This guide is primarily focused on educating new players on how to play a Bear and what it is capable of.
Guide Objectives:
1. To show what crowd control is and what it can do.
2. To show what a bear has to effectively crowd control.
3. To show how a bear can crowd control.
What is Crowd Control?
Crowd Control or CC, which from here on we will use, has this definition from Wikipedia:
Crowd control (also called
CC) is a term used in massive multiplayer online role-playing games (
MMORPG)s to refer to the ability to limit the number of
mobs actively fighting during an encounter. It can also refer to abilities that influence or prevent the abilities or actions of other character(s). Crowd control can be extremely powerful, controlling the possible outcomes of an encounter, as it forces opponents to use a smaller set of abilities/actions. Players use crowd control to create offense/defense ratio imbalances between themselves and their opponent(s); used properly, CC often renders an opponent nearly useless, allowing the CCer to use abilities/actions against an opponent without fear of retaliation or response.
In a group setting, crowd control often makes combat safer, easier, or viable.
This definition is almost perfect to describe CC-ing in PL. However, CC-ing in PL comes hand in hand with two things: Tanking and Aggro Management.
Tanking:
Definition: When used online, especially while playing an MMORPG, this term is used to describe a player character class which is designed to absorb damage from others or computer aided characters.
"Tank" characters are especially important in large group instances. A Tank's job is to stand before the group, using their abilities and high armor values to force a particular "mob" (or group of) to continue attacking the Tank, while other characters contribute to over all damage while not taking damage themselves.
Aggro Management:
Aggro is understood to be the condition of a particular mob attacking a particular character. Managing aggro is one of the most important aspects of grouping because it determines how much damage the group receives and where the damage ends up.
CC-ing needs Tanking and Aggro Management since the only effective CC-er in the game is the Bear. Consequently, the other classes in the game cannot CC, Tank, and have Aggro Management as well as a Bear can.
Since CC-ing requires Tanking and Aggro Management, it also requires one final and most important rule for a bear:
"Lead the group and stay in front." - This is the Bear motto.
What a Bear can do for Crowd Control
To learn how to effectively CC with a Bear, we must first look at what a Bear has (skills) to CC with.
In order of importance, this is what a Bear has to use:
1. Beckon
- This is the bread and butter of a bear. Beckon is the best skill to CC with in the game.
2. Taunt
- Since CC-ing comes with Tanking and Aggro Management, Taunt is the key to both of these. Taunt grabs aggro, therefore making you the tank and managing aggro at the same time.
- Taunt also has the best dodge buff when compounded, therefore being an ultimate skill of CC-ing and Tanking.
3. Stomp
- Essential for effective CC-ing. This skill is not only an effective skill alone, but when compounded with Beckon, fully defines a Bear.
- Combo finisher for 'Beckon + Stomp' combo = Smash
4. Hell Scream
- Although optional, Hell Scream is a very good skill for two reasons. It has an undocumented mini-stun and 10 armor debuff.
- Given the additional perks, Hell Scream is extremely useful for CC-ing.
These are the four main skills you need to be successful in CC. With experience, you can add/remove skills to your arsenal as you see fit.
How a Bear can Crowd Control
Now that we know the four skills essential for CC-ing, namely, Beckon, Taunt, Stomp, and Hell Scream, we can now work on how exactly to use these skills.
There are three main questions to ask when using skills for CC-ing: When, Where, and Why.
Before the actual steps on CC-ing, there are a few important points that a bear must remember:
1. Timing is everything!
- The key to a successful CC is timing. CC-ing by yourself yields almost nothing, therefore you must keep your group in mind when timing your CC so that they can fully use your CC and easily kill the mobs.
2. You are only as strong as your group.
- You may be the best CC-ing bear, but it would mean nothing if your team is dead or dying. Your first priority when you CC is to keep your team alive. Your CC-ing skills are significantly improved by each additional team member that can use your CC.
Steps to Crowd Control
Lines in Red are links to photos.
Step 1: Taunt and gain aggro.
When: Use Taunt just as you are diving into a group of mobs. This is to gain the initial aggro factor for effective aggro management.
Where: Since Taunt has a relatively large range of 12M, use it at the most effective spot possible, where Taunt affects the most mobs.
Why: To successfully CC, you initially need to get aggro for Tanking and Aggro Management. Taunt does just that.
When and Where to Taunt.
- Mobs affected by Taunt have a ! on their heads.
Step 2: Walk to an obstruction.
An obstruction is any type of object or space that blocks further movement from its position. A wall and a corner is a good obstruction.
This is a Wall:
A wall obstruction.
This is a Corner:
A corner obstruction.
Obstructions are found in every campaign. There is not one map that has no walls or corners.
Step 3: Beckon!
When: After you have found an ideal obstruction and Tanking/Aggro Managing the mobs.
Where: As close to the obstruction as possible.
Why: This is what defines CC-ing. Beckon is CC-ing.
This is when and where:
When and Where to Beckon.
- Do note that mobs do not need to be aggro'd to you for Beckon to work. Beckon pulls any mob within its range towards you.
This is why:
Why to Beckon.
- The previously scattered mobs are now compact and clustered towards that one corner.
- Easier to AOE, easier to kill, easier to survive from, easier in general.
Step 4: Step away from the Beckoned mobs.
When: Right after you Beckon, step away from the spot that you Beckoned from.
Where: Take a few steps opposite from the spot you used Beckon.
Why: To give you room to cast Stomp and fully pin them to the wall, therefore CC-ing.
Where to step back to.
Step 5: Stomp!
When: As quickly as possible after Step 4, when you step back from the mobs.
Where: Same spot as Step 4.
Why: To finish the combo, to stun and pushback to the wall, therefore pinning them and CC-ing them.
Where to use Stomp.
Why to use Stomp.
Step 6: Hell Scream!
When: After Stomp.
Where: Same as Step 5, or closer to the mobs.
Why: As mentioned earlier, it has a mini-stun and armor debuff effect. Furthermore, the damage and hit debuff is extremely useful when they come out of the stun from Stomp/Hell Scream. They do lesser damage overall.
Why to use Hell Scream.
- See the stars around the mobs? That proves the mini-stun that Hell Scream gives.
Step 7: Gauge the mob health.
When: After Hell Scream.
Where: Any spot, as long as you can see the health bars of the mobs you just CC-ed.
Why: This determines how fast you can CC. If the mobs are quite damaged and will be killed off shortly, move on. If they are barely touched other than your own damage from skills, stick around.
If you decide to move on, that means your group will take care of killing the mobs. A bird and a mage has more effective AOE damage than a bear does, which is maximised when a bear fully CC's a group of mobs.
If you decide to stick around, that means your group is slow in killing the mobs. This could be due to mob strength, lack of skill from group mates, or you are CC-ing too early. If you stick around, use slashes on the mobs.
Finally...
Step 8: Rinse and repeat.
Whatever you decide to do from Step 7, you rinse and repeat when your skills become available again. This is the true art of CC-ing; being able to do these steps to every single area of mobs you encounter.
Gameplay Video:
A video on putting all these steps together and how fluent an effective CC-ing Bear does the steps.
Apologies for the quality, still have to find a more effective way of recording videos. Please watch in HD to fully maximise.
Some video notes:
- This was done in AO2 Map 5, good map for walls, corners, and mobs.
- Level 61 Bear, Rift set.
- Steps 1-8 used added some variations.
Conclusion
This guide aims to have defined what Crowd Controlling is in Pocket Legends and show that Bears are the epitome for CC-ing. CC-ing comes with two things, Tanking and Aggro Management, both of which come hand in hand to successfully and effectively CC.
The guide also aims to have shown what a Bear has to use (skills) to effectively CC, and how/when/why to use them. Although the examples are generic and in one campaign, the concept is more than present and applicable to any campaign you go to in Pocket Legends.
Changelog:
9/30/2011 - Guide Created.
9/31/2011 - Post-GCD Video added.
Guide: Crowd Control - what a Bear does best.
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