A Guide To Crowd Control In SWG
I couldn't find a guide here on CC (Crowd Control) So I thought I'd write one for those who are interested in this side of the smuggler profesion. This guide will teach you how to do it and also give those in a group the knowledge they need to help the CC do his job and not let the group get overwhelmed by high lvl Mobs.
With the last patch SOE have finally given smugglers in SWG the ability to do CC properly. In fixing concussion shot they have taken away with one hand but given back so much more with the other. Because they have given us a very powerfull mez that will root and daze any number of attackers.
CC in SWG now fills a much-needed gap in the group dynamic, it allows a group to fight comfortably against a host of high lvl mobs without breaking a sweat if done right, but its only part of a group dynamic. A crowd control guy is only as good as his group.
I’m splitting this guide into 2 posts. One for people who want to know how to CC and one for people who don’t want to do it but want to know how to fight in a group with a good CC in it.
There are certain things you can do to make the CC's job a lot easier and doing them could make the difference between and easy fight and your group getting slaughtered.
Part 1 How To Crowd Control
The Job
The Crowd Controller has two jobs.
A) Keep the unwanted agro off the group B) Make the mob that the group is fighting easier to kill.
A) In an idea world the entire group or even multiple groups would be fighting one target. Pass though attack is invaluable for this.
It doesn’t always work that way in real life, but that’s how it should be if your group is well organised. A good CC can keep six, eight and even more agro mobs off a group while they fight. We have a wide range of mezzez ( Attacks that mesmerise) at our disposal and if we do our job only one mob at a time should be doing any damage to the group.
B) We also have a wide range off attacks that will help the group bring down a Mob quicker by making him easier to hit more susceptible to states and do less damage when he does hit.
As you can see both these jobs require a lot of thought and attention, no macros for the CC boys and girls. You have to be aware of what is going on at all times and exactly what the Mobs and your group are up to.
The Tools
In this section ill cover all the specials that are at your disposal. I’ll tell you what they do and what profession and skill box you will need to pick them up.
The best combination I think for a good CC is Master Smuggler - Master Pistoleer, but if anyone has another take on it please let me know.
As above the specials fall into two categories.
Section 1) Agro Control, Keeping the Mobs Out of the Fight
Improved Concussion Shot
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Master Smuggler
Duration: 40 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Any hit or AOE ( Area of effect)
This is the daddy. The one special to rule them all. It roots and dazes a Mob so he can not move or fight. It has a visual cue so other players can see that the Mob is incapacitated and it lasts a long time. It’s only draw back is a long cool down time so you can’t spam it constantly. Combined with the next on the list though you can keep eight or more Mobs out of a fight if you pay attention.
Improved Panic Shot
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Underworld III
Duration: 40 secs
Cool Down: 20 Secs Breaks On: Any hit or AOE ( Area of effect)
Not quite as good as Concussion, It doesn’t root the target so they will get into the fray but they can't fight unless hit. It also doesn’t have a visual cue so people in your group may think the mob is attacking unless they pay attention and see the icon. This works best on ranged mobs as they just stand there not firing and most people can tell they are not attacking. On mealy it doesn’t work so well because the mob can still run into the fray and people will think its attacking when its actually under control.
As you can see by interchanging between the above two specials you should be able to handle a large size group or Mobs and keep your group safe from attack while they do the wet work.
Section 2) State Applying, Making Mobs easier to kill
I see this as a secondary job of CC as I find that most of my time is taken up in controlling the Mobs in a fray but if you are facing one Single big Mob Like say a Krayt or any of the named Mobs once his underlings are taken care of first this is the way to go.
Alsoif there are two CC in a group, one should be desinated as Agro Control and one as a States Applier.
I’ve put the specials in the order I apply them. This order seams to work best for me but you may disagree, any feedback on different orders would be welcome.
First up.
Improved Overwhelming Shot
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Slicing IV
Duration: 40 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t break
This handy little special makes it easier to put states on that’s why we use it first. Doesn’t do a lot on its own but in combination with those below its very useful.
Intimidate Shot
Profession: Pistoleer
Skill Box: Pistol Techniques III
Duration: 30 secs
Cool Down: 20 sec
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
This special will intimidate your target. This means that the Mob will not hit as hard while this state is on him.
Warning Shot
Profession: Pistoleer
Skill Box: Pistol Grips II
Duration: 30 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
This handy special causes the mob to hesitate so that he is easier to hit.
Low Blow
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Dirty Fighting III
Duration: 30 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
This special slows down how fast the mob will attack and is very useful in combination with intimidate shot.
Improved Restraining Shot
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Delinquency IV
Duration: 30 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
One of the last I use in a group fight but one for the first I use in a one on one, especially if it a mob with ought a ranged attack. It slows down the mob if you want to get some distance between you and him. Skip it totaly if you have a decent Tank.
Improved Disarming Shot
Profession: Pistoleer
Skill Box: Pistol Marksmanship IV
Duration: 5 secs
Cool Down: 5 secs
Breaks On: Breaks Hit Or Area Of Effect
This shot is a tricky one to judge it doesn’t last very long but its possible to keep a Mob from hitting you if you set it as your default attack. Its kind of pointless when you have all the other shots at your disposal, because it doesn’t last that long.
The only time its usefull is if the tank fails at his job and you need something to stop a mob hitting you for a few seconds while the Tanks taunts it back.
Feign Death
Profession: Smuggler
Skill Box: Dirty Fighting I
Duration: NA
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Boesn't Break
So what is FD doing in a crowd control FAQ? Well you can only CC if you are alive. This is also a very useful special to get your group out of a hostile situation as if you can manage to get the hate and feign death you can all retreat. This is very difficult to organise though so I just use it to get myself out of trouble.
Improved Stopping Shot
Profession: Pistoleer
Skill Box: Pistol Stances III
Duration: 20 secs
Cool Down: 40 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
This one will root your opponents to the spot but unlike concussion shot it wont daze em. How ever also unlike concussion shot it won’t break with a hit or AOE so its not bad to use in single combat on non ranged attack Mobs. However it’s short duration and long cool down time doesn’t make it a replacement for the old concussion shot.
That’s about it for the make things easier to kill specials, apart from one last one that must be used with extreme caution.
Improved Burst Shot
Profession: Pistoleer
Skill Box: Pistol Marksmanship III
Duration: 30 secs
Cool Down: 20 secs
Breaks On: Doesn’t Break
This is the Pistoleer’s stun attack. It’s a cone attack and thus AoE so must be used with extreme caution. If you use it and the mob is in the AoE for your attack: lagging and warping notwithstanding You will agro it, it's perfectly safe to stand with your back to one mob and fire cone AoEs at its friends (provided it isn't social). Plus if you have any mobs mezed with concussion shot or panic shot it will break their mezez too.
When to use it, seldom, its useful against big mobs when you have cleared everything else from the area as it delays their attacks but I’d still be wary of using it unless you are absolutely certain it won’t agro anything else. It’s always the last shot I put on a mob when fighting and I’m always very careful when I do it, but even so I’ve still had some of those Ooops moments.
Immunity
Some mobs are Immune to some of our Mezez, It's mostly droids that I know of. I'm not talking about resisting here, I'm talking about total immunity. If you try to use concussion shot on a super battle droidika it will not work. If anyone knows of a list of Mobs that are immune to any of our mezez please post it and I will add it too the guide. Just be aware that though rare there are mobs out their that you cant control.
Rage Added 20th July 2005
As of publish 20, the gits, sorry Devs at SOE have included a feature to stop you spaming concusion shot and panic shot. If your mez breaks on a mob either due to them being hit or the timer on the mez running out the mob gets a state called Rage. This stops you applying any daze effects to them again for 20 seconds.
There are two ways round this. Put on panic shot first so that when the mez times out you can then hit them with concs shot as this is not just a daze but a root as well and will apply.
Or you can use the exploit way, if you reaply concusion shot before it's timer has expired, it will stick. This must be done when there are less than 10 seconds remaining on the mez for it to work. This appears to be a bug that may be fixed in a future publish. How ever this way does not work if the mez is broken by a player attack on the mob.
With good judgement and timing you should be able to be as efective a CC as before these changes were added but SOE have definatly upped the stakes here.
Tips
To finish of this section of the guide I’ll give you some of the tips that I use to make my life easier doing crowd control if anyone got any that aren’t on this list please post em and I’ll add them.
1) Group your icons. I normally put them in order on my toolbar as to what I’m gona use first and I try to put the different type in different section. Its not totally doable if SOE gave us three toolbar lines that would be better
2) Zoom Out as far as you can, when handling a large collection of mobs it helps if you can see as many as possible on screen at the same time you will be tabbing between em to check on the states but its still easier if you can see as many as possible just encase you tab past one.
3) TURN OFF AUTO ATTACK. There is nothing worse than rooting a mob with concussion shot and realising you have forgotten to turn off your auto attack special. Your next shot will break the root, you’ve wasted a combat round and you will probably take damage. I’ve now gotten into the habit of not having Auto Attack on at all and selecting my shots as I go but I sometimes turn it back on if I’m soloing stuff.
4) Move about. A good CC should be the first into a room of Mobs and the last one out. You need to ignore the bullets and the blaster fire and get in there in confined dungeons. If you agro some more that’s ok as your job is to make sure they stay inert until the group can deal with them. But if you cant see a Mob you cant hit it so make sure you know where they all are.
5)The Overhead map is your friend. Have it on always when fighting lots of mobs you can see how far away stuff is and also if you have missed any mobs when you looked around.
That’s all I can think of for now. If there are any mistakes in this guide please let me know and if anyone has any tips or sugestion please post them also.
You should now have all the knowledge to be a good CC guy or girl but you wont do very well with out a good group. So the Second part of the guide Is for your group members to read.
Message Edited by Mystique2000uk on 07-20-2005 09:51 AM
We're Charley Brown, the Dev's are lucy and the Smuggler revamp is the football. Every time we think, this is the time were gona get to kick the football Lucy pulls it away at the last minute.
