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Crowd Control (WoW)  

Crowd Control refers to the action of taking mobs safely out of a fight for a period of time. This is a necessary ability because there are pulls in instances that will result in more mobs than the group can easily handle. Even with a paladin tank, who are the kings of AoE tanking, it may be necessary to crowd control some mobs due to dangerous abilities that the mobs can use. For instance, it's often useful to keep mobs that fear or heal incapacitated if they can't be killed first.

Ideal crowd control is repeatable, predictable and shuts down the enemy completely. These generally are effects like Charm, Incapacitate and Sleep. There are other effects that are occasionally referred to as crowd control but are largely ineffective because of a short duration (and long cooldown meaning it can't be re-applied) like some stuns, because they allow the mob to still perform actions (like Root effects), or because they are completely unpredictable and can result in adds (like Fear).

Note that off-tanking is not crowd control. Yes, it takes the mob out of the fight, but not safely. Also, it removes no burden from the healer as they now have to keep 2 tanks alive. (A possible exception is using a Warlock's Voidwalker or Felguard to tank the mob for a time, as these are much more expendable than a raid member. The effectiveness of this will vary greatly with the Warlock's talents.)

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Common Crowd Control Effects

  • Polymorph - Probably the most common form of crowd control is the Mage's polymorph spell, also called Sheep. Can be used on beasts and humanoids only. Damage caused to the target will remove the effect. Note that a sheeped mob will regenerate health at a very fast rate.
  • Banish - Warlock spell that can be used on elementals and demons only. Damage caused will not remove the effect, bo no damage can be done to the target until the banish wears off.
  • Freezing Trap - Hunter (WoW ability that can be used on any mob. Early in the game this is a somewhat unreliable method as it's difficult to Chain Trap due to the short duration of the ability. Later in the game, between higher spell ranks, armor set bonuses and talents, it's possible for a good hunter to keep a mob trapped almost indefinitely. Damage caused will break the effect.
  • Hibernate - Druid spell that will put dragonkin and beasts to sleep. Damage caused will break the effect.
  • Shackle Undead - Priest spell usable on undead mobs only.
  • Mind Control - Priest spell usable on Humanoids only that allows them to take control of a Humanoid for a period of time. Note that when the spell wears off or is discontinued the character will likely head straight for the priest and be difficult to pull off so must be taken down quickly.
  • Sap - Rogue ability that can only be used on Humanoids which are not in combat. The target is unable to act for a long period, but only rarely can be resapped because they will join combat with the rest of their group. The rogue can only use this ability while in stealth.
  • Enslave Demon - Warlock spell allowing them to take control of a demon for a period of time.
  • Seduction - Warlock spell that requires the use of the Succubus. Damage caused will break the effect.

Quasi-Crowd Control Effects

  • Entangling Roots - Druid spell that roots a target in place. This can only be used outside and the mob will still be able to use abilities while rooted.
  • Cyclone - Druid spell that works similarly to banish. Incapacitates the target but also prevent damage to the target. However, unlike Banish, this has a very short duration so is less useful.
  • Stuns - Several classes have the ability to stun the target, however most of these stuns have a short duration and a long cooldown and therefore cannot be reapplied very quickly.
  • Fears - Priests have a fear spell and Warlocks have a variety of fears. These generally make poor crowd control because there is no way to control where the mobs will go. Often in instances, the areas to fight in are quite close to other mobs and a fear can easily bring unwanted adds. Also, in the case of the priest, the fear is a short duration, long cooldown spell.

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This page last modified 2008-06-17 12:22:20.