Crowd Control

Crowd control (also called CC) is a term used in massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG)s and MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games 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.

Types of Crowd Control
All crowd control abilities fall into one or more of three broad categories:

Movement modifiers
The ability to move faster than an opponent provides a form of crowd control, often through kiting. Any modifier that decreases an opponent's speed will allow kiting, as do any modifiers that increase the CCer's speed (as in the case of "Frostbite" by Ace). While movement speed buffs traditionally are not considered a form of CC, they still fall into the crowd control category. Many forms of crowd control use this type of modifier. Traditionally, "root" and "snare" effects that directly modify opponents' movement rates by lowering them or simply preventing movement have been the staple of this type of crowd control. The abilities include, but are not limited to: