The Key to Heroics Part 1
Hello everybody, Cataclysm has been out for a while, and things are going great in game, and it only looks like they are going to get better. This is just a little list of CC that certain classes can bring, how it works, and when it should be applied.
Death Knights: You are one of the few classes that are not blessed with true CC (The idea of keeping a mob out of a fight for a long period of time, usually 1-2 minutes), but not to worry, you do bring something to the table.
Chains of Ice: Sure it’s not a CC, but it is a slow, and if you got it you might as well use it. With a 60% effect and an 8 second duration, you can keep it up almost constantly since runes have an 8-9 second cooldown. (I’m not sure how much to be exact). A place where this slow works particularly well is for the adds spawned by General Erudax in Grim Batol.
Druids: Druids bring multiple CCs to the table, especially when used correctly.
Hibernate: Welcome to the world of CC, this ability is only usable on beasts and dragonkin, and can keep them asleep for up to 40 seconds, just make sure not to touch them because it will break upon damage.
Entangling Roots: This works quite well as a CC when applied properly, if used on a mob that must get into melee range to do its damage, it is a very effective CC. But w/out a LoS pull it is virtually useless against casters/ranged. Plan accordingly.
Hunters: Like most other classes, hunters are very CC worthy, they also have the only long term CC in game that is not mob type specific.
Freezing Trap: Ah, such a wonderful CC. Any mob that can be CCed by another class can be CCed by this bad boy. This CC requires a bit of planning a head to effectively apply its use. Usually it will be placed directly on top of the mob intending to be CCed, thus initiating the pull, but sometimes it must be placed in front of the mob, not triggering the trap, but set up in an area that the mob will run over. With a 1-1.5 min duration and a 30-24 second cooldown, you can keep 1 mob locked down indefinitely, and two mobs locked down for a while if applied properly.
Wyvern Sting: This CC is only available to survival hunters, and cannot keep a mob locked down indefinitely. It will sleep any mob except undead for up to 30 seconds, before dispelling and leaving a 6 second dot target, making it immune to any type of break-on-damage CC. Good for keeping a mob away for a little bit, but have your tank prepared to grab it after the CC has worn off.
Mages: Mages have been the most well known CCers since the days of TBC, and Cata is no different.
Polymorph: What could be more fun than turning your target into a sheep? Turning him into a penguin or turtle instead XD. Yup, polymorph has been around for a while, and hasn’t changed much since its creation. It only works on humanoids or beasts, but man does it work. A polymorphed mob will wander around aimlessly until damaged, or until 50 seconds are up. A good CC to start a pull with.
Ring of Frost: This is the mage new and exclusive AoE CC. It takes 3 seconds to appear, and only lasts for 12, but in those 12 seconds any mob that happens to break the circle will be instantly frozen for up to 10 seconds. This is a good way to start almost any pull when combined with polymorph. Just place the ring in the path of the mobs being targeted, poly your target, and then everything else gets CCed or picked up before the ice even melts away. The best part, is that this has no mob type specification either
.
Frost Nova: While not reliable at keeping a mob locked down indefinitely, Frost Nova does its job quite well. Whether a mob is about to eat your face, your healers face, or a tank’s face because he isn’t kiting, frost nova will buy everyone 8 seconds to get to a more relaxed positioning. Use well, and use often
.
Paladins: Like Death Knights, paladins got the short end of the CC stick, but that’s ok, you do have a little bit, and a little can go a long way.
Repentance: Only Retribution paladins have access to this CC, but that’s ok, because healers and tanks are too busy to bother with it anyways. It only works on demons, dragons, giants, humanoids, and undead. But that’s a large enough group to be useful. One of the cool things about this spell is not only is it ranged, but it’s instant. The only thing that you will have to look out for is that the duration and the cooldown are identical, both 1 minute. So if your target breaks from CC, your group is pretty well doomed to deal with the mob, since by the time your repent Is back up, there will likely be a dot on your target, making its use completely void.
Hammer of Justice: Sure it’s a stun, and not a CC, but Hammer of Justice gives everyone 6 seconds of breathing room, which if you’ve ever played a healer with a tank getting beaten like mashed potatoes, then you know how amazing six seconds of a stunned mob can be. Yes pallies, you can do everything, you can tank, heal, and dps. And you can also STUN, use it .
Priests: Those priests, it’s impossible to find one that is discipline these days, but at least they can all CC effectively.
Shackle Undead: The name says it all, give a priest an undead target, and he will make sure it stays busy for as long as you need. Just don’t touch the target or you might invoke the wrath of the Spirit of Redemption.
Mind Control: A favorite of shadow priests around the globe. Guess what everybody, there are mobs out there that hit harder than you could ever imagine. Guess what else, some of them are humanoid and therefore subject to your will. A good way to enjoy a mobs quick demise, is simply mind control it with all of his buddies next to him. Make sure the mob insults his buddies mothers and they will gladly turn him into a immobile pile of ash for you. Just be careful with this trick, if your CC breaks before the mob you’ve controlled is dead, then all of his friends will transfer aggro from their old friend onto the shadowy squishy carpet in the corner, have a tank ready to grab it all should that happen.
Rogues: Even these sneaky buggers come with a long, although non-refreshable CC.
Sap: “Hey Mr. Dragonkin, look that way while I hit that nerve on the back of your neck, thus putting you into a pleasant sleep.” Ok, sap works on dragonkin AND humanoids, demons, and beasts. It lasts for up to one minute, but cannot be refreshed if the target enters combat, or if the rogue enters combat. At least not w/out special moves on the rogues part.
Shamans: Between your pewpew lazur healz, and giant elementals that pound things in the face, there is a little CC to be had.
Hex: Gotta love hex, with a 45 second cooldown and 1 minute duration, any humanoid or beast can be a frog for as long as you deem appropriate. This is also one of the rare CCs that does not break on damage, so even an overzealous tank might not accidentaly attract this guys attention.
Bind Elemental: Yes, I’m going to cheese this one. See Shackle Undead, and replace all Undead with Elemental, all Shackle with Bind, and all priests with shamans.
Warlocks: You emo fel obsessed little gnomes. When you’re done trying to convince your imp to not break up with you, why don’t you CC a few things?
Banish: Banish is imo the best CC for the targets it can affect. Why? Because no trigger happy facerolling dummy is able to prevent banish from working. IT CAN NEVER BE REMOVED BY DAMAGE. That puts it at the top of the list for me. Just make sure you refresh it every 30 seconds and your group has one less elemental or demon to deal with.
Fear: This is the only fear effect I am putting in here, only because when glyphed, it will not make the mobs run like crazy psychos and telling their friends that you scared them. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, use this ability when not glyphed, or you run the risk of your tanks head exploding from TMFM (Too Many F&$@ING Mobs). It is a very good CC though when glyphed, you can keep a mob feared indefinitely, and so long as nothing attacks it too much, the fear won’t break. Just tell your dang pets to leave the scared mob alone.
Warriors: You are the third and final class on the short end of the CC stick, and I feel for you my plate wearing rage monkies.
Intimidating Shout: Ok I lied, there are two fear affects I will put in here, even though this one cannot be sustained over the long term, it can keep a group alive in the short term. But like a warlocks fear, only use this if you have it glyphed, otherwise you’re just begging other mobs to show up and turn you into a pile of magical goo/ashe/molten armor. This is a good ability to use if the tank is getting kicked pretty hard, since a feared mob is a mob that is not damaging you, and it might give the healer time to catch up to the damage being dealt.
On a final note, yes I know there are some CC abilities that I did not includ, most of them are ones that cannot be sustained long term, and more often than not are eclipsed by long term CCs. This does not mean that they should not be used ever, if something is killing your healer, it is very important to stop it from doing so, even if it is only temporary. Of the classes that did have non-sustainable CCs mentioned, this is simply because if I didn’t put them in, then I would have nothing to write about the class, and everyone deserves the spotlight, even if it’s an abysmally dim and small spotlight due to lack of CC.
