC-s but saves lives many times and i even use them to take care of many adds on boss fights. I'm not sure why doesn't they count as a CC even if they are short. I even use Bash as a balance druid. Its rare but gives time for some more reliable CC.
Still the best guide about them. Good job.

[Deleted]

Nice table! Totally using that! Thank you

@Sicc: Solar Beam, Typhoon, and Wild Mushroom+Fungal Growth are not CC. They are silence, positioning control, and slow. Cyclone is not true CC because of the short duration and diminishing returns. It is better defined as temporarily preventing a mob from beating on you (or someone else).

[Micutu]

Like other mentioned, there are some CC froms not included (certain fears, like priest scream or pally turn evil) but those are not that reliable becuase mobs can run around alot with no control where they go so you might pull extra packs. You would need to have alot of clear room for it.
But if you mentioned aoe intimidating shout you should have mentioned Hammer of Justice as a useful stun or the glyphed holy wrath for stunning elementals , undead and dragonkin.

[ziggi94]

You are missing alot of things
Blind: my good rogue friend often blinds his target the second it breaks free from sap.
Solarbeam: This spell can reduce a annoying caster to a whimpering halfassed meele.
Hammer of Justice: 6 seconds that does not break from damage and is very easy to use.
Avengers shield: CC is all about reducing damage, i dont know if this counts as a CC, but throwing this at a group of casters really helps. It is even chainable.
Disarms are others things you have not mentioned.
The 2x oafpull in deadmines is a good example, although they cannot be CCd, they can be both disarmed and stunned. WE usually disarm 1, and then we stun it.
at this point the other is soon dead and we can focus on the first.
(yes we have awesome dps)

[Pieterman]

I missed quite alot actually, but still a pretty good guide.