by Kevin Tran on Jun 20, 2008
Crowd Control (or CC) refers to spells and abilities which stop enemies from fighting, or hinders their ability to do so, buying the party (or player) enough time to take out other threats and overcome different challenges with multiple foes.
Crowd Control is used a lot in groups and raids as a means to avoid fighting a lot of enemies at once. Nearly every class has a way of using Crowd Control, but some do it better than others, some can only do it while before engaging in combat and some do it anytime during the fight.
Primary
These abilities may be used anytime and will buy a party a good amount of time if used correctly.
Mage - Polymorph (Beasts and Humanoids)
Hunter - Freezing Trap (most monsters)
Warlock - Banish (Demons/Elementals), Enslave Demon (Demons), Seduction from their Succubus Pet
Priest - Shackle Undead (Undead)
Druid - Hibernate (beasts and dragons), Entangling Roots (outdoors), Cyclone
Paladin - Turn Evil (Fear Demons/Undead)
Secondary
These abilities may only be used for short periods of time, or before a battle.
Mage - Frost Nova / Water Elemental Freeze (Root in place)
Priest - Mind Control (Humanoids), Psychic Scream
Rogue - Sap (Humanoids), Blind, stuns
Paladin - Repentance (Humanoids), Hammer of Justice (Stun)
Hunter - Pet Stun, Concussive Shot, etc
Warlock - Fear, Howl of Terror
Warrior - Concussive Blow, Hamstring (Slow down)
This Enemy has been Sapped, and will not act until damaged or the time runs out
Mage
Polymorph: The most common type of Crowd Control, a mage is a very useful member to any party as their damage output can be high, and they can put one enemy humanoid or beast out of combat for as long as they need with their Polymorph spell. Keep in mind this will also heal the monster polymorphed extremely fast so it shouldn't be relied on when trying to kill that target.
Frost Nova: Rooting everything near the mage in place for a few seconds can be useful to allow for other party members to reposition and stay away from monsters, though damage will typically break the nova.
Paladin
Turn Evil: Paladins may fear demons or undead for up to 20 seconds, however, it has a 30 second cooldown, so it shouldn't be relied on for long when dealing with lots of demons or undead. This move excels in high CC battles such as Priestess Delrissa in Magister's Terrace should you have a demon in their group.
Hammer of Justice: Typically used to stun for a few seconds when a monster is casting a spell or it's running away, 1 minute cooldown.
Repentance: Only used on Humanoids and only if you have a retribution paladin in the group, this spell will put them incapacitated for 6 seconds, useful when dealing with a lot of monsters
Priest
Shackle Undead: Usable on undead monsters, typically used as crowd control in places such as Karazhan for their high undead monster count.
Psychic Scream: Last-resort AoE fear, 5 targets in a 30 second cooldown, should only be used if there are no other monster packs in the vicinity or you run the risk of pulling more packs onto your group.
Mind Control: Used by Shadow Priests mostly, this move is used to reduce the enemy numbers by 1 and take control of a humanoid. During this time, the priest cannot do anything but control the monster he chose, which can have a lot of abilities.
Warlock
Seduction: Used by the Succubus pet, this spell charms an enemy anywhere from 5 to 9 seconds if they're not hit. Can be recast instantly but the succubus may not live for more than a few casts.
Banish: Puts a demon or elemental monster out of commission for 20 seconds, where they become invulnerable but will not attack, currently the best way to deal with elementals and demons if facing many.
An Infernal Banished, can't attack, but can't be attacked either
Enslave Demon: Makes the target demon the warlock's pet for up to 5 minutes, but will remove the warlock's current pet. Great additional skill when dealing with lots of demons.
Fear: Warlocks have 3 kinds of fear. Fear, singletarget, Howl of Terror, up to 5 targets, and Deathcoil. All 3 of them should be used sparingly as they may pull more monsters to the group, but if it's a long fight it might just be what you need to buy a few more seconds. Should the warlock see the monster heading for another monster pack, they may apply Curse of Recklessness to make it ignore the fear effect and come back.
Warrior
Stuns: Warriors have several ways of stunning, from Mace Specialization, to Concussive Blow and Improved Revenge, they're able to gain a few seconds without the monster smacking them if they're lucky.
Hamstring: Hamstring allows warriors to stop monsters from running away from them quickly, allowing them to catch up since they're slowed down from the Hamstring effect.
Piercing Howl: AoE Shout that will make enemies near the warrior all slowed to 50%, good alternative when there's more than one monster, to Hamstring.
Intimidating Shout: The Warrior's AoE fear, similar to Psychic Scream with one difference, the warrior's target is feared in place while the others do normal fear effects.
Druid
Cyclone: Banishes the druid's target for up to 6 seconds, can be used on most types of monsters.
Hibernate: Puts beasts or dragons to sleep, will be interrupted by damage of any kind
Entangling Roots: Only used outdoors, roots an enemy in place and does a small amount of damage while rooted
Feral Charge: Feral talent that allows the Bear druid to charge a monster and immobilize it if not resisted.
Hunter
Freezing Trap - Freezes the first enemy walking ontop of it. Lasts up to 20 seconds and may be extended by the talent Clever Traps.
Wyvern Sting - A survival talent, puts a monster to sleep for 12 seconds, when it awakens it will take damage over 12 seconds.
Frost Trap - AoE Snare that will slow movement of all monsters in its area
Concussive Shot - Ranged attack that will slow the target for 12 seconds. If upgraded through talents it may also stun for 3 seconds.
Wing Clip - Melee attack that acts like Hamstring
Scatter Shot - A marksmanship talent, disorients target for 4 seconds
Counterattack - A survival talent, causes damage and roots the target for 5 seconds
Rogue
Sap - disorient effect that lasts up to 45 seconds, cannot be reapplied during combat, and will break upon being damaged.
Cheap Shot - Stun that lasts 4 seconds
Gouge - 3-5 second stun that is broken by damage
Blind - Disorient effect that lasts 10 seconds, interrupted by damage
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