Crowd Control Guide

[icecruiser]

Crowd Control!
A guide by:
Icecruiser

Hello! Today I will be talking about ' crowd control ' which is now something VERY important in Cataclysm which many people forgot in Wrath of the Lich King! I hope this helps.

What is crowd control?
Crowd control is when a class uses a specific spell to Stop the mob from doing anything (including attack, cast spells, etc.) for a certain amount of time. Crowd control was used a 'lot' in the old days of original World of Warcraft and in the Burning Crusade, since Wrath of the Lich King though it was not used as the dungeons were too easy and you could just AoE everything. Come Cataclysm these dungeons and heroics are MUCH harder and it is almost impossible to complete a heroic with at least ONE form of crowd control or for short, 'cc'.

What Classes Do What?
Most classes have ONE form of crowd control while some have none and some have better than others or some even have 2.
Here's a list of which classes do what... (SOME SPELLS duration may be affected by talents/glyphs of the specific player)



Mage: Polymorph, this turns the mob (which can only be a beast / critter / humanoid ) into a random critter which will just wander aimlessly for 50 seconds. ANY damage on the mob which is poly morphed will instantly cancel the effect.

Hunter: Freezing Trap, this ability creates a trap at a chosen location. If a mob were to run into contact with the trap they would be frozen for 1 minute. ANY damage on this target WILL break the spell, much like a mages polymorph.
Wyvern Sting: This will put the target to sleep for 30 seconds. This is not used as often but can still be useful.

Warlock: Fear, this ability is only useful if the warlock has specced into the talent which will stop the target from moving which will cower the enemy in place for 20 seconds.
Banish, will make a target invulnerable for 30 seconds (only elementals or demons! ) but will also not let them attack.

Priest: Shackle Undead, this will make the target (undead only!) unable to do anything for 50 seconds.
Mind Control, will allow USE of the mob for one minute. ( humanoids only! )

Druid: Hibernate, will put the target ( beasts / dragonkin only!) to sleep for 40 seconds. ANY damage will end the spell.
Entangling Roots, will 'root' the target for 27 seconds and will do a DoT ( damage over time ) effect. This target CAN take damage BUT once too much damage is taken it WILL break.
Cyclone, will stop all movement for the target for 6 seconds.

Paladins: Repentance, will incapacitate the target ( humanoids, undead, dragonkin, giants and demons only ) for 1 minute. Any damage WILL cancel the effect.

Shaman: Hex, will turn the target (humanoids / beasts only! ) into a frog much like the polymorph, for 30 seconds. BUT it can take SOME damage before breaking much like the druids ' root '.
Bind Elemental, will shackle an elemental in place for 50 seconds.

Rouge: Sap, will daze a target ( humanoid, beast, demon or dragonkin) for 1 minute, any damage will CANCEL the effect.

What about other classes?
Other dps classes sadly cant 'fully' crowd control but have a daze of some sort but only last 3 - 10 seconds. But it doesn't mean you cant bring these classes to a dungeon / heroic as these classes have other benefits.

Very important rule...



Also be VERY mindful of your AoE abilities, especially tanks.



Marking?
ALWAYS use the 'raid target icons' they are VERY helpful and you NEED to mark what to crowd control, and a kill order. Usually Skull means kill 1st and X means kill 2nd. Of course this is just what the main ones are, feel free to use whatever suits you and your group!

Strategies?

Pulling:

If in a mob pack with just melee (which is sort of rare) then let the CC pull and let the melee run to the tank and kill.

If in a mob pack with 1 or more casters (which is more common these days) TRY and cc the casters, but if that isn't possible (like a more stronger melee, boss pat, mob pat might aggro etc etc) then find a spot where you can Line of Sight pull, everyone INCLUDING the tank stand there and the cc'ers go out, cc the target and run back asap, the casters should follow and tank can grab them, here is a simpler example...





In battle:

In battle one of the worst things that can happen is a dps OR a tank (mostly a tank) does an aoe ability which breaks the cc. Best way to avoid is let cc pull.

I hope this guide helped!

Have a good day and happy crowd controlling!




ANYTHING wrong? Please comment and i'll fix it!